Activity for Liquid
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Answer | — |
A: Are reactive protagonists inherently a bad thing? I think we are dealing with a scale of greys here. It's true, as Matthew Dave mentions, that the audience will expect the protagonist trying to resolve at least one of the major conflicts in the story arc. In some genres, e.g. fantasy, the protagonist is usually the one who's supposed to do the fina... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do i properly name a fictional species and describe it? To me it seems that your main issue is not having decided a common background-language for your story. In fantasy novels, either you - Invent a whole new language (cfr. Tolken) - Borrow languages from the real world Since the Lord of the Rings, a lot of authors have tried the first approach with va... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do I handle different PoVs, at different times and places, each dealing with the same event? how do I switch between these characters without it being jarring for the reader? Short answer: you don't. There will always be a moment, when switching from a PoV to another, when the reader will feel his connection with the character, hence his suspension of disbelief, interrupt momentarily. When ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Is my story pacing too fast? From the way you're telling it, I'd point my fingers against the time-skips. Apart from the necessary time-skip when the MC is unconscious (and you could fill it up with descriptions, dreams or maybe far-off memories) any other time skip is essentialy reducing word count, making the story seem shorte... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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How can you write when you're upset? I mean exactly this. Writing needs focus, to some extent. Even if you may fall into a state were words flow naturally on the keyboard almost without effort, you still have to reach that condition. Being a very unstable, stressed out, and prone to anger person, I often find myself too upset, distrac... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Is it possible for one to be a good editor but a bad writer or vice versa? I'm talking in a purely theoretical manner: what will I say is not backed up by direct experience Well, in theory, the skillsets you need to be a good editor and a good writer don't overlap completely. A good writer may be able to set up interesting stories, compelling characters, and amazing plot ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do you get over the fear of exposing yourself in writing? Writing can be a very intimate activity: no wonder you might feel a bit anxious! But remember, first and foremost, you're writing for yourself , rather than for someone else. Chances are that writing things down is either something you enjoy doing, or something that helps put your mind at ease. In b... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: It seems safer to make everyone white then to be accused of 'racism' if I I make any of my pre-written cultures a different race Some people will always find ways to be offended in what is written and will accuse you of racism, and that's a fact. This can potentially happen regardless of your efforts, so, just ignore them. It seems to me that you are already being enough considerate of the themes you are going to write about... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Avoiding spectacle creep > Alice : Do you remember how the villain from a month ago always said how he wanted to kill us? > > Bob : Hm-mm? > > Alice : Well, this new villain wants to kill us ... and murder our dog, too! A solution could be: Avoid falling into the trap completely Don't set up a crescendo. Decide what's t... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Should I include the name[s] of copywriting agencies I write for on my CV? This is maybe a question more apt to Workplace.SE, but here's my two cents: I woudn't mention the names of the agencies you're already working for. This for a few reasons: - The other agencies may be not happy with that - Depending on your country rules and on your contracts, you may disclosing con... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Averting Protagonist-Centred Morality I generally agree with Galastel answer: since you are already questioning, in your novel, the morality of your protagonist choices, you are reasonably safe from the trope. Is all this enough to avoid the trap of making my protagonist seem like a saint relative to the antagonists, given that the anta... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Can you frame ritual suicide in a "positive" light? In my opinion you already have your answer. As Galastel was pointing it out, this hasn't the connotation of ritual suicide, or cultism. > Can it be portrayed in a "noble" light or would this be too problematic? You already are. In this world, were magic is real, the lives of an hundred of priests s... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
| Question | — |
How can show that my cold hearted character is coping with grief? I have a little contradiction in my story that may well be fatal. In my high sci-fi setting, one of my main characters is an android. Let's call him Bob. Bob is efficient, cold and straight-to-the-point: we may as well say that he is heartless. To give you an example: in a scene I'm planning, he wil... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do you normalize a taboo custom in a setting that most readers would not agree with? The reader doesn't have to agree with the setting of your story: he just has to understand it. I'll basically answer with a longer version of "show, don't tell". Our society may look down on extramarital affairs and multiple partners, but the reader has to understand that this is not our society. S... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: I'm looking for inspiration for spells and potions Of course, since spells and potions don't exist in this world, all we have are sources from people who believed they existed. For spells, you could check out the Malleus Maleficarum. It's a medieval treatise about witchcraft, mostly written for inquisitors and theologists. In the second section you ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Should a non-native writer try to use complex English words? Most native english speakers will probably have a mastery of the english language superior to your own. I'm a non-native english speaker myself and, since I read a lot in english (and somewhat struggle to write in it, too), I can tell. Just imagine the equivalent in your own native language. In the ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Can the prologue's POV be different from the POV of main story? If you think it would be a cheap trick, then don't do it. But it is an already somewhat estabilished tecnique - there are tons of books where the prologue has a different PoV from that of the main characters (I can recall a few at the moment: Perdido street station from Mieville, Eragon from Paolini... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to write dialogueless flashbacks? As Matthew Dave pointed out, you don't really need dialogue for that kind of flashbacks. They are memories shared in a common, telephatic link; you can write them as a series of vivid images - cities, situations and people surfacing in the mind of the protagonist as the memories come. Depending on h... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do I differentiate between the "voices" of my characters in a multi-character POV? Well, kind of a wide question, but you already got the hang of it: the entire worldview, it changes from character to character The whole point is having a clear idea of who your character are. As you mentioned, gender, upbringing, profession, culture, and personality are all factors that determine... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Which should come first, building my story or building my world? As far as I'm concerned, story comes first. That's just because you can almost do endless worldbuilding (worldbuilding.se has countless examples of all the aspects you can consider while doing so) without sketching out a single plot line, or character arch. It's true that if you are a very descript... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do I indicate that my character is speaking a different language than the one used for narration? How do I make it clear that my character is narrating the story in a different language from the one she speaks? You already have the answer. Of course, it's well and good that you say it outright at the start of the book, stating that your protagonist is in a foreign land and even though she does u... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: "Stealing" jokes Being inspired is a thing; copying entire jokes or catch-phrases may be overdoing it, and rightly be called stealing. I agree with @Chris Sunami that it would already seem that your on the safe side, legally, but morally you're in a bit of a grey area. It's true that some jokes become commonplace a... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Is genre ever relevant to the writing process? While I get with what you are saying, and I deeply agree, sometimes genre conventions can be useful. If you want to tell a story - let's say, featuring a distant future and space-travel - you don't have to adhere to sci-fi conventions; mainly because genre conventions are, in a way, like a set of mo... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Should I let my hero die with the villain? I second @Matthew Dave answer: if that's the story you want to tell, you definetely should. As for examples of this happening... Several spoilers ahead: Martin's Song of Ice and Fire > Oberyn's Martell and Sandor Cleagane mutually destroy each other, even if death does not occur at the same time. ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Are chapters with a single character inherently more difficult for an average reader to connect with? (And do you have any tips.) Are chapters with a single character inherently more difficult for an average reader to connect with? And why that should be? I mean, I don't have the average reader preferences (nobody has, probably, and we could discuss who is your average reader depending on the genre and the demographics) but t... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to Write an Eldritch Abomination? The problem here is that by giving him a clearly understandable (even if evil, misantropic) goal, you're making your Fenrisúlfr more human-like. Sure, we can say - by rough sketch - that it wants to eradicate life. But to be truly " so far from human comprehension" we need to cut off any human under... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How can I defeat a 'force of nature villain' without killing him? As people are already suggesting, you could seal away or make ineffective your antagonist in a number of way. Sure, you said the enemy can't be imprisoned, but you could find other ways to incapacitate him; it mostly depends on whatever devices your world/plot uses. For example, you could find a way... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Using Myers–Briggs as a guide for character development? You're overthinking it too much. The Myers-Briggs can be nice (I have a friend who did - sorta - an extensive research on it) and surely its good to know your character so well that you can type them (also, most personality types come with examples of behaviour, nice descriptions, and good material w... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How to show two characters are communicating mentally Adding to A.T Catmus answer, mental communications could have a sort of "flavour". As humans we are able to determine emotions of a speaker only judging by a spoken sentence; thoughts could be treated in the same way. After all, probably a part of one own emotions gets carried with the message itself... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to make a statement formulated like an exclamation, but even-toned? > are there cases where it would be frowned upon using something like that? Not that I'm aware of. If you are talking directly to your reader, there is a big chance you are already using a colloquial tone. "Boy, was I wrong!" isn't much more informal than "Boy, was I wrong."; there is barely a diffe... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to write a character that knows a lot about explosives? You don't need to be able to build homemade explosive to describe a character who does. You just need to give the reader the impression that the character knows what he/she's up to. Most of the reader won't know how to make or detonate bombs anyway, so you can probably impress them without turning y... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is it OK to introduce a character to leave it simmering to a later date? I've read a lot of novels were a very likeable character is introduced just to vanish and reappear at another time. It's pretty normal; after all, you have to tell a story, and in most stories, not everyone is present anytime. In the Fellowship of the ring, for istance, Gandalf is away for quite som... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Writing a first-person novel where the MC gets temporarily taken out of commission? > Yes, but the possessor changes the MC's sensory experience so drastically from what's actually there that it would be impossible for the reader to tell what's happening in the 'real' world. You may consider narrating his warped sensory experience nonetheless. Aside from being an interesting writin... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Can my character specialize in torture ; but physically be not that strong? Torturers don't need to be fit or strong, they need to be possibly scary, knowledgeable, and competent at what they do. There are a lot of kinds of torture and "beating someone senseless" is just one of them, maybe the simplest. You don't need to be strong to break a finger of someone - you just hav... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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Pros and Cons: A blog to get feedback As a creative writer in my free time, I sometime suffer from a lack of feedback. To get some impressions on what I've written, I either have to ask my girlfriend (who acts as a sort of beta-reader) or some friend. Now, my girlfriend doesn't seem to mind, but getting feedbacks from my friends is kind... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to write from a cat's perspective? Study a bit how cats (supposedly) see the world, how they behave, and so on. First of all, you should read a bit about cat vision. After all, you are going to describe the world from a cat point of view. From my first shallow research, it seems that cats are good to see at low light hours, like dawn... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Where to put statistical signifance test results Half a page is not that much, unless you have a very strict limit in term of page number. Since the results are important to back up your findings, it's probably a good idea to show them in the main part, where they are most relevant. Having it in your main part would let you reference the table dire... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
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A: Is active or passive voice more common in scientific writing? It depends on the rest of your text. I'd personally go with option 2, since it sounds more impersonal and straight-to-the-point, but if you already used something like the first option previously in your paper, you may want to keep the same style for consistency. Honestly I don't know if one formul... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
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A: Can I be a writer, with a mental illness? First of all I'm not a doctor and good luck with your schizoaffective disorder. I cannot imagine the extent of its effect over your life; that's something you have to judge by yourself. But from what you write, it seems you have already made progress in other areas of your life - e.g. quitting drink... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
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A: 'Filling' up a school setting without making a bunch of new characters? If they won't be mentioned again, it's not worth giving them a name - so your first example would be somewhat wasteful. The reader doesn't need to know that the redhead with an aggressive attitude is called Rob (and maybe it's realistic that your character, Suzy, doesn't even know him by name - exspe... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
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A: How could a paragon character be an antagonist? I'll leave you a link to this episode of Trope Talk on youtube, which I believe is very relevant ( Trope Talk: Paragorns ). Imho you are already on track. As you mentioned, the first idea is not something you'd want - as Al wouldn't be a paragorn anymore. The second and third look like better option... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
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A: Writing an inverse of sexual shaming toward men Well, you can really play this in a number of ways. Since you want a inverse shaming, just think of all the pressure women are exposed to in our word and turn it around. As someone mentioned, there is already some social stigma on men who underperform in bed, but in our world this is often something... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
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A: How to interleave a story with context and introspection? Is it possible? Of course it is; almost everyone does it, in a form or another. How to do it well, now, is a whole other question. Avoid Interleaving Edit: Just to be sure, here I'm talking about interleaving whole paragraphs, pages or even chapters text. I'd personally avoid interleaving unless ... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
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A: Is it better to leave out the "filters/filler" in situations like this one? I'd say yes. It may vary depending on your style and situation - but in the given example it's quite clear, imho, that what you called filter should be omitted. A good rule could probably be: unless you want to point out some particular detail about the action ("I looked at it with a shocked express... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
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A: How do you write an evil character without making him "sexy" or "cool"? I agree with ggiaquin answer, but I'd advise against giving the character some overly nasty habits if it isn't necessary just to make them more unsymphatetic, as other users have suggested. Adding uncanny traits just for the sake of doing so will create an overly parodistic villain. There are a lot ... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
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A: Relationship advice? I was writing a similar story once. Building romance is not the easiest of things, so I feel you. I'd say that you have to put yourself in their shoes. Think of the most interesting or probable way of making the relationship happen. Personality, background, social context and situational events all ... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
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