Activity for Amadeusâ€
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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A: How do I make a "contract" with my reader? In general, if you are going to be using magic or any non-scientific element, you need to introduce that very early in the first half of the first act, probably in the first pages of your story. The first Book of Harry Potter, for example, shows magical fantasy elements starting on page 3 -- A man s... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to document and cite website downtime properly? As a former university professor at one university, and now a full time research scientist at another, I would just add a footnote for any weeks in which the site was down. As a note, which is what they were invented for. So "Week 7: Mar 11-17[1] The following headlines were gathered: blah blah bla... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How can we incorporate poems in a novel? There are answers before mine; so I will only add that one other use of a poem or rhyming verse (which I did not see in those answers) is as a clue to some mystery. This can represent a riddle directly, or it is a riddle disguised as poem, like a love poem or an elegy on a gravestone. I cannot recal... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Are major mystery subplot(s) in a fantasy story distracting or do they make a story more appealing? Are major mystery subplot(s) in a fantasy story distracting or make a story more appealing? More appealing. Here is an examination of the structures of Harry Potter that concludes the first four books, and the sixth, are all structured as mystery stories, wrapped in fantasy. > The first four books... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to write a strong villain who isn't really present? Your character can experience (and may not experience often enough) the results of the opposition leader's actions; or hear second-hand tales of the atrocities committed by their direct orders. This can feed the fire of her disgust, or hatred, or resolve, just as much as personal interaction. She en... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What would you expect from travel story? I'm not sure what a travel story is supposed to mean. A story has a problem for the MCs to solve, an answer to find, something to discover. Most of my stories involve travel and discovering new things. If Frodo, in Lord of the Rings, did not have to travel to all kinds of new and interesting places,... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Do I really need to have a scientific explanation for my premise? No, people won't say that, not even full time working scientists (like me). I know a great deal about genetics; I've published academic articles about it. That did not prevent me from enjoying the TV series "Heroes" for several seasons. Supposedly, their super-powers were due to "genetic mutations" (... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What points should a "Character Interview" method for character building hit? I don't use interviews, per se, but when I think about a new character (obsessively for a week or more) what I am asking myself is how they would (or did) react in various circumstances. I would say adapt that to interviews: Characters show their character when they are confronted with problems, big... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do I write a MODERN combat/violence scene without being dry? +1 DPT, +1JBiggs. Remember battles are local and personal. What I mean is that in a fight, there is no big picture, there is your picture, a tight focus, the people around you, the immediate enemy you are fighting, moment to moment. Lines are short because thoughts are short, description and metapho... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Should I give out specific information about agent interest to other agents? Edited in response to OP's edit: I think it would be a mistake to tell them who, and I think it would be a mistake to go with an agent that is only prompted to read your full manuscript because another agent decided it was good. You say many of their sites say to let them know if somebody else asks... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Too soon for a plot twist? I would foreshadow the fundamental corruptibility of the hero first. He cheats at a game, gets caught, and is unrepentant. He chases and stops the robber of a rich man -- then demands half the loot to let him go, and returns to tell the victim the robber escaped him. But at the same time, I would sh... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: 'Ellipsis' - what do they convey and how to use them aptly in a Novel? I think of an ellipsis as a moment in which emotion and feeling overwhelms narrative thought. That is how it is being used here, a pause for the narrator induced by internal sensation (desire) and imagination she cannot put into words. Those can be more than desire, of course, it can be confusion, o... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Help! My Character is too much for her story! My approach (which I have taken) would be to abandon that story, think much more about Cindy the Vampire, and write a story in which she is the sole hero, and her anger and explosions end up having some positive effect on the world, and she comes to terms with the loss of her old life, and embraces h... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to describe a row of two different types of trees? I think the word is "alternating". > There was a row of trees bordering each side of the road, each row alternating every other tree as Ash and Oak. (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do I write for the majority, without alienating my minority? You should be able to use memory (or flashbacks, but I dislike them); or tell it from the Jewish girl's POV, but give her a reason to have conversations with a non-Jew, e.g. a teammate, an ambassador's daughter she befriends, or an American businessman's daughter. Or son, if you are inclined in that ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to write a chaotic neutral protagonist and prevent my readers from thinking they are evil? I think the problem is that for somebody that doesn't care, Banshee gets awfully worked up about not caring, and this emphasizes an evil side, not a neutral side. I think you are trying too hard to TELL us she is neutral, instead of just showing her being neutral. I'd edit the following exchanges: ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Naming Characters after Friends/Family I don't think reader's necessarily like characters for their names. It is true that the poetry of some names seem to imply more altruistic, or harmless, or villainous intent. Frodo Baggins just doesn't sound like a villain, neither does Galadriel, but the Balrog sounds threatening, and Grima (aka Wor... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What should the omniscient narrator call a character? I would think Alexander would think of himself with the name he first learned and responded to as a child; likely this was what his mother called him on a daily basis, I would guess that is where the "Sasha" comes from. However, were I writing, the narrator would use "Alex", for brevity in reading a... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Casually inserting sexual orientation So how can I believably and casually show that Eris swings both ways ... EDITED: After clarification from the OP, my first example won't work; the protagonists are too young (16). However, the answer is roughly the same: Casually! Have a conversation between Eris and Caspian, or Eris and a friend. ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Borrowing Characters I am not a lawyer, but you really should not do this. Orson Scott Card (OSC) and any partners he has (publisher, movie studios) own "Ender", and you cannot profit from it in any way whatsoever. OSC and his partners are rich enough to sue you even if you don't make any money, and may even be legally o... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to choose ideal number of main characters? The problem with a lot of characters is a result of something we call in mathematics "combinatorial explosion". Eventually, if they are MAIN characters, the reader expects they will all get together at some point, and then there are N\(N-1)/2 possible unique pairings of the characters. With 9, that ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: When does inspiration across artforms become plagiarism I am not a lawyer, and this is a legal question. Read This Recent Answer of mine. The answer is (supported by a link to an attorney blog) the courts will look at the totality of your work. If they find the work is "substantially similar" then you infringe copyright. Because of that, if your plot is... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How would we write a misogynistic character without offending people? I would use a Foil.) From the link: > In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character, usually the protagonist, to highlight particular qualities of the other character. [...] The word foil comes from the old practice of backing gems with foil to make them shine more brightly.... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Sometimes a banana is just a banana Can a banana ever be just a banana? Yes. I mention food in my writing, but not symbolically. In fact I almost never use any symbolism in my writing, at least not consciously. [Must I always be aware of the cultural implications of certain foods?] Not always , and as other answers point out, you pr... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do we edit a novel that's written by several people? I would recommend two rounds of edits, for each author. If the friends are A, B, C (Ariel, Bethany, Cindy) then: 1) First Round: A-\>B-\>C-\>A. Ariel makes edit notes for Bethany, Bethany makes edit notes for Cindy, and Cindy makes edit notes for Ariel. Then each person gets their edit notes, and th... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What are the key elements of a humor story? +1 to Hink, the elements are the same. They still follow the three-act structure. But often the "problem" facing the protagonists is ludicrous (a funny friendly alien needs help, the end of the world is coming, they discover a time-traveling hot tub), and their reaction to the problem is likewise lu... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to turn an antagonist into a protagonist? I don't think there is a smooth way; an antagonist has to reverse course, there has to be a moment of truth in which they betray their followers, or partners in evil, and transition to good. You can show doubts appearing along the way, and building to the point the antagonist hates doing what they a... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Approaches to criticizing short fiction For me, a short story is a story. It follows the three-act structure, but it requires some inventiveness to compress that into a short space; in some cases to a line or two. I don't care about metre or rhythm, a short story is not poetry. Nor do I care about "style", it is engaging or it isn't. Same... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do we succintly describe a boxing match? You don't have to skip to the end. Just don't get repetitive. Skip over uneventful periods of time. Look for (I mean make up) the events, the things that have meaning in the course of the fight, in every round if you can make up that many different but meaningful events. Different, because, don't rep... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Knowing when to use pictures over words What criteria can I use to determine when to use words and when to use images? I think the criteria is simply real-estate. The empty box that would contain the photo or sketch. If you can describe something in text in less than that space, use text. If you can't and a photo or sketch with a line of ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Everyone is beautiful The narrator can describe only beauty, but that doesn't mean you can't have a mean and petty character that (in dialogue or perhaps thought) describes people in ugly terms. This doesn't have to be a main character, it could be a servant of an MC, that the MC overhears talking about such things, and ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What is a good way to foreshadow that magic is actually very advanced technology? The fact that you use "knobs" that turn is enough, in my opinion. Another way would be to have a naturally scientific (logic based) mind actually fix an older artifact and get it working again. It would have to be a simple mechanical fix, but in the process of examining one of these found artifacts ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What is in scope for criticizing technical writing I am a professor, I peer-review scientific articles; one or two per year, in fact I did one two weeks ago. The first things I look for are correctness and understandability, particularly in any math or proofs included in the paper. I have on three different papers found fault in the math, including ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Should I write a companion book/blog? It's a personal decision. For me, I wouldn't. I think your goal is to be a novel writer, not a non-fiction writer, not a research writer. Notes as you have them (or much less) is fine; at most I'd take less notes, but keep track of the final source that made your decision for you. So you decided in... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Every character has a name - does this lead to too many named characters? I'm a discovery writer, I don't name every character, or even every character with lines. Here's a waitress (I just made up) with two lines: > The waitress approached, a smiling young girl that had been flirting with the young man eating at the counter. "Ma'am! What can I get you?" > > Bethany put ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Injecting creativity into a cookbook I recall "Two Meatballs In The Italian Kitchen", by Pino Luongo and Mark Straussman. It was two chefs with different styles of Italian restaurants that got together for a cookbook. The basic premise is they told a 1/4 to one page personal story or anecdote about a dish. Where they first had it, who ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Is it okay for the final chapter to be a lot longer than all the other chapters? I think chapter length matters, some of my readers have specifically complained about my chapters being uneven. Although I don't personally do this, I think some readers use chapters as a kind of progress marker, and don't like it when they are too long. Short, that's okay, a positive surprise. Too l... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How can I write an annoying character without annoying the reader? Call her Marie. One way is to let a few other characters (Mike and John) express their frustration with Marie when she is not present; and actually laugh with each other by exaggerating and joking about her. This is what we do IRL, rather than express any direct hostility toward the irritating perso... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Incorporating research and background: How much is too much? I set "levels," and don't include technology beyond the level. Often I only research a word, in an online etymology dictionary, to see when it originated. e.g. "linen" comes from "linum" which is the Roman word for the flax plant, which provides the fibre for "line" (thread). Done, linen predates the... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Writing a character who is going through a civilizing process without overdoing it? +1 Galastel; your "barabarian" might find those towering buildings just foolish, he doesn't automatically see any advantage in them at all, they isolate people, they are hard to climb, you are trapped in them if attacked, and on and on. The same for other technology, you need to understand that he do... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Coloured comments in a word processor [Word/Libre/OpenOffice] - is it possible? Added due to comments: I use LibreOffice Writer. My comments below reference it, not OpenOffice Writer. I believe these were derived from the same original code, but apparently they have diverged since then, at least in regard to handling formatting of comments. Switching to LibreOffice Writer has ap... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Consulting experts - why should they talk to someone who isn't a published writer yet? I don't buy any of the "ask an expert" notions either; although here on StackExchange you may find some experts in certain fields, I've been impressed with a few here on Writing, and others on WorldBuilding, in Politics, Law, Astronomy, Finance, etc. This is a friendly forum for asking naive question... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What to look for when criticizing poetry? +1 SF, emotional impact is important. But basically the advice is the same: Stay technical. If on first impression, you "don't like" a poem, ask yourself if you weren't intended to like it. To take an extreme fictional example, if the poem is celebrating the assassination of a hated politician, I'm ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Is using an 'empty' metaphor considered bad style? It isn't exactly empty; a spreading circle of fire might look like a growing crown; with high fire on the perimeter and no fire in the middle. (But ending with "on its way" throws me, it should be "consuming everything in its way"). That said, aside from your example, if your metaphor is obscure and... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Is it ok to have many characters who only appear for a few chapters? I have characters in every chapter that have personalities, and often significant and lengthy communications with the main character. They don't appear again, they are basically in the place where the MC meets them, and she is on a journey or quest of some sort. So she talks to them for awhile, they ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do you get out of your own psychology to write characters? I guess I do this analytically, and naturally. Naturally because we all know other people that are unlike us, yet we have mental models of what they like, don't like, would do, and wouldn't do. I have mental models of my siblings, cousins, nephews and nieces, my parents, my friends, my professors in ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do I decide if writing expository scenes that won't be in my finished novel is useful, or procrastination? I am a discovery writer (aka pantser, but I dislike that term). You can see my approach to starting a novel in this answer to a different question. I'd also recommend this other answer that talks a little about story structure. To answer your question, I never write extra scenes to explore character... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Can we have 2 parallel allegories inside a story? There are no rules. Many people read and enjoy stories without looking for or considering allegories. Heck, the Wizard of Oz is supposed to be an allegory for the politics of the 1890's , who watching it or reading it today would catch on to that? Nobody, but the story continues to be told. Your sto... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Critique vs nitpicking Ignore It. The anonymous person in question didn't understand the task. The objective is to criticize your writing, not to psychoanalyze you and recommend a therapy. It doesn't make a difference if your piece is dark, light, or gray, funny or somber. It makes no difference what sexual orientation y... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What are some ways of extending a description of a scenery? +1 Galastel. I would add to her answer memories. If my MC has never seen it before, how does what she see connect in her memory? What has she been told about this place? By whom? If she has been here before, what was the occasion? How has it changed since then? You give the reader a sense of time t... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |