Activity for Galastel
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
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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... (more) |
— | about 4 years ago |
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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 ... (more) |
— | about 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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 ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Changing avatar issue Image alt text Screenshot of error. Couldn't edit this into the question - "Insert image" not available when editing. (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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? (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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, ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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 ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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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... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: What makes a character irredeemable? The trait that makes Dolores Umbridge, and other characters, repulsive, is sadism. Enjoying the suffering of others, enjoying causing pain - we find that unforgivable. A villain who hurts others due to some twisted perception of it being right and necessary - they can (theoretically) come to understa... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to "Start as close to the end as possible", and why to do so? 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 one Vonnegut actually intended, I'll bring them all here. The first explanation is the one Jedediah sugg... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Double lies as sources of conflict in a single arc Human beings are complex and flawed creatures. We do not each have just the one flaw. We have multiple failings, and multiple lies we tell ourselves. Now, for a story one has to simplify reality somewhat - focus only on those lies and flaws that are conductive to telling the story. But if you simplif... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to convey the anatomy of a humanoid race? We tend to assume whatever we're reading about is humanoid, unless we're told otherwise. (In fact, multiple stories exploit this trope to reveal later in the story, or in the very end, that the character wasn't in fact human.) Which is to say, your readers are going to start with the assumption that ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How can I get into the mindset to write? "Waiting for the mood to strike you" is bad practice. Your writing muscle, like any other, needs to be exercised every day, if you can, or at least as often as you have time. (Some of us have jobs and whatnot, writing every day might not be possible.) If you have the time to write, there are several... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How do I introduce dark themes? Four chapters in, your readers should have an idea what they're in for. Not everything that's going to happen, but certainly a hint. Once you've hinted that there is darkness, you can skirt it, turn your back on it for a while, or plunge right into it as you see fit in different parts of your story. ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to use special characters in footnote numbering within Word According to this guide, which uses Microsoft Word 2016 for its screenshots (but things shouldn't have changed too much for other versions), you can restart footnote numbering for each section of your work, and you can pick the number format separately for each section. To open the footnotes configu... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Two footnote numbering sequences Inspired by this question, a more complex question: how can I have two simultaneous sequences of footnotes? For example, suppose I am translating a book. The book contains footnotes, numbered in sequence. But, I also feel the need to add the occasional "translator's note". (This is not the place to ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Detail vs. filler 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 scene. You use a meeting in a forest as an example. Is your character comfortable in the forest? Does s... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: What are the advantages and disavantages of different triggers for character transformation? @Amadeus mentions constraints. Constraints are like the walls of a house - they are limits, but also supports of the structure. The constraints define the shape of the story you tell. If change is forced on the character by some outside circumstance, such as time, your story must perforce deal with ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to realistically describe pain? When I don't know how to do something, I look for examples of how somebody else did it. Here's an example from Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. The main character, a wizard, had a kinetic shield spell ready, while the enemies came with a flamethrower. Turns out shield doesn't stop heat: > It hurt... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Basing my protagonist on myself 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 character on yourself, you need to be particularly aware of them. Here are some, in no particular order: ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to clarify between imagined sensations and "real" fantasy events? If the main character isn't sure whether what they're seeing is a drug-induced fantasy or a real occurrence, perhaps the reader doesn't need to know either, at least not at first. If a character has been drugged and is hallucinating, what's happening is "real" to him. He experiences things and respo... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Recounting events in dialogue I will second @MarkBaker and @Amadeus: avoid the repetition."But I need the response," you say. "It doesn't flow," you say. Very well, that's the problem you need to solve - how to make it flow despite cutting away the part of the dialogue that would be boring to the reader. Tolkien faced a similar ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Averting Bathos Bathos is not the mere fact of a serious moment being followed by a light one. It is an intrusion of a cheap vulgar laugh into a dramatic scene. It undermines the seriousness of the stakes, the drama of the scene, the meaningfulness of your story. It says "don't take any of this too seriously." Which... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Subverting the emotional woman and stoic man trope There's more you can do with a trope than play it straight or subvert it. You can play with it in various ways: invert it (which you did), parody it, lampshade it, exploit it, and much much more. And you can avert it - that is, the trope just isn't present in your story at all. There are countless tr... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Is it a good idea to leave minor world details to the reader's imagination? When in The Lord of the Rings Tolkien writes > ‘But it is a heavy burden. So heavy that none could lay it on another. I do not lay it on you. But if you take it freely, I will say that your choice is right; and though all the mighty Elf-friends of old, Hador, and Húrin, and Túrin, and Beren himself ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Resolving moral conflict 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, your choices are not limited to those two options. You can find a third option, or you can change the pres... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: As a discovery writer, how do I complete an unfinished novel (which has highly diverged from the original plot ) after a time-gap? As @sesquipedalias says, for a discovery writer the first draft can often be about figuring out what your novel is, what you're trying to say. You say you have story threads that you don't know where to take, questions the answers to which you don't know, problems you don't know how to solve. Treat ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: I feel like most of my characters are the same, what can I do? You talk of your characters as one or two basic characteristics, and that's it. That's where your problem is. There is more to a person than a short tag. Think about your friends. Chances are, you can describe them all as "lawful good", or "friendly geek", or whatever kind of people you surround your... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to write characters doing illogical things in a believable way? 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 the immersion. What do I mean by "lines up with the character's usual traits"? Let me give you some exa... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Should you only use colons and full stops in dialogues? Some people have some sort of dislike for semicolons. See The Good, the Bad and the Semicolon. If you're not comfortable using semicolons at all, that's up to you. But if you do normally use semicolons, and are only not comfortable using them in dialogue, think of it this way: in dialogue, we use pa... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Can I conceal an antihero's insanity - and should I? As others have pointed out, since you are in the main character's head, it's very hard to hide the fact that she feels no empathy. We are in her head, we know what she thinks and feels. That said, if we agree with the character's goals, their actions might appear understandable, a bit cold but ultim... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Where's the balance between realism and story? If I understand your question correctly, you're asking to which extent the Rule of Cool trope would let you get away with things in a relatively realistic story. The answer to that is, distinct story elements have to match the overall tone of the story. Otherwise, they stick out like a sore thumb. I... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Writing a love interest for my hero Here's an easy test: if for all intents and purposes the woman in your story could be replaced with a golden chalice, you're in trouble. Someone stole the guy's chalice, he wants to get it back. Someone crashed the guy's chalice, he wants revenge. Worst offenders are the "if you save the princess, yo... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: What techniques authors use to keep track of their cast? The only technique there is really is keeping some sort of "character sheet" for each character. If you can keep them all in your mind, that's great, but I guess you wouldn't have been asking the question if it were that easy for you. Otherwise, people use different platforms. I like OneNote, I've s... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Male viewpoint in an erotic novel Erotica is not a genre I read, but the lusting male gaze in some fantasy and sci-fi - I cannot say that I always find it offensive. On the contrary - I can find it quite pleasant. I want to be lusted after this way. Which is, I think, the key to your question: consider how a woman would want to be w... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: how to tell if a book will be a bestseller? A lot of factors collide to make a book a bestseller. It's not just the writing - there's also how original the concept is, and how much it speaks to the audience, the right place, the right time, and probably more. The same book might not have sold as well had it been published a few years earlier o... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Real-world issues with using an alias If what you seek is a measure of anonymity, but not to actually hide who you are, you can use your first name and initial. You can be Lois L. or Clark K. Even if your name is highly unique, it is very unlikely you will be recognised by your first name alone. But when you do want to be recognised, you... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Doubt about the concept of "true (or complex) character" Your character takes an action. It all happens in your imagination. Well, imagine then: could your character take the opposite action? Could they, proceeding with your example, choose not to help? If right now you're thinking "maybe they were really busy"or something along those lines, you are maki... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How can I create deep personal stakes? There is a scene in Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver which, I believe, holds the answer to your question: > I didn't mean to say no to him that day. I had never said no to him before, because I knew if we did he would hurt us, and he hurt us anyway already, and so I knew he would hurt us even worse if ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |