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Activity for wetcircuit‭

Type On... Excerpt Status Date
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Answer A: Books in a trilogy are significantly different lengths. What to do?
I'll give another option: 8) Split a major (sub)plot in half, and move the 2nd half into to a later book. It will definitely take some re-writing, but your 1st book seems overloaded. The temptation is to drop the weakest subplot, but consider splitting one of your strongest storylines into a before...
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over 4 years ago
Question Character is called by their first initial. How do I write it?
A character's name starts with a hard G, as in Gary. Another character (dismissively) calls him by his first initial "G", said with a soft G, as in gee whiz. I've been using the letter G, but it's giving me the willies in formatted text. I don't know that it's wrong, but it pings wrong to my eye. I...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: The seven story archetypes. Are they truly all of them?
Do you want the most stories, or the least stories? The ad infinitum of plot lists is probably the book Plotto: The Master Book of All Plots by William Wallace Cook. It's a manic collection of (often bizarre) story vignettes, with an algebraic formula for how to string them together. It claims to of...
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almost 5 years ago
Question In a script how can I signal who's winning the argument?
Arguments, discussions, disagreements In my script I have a lot of "arguments" – loose definition: long discussions where characters disagree about what to do. These arguments don't escalate to a full-blown fight, rather they are more like sparring and establishing dominance. It affirms characters...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: How to write a sincerely religious protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?
Save the cat All the standard tricks will still work. Readers can like the protagonist through some simple actions that show he he is a kind person. Allow him to help someone in need, show a kind heart, concern for suffering, and consideration for those who would go unnoticed. Make him relatable A...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: Is an easily guessed plot twist a good plot twist?
I'm going with a frame challenge. Not all reveals are a "twist" A twist is new information that changes the meaning of earlier events. This is done by writing 2 plots with the same events. The MC believes the 1st plot until the twist when the 2nd plot is revealed as the true version of events. Read...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: Magic is the twist
You need a major twist earlier in the story. The promise to the reader is that there is a debate about the strange events, and that things don't always turn out as they appear. That makes your ending "fit" within the possibilities defined by the story. > Strange events have happened and have been s...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: I don't want to be introduced as a "Minority Novelist"
Author talking points and author background might give a reviewer or journalist something to write about. 1st-time fiction authors are – publicity wise – a dime-a-dozen. If there is a way to talk about the book and it's author, some "angle" that suggests the main character is unique and authentic be...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: Sense of humor in your sci-fi stories
> My question has been provoked by the fact that I have a very spicy joke for a specific situation in a sci-fi story and I'm not sure how readers would react to that. I'll stick to this specific situation. A discussion about what is funny, and how humor works is way too broad. "No movie is worth a ...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: Should fiction mention song names and iPods?
It tells us nothing The phrase Gary Jules 'Mad Mad World' has no emotional resonance with me whatsoever. It is not shorthand for "a specific emotional state". Popular music is not a universal experience. It can signal to your "tribe": people who are the same age, gender, financial tier, and probabl...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: Averting Real Women Don’t Wear Dresses
Inanna's Journey and "girly" heroes There are traditional "girly" heroes – often they take the pattern of Inanna's Journey. Rather than "leveling up" like a plucky male hero, Inanna's Journey is about maintaining wits/dignity/femininity while losing or descending in status. Once she's lost everythin...
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almost 5 years ago
Question Should I explain the reasons for gaslighting?
I have an ambiguous script situation, 2 co-protagonists begin gaslighting the MC. They each have ulterior motives which they don't say. The reader is intended to infer the lies through contradictory statements, and the abrupt character change. The shift is so extreme it calls into question everything...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: How to represent jealousy in a cute way?
Acknowledging that the top answer cautions controlling another person is abuse , and abuse is never cute , I'll try to suggest ways to minimize the issues. - Avoid Blame : The lover is not at fault and clearly not doing anything wrong. The protagonist can see this, and trusts the lover, but can't he...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: How to write a convincing religious myth?
You might want to present the in-story text as a parable which means the story has a teachable message, rather than words like "mythology" or "religion" which imply a spiritual calling. > the role of the text in context, and the protagonist's reaction to it are the important points The protagonist ...
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almost 5 years ago
Question How do I indicate a superfan review vs a social-criticism essay?
I occasionally write short essays about classic films, and have been thinking about converting them into video essay for YouTube. What I observe are 2 very different types of essay – I'm not sure what to call them. One type approaches the work as a superfan. The canon story is revered, and the deta...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: How is character development a major role in the plot of a story
Orson Scott Card described 4 types of story he called M.I.C.E. The goal is not to exclusively write 1 type of story, but to be aware which type your story is, and then work to include some of the other types as support. The technique is called M.I.C.E. Quotient. M.I.C.E: - Milieau ("big genre" set...
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almost 5 years ago
Question How do I subvert the tropes of a train heist?
What are the recognizable tropes to a "train heist", or more broadly the action sequences where a protagonist boards a moving train in order to stop it? My protagonist is the unreliable guile heroine who has been playing at hero the entire book. She typically over-inflates intrigue, misreads clues, ...
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almost 5 years ago
Answer A: Plot twist where the antagonist wins
Hero-always-wins is a trope I wouldn't call this a plot twist. A twist is a reveal. It changes how events earlier in the story are perceived. This is subverting a trope. The trope is an expected cliché: "the hero always wins", but then you break or subvert expectations. (See 2016 for middle-aged me...
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almost 5 years ago