Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »

Posts by Mark Baker‭

1.1k posts
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Am I guilty of bad 'as' writing?

Weak writing is never in the individual word choices. This is the biggest trap in all of writing. Strong writing says interesting things. Weak writing says boring things. Strong writing comes from ...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How Can I Make a Great Plot?

There are no great plots. There are great stories and there are lousy stories. Great stories and lousy stories can have exactly the same plot. The soundness of a story lies in the rising tension of...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A I have 97 pages in my book draft. Is it too late to swap to third person from first?

It is never too late to change from first person to third. Writing in first person is almost always a bad idea. It is a confining suffocating point of view. When it does work, it is usually as a fr...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Vanity publishers - authors who have paid for a service- what are our rights?

This is not a copyright question, it is a contract question. You signed a contract with them. The terms of the contract tell you what you can and can't do. No one here can tell you what your contra...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How do I handle a backstory big enough to be a story of its own?

I think the question you are really asking is, is the backstory the story you want to tell, or is it simply a fable on which the real story is based. None of us can answer that for you. If I had to...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Is a bandit ambush a fatal, cliche mistake?

If they can't possibly lose, it is not a battle, it is a spot of exercise. There is nothing exciting about a bandit ambush if the bandits have no chance. Certainly going to win and do is not exciti...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Is it good to repeat the same form of event?

I think you can get away with it, using an approach such as Lauren suggests, with one important caveat. You need to make sure that the stakes are higher than last time. If you have not raised the s...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How many subjects in the same story is "too many"? And is it too bad?

You can have as many subjects as you like; you can only have one story arc. Or, at least, you can only have one story arc per character. Do all of these aspects of the protagonist's life contribute...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How can I raise the stakes and make a character's decision compelling?

As you rightly perceive, this is about sacrifice. It is about loss. It is about how much the character is willing to bleed for this. The implication of this is that much of the story has to be ded...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Curbing Self-Indulgent Writing

There is writing and there is storytelling. Writing is about the words. Storytelling is about the event, the people, the sights, sounds, smells, tragedies, joys, births, deaths, surprises, victorie...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How should formula variables be formatted in narration?

Don't mention it. Seriously, don't mention it. No one wants to read a short story or a novel with equations in it. Tell us that your character calculated the result if it is really central to your ...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How can I describe technology while avoiding problems with scaling?

It doesn't matter. The tech is a McGuffin. It's a device to drive the story. The entire plot of Casablanca revolves around a pair of passes that cannot be revoked by the local Nazi authorities. T...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Print runs, unsold books, books by weight and do authors get some compensation for unsold?

Booksbyweight appears to be simply a used bookstore with a bulk pricing model. In the paper world the economic model for books is that the publisher sells copies. The copy then belongs to the per...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Is writing only scenes a good way to earn writing skills?

I would be careful. Yes, there is much to be said for learning a complex skill by practicing in parts. But there is a real and pervasive danger of getting caught up in language when you should be f...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Which canned Licence to use when posting short fiction?

You don't need to licence content to post it on your website. Post it, stick a copyright notice on it, and it remains yours and you can sell it any time you want. A license only comes into effect i...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Dynamic characterization: How do you show development/change in an inherently flawed character, like a psychopath?

Robert McKee maintains that people don't change, and that a story arc is not about them changing, but about showing how far they will go. A story arc, per McKee, consists of a character with a desi...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Characterization: is there any guidance for writing "the romantic interest"?

Are you sure that that criticism came from someone who actually likes romance novels? I ask because "flat, uninteresting and no one would care if they lived or died, death would be better because t...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Do men fall "in love" (romantic, sensual or desire) with fictional characters?

I tend to think of the process of writing a novel as follows: Invent a bunch of characters. Spend time with them until you fall in love. Then torture them to the brink of madness. The redeem or con...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How do I decide whether to answer questions, or leave them unexplained?

A lot of this depends on where the focus is. If it is a psychological piece, the focus is on the psychology and inconsistencies in the use of technology won't matter much. If it is a love story, di...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How do I know when my work is ready for critique?

It is not so much about the work being ready for critique as about the writer not being able to make it any better without an outside critique. So, a beginning writer, or a poor reader, who can n...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How do speech writers find the contents that make their speeches so impressive?

I would start by making a distinction between a good speechwriter and a good speaker. Ted Sorensen explains it very well in this essay on Smithsonian.com. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ted-...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Ways to avoid repetition of "filler" words in writing?

Everyone has their pet phrases and turns of phrase. That in itself does not matter much. What matters is whether you are expressing repetitive or monotonous ideas. Yes, you can go in and insert s...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A I'm not enjoying my attempt at a science-fiction novella; should I continue?

Longform storytelling (which is what a novel or novella is) is very very difficult. It is also only tangentially related to writing. You can be good at writing and know nothing about longform story...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Should I send my manuscript again if I forgot the synopsis after sending it to a publisher?

The publisher essentially wants to know two things about you. Can you tell a good story. Can you behave professionally and deliver on your commitments. Omitting the summary obviously reflects ...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A How do you use showing in animal fantasy?

Here's an example to consider: Peter was most dreadfully frightened; he rushed all over the garden, for he had forgotten the way back to the gate. Now you may be thinking that this example ...

posted 8y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer