Activity for Amadeus
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
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A: How to get my book taken seriously as a teenager? You don't have to do anything special at all. First you will seek an agent, with a query letter. Look up on the Internet or in writing books on Amazon how to write a query letter. Do not mention your age. If you get a response of somebody willing to read a sample, send it. Before you sign any contra... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How do you mix dialogue with actions of a character? I would just format what you did a bit differently, you can get the tempo you want in the reading by just adding more words. Don't be afraid of that, beginning writers often confuse "getting it out fast" with a sparsity of words. This is a mistake! Clarity of the image is much more important and rea... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How do I include a powerful theme in my story without making it blatantly obvious? To convey an underlying message, "X is better than Y", you need to present your "argument" in terms of scenes and characters and have the outcomes for these characters prove the point. For example, IRL I believe Nordic-style socialism is superior to Western-style free-market capitalism. Now I am wel... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How do I have to refer to a person of a specific racial group? If your main character is Caucasian, then she would call the new girl whatever the Asians have been calling them , concerning race. If your MC is NOT Caucasian, and doesn't know the word, then typically what people have done historically is pick some prominent different physical feature about a new ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Writing what my family may not want to read I would say, don't give it to them. There is a maxim in the writing world, that stories are not about facts, but the truth. What it means is that "what really happened" and "how I really reacted" tend to be boring, facts are boring. Facts are told , not shown. The "truth" in this maxim means emotion... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is it redundant to repeat a subject when it's been implied in a college essay? Leave it in. I am a former professor. In academics "different fields" is ambiguous, and has been used to indicate entire other fields of study: Like perhaps electrical engineering and circuit design, closely related to "computing machinery", but not "computer science" which is typically a theoretica... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Should important events that happen a long time before the rest of the story be in a prologue or in chapter 1? Author's choice. +1 Secespitus for voicing my own thoughts. However, I will note that in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; the first book in the series, Chapter 1 is set ten years before Chapter 2. Chapter 2 begins "Nearly ten years after [the events in Chapter 1] ...", and this is the only ten... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is it a bad idea to have multiple bad endings and only one good ending? I think it is a bad idea and might be frustrating to play if it seems like you always lose and cannot ever find the combination that wins. However, you might be able to make some of those bad choices that lead to certain failure just make it more difficult to get to the good ending. Basically give t... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to derive a storyline from a beginning? You have an inciting incident and a protagonist. I think something is off about one of them. Your protagonist is under-developed, or your inciting incident is under-developed. In a typical story, this inciting incident forces upon the protagonist their central dilemma / opportunity, and addressing ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Descriptive words to slow down the pace of the story? I should think your villain is not well developed, or your hero is not sufficiently motivated. What has the hero been doing all this time, and why does s/he see the villain as a threat? What has the villain done that s/he knows about and is willing to take the risks of a battle to stop? When the her... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Do you have to write in the tone of ordinary speech? The conjunction 'for' has fallen out of favor, what modern people say is "because". However, if your character was raised in an isolated community or circumstance that continue to speak like people did a century or more ago, using "for" instead "because" along with other grammatical oddities could be... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Still struggling with character desire, positive vs. negative, hooking readers > All else being equal, is a positive desire/goal/motivation (of the main character) more 'hooky' for the reader than a negative desire/etc? Personally, I think this must be the wrong question because I can think of many examples that need both. Look at the Bourne Identity series: Jason wants to liv... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How can a "rip-off" still be good? This does answer the OP's question: As I said in my answer, and added P.S. and P.P.S, and comments later, the only requirement is that something (significant) be original, which can include characters, plot, setting, etc. Superficial generalities of Rowling's work versus others does not change the f... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to describe an everyday routine? Take things that happen every time with regularity, and make them not happen, so you can remember the last time they did not happen. For example, consume things; I have a regular morning routine I've kept for 30 years, but it isn't precisely regular: I run out of coffee, or filters, or shampoo or to... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Should the narrator use pseudonyms in writing? Use the real name. I do this all the time, in my current writing the main character (a female) is often spying to gain information, and pretends to be a fictitious person to do it. My narrator always calls her by her real name. She introduces herself by her assumed name and responds only to it. She... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Describing a psychological concept like Stockholm Syndrome in a non-Earth setting? Two real-psych possibilities, Destructive Cult Syndrome and capture-bonding. Destructive Cult Disorder). From the wiki: > Robbins and Anthony, who had historically studied a condition similar to Stockholm syndrome, known as destructive cult disorder, observed in their 1982 study that the 1970s wer... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Writing dialogue You can write without any dialogue, or almost entirely dialogue. Zero dialogue would be plausible if you write about a character acting alone, or from the POV of an animal or machine that has no capability of speech (like a dog, in Stephen King's Cujo, or a robotic space probe). I would say if you ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Citing Pseudonym/Handle as Author: MLA 8 I am a PhD and former professor. The purpose of the citation is to allow the reader to access the source material and read it for themselves. I have noticed some academic papers cite blogs and even anonymous authors. I don't know of a style guide that includes Internet sources. Most publisher's of ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: What are the things that only Stories can do? This is mostly an opinion based question. So IMO, only in literature can the audience convincingly "become" the protagonist with all of their internal thoughts and feelings, faith and belief. I don't think film can convey this to the same extent as literature, especially (paradoxically) in the sense... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is inner monologue a bad way to show character traits? Inner monologue is used quite frequently, and it can reveal character traits that may not be revealed any other way: True feelings. Such as, if Jack is telling the truth about never cheating on Jill, if the photograph of him doing so had to be faked. The same with secret desires, dislikes, hatreds,... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is there a word or a sets of words that describe a persons beautiful dead face? +1 Fayth85. I have seen more than my fair share of the dead, including three of my own family members (in three separate incidents). The best you can say is if your character has some experience with seeing live people become dead people, they might be able to tell that a dead face must have been be... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Can I split a long scene up by switching the camera from one arguing couple to a different couple? I wouldn't worry about it. If the scene cannot be shorter, then it is up to the director to break it up somehow, and that can include changing the camera angle, focusing on something else (stage business in the background, like dropped plates or something ignored by your arguing couple, or just glanc... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is excerpts from an in-universe book, presented between chapters, a good way of handling exposition? This is not a bad way of handling exposition. I have seen what you describe work, and felt compelled to find it amongst the hundreds of books on my shelf. Thanks for the mindworm. I found a book that does this exactly:"Convergent Series" by Charles Sheffield. The back cover has reviews with high pra... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to communicate character desire? I do not think desires should be communicated directly in exposition, and only rarely in thoughts, but they can often be communicated somewhat directly through dialogue, especially dialogue with new characters, lovers, or colleagues that want to get to know the prominent character. "What made yo... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: What constitutes a 'hook?' First, I would not say a hook has to be in the first 300 words (a normal published page is about 250 words). Anybody that picks up a book with the intent of reading it will give you more credit than \one page , you will get three or four: As long as the prose is going somewhere. For me, that "going ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to describe a female character's figure without comedy? Physical measurements seldom make any difference to the plot, and (IMO) it is an amateur mistake to imagine any character, male or female, with too specific a set of measurements. Breast size, hip size, waist size, shoe size, are all far too specific, and if you think about it, this is the telling o... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Details: How do you describe a character's clothing in a story? Do not say "written boldly", everybody knows what a "football shirt" looks like. A "football shirt" is a "jersey", the reader will know it is a football jersey by any single mention of football. > Aiden watched the boy with jersey number 10 running on the football field. +1 Morgan. To expand, if y... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Things To Remember When Writing Harem Stories? Keep in mind basic sexual psychology differences between men and women. It depends on the era, and culture. With the caveat that nothing applies to everybody and you can find some 15% of just about any population that is non-typical, I will speak in generalities for a broad question. Across all era... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Can I use characters from other books if it's obvious that they aren't my characters? This is a legal question, and I am not a lawyer. So all of the following is my opinion, I am not giving you legal advice. If the character is not still under copyright, then sure. I am pretty sure Sherlock Holmes, as originally written, is no longer under copyright. Otherwise, you are skating on ve... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is it acceptable to use synonyms to achieve rhythm? Authors often look to synonym dictionaries to find words different than what first occurs to them, but this is generally NOT to achieve rhythm, but to find a more accurate or evocative word for what they really mean. The reason is that synonyms do not mean the same thing. They are only close, each o... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is the "what" more important than the "how"? How is far more important than What. Look at successful entertainments (by how many they sell, not whether critics loved them or not), and the settings are mostly standard fare, many of them set in real life, a city or town or school that has almost nothing unusual about it at all. Fantasy is the sa... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How much does style contribute to the overall value of a novel? I wouldn't worry much about style, I strongly disagree with your critic. I wouldn't say there is a "most important component" because there are a few elements that must be there no matter what. The most important thing is sustaining reader interest, and there are a few ways to do that, typically use... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Length as action With others, I cannot even be sure what the "take away message" is supposed to be. "took length to" does not make sense. "length" is a form of measurement, applied to an argument, "length" implies a duration of time. Is the teacher measuring the length of the argument? That is not a plausible action ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Formatting of Text in Technical Writing (Procedure Writing) These are style questions and mostly a matter of opinion; but if the matching is intended to help the user recognize the key, then if I were writing a manual I would match the italics, and if possible the font as well. I presume by "procedure" you do not mean code, but a recipe of action for a human... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Are there any differences between writing a movie script and writing a tv series script? TV series, if they take outside scripts (some are only written internally), will sometimes have "protected characters" and "protected topics", that may not even be the main character, but your story cannot focus on that character. For example, Star Trek: The Next Generation took many outside scripts... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Traits of Bad Writers - Analysing Popular Authors I would say mostly breaking (or more bending) the plausibility of realistic speech, realistic reaction (physical or emotional), and telling instead of showing, or using too many nods and shrugs and adverbs (he said excitedly). It is relying too heavily on some same "formula" for description or exposi... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is it okay to use “Off This—“ in a spec script? I think it is some kind of directorial or camera direction, and I don't recognize it as a standard one. If it is what I think it means, you are directing, and wasting a line (which counts as time in a script, and costs you a line of dialogue for example). I say "wasting" because what else could happe... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is it too long for each chapter of a 12-15 chapter novel to be around 10k words in length? That is not particularly "big", and it is fine. (--added-- for what it is worth, chapters are generally 3000 to 5000 words long, but it is not a rule. The link goes into more details and examples.) A chapter is usually related to a setting, (which may be moving; e.g. two people walking somewhere, or... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How should I introduce multiple characters without it being repetitive? Look at The Stand (by Stephen King), Tolkien. Send your characters on a journey. I haven't read the above in decades, but they have many characters (far more than eight) and you can follow their pattern: Characters are introduced as the story is developing. You already say each incident is differen... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Two magical realities, ours isn't one of them. How do I stop my readers from getting confused? This does not really answer the question, but solves the dilemma in the interest of producing better writing. Reading earlier comments and your replies, you seem intent on an info dump and forcing your YA readers to learn your "scientific" system with your own terminology, as if they need to use it ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Inside your character's head - when does it become too much? +1 Alexander. I would add the following observation: The book is about the transformation a character is going through, what is commonly called an "arc" but is in essence a change. Sometimes a literal change, like "coming of age" stories, or romances (becoming a lover or spouse), or ascension (becomi... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Where to find examples of real life situations and counter-arguments to support your arguments in an essay? I think you need logic to support that claim, it is not the type of thing that can be studied. (Or you might find that kind of logic in academic philosophy.) The logic is, you find it self-evident [requires no proof] that to quantify anything requires a method of measurement that consistently return... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is discovering memories are false, a plot twist that invalidates my story so far? > My question is does this invalidate the previous events of the story and make them somehow inconsequential and do you think this is a good or bad twist overall? I offer a possible out below, but at first glance I think it does invalidate the previous "events" and make them inconsequential. I can s... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to come up with good titles? The Warming of A Cold Still Heart or New Light For a Dark Heart (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to perpetuate the plot-driving riddle without frustrating the reader? The only way I can think of solving this puzzle is if the protagonist was never really interested in foiling a plot in the first place, but gets their revenge, and from their point of view justice gets done against those that wronged them, and they "won" somehow (are made whole or richer) without act... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: First person plural for charisma? You can also switch, the "we" dynamic establishes you and another person, you can also address them individually, or impersonally, as a teacher might. I've done this in highly technical instructional documents (mathematical). But for an example consider some cooking project: > The first thing we nee... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: What tips would you give to someone about to write a stage play? My advice is to try and act out the parts, actually say the lines, make the movements, and so on. If necessary, use cardboard boxes or other cheap stuff (empty aluminum cans as wine glasses or a lantern) for your props. Use a sheet of paper with a name on it, put it on the floor for other actors. Use... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is "Publishable" 1st Book Word Count still 75,000-125,000? Yes, but as you said it also depends on the genre. Here is an article, why a first author should write to word count. Basically, science fiction and fantasy (your main genre) is 110,000 words, and mystery (your sub-genre) will be 80,000 words. The article says that publishers are risk averse with n... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How do you use adverbs properly in fiction writing? Naturally in dialogue or thoughts, sparingly in exposition. Adverbs are communication shortcuts, the reason they are disdained is that they are usually vague and do not evoke an image or experience or feeling in the reader. The 'Y' suffix means 'characterized by', so angrily means 'with anger', 'sex... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to get past the cringe factor of reviewing my earliest writing attempts? I am analytical by nature, even as I am writing new stuff. My recommendation would be to make a copy and actually go analytical, as if it were written by somebody else (and it really was, you are a different writer now than you were then). I say make a copy because the purpose is to edit it and writ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |