Activity for temporary_user_name
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| Edit | Post #7599 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
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| Edit | Post #5454 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How to tell if my story is finished, or needs more? Slightly obtuse title, let me elaborate. I'm writing my first screenplay, and I'm trying to keep it simple while making it simultaneously wonderful. It's just a rom-com. But as I write and modify and embellish the story, I can't seem to decide whether it's "enough." Questions I'm asking myself: Do... (more) |
— | almost 11 years ago |
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How are multilingual scenes handled when the story's main language is translated into that of its minor one? Say you have an English book in which there is a particular dialogue where one of a handful of participating characters is speaking French. In this dialogue the fact that he's speaking French is a central point of the scene, as none of the other characters can understand him, which is necessary for t... (more) |
— | about 11 years ago |
| Question | — |
Do script readers start at the beginning? Script readers-- the people who sift and sort the vast piles of scripts submitted to Hollywood -- do they start at the beginning? The reason I ask is that I know 99% of scripts are awful and just get thrown out after a couple pages....but if that's true, do they even bother starting at the beginning... (more) |
— | about 11 years ago |
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How do authors gain strong familiarity with archaic and extremely rare words? I keep thinking about this because I've lately been reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, and it's just ridiculous. I have to look up 1-2 words per sentence sometimes, something I'm only used to doing for Joyce. Apparently McCarthy is well known for doing this sort of thing. The book was writte... (more) |
— | about 11 years ago |
| Question | — |
Converting Word pages to book pages, for novels? The title says it all. How can I gauge how long my novel would be, if for example I've written 400 single-spaced pages of size 12 Times New Romans in Microsoft Word? (more) |
— | over 11 years ago |
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Effective ways to enrich your active vocabulary? I come across words like rectitude, like laudatory, like indigent, and being an experienced reader with a strong grasp on my native language, I know what they mean. They're words that I know. But they're not words I think of when I'm writing. I know a thesaurus is a great friend, but honestly, I ca... (more) |
— | over 11 years ago |
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How do authors incorporate languages they don't speak? In many, many English-language novels I've come across characters who speak other languages, most often French for whatever reason. In many cases, such as with Ulysses and Lolita, this is a simple matter, because the author was multilingual. He simply wrote the characters himself. But that can't al... (more) |
— | over 11 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Writing a novel which has the same structure and a particular theme in each chapter This poem is one of the best ever written, for my tastes, and is worth reading. http://www.writing.upenn.edu/afilreis/88/stevens-13ways.html The poem has thirteen stanzas, each contributing its own elegant detail to the overall portrait of the blackbird. Any stanza in the poem could stand on its o... (more) |
— | over 11 years ago |
| Question | — |
Should you specify camera action in a film script? Some scripts I read specify the exact camera angle of every shot-- where the camera starts, what we see, how it will move during the scene. And some scripts are a little less specific. Is this only because the former is the shooting script, a modification of an earlier script so as to include such ... (more) |
— | over 11 years ago |
| Question | — |
How can I develop my ideas? A problem I run into frequently is that I am struck by an idea, more accurately termed "a premise," for a story, but then I can't decide what to do with it. I think of a million ways to present the idea and I can't really decide on how to proceed. Example: Say I have an idea for a sci-fi short sto... (more) |
— | almost 12 years ago |
| Question | — |
How does joint authorship work? I'm in the middle of reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, and it occurred to me that I'd finally found a good place to ask a question I'd been wondering about for years. How do authors collaborate on works of fiction? Do they alternate chapters, or...? Is there any common, standard ... (more) |
— | almost 12 years ago |
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What purpose does it serve to obscure the title of a TV show? Okay, I tried finding this on Google to no avail, and lit.se is gone, so this is sort of my last resort, so I'm trying to make it a writing question. I'm breezing through The Perks of Being a Wallflower, since I missed it when I was in middle school and now the movie's coming out and I hate seeing t... (more) |
— | almost 12 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: My cool character is doing nothing for the plot. How do I deal with him? Oh, so your protagonist needs to get to the store badly but his car is in the shop? This guy has a car and some free time. Oh, so your protagonist is after this girl? This guy is her brother. Oh, so your protagonist is trying to bring down the dark king? This guy is good with a sword. Oh, so your ... (more) |
— | almost 12 years ago |
| Question | — |
How to plan dialog and keep it on track? When I'm writing a plotline, it often works out that I know two characters will be meeting each other in a particular scene, and that they will converse. And I oftentimes know the central idea of what needs to be communicated, and I see to it that it is. But dialogue is more than that, and oftentime... (more) |
— | almost 12 years ago |
| Question | — |
How do I cleanly show the passage of time, with multiple, varying time scales? I was re-reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone recently to get a feel for the way J.K. Rowling passes an entire year in a fairly short book that feels content packed, and I noticed something very common which I hadn't previously put any thought to. With respect to the passage of time, the bo... (more) |
— | almost 12 years ago |
| Question | — |
How/When to create deliberately boring characters? Among a million other ambitions under the general heading of "Writing," I have this fantasy where I write a major series, several books long with a giant cast. But I started thinking. In giant series like the recently famous Song of Ice and Fire, Lord of the Rings, Golden Compass, every other giant ... (more) |
— | about 12 years ago |
| Question | — |
When to use single quotes in narrative writing? I understand there's a certain element of stylistic freedom in using quotes, double quotes, or neither. But what are the specific cases when single quotes are generally recommended? (more) |
— | about 12 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How can I catch more errors when I proofread? I think the answer to your specific problem is that there is no simple solution. There is no trick. Reading out loud does definitely help, but ultimately if your mind is subconsciously fixing the errors as you go so that you read right over them without taking any notice, it's going to happen when yo... (more) |
— | about 12 years ago |
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A: How Important are essay writing conventions in the university level and above? Speaking as someone who's gotten As on essays through the entirety of an American education, I would say that the answer is-- yes and no. That conventional scheme works very well, which is why it's so common. But a good writer can pull off almost any kind of format for an essay: the sky is the limit... (more) |
— | about 12 years ago |
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A: What is the best way to learn technical writing? Personally, I'm heavily in favor of #3 as a way of learning anything and everything to do with writing. I too spent several years studying engineering and have done my fair share of technical writing. If you're not a horrific writer to begin with, I feel you should have no trouble picking up the styl... (more) |
— | about 12 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Is there a name for this kind of sentence structure? A cursory search yielded a few instances of other people asking the same question on other sites, but no actual technical terminology or guidelines. I agree with LaurenIpsum's comment: I think this is a writing technique which, like all others, is a stylistic choice of the writer. Look at Faulkner's ... (more) |
— | about 12 years ago |
| Question | — |
Why are some words in screenplays set in all caps? I believe I understand this and I'm looking for confirmation. Examples: It has become a tugging match with the Weird Man shouting, "I'll take you to a taxi... I'll take you." Ahead, a group is gathered on the sidewalk near two ambulances. People clamor to get a look at a BLOODY BODY which lies ... (more) |
— | about 12 years ago |
| Question | — |
How do you estimate the length of your screenplay in screentime? The title says it all. I'm talking about a feature-length film here, although I'm sure the techniques are universal. (more) |
— | about 12 years ago |
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Avoiding "and" as a sentence structure I have a horrific habit I'm finding it very difficult to break. A disturbingly large portion of my sentences consist of the same structure-- two parts separated by "and." I don't know how to break the habit. Please help. Example: After awhile our words subsided, and I commented on a picture of his ... (more) |
— | about 12 years ago |