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Posts by Lauren Ipsum‭

1.2k posts
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Q&A Comma between the following clauses in AP Style?

I have the 2011 edition of the AP Stylebook, which gives the following as correct examples: He promised this: The company will make good all the losses. There were three considerations: ex...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How specific should I be when outlining the plot?

Your problem is that you're trying to use one tool for two opposing tasks. You're using an outline as a guide for writing (what happens next). You want to use your outline to gauge the size of y...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is it correct to use verbs like "sighed" and "laughed" as dialogue tags?

I don't have a problem with them (they're called bookisms, I believe) if: You don't overdo it. It's tempting to make every dialogue tag something vivid or extra. Don't. D.W. Smith pointed out in ...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Dream analysis research

My feeling is that if your story is set in the real world with real-world technology and does not involve magic or sci-fi tech, you should do some research (Wikipedia does not qualify) to make sure...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How do I organize a paragraph that lists several steps after an introduction?

This is fine as written, so long as later in the section you have Second and Third or Last and so forth. I'd make each numbered item a separate paragraph, regardless of length, so it's easier to fo...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Maintaining the consistency of voice and spontaneity throughout a piece

You're suffering from impacted arborvision: you have so much pressure on you that you can no longer see the forest for the trees. Get an editor. Ask someone else to look at your work. Let a fresh ...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A What is the term for an accessible character that knows nothing?

There is indeed such a term. Phil Farrand of The Nitpicker's Guide to Star Trek called this "being the cabbagehead." Certain information had to be revealed to the audience, but it was information...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to format dialogue with an embedded long monologue

You can break up long stretches of dialogue with: Stage business (describing the person moving around, handling things, getting up and walking, sighing, laughing, eating, etc.) Reaction shots fro...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to come up with a good title?

Find a key word or phrase and then start searching through Bartleby's and Shakespeare to see if any good quotes come up. Even if they don't, just looking at poetry might shake something loose.

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is it strange if a novel starts the first chapter without one of main characters?

Nope, works fine. Starting from the POV of a minor character to establish the setting is no problem at all; in fact, that can be an interesting prologue, particularly if you're dealing with a myste...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to assure your plot isn't a carbon copy of another story?

If you're aware that your work sounds a lot like someone else's, start changing yours until it's not so close. If you have to keep justifying "But it's not Saw!" then you're too close. Change a met...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Background speech with foreground dialogue

I think your first example is perfect, making sure that you drop out words from the speaker to indicate the passage of time as your foreground characters are talking "over" the speaker. It makes pe...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How can I get my students to better integrate their sources into their writing?

Way back in 10th grade, when we were learning how to do research papers on the back of a coal shovel, our teacher had us take all our notes on 3x5 cards. We had to submit them as part of the grade ...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A What type of writing would this fall under?

I'd call it stream-of-consciousness prose. And try magazines which accept short stories.

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A 1st person story, but the main character will die in the end and some of the story needs to be told after his death. How to solve this problem?

There are a few ways to solve this: 1) Switch narrators. Everything is told by your main character until his/her death, at which point some other character finishes the story. 2) Your narrator ...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Is a glossary needed in a novel?

If you have so many unfamiliar or questionable terms that you think the reader will need both original and translation, by all means add a glossary. More information never hurts. As long as it's in...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How is parallel construction viewed in literature?

In reverse order: As far as plagiarism, it depends on what you're doing with your take-off. Is it mean to be performed in public? Are you trying to get a recording contract? Does the music of you...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How should I introduce new and complex technologies or tools?

Introduce a cabbagehead character. "Cabbagehead" is a term from Phil Farrand, who wrote the Nitpicker's Guides to various Star Trek series. He points out that particularly in NextGen, it became ne...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Tips for writing sentences like a native speaker

If you want to write like a native speaker, you should also be listening. So listen to radio broadcasts, podcasts, and TV shows. (Movies can vary; because they are shorter, they can be narratively ...

posted 11y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How to tell or retell basic character and setting information in a series?

If you want to have a series of books which tell an ongoing story, but you want readers to be able to drop in midway, you will of necessity need to recap something in the beginning. How you do it d...

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A Effective techniques for describing pain

Take notes when you're suffering for later use. No really. Get into the habit of carrying something to jot down your thoughts on (phone, tablet, moleskine notebook, marbled notebook, whatever) and...

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A What is the correct way to write a fractional number in a formal letter?

five and a half years No hyphens. Hyphens are for adjective phrases: It was a five-and-a-half-year journey. You also don't use the hyphen with the fraction. 51⁄2 years

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A singular or plural for index entries

I would say it depends on how the item is discussed in the body of the book. If a Markov chain is something referred to as a single entity, then index it as a single item. If you discuss several ...

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A How can one plan elaborate crimes for fiction without getting into trouble?

Not online. Try a writer's group, where it is absolutely and explicitly clear that you are discussing this in the service of a story, and where other folks are discussing things just as potential...

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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Q&A What constitutes historical fantasy?

I would say Mercedes Lackey's Shadow of the Lion and Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell would both qualify as "historical fantasy." The latter has relationships, but I wouldn't cal...

posted 12y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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