Activity for Canina‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Question	—	How to present an alien culture with different morals, without it coming across as savage? For a fiction story of mine (probably fantasy, if I had to categorize it), I've set it in a world that is in some ways similar to Earth, and in other ways very dissimilar from Earth. In place of humans, there's a race of sentient, intelligent creatures that have evolved from carnivores. In doing so, ... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to keep track of characters' location, within a longer narrative? Looks like I came up with my own approach in the end. At least, nobody seems to have mentioned it. LibreOffice Writer (and probably most other word processors) supports adding comments. They are displayed in the sidebar, exist outside of the text itself, yet are attached to a location in the text (s... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Naming my characters For me, if I can't think of a good name for a character (or for that matter any other world element), I hold off on naming it. Instead, I give it a temporary name. Anything that is reasonably easy to type and remember, yet not too likely to show up in the text otherwise, works. The first priority for... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Footnotes for Translation purposes First off, I basically agree with Cyn's statement that lots of footnotes can make a text feel more like an academic work than a novel. That said, you say that the purpose of these footnotes is to help a translator. Ask yourself: Why would such notes, in whichever form, intended for an extremely nar... (more)	—	about 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How does a writer go about consulting experts? I actually find it somewhat intriguing that you're asking this on Stack Exchange. Consider that by now, Stack Exchange has over 170 different sites on different subjects, which aim to draw professionals and dedicated amateurs in the respective fields. Stack Exchange isn't the only such site. There'... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to write a polite reminder email? Regarding the bullet point on the message being "respectful", I would like to point out something which I don't see being stated explicitly in any of the previous answers. This goes equally for both original requests and reminders alike. Make it actionable by the recipient. Give the recipient a cle... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to think of a good beginning? At this point: don't sweat it. You've got ideas, and you need to put something on paper (or the computer) to get yourself started. So take one of those ideas and go with it. Any half-way decent opening will do as well as any other at this point, because you aren't writing something that your readers... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is writing big facts about a character's background good when first introducing them? This feels like a classic example of telling rather than showing. Think about it. In both of your examples, the narrator is telling things to the reader. There's no real story going on there; it's just facts. The only actual story is that Nick is chopping wood. You aren't even showing us how the woo... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Does everything have to be accurate? I kept coming back to this passage in your question > I keep feeling the need to explain everything in hyper detail Please, consider just not to. There's a saying along the lines of that the author's ability to use magic is inversely proportional to the level of detail to which that magic is defin... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is it ok to reference names of real world people? Well, first off, like ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere mentioned, make sure to be careful with how you portray a real person. There are many possible ways to mess up, not least of which is libel which was mentioned in the previous answer. However, and I have said this before: don't make the reader look thi... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: Writing what my family may not want to read I'm inclined to suggest that you go with what DPT posted as a comment. Start writing things down in some manner. If nothing else, record the facts, including the facts about your thoughts, feelings and emotions in the moment. You don't have to share the first revision with anyone. In fact, it's nor... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to derive a storyline from a beginning? A story is about one or more characters. These need not be human, and they need not necessarily even be living beings (a story about an AI's struggle for equality could make an interesting sci-fi story as well as an allegory to our world past and present...), but they should be something that the rea... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Question	—	At what point does a POV character noting their surroundings go from showing/telling to an infodump? In a story I'm working on, at one point one of the main characters (also the POV character in this case) arrives at a new location which he has never been in before. This is the first mention of this location within this story, so the reader can also be assumed to be completely unfamiliar with the lo... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Introduce new English dialect When you introduce something like this, it's good to ask yourself if it would be normal within the context of the world that your story is set in. In this case, would the other characters in your story think of it as weird, or would they think of it as a normal trait for (in this case) people, say, ... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is Wikipedia Trustworthy? I like to say that broadly speaking, Wikipedia is mostly trustworthy when statements are cited, but it's never a source. There are several parts to this. Wikipedia is broadly and mostly trustworthy -- Most of the time, especially in articles of broad interest, errors are caught and at least flagged... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Housing fictional characters If you want inspiration on the interior or exterior of a character's home, then there's no reason you can't use homes that are for sale for inspiration. If the problem is simply that those web pages are only available while the home is actually for sale, then save the images and any other relevant de... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: What information about a fictional world is unnecessary? First off, I basically agree with Chris Sunami's answer; the worldbuilding is primarily for you as the author or storyteller, not for the reader. However, and I know that this is repeating an old cliché; do the specifics truly matter? (Chekhov's gun applies.) Does it make a great deal of differenc... (more)	—	about 7 years ago
Question	—	How to keep track of characters' location, within a longer narrative? I'm currently working on a piece which has characters coming and going. Basically, sometimes a side character is near the main (also point-of-view) character, and sometimes that same side character is somewhere else. To give you an idea of its length, it's currently about 23,000 words of English pros... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: Acronyms in Technical Writing I don't think there is any one rule that fits every case here. The golden rule, if anything, would be to not overburden the reader, but keep in mind what they can be expected to know up front. Not overburdening the reader includes not giving irrelevant facts just because you can; if the reader simply... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Answer	—	A: What is the best way to avoid plagiarism when importing information from a source? The best way to avoid plagiarising content is by avoiding plagiarising content. Now, as obvious as that probably sounds when stated like that, bear with me for a second before you hit the downvote arrow. This question really boils down to, do your texts really need to include the actual text of the ... (more)	—	about 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: What symbols are used after difficult words in a text to refer a reader to a glossary for a definition? If you can live with it not being after the word, my dead-trees encyclopedia which was written long before web 2.0 was all the hype uses something like the form `►someword` (that's U+25BA from the Geometric Shapes Unicode block; Black right-pointing pointer) to refer specifically to other subjects fo... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Techniques for creating a bridge between protagonists from different generations Another possible alternative might be to have the younger relative find a letter, diary or something like that written by and set aside by the older relative. The text could recount events from the time period of the older relative, and as the younger relative reads it he/she could reflect on how wha... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Software for developing and organizing characters You may want to have a look at KeepNote. It's open source and runs on a number of different platforms (Windows and Linux packages are available), but it doesn't do everything you want out of the box. To address your particular considerations: > - something like a filesystem, with a file for each cha... (more)	—	about 11 years ago
Question	—	How to convey that the POV character *does not understand* what's said in dialogue? The general advice is often to focus on the content of what's said in dialogue and just write it in the reader's language, largely whether the characters would use that language or not in-universe. See for example the answers to this recent question or for that matter universal translators. Howeve... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Units to use in travelogue-book (time, weight, temperature, distance, etc) The simple solution is to use in writing whatever units are most appropriate at that specific spot in the text (probably with a heavy overweight toward the units the reader will be accustomed to, so imperial units if you are targetting a US audience), but to include a conversion table right at the be... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: What is the correct location for page numbers in a report? In the absence of a particular style guide , I would put the page numbers on the top of the page, toward the outer side. When printing single-sided, this means put them in the top right corner. When printing double-sided, this means put them in the top right corner on odd numbered pages, and top lef... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: First Chapter for Free? I would strongly advice against offering a "pre-release sample". Offering a first chapter or two for free to get your readers hooked before they have to pay is a nice touch in my opinion, but providing a portion of your novel before it is all finished sounds risky. What if you realize by the 80% mark... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to share the work, if writing fiction in a team? Another option that doesn't seem to have been mentioned, which might work if you are writing multiple-POV-character fiction, is to switch viewpoint characters between chapters and let each writer "own" one or more of the viewpoint characters. As long as you have a reasonably firm outline, this allows... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Should I write about how the character solved some riddle or let the reader solve it himself As always in a good story, I'd say it depends. Is the riddle itself relevant to the story? Or, is the method of solving it relevant to the story? If so, I think it's fair to show the reader how the protagonist solves the riddle, even if it ends up boiling down only to something like he thought about... (more)	—	over 11 years ago
Answer	—	A: Text Editors. Suggesting & Tracking Changes to Plain-Text Documents I kind of doubt that there is a standard for it, at least. You might get away with using some marker that isn't used anywhere else, like `###`, to indicate a changed passage, but I'm not sure if that really qualifies as markup. In any case, it would have to be an agreement between the people involved... (more)	—	almost 12 years ago
Answer	—	A: Text referencing protected, trademarked™ and copyrighted© names, what is the correct procedure? There is nothing wrong with Chris' answer, but I'd like to add two things. First, (c) (from the title of the question) or more accurately ©, is copyright, which is not used with company or service names. So you would never write Facebook©, although if appropriate you may write © Facebook. Second, ®... (more)	—	about 12 years ago
Answer	—	A: Effective ways to enrich your active vocabulary? The only way to really expand your vocabulary is to, when you find that you need a word which does not immediately "come" to you, look for an appropriate word in reference works. Go grab a thesaurus, an encyclopedia, a dictionary, or some other reference work (or refer to ones online), and look it up... (more)	—	about 12 years ago
Answer	—	A: Creating Shared Worlds I worked with a friend on what basically amounted to story-telling in a shared world, but which out of necessity also involved quite a lot of world exploration and some building, because the characters we worked with only interacted to a limited degree. What we did amounted mostly to "killing time", ... (more)	—	over 12 years ago
Question	—	Coming up with names for species in fiction? When you are writing a story that is set in a fantasy world (maybe our world with just one made-up element, or a completely different world), what is a good way to come up with names for species that aren't just names of Earth species with minor variations? It's easy to call a bird of prey a Tlkachti... (more)	—	over 12 years ago
Answer	—	A: What content parts should a technical (IT) CV have? There are probably about as many ways to write a CV as there are people who have ever read or written at least one. You might want to include at least also an e-mail address in the contact details section. One thing you would put into the Additional section (unless you add a specific section fo... (more)	—	almost 13 years ago

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