Activity for System
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
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Answer scoring and ordering Overview On Codidact, answers to questions are sorted by their scores, so that you'll see the best-received answers first. Each answer has a score based on a ratio of upvotes to total votes, weighted to favor posts with fewer downvotes. For example, a post with seven upvotes will be shown higher ... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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Formatting Posts Codidact uses the CommonMark implementation of Markdown for formatting posts. Italics You can italicize a word by placing a single asterisk () or single underscore () around a word. Either Codidact or Codidact will render as Codidact. Bold You can bold a word by placing a double asterisk or doubl... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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So you're a moderator now So you've been given moderator status on a Codidact site. Welcome! This is what that means for you. Your community is your community Codidact communities are community-run. Codidact is here to support you and your community, but you make the decisions about how you run things yourselves. We'l... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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Search options While searching on a Codidact site, you have several options to help refine your search and make it easier to find what you're looking for. Searching will search all posts across that site, including Questions, Answers, Meta posts, and whatever other post types your site may have. Basic keyword s... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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Guidelines for referencing and quoting When you're writing a post, referencing and quoting external material is a great way to back up your posts, provide sources, and increase the quality of what you're writing. There are, however, a few things to keep in mind when quoting external material. Referencing online material When you... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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How to ask a great question The best way to get a perfect answer to your questions is to ask a great question. The better your question is, the easier it will be for someone to be able to give you the answer you need. Here are a few things to keep in mind when asking questions. Make sure your question is in scope Every Codida... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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Categories and post types In addition to just Q&A, here on Codidact each site can also add several different categories of posts. This is useful for different types of knowledge sharing, as well as for site activities and community building. These categories can contain different post types. Post types Currently, we have ... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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How to write good alt text What is alt text and why should I care about it? Alt text, or an image description, is what shows up in place of an image when that image fails to load. It's also what a screen reader will read out when someone is using a screen reader to browse the site, as well as what search engines and feeds ... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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Writing FAQ Welcome to Writing! We're glad you're here. The following information is relevant primarily within this community. If you have a question that applies to the entire Codidact family of communities, you may want to look at our Global FAQ or Global TOS. What is Writing all about? Writin... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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How to use advanced search The search facility on Writing allows you to narrow your search down by various attributes of the posts you're searching for. Normally, when you search—let's say for "grammar"—your search is applied literally, and the term you entered is looked for in each post, and posts are shown to ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Is the genre 'fantasy' still fantasy without magic? Sorry, I don't have answers for you, only more questions and a few thoughts: I think it doesn't have to be a waste of time , it can still be a really cool story - Game of Thrones was a hit TV series and almost the complete first season works without any magic. Another question would be how big th... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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How much uncertainity will the 'general (Non-YA) fantasy reader' tolerate? In my current project my goal is to go for the following narrative style within scenes: - Show only what the POV-Char can see, hear,... sense. - Show their emotional reaction (through body-feelings, reflex movements and thoughts) This means that there is absolutly no explanation for some things ali... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Letting a (secondary) antagonist leave mid story - Should it be avoided? I have a powerful antagonist perform important functions within my story. At the midpoint, he just leaves. Several Plot developments depend on this character. I tried replacing him with other character(s) or causes within my world, but I am getting into extremly convoluted territory with it and I am... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How many character flaws can the main character overcome? Before you read this answer, understand that this is written not so much as a writer, but as a reader with knowledge of mental health issues, both professionally and personally. > Take the example of a paranoid loaner suffering from addiction. Assume those are 3 distinct problems: The larger mental ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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How to clarify between imagined sensations and "real" fantasy events? I feel like the title is worded really bad, but I seem to be unable to find a better way. I am not a native speaker. Scenario A: A character is in an exceptional state of mind (i.e. drug use etc.) and envisions vivid imagery, sounds, smell etc. Scenario B: The same character later encounters typica... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Averting Bathos Bathos is a storytelling technique that consists in the rapid succession of 2 “moments” with conflicting tones. This trope occurs when a serious moment gets followed by a gag. One of the many, many reasons I see the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the embodiment of everything that is wrong with filmmaki... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Male viewpoint in an erotic novel Most erotica today is written by and for women, and bestselling erotica is narrated from a female point of view. The "male pornographic gaze" that sexualizes the female body has been considered offensive by the predominant culture and mostly eradicated from contemporary mainstream literature. But men... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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How much sex can I write if I'm after mainstream success? I have three variations of the same storyline and cannot decide which one I want to write: 1. erotic story turning dark and dangerous 2. erotic story turning into a spy thriller 3. love story turning into a spy thriller I like all three variations of the story and would be equally exited to write... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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How to differentiate between two people with the same name in a story? I am writing a story in which at some point two characters with the same name interact each other. I can't use their last name to differentiate because it's necessary for them to have no last name. There will also be no mention of the physical appearance of those characters, so, I can't use terms suc... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to display a duet in lyrics? You are writing a novel, and @Galastel's second example explains how you may use conventional dialogue tags to label the different speakers of different parts of song lyrics. In poetry, commonly the dialogue tags become part of the poem. Here is the beginning and end of a poem by Robert Bringhurst a... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: English - Acceptable use of parentheses in an author's name Anything goes. Musicians often use unconventional pseudonyms, from Royce da 5′9″ to , but sometimes writers use uncommon punctuation or orthography as well. There's a German crime author who published his books under the pseudonym -ky: ![enter image descript... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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English - Acceptable use of parentheses in an author's name My legal name is Barbara but I have gone by Babs since I was in the 4th grade. I have written a children's book and wanted to list my name as Barbara (Babs) but my editor said that it might not appear very professional. She has never heard or seen anyone use parentheses as an author. Would the use of... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: What are good ways to improve as a writer other than writing courses? How do you learn anything? By practicing it. And no, you don't learn to write by reading. That is a huge misconception. By reading you acquire knowledge about how stories work. And if you read "with a writer's eye," you may pick up a few things about how storytelling works. But you don't learn to wr... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Does the use of a new concept require a prior definition? Often when writers use terms for concepts like "Buddha nature", I'm not sure the writers understand the concept themselves. A good practice, I find, is attempting to paraphrase the concept in common words and then to use that paraphrase in the novel. For example, I understand "Buddha nature" to mea... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to portray a character who has mood swings? You portray the mood-swings of a character with BPD believably in the same way that you portray any other emotion of any other character believably – by motivating the emotions. The mood-swings of persons with BPD aren't random but triggered by outside events and motivated by internal thoughts, mem... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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How to portray a character who has mood swings? The protagonist of my trilogy-in-progress suffers from a serve case of Borderline Personality Disorder. Among his symptoms are continually splitting, unstable self-image, chronic feelings of emptiness, promiscuity, distrust of others, impulsivity and body dysmorphia (worsened by the fact that he's as... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How do I know when and if a character requires a backstory? I disagree with @Galastel. Not every character needs a backstory. Many minor characters in fiction only need to appear consistent with their context and the purpose they have in the narrative. When the protagonist shops at a supermarket, takes a bus, or asks for directions on the street, the clerk, ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Averting Always Chaotic Evil Always Chaotic Evil denotes an entire species in a fictional setting as outright evil - no matter how one treats them, they reward kindness with treachery and violence. Frequent recipients of this trope include but are not limited to aliens, demons, vampires, zombies, trolls, dragons, ogres, goblins,... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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Alternatives to second-person POV narration in RPG settings I am someone with no formal writing background, who has come to love writing for the fantasy adventure role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons (fifth edition) during my free time. I am currently running the adventure that accompanies the Starter Set for 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, titled Lost... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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Averting Real Women Don’t Wear Dresses Real Women Don’t Wear Dresses is when writers portray female characters possessing traditional feminine qualities as being less desirable, competent and reliable instead of their tomboy foils. They also tend to be presented as whiny and annoying, even though they have traits or commit actions of wort... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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Quoting Yourself I am editing a book for a writer who has quotes at the beginning of each chapter. The first chapter has a quote of her own. It's weird, but it's what she wants. Do I just treat it like the other quotes with her own name after it? Is this something people do in their own books? (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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Will a change in perspective "intimacy" confuse the reader? [Not a native english speaker] I am currently writing a novel, told from the 3rd-person POV, with several characters being followed in different scenes. Will the following confuse the readers? Scene 11: POV-Character Joe, in the scene, the reader can see/hear/smell etc. everything that Joe does. B... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: When blogging recipes, how can I support both readers who want the narrative/journey and ones who want the printer-friendly recipe? You use `@media` rules in your CSS style sheets to define which html tags you want to print and which are only visible on screen. E.g. @media print { .stuff-you-don't-want-to-print { display: none; } } To print the current browser window, you print it with JavaSc... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Changing the meaning of well-established symbols Reinterpretations of symbols are a common occurence: 1. The letter x given the meaning "hazard": 2. The hazard symbol given the meaning "intoxication" or "death": 3. The christian cross given the meaning "Switzerland": 4. The Swiss cross given the meaning "medical help": 5. The copyright symbol ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Why do professional authors make "consistency" mistakes? And how to avoid them? I think I recently read about a popular series writer employing a continuity proofreader: someone with a good memory that has digged himself into the series and the writer's work so deep to be able to catch continuity breaks that happened to creep into the work since the world of a writer is constant... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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Is wanting to ask what to write an indication that you need to change your story? Many writers eventually come to a point in their writing where they don't know what to write. They have a certain status or state of affairs that the narration has reached and another state that they need to get to in order to continue their story to the end they have envisioned (or just to get the c... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Famous mistranslations - correct them? Let's look at the example from the Three Musketeers that you give. Readers today probably wouldn't know what an aglet is. And if they knew, they would probably think of shoe laces and not know how aglets were worn on historic dresses. The answer by Peter Shor to the linked question is a good example... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How can I safely use "Thalidomide" in my novel while respecting the trademark? Thalidomide is the generic form of the brand-name drug Thalomid. I would think no one owns a trademark on a generic name. If you are taking thalidomide to treat XYZ, the most common side effects are: … is an example of a name that is geneticized but if the sentence reads; If you are taking Thalomid …... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Rules about breaking the rules. How do I do it well? "Is there some way to measure whether our own application of rule-breaking is done well?" Yes, that tool is called readers. Give your writing to a number of critical readers and see what they say. (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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How do I say that someone is black? Sorry if this is an ancient solved problem to ask in 2019, but I googled about this and Quora isn't really answering me. I searched for the words black and race and politically as key-words on this website but still not a satisfactory answer. The setting is 2013 in the UK , and my character is appro... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Is it bad to have no gender variety? These days, anything could "come off to somebody as somehow sexist", but I don't see a clear path from one to the other. Specifically, a story with a predominantly female cast would not, by that fact alone, lend itself to well-justified accusations of sexism. Poorly-justified accusations are not wort... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Character is onscreen for three seconds What I do in similar cases is write both variants – you will very likely have a clear feeling for which variant works best. (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: A critic made a comment that my female character sounds like she was written by a man TL;DR: Try submitting with a female pen name. If the criticism goes away, there's your answer. This is your character and you need not bow to anybody's tropes or nuances, or notions of how or why a female is. Justify your character's actions, outlook, language, interests with sources from within you... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Different ways to emphasize The best writing is one that uses typographic markup sparingly. There are some agents and publishers who prefer manuscripts to be submitted in plain text! If your writing relies on italics, boldface, and a certain page layout, it won't work for those publishers. The reason for publishers to demand p... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Conflict and antagonist in a certain subtype of erotic novels In his answer to my previous question, @Standback distinguishes two types of erotic storyline: 1. stories in which the stakes are romantic or sexual 2. stories in which the stakes are neither romantic nor sexual (e.g. an erotic thriller) In an erotic novel, where the stakes are romantic or sexual ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Should I be myself and write what I really want even though it isn't getting much traction? I like to compare writing to other jobs: - Chef in a Restaurant: Should you serve your customers what they like to eat, or should you cook what you like and eat it yourself? - Architect: Should you build the house that the owner wants to live in, or the house that you want to live in? Ideally, you... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: I'm afraid of quashing the hopes of a new writer Two things first: 1. Take into account that you might be wrong in your assessment. Others (e.g. publishers) might view this text differently. So emphasize that this is your personal view. Limiting your criticism to a personal view also makes it easier for a writer to accept it. 2. Try your best to ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: A Market For Long Narrative Poetry? Whenever I go to a bookstore, they either do not have any poetry books at all, or only a very small selection of classics shelved alongside Homer and Shakespeare. When you search "market for poetry" in your favourite search engine, you'll find a couple of webpages that list venues that pay for short... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: A handful of gems What I would do: 1. Allow yourself to put your writing (as you have done it until today) on hold for a year or so. 2. Use this time to try to approach writing differently. 3. First, take a month or so to learn what characterizes bestselling novels and movies. 4. Construct an outline according to ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What are the chances that agents or publishers will accept my manuscript if there are some grammatical errors in it? The publishing industry has become extremely competitive in recent years. The effect is that publishers only invest money in extensive editing and revising if they are absolutely sure that the book will sell millions. And that is the case only in established authors or in clones of current trends. I... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |