Activity for Amadeus
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
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A: Explaining a major-studies change I am a professor. Your challenge is difficult, if you haven't taken ANY courses in the subject, it would be hard to accept you over somebody that has proven some ability and interest by taking a course. That said, an undergraduate that has published (in something besides a vanity journal that accept... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: show-don't tell with word limit +1 Henry's answer. For an alternative approach, rely on the elements of structure; the three act structure specifically, and pace your writing accordingly. Use 30% for the first act. 1500 words. You need to introduce the world and your main character (MC): 5% to 10%. Use 250 words at least, be done... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Effective hero journeys that don't kill the villain? > Does someone need to physically die? No. This is going to depend on how you choose to write the story. Most villains are written in a way that their death is the only way to prevent them from doing any more harm to innocents. When that is true, we readers expect the hero to not be a coward, and k... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: What's gained from NaNoWriMo? > What's gained from NaNoWriMo? Obviously for some, motivation through a social event. For some, it is like running the marathon, not to come in first, and even if they come in last, they want to be able to say they did it, on that date and when everybody else was doing it and with everybody else do... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How many pages should cover the Ordinary World of the Protagonist? The beginning has a job to do, and the length depends upon how big the job is. The job is bigger if the Normal World is unfamiliar to the reader. The job, in essence, is to lay the cultural, physical (e.g. does magic exist, is flying possible by any means) and emotional foundations for the decisions... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How do I start writing a good plot line? +1 Mark. In keeping with his description, I consider most stories to be a description of a change or transformation of a main character, and potentially other characters in the show. This is true of coming of age stories; the transformation from a child to a sexual adult, including the dawn of roman... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How do I write a social survival guide for asperger people? Obviously, if the title is "The Neurotypical Tyranny", you are not starting out "neutral". :-) I wouldn't try. My grandson is autistic, and (contrary to most fiction) no superpowers in the mental department have yet shown themselves. He is generally happy and playing, but he is a teen entering puber... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Should my opening include a religious initiation ritual? I think you name all the correct issues. The reader starts with no context, the setting is obscure, the reader won't be invested. And of course you don't want a cliche. On the plus side, however, it is obviously a changing point for the main character, and those are good places to start stories: Spi... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Building character trust I guess this depends on your definition of "trust", so I will offer two takes on that. First, trust is most easily earned when it is least necessary: The more open and transparent one side can be, the less need there is to "just trust them". If I can see, somehow, that you have no rational reason to... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Another question about two POV's and broken timelines It might make more sense if you did the same thing, but shorten the chapters so the alternation is faster, event by event. Basically, "here is what Mike saw" then "here is what Nancy saw" for the train derailment. Or equivalently, if you don't want to inflate the chapter count, you could just altern... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Can't write, can plan > I can plan all sorts of specific aspects in a novel such as characters, locations, and the plot in general, The short version of the below: Plan the first chapter, plan the first scene, and experiment with the first dialogue: The first interchange between two of your characters. Or really ANY inte... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Describing laughter in dialogue? Handle laughter not as words spoken, but as a physical action. Looking at my own work, I just say "laughed." I never write multiple "Ha". I have written, > Jack was amused. "Ha. Then we'll charge 'em for the visit, too." > > Richard laughed. IRL, I hear people sometimes say "Ha" or "Heh" when am... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: What are specific things (choices, techniques, etc) successful published novel writers do and don't do? You are simply wrong about that, and trying to answer your own question! Stephen King has written, in his book On Writing, that his wife reads every finished page he gives her and critiques it, and if she doesn't like it he rewrites it. if your relatives and friends are readers of the type of stuff... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How can a screenplay writer learn to write a novel? Practice differently. Go standing. Or go sitting. Being a visual person is fine, I write my stories as visually imagined scenes, full of dialogue (in conflict, dialogue is a form of action). I think your practice is (by your own claim) ineffective, so I will offer an alternative exercise; this can ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Names and aliases You are just talking about a twist ending, there is nothing wrong with it. Consider The Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis. A wildly successful twist ending, to be sure. SPOILER ALERT In the end, it turns out Bruce Willis was dead the whole time! In your story, in the end, Olivia is really the legend... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to be mindful of the reader when handling disturbing/distressing subjects? I suggest writing it with all the detail you can muster, then returning to it cold and rewriting to delete repetitiveness and all the detail you can stand to give up. Remember these passages are like any other in the story: They serve a purpose to the larger story, and should have some consequence l... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is it OK to rename characters? In my current story, a kind of spy girl has name A, but at various times goes by B, C, D, and E. I always refer to her as A in prose, and other characters call her by whatever alias she is using at the time. > "Nice to meet you, Betty," Joe said, extending a hand. > > Alice took his hand and gave i... (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? It can be done. If I were doing this, I'd use a character with some skill set that doesn't apply for most of the book; my break-in specialist, the dragon tamer, the assassin, a pilot, etc. So it makes sense when they appear first, and second, and why they are gone and what they are doing when off sc... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is it necessary to use words like "said", "asked," etc in dialog? No. They are often left off, if the context makes it clear who is talking. If I only have Mike and Nancy in a scene: > "I had ice cream at lunch," Mike said. > > "I thought we agreed we would have it together?" > > "I just forgot." > > "Okay," Nancy said, "Thanks for thinking about me." Typicall... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: I have very little technical ability, will this hinder my ability to tell a story and how to improve? Your initial instinct is correct; who cares? My advice is to re-read some best selling popular fiction. Stephen King, JK Rowling, Orson Scott Card, Dan Brown, or others you like. But switch off your brain's entertainment mode, and do this with an analytic eye. See how they mix dialogue and action. ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Character feelings? Drawn out, most likely. In special circumstances one chapter could be enough. If you are introducing something like this, it shouldn't be "filler", it should have something to do with the story. It needs to have ramifications in the story, there must be some kind of consequences for this unrequited ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Does a character without huge weaknesses need improvement? Your MC does not exactly have to have weaknesses, the main thing is that she has problems. She can also have negative emotions. Her problems have to be big enough that she struggles against them and readers believe she may fail to overcome them, or in most cases at least do not see HOW she will over... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How can I continue one scene after many scenes? You probably want those intermediate scenes to be a Montage. Either that, or indicate you are rejoining Bruce and Wayne in scene description: INT. A SINGLE SCENE - DAY CONTINUING PREVIOUS SCENE WITH BRUCE AND WAYNE (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How can I write silent communication? The lines should be interrupted. I open a random page in a best selling sci fi novel to find a dialogue, the author has whole paragraphs between utterances. Open Harry Potter to find a dialogue with Harry, Ron and Hermione, every utterance is accompanied by a description, and sometimes a few lines of... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Should I defend my character's appearance? Your editor sounds like an idiot and non-professional. If all characters wear hoodies as part of their costume, are they all always sneaking? What is the difference between a hoodie and a Halloween mask, or painting the face entirely bright blue, or wearing a ski mask? That makes no sense, and even i... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Writing garbage to see if the characters do something interesting? I do it. In my current writing project, which I started some months ago, I had this image in my head that at the end of ACT I, character A was going to seek out character B for some help. The twist is, character A is a professional killer, and B knows of him and is terrified of him, so A has to convi... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How much per page? Is this a ripoff? Here is the data from the USA Bureau of Labor Statistics for the wages of a Proofreader, the median wage is $19.06 per hour. Their job description is: > Read transcript or proof type setup to detect and mark for correction any grammatical, typographical, or compositional errors. For an Editor, the ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Chapter size matters? I don't think this negatively affects story progression. It can even be a form of emphasis, that punches the reader. Say Karen and Lyle have been married for ten years, with two children. Karen has had her tubes tied, they decided one boy and one girl was enough. Here's my scene: Karen gets a call o... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How do I get more exposure as an author? Write something that captures the imagination, from page 1. First, +1 to DPT answers, those are practical. This is like asking "How do I write a #1 book". There is a lot of advice out there on writing a #1 book, and much of it comes from #1 authors, but in the end their advice relies on a person be... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Should I take breaks from writing? The safest time to take a break is between projects, I think. Taking a break in the middle of a project could kill it, there is too much of the project still in your head, held in 'working memory'. As long as the characters still live in your mind you won't lose that, but when you stop writing and ar... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is it correct to write "should/could/must be" in past tense narrative? I think the writing is fine as it is. To me, they sound like the conclusion of the reanalyzing: She was reanalyzing, and now she knows something: X cannot be true. Y should be true. In fact, "should have been cooking a bigger plan" makes it sound like it is too late to do that now. Similar to "Joe s... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to concentrate when writing? +1 Daniel, I'm on board with that. Set an appointment and write. If you are worrying about other things: Write about them. Write what is in your head. If you worry about them every day, write them every day. Write down all the ramifications of what you are worrying about. Of all the hundred things y... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How firm is the 120 page limit on a screenplay? It is extremely firm, but not inviolate. The true issue is time. To fit into standard commercial slots you should be UNDER 120, unless you have written blockbusters in the past. Here is a graph of movie times. The average is 110 minutes, which is 110 pages. Exceeding the time creates difficulties i... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Skipping the first act? No, you can't skip it, but Yes, you can start the first act in full motion. What you are describing is not "skipping the first act". It is impossible to skip the first act because it really isn't up to you, the writer, but something that happens in the head of the reader or viewer. We all start col... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Should I be concerned about relatability or can I just tell the story the way it is? Relatibility is more like understanding why people are doing what they are doing. Consider the movie franchise for Taken: the hero kills dozens of people without mercy. But we understand why, they are evil and they have kidnapped or killed somebody important to him. In The Matrix, nobody is like Neo ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: When my story has a powerful phrase but that loses its power when I read it again in the next day, should I keep it or remove it? +1 Mark, delete it. Make sure you have a backup of your manuscript for the day, you won't lose it. Then delete it and try something else. Psychologically speaking, a major problem for writers is our own short-term memories and a heavily biased "moment" of how we perceive the real world and the world... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How often can I use time lapses? As often as needed. Remember novels like Roots [Alex Haley] that cross something like six generations of people, a few centuries of time. Then get compressed to a two-hour timeframe for the Movie! Obviously, time lapse is crazy important. Consider from Roots Chicken George: - We see his conception... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Can a book be written without an antagonist? > Can a book be written without an antagonist? Yes, it can. I'm answering late and have read the other answers. I had to look it up, but in every dictionary reading I have found, "Antagonist" is a person or "One who opposes ...", and in this context I think "one" is obviously singular, and refers t... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How can I make believable motivations for antagonists? I write my antagonists to truly believe they are doing the right thing. They just begin with different beliefs about the world than my protagonists, that also truly believe they are doing the right thing. For example, my antagonist may believe that a few dozen politicians, by their votes, are litera... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to write a compelling village scoundrel? Unhappiness, frustration, powerlessness at home or in life. Some bullies are sexually excited by power. Others enjoy hurting people as a kind of revenge against someone or some situation hurting them, against which they have no easy way to retaliate: It is easier to shove Sheldon on his ass and make ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Should I be a Novel Writer or a Screenwriter? You should be a Novelist. Novels get optioned as screenplays. Authors can be involved in that; Stephen King was writing for the recent TV series based on his book, Under the Dome. It isn't easy to get published as a novelist, but almost every novel that sells a reasonable number of copies will be a... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: The basics of making a "reason you suck speech" that doesn't feel contrived Such speeches are an emotionally cathartic release for the character making them, therefore the rule is they are generally in the order of what is irritating them most about the person that sucks. The person making the speech is venting, and like venting, the highest pressure gases escape first, and... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Duping the reader? Get your story straight! > My goal is to introduce the reader to a ‘wonderful’ fantasy world with an underdog main character full of panache… How does a wonderful fantasy world produce an underdog, exactly? The world is seldom wonderful for underdogs, because by definition they are dominated by alp... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Asking for help in pitching and writing a script You have to write it, completely, and 100% correctly. Further, you will not get anybody else to write it for you (unless you can pay them thousands of dollars). If they do the writing, you will get a "Story by [you]" credit on the film, they and others will get a "Screenplay by [them]" credit, and t... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How do I write POV with a hive mind character? What you describe is not exactly a hive mind; a hive mind distributes the responsibility of "thinking" to multiple potential thinkers. for example, here on StackExchange you have more of a hive mind: anybody can answer your question, and anybody can vote on the questions, and the better answers rise ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How to figure out what my target readers are? To me, A writer's first target audience is themselves. When Stephen King was asked why he wrote horror, his reply was, "What makes you think I can write anything else?" The bulk of my fiction has always been fantastical in nature, sci-fi or horror or fantasy. An exception was my father's mystery boo... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: "Group think" and least common denominator in writing groups? > Do writing groups become tunnel-visioned ... and come with their own set of biases? I believe they do, just as part of human nature. There are many studies on this regarding the outcome of focus groups, and in psychology: How 9 actors can convince, by consensus, a single test subject that his eyes... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Confusing author guidelines I'm not a lawyer so I will preface this with saying the following is my opinion of what it means: The law reads literally, and I think NO you don't lose all rights, but you are granting them unlimited use. "Permission to use the material in any way [we] deems it fit" means ANY way you can think of, ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is it possible to read your own words too much? (and begin to hate them as a result) Don't do it. You shouldn't be doing something in writing that isn't at least tolerable. You need a different style of writing. I say that as a writer that has gone over a three page scene THIRTY times, but I found it tolerable, and I was crafting something critical. It was not mechanistic. I don't ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: side story breaking off from my main one about side character? I would think so, but it depends on if he ends up dead in the main novel. If he survives, a "bonus chapter" after the main novel (I wouldn't call it an epilogue) could be "Alfred's Awesome African Adventure" or whatever. Especially if he is off the stage well before the end of the book, and you think... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |