Activity for System
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Question | — |
How to keep darkness from piling up I'm a big fan of ongoing stories and longer series. But one thing I've noticed about my writing (and a lot of the works I read/watch) is that as a story goes on, the tone gets progressively darker. The way this usually goes is that a story will start out light and happy, and then bad things will hap... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Would readers feel cheated if the villain is successful in convincing the protagonist to change sides? The villain doesn't need to convince the protagonist as much as you need to convince the reader. If you can make it believeable to the reader that the protagonist changes sides, then it will be a satisfying read. We often find out that our suspicions were mistaken in real life. For example, quite ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Does the concept come before other "literary devices" in philosophical science fiction? All bestselling fiction has a strong concept. The concept is the red thread that leads the reader through the story. It is the reference point against which the actions of the characters become meaningful. I have been admonished by this site's community for saying so, but it is a banal truth that no... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to write from the male point of view? Sex or gender are just a small part of who your characters are. If you take all the female characters from contemporary literature together, they don't have many things in common. As with all things, differences between the sexes are much smaller than differences within each of the sexes. My favouri... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to describe a horse from the POV of someone who has never seen one? You could look at how children perceive animals that they do not yet know. What they do is subsume animals that look alike into the same category. At first every animal is called a "dog" (if a dog is the first animal a child knows). Then different classes of animals are differentiated, as the parents... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Narrative arc in erotica? Usually a story will have a narrative arc of increasing suspense: obstacles become more and more difficult to overcome, setbacks more painful, complications more confusing, the stakes are raised higher and higher, hopes and fears become almost unbearable, until the plot culminates in a climax and the... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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How to make a cool unmanly character How to make a cool character who is really unmanly? The guy is bad at leadership, lacks endurance and strength while also being kind of a coward and having quite feminine facial features. (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Do readers need to identify with fictional characters? On the modern day many people complain about how models, actors are damaging to society because people can't identify with them. Males actors or models which are ''too'' muscular are considered ''unrealistic'' and not relatable to normal people therefore it is argued that they cause self esteem probl... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Avoiding spectacle creep I would say focus more on character. "He's saved the world. He's saved the universe! But can he save his deepest friendship after \\\\\?" This could also be a backstory vehicle, but leave the backstory in the background (probably). The problem to solve is always in the now. (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Avoiding spectacle creep It's common in stories for spectacle to build over time. Each story arc, the stakes get higher, the drama gets more intense, the villains get more dangerous, and so on. For a story with a fixed endpoint, that's fine. So long I know where I'm going, it's just a matter of pacing the spectacle increase.... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Averting Protagonist-Centred Morality Protagonist-Centred Morality is when a fictional work is eager to point out when an antagonist does something immoral or distasteful but fails to acknowledge when a protagonist does the same or something worse. This trope also comes into effect when the narrative encourages the audience to root for t... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to sort out a confusing storyline? A good trick that I use is to write the events on index cards. Just a quick summary of the things that happen. Then you can visually arrange them in an order that suits. I used to stick a post-it on the wall with Chapter 1 on it and then put up the index cards in order of events in that chapter and t... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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I'm producing a play with a character who the audience isn't supposed to know is alive, can I credit the actor in the program? There isn't a theater SE so this seems like the best place to ask, but feel free to suggest a better place. I'm producing a community play with a character who's believed to be dead, but turns out to be alive in the final scene. I don't want to give this away to the audience by putting credit for the... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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How to write dialogueless flashbacks? In my trilogy, the protagonist and deuteragonist share a mental link, allowing them to communicate with each other telepathically. A side effect of this telepathy is that they enable the duo to observe a series of dialogueless flashbacks that delve into their respective pasts. These flashbacks allow ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Invoking Deliberate Values Dissonance Deliberate Values Dissonance is when the morals of a character or culture in-story (whether historical or fictional) that modern people don't agree with are presented in-universe. Not because the author believes in them, but because the culture being represented in-universe does. My series features ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: I'm looking for advice on character development You have too many characters As soon as your characters begin to resemble each other, you have more characters than you are able to deal with. It might be a problem of having more characters than the story needs. Then you'll need to evaluate what roles you need and how many characters you need to f... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How overcome the budget constraint while building a fiction writing career? 1. Write for a large market segment. 2. Write better than most of the other works out there. 3. Publish where the fans are. E.g. a fanfiction forum. 4. Become part of the community. If you don't write in the mainstream center of a popular genre, you will never be able to make a living with self-p... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Are chapters with a single character inherently more difficult for an average reader to connect with? (And do you have any tips.) There are quite a few critically acclaimed novels that feature only a single character. For example, William Golding's Pincher Martin tells of how the protagonist reaches a rock in the sea after a ship wreck and later dies there. It is a brilliant novel, and you may learn a few things from it for you... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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How to Write an Eldritch Abomination? My trilogy features an otherworldly monstrosity called Fenrisúlfr as it's primary antagonist, whose characterisation takes cues from Nyarlathotep, Sauron), Showa!King Ghidorah), Sutekh, Makuta Teridax and the Gravemind. It is single-handedly responsible for every bad thing that happens in the series ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Characterisation: How to make it evident that a character's flawed perspective is intentional? A good solution is to clearly show how the flaws are an obstacle for the character when they try to achieve their goals. For example, if the girl in your story manages to seduce the boy who is in a relationship and has great sex with him, it might seem as if you endorse such behavior. But if the boy... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How often should I remind my readers of the setting? The real question here is: How often does it matter to the character where he is? If, as in your story, your character leaves his coat behind and wanders the streets in winter, he will probably feel the cold, and get colder with every minute. So the fact that he is "in" winter, will matter very muc... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Will an explicit resemblance to an Actor put-off the readers disliking him? One of the central characters in my novel, at the back of my mind looks like Benedict Cumberbatch. So while writing the story I have explicitly written that he looks like Benedict. It was also helping me with imagination and writing. But now I am having second thoughts and thinking maybe if the read... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How to write an introductory dialogue? What are different ways I can write a dialogue where a character is introducing himself to a woman in a professional setting? I don't want to write explicitly like this, > "Hello Miss Emily, my name is Dr.Alfred Miller, I am the professor of Physics here at the university." Edit: In my novel, my ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Publication: What to do about a high wordcount debut novel? 1. If your book truly needs to be this long, then it needs to be this long. Destroying your book by cutting it etc. will only diminish its quality and make it less publishable. 2. If your book is truly great, its length doesn't matter. Even for a newcomer. 3. If you write in a market segment where ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How to decide between usage of a paragraph and a dialogue? While writing a novel which is a story told of what happened in the past, I am facing two different ways to present information. For an e.g., I can write the story in the following two different ways, 1. As a Paragraph; > Dr.Zhang proceeded to tell Matt that they will be employing some additional ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: What should I keep in mind when reviewing and improving already published chapters? What I do: - immediately make essential changes that affect later chapters - leave polishing, fine-tuning, fleshing out, foreshadowing etc. until I have finished the draft - do not publish until the work is done (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How to create a page turning effect if there is no suspense? This is my first attempt at writing a novel and I am learning in the process. So my story is about a girl who is having an ordinary life with any standards and then she gets divorced and learns more about love and sex in spiritual traditions and finally sets out to find her inner self. I had read n... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Difference between DITA and S1000D Few short publications, that summarize the differences, and guide to a decision: 1) S1000D or DITA – Which Should You Use?...A dude with 30+ years in the business of aerospace and software development provides the same "common wisdom" that you mentioned, and emphasizes the different philosophy of DI... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: The role of inexplicable events in hard science fiction The disappearances you gave as examples where very likely not unexplainable from the perspective of the disappeared people. They just seem inexplicable a few hundred years after the fact. Similarly "unexplainable" things happen today all the time. Think of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. It is highly ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How can I make my anti-heroic protagonist more likable? A while ago, I asked if there any possible way for my series to avoid causing Darkness Induced Audience Apathy. A well thought-out response stated that unless I give my readers a reason to care about my protagonist, they won't give a damn about the conflicts he's involved in (due to his existential n... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How to construct a technical tutorial when the user can't verify the results after each step? In a technical tutorial it is helpful for a user to be able to check their progress often. Veryfing that the steps have produced a result is good because the user: - has a feeling of progress - can check for any mistakes they've made However, I'm working with advanced tutorials aimed at developers ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Accusing private figures of crime in print I am the editor of a small college magazine. In an article that was recently submitted to me, as part of the story, the author named two people who ragged him (harassed him). I have sufficient proof to believe this is true. It is also important for the cause he argues for in his article that he names... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What's the best way to implement a character arc? WARNING: MULTIPLE TV TROPES LINKS In my three-part series, The Ragnarǫk Cycle I plan having my protagonist and deuteragonist to undergo a character arc. The protagonist, Joseph Norton to put it lightly... is kind of a dick, who thinks only of himself and is an existential nihilist to boot. Throughou... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How to hide a character's identity from the audience? My trilogy features two important characters whose identities I wish to keep hidden. The first is the series' deuteragonist, who is heavily implied to be Jeanne d'Arc (yes, THAT Jeanne d'Arc), who for reasons unknown decided to use her sister's forename and mother's maiden name as a pseudonym to disg... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Avoiding Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy is when the audience is put off by the incredibly dark nature of a fictional work and won't care what happens next, lose interest or want all the characters to die off. For example, A Song of Ice and Fire can cause this due to its cynical tone, characters making moral... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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The importance of a premise sentence or two premise sentences I hope my question is not off the site's topics. When writing one or two premise sentences for a story, may the premise sentences be in the first POV or third POV, or either POV may be used? Do the premise sentences come in the opening paragraph of my story or before outside the narrative? I've se... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How to write a Complete Monster? For those of you who are unfamiliar with TV Tropes lingo, a Complete Monster is the worst kind of villain imaginable: one that is evil to the core and has little to no redeeming traits whatsoever. In order to qualify as a Complete Monster, a villain has to meet the following criteria: 1. They are t... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: Can I include Acknowledgement page in a novel? Acknowledgments that list about two or three pages of names have become an annoying fad that I would avoid. Sam Sacks argues "Against Acknowledgments" in The New Yorker, because to him they diminish a book. Kate Messner warns in a blog post that you should "Think before you thank", because some help... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: What is the "Proposal" Part of a Query Letter? A book proposal and a query letter are two distinct kinds of submissions. You write a query letter when you have finished writing your book and query whether the publisher is interested in it. You write a book proposal when you intend to write a book and propose that book to the publisher. Book pr... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: How to make the reader think that the *character's* logic is flawed instead of the author's? Celtschk's solution works well for an omniscient narrative, where the narrator can directly comment on the character's actions or imply their judgment through their narration. You can not only write third but also first person omniscient, for example when the narrator looks back on his life and knows... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: Hate to love, love to hate The problem you face is common for authors who identify with their protagonist. You look at your story from the eyes of your main character, and everyone else is just defined in relation to the protagonist's needs. If this were the real world, we would say that you objectify the other characters. You... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: I am overplotting my story - how can I figure out what is necessary and cut out what isn't? I assume that this is your first attempt at a novel, and that you are suffering from a strain of "worldbuilder's desease". Brandon Sanderson has dedicated one of his lectures to the problem, you may want to check it out. Usually the affliction is worldbuilding too much, but in your case what has hap... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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What does the death of a fictional character mean? When should a writer kill their protagonist off? Inspired by a question about character lifetime and another about what makes the death of a character satisfying for the reader, I have begun to wonder whether there are clues inherent to a story I might be writing that would tell me whether my protag... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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How do I start writing? I have so many great ideas! I've completed several stories in my head but i've never put any to paper. How do I start? How do you start? (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: How to open a novel? When you want to write the beginning of a novel, there are two helpful analogies to guide you through the process. The first analogy is that of waking up. When you begin to wake up, you are within yourself and then slowly become aware, first of your physical sensations, then your surroundings, you ... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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How to derive a first sentence from a story? There is much advice out there on "how to write a killer opening line". Usually these blog posts or how-to-write book chapters list examples of first sentences from recognized masterworks or group them into categories such as: 1. A statement of eternal principle 2. A statement of simple fact 3. A st... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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How to open a novel? Looking at the function of the beginning of a novel, it is clear that it should hook the reader and draw him or her into the story. Different techniques for achieving the hook have been described, such as an ironic turn, naming extreme stakes, divulging the end, or voicing a general truth. But if we... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: Is it okay to write a story where the protagonist is a Terrorist? There are quite a few examples of media where the protagonists are terrorists. Whether the characters will be acceptable to your readers will depend on what you do with them. There are several options, among them: - Your protagonists use bad methods (terrorism) for a good goal (freedom). In the cour... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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How to write a PG13 Succubus character? I am currently writing a character that represents Lust and is a demonic entity... but to tone it down for a YA audience. I thought of trying to make them "Love-based" instead, but I always envision Love as a virtue. This character is not a bad guy either. They are a benign presence in the narrativ... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: How to quote a book in my novel? You can look at this question from two levels: legal and writing. Writing From a writing perspective, in fiction there are no rules about how you have to cite other works. If you write an academic journal article, you will have to follow a style guide on how to denote citations (e.g. put cited tex... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |