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Activity for Galastel‭

Type On... Excerpt Status Date
Comment Post #37873 Following your logic, libraries should be forbidden entirely - you get to read books without paying *anyone* for them. Does that really make sense to you?
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about 4 years ago
Comment Post #39502 Hmm, if we allow worldbuilding questions, then, as per Mark Baker's answer, we might as well allow any research questions that a writer might need to answer, e.g. forensics. We *can* turn ourselves into a general platform for writers, to research all sort of stuff - I sort of like the idea. Are we eq...
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about 4 years ago
Edit Post #39434 Post edited:
about 4 years ago
Edit Post #39434 Initial revision about 4 years ago
Answer A: How to write strategy and schemes beyond my real-life capabilities?
Here's an element you want to consider: if I'm reading about a group of characters coming up with a plan, and then I read about them enacting that plan without a hitch, I've just read the same thing twice. That's boring. You have two ways out of this problem, and both serve you for creating "geniu...
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about 4 years ago
Comment Post #39307 Perhaps we could add a mention of this to the "Claiming Your Stuff" section of the [Welcome post] (https://writing.codidact.com/questions/39219). Mark wasn't the only user who had his account deleted since September.
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about 4 years ago
Comment Post #39299 If changing what the Ask! button does depending on where we are is complicated, how about adding a second button - "Ask-Meta!" ? That would clear the confusion, I think. It could be a temporary solution, at least.
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about 4 years ago
Comment Post #39331 Re-asking old questions - there's merit in that. I remember getting frustrated more than once when I had to edit and re-edit my question to explain how exactly it differed from the "suggested duplicate". It always was different, but I had to "prove" it. We're not a technical site, questions might eas...
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about 4 years ago
Comment Post #39331 I wholeheartedly support the "more lenience towards conversation" part. We want to build a community here. Community is built by personal interaction, a.k.a conversation.
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about 4 years ago
Comment Post #39412 @ArtOfCode I don't know if that's doable, but one thing I always wished I had on SE was bookmarking answers, not just questions. Sometimes an otherwise unremarkable question had an answer that addressed a broader topic, and I knew I'd like to come back to that particular answer again. Could we perhap...
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about 4 years ago
Edit Post #39431 Initial revision about 4 years ago
Answer A: How shall we handle our old (imported) content?
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 most. That helps draw attention to that answer, which might not be the first one. I suppose we're going to ...
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about 4 years ago
Edit Post #39303 Initial revision about 4 years ago
Answer A: Is it illegal if I use religious material in writing my novel?
Some countries have blasphemy laws. Those blasphemy laws might be "protecting" all recognised religions in the country, or only the state religion. In some countries, like Iran, those blasphemy laws are routinely used to persecute minority religions (because they disagree with the state-sanctioned in...
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about 4 years ago
Edit Post #39291 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Answer A: In a dialogue, how can I hint that the characters aren't telling the whole truth?
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 things that C might be missing. I do not mean the narrator hanging a lampshade: "C didn't notice how ...
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39285 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Answer A: Changing avatar issue
Image alt text Screenshot of error. Couldn't edit this into the question - "Insert image" not available when editing.
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39284 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Question Tags: regular/Meta, and tag wikis
Just checked: the tags for regular questions and for Meta are all available everywhere. I can ask a question tagged "feature-request" on the main page, for instance. Is it possible to have them separated, with only the relevant tags available in each place? Also, once we start seeing new users, we...
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39232 Point of curiosity: what about users who deleted their user on SE in protest over how Monica was treated? They might want to come here. Is there any way for them to claim their content?
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39283 Post edited:
over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39283 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Question Rep for Meta questions
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 Meta is part of building a community, which is something we want. So rewarding that might not be a b...
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39282 @ArtOfCode insert image isn't available when editing the question for some reason.
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39282 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Question Changing avatar issue
When trying to use here the same avatar I used to have on SE, I got the following error message: 413 Request Entity Too Large I can only assume that SE does an auto-resize, which we don't yet have here. Could we have that please?
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39281 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Question How do I distinguish between self-doubt and objective recognition of fault?
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 it. But by the time I'm in my third or fourth draft, I begin to feel that the core idea of the story is...
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39279 Amadeus, re: Meta tags, that's because the question is in the wrong place. See my relevant question on Meta: [Confusing Ask! button on Meta](https://writing.codidact.com/questions/39280) (Your question being on the main page rather than on Meta is how I found the problem - tried to figure out what ma...
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39279 This is particularly important since at the moment we don't have buttons that do the formatting for us: we have to do the markup manually.
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39280 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Question Confusing Ask! button on Meta
The "Ask!" button at the top of the page - when you're browsing Meta questions, you could easily think it means "Ask on Meta". Particularly if you're used to the SE format. But it doesn't - it means "Ask on the main site". Could this be addressed some way? It would be most convenient if the button...
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39220 And another thing: I comment, then I comment again, if in the meantime somebody else posted a comment on the same answer, I don't see it. Not even when I've posted - I need to refresh the page.
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39220 Something else I just noticed: links in posts to other posts link back to SE, rather than to their copies here. Not high priority at the moment, but something to be aware of for later.
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39220 @ArtOfCode unrelated, but am I correct that questions and answers were all imported, but not comments on posts?
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39223 Anyway, for the avatar change, I figured I should click "save". Not *that* technologically ignorant. :) An hour ago, it did nothing. Now tried again, the tab crashed.
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39223 Apparently the issue solved itself all on its own. Also tested commenting on posts that aren't mine - works. Maybe something with the first few minutes after the account is created?
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over 4 years ago
Comment Post #39223 @ArtOfCode Nothing shows up in my console. But I seem to be able to post comments now. Weird.
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over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39223 Post edited over 4 years ago
Edit Post #39223 Initial revision over 4 years ago
Answer A: Welcome to Writing on Codidact!
This answer is a test. So far I found I can upvote, but cannot post comments. Testing if I can post answers. Edit: test successful. Can post. Issue remains: can't post comments. Tested on Chrome and Firefox. Clicking on "post" does nothing. Also can't change my avatar. System lets me choose pic...
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over 4 years ago
Answer A: How do you write short-short nonfiction?
Eighty words isn't an essay. It's a few sentences - a paragraph or two. Enough to express one short idea , but not to develop or explore it. You should therefore have a clear idea of what it is you want to say, and say just that. If you wish to provide an example to illustrate your point, pick one t...
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over 4 years ago
Answer A: How can I make "acts of patience" exciting?
@Amadeus describes an "act of patience" as "not doing". I would argue that an "act of patience" can also be about keeping on doing, day after day, something that is very hard to do - it is about perseverance. As an example, take The Wild Swans, or any work derived from that fairy tale. The main char...
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over 4 years ago
Answer A: Describing the taste of food
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 kinds of unintended places. But should food be described at all? Why shouldn't it? We describe sights, ...
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over 4 years ago
Answer A: Is there a difference between historical fiction and creative non-fiction?
Creative non-fiction recounts factually-accurate narratives in a literary style. It reads like a story, but it is in fact real history. It will be severely criticised for containing factual inaccuracies, let alone fictional main characters. (wiki) Historical fiction, on the other hand, is fiction, s...
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over 4 years ago
Question Maintaining distance
I am working on a novel inspired by the Shahnameh - a Persian epic poem by Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi. The Shahnameh (the title means "The Book of Kings") is structured as a series of interconnected tales: birth of hero Such-and-Such, heroic tale A about him, heroic tale B about him, hero Such-and-Such gets...
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over 4 years ago
Answer A: How to write from a cat's perspective?
I think I might be rephrasing what @MarkBaker says, but perhaps stating it differently would be helpful, especially since he seems to have attracted some antagonism. You're telling a story. What is your story about? No, it's not about "a cat chasing a bird". What's it about at its core? Is it about ...
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over 4 years ago
Answer A: How do I introduce a large cast in an interesting way
@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 unfamiliar characters all at once is extremely confusing to the reader: imagine walking into a room with 12 p...
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over 4 years ago
Question Writing about real people - not giving offence
The Spy is a Netflix series about Israeli spy and hero Eli Cohen. In a recent interview, Eli's widow Nadia expresses great dissatisfaction with the series: a lot of changes were made, ostensibly to "add drama", that in her opinion diminish him. She also expressed dissatisfaction with the casting of S...
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over 4 years ago