Activity for Amadeus
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
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A: Should beta-readers have genre experience? I wouldn't want a non-reader, I definitely want somebody that likes to read and gets immersed in fiction. But then, I wouldn't really care if they are a genre expert. A good story is a good story, almost anybody that reads novels will be able to tell you the most important thing a reader can tell yo... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Should you write character description points in bulk or spread them out? In general, do not give a laundry list of features. The reason for this is you are asking the reader to memorize a lot of stuff that is disconnected from the story. In order to connect their features to the story, you should have a reason that feature makes a difference: If I picture a short man, I ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Examples of dialog beats and bookism You are trying to describe two talking heads. Or One talking head. Do not replace "said" with anything else that means basically the same thing. Use adverbs extremely sparingly, it is far better to show some action that implies excitement, than to say "excitedly". This is somewhat an opinion, but a... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: What style should I write a torture scene in? In 3rd person limited, which you are writing it, it is perfectly valid to describe what somebody is feeling , like panic, or horror, or anger, or whatever. That includes pain. It seems like you feel restricted to describing actual thoughts and what he knows; but being tortured is not an intellectual ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Scriptwriting, screenplay writing, playwriting, blogging A "script" is general; a "screenplay" is something to be filmed. A "play" is something to be performed on a stage, and more limited because of that; for example all kinds of things can be done in a screenplay, with special effects, sound effects, dubbing, green screens, etc, things you just can't do ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Can we use a title that alludes the opposite of what we're arguing for? You can. You are writing a critique of something, and that is the thing in the title. I could write an article "Cash Bail" and argue how cash bail (in the USA) is discriminatory because it allows rich people to await trial out of jail while forcing poor people that cannot afford thousands of dollars... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How to implement a fictional language in my novel? Whatever language your readers speak, they expect your book to be "translated" into that language. I write in English for English speakers, I have written stories set in the ancient past where the characters, at best, would be speaking in Old English, but that might as well be a different language. ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Can a normal person investigate a murder? Yes, a citizen can investigate a murder. They don't have the tools of the police or courts, for example they can't force a store to release security tapes, or reveal employee records. But if they do find evidence (and can prove it isn't fake) they can bring that to the police and possibly it will be... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Is it a copyright violation to have the character share some characteristics with a known character? I am not a lawyer. Copyright violation is often up to human interpretation (not yours) by a judge or jury. They get to decide whether you are stealing a character or not. Chances are, they will decide a lightning bolt scar, round glasses, etc is so unique it can't be anything BUT plagiarism, so they... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Difference between News Analysis and Opinion? Analysis obviously has to include objective news as the subject of the analysis, but it is not necessarily opinion. For example, News might quote the President, or a candidate. Analysis might take that quote and demonstrate, objectively, it is false. Or demonstrate that while true, it is also mislea... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How can I have a character introduce themselves as humble without making them seem arrogant? I just wouldn't say "humble." Find a situation in which they have done something that is obviously humble, like they risked their life to save a child, but somebody else took credit and they did not argue the point. Find a conversation, in dating, in which the date asks a question that triggers... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Using third-person character interactions to create a relatable hook for a Character that is unrelatable? It doesn't hurt to have other characters react to him, the potential problem I see here is in repeatedly showing the same reaction, which is likely. Confusion, a sense Hadden is a rude jerk, etc. The reaction of Lemarc is the obvious one to a Spock-like or Data-like character, which is what Hadden is... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Can I mix one character's dialogue with another's POV in the same paragraph? I'd say no, it is not clear. Just include a tag. > He heard Mike sigh. "I'm sorry," Mike said. "Things ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Where can I go to have my writing reviewed both in terms of style and technical content? The services exist, google "critique service" (without the quotes). Ignore the "copyedit" services (if that is all they do), they are just checking spelling and grammar and formatting. Actual critique services are just damn expensive; running roughly $100/hr, or if the work is long enough, around 2-... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: What exactly is a copywriter? Copywriting Persuades People to Take Action in the Real World. The action may be buying something, or contributing to a charity, or calling or writing their congressman, or going out to vote for somebody, or scheduling an appointment for cancer or diabetes screening, or reading to their kids. It is ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How to write strategy and schemes beyond my real-life capabilities? You have an advantage that people in the moment do not have: You have all the time in the world to think it through, and you can time-travel to the past to fix anything that goes wrong. I wrote a battle scene recently that in the book took place in the space of an hour, and my expert soldier with de... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Fiction copyright, mythologies and interpretations of ancient texts? > if I were to write fiction with the same characters, same names, Same as the mythology, or the same as recent authors? If it is an ancient text, or even a text out of copyright (like Shakespeare), then you can copy characters and names, you are free to take the characters from Hamlet and write an ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How to write intercut scenes in a novel? The standard way of doing this in a novel is to use a single line with "---" centered or "\\\" centered, in between the intercuts. Don't let your editor auto-correct that into a horizontal line, it should be "---" or "\\\" (without the quotes). The typesetter for the book will convert this into whate... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Where to put acronym/abbreviation explanation? > In the ordinary text following the table I wrote "Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs)", but should I put a footnote also in the table? You could but I don't think it is necessary and I would not; I don't expect a reader to look at the table until they read the discussion about it. I would put th... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Is a new paragraph line needed in dialogue when a character responds with actions? It depends on who said "Move!". If it is the person sidestepping, then no. But then you should have written "Move!" I said, and immediately sidestepped him. if the person sidestepping is responding to somebody else that said "Move!", which appears to be the case here, then YES, you need a new paragr... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Writing a novel that is set (semi-)inside an established universe In general, the answer is no. There is no way to ensure that you will not be successfully sued for the theft of somebody else's intellectual property, violating copyright, and have to pay not only all your profits from that but additional monetary damages as well. You say you won't use any names, yo... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Do scenes, sequels, and MRUs apply to mystery novels? > ... it does not make much sense to structure a mystery novel with alternating sequences of scenes and sequels which is composed of MRUs. I agree, I dislike this formulaic MRU theory, I don't think it applies, or if it does, it stretches too far the meanings of goal, conflict, disaster, reaction, d... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Male, but can handle only female protagonists I'd say if you are inclined to write females, learn how to write females. Don't just read, but study how female writers write female protagonists. Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games is written by Suzanne Collins, as one example, but there are many. By "study", I mean avoid getting immersed in the ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Are using the adverbs gradually and greedily to describe the same verb contradicting? As commonly understood, "gradually" and "greedily" suggest completely opposite paces. "Greedily" implies quickly, or with an urgency to complete the task. It just doesn't go with "gradually", it causes cognitive dissonance. (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How can a writer point out the merits of his or her own work? Generally you are correct, your piece has to be judged by readers to be clever, in order to be considered clever by the public. Entities with a larger budget can buy advertising that (without attribution) calls a piece "clever", "a wild ride", or say it has a "killer twist", but that will fall som... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How to balance a blog post that is neither too detailed nor too surface level? You just have to consider (or decide) on the level of expertise of your audience. One technique is to write to your slightly-younger self; assume the audience knows as much as you did before you ever heard about this topic you are about to write, and the only level of detail you need is what you did... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Dangers of being sympathetic to the killer > What are the dangers of painting a sympathetic view of the killer through the family of the killer’s perspective and in seeing the obvious interior dysfunction of the killer by seeing inside his mind? The danger is in becoming an apologist for the villain, and losing the reader's immersion. I'm ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How do you write articles without plagiarizing when everything has essentially been said about the topic at hand? Write about the articles themselves. Do research and summarize them; they can't all be identical. Then you can say, with credit, > John Smith puts this point best, in his article "What to Do and What to Not: Forming an LLC": [advice]. In other words, embrace the fact that there are so many articles... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How to get more powerfull on expensive words? First, you need to identify what you personally consider "powerful" words, or poems, or sentences in fiction. Make a collection of the things you love. Once you have a collection of what impresses you, or moves you, then you can move on to analysis: Try to understand why exactly you feel like the au... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How can I shorten a piece of writing without losing its original essence? Original text of question: I strongly believe that such type of dieting as vegetarianism should be pursued by everybody, considering ethical, health, and ecological reasons. First and foremost, it is absurd that animals have to experience so much torturing suffering in order to satisfy humans' unnece... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Dumping an entire world for dramatic effect? > Is there any way to do this without alienating the reader, who may well have invested significant time in the previous part of the story and feel cheated as a result? No. This violates common story expectations too much for readers, and that will not be enjoyable, it will be alienating. It is too... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Non-sense question about plot structures Every story is different (or it is just plagiarism); "plot structures" come from generalizing stories and the types of events that occur in them. There are serious analysts that claim there are only three plot structures, and sure enough you can jam every kind of story into them. Others claim ther... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Introducing a new POV near the end of a story I DON'T think it is okay to introduce a second POV in what is basically the third act and approach to the climax of the story. I think that will throw readers. But the solution, as you are wonding, is relatively simple, introduce your other POV early on the book, just to "prove" to the reader that i... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How to hint at an antagonist's identity? Pick one thing that all the characters have in common, and I'd make it subtle. In dialogue, Loki has a favorite word, perhaps a curse, that no other character in the book uses. You might also give him a grammatical quirk, that no other character uses, and if any imitate him, he punishes them for mock... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Should I use made-up words for spells? The natural way of naming things is to use something unique about them that "everybody knows". For example, "linen" comes from the Latin word "linum" which is the ancient name given to the flax plant which provides the fiber to make thread -- literally the plant was named, in translation, "line", an ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: I have a name, and no plot I'm not giving you examples because you cannot ask "what to write" here. So these are guidelines on writing, given a character. I usually begin with a character. For me, a good character needs to be very good at something, and rather poor at something else. Think on that. Does he call himself Nath... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: In the modern era should literature embrace the lessons from new media and discard some traditional practices? > In the modern era should literature embrace the lessons from new media and discard some traditional practices? Of course. But you are wrong about the successful TV Drama season; every episode is indeed plotted to within the inch on the page, they are so concerned about character consistency and vo... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: The concept of "Exotic Culture" and the necessity of a new world The new cultures stimulate the imagination. The problems are new, the ways of solving problems are new, what the culture allows is new. Perhaps the technology is new, or so old that we cannot use elements of real-life technology that would solve the problem instantly. Maybe there are no guns, maybe t... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Why are one-word titles so dominant in books, film, and games? The reason, as you guessed, is marketing. One word that sums up something memorable about a movie is a mental handle, it can appear in far larger type on a billboard, it eats up only 1 second in a 15 second commercial, it is very easy for people to recognize and associate a single word; psychological... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Is the phrase “You are requested” polite or rude? As an academic myself, I write > We submit our paper, "title of paper", for your review. In the end I think editors don't care or bias their treatment either way, they deal with numerous submissions from people with many native languages writing English as a second or third language, and they are t... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: In this day and age should the definition / categorisation of erotica be revised? > In this day and age should the definition / categorisation of erotica be revised? No. Erotica is a story intended to titillate, it is intended to aid imagination for the purpose of masturbation. Or more generally, for the primary purpose of creating sexual excitement. If a story contains elements... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Idea overflow in plotting? You have to analyze your own writing. You are weaving together three things. - The Plot, the basic events that force characters to take actions. eventX happens, charA respond with eventY, leading to charB to respond with eventZ, and so on. The chain of "cause and effect", including failures, su... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Would publishing my story like a TV series be successful? Is publishing my story like this likely to be successful? I doubt it, I doubt enough Kindle readers would be interested. If by "published" on Kindle you mean sold on Kindle, I think you have a marketing issue. Sold at what price? Who is going to buy the first installment, knowing it is not a co... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How to subvert expectations and abort plotlines without alienating the reader? > how can one effectively ruin an arc for dramatic effect and to subvert expectations If you want to sell something, you can't. In older fiction, maybe, but in modern fiction, forget it. The MC and antagonist are introduced (or at least referenced) in the first Act, as is the central problem the sto... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Transfer from first person to third person By "transfer" I presume you mean transition, leaving the beginning of the story in first person, and just start writing in 3rd. That's going to seem weird, I wouldn't do it. Rewrite from third person in the first place. You also need to decide which form of 3rd person you want to use, and stick to ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Is there a way to make editing enjoyable? I like editing, because I like reading my story, and I feel good when I improve a passage. However, I also edit with a specific list of things in mind. I want clarity, I want continuity. I don't want to say the same thing twice. I also want to appeal to senses, sight (including color ), sound (is th... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: What makes a strong mental image? What makes it good is a good use of sensory information that the reader can recognize, "a warm blanket on a cold night" is talking about a particular sensory feeling we can relate to. It has to be consistent with the character, and what the character knows, but ALSO something the reader can recogniz... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: I've just found that my character has similar characteristics to another with the same name Yes, I believe you will have to change your character's name. I'm not a lawyer, but I believe if the name is trademarked, you can't use it, and you probably can't use anything like it for such a similar character. The idea of combining these two species is not copyrighted; but a trademark is differ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: How can you redeem an awful character, who hits close to home? I think they have to more than balance the scales, in the reader's eyes. Anytime a soldier kills an enemy combatant, she may be depriving a parent of their child, a child of their father, a wife of her husband, a man that was in fact just doing his duty to his own country. Philosophically speaking, ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Does my protagonist need to be the most important character? IN GENERAL for the modern novel, the MC is the one with a problem to solve, the MC has to take the risks, and the MC has to solve the problem. One exception to this rule I can think of is Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes series, he is the "MC" that tells the story. Most analysts believe Doyle did t... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |