Activity for Yuuza‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Question	—	How to make the villain relatable/human without making the hero seem like a monster for killing him? I have a story I'm writing which has a villain that, in order to make him more human/developed, I gave him a relatable, tragic and/or disturbing life story, gave him plenty of reasons to be who he is and do what he does (understandable or almost), and made him the hero of his own story. For story re... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	How to make the reader think that the *character's* logic is flawed instead of the author's? Following up on my previous question, "How to make the villain's motives understandable if his logic is flawed?", how can I let the reader know that the lack of logic is on the character's side, instead of the reader thinking that I couldn't give a better motivation to him? Usually, to achieve tha... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	How to make the villain's motives understandable if his logic is flawed? In a story I'm writing, the villain has his motives for his attitudes. However, he is very mentally disturbed, which makes the logic of his motives be kind of illogic to other people (including the reader). So how to make the reader find understandable the villain's motives even if it's illogic? ... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	How to prevent seeming like a Marty Stu-ish villain is cheating? In a story I'm writing, there's a villain who is a genius strategist that can get anything he wants, whatever it is, by developing perfect strategies that can have only two possible outcomes: 1, success, or 2, success. His plans never fail because he always has a plan B, and each plan B has a plan B,... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Can I make a character make a philosophic observation or say their opinion, even if it's unnecessary for the plot/story? I have a character in my story who has the habit of making philosophic observations about life and the functioning of things, or his opinion/vision about something. Although most of his observations make the story better with them, some don't or not much, but they also don't make it worse, it's simp... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	How to prevent turning off the reader at first with a protagonist with unlikeable traits but that becomes better later on? I have a story where the protagonist, who is a warrior meant to be the story's hero, has several unlikable traits. He is proud, kind of cold, has a hatred for the people of the enemy State (without exceptions, which makes him support war and sees no problem in killing soldiers), has a limited knowled... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	"Real people don't make good fictional characters". Really true? I came across such statement here on Writing SE and I don't agree much with it. But what I'd like to know is why would it be "impossible" to make good characters using real people. Searching about this, I found that one of the reasons that it's not recommended to use real people as characters is bec... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	How to *show* a controversial reality without seeming like I'm treating it as acceptable and without making it explicit that this is wrong? I have a story which has some controversial social problems, and my intention is to just show these issues (for drama) realistically and impartially (i.e. just showing the facts, without imposing any opinion). But the problem is that, by doing just that, I can be accused of "making apology" to these... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	How do I spot an unintentional promise in my story? It's commonly said, mainly here on Writing SE and mainly by Mark Baker's answers, that "a story is a promise". The beginning of the story sets the promise and the ending fulfills it. A story that doesn't fulfills its promise is unsatisfying. I understand this when I intentionally make a "promise" in... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	Is the "what" more important than the "how"? Or in other words, is the plot/story more important than how it is executed? I'll use as an example a fantasy I'm writing. If I boil it down in a few words, it would be "a kinda-typical-but-different medieval save-the-world fantasy done right". The "but different" and "done right" are the best part... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Question	—	To make my art or to work for the readers? (For a profits-intended work) I want to make my art, to express with no limits. However, I also need to profit with it. If I sell my art purely, the readers might not understand, like or be interested in it, and thus resulting in low sales, although I would like very much what I've done. If I want more sales, I would have to wate... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Is it a bad habit to cause too many deep permanent changes in the status quo of a story that envisions sequels? I have a story I'm writing which envisions some sequels. However, although the timeline and world are the same, such sequels are so different from each other that I feel I'm causing too many deep permanent changes in the stories. As far as I know, and based on what happens in the market I study and ... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Is a neutral/impartial story "boring"? In one of my wanderings through the interwebs, I stumbled upon the idea that "neutral stories are boring". A neutral story is a story that doesn't support any side, i.e. an impartial story that just shows the facts and you decide who is the hero and who is the villain or whether there is any differen... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	If I unnofficially create a theory and use it in my story, will it have any validity that I'm the author of such theory? I have some theories that I've contrived, some are philosophical, others are logical or physical, and some are just jokes about life told in a theory format. But I'd like to use some of these theories in some of my works. I didn't wrote any article or anything like that about them and never "official... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Should I be concerned about relatability or can I just tell the story the way it is? As far as I understood from my readings, relatability seems to be one of the most important aspects of a good story. A relatable character is a character that makes the reader say "I know that feel, bro..." and thus creating a connection between the reader and the character, and consequently also the... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	When my story has a powerful phrase but that loses its power when I read it again in the next day, should I keep it or remove it? Sometimes I have a great idea of sentence (usually for a dialogue) and it is just so nice, beautiful, epic, badass, powerful, or whatever other positive impression. However, sometimes I read it again in the next day(s) and it is just flat, cringey, contrived, life-less, or any other negative/neutral ... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	"The more fleshed out the character is, the more the reader will care about him". Always true? I have a problem with the protagonist of one of my stories. In the story he's in, he dies at the end (self-sacrifice), so I readily made sure to flesh him out the most possible, because, at least in my understanding, the more the reader knows about him, the more they will care about his death, and th... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Tracing the line between a (genuinely) dramatic and a melodramatic/over-dramatic story By definition, melodrama is a clearly exaggerated drama, in which the characters' actions, reactions and speeches are intentionally very exaggerated. However, through my readings here on Writers SE and the public's impressions on some works, I find myself confused, because it's quite common to a type... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Question	—	Variations of the same story? I have a story I'm writing, and since when I started, it changed many times the route and focus, and in some of these changes, I found two possible paths for the story to advance on, and I already chose which one will be. However, both paths are very good and with great potential, and I don't want to... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Question	—	What are character flaws and what makes a good one? I mean, what exactly defines a flaw for a character? I know that the character's flaws should have at least some impact in the story, instead of being just a mere detail, but what makes flaw X better than flaw Y? Is it how much it impacts the story or how interesting it is? Diseases or personal probl... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Question	—	Powers with unknown limits vs ones full of rules, limits and reasons? I'm in a dilemma: I don't want my characters to have flawless, limitless and bad-consequence-less powers, but I also don't want to have my creativity limited by such rules and limits. In my case, it's not a book, but a multimedia work, i.e. such powers are visible, with flashy effects and all, inst... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Question	—	Is it a bad habit to reveal most of the information still at the beginning of the story? This is a habit I have with my stories, and I think it's a bad practice. The story I'm writing isn't of the suspense genre, it's a mix of fantasy and realistic fiction, but a bit of "I wonder what/who/how would that be?", and showing the answers later on is never a bad thing (if well implemented). I... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Question	—	Is it needed to add breaks in a depressive story? I'm writing a somewhat depressive story that has no comic reliefs and no happy scenes/moments (except the ending and one or two in the beginning). The only scenes that aren't sad or negative are the romantic scenes (although it becomes sad when the reader knows the story around it), the action scenes... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Question	—	A long backstory right at the beginning Just as I heard from various sources, a plot has to start with what the reader will find through most of it. And that's what I did, the first scene shown is the main event that triggers the story. Such scene includes action, romance, drama and violence, basically just what is seen throughout the stor... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	Do it your own way or inspire in already done ways? Firstly, I'm sorry if I end up being too vague in my question, but it's really hard for me to express exactly what is the problem. I was watching a video of a walkthrough of a game (Drakengard) and listening to the story, when then I remember one of the stories I'm writing, which is of a similar typ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	How many subjects in the same story is "too many"? And is it too bad? The story I'm currently writing is a framed story where a recurring-depression-suffering writer that lost his wife [killed] in a war tells his life story in a symbolical fantasy world. Throughout the story, he doesn't just show the sub-story protagonist having his wife killed, but also going into a j... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	A villain that doesn't even know the hero's existence? In the story I'm writing, the villain is a tyrant who is taking over control of the world (a very small one, with only two continents) as he pleases. The hero and many other people are affected by his actions, besides many other sub problems he is causing. But then the hero rises and head to the vill... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	Preventing spoilers in a short yet interesting synopsis of the story The story I'm writing is all about discovery, so 95% of it needs to be unknown by the reader at first. But I just don't know how to make a short description of it, for example when telling to a friend about the story, or even an official description, that doesn't spoils anything but still gives enoug... (more)	—	almost 8 years ago
Question	—	A protagonist who knows little about the world he born and grew up in until majority (present)? This protagonist born and lives in a peasant village in a medieval-like age, where education and science aren't known much. But a certain awful event occurs in this village that leads this character to leave his homeland and starts a journey to put an end to the causer of such event. But many things... (more)	—	almost 8 years ago
Question	—	For trilogies, is there any order of time periods the story should follow that is considered more appropriate? Like totally chronological (starting in the beginning of the world's story events and going on to the future), or in the present-past-future order, or another? Is there any specific time order better or more advantageous than the others? (more)	—	almost 8 years ago
Question	—	Naming a book in a language different from where it would be published: is it good? The book is being written in Portuguese, would it be bad if the name is in English? The name is just "The Awakening". I prefer the title in English because it sounds better than in Portuguese ("O Despertar"), which sounds a bit like a generic fiction. But would it be good? Because "awakening" is a w... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago