Activity for Galastel
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
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A: Does each writer have a unique writing style? Neil Gaiman writes: > Don't worry about trying to develop a style. Style is what you can't help doing. If you write enough, [...] you'll have a style, whether you want it or not. (Neil Gaiman, The View from the Cheap Seats, A Speech to Professionals Contemplating Alternative Employment, given at Pro... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Is there such a thing as too inconvenient? The twin tropes you are referring to are Deus ex Machina and Diabolus es Machina. In both cases an event comes out of nowhere, not foreshadowed, to effect a drastic change. Both tropes are frowned upon. For example, Marion Dane Bauer in her book on writing, would say to her writing students "If you ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Do living authors still get paid royalties for their old work? In the US, an author holds the copyright to his work for all his life, and his heirs hold it for 70 years after his death, at which point the work becomes public domain. (source) In other countries the number of years after the author's death may vary, but I do not know of a single country nowadays w... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to deal with foreign language in dialogue? Don't, under (almost) any circumstances write a Roman-script foreign language "the way it is pronounced". It is not helpful to anyone. If I (as your reader) don't speak Spanish, the text is gibberish to me whether it is rendered in proper Spanish, or in "the way it is pronounced". ("Romanisation" is... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: What kind of name should a fantasy author go by? I do not know the source of that claim you heard, but I think you're taking it too literally. Generally, most authors just use their name. There's nothing about the name "J.R.R. Tolkien" or "Terry Pratchett" or "Ursula Le Guin" that's particularly related to speculative fiction, except after the fact... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Ending a line of dialogue with "?!": Allowed or obnoxious? I just ran a search on all of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files for the '?!' mark. Why this series in particular? 1. It's modern 2. Stylistically, I expected to find '?!' there. 3. I had it on my computer, so I could Ctrl+f Here are the results: in 17 books (15 novels + 2 short stories collections) the p... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Does writing regular diary entries count as writing practice? There is a distinction that needs to be drawn here: are you talking about practice that helps you improve your writing, or are you talking about the kind of practice you can put in a CV to help you get a job in journalism or something similar? If you're looking for something to put on your CV, "I wr... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: What's the point of writing that I know will never be used or read? For me, writing is a passion. Not writing is an impossibility. There are stories in my mind; I need to tell them. I need to find out where they go, how they go, what they mean. I have something in mind when I start a story, but it changes, mutates, I do not fully understand it until it is written and... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How do I improve my knowledge of English well enough to write in it? To improve your mastery of a language, you need to immerse yourself in it, as much as you can. This doesn't necessarily mean travelling to a location where the language is spoken, though that would certainly help. Here are some other things you can do. The more you do, and the more often, the higher ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Do I need to start off my book by describing the character's "normal world"? In a story that isn't set in our normal here-and-now, be it fantasy, science fiction, historic fiction, or something else, you need to establish what's normal for your setting, and what isn't. As an example: aliens land in the local spaceport - is it an "inciting incident", or are they just regular t... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to describe accents? Simply telling, e.g. > he said with a heavy Gujarati accent would be my solution, but you say that isn't enough for you. Which is fair. What is the most characteristic aspect of the accent you wish to describe? What would stand out most, and make it most recognisable? Is it the way a certain vowel... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A torrent of foreign terms I am writing a short story, about a particular field with multiple specific terms, none of which are in English. (Specifically, I'm writing about bullfighting, but the question could apply to other fields.) My POV character lives that particular field, so he would be using the proper terms, not more... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Using quote as title - disadvantages There are multiple examples of works of fiction using for their title a quote from another famous work: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls and more. The advantages are clear: by means of the quote, one can hint at the work's subtext, say something about the w... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Can a fight scene, component-wise, be too complex and complicated? Let's take a look at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in the Lord of the Rings: First, we have the Rohirrim. Among them are Theoden, Éowyn, Éomer and Merry. Then we have Minas Tirith, with its various forces, and with Gandalf and Pippin as focal point characters. There's the events inside the city ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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Author changing name Let us suppose an unmarried female author. She publishes something. Then she gets married, and chooses to change her surname to her husband's. Obviously, she can choose not to change her surname. And she can choose to publish under her maiden name, using it as a pseudonym of sorts. But let us suppos... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to display a duet in lyrics? This is how Tolkien solves a similar problem in The Lord of the Rings: > ENT. > When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf, and sap is in the bough; > When light is on the wild-wood stream, and wind is on the brow; > When stride is long, and breath is deep, and keen the mountain-air, > Come back t... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: English - Acceptable use of parentheses in an author's name If your editor says something might look unprofessional, you should listen to your editor. Your editor is a professional, whose task is precisely to make your work appear at its best. We, on the other hand, are a bunch of internet amateurs with good intentions. As @ArkensteinXII mentions in a commen... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: What are the advantages and disadvantages of copying writing styles? Something nobody has yet mentioned: you might want to write your story as a tribute to another work. For example, Neil Gaiman's A Study in Emerald is a tribute to Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. It is in the language, the style, the way the story is told. At the same time, it is unmistakably ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Can we use other things than single-word verbs in our dialog tags? 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 them, we do not linger. You can add some nuance, if you need: "he said with a smile" or "he said angrily... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: What are good ways to improve as a writer other than writing courses? The best way to improve as a writer is to write. Just write. Then write some more. Then look at what you've written critically, ask others to read and comment, then rewrite and write some more. Courses are a systematised way of doing the above. If having someone tell you "write!" helps you, go ahead... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How can I Include a verbatim passage in my fiction without plagiarizing it? Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Forest House is a lose retelling of Belini's opera Norma. Several hymns were taken from the opera verbatim, something done as tribute to the source material. Zimmer Bradley states all this in a short author's note in the beginning of the novel. As @CrisSunami states in a c... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Where to find primary sources for getting into historical character? (voicing) Here's a thing you need to consider, a frame challenge if you will. When setting your story in the 1950s, or in the 1920s, or even in the 1800s, your characters can speak the way people spoke back then. In fact, we rather expect them to. But if you set your novel in Shakespeare's time, and one uned... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: In which language does the Russian mafiosi speak in my English novel? My answer to your other question, here, should also answer this one. In brief, English is the language you're writing the novel in, so English is the language you're writing their dialogue in. English is the only language you can expect your readers to read. If some characters are speaking in Russia... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How do I compensate for lack of knowledge about foreign accents and takling styles? Whether the novel is set in Russia, or in the Middle Ages, or somewhere in Alpha Centauri, you are writing it in English. Whether your characters are "really" speaking Russian, Old English, or a tongue so completely different we might not even recognise it as speech, English is the language you're wr... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How do I know when and if a character requires a backstory? First and foremost, every character requires a backstory in your mind. You need to know who they are , why they act in a certain way, how they would respond to new situations, etc. Once you have that backstory, you can decide how much of it will be revealed to the reader, at what point of the story,... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How do I show and not tell a backstory? Building on Amadeus's answer, what you want to avoid is your character monologuing his backstory. Sometimes, a monologue can be done. If that story is gripping, and the scene is such that it makes sense for one character to be telling a story uninterrupted. For example, if two characters are sitting... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How to foreshadow to avoid a 'deus ex machina'-construction You needn't reveal that the character has the ability, but you need to reveal the fact that the ability exists. Otherwise, indeed, this is a Deus ex Machina. How you reveal the existence of the ability is up to you. Maybe someone recounts a legend. Maybe it's part of a history lesson. Maybe it is ev... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: How can I convert a linear narrative into a branching narrative? Creating a branch is the easy part To create a branch, as you read the book take note of every choice the character makes. Map those out - what that choice leads to, what does that in turn lead to, and so on. Then, consider what could happen if the character chose instead to do something else inste... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
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A: Synopsis for a village full of characters What is your book about, really? Not "a Devon village". Is it about relationships? Is it about the skeletons in people's closets? Is it about the tiny day-to-day bits of kindness people do for each other? Answer to yourself what your book is really about, then structure your synopsis around that. Fo... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: What is a good way to come up with original world building ideas? I will answer this question quoting Neil Gaiman. Here is his complete answer to the question "where do you get your ideas?". A particularly relevant excerpt: > You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other pe... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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Sci-fi change: Too much or Not enough I am in the process of editing a short story. It is science fiction of the "if this goes on" kind: I take a social trend I see, and paint its event horizon - a troubling future. 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are classical examples. I have received two seemingly contradictory critiques from beta readers: o... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: How to organize distinct topics in personal letters to friends and family? Writing to friends and family, you can dispose with formality. You don't need a "structure". "Stream of consciousness" is how such letters were written before computers, before you could rearrange what you have already written. That's how informal letters are written still. I would start a letter wi... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Is a fighting a fallen friend with the help of a redeemed villain story too much for one book A short story has limited space, you have to limit yourself to a few characters and one conflict. A novel is not like that. In a novel you can have plots and subplots, a multitude of characters, you can tell a story that is complex and multifaceted. That's the great strength of a novel. In your stor... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: In a script how can I signal who's winning the argument? I agree with @Ash's answer regarding the fact that you can show a lot with body language. I would disagree with him however regarding what "winning" and "losing" would look like. Being excessively assertive, "attacking", losing composure in an argument - those are signs of losing. Without even under... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: If you are beginner when it come to writing, should you be pantser? Or plotter? One doesn't "decide" to be a plotter or a discovery-writer ("pantser" is not considered a polite term in writing circles). One is one or the other, or somewhere on the scale between the two. Some writers cannot write unless they've planned everything ahead and know where they're going. Some plan mai... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: What language to write in for a beginner wanting to write fiction? The answer to your question depends on your proficiency with English: to what extent you're comfortable writing in English, to what extent you enjoy writing in English compared to Swedish. Do not discount the last part: if you do not enjoy the process, what are you doing it for? There is more than o... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: The seven story archetypes. Are they truly all of them? The archetypes are a descriptive framework created by scholars in order to describe stories. Someone had a theory, says every story fits into one of those archetypes. Any story you give them, they will fit it into one of those archetypes, even if it squeaks a little. For my part, there are stories I... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Writing Longer Flashbacks I am not aware of a "common practice" - writers are fickle beasts who tend to disregard rules. But there's nothing that says the progression of your story needs to be "linear unless marked otherwise". The first example that comes to my mind is The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin. First chapter of the... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Character Arcs - What if the character doesn't overcome the big lie, flaws or wounds? A character coming to understand that what they want is impossible and instead learning to live with what they have, is a perfectly reasonable character arc. The character overcomes something (wishing for the impossible), learns something, while their life is not perfect, it surely is somewhat bette... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Do I have to mention my main character's age? There are a lot of things you don't mention in your story. You don't mention how many times a day your MC uses the toilet. You don't mention how many beauty marks she has on her body. You probably don't mention the colour of her t-shirt. You only mention the things that are important. If a characte... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Trivial non-dark twist in dark fantasy I would like to offer a frame challenge: you're asking "will X make my story not fit the 'dark fantasy' sub-sub-genre". I say, write your story, make it a good one, then think what genre or sub-genre it fits. Does the twist you're planning make your story a good story? Neil Gaiman says "Fiction is t... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Has anyone ever written a novel or short story composed of only dialogue? The short story Orange by Neil Gaiman, from his collection Trigger Warning takes your idea one step further: it's framed as a subject's responses to an investigator's written questionnaire. The questions aren't even there - only the answers. It starts: > 1. Jemima Glorfindel Petula Ramsey. > > 2. ... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: How to tell readers that I know my story is factually incorrect? Sometimes writers make mistakes. Sometimes they didn't know something. Sometimes they chose to ignore a fact because it got in the way of their story. This is so common, TV tropes has a whole family of tropes related to the phenomenon. Of particular interest to you would be Artistic License - Medicin... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: How important are the author's mood and feelings for writing a story? It is not important, unnecessary, and in fact utterly impossible. You need to put yourself in the character's shoes, imagine how he feels, write that, try to evoke emotions in the reader. It helps if you have ever in your life experienced something similar, so you have a reference point. But writing... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Is it okay for a chapter's POV to shift as it progresses? There are two questions hiding in your question, 1. Can the POV character not be the character who's most active? Consider Sherlock Holmes as an example. Watson is the POV character, the story is told in first person by Watson, it's Watson's opinions and emotions we share. But Watson is passive. It... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Is straight-up writing someone's opinions telling? You're taking "show, don't tell" too strictly. There's no rules in writing - they're more what you'd call guidelines. If you're in doubt about a passage, write it both ways. Then see which one feels more natural, and which one feels weird and convoluted. If you're finding yourself writing in an unna... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: I gave my characters names that are exactly like another book. Is it a problem? The answer to your question depends on how strongly the set of names is associated with the preexisting work of fiction. Not just the individual names, but the set of names together. For example, individually Romeo and Juliet are common enough names, if you set your story in Italy. However, if you n... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: How to deal with moral/legal subjects in writing? > I don't get only supporting the freedom of the kind of speech you like. If speech needs defending, it's probably because it's upsetting someone. (Neil Gaiman, The View from the Cheap Seats, The PEN Awards and Charlie Hebdo) As @JRE points out, if you're challenging the status quo, if you're pointi... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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How do I apply Hemingway's dialogue techniques to my own writing? I open Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises at random (chapter 9). > 'I haven't seen you since I've been back,' Brett said. > 'No.' > 'How are you, Jake?' > 'Fine.' > Brett looked at me. 'I say,' she said, 'is Robert Cohn going on this trip?' > 'Yes. Why?' > 'Don't you think it will be a bit r... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: How can I portray a resentful character without making them overtly angry? There is a myriad of different ways your sergeant could be feeling and acting regarding his subordinate. - He could value his former sweetheart's happiness, and thus be protective of her husband, for her sake. Both Karl May's character Winnetou and the Star Trek Jean-Luc Picard have this in their b... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |