Activity for Amadeus
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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A: Should "plot" or storyline be the main determinant of what goes into a story? +1 Lauren's answer, so I will only add to it: Part of writing is the analysis you are doing to eliminate scenes, and it sounds like you can be objective enough to make the hard choices. The slush pile is not a bad idea, either. Here is one more tool that can be helpful: Zoom out, then zoom back in. ... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: What should I do if halfway through a story, I am not anymore convinced with the plot and the storyline ? I know you have already accepted Mark's answer, but here is an idea, from a writer that starts with rather vague story plans: While you are in love with your idea, write down what you love about it. Why is this such a great idea? What scenes are you imagining? What funny or astounding or terrifying ... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Use of real organization in fiction I'm not a lawyer but if it were me I'd feel like I was on thin legal ice. Even if you don't think you trash them, they might think so, and then sue you for defamation, claiming the worst thing you write about them has damaged their reputation. Disclaimers are not a bullet proof shield, just because... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: How to use short stories to explore a new setting and potential characters for a novel? This is somewhat a matter of opinion and personal preferences. So for me, I would not write short stories. If you want practice, write scenes. Then leave them alone for about a week (do not look at them). This is enough time for most people to forget all but an outline of what they wrote. Then try to... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: I want to start writing again: original project or new one? Given the reason you gave up, I'd say continue with the same story. I would regard depression as an illness or at least similar to a car accident. I have never been disabled by such a thing, but if I stopped writing due to health or accident I would try to get back into whatever I was working on befo... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: What can I do if I hate my own protagonist? You may have story problems, too. As Mark says (I have to say that a lot) she needs to want something, bad. You say she is "quite determined" but mousy: She can be usually mousy, but when it comes to taking a direction that does not lead to what she wants, she needs to show some steel. Bravery. A wil... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Is it okay to have my family edit my book? Sure. But the problem is not just bias, the problem is that, in most families, your mother or father or brother cannot tell you the truth if the truth is they hated it, or were bored and skipped a hundred pages, or cannot bring themselves to comment truthfully on their child's explicit sex scene. If... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: voice over or off screen for AI in a TV script Voice over. O.S. is for a character that is presumably physically present in the depicted setting but not in the shot and their voice is being heard by another character. VO is for characters that are NOT present in the depicted setting; like people on the phone (if you don't cut to them or split sc... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Will increasing the word count of my novella to make it a novel improve my options for publishing? I upvote JG; but provide my own take. No, you shouldn't lengthen the story you have. IMO puffing up a story makes it less likely to sell. If you don't have enough, consider incorporating a prequel or sequel to the story you have. How did the characters become who they are? What happens to them after... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: How can you tell that you have what it takes to be an author? > So, without having to waste decades on a lost case, or, conversely, without wasting your life in a job you don't enjoy when you could have become the next John Grisham I will key on this statement. Obviously this is entirely a matter of my own opinion. In his book "On Writing", Stephen King tells ... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: What are ways to describe feelings of fear? This is a case of "show don't tell", or for those that frown upon that phrase, I mean write about the effects of the fear. Fear reactions tend to be summarized in "flight or fight", which is a nice rhyme, but there is more to it. Vocally there is screaming, yelling, calls for help, anger and threat... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Offensive aesthetics and naming conventions? > Would this still be considered offensive by the majority of the readers? Nazis are offensive, period, so yes. The motivations of the good guys in Nazi garb will just come off as incongruous, implausible, and confusing. When that happens, the writing is bad, and readers become alienated and drop th... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Using Names for Weaponry used in Actual Games I am not a lawyer, but No, you shouldn't use them. A unique invented name is copyrighted, and no in-story justification matters. The owners of the copyright have all the rights to make a profit using that name; if you sell your story they may be entitled to all the profits and damages and court cost... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Should I use a disclaimer in my novel? Yes, you should put a disclaimer. I am not a lawyer, but I have read about defamation cases: Apparently the key to winning such cases is whether reading the book provides enough detail to identify the real-life person upon which the character is based (and whether damages were actually suffered, and ... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Two protagonists where one is dark - a mistake? I think the question is a bit opinion based; and it depends on how evil the evil guy is. Is he just shoplifting once in a while, or getting into bar fights and breaking a finger or nose for the fun of it, or is he still in the business of kidnapping children and selling their transplantable organs? (... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: How to keep track of characters' location, within a longer narrative? Like Loren's solution; I just use a separate document in another window (click "Window" then "New Window") which I normally have minimized on the task bar. I use LibreOffice too, my approach is just another document, with usually one page per chapter and "notes". I do not keep thorough notes! My app... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Are all writers, readers? Yes, all writers are readers. It isn't clear what you are asking, however. We comment on other people's work all the time, particularly published work. If what you mean is why don't we review other people's work, particularly amateur strangers, it is because experience tells us (or at least it tell... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: What does Show don't Tell actually mean I agree you must tell some things; but I think you can embed those tellings in a "showing": Anna shifted the sword on her back for the tenth time since morning, the strap refused to rest in that long worn dent at the end of her collar bone, and kept slipping toward her neck. Her luck, she'd reac... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: How much heed should we pay to writing advice Part of the value is just talking to other writers, and hearing what they do. I don't plot, I rewrite a lot, until I feel it is right. Knowing that you are not alone or that other writers also don't accept common wisdom, and still get by, is valuable. Hearing what value other writers put on various ... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Is it a good review tactic to go back in the story and ask deeper questions about a scene, to be answered in the story? I don't know about "deeper questions" in a scene; but I generally reread what I have written, in its entirety, six to twelve times before I am satisfied. Even a 250+ page novel. And that is on top of re-reading and rewriting scenes a few times as I produce them, with an occasional "start from scratch... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: The use of short, concise sentences to suggest a withdrawn character > "I smiled. I ate. I spoke. I listened. I left." If you are going to write from a depressed point of view, I don't think these are the thoughts of a depressed person. For a depressed person, these are lies. They do not necessarily lie to themselves. A more convincing internal dialogue is what the... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Can I use the same message over a series of novels? If, as you say in comment to Kitsune, you refuse to make a distinction between your Theme and your Plot, then the answer, due to your insistence, is that you will bore your readers by repeating exactly the same plot with all other changes just window dressing. Part of the enjoyment of a novel (or fi... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Multiple POV's: Am I in over my head? You can use a sidekick as the POV for your genius villain. Think of Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes; by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle's stories are ruined if told from the POV of Sherlock alone, but compelling if told from the POV of Watson, because Watson can't tell us what is going on inside of Sherlock... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Plotting My Story~ Although I upvote Mark and Alexander, I can suggest an alternative writing trick: Find a way to exchange cause and effect: You are thinking "betrayal" causes "Kicked Out." Instead think of how "Kicked Out" can be a "betrayal". This is often a puzzler we can't solve, but in this case it is easy: You... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Avoiding "kill it off for DRAMA" trope whilst doing it Who is laughing? Just you, at suckering your readers into caring about a character? Maybe this is not how you read, but most readers are making an investment of time and emotional energy in imagining the characters. Developing a character they like, and then causing that character pain, stress and g... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: How to make "Joffrey like" characters for a "kick that son of a bitch " moment Killing the opposition; even brutally, is an understandable trait of a villain. Mass "impersonal" killing (setting a bomb, firing a missile, exploding a nuclear weapon) are understandable traits, too. Even if those kill babies and kids and innocents, the villain is killing them for some cause or pur... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: What does it mean to subvert a trope? A trope is a cliché setup; of any kind, that audiences have come to expect. An example in a commercial is the great looking guy catching sight of a jaw-dropping girl, dropping everything to approach her as she smiles, and walking past her to the new car, or picture of a stacked burger, or to the ner... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: How to move from writing scenes to a short plot? Stephen King doesn't plan his plots; at least according to his book, "On Writing." Perhaps that is more your style (and is what I like, too). King's approach is to write about a problem and do exactly what you said: imagine characters, and scenes, and get in the head of the characters. The "Plot" is... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: What would be the best linking word for this context? Your construction is poor. Your first line effectively says "I am ignoring all debate about rationality and applying my own definition, a decision is rational when it satisfies condition X." Why reference all the debate only to dismiss it? Plus, if I or any other professor is reading this; I reject... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Act 3 totally broken...keep writing? Start over; new file, using what you have as a reference. I've actually done it, put aside nearly 200 pages and begun anew. Your story problem is what I think of as the original "Star Trek" problem: It is completely implausible for the Captain of the Ship to personally engage in fist fights, away mi... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How do I stay confident? Try this to break the cycle: Go Analytic! When you begin to doubt, or don't know what to write next, Start a new paragraph with some knots (&&&) and explain why what you wrote doesn't work. It is true dialogue should generally be concise, but your note does not have to be: write in as confused and r... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Should I be concerned with my fiction writing containing accidental prophecies of real world events? The biggest problem I see is that your "prediction" will not be appreciated, and your actual creativity is lost and considered derivative. Suppose I started writing a book about terrorists, hijacking planes and bringing down the World Trade Center Towers by crashing into them, six months before that... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Does a work need to be sexually stimulating to be classified as erotica/erotic literature? I think the Supreme Court definition applies; to paraphrase: erotica and pornography are pretty much undefinable but we know it when we see it. If you are describing the genitals or breasts of naked people, many will consider just that description erotica, no matter how clinically you approach it. W... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Story content and audience Write it anyway. Most authors have to write a few books before they publish one. Don't think your idea is going to be your one and only idea ever. Some of my published work I have rewritten entire large set-piece scenes over THIRTY times before I liked them. So you might as well get the first draft ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Weaving VERY IMPORTANT OPINIONS into a story without murdering it One good way to write about Very Important Opinions is to begin in an idyllic world complying with the Very Important Opinions; but one that has been idyllic for so long that they have relaxed their vigilance, and an opportunist (psychopath, sociopath, sadist, etc) --- your villain --- realizes there... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: From a writing standpoint, what is the value of Deus Ex Machina? D.E.M. implies an implausible [to the audience] save; and there is no value to that. The minute the audience finds a story development implausible they lose interest; this is the point when they turn to the back to see the final page number so they can compute how much more time they must waste to se... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How to make good anti-heroes? One writer's opinion: Heroes: Begin here: They engage in altruistic risk and sometimes sacrifice; and the audience sees that. Many Germans that hid Jews from the Nazis did not get caught, so they lost nothing, and in material terms sacrificed nothing. Well, peace of mind, personal terror, etc, perh... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Intentional, Subconscious, or Coincidence? Sometimes this is an intentional clue; for example in The Green Mile, the miracle-performing character is named John Coffey; and Stephen King says he intentionally gave him the same initials as Jesus Christ. I think other times it is subconscious; writers prefer the "J" sound for heroes, and in your... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Would having a story set in a conworld based on the modern age alienate readers? No, that would not alienate readers. We've seen this kind of conworld all the way back to Gulliver's Travels, and in more modern form, something like Hogwart's, the TV series Magicians (where they spend most of their time in conworlds), the Sci Fi movie The Fifth Element, and so on. The first probl... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Is consonance good or bad in fiction? I agree with Mark. I also don't care for your example. I don't have the full context, but it seems to me "wicked" is too strong a modifier for "mocking", which I tend to think of as harmless ribbing. But I grew up in an unforgiving neighborhood, so perhaps I am more callous than most. If consonance ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How to self-publish for free? You really can't get a free lunch. If there were a way, it would be overwhelmed by any novice writer capable of Googling, and quickly become useless. That said: The people that do this "for free" are called agents. They actually work on commission, the standard is 15% but IMO can range to 35% and re... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: What is the best way to generate ideas? Answers to this question are obviously going to be pretty opinion based. Here is mine! I look for problems people will struggle to solve, for some reason, because to me this is the essence of a plot: Some future state must come to pass, or must not come to pass, and the plot is about one or more cha... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Not enough real world experience to write convincing situations? I am an old writer. My advice is simple: Steal experience! To be more specific, you need to study some existing fiction that is in the best-seller, well-reviewed, or highly acclaimed realm. When I say study I mean you should consume it once to enjoy it, then consume it again, and again with your ana... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Are the following examples violations of first-person limited? > We ordered pork belly, beef liver, and lamb slices—a selection that made our tongues melt and our stomachs heat up. We ordered pork belly, beef liver and lamb slices -- a selection we knew would make our tongues melt and our stomachs heat up. > Rattled by a sound or shake that only Sumire had det... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: What are the acts of a story? ACTS when the word is used to designate timing in a story, refer to commonly accepted phases of a story line. These phases and what is in them have been observed over tens of thousands of successful stories (ones people like) in print and in film; and when we find stories people do not like, we ofte... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Is it good to add 'I believe' at the beginning of the sentence? You absolutely should add "I Believe" if, without that phrase, you would be making a claim of fact that you cannot be certain is true. Do you have scientific proof that people should eat apples for their health? Without some medical studies, you make a misleading statement to say "people should eat ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Should you specify camera action in a film script? I believe you should only include angles if they are actually important to the plot; not if they are "artistic." If you need to show a bee flying up Mark's nose, perhaps. But even then, aren't you considering the director and cinematographer morons if they can't realize this? The only example I can ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How do you estimate the length of your screenplay in screentime? As said, 1 page (standard format) is estimated at one minute. If you are worried and want a more detailed answer: If your dialogue is particularly dense or complicated, read it aloud with a stop watch, as you are intending it to be spoken. Note that dialogue instruction (tone, volume, accompanying ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: In a screenplay/script format, how do you handle several people saying hello or goodbye to each other? Frequently, greetings and farewells are simply left out, for time compression in the screenplay. Every second counts. Watch any sitcom, like The Big Bang Theory; and this seems natural enough. Also often, the greeting is given by one person with a comic line, insult, or reference to what is already ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |