Stu W‭

This user was automatically created as the author of content sourced from Stack Exchange.

The original profile on Stack Exchange can be found here: https://writers.stackexchange.com/u/15736.

Posts

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Q&A Resurrecting a story: Rewrite or Edit?

I started a book about 2 years ago, got about halfway through, and then got sidetracked. I know this is a typically bad habit of novelists... Fortunately, the book idea that distracted me made it t...

1 answer · posted 9y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

Question editing revision

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Q&A Plural of the scholastic grade A

There's a similar question right now, and I have an issue: How would one write the grade of A in plural? For clarity, my smart device isn't smart enough for italics. I will use bold. In general, I...

1 answer · posted 10y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

Question style

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Q&A Where should I place a comma in this sentence?

Punctuation is a style issue. As such, you can determine as the writer the message you want your readers to understand. A nonessential clause is an unnecessary piece of information which adds expl...

posted 10y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

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Q&A Story Structure

I'll be brief as the other answers are thorough and valuable. 1) Novels succeed because they are good stories. Three-act stories are consistently successful, but many books become bestsellers with...

posted 10y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to write a scene where the villain meets the protagonist?

Western audiences are into heroic self sacrifices in "brother v. brother" conflicts, such as the archetypal death of Ben Kanobi at the hands of Darth Vader in Star Wars, Episode 4. Some, like the ...

posted 10y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

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Q&A Describing laughter in dialogue?

I'm having a problem that is not addressed by The Chicago Manual of Style or the AP Style Guide I have access to: How does a writer express laughter in fiction? I have seen no consistent answer. I...

3 answers · posted 10y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

Question style word-choice

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Q&A How can I create an inter-connected plot across a series?

I would suggest working backwards following completion of book 1 after outlining book 2. This of course requires you to finish book 1 and make alterations before going into query mode (or self pub...

posted 10y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

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Q&A How linear should I be in writing my story?

Like many answers in life: it depends. I'm not sure how Ulysses works, but I imagine it can splice/paste ideas, keep virtual notecards, and whatnot Some writers draw out long outlines and try to ...

posted 10y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

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Q&A How can I convey something without going into details?

Use your characters. What are their lives like? Working plumbing? Toilet paper? Are the streets safe? You can use dialogue rather than prose. "What do you mean there was no milk at the store? They...

posted 11y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

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Q&A How do I write sexual tension between two characters?

Tough question--especially if you've never experienced that type of thing. You might get quite a few suggestions here. My own conclusion is to say that, by the end of the book, the reader wants th...

posted 10y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

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Q&A Switching to fiction software

OK, I admit to dinosaur-era technology. My first computer was the Radio Shack Color Computer 2 with a tape deck for memory storage (seriously). Websites were in DOS (let's just say you were lucky t...

2 answers · posted 10y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

Question tools scrivener

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Q&A Use of the Oxford comma

The oxford comma is the second comma in the sentence I like the colors red, white, and blue. Every grammar textbook I've ever seen, as well as the major style guides, feels that this is "proper" de...

0 answers · posted 11y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

Question punctuation technical-writing

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Q&A Is it good/bad/neutral to introduce a character's day to day life if it's immediately going to be drastically changed?

My favorite performance of this task was Magic Kingdom For Sale--Sold! by Terry Brooks. It spends about a chapter in the Ordinary World and then goes back a couple of times. To answer your questio...

posted 11y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

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Q&A My Conflict Doesn't End at the Climax. What can I do?

I thought of three things. From least to most appealing: 1. Letting it linger As you say, once person X is found, the story is complete. You can write an epilogue like you mentioned, but you can ...

posted 11y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

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Q&A When not to use commas before dialogue (and capitals)

Difficult concept and varies with style guide. In general, 1) It Is appropriate to capitalize the first word of a full sentence within a quote (motto s have different rules). 2) All versions of T...

posted 11y ago by Stu W‭ · last activity 7y ago by System‭

Answer

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Reputation		260
Top-level posts		6
Answers		17
Received votes (up minus down)		46
Edits made		0

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Stu W‭

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