Activity for hszmv‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Answer	—	A: Is it a bad idea to have multiple bad endings and only one good ending? The game "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" had a system where each side quest's outcome (and some choices that were tied to the main plot and couldn't be avoided) were recorded. At the end of a full play through, the marvel character Uatu tells you how each of these choices (including never acting on the c... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: 'The Chosen One' paradox This is the beauty of the Oracle scene in the Matrix and the Beauty of Breaking the Vase (Upon entering the Oracle's kitchen, the Oracle tells Neo not to worry about the vase. Neo looks around for the Vase, and ends up knocking it to the ground, shattering it. As Neo appologizes, she sums up your noo... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How does one add puns in another language? Puns, by there nature, have a weird translation issue. Sometimes they just don't work because, they are play on words, but the pun doesn't work in the new language because those words don't sound close. Other times, they work way more universally than anticipated because the format doesn't rely on si... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can I make names more distinctive without making them longer? Another problem with this system is how the brain reading English doesn't require spelling to be correct, especially if the word has 4 or more letters. Basically, it's entirely possible to read the intended misspelling word so long as the first and last letters are in the correct place and the letter... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Capitalization after interrupted dialogue As a general rule, I tend to use dashes where the character is dramatically interrupted where as ellipses are used when it's a subtler interruption. I.E. > Tony:"But at least Thanos doesn't know where the final-" > > Steve: "OH CRAP!" vs. > Tony:"But at least Thanos doesn't know where the final.... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to write about a homosexual relationship when I haven't experienced one? Honestly, it should be easy for a straight guy. First, pick one of the couple who is the more main character... from which side do we experience the relationship (if the two are both secondary characters, which character is introduce first? Use her.) Now, write her experience in the relationship as i... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Why do professional authors make "consistency" mistakes? And how to avoid them? It could be that the author is highlighting the similarities between the two. It could be creative provincialism (A U.S. writer not knowing that a British person would not say that, or vice versa). It could be that strange minds think alike (An example from Spongebob Squarepants where both Patrick an... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do I write a MODERN combat/violence scene without being dry? As someone with ADHD, I've always found that the best way to right action, especially in battles and combat, is fast. Use short sentances... this isn't the time you want to be descriptive because all hell is breaking loose. Say what you need to say and move on. With your third paragraph, I'd focus o... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Mortal danger in mid-grade literature I recall reading Animorphs as a kid, which featured kids describing in detail such gruesome things as losing limbs, bashing bad guys over the head with said severed limbs, and being completely bisected (all in one book no less... the bisection was actually the cause of the major conflict of the book)... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to write a chaotic neutral protagonist and prevent my readers from thinking they are evil? So it's important to note that morality (good vs. evil question) is not the same as legality (Lawful vs. Chaos). A prime example would be a Nazi solider who guards a concentration camp (Lawful) from a German resistance member, who tries to free the prisoners (Good). If we look at the Loony Tunes, we... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to choose ideal number of main characters? Super Sentai (better known as Power Rangers in the West, though not the same show) recently had a season which started with 9 core members of the team, and ballooned to 12 by show's end (Rangers mind you, we're not talking about secondary). They got away with it by making several unique elements. Fir... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How would we write a misogynistic character without offending people? I thought one of the best discussions in film on a topic like this occurred in Jurassic Park, the "Sexism in Survival Situations" scene. In this scene, John Hammond and Ellie Saddler (forgive spelling mistakes) are discussing where the circuit breakers in the park are located and how to turn them bac... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to write exciting updates? I used to run a Star Trek RP game and when doing cliffhanger-esque sessions all the time. Normally I'd start off the next game with a short recap about who was where and when and why.... Since this was Star Trek, they had a distinct format for this model and would always begin with "Previeously on St... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Finding out about other countries' military day-to-day I would recomend Yanks with Tanks and Brits with Battleships from TVTropes' UselfulNotes section (They also have a bunch of nations with weapons articles, all that detail the nations military set up, even if historical, like Rebs with Repeating Rifles, which is about the military of the Confederate S... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Answer	—	A: Do hard to pronounce names break immersion? I generally like to write that names are "anglicized" if they are indeed made up for the convience of the reader. For example, I once wrote an alien main character named "Kyron" and even then, I have at various times changed pronunciation in my head and had it pronounced it "1st syllable rhymes with ... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to write a memorial plaque? Generally, I would start with "On this spot on/in [full date or year of deed] event occured i.e. 500 people gave their lives for the Union May we honor their memories/Continue their work/[Insert Pithy Pledge to remember for reasons here]. I would also recommend a famous quote either made by one of t... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is it bad if I don't like the "best" books in my chosen genre? I had a similar issue with a standardized story from genre. I'm writing a lot of Superhero-genre stories and one of the stories I hate is when the hero's friend or girlfriend or some other close relation gets the Hero's Powers and the friend is upstaging the Hero and they have to fight. I hate those ... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How best to avoid the appearance of stereotype? So this recalls a Key & Peele sketch featuring two office workers, one who is an ordinary office worker and the other who is a flamboyant gay stereotype cranked up to 11 who believes that said ordinary office worker is persecuting him for being gay. The gay character is loud, obnoxious, and annoying ... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How much realism do I put into a war simulation story for Young Adults? Hell, the Animorphs series could get very frank at times with the themes of war and the moral implications of a guerilla war on children... There was a point in my reading where the ploy of having one of the heroes lose a limb (in an animal morph) was kind of something the series had desensitized me ... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: What are some conventions for creating a sense of urgency? I do have to comment that your first example is getting kinda laughable in it's ability to cause a sense of Urgency... we all know it will be the last possible second that the bomb will be defused, especially in the climax and the heroes are present. A better example would be a Hitchcock bomb where t... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: What is the voice called when the narrator is a secondary character? Typically, this is an Epistolary First Person (on wikipedia it's listed as Epistolary novel) if the narrator is presenting facts after they have happened in such a manner as to be read as a false document of events. The best known version of this is the character of Dr. Watson from the original Sherl... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do you write boy & girl protagonists without turning them into a love story? As yet another male with a female best friend, this happens frequently (I think I'm more often than not better friends with women than with men.). And I can say that there are some people who will see romantic love no matter how much you stress there is none. And they aren't wholly wrong. Love manife... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Creating a logical framework for the concept of "decisional causality" So my solution to this problem was the rule that can be boiled down to the following: The Past is set in stone, the future is clay. The present is the kiln. Basically, knowledge of a future event will automatically make anyone privy to that knowledge unable to change the past... those still ignorant... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How many characters are too many? This isn't unreasonable. To give you an idea of a long cast list in a novel, take a look at the Harry Potter series. There are a ton of characters of various import to the narrative. Jim Dale, who recorded the U.S. audio books of the series, holds the Guinness Book Record for most voiced characters i... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Writing a Novel Set In The Future I would say that this setting isn't unheard of and is easy for readers to forgive. The problem will be that technology doesn't always advance at the rate you expect it to.. the common complaint is "Where's my flying car/jet pack/hover board!" The flip side of this is also true: Some tech seen in futu... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to make the reader think that the *character's* logic is flawed instead of the author's? So this would be where we would want to use dramatic Irony. Set up a scene where the hero is presented with a similar yet distinct logic question and takes the opposite answer. One of the best examples of this I've recently seen occurred in the recent Avengers: Infinity War Movie. As this is still in... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Referencing modern pop culture in science fiction I face the problem myself when I dabble in future SciFi stories and settings, I like to use a "Famous 3" where the third one is an oddball that is either comically modern compared to what we see Or are obviously alien. For example, in dialog, the hero would refer to the "Three B's" of music (a real t... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How are suspected persons referred to in news articles? @F1Krazy does have a good answer but I'd like to add a few things. The age in U.S. is whether the accused is being tried as an Adult or as a Juvenile. The former is named and the latter is not. There are cases as young as 13 that have been tried as Adults and this is usually based on both age at tim... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Just how Different are Male and Female Readers? I wouldn't put too much stock into this. In the 2000s, the best selling children's book series were (in order from best to worst) Harry Potter, Animorphs, and Goosebumps. All three are book series were intended for a male audience though the two best performing series were written by women. Despite t... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do you know when to give up on a writing project? So speaking as someone who has "abandoned" a 50,000+ word novel and its 50,000+ word sequel that had been written and were in various stages of editing, I think I can help out a little. And the reason why I did are numerous and include real life butting in, a rethink of the universe lore that would r... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Should I, and how should I develop a "filler character"? Generally, trios work because a trio follows an Id-Ego-Superego dynamic. Two better display it, I'll swap out characters for two famous fictional trios: Repsectively, this can be the McCoy(Bones)-Kirk-Spock dynamic OR the Ron-Harry-Hermione dynamic. The Id (Bones, Ron) is the emotional and intuitive... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is it OK to introduce a character to leave it simmering to a later date? Perfectly doable. Consider the upcoming Marvel Movie "Black Panther." The hero and at least two of the other lead characters were introduced in 2016, two years (and five years) before his movie's debut. And before that, the film's villain was introduced 3 years (and seven movies) before his movie's d... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Should I defend my character's appearance? There is a story that in the early days of Fonzi from Happy Days, a network exec said he wanted The Fonz to lose his leather jacket cause it made him look like a punk. The head writer agreed, but on condition that Fonzi could use the outfit if he was on his motorcycle, because it's legit safety equip... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: 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? I'm going to echo the leave it for now finish your story crowd. It might actually work later if you can work it into some payoff in the future. I always like to point out things like "Hot Fuzz" which is a very boring opening with a lot of odd dialog... the payoff is in the second half where the dialo... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to write from the male point of view? I'm going to go out on a limb and say just write the character and let the chips fall where they may. There's a lot going on in the brain and we don't understand this. Although I appreciate some ideas about genetic determinism (aka the need as an animal for basic necessity of life), the fact is that ... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Question	—	Writing accented dialog guides? I was wondering if anyone was aware of a quality guide or text translator that would allow for realistic accented dialog speech? Say I wanted to write a character with a Texan Drawl or a heavy Brooklyn accent and wanted his dialog to have a consistent style, is there a resource that could help me por... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Use of real organization in fiction So, I would categorize three possible real life organizations: Government Agency i.e. a Government of a country controls this agency as part of it's administration. Political Organization i.e. An organization that provides support for politicians in the election process. In non-democratic nations, ... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Answer	—	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? From a movie/tv perspective the classic "12 Angry Men" has 12 characters (it's a jury) and never leaves the jury deliberation chamber save for the ending. Similarly, the Deep Space 9 episode, while having to deal with SAG rules that staring actors must appear in a bulk of the episodes, it's carried ... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Term for writing mostly in first-person, but switching to third-person for things the POV doesn't yet know? I've done this a lot because a lot of my fiction takes queues from Comic Books which do this a lot (My first inspiration were the mid-2000s Superman/Batman comics which had some great mileage out of this by showing the interal thoughts of Superman and Batman in parallel to show that both men think si... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Could I be overdoing it on my first story? This stuff is called "The Bible" and is mostly exclusive to the right... it's essentially a way the writer can keep track of ideas, rules for the universe, characters, possible themes, how all this relates. I come from a school of thought that the first duty of every writer is to surprise his or her ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Are the following examples violations of first-person limited? The Animorphs fanchise used this exclusively through all 54 main title books (told the main story through a fixed rotation of one core cast per book), five "Megamorphs" books (told from a rotating POV of the core cast in a single book) and 5 Chronicles books (told from the POV of one or more non-cast... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is it good to add 'I believe' at the beginning of the sentence? If your working on a piece for publishing that will attack a figure or orgainzation, "I believe" could be useful to denote that the accusation is not based in anything provable. For example "Spider-Man is a threat and a menace" is a statement of fact. However, J. Johan Jamerson is opening himself to... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: There's an actor with my lead character's name - how big a problem is this going to be? I wouldn't put too much stock in it, especially if they're a Voice-Over Actor who only appeared in a decade or so. I would take a look at his acting credits i.e. which shows he's been on and look at the fanbase of that show. Ultimately, Voice actors get a lot of bit parts and not a lot of recognition... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Creating a fictional place within an actual city? I'd say who cares beyond the University students and staff. Most fictions fudge it somehow. I would say it matters if and only if the building in question is instantly recognizable to a general audience. I was once writing a scene that had a chase sequence through the White House grounds and I had a ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago

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