Galastel‭

I start writing a short story, I'm loving it. If I didn't love it, if I didn't want to tell it, I wouldn't be writing it. I finish the first draft, I still love it, and am so proud of completing i...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Leo‭

You do not mention whether you're telling your story in first person or third, and if in third person - limited or omniscient. In third, your task is easier, since you have the narrator to mention ...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭

You're saying you've written yourself into a corner. You appear to have to options, and you don't like either. You're forgetting: you are the writer. You are god. Your story is not set in stone, yo...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Having googled Kurt Vonnegut's writing tips, I found several different explanations of tip #5. Since all explanations have some merit (as far as being useful advice), and since I don't know which o...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

The military, the medical professions, police, etc. - they have their professional jargon. One noteworthy characteristic of this jargon is the extensive use of abbreviations. Those abbreviations ar...

3 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Monica Cellio‭

There are pitfalls into which you are more likely to fall if you base your protagonists on yourself and/or people you care about. These pitfalls can trouble you regardless, but if you're basing a c...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

@CrisSunami is spot-on: don't introduce all your characters at once. Don't start with a scene where they are all present - start with a few characters, then bring in more. Having a great many unfam...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

At the moment, it appears we're receiving rep for Meta questions and answers, same as for regular questions and answers. Is that how we want it? I can see arguments both ways: Participation in M...

0 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  edited 5y ago by Galastel‭

The "stupid action" of your character needs to line up with the traits that character usually shows. It cannot be a random action taken out of the blue - that would, as @Amadeus points out, break t...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

You are right in thinking both that details are needed - they make the scene come alive, and that the details shouldn't be random. I use the scenery details first and foremost to set the mood of a...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

The examples you bring are of food taste described badly, as @MarkBaker explains in great detail. Those descriptions fail to evoke what they're supposed to evoke, and instead take your mind to all ...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Christian culture is dominant. Thus, even without being Christian myself, I can recognise, understand and appreciate references that are within that culture, like the Pietà: Sam sat propped aga...

5 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

In an interview that I can't find now, Neil Gaiman stated that the short stories in his latest collection Trigger Warning had one element tying them together: they were all the short stories he had...

posted 6y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

In English, the dialogue tags you want to be using most of the time are "said" and "asked". "Answered"/"replied" is also OK. Those dialogue tags are transparent, as it where - our mind slides off t...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

One element of curating is which answer got accepted. It relates to what Amadeus says about first answer getting all the votes: the OP presumably sees all answers, and picks the one that helped mos...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭