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Posts by Alexandro Chen‭

147 posts
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Q&A Placing a "strong" verb before a "weak" verb

I'm not very sure if "weak" and "strong" are the right adjectives. Here's an example: Getting on my knees, I turned to the right. Crouching on my knees, I turned to the right. Does the "...

0 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question creative-writing
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Q&A Is alliteration distracting and not very valuable/interesting for the reader?

I tend to use alliteration a lot. This is an example from a story I'm writing: "Let me get this straight," Aru said, sliding on her dress. She always felt frosty after failed fornication. "Yo...

2 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A How does the length/position of action tags affect the dialogue?

Example: "Exactly." John scratched the nape of his neck. It had a faint, purple blotch I hadn't noticed before. Probably sunburn. "Our lives began in the sea, and will probably end on land....

0 answers  ·  posted 8y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Are using adverbs in dialogue/action tags a sign of bad writing?

Examples from my own writing: She smiled kindly. “Maybe I can help you. What are you trying to find?” "Probably," he said apologetically, as if he were personally responsible for t...

0 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to format common words that are made "special"?

In my novel, there's something that the characters refer to as "darkness". It symbolizes the bad thoughts of depressed/suicidal people. A short silence. I imagined Joel nodding his head in the ...

4 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is it a good idea to stay away from past progressive in fiction?

I never noticed this in my writing until one of my readers pointed it out: We were driving down the highway in Tom's Toyota 4Runner, dim streetlights passing by, the night city scene fading b...

0 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Exaggeration vs believability in humor writing

Exaggeration is a device in humor. On the other hand, you need to care about believably in writing, especially in fiction writing. For example, I'm writing a story where the main character goes to...

0 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A What makes a bestseller - Writing or Setting?

Neither of those. They can certainly make a novel enjoyable. But make it a best-seller...I'm not sure. For instance, I've never heard people say that they want to read a novel because it's set in N...

posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Main noun: How do you decide where to place it?

I'm not very sure if it's called "main noun" (sorry, I didn't pay attention in my grammar class). But anyway, here's an example: I decided to start my search at the library. Why? Well, it had m...

0 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question style grammar
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Q&A How do you decide where to place a filler?

Examples: "I've always been interested in marine biology, as far as I can remember. "As far as I can remember, I've always been interested in marine biology, Of course, we ...

0 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A What's the initial small caps rule of this book?

I want to use the same initial small cap rule of The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. But I still can't figure it out. Some examples: TALKING HEADS’ Fear of Music is on my record player, so I low...

0 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is it OK for a first person narrator to directly state the other character's emotions?

Example: I gasped. Tom swallowed. He was also surprised by the maid's sudden appearance. In this case the narrator is directly talking about Tom's feelings. I gasped. Tom swallowed. He al...

0 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Should I drop the quotation marks in a chapter that consists mostly on a character telling a story?

The structure looks like this: Chapter 10 (...) And so Cath began telling me her tale. Which turned out to be grimmer than I'd expected. Chapter 11 "I've been suffering fr...

1 answer  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Are the tenses of the following piece correct? [closed]

I almost drowned in the this ocean of tenses. Anyhow, did I make any mistake? It was almost two, so I said goodnight to Mom and went back to my room. Once on my bed, I took the gold tooth out...

1 answer  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A How much repetition is too much repetition?

This is a question that'd been bothering me for a while. Here's an example: My heart racing, I wriggled to the edge of the bed and fumbled for Travis' hand. Just make sure to hold onto it, he...

2 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is it OK to use "I guess" in fiction?

Example: I groaned. Why was I doing this? I guess I was afraid of losing him. Like it or not, he was my only guide right now. Does it sound strange since the tense temporarily changes to th...

2 answers  ·  posted 9y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A First conversation scenes I've written (looking for errors, conventions, and improvements according to writing standards)

I would like to know if I'm doing something wrong (according to writing standards) in the following conversation and how to improve it to help readability, quality and feeling (making it more inter...

2 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to attract the average reader to an "intellectual" novel?

For instance, If I write a novel which has the following: “The universe goes through a gradual transition from one condition, to a different condition, without any abrupt changes.” ...

1 answer  ·  posted 13y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question creative-writing
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Q&A In what order should I describe a setting?

For instance I'm describing the park of an art museum in a foggy day. I'm not sure if I should start with the fog, wind, grass, threes, walking paths, buildings, stairs or something else. Is there ...

4 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is a novel less credible if the dialogues are too perfect?

I always find myself trying to make dialogues perfect. For example, the perfect advice, the perfect punch line, the perfect joke or irony. OR maybe if the characters talk continuously without stopp...

3 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question creative-writing
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Q&A Is it possible that my short novel will be boring to my readers because it only has two characters and the location doesn't change?

In my story, there are two characters: a schoolgirl and a strange person with a creepy mask who gives her a tour in an art museum at night. Well, actually there is a third character; the boyfriend ...

5 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Has this dialogue enough suspense to engage the reader?

I still have to make some grammar and writing corrections but I would like to know if this dialogue Has this has enough suspense to engage the reader (so that he or she wants to read more)? “Excu...

2 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question fiction suspense
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Q&A Do writers use highlighting to clarify ideas in their work in progress?

In programming we often use syntax highlight in order to have a better picture of what the role of particular bits of code is (using different colours). I wonder if writers do something similar - ...

2 answers  ·  posted 13y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is it a good idea to write a summary of a plot before writing the full version?

Sometimes when I write a plot I get confused about the motivations of the characters and how events connect as I change elements. Is it a good idea to write a summary first in order to organise th...

1 answer  ·  posted 13y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Question planning style
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Q&A Critique of short essay [closed]

Basically I need some critics regarding the following points: Does this description essay archive its goal (a creepy story with a 'sappy' ending)? How is the 'rhythm' of the story (is there some...

1 answer  ·  posted 13y ago by Alexandro Chen‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭