Posts by System
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 char...
The question whether or not you may use ideas, characters, stories, and so on from other works has been addressed multiple times on this site; you will find them if you use the site search. The sh...
Think of how you talk about other species in reality. There are no "women" or "men" among dogs, chicken, or ants. The words "man" and "woman" specifically denote human males and females. But there...
This might depend on your field (or department/school/institution guidelines), but at least I simply insert the epilogue (because that's what it is) at the end of the last subsection. If your writi...
Paul, thank you for asking this question. I have the same concerns, and thinking about them helped me clarify some things for myself. Maybe my thoughts can be of help to you, too. I assume that yo...
I mainly write for academic journals (and creative writing for my own amusement), but from time to time, I publish opinion pieces in various mainstream magazines and newspapers, for which I am mode...
Native speakers of English tend on the whole to write in the "written standard" of their native variety of English. Speakers of different varieties, or at least those who are "well read", are gene...
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 serie...
I have been writing high school English paper on a novel in MLA format. Is there any rule about using past participle or past imperfect? Throughout the essay there have been many places that can ...
Possible Duplicate: How does one present spoken dialogue as a secondary language to signed speech? I want to write a novel and I was thinking of including a deaf character. I want to kno...
I downloaded the trial version of Scrivener and began toying with it in the fall of 2011. I initially used it for outlining, I loved the corkboard feature. I then decided to give it a try for NaNoW...
Looking back at my own writing, my recommendation is: You'll have to find out yourself. There are two main directions writing can take, often called "outline" and "no outline". The no outline app...
When writing a literary essay in English what tense should be used: Past as in: Gatsby’s parties were ostentatious and exquisite Or present as in: Gatsby’s parties are ostentatious and e...
I wrote a similar story recently, leaving the character nameless as a method of dehumanisation as opposed to implimenting mystery. I think the best way to do it is to use more thought-based 1st per...
Brandon Sanderson in lecture 13, Brandon's Revision Process (which is online on his YouTube channel), explains his process thus: First draft Continuity Polish Give to Alpha Readers --------------...
The thing is that people tend to confuse writing with writing. Think, for a moment, of winning a marathon or singing an opera. Everyone can hurry along to a degree or sing under the shower, yet no...
From my experience, not explicitly. But a technical writer does need to understand what they are writing about in order to communicate it effectively. If you'd like a book on the subject, Technica...
Do they still make hardware-based word processors? I would like a portable, no-frills dedicated machine for writing. The Neo from Alpha Smart looks close but $150 seems excessive for calculator p...
The odds are against you, but them some people do make it. They all use the hero's journey structure - see http://www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html
Be sensual. Describe how thinks feel, look, smell. In a story, put the reader in a setting and make them feel like they're really there. Include small, realistic details to further the illusion. B...
I'm reading one of those accounting books that is best described by a reviewer who said it was like "going through WWI trench warfare". So here is what I did thanks to a friend who suggested this ...
I'm an online tutor. I don't know that online writing classes "do" help improve writing skills, but I know they can. It's a matter of finding a tutor who is not only skilled, but compatible with ...
I think part of the difficulty with the sentence can be corrected by emphasizing the problem being reported: Using the print functionality after doing a search in the Web Product Provider (...
First remember that for many readers "Colonel" and "Sergeant" are just as alien as "Oberst" and "Feldwebel". A civilian who doesn't know rank may well assume both are just some kind of soldier. T...
Well, there is a book and a movie adaptation :- '12 Angry Men'. That one exactly does what you have in your mind. none of the character's names are used. there are 12+ characters in the plot! Hope ...
