Activity for Mark Bakerâ€
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
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A: if I write a book about an open source software, should I take permission from the software's creator? Copyright covers the expression of an idea. The author of the software has copyright on their code. But the result of that code is a subject in the public domain that anyone is free to write about. On the other hand, you should certainly write to the author of the software and tell them you are writ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How to deduce the protagonist's flaw from the plot? I think you may be making too much of the idea of a flaw. To have an Achilles heel, you must first be Achilles, and who among us is? Most stories are not driven by a single flaw (which would imply an otherwise perfect hero -- an Achilles, a Superman) but by the ordinary circumstance of human life. Hu... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Will I ever be able to write like a native writer? Joseph Conrad was one of the greatest novelists ever to write in the English language. He was born in Poland and did not become fluent in English until his twenties. It can be done. But writing a novel is not about being able to write a grammatical sentence. It is about being able to tell a compelli... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Writing technique resources If you are looking for effective techniques for producing an effect on the reader, you will not find them in writing so much as in storytelling. It is in the juxtaposition of people and events that you create an emotional effect. Robert McKee's book Story may be useful to you on this point. He makes ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How to determine whether or not a plot twist is needed? Plots twist. Stories don't. Sometimes a plot twist will show that reader that the arc of the story was something other than what they were expecting. But the story still needs to have a satisfying arc. If the plot twist destroys the story arc, or is simply irrelevant to the story arc, then it ruins t... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How to describe an angry voice in dialogue? The best way to give the reader the sense the the character speaking is angry is through the words they say, not through the description of how they say it. Make the word angry and you don't need to describe the voice. The reader reading angry words will hear an angry voice. Effective writing is abo... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How much outlining is needed? What is needed is a definite story shape. Stories are not merely a sequence of incidents. There is a definite progression. The protagonist has a desire. That desire is frustrated. The protagonist act to achieve their desire and is rebuffed. They try again and are rebuffed again. Repeat as necessary u... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: What are some examples of modern original plots? There are an infinite number of plots. The claim is that there is a limited number of types of plots. This list that Aaron Digulla quotes is a list of types of plots. Being an orderly species and liking simple answers as we do, we like to take anything complex and divide it into parts to help us und... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Antagonist that remains unknown Not every novel has an antagonist. Basic story structure is about desire and the things that frustrate desire. The thing that frustrates desire does not have to be a person -- an antagonist. In many cases, what frustrates the protagonist is their own pride or an anonymous social structure. Who is the... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Readability for narrative type with respect to time You are telling a story, not a history. There are times in the history of the character when the arc of the story is not progressing. That really does not matter as long as the story arc continues smoothly. Where the time gap will seem disconcerting is when it creates a story gap. (The same would be... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Creating Slogans/Rallying Cries Most slogans and rallying cries are banal in themselves. Terri's example of "Remember the Alamo" is a case in point. Unless you do remember the Alamo, and unless you care about what happened there, it might as well be "Remember Schenectady". Slogans and rallying cries work by invoking stories that t... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Archaic language in a historical novel? I would make a distinction between linguistic drift and anachronistic references. You cannot write a story about the middle ages in Middle English because no one speaks Middle English anymore. That people use different vocabulary to talk about the same things in the 14th century and the 21st century ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Text structure in a fictional diary The diary format gives you a lot of liberty, as Lauren suggests. But I believe that there is a reason that this format is seldom used in fiction. It can be difficult to make a set of diary entries into something with story shape and still have them be sufficiently convincing as diary entries. Storie... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How to plan your writing throughout the book? Different writers have different approaches. Some plot everything out in detail before they begin. Others begin with an idea or a character or even just a picture and start writing to explore from there. Even for the pre-planners, though, writing is an act of discovery. You are going to learn things... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Is my method of Narration switching from objective to subjective too complicated? If you are worried that it is too complicated, it is probably too complicated. Not there there is not a place for narrative innovation in literature, but the basics are the readers want to be immersed in the story and narrative trickery is likely to pull them out of the story. There is an old saying... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Naming a character late in the chapter but introducing him first A character does not have to be named, but they do have to be identified, otherwise the reader gets lost. If you don't identify them by name, then you should identify them by some defining characteristic that makes sense in the context of the story. This says something important about them in story t... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How often do I need to footnote a paragraph based on the same source You don't cites the source for a paragraph. You cite the source for an assertion. Each assertion should be cited, regardless of whether it occurs in the same paragraph as another assertion, and regardless of whether it comes from the same source as a previous assertion. This is not really a matter o... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Writing a Platonic Relationship It rather sounds like what you are writing is not a platonic relationship but a frustrated romantic relationship. There are, of course, millions of stories of frustrated romantic relationships. And the key to them always is, what is it that is causing the frustration. The basic shape of story is des... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Finding a reliable professional editing services for research paper I would suggest looking for professional editors associations in your country. Here in Canada, for example, we have the Editors Association of Canada. Such associations will likely have referral services and perhaps certification programs. Membership in a professional society is usually a plus in eva... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Words in author's native language? It used to be common practice in scholarly works and in popular works aimed at educated audiences to quote works in the the language they were written in, at least for major classical and modern European languages. This is not a matter of the author using their native language, however, but of using ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How do I portray a particular moment as climactic? From what you have described, it seems pretty clear why this does not feel like a climax. Prior to this, the hero has come to terms with the sacrifices he as made and the people he has lost. But in story terms, that is the climax. All that is left is a technical accomplishment of floating blocks. Bu... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Very long sentences: personal style or just bad writing? This is one of the many cases in which advice about writing is misstated. Long sentences are not bad. Convoluted sentences are bad. A sentence can be long without being convoluted. A sentence can be quite short and still be convoluted. However: - Convoluted sentence do tend to be long. - A greater ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How much can a reader remember? Ultimately this is a question of psychology or perhaps neurology. How does human memory work? But I think it is reasonable to suggest is that what people remember is a novel is story and the things that matter to the story. If that is true, people will remember things that are connected to the story,... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Word count using "Times New Roman" There were various methods for estimating words from the number of pages in a typed manuscript, since typewriters don't count words, but tend to have very consistent fonts and spacing. All modern word processors produce accurate word counts so you don't need an estimation method. If you want number o... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Should the world be based on the characters or the characters based on the world? Stories are fundamentally about people, not places. The psychology of why we like stories has been fairly well worked out, and the archetypes of stories are fairly well understood. At its simplest, a story is about a character with a desire, the things that frustrate that desire, the things the chara... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Writing Contests For Teens Most writing contests have a fee to enter because they need the fees to pay for the prizes. In fact, a lot of small magazines need fees from their writing contests just to stay in business. A few well funded magazines or publishers may put on contests to find new writers, but this is rare because th... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: When is the best time to add detail? I can't see why, at time of writing, you would ever include a detail that did not seem apt and necessary at the time. Nor can I see why you would ever omit a detail that did seem apt and necessary. It is quite likely that you will decide later that many of the details you thought apt and necessary a... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How do I write a synopsis? The accepted answer is reasonable, but I would add this angle. Don't write a synopsis of the plot, write a synopsis of the conflict. There can be a lot of business in a plot and it you try to summarize it, you may end up either missing the key points or skipping too lightly over too many plot points.... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: How to navigate potential self-plagiarism when using different online and professional personas? The Web is an open book. If you make a connection between two personas it is there for people to find. How likely are they to find it? That is very hard to say. But if you don't acknowledge the relationship between the two personas, people will be free to construe it how they may. If someone discover... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: How do you write a political debate in a story? The starting point here has to be to ask yourself whether you are writing a novel or a polemic. If your story is just an excuse to make an argument against some form of discrimination, then you are going to be stuck trying to write both sides of a debate where you are on one side and trying to set it... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: What does Show don't Tell actually mean To me, the phrase Show don't Tell can have only one clear meaning, and it comes down to what it means to show. Show means to describe what the reader would see for themselves if they were present in the scene. This means that you can describe action and you can report dialog. You can also describe th... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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What does Show don't Tell actually mean I am asking this question because I think we need a precise definition of what Show Don't Tell means if we are to decide if it is good advice or bad, or if it is a valid suggestion for certain passages but not a general rule for a whole book. Orson Scott Card was a particular critic of Show Don't Te... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: What's the benefit of inventing a fictional region, if it's based on a real one? I think the most important reason may be that it is one small step into faery. There is always something of faery about every story. Stories take place in a neater, stronger, brighter world than our own, a world in which coincidences are more likely and more meaningful than in the real world, in whic... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: How do I express that a culture has a different standard of beauty? I think this is very much a matter of the overall narrative style of the work. Some narrative styles will give you great liberty to do this, some will make it very difficult or forced. The question then becomes, do you choose a narrative style that makes it easy to deal with your subject matter in th... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: Use of Separating Fiction into "Parts?" Stories are made up of incidents. Each incident is a distinct unit of storytelling. Incidents lead the protagonist closer to or further from their goal. Each incident has a structure of its own, its own build and its own payoff. In long works, incidents may themselves be made up of incidents. Some i... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: Resources for non-technical science writing The best possible sources are the writers you admire. The best possible way to improve as a writer is to read with attention. Good writers read differently, constantly paying attention to the technique of the writers they admire. Writing is a complex activity. You can't write by following a set of t... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: How can we revise sentences so that they remain clear and concise but gain a rhythm of a specific kind? I think there are good arguments to be made that rhythm and clarity are closely connected. We tend to have a very puritanical view of prose preached to us today. It is all spare and bleached and square corners. It is dessicated language. It does nothing to engage the ear or the eye or the senses. It ... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: Writer's Block: How to Stop World-building and Start Writing? Design is the stage. Story is the play. Story is built around desire and the frustration of desire. The stage exists as a place for that desire to be born, to be frustrated, and to be ultimately achieved or denied. Stage dressing without a play in mind, therefore, is apt to be futile. To start the s... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: A creative way to combine two niches? Having your own domain does not force you to have only one blog. You can very easily set up two blogs on one domain. It is likely that you have essentially three audiences: - People who like tech stuff - People who like lifestyle stuff - People who like your writing Combining the two blogs serves o... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: Are there ways to help stick to character traits? The first thing that determines how a character acts in a story is not their personality, but their motivation. In short, what do they want. If your characters all want the same thing, they will tend to seem the same. People with different personalities will definitely pursue their goals in differen... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: How much license is provided by artistic license? Look at it this way: artistic license is granted by the reader. You are not entitled to it in any blanket way. Some readers will grant you more; some will grant you less. Generally, they will grant you more the more you charm or entertain them. If you are trying to write what I like to call diorama ... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: How do I convey messages that are clear, but unspoken? You tell it. Show vs tell has become a monster that is twisting fiction out of any recognizable shape. While it is often good advice for particular passages, telling is a fundamental part of the novelist's art. It it the great privilege we have over the movies. As E. M. Forster pointed out, it is wha... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: PhD thesis: how to visually separate the "general conclusion" chapter from the last part I really don't think there is a reliable way to do this visually in the text simply because whatever visual cues announced to the reader that they have started Part II have long been forgotten before they get to the end of it. You can always do things like devoting an entire right page to "Part I", "... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: Preventing spoilers in a short yet interesting synopsis of the story Millions of people bought tickets to see Titanic even though they knew in a advance that the ship sinks. They went back to see it again and again even though after the first time they knew exactly who lived and who died. Good books do not depend solely on the audience not knowing what happens. Rathe... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: Pitfalls for writing a talkative character? Heed Coleridge's admonition to Wordsworth: "it is impossible to imitate truly a dull and garrulous discourse, without repeating the effects of dullness and garrulity." So this may be one of those time to tell rather than show. That said, it is possible to present a garrulous character who is highly ... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: Can I make a living as a novelist? Is it possible to make a living as a novelist? Yes, a few people do. Is it sensible to plan on making a living as a novelist, the way you might plan on making a living as a dentist or an accountant? Absolutely not. Very few of those who try ever make even pocket money from writing fiction. A realis... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: Press Kit proof-read in exchange for an app license? Places where you can find technical writers: - Society for Technical Communication - http://stc.org - Your local STC chapter. - Technical Writer Mailing List (TechWhirl) - http://techwhirl.com/ - Write the Docs - http://www.writethedocs.org/ - Technical Writing World: - http://technicalwritingw... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: Switching perspectives for a single chapter in a first person POV novel, to do or not to do? To be honest, I couldn't even follow it in the question. I wonder if you may just be trying too hard not to have a narrator. I realize everyone wants to do first person narration these days, but that is a highly restrictive form and often results in false notes even when the protagonist stays conscio... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: Interwoven story arcs (for video) - guidelines so viewers will not get lost? Stories are the way human being make sense of life. They are an attempt to impose order on the chaotic stream of events that we experience day to day. History is the interpretation of the stream of past events as a set of stories. As such, those stories will overlap each other in the time scale. Whe... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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A: Benefits of Chapter titles in fictional writing? I think chapter titles are one of the elements that contributes to the sense of a strong narrative voice -- that is, the sense that there is a narrator telling the story. This style is somewhat unfashionable today. Many authors like to create the sense of a stream of consciousness narration or to sup... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |