Activity for Mark Bakerâ€
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #38517 | Question reopened | — | almost 5 years ago |
| Comment | Post #39414 |
It occurs to me that one of the ways in which social proof militates against curation is that any reduction of duplication or elimination of inferior answers involves reducing reputation (unless reputation is separated from individual content items somehow). (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39415 |
Post edited: typos |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39417 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39416 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39415 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39407 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39398 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39397 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Comment | Post #39306 |
@Amadeus, Anything we say here is analysis. But analysis is usually more valuable for editing and critique than synthesis. If it is not working, analysis may help you discover why. But writing into an analytical framework is not always helpful or effective. A surgeon can diagnose and even heal, but t... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Comment | Post #39306 |
@Amadeus, and further to this point: The portion of the story that precedes the inciting incident is about the establishment of the normal world. Yet in different stories and different genres, there may be more of less work required to establish the normal world. For any given story it may be a horri... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Comment | Post #39306 |
@Amadeus Yes, even if one grants that the only real rule is, keep the reader interested, that there may only be on general structure that does that over the length of a novel. Still, I have to question the effectiveness of writing to the averages. Averages, in themselves, are not gauges of perfection... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39306 |
Post edited: typos |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39381 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39380 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39378 |
Post edited: typos |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39378 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39375 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39374 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Comment | Post #39372 |
Are you sure poignant is the word you mean? "evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret." The US Declaration of Independence is a denunciation of tyranny and a justification for rebellion. I don't see much poignant about it. (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39369 |
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— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39370 |
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— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39370 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39369 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Comment | Post #39365 |
Cool. Subscribed. Thanks. (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Comment | Post #39346 |
@Amadeus Nobody writes for everybody. (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39308 |
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— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #21248 |
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— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39339 |
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— | almost 5 years ago |
| Comment | Post #39346 |
I have yet to read a sex scene that did not make me wince. (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39347 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 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) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39339 |
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— | almost 5 years ago |
| Comment | Post #39336 |
@MonicaCellio, I do like the idea of giving priority to the new, though. It would be useful, as a user, to be able to view the site in "What's new" more or in "What's best" mode, depending on the reason for my visit. (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Comment | Post #39336 |
Right, but there is potentially far more to curation than simple deletion of the egregiously bad. Consolidation and pruning could make a huge difference to the quality of the information set. On the other hand, they could offend the contributors and make reputation counting more complex. Not easy cho... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39339 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 years ago |