Activity for Craig Sefton‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Answer	—	A: Why aren't detective stories written in the protagonist's POV? My suggestion is you should read more detective stories! There are plenty that are done from the viewpoint of the protagonist. Probably the purest form of this is the private eye monologue, which is the signature style of noir (especially film noir), and almost always means the novel or film is from... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Are there any rules to follow about the narrator mixing past and present tense in writing? A narrator can mix up past and present tense without issues, especially if the narrator is telling a story now about events that happened in the past, but is giving their thoughts as to what they think now after the events have occurred. This way, you can disagree with actions taken by characters, or... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Do I have to capitalize ESP in sci fi fiction sentences? As stated in the other answer, ESP should be in all caps. One way around this problem is to come up with a term that people would use in every day usage to refer to someone with this ability. This happens all the time in science fiction and fantasy (and, it should be said, in real life). Alfred Beste... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Do writers copy other writers? Well, first of all, Picasso never said it. Please see, for example, this investigation which could find no evidence to suggest Picasso ever said this. In fact, the earliest quote that could be found to resemble the non-Picasso quote was by W. H. Davenport Adams, who wrote "That great poets imitate an... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: What pronoun should a hermaphrodite species use? You have a number of options: - If the narrator of the book is a human, it would be entirely acceptable to use "he" or "she" (no point in switching between them) throughout the book as standard, with an explanation for this usage by the narrator. Ursula Le Guin's "The Left Hand Of Darkness" used "he... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How Can You Include Public Stakes in a Character Novel? I'm not entirely sure your example demonstrates the lack of public stakes. The world of the novel is the immediate world the character inhabits, a social world that encompasses all the characters whose lives are affected by what happens in the novel. In your Jane Austin example, this would then sugge... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	How to avoid formulaic fictional structures while still using tried and tested techniques? There are several books that provide an excellent breakdown of the elements that make a good story or script. For example, The Writer's Journey by Christopher Volger identifies common archtypes and narrative structures, and the various stages of the hero's journey. Save The Cat by Blake Snyder breaks... (more)	—	over 10 years ago
Question	—	How do you avoid the problem of a collaborative work having separate voices? I've not done collaborative writing before, but I've read several works, and sometimes the text strikes me as having a split personality: some parts were clearly written by one author, while others were written by another. (Note: I would give examples, but I can't remember any off-hand because I'm a ... (more)	—	over 12 years ago
Answer	—	A: Are fantasy books expected to be trilogies? This is a bit like asking how long a piece of string should be. A fantasy work should be as long as it needs to be, no more, no less. One book, three books, ten books, as long as that's how it should be, then great. Trilogies are a classic in literature, going back to Greek plays. The reason they'r... (more)	—	over 12 years ago
Answer	—	A: Why should I try to create realistic fantasy characters? To me, this question confuses what "realistic" means when it comes to characters in fantasy. Characters should be realistic in the sense that they're realistic for the story itself, not necessarily realistic because they conform to our known norms, cultures or behaviours. In my mind, what readers l... (more)	—	over 12 years ago
Answer	—	A: Source ideas for monsters in a fantasy novel? Have a look around for the AD&D 2nd Ed. Monstrous Compendium (or whatever the current equivalent is under their new rules), which listed hundreds of possible monsters (I think there were several of these books). Easy enough to get ideas from these, or other RPG books. For my own part, I tend to scou... (more)	—	almost 13 years ago
Answer	—	A: How little "fantasy" can be in a story and it still be recognizably fantasy? As a basic boundary, Fantasy depends on what couldn't be. The amount of fantasy can be slight, or it can be grand, but that strangeness element must be there. More importantly, for a work to be recognised as fantasy, it will require someone of authority deciding that it is fantasy. Karen Joy Fowler i... (more)	—	almost 13 years ago
Answer	—	A: Do Fantasy novels have less readership than a Realistic Fiction novel? I'm assuming that when you say "realistic fiction", what you really mean is "non-fantasy fiction". Then the answer is, of course fantasy has less of a readership than "realistic" fiction, because you're comparing one genre against the collective power of all other genres. If we start looking at comp... (more)	—	almost 13 years ago
Answer	—	A: What are widely-used UK-English style guides? As far as UK style guides go, what you're probably looking for is the Oxford Guide to Style, formerly known as Hart's Rules (that link also contains a useful section outlining what the nearest US equivalents are). The University of Oxford website also provides an on-line style document, but it's nowh... (more)	—	almost 13 years ago
Answer	—	A: Example of a fictional story without any characters (the story being 1000+ words) Unfortunately, I can't think of any stories that follow your strict requirement on excluding anything that "is able to reproduce". The closest I could come is Ray Bradbury's short story, "There Will Come Soft Rains" (note: link goes to a PDF file). Unfortunately, there are some animals in it, and hu... (more)	—	almost 13 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do you avoid the problem of all the characters in your story sounding the same? The best way to avoid this problem is to understand your characters as deeply as possible, and remember that it is the character who should speak, and not you, the author. The things characters say and the way they say them are products of who they are, so knowing as much about them as possible will ... (more)	—	about 13 years ago
Answer	—	A: What are the ingredients for a good book review? Your list is pretty good, but it's missing something a bit fundamental. Most reviewers tend to think that they're trying to help someone make up their mind whether or not to buy a book based on the what they think of the book's contents. This is only half the equation. What a reviewer also needs t... (more)	—	about 13 years ago
Answer	—	A: Our note in footnote of a book I'm assuming here that you mean you've got your own footnotes, but some of the citations from the original work contain their own footnotes from that work. If this is the case, the first question to ask is: do you need the original footnote? If not, then remove it. If you do need it, then I would s... (more)	—	about 13 years ago
Answer	—	A: When should I use punctuation with bullets? There are a number of ways I've seen this done. For single word items, I suggest either use no punctuation, or use semi-colons, with a period for the last item. For example: - Apples; - Pears; - Oranges. You could use the same type of structure for sentences as well: - I am happy; - She was happy... (more)	—	about 13 years ago
Answer	—	A: "...and the fire from the stove engulfed him" or "jumped on him" or "covered him" or "devoured him" or what? It depends on what you want to say/imply. "Engulfed" implies the fire completely surrounded him. "Jumped on" is an odd one, because it implies that it only affected a particular part of his body. It doesn't sound severe, either. "Covered" is similar to engulfed, but isn't as strong. "Devoured" al... (more)	—	about 13 years ago
Answer	—	A: Should you read your own genre? I would say 100% you should be well read in your genre. There are several reasons why, but the most important is because you should become familiar with conventions in your genre. Why is this important? Because you know what readers are likely expecting when they read your book. By being familiar wi... (more)	—	about 13 years ago