Activity for Jay‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Answer	—	A: How does a new writer keep from getting scooped? I hear this worry from many beginning writers. Often the question includes something along the lines of "What legal steps can I take to protect my work from being stolen?". Here's my capsule advice to new authors: Don't worry about it. There are a million would-be authors out there, all competing fo... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can I determine the public opinion of an author? If an author is a best seller, presumably the general public's opinion of his writing is high. Even if someone was taking polls on "Do you like the writing of X?", I think books sales are a much better indicator. People are actually willing to pay money for his books. They must think they're worth re... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: What's the benefit of inventing a fictional region, if it's based on a real one? I think the main advantage of using a fictional place is what you perhaps allude to in your comment about "adaptability". With a fictional place, you can invent whatever you want that helps your story. I've occasionally heard people really nit-pick details of a story set in a real location. Like, "W... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Would employing the use of philosophical ideas in fiction without citing the sources be considered plagiarism? Plagiarism is an academic violation. If you wrote a scholarly article for a professional journal and did not give proper credit to your sources, you would be guilty of plagiarism. If you were caught you might lose academic standing, maybe even lose your job at the university. But works of fiction ar... (more)	—	almost 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can basic grammar rules be skipped when writing text for machine safety labels? I'd say yes, but ... not if it loses clarity. Warning labels have to be concise or people won't be able to read them, or won't bother to read them. For example, a label that says "HIGH VOLTAGE" expresses the warning very briefly and concisely. Yes, it's not a complete, grammatically correct sentenc... (more)	—	almost 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can I use names of characters and groups that other authors/creators have used already? There are probably lots of names and titles that are coincidentally repeated in multiple books. To take a silly extreme, if someone tried to sue saying "He had a character in his book named John, and I have a character in my book named John. He's stealing my character name!", I can't imagine the cour... (more)	—	almost 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: What makes a plot twist believable/unbelievable? What makes anything in a story believable or unbelievable? Is it consistent with what we know of human nature, the laws of physics, etc? (If this is a fantasy or science fiction story, is it consistent with the laws of physics et al as this story has set them out to be?) Is it consistent with what ha... (more)	—	about 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can technical writing suck less I agree with @mbakeranalecta that the purpose of tecnical writing is not to entertain but to inform. I recall a textboook on software development that I had in college where the text was regularly interrupted with little stories about "Sally's first day as a programmer" and the like. These stories w... (more)	—	about 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: The difference between two speech formats About 99+% of books printed in English use quote marks for dialog, not dashes. Why are you considering using dashes? Is there some advantage to this for your story? Like any rules of writing, you can always break the rules if you have a good reason. But like any rules of writing, I would strongly a... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Should I describe my characters going to the toilet? As others have said, if it doesn't advance the plot, leave it out. A story doesn't have to mention every little thing the characters do. A story that did would likely be mind-numbingly boring. "Three ninja assassins prepared to burst into the room. The first assassin moved slightly to the left to gi... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: Why does this software suggest capitalizing the word 'dragon'? Grammarly is simply wrong. "Dragon" here appears to be used as an ordinary noun. There is no reason to capitalize it. The only reason to capitalize "dragon" would be if it was a proper name or part of a proper name. Like if you were talking about the "Dragon and Unicorn Tavern". Well, or if it happen... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do you determine if a plot device is too coincidental? Several good answers and I don't want to repeat what they said, but let me add: I think you can almost always get away with ONE coincidence that gets the story rolling. Like suppose the story begins with two people who are fierce business rivals just happening to meet in a social setting and becomin... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: What to do when characters disagree with the plot? I don't read romance novels, but I've seen a few romance movies. It seems to me that finding some odd way to get the characters together is pretty typical of such movies. Having two people meet through a dating service is fairly boring. So neither of your characters is outgoing enough to initiate a ... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What makes a bestseller - Writing or Setting? If I had a formula for what makes a book a bestseller, then I'd have a bunch of bestselling books to my name instead of the lame few hundred copies my books sell. I think the biggest factor in making a best-selling book is that the author is already famous. If a big-time Hollywood actor or a well-kn... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to decide whether a story is worth writing? A story does not have to have a profound message that will change the life of everyone who reads it for it to be worth writing. There are many things that can make a story worthwhile. Sure, if you have some truly profound message that you want to relate, that's great. But really, the purpose of most... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is the following deus-ex-machina? If so, should I remove it? As others have said, people tend to notice others with common interests, and they tend to go to places where people with common interests are likely to go. Suppose you are really interested in, say, Amish furniture. You are driving down the street and you see an Amish furniture store. Is that a biza... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: "Empty-space" vs "three-dot" scene break To the best of my knowledge, there is no widely-accepted rule of when asterisks are appropriate versus when extra white space is appropriate versus other possible conventions. To my mind, and for what it's worth, a row of asterisks indicates a bigger break than a blank line. One catch to white spac... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Who do I cite as my source? As others have noted, you cite the source that you actually used. If A quotes or describes B, and you have read A but have not read B (whether because it's not available, you just didn't bother, or whatever), then you cite A. It is generally considered better to go to original sources. If some later... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do I write numbers in dialogue? Arguably, one could say that the pronunciation of such a string is ambiguous. Would someone say it "em five five slash nine eight seven dot three" or "em fifty-five nine eighty-seven point three" or other possible variations. If the "M" stands for something, do they say the word or just the letter "M... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to balance for readers who are not technologically literate Side note: This problem isn't limited to computer jargon. There are many stories where the characters discuss things that all the characters would know or understand but a reader would not necessarily, like science, historical events, or things about their friends. For example, yes, if a character sa... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Why are the paragraphs of a document often indented and not vertically separated? I've never heard this style called "academic". I don't know if you just made that phrase up or you heard it somewhere. But since I was a wee lad in school 40 years ago, I've always been taught that there were two styles for writing a paragraph: "block style", where you put a blank line between parag... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can I have my characters do bad things, without sending the wrong message? I've had quarrels with some of my friends where they say that some book or movie is bad because it depicts people doing evil things. And I say, But look HOW it depicts them! It clearly depicts them as evil and destructive! There is a huge difference between a story in which a character does evil and ... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to keep going after a failed project? Several thoughts here. The first is, don't be discouraged by failure. Learn from it and move on. We all fail sometimes. Thomas Edison, when discussing his attempts to invent a practical light bulb, once said, "I haven't failed. I've found 600 ways that don't work." His point was, trying something an... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: "Thought" Verbs: A sign of weak writing or a stylistic choice? Advice of that sort should rarely be taken absolutely. If you get advice like that from a reasonable person, they will not say, "Never use ..." but rather "Avoid ..." There are lots of writing techniques that are easy to overuse or mis-use, and so you should be careful about them. But just because so... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Past tense vs present tense In English we normally relate stories entirely in the past tense. "She had green eyes." If she's still alive presumably she still has green eyes, but that isn't the point. You're talking about what someone did or saw or thought or felt at the time of the incidents in the story. Those are all in the p... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: When mentioning two items in a sentence, should I specify which one I'm referring to in the next one? The key is to make the connection reasonably obvious. Simple example. "Bob and Fred entered the office. He sat behind the desk." Who sat behind the desk, Bob or Fred? We don't know. You'd have to change something to make it clear. But, "Bob and Sally entered the office. He sat behind the desk." Now... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: Copyright issue when referring to a textbook Are you copying material from this textbook into your book? Or do you mean that you are just writing, "See page 42 of Such-and-such book"? Usual disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. But as I understand U.S. copyright law, if you are not copying the actual words from another book, you are in no danger of v... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to show characters learning something in a non-boring way? "with all the details included" If you mean that literally, then your book will be teaching the reader Japanese. Which probably won't make for an interesting novel. If you can really merge together teaching the reader a new language with an entertaining story, that would be a great achievement, and y... (more)	—	almost 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: When should one *not* present events in chronological order? Perhaps the most common reason to tell a story out of order is to put an exciting scene at the beginning to get the reader interested. Then go back and put in all the exposition to explain how that scene came to happen. Another reason is if telling the story in order would give away important inform... (more)	—	about 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: Where to put counter-examples within a 5-paragraph essay? In my humble opinion, it's a good idea in a persuasive essay to at least acknowledge counter-arguments. If you simply ignore counter-arguments, and a reader is aware of them, his response is likely to be, "Well, he just completely ignored the fact that X." As Paul Clayton says, if you give the pro, ... (more)	—	over 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: Create and using a custom version of a part of an existing mythology Several thoughts: In general, adapting a myth or a classic story is something that is done all the time. Many, many stories are described as "an updated version of Romeo and Juliet" or "the myth of Odysseus set on a starship" etc etc. I'm a little curious when you say that the link between your ver... (more)	—	over 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: Should this introductory quotation be translated, untranslated, or dropped? In general, for a popular work it is bad style to include quotes in a foreign language. Most of your readers will not understand them. An old enough flavor of English is a "foreign language" for all practical purposes. Modern readers can struggle through Shakespeare, but much before that and I'd tran... (more)	—	over 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is muteness appearing without explicit reason acceptable? Is the point of the story to realistically discuss how this person became mute, in some clinical sense, or to spin a story around the initial premise that he is mute? If the story is intended to be a discussion of medical or psychological realities, than this is the wrong place to ask. You should be... (more)	—	over 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: Level of description in a story I think the general rule should be, Will the reader care? I heard a speech once by an American who was a reporter in Nazi Germany during World War 2. When I saw the advertisement for his lecture I thought that sounded like it might be very interesting: someone who was there, in the midst of the enem... (more)	—	over 10 years ago
Answer	—	A: API reference doc: best practices for describing opaque parameters? This surely depends on the specific tool that you are using. The only tool that I am familiar with that meets your description is Javadoc, so I want to be cautious not to make assumption about how other tools might work. But with Javadoc, there is a built-in way to describe parameters. The whole poi... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Using hyphen points Yes, you should try to be consistent. It is very distracting if you have bullet points with wildly inconsistent text. This looks silly: > - Include an invoice with the package. > > - Free shipping; > > - Have you checked that all items for this order are carefully packed? > > - Label, Make them ... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Dream analysis research If you're not knowledgeable in the field, then it is unlikely that anything you write will be convincing to someone who is. But as several have said, if you're writing a novel, then by definition it's a made up story and not real life. If you're writing a science fiction novel, then there is going to... (more)	—	almost 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What are the advantages of different date formats in resumes and CVs? Bear in mind that a compact numerical date format like 01/02/2013 uses a different convention in the US than in Europe. In the US it's interpreted as month/day/year, while in Europe it's day/month/year. So if you're writing a document that might be read in both hemispheres, I'd avoid the compact form... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is a glossary needed in a novel? I'd say first, can you just translate the words in the text and not give the original? Like in the example you give in the comments on Fortiter's post, why not just write, "Toward the beach, there was the village hall that performed a ceremonial dance every evening" ? (Or more likely, "... where a ce... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Tenses I should use in a translated-novel Most stories in English are written in the past tense. If it happened five seconds ago, it's still past. Occasionally writers put a story in the present tense with the idea that this will give a sense of immediacy. If done well it can certainly work, but it's unusual, and any unusual writing style t... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What exactly is the "five (consecutive) word" plagiarism rule? I haven't heard this five-word rule. But I can easily think of many sequences of five words that no one would seriously consider plagiarism. > I think that I will > > was the first time that > > Britain, France, Germany, and Italy > > all men, women, and children > > March 1 of this year > > tu... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Multiple authors in MLA header I just checked my copy of MLA Handbook and I find no guidance on this case. The only example it gives has a single name. (I'll readily yield to someone who can point out that I missed something.) Given that, I'd just say, "Do something sensible." It's conventional in other instances, like footnotes, ... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Question	—	avoiding making all your characters sound the same We surely all have little quirks to our speech. Like my daughter once criticized my writing for using the word "surely" too much. (See, I used it on this post.) So how do you keep all your characters from sounding the same in dialog? That is, how do you keep them all from sounding just like the writ... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Combatting Excessive Familiarity Of Writing For something book-length, just don't do your re-read immediately. Don't Write chapter 1, re-read and update chapter 1, write chapter 2, re-read and update chapter 2, etc. Instead, write chapter 1, write chapter 2, re-read and update chapter 1, write chapter 3, re-read and update chapter 2, etc. When... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: A cross-[What] kind of romance? I'm not familiar with this "domain" level in taxonomy. That must be a new idea since I was in school. Of course Linnaeus originally defined the kingdom as the highest level, and he identified three kingdoms: plants, animals, and minerals. When I was in school I was taught that biologists debated whet... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Non-cheap ways to make villains evil? On the flip side, let me comment that one thing I really dislike in many works of fiction is when we are told that someone is a villian, but he never actually does anything evil. To take a well-known book as an example: Consider "The Picture of Dorian Gray". The whole point of the book is that Dorian... (more)	—	over 11 years ago

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