Posts by Amadeus
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 ...
I reject your premise. For example, I am an atheist, 100%, to my last breath. However, I live amongst people I love, my own family, that believe in God. My parents did, one was a firm Christian, o...
Names are not a problem, nor do I worry about naming characters that won't be used again. For "extras" I give them forgettably common names, but for characters that serve some dramatic purpose, I g...
You do not have to preach they are bad. They are bad because they harm others in some way. If you wish to show reality, show that harm, whatever it may be, beginning or taking place or having alrea...
I am both a technical writer and marketing writer (I am a PhD with a background heavy in CS, Mathematics, statistics and mechanical engineering, with 40 years experience). I have written manuals,...
Absolutely document them and point them out to management. As Mark says, this is a business problem. As a coder myself with forty years of commercial experience, your problem is that almost any fl...
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 cho...
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...
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 c...
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 do...
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 Ji...
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 t...
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...
The current wisdom in marketing books is that the art should give the "flavor" of the book. Check out these Harry Potter Book Covers on google images. Or here is the 15th Anniversary edition of Har...
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...
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.)...
I think it is "natural" for us to at times suppress some of our traits and rely on others. Yes, a woman can be intuitive and feeling and empathetic and sympathetic, she can desire fair outcomes. Bu...
If I were writing, they would have to be suspicious, no matter how this affected the story. The only good reason to NOT be suspicious is some form of love, romantic, sibling, parental, etc. For exa...
I recommend the Power Thesaurus, which is pretty comprehensive and crowd-voted (like this site). An example here is for vagina. I would say pick median word, or a word that is clear without being ...
To the specific issue about something technical being boring: It was probably boring because you were bored. Unless you really wanted to inform the reader about the important differences between "l...
+1 Mark's answer, subplots often provide counterpoint. They can also provide examples of the alternative outcomes for the hero. In the case of Thor and Jane (or Superman and Lois) The subplot adds...
It is difficult to tell from your question and examples, but generally different action lines are similar to paragraphs in prose: There is no hard and fast rule for when they break off; it is basic...
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...
A non-cheesy happy ending is generally a mixed bag; the hero may not get everything they wanted, but they did get what was most important to them. For example, they didn't get the treasure, but th...
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. Thi...
