Activity for Mark Baker‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Answer	—	A: Can I conceal an antihero's insanity - and should I? This question seems to implicitly (at least) confuse behavior and diagnosis. Behavior is how the person acts, and novels are all about behavior, no matter which narrative POV is chosen. Diagnosis is what happens in a psychiatrist's office. Unless your character goes to a psychiatrist and gets diagnos... (more)	—	about 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Character and world building in less than 2000 words The general principle, which would apply in this case as much as in any other is, establish the base and describe the deltas. Don't describe anything in complete detail. Rather, call up a general image and then add the distinctive details that make it specific to what you are creating. To do this ... (more)	—	about 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do I get beta readers? What you want in a beta reader is someone who you trust to tell you the truth in the spirit of helping you improve, without attempting either to stroke or destroy your ego. You can't trust friends and family to do this (for the most part). They are more interested in preserving their relationship... (more)	—	about 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is it a copyright violation to have the character share some characteristics with a known character? A useful way to think about this is, every story you write is set in a world of your own invention, that sits in some relationship to the real world that we live in. The real world that we live in includes J. K. Rowling and the Harry Potter books. (Which created a world of their own that sits in some... (more)	—	about 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: First or third person First person narration is a gross violation of common sense. I say this simply to point out that all forms of narrative, or almost all, are a gross violation of common sense. Who is telling this story and when? Who observed that action that is being told, and how? How did it get into the hands of the... (more)	—	about 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Letting a (secondary) antagonist leave mid story - Should it be avoided? There are three types of conflict in fiction, man vs man, man vs nature, and man vs self. Man vs man and man vs nature are not particularly interesting in themselves without the element of man vs self. Man vs man by itself is just a matter of capacity. The strong man wins. Man vs self, makes man vs m... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: What is Documentation Design that I haven't already done? I have no clue what he meant by designed. But I agree with him that you have not designed the documentation. Why? Because you have not created a list of user tasks. Documentation is a response to a theory about what users want to do. Its purpose is to assist them in doing the things they want ... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Should you write character description points in bulk or spread them out? People skip details that they don't care about at the moment. If people are not interested in the details, it won't matter if you put them in a lump or spread the out. They still won't be interested in them. They will still skip them. If people are interested in a set of details at a particular p... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can a writer point out the merits of his or her own work? One of the things that every writer has to accept is that they pay far greater attention to every aspect of their work than any reader ever will. Sure, the writer can set up a joke on page 7 and give the punch line on page 349 and think the result is hilarious. No reader remembers the setup, and so t... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Giving a character trauma but not "diagnosing" her? If you are afraid of being criticized, don't be a writer. You are not writing a documentary. Your responsibility is not to correctly diagnose your characters. Your responsibility is to focus your story on the one thing that your story is about and push it to its maximum extent. To do that, you ar... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Non-sense question about plot structures It is worth observing that some objects have literal structural elements. Buildings, for instance, have a network of load bearing members that allow the building to stand up, as well as countless partitions and decorations that make up the spaces that you largely experience. The shape of those spaces... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Dumping an entire world for dramatic effect? The question you should be asking is not how big a change this is in the world, but how big a setback it this for the protagonist and how does it impact his/her moral arc. The basic structure of story is of an escalating series of challenges leading to a revelatory moral climax in which the character... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Bad to start story with VR/non-real scene? I think this would work great -- in a movie. But books are not movies. VR is a visual experience. It engages the sense of hearing and sound, and essentially turns everything else off. It is a world without affections or worries, a setting aside of life and its concerns. Watching a character play a vi... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: The excessive use of 'and' "And" can be used sparingly in exactly the same way that "it" and "yes" and "up" and "the" and "how" can be used sparingly. Which is not at all. There are words that are full of evocative power (particularly when used in the right combination) and there are words that are just the glue that holds the... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How many character flaws can the main character overcome? None of the things you list are character flaws. They are forms of disability. A person can suffer multiple physical and psychological disabilities and still be of stirling character. A character flaw, generally speaking, is an inclination to act in an antisocial way, to let down your obligation to y... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Idea overflow in plotting? Dreaming up story ideas is like wandering through a farmer's market. Every stall is piled high with wonderful ingredients. Honey! Turnips! Croissants! Pork Chops! Limburger cheese! Brussels Sprouts! Kale! Peaches! Writing is like cooking a meal that you know your family will like. Do you go to the... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Would it be better to write a trilogy over a much longer series? Prove to yourself and to the world that you can write one decent book. Until then, there is not a lot of point planning a trilogy or a series. Until you can complete one book, you are not going to have any real idea of how big an idea it takes to create one book, let alone to come up with multiple re... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can one "treat writing as a job" even though it doesn't pay? To me, treat it like a job means two things, principally: First, set a regular work schedule and/or production target. Write from 9am to noon, or from 8pm to 11. Or else set yourself a word count target for the day. 1000 words, 1200 words, 2000 words: what ever is a reasonable goal for a work day.... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Pantsing a story? There are a couple of meanings for "pantsing" in writing. One is the saying that in order to write one must begin by applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair. But by far the most common meaning is "writing by the seat of your pants," by which is meant, writing without a predetermin... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: What determines genre? People buy books they way they buy vacations. The are looking for a specific kind of experience. There are certain elements that must be part of the experience. There are certain elements that must not be part of the experience. A certain amount of surprises and novelty are welcome as long as they ar... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How shall we handle our old (imported) content? The model on SE was moderation, not curation. Nothing was ever removed. Duplicates, were marked, but never resolved. The only way any kind of curation occurred at all was through voting, and voting was not based on the expertise of the voter. Bad advice was supposed to sink to the bottom of the page,... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is a lawful good "antagonist" effective? There is almost never just one antagonist in a story. There may be a chief antagonist, a person who is directly working against the protagonist, but most stories are not actually like that, and even in the ones that are, there is more than one force, more than one person, whose actions frustrate the ... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Tools to overcome a block from: "My words are bad" I've never subscribed to this notion that you should just start writing. Sure, depending on your level of skill and experience, some number of things about your first draft will probably be bad. A novel is an incredibly complex piece of art with severe constraints on its form. It is hard to get every... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can we dialoguify sounds? 1. Quotation marks are for words that are actually spoken. Nothing else. If you must do this, use italics. But don't do this. 2. Don't try to do sound effects. A novel is not a movie. You can describe sounds, when they are relevant, but don't try to reproduce them. If you want us to hear the soun... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do we end a description properly? First of all, there is nothing inherently wrong with describing a character's psychological state and inner thoughts (thought I would suggest focussing on the emotional state rather than the psychological). This is something that only the novel can do, and therefore a vital element of stories that on... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Questionable Promotions! Pondering this, I wonder what the point is of improving questions/answers that no one is reading. Is writing new answers to those questions going to make then suddenly start turning up in searches? It occurs to me that as long as the version of this site on SE exists, it is what is going to show ... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Question	—	Email subscription This place is not exactly lively yet. That is not a surprise. But one quickly loses interest in visiting just to find nothing new day after day. Pretty soon you don't come back at all. What would help would be a subscribe to new questions feature that would send an email when a new question is as... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can a fight scene, component-wise, be too complex and complicated? In any scene, you need to look at what story values are at stake. Narrative is interesting insofar as it develops or changes story values. It is boring insofar is it does not. Technical descriptions of how things work usually don't develop or change story values. Occasionally they do, as in the examp... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How to balance the agendas of co protagonists that periodically conflict? I don't think you do keep them balanced. Or, at least, I don't think you should. If their goals are incompatible, the reader has to choose whose goals they are going to root for. And at the end, one is going to achieve more of their goals than the other. So you are not going to achieve balance in the... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Good exposition examples Exposition is a problem for movies, because movies, generally, do not have a narrator. The audience sits and watches events unfold. But if the story needs the viewer to be aware of events that would be tedious to watch unfold, they have to be told to the viewer somehow in the context of the events th... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can I make names more distinctive without making them longer? The problem with your names is not that they fail to be distinct, but that they fail to be sticky. The stickiness of a name is a measure of how easily the brain can retain it and assign it to an object. If names are not sticky, making them more distinct will not help the brain retain them. The reader... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do I distinguish between self-doubt and objective recognition of fault? Some of the stuff you write is going to suck. Some of it is going to be without substance or inconsistent or just dull. And some of it is going to be brilliant in conception but dreadful in execution. The first you should junk. The second you should fix. But you won't always be able to tell w... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: In a dialogue, how can I hint that the characters aren't telling the whole truth? The way you do this effectively is through dramatic irony, which is where the reader knows something that the protagonist does not know. There is a fantastic scene in Upstairs Downstairs where one of the characters is seeing another off on an ocean voyage and they are all happy and full of plans and ... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Writing slurred speech Dr. Johnson is supposed to have said that you cannot reproduce the effects of dullness and garrulity without actually being dull and garrulous. Being slightly less 18th century (I'm more of a Victorian, truth be told), I would say, just because it is true does not mean it isn't tedious. I think w... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Why does the second act 'reaction' and then 'action' need to be drawn out? I'm all one for structure, and awareness of structure, but some of these paint by number descriptions of the three act structure strike me as going a bit far. Just as you say, one gets stuck trying to figure out exactly what is supposed to happen at every one of these points. At the other extreme... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Question	—	Reclaiming you content if you no longer have an SE account It's not the end of the world if this is not possible, but I would like to reclaim my content. The problem is, I no longer have an SE account of any kind. I asked them to delete my main account because I felt I could no longer subscribe to the code of conduct. (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: A Code of Conduct, dare I say it I just heard about this place (thanks icanfathom). Willing to give it a try. Of course, the first thing I checked on was the code of conduct and, no surprise at all, the only item of contention in the code of conduct is the harassment clause. So let me offer some suggestion on why harassment clauses ... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can I make it so that my story isn't resolved so easily? Your story is resolved too easily because no one pays a price for the ending. People face all kinds of practical problems every day and they resolve them in practical ways without much drama. Stories are about the kind of problems that are not solved by merely practical measures. At the heart of a st... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Do we simplify descriptions when they sound weird? If you are going to refer back to something that a character used earlier in the story, give it some significant characteristic that will help the reader identify it when it comes up again later. Thus is if you want the reader to remember a box that the woman took something out of earlier, give it a ... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do you write short-short nonfiction? You can most certainly write a nonfiction of 80 words, but, as Galastel says, it won't be an essay. An essay is an argument. It martials evidence in support of a point of contention. You can't do that in 80 words. In 80 words you can pen a proposition or an anecdote or an aphorism, all of which would... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can I make "acts of patience" exciting? I had to think about this one for quite a while, but finally I realized that there are two distinct kinds of patience, which I will call anticipatory patience and enduring patience. Anticipatory patience is what gets you through the period of waiting for some exciting event. It is kids waiting for C... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Can you pitch an outline? If you are a bestselling novelist, you can pitch an outline. Otherwise, you have to have a finished manuscript. Nonfiction is different. You pitch a book proposal, which usually includes sample chapters. But there is a lot more to a book proposal than just an outline. (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Describing the taste of food Is this bad writing? Yes. A great description should be precise and evocative. Food neither runs wild not explodes (both would have unpleasant consequences for the eater). They are just the wrong words to capture the intensity of a flavor and the surprise that you feel when you experience that flavou... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is anything like the propulsion systems (warp/impulse drives) copyrighted from being use in other sci-fi novels? Yes, it can be confusing. The basics are simple, through commonly misunderstood, but there are grey area along the borders. The first and most basic rule of copyright is that you cannot copyright an idea, you can only copyright the expression of an idea. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: What are the rules for punctuating a conversation? With all due respect to Lauren's answer, there is a fourth rule. 4) Speech that is incidental to action stays with the paragraph that describes the action. That is, if the character runs, jumps, yells "Stop", and tackles the person they are chasing, that is one action paragraph, including the dialog... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Maintaining distance Interesting question! Here's what occurs to me as the first principle of distance: From a distance, you can't see the small stuff. At a distance you can see fear of dragons, but you can't see fear of bees. At a distance you can see high romance, but you can't see petty infatuation. At a distance y... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: I feel like that misinformation feels too artificial as a plot-driving force in my story, how can it be more natural? Panics have deep roots. They don't come out of the blue. They arise out of our need to make sense of our lives, to find patterns in randomness. Pattern finding is how our brains work, and it serves us well most of the time. But faced with a series of unexplained events, we seek connections, and when ... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Is it the right call to title my romance a 'legend'? Distance is an important element of the design of a story. In some cases you want the story to feel very intimate, as if the reader is right there with the protagonist, in their thoughts, in their immediate present. This is the most fashionable way to write today and it is reflected in the overuse of... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: How do you show, through your narration, a hard and uncaring world? There are two roads from Santa Fe to Taos, New Mexico. One runs through the gorge of the Colorado river. The other runs over the mountains through pine forests. The one through the pine forests is considered the scenic route. I drove both routes a couple of years ago. I live in eastern Canada. Half ... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Answer	—	A: Parenthesis Types in Fiction Comma, dash, and brackets are not simply different degrees of parenthesis, they are different types of parenthesis. Comma parentheses denote modification or clarification of the main point. > His father, John, was a clergyman. Brackets denote secondary non-essential information. > His father, Joh... (more)	—	over 4 years ago

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