Activity for April Salutes Monica C.
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edit | Post #39438 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Welcome to Writing on Codidact! I'm here -- apparently none of my rep came with me, although I claimed my questions? (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Edit | Post #39437 | Initial revision | — | almost 5 years ago |
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A: How shall we handle our old (imported) content? I think on the whole, anything that was marked "keeping only for historical value" -- those are probably delete-able. In general, how many of the oldest questions ARE worth keeping as they are? Should any be merged towards a NEWER duplicate instead of the newer ones going to the older ones? Also... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Is the genre 'fantasy' still fantasy without magic? Perhaps if you need a term, try " magical realism"? 98% like our world, but that little difference is what makes it fantasy... - whether it's if subways will sometimes take you sideways to a different realm or unexpected country, - or the Byzantine Empire stayed pagan, - or if whenever Bob reads ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Writing a novel that is set (semi-)inside an established universe Writing within an established universe may be fine, especially for drafting. If you start out with some borrowed characters or concepts, that makes it easier to do the parts YOU want to do uniquely, and then as you write it may become your own. It's like having the 5-paragraph essay structure -- not... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Research Paper Summary: How much should be citations versus original thought? Poetry and Precision When I taught ENGL 100 and Technical Communication, I advised students to quote only for Poetry or Precision -- if there's no other way to say the sentence without losing details (precision) or they're saying something in an especially apt way (poetry) - then quote. Also, quote ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: As a discovery writer, how do I complete an unfinished novel (which has highly diverged from the original plot ) after a time-gap? Mysteries: Since you have the friend-group, you can crowd-source some of them. List some of the problematic mysteries, ask how they would solve them, and then run with whatever you like best (or perhaps a new one will occur to you.) (On SpaceBattles, this collaboration is often called a Quest -- sor... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: What techniques authors use to keep track of their cast? Time for me to recommend one of my favorite webservices (free) again! Archivos! Why I favor this is it allows you to define and keep track of relationships between everyone, and also to events (who was at the battle of tweedledee?) and places (was the doctor on Mars at the start of the battle, or in... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: What are the advantages and disadvantages of copying writing styles? Inspired by @ashleylee, but then I was going into even more detail. I think this CAN lead to being a mastery, but not if one ONLY copies ONE creator. It's a good learning tool, but studying more styles gives one more options on how to approach any scenario. Sometimes it may just be from immersion: ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What are good ways to improve as a writer other than writing courses? Reading! Read for pleasure, and in the field you want to write in. - Sometimes, read strategically, analyzing a paragraph/sentence/section you really like or dislike. - Sometimes, try to paraphrase an interesting section several times, to observe what different choices might have led to. (The textb... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Pronouns when writing from the point of view of a robot Building from @Jontia's, Personally, while I'm comfortable with she/her (and I'm also not a robot), I always like the X or Z options, and I had hoped they would catch on with people who wanted an alternative. -- my nonbinary friends aren't fans, alas. But Zi/Zin may work well for a robot -- more pe... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do I indicate a superfan review vs a social-criticism essay? A simple suggestion: just adding the word "Critique" to the title may communicate a lot of what you want. Also, probably in the first minute, perhaps make it clear that: - you are A Fan (and you're not just ripping apart, say, Trek, because you hate all scifi), - but you think the show/episode/seri... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Character is called by their first initial. How do I write it? Does the character call him "G" or "Mr. G?" I'm thinking of in Buffy the Vampire Slayer how Faith refers to everyone, so she calls Buffy "B". And The Fonz in Happy Days calls everyone "Mrs. C." or whatever - it's like "as formal as he can do." And do people use first-initials as nicknames if they ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Software for developing a resource To build on my idea in the comments -- a chatbot framework may be helpful, even if that's not your ultimate goal. Here's a link to a little about them and how they can be used: https://rebot.me/page/about > Customize it through the use of various tools and then start ‘teaching’ it to respond to cer... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How should I present a resort brochure in my general fiction? Often if something is included as an illustration (in a non-children's book) it might be A Clue! Agatha Christie novels are known for this -- if there's a diagram, that means understanding the locations of things is important. So if you included a full reproduction of the brochure, I'd be wondering ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Can I use spoken English at some places over 'technically accurate English' in a general fiction? Your narration can also be more casual -- it depends on the overall tone of the work, but the Narrator POV is sort of a character, too. Sometimes, if it's generally more formal, by using the casual tone (if intended), it becomes clear that we're now closer to a protagonists' thoughts. This happens a... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to describe POV characters? How does their appearance affect their actions? I'm short, so I have to get BBQ tongs to reach spices on the highest shelves. My hair's not naturally this red, so I have to decide on a box of color or schedule out a block of time to get it done at a salon. Glasses can be dirty (especially after c... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: If I wouldn't want to read the story, is writing it still a good idea? An option that I see often used in November during NanoWrimo is to "free the plot bunnies" -- if an idea occurs to you (maybe a Leprechaun/Ghoul romance and a particular issue to solve), but you really don't like romances, you can post the sketch of the idea into a "plot bunnies" thread, and then any... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to Write SEO friendly blog posts What is the main topic? As algorithms change, one of the best things to do is consistently "write like a human." Just talk about Your Topic, and do it frequently. More words = more chances for the Right Words to ping. Since I'm doing a podcast, for the one where I'm fully scripting it, I'm including... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How do you transcribe a dialogue when abbreviations are used? What's interesting is writing for the "eye" vs "ear" -- for example, in the comic books, Wonder Woman is often called, both in dialog and captions, "WW" (a savings of 10 characters) -- but to SAY "doubleyou-doubleyou" is longer than Wonder Woman -- 6 syllables compared to 4. Similarly "World Wide We... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Is it expected that a reader will skip parts of what you write? In Technical Writing, it's expected that readers don't want to read what you write. In fact, I used to teach with a book with that on the cover (see the notepad): ![cover of 1st Edition Essentials of Technical Writing by Tebeaux and Dragga -- shows hands typing on a laptop, and a small notepad be... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Is there an online tool which supports shared writing? This sounds like Google Docs, perhaps combined with Trello (for the Kanban board and calendar view), would do for you. It's got live updating -- I don't think it tracks edits by author exactly, so you could agree on a convention -- like my students on one team devised a rule where each of them owned... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Does IDE-like writers' software exist? Something that may do SOME of what you want (the "binding" of character to event is what made me think of it) is ARCHIVOS. Basically, you create story elements (people, places, events), and then declare the relationships between them. Things display in a "storyweb", timeline, and map. It's free to h... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Does software exist to easily markup technical documents as audio scripts? Inspired by this question: Is there a need for better software for writers? I have an IDE¹ related question about software that can assist writers. Is there a tool to (easily) turn technical writing into a narration script? I'm making DAISY² documents from Word files. The text can contain multiple ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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"[x] minutes to read?" How do they calculate that? I've noticed a lot of platforms (blogs and such) list how long they estimate for a specific essay/post/article to take for the average reader. How is this calculated? I always read fast, so I can't just time myself -- plus, if adding a time-estimate to my own works, I'm going to know what I mean to ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Is there any checklist for blog post before publishing it? I like this question! There are a lot of marketing type posts if you google "blog checklist," but I found a few useful references. Here's one that has a lot more on the keeping-your-content-focused portions of the checklist, which may help you if trying to figure out if your blog posts are "enough"h... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How can I effectively research for a high-fantasy setting? I think for option 2, the problem is if you research the same things everyone else researches, your fantasy will reflect that, and thus have... > unoriginal/boring settings that have been done to death Can you research other cultures? For example, in answering someone's question about fire/ice and ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Registering copyright as a "folio?" Apparently the 3 months element is useful IF you expect lawsuit issues. From the Copyright Circular from https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html (more specifically - https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ01.pdf) > In addition to establishing a public record of a copyright claim, registrati... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Licensed out content for book, whose name in copyright notice? The biggest question is "was it work for hire" (in which case it's the same as writing a memo at work -- the workplace/publisher owns it), or another deal? This may be something only that publisher (and your contract with it) may be able to answer directly. (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Copyright issue when referring to a textbook You may want to query the publisher of the Original Textbook and see if they want to issue your guide as an Official Supplement? I don't know what the subject is -- if it's something like Physics where these equations are now "known facts", you may be fine doing these as your own work, but if you're... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Registering copyright as a "folio?" I was listening to an older episode (2012) of "The Audacity to Podcast", where the host is talking with a copyright/IP Lawyer: https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/tap077-copyright-laws-for-bloggers-and-podcasters/ I am not a lawyer (and if I should take this to Law.SE, I'll do that, too (or instead)), ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Podcast Transcripts: suggested collaborative tools? Here's one I found on a list of tips for podcasting educators (sorry I can't find the link) -- Google Voice -- Basically call your own GoogleVoice number, and play a few minutes of your podcast into it. You'll get email with a transcript of the "message." Repeat until complete, and while it'll still ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How overcome the budget constraint while building a fiction writing career? One way to build your "list" is to contribute shorter works to anthologies -- someone may buy(borrow) the book because of interest in the topic/prompt OR because they know one writer in it (Peter Beagle did a story here? I need it). Many readers will read the whole book (or at least start each story... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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How to "market" my podcast? I'm not expecting $$ for any of my podcasts -- I think The Audacity to Podcast guy had a great explanation when he said the reason to Podcast is PROFIT: Publicity, Relationships, Opportunities, Fun, Income, Tangibles. But to get those, I need an audience, especially for Alphabetical April, my writin... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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How much episode recap is necessary in a tv-focused podcast? I'm planning for my next podcast to do an episode-by-episode tv show analysis. (Actually two are in development, but they'll be about different shows.) I'll be the main researcher/outline-assembler for these, and I'll have a co-host to bring in their background info. One show is mega-popular and pe... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Best Tool to Create User Guides Would GoogleDocs work? We used them extensively at my prior workplace (a university), as everyone had a google account that was the campus email account, and it has good version tracking. Like any shared document, usually you need someone somewhat in charge who will care if parts aren't updated and ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Is there a writing software that you can sort scenes like slides in PowerPoint? ARCHIVOS might be what you want. (Free account lets you build a world!) It allows you to create scenes, establish relationships between them. Characters (and relationships with them), plus a timeline. Lots of ways to link up info, but I don't know if it specifically links them to "scenes." One featu... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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How to handle characters who are more educated than the author? This is inspired by a few things that have been breaking my immersion when reading Worm. The main protagonist is a teen, and most chapters are first-person POV, so grammatical casualness fits. I don't expect her to use subjunctive, and her use of "anyways" was (I thought) a great way to indicate tha... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Podcast Transcripts: suggested collaborative tools? It appears I'm hearing votes for Fiverr (or Amazon Mechanical Turk) - basically paying humans, (using global economy stuff to pay them less than I'd be able to get away with paying local humans, but still an appropriate rate) , but more reliable than focusing on a system that encourages volunteers? ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Podcast Transcripts: suggested collaborative tools? I love accessibility, so any show that is 100% scripted, my script = the transcript, and I'm happy to share it. For podcasts with a cohost, there's no easy transcription software, and fiverr is actually a bit more than $5 for a 40+ minute show. Some podcasts I know have had their listeners collabor... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Elongated vowel sounds Another approach, from music: perhaps the Repeat Sign from music can be an inspirationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repeat\sign My transcribed knitting patterns look like this: > Sl1, k1, YO, k1, |: k1, YO, S2kPO :| k1, YO, k2 Similarly, I could see someone writing > ok|:a:|y especially if the r... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Elongated vowel sounds Ah yes, IPA! International Phonetic Alphabet -- I had a drama teacher who had us learn to read it, (and I used to use a bastardized version of it for keeping notes), but she claimed that it could be used to represent ANY accent and emphasis. (In our basic level, not so much.) But according to Wikipe... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What punctuation would you invent to solve your issues? This is one thing I think English needs: the " Ammoc" -- it looks like a comma, but backwards. It's used to indicate when one feels that for breath or speaking issues, a pause is needed, but it grammatically does NOT fit the rules of using a comma. Often this is when the subject phrase is pretty lo... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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What punctuation would you invent to solve your issues? What punctuation is missing from English that might solve your writing issues? People may be able to come up with established ones that meet your criteria, such as the /s to indicate "that last bit was sarcastic," but what punctuation confusions would you like to solve? I see a related question of... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Am I using too many commas? I agree - this actually needs more commas. One of my favorite resources for grammar is from a community college's website: http://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/marks/marks.htm (Well, it used to be a CCC.edu URL -- they seem to have updated it -- it was the Capital Community College of CT, but now it's ... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How to choose an English proofreading and editing services for master thesis? Does your university have a Writing Center? They probably have tutors, especially ones focused on ESL issues, and on graduate-school writing. I recommend going through them first. (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: In-universe swear, curses, similies and sayings, how to make them less cringeworthy I do want to practice swearing like a 1950s scifi hero. "By all the moons of Jupiter!" "Lunar Landings, Pop! It looks like you need some help!" "What the space is going on here?" Real words, silly context. (I already say "dang" and "heck," so some people think I avoid swears, but I just think my choi... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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Plain language with long required phrases I am trying to create documentation for an application, and it's for end users who use keyboard (not mouse) and a screen reader. Some of our conventions require us to always use the full phrase as listed on screen: if we're talking about the category combo box, but the label says " Please pick a Cat... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Publishing Poetry I ran a search on Submission Grinder , Poetry, Paid. https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/Search/ByFilter?poetry=true It came up with 109 results, but almost half had no-data on response time, so they might not still be around. (Or SG users may not submit a lot of poetry.) Disclaimer: I have nev... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |