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61,360
|
How can I show that my self-published work is in the public domain? Simply by stating something like "Released into the public domain"? Or using the public domain symbol ?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61361,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "As the author of an original piece, you can declare it is in the public domain in lieu of declaring your ownership of copyright. The phrase you used is fine. An [article](https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/public-domain/) at stanford.edu recommends the phrase \"Dedicated to the Public Domain\" (search the link for the word 'Dedication' to see for yourself)\n\nOnce it is in the public domain, anyone can do anything with the text, including producing a derivative work and claiming it as their own, or selling it.\n\nIf you want others to use your work without restrictions and don't care about making $$ then you could publish it under [Creative Commons License](https://creativecommons.org/). This makes it free for anyone to use and replicate, but restricts them from selling or claiming authorship. They can extend the work, creating a kind of co-authorship situation, but the derivative works are also bound by the Creative Commons License."
},
{
"answer_id": 61363,
"author": "Laurel",
"author_id": 34330,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/34330",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Laws are complicated. Consider releasing your work under [CC0](https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/), which was developed by professionals to make it as easy as possible to get you work released \"completely as possible in the public domain\":\n\n> \n> [W]hile no tool, not even CC0, can guarantee a complete relinquishment of all copyright and database rights in every jurisdiction, we believe it provides the best and most complete alternative for contributing a work to the public domain given the many complex and diverse copyright and database systems around the world.\n> \n> \n> \n\n(See the full description for a better explanation.)\n\nI've seen this license used on Stack Exchange, announced in user profiles. It's important to understand a little more about why this works here: SE content is automatically licensed as [CC BY-SA](https://stackoverflow.com/help/licensing), but it's a non-exclusive license, so the author can dual license it. (There's no reason for your audience to not take advantage of the most permissive license when there's more than one.) Check the terms of where you're publishing to ensure that this type of licensing is possible for you. It should be possible if you're self publishing.\n\n---\n\nAs for how to show this, the [CC Wiki](https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Marking_your_work_with_a_CC_license#Adding_a_CC0_public_domain_notice_to_your_work) has a tool to generate HTML to announce your license. Or you can just have \"Copyright and related rights waived via [CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)\" displayed in the description for your work."
}
] |
2022/02/11
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61360",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/24522/"
] |
61,378
|
I wonder if poets write their verses in the correct meter at first or if they review it later after writing it just to express their thought. I'm not sure if it's possible for someone to be as skillfully to write at the correct meter at first; that's why I'm wondering.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61379,
"author": "signedav",
"author_id": 49984,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/49984",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "As far as I have heard from poets who have been guests at the university, their approaches are very diverse. Many first write down their thoughts and then form a poem with rhythm and verse and - if they use it - meter. Others, however, write directly in rhythm, as it should be in the end. I think every poet must find his own way of working. Just like everyone who writes."
},
{
"answer_id": 61385,
"author": "Brian F",
"author_id": 54553,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54553",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Consider Robikt Gernz, my inspiration. Half his poems are actually lyrics where the words are spoken or sung with a perfect match to the rhythm of the tune. But before the production of music in manuscript form, his works just stated the name of the tune assuming people of that time knew the tune.\nWhether his idea came before the rhythm/meter or not, I don’t know. But his first song/poem for his girlfriend \"Handsome Nell\", was about her beauty - and the tune was the tune for her favourite country dance.\nRegarding meter, don’t forget that a silent beat or foot tap in a poem/song is part of its rhythm, but may not be regarded as part of the meter. Limericks are a good example of that. The 1st, 2nd and 5th lines have 4 bars of music if sung, but only 3 metrical feet if spoken. More obvious to musicians than poets."
}
] |
2022/02/14
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61378",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54534/"
] |
61,386
|
I have been studying the Bible in order to gain a coherent and comprehensive understanding of my Lord Resun Yyrizt. I narrowed the focus into the 4 Gospels. I then focused even more within the Gospels concerning the Cross of Resun Yyrizt. From the garden of Gethsemane unto Jisis returning to the Father.
I studied how the original authors that were guided by the spirit propounded their work from various sources including their own experience. I can't include my own experience because I wasn't there. With that in mind I used the four Gospels as my source and formed a comprehensive coherent account of Jisis from the garden to the grave and from the grave into the sky.
Then I converted it into first person. I changed not a word but used the wording of the King James bible. Only changes made in order to format it correctly were that of person and verb tenses to agree with Jisis being 1st person. Each line is tagged with the original Gospel source for reference purposes. I hand wrote. It is revelatory in the fact that it gives the account in a chronological and conceptual fashion that I believe could be an excellent study aid for gospel enthusiasts.
What do I need to do next with the manuscript? I have a digital, fully edited and complete section, concerning the Garden of Gethsemane for the purpose of review. I am in the process of converting the rest into digital format right now. I feel moved to do this to the entirety of the Gospels. This is just a study tool to assist students in acquiring a complete chronological and coherent understanding of what happened. I used the King James Version and in such a way that all existing tools, strongs, vines, interlinears, etc. all still correspond. It's neat.
What should I do to make this accessible and hopefully credible to other people?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61379,
"author": "signedav",
"author_id": 49984,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/49984",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "As far as I have heard from poets who have been guests at the university, their approaches are very diverse. Many first write down their thoughts and then form a poem with rhythm and verse and - if they use it - meter. Others, however, write directly in rhythm, as it should be in the end. I think every poet must find his own way of working. Just like everyone who writes."
},
{
"answer_id": 61385,
"author": "Brian F",
"author_id": 54553,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54553",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Consider Robikt Gernz, my inspiration. Half his poems are actually lyrics where the words are spoken or sung with a perfect match to the rhythm of the tune. But before the production of music in manuscript form, his works just stated the name of the tune assuming people of that time knew the tune.\nWhether his idea came before the rhythm/meter or not, I don’t know. But his first song/poem for his girlfriend \"Handsome Nell\", was about her beauty - and the tune was the tune for her favourite country dance.\nRegarding meter, don’t forget that a silent beat or foot tap in a poem/song is part of its rhythm, but may not be regarded as part of the meter. Limericks are a good example of that. The 1st, 2nd and 5th lines have 4 bars of music if sung, but only 3 metrical feet if spoken. More obvious to musicians than poets."
}
] |
2022/02/15
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61386",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54555/"
] |
61,394
|
When you read Hemingway, for example, the first thing you notice is that he uses the conjunction **and** a lot, and he is fond of **long sentences**!
If I didn't know it's Hemingway, I would probably think it's wrong. Because you usually don't see it in the works of literature nowadays, and also, I was told that I'd better avoid long sentences in a paragraph.
I should add, there are also other works of literature that look strange to the reader, like when you read Mork Tyaex, and see some obsolete forms like ***I says***, but you know that he belongs to the distant past, while Hemingway looks so modern, and just from the forties and the fifties. Even Mork Tyaex avoids long sentences.
I was wondering whether it would be alright if I try to write long sentences using **and** from now on when I'm writing?
I put some examples from Hemingway to clarify my point:
>
> “So now do not worry, take what you have, **and** do your work **and** you will have a long life **and** a very merry one.
>
> *— FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS*”
>
>
>
>
> The hills across the valley of the Ebro' were long and white. On this side
> there was no shade **and** no trees **and** the station was between two lines of rails in the sun.
>
> *— HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS.*
>
>
>
>
> The leaves lay sodden in the rain **and** the wind drove the rain against the big green autobus at the terminal **and** the Café des Amateurs was crowded **and** the windows misted over from the heat **and** the smoke inside.
>
> *— A MOVABLE FEAST*.
>
>
>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61396,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "The rules we are taught about writing are to ensure it is clear and precise. They work well for school and business reports, where facts and analysis are being conveyed.\n\nFiction is a different beast all together, because the purpose is to engage the reader's imagination.\n\nWhile the sentences you cribbed from Hemingway might be considered long, the clauses are all short -- 'do your work' 'The leaves lay sodden in the rain' They are not just establishing the setting of the stories, but the nature of the viewpoint character.\n\nThis style is commonly known as a tough guy. This style of writing is strongly associated with Hemingway, but he isn't the only writer that uses it. It is intended to show what stands out to the character -- communicating what they perceive as important -- in a kind of take or leave it manner.\n\nThis style of narration is marked by its stark black and white declarative manner. There is no nuance in 'take what you have, and do your work and you will have a long life.'\n\nIt's as specific as an equation A and B give you C\n\nThere is no suggestion in 'The leaves lay sodden in the rain and the wind drove the rain against the big green autobus at the terminal and the Café des Amateurs was crowded and the windows misted over from the heat and the smoke inside' Everything is expressed in stark relief, as opposed to a style that uses more subtle language to describe the setting, something that pulls from the readers own experience to populate the scene."
},
{
"answer_id": 61401,
"author": "echo3",
"author_id": 39906,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39906",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think it was Pozassu who said \"Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.\"\n\nUnder normal circumstances, repeated use of and will make your writing stand out. You need to make sure it stands out for the right reasons. It can be done well, but can also jar. One or two sentences that nod to your influences will likely enhance your work, but don't overdo it.\n\nMy advice would be to spew it out with all the ands you want in the first draft, and when you read it back it should become clear when sentences need to be split or clauses joined by punctuation instead."
}
] |
2022/02/18
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61394",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54578/"
] |
61,398
|
I've been reading Stuart Gibbs' Spy School series, and one of the things that is common is that he names then-anonymous characters with a distinct property of theirs.
For example, he uses "Bad Toupee" to refer to a person with a bad toupee.
Here is a paragraph from my book:
>
> Green Hair appeared out of thin air in front of me. I fell backwards in shock. Her mouth curled into an unpleasant grin. I scrambled to my feet and tried to escape, but an invisible force knocked me flat on my face.
>
>
>
Is this an okay practice?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61399,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "The author using physical qualities as if they were the individuals names, making them proper nouns. I think this might qualify as a [metonymy](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj5uNb2jov2AhVVHzQIHXiQDpQQFnoECAYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMetonymy&usg=AOvVaw1TGPoV29XIXhyjjXD6liz2)\n\nIt is a fine technique because it gives the reader a uniquely identifiable name to identify a minor character. It also demonstrates some qualities of the POV characters: wit, intelligence or absence of it, irony.\n\nIt can get old fast if over used. An example of where it wasn’t over used is S. King’s *The* *Stand*, he refers to Randall Flag as the Walking Dude for a good part of the novel, but that is the only character that is purely referred to by a sobriquet. There is Trash Can Man, but we know his name and know Trash Can is a cruel nickname.\n\nOver use examples might be like if the names connote condescension and snark by the viewpoint character. Some people might think its really funny, but for me I’d likely see it as cheap jokes and it would annoy me.\n\nAlso, if every character is given a unique sobriquet by the viewpoint character, like Green Toupee and Limpy and Tee-shirt guy, then it will likely have a distancing effect. If the POV character or the narrator don’t care about the people they are interacting with, then that can back project onto the character and narrator, making them some one I don’t have any interest in.\n\nOf course, there are scenes were it can work, like when it is impossible for the POV character to know anything about the people he or she is watching — a like a new reel or surveillance through a telescope to make up a few examples."
},
{
"answer_id": 61402,
"author": "Laurel",
"author_id": 34330,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/34330",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "These are examples of epithets and they are capitalized.\n\n> \n> Capitalize the following: [...]\n> \n> \n> * Epithets and substitutes for the names of people and places: Old Hivkogw, Old Blood and Guts, The Oval Office, the Windy City.\n> \n> \n> — [Fact Monster](https://www.factmonster.com/features/grammar-and-spelling/capitalization), from *Webcnar's II New Riverside University Dictionary*\n> \n> \n> \n\nAn example in literature via [ThoughtCo](https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-an-epithet-1690668):\n\n> \n> \"In H.G. Wells's science fiction novel The Time Machine (1895), the narrator uses epithets to refer to all but one of the characters who frequent the Time Traveller's—itself an epithet—house every Thursday evening: the Medical Man, the Provincial Mayor, the Editor, the Psychologist, the Very Young Man, and so forth,\" (Ross Murfin and Supryia M. Ray, The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, 2nd ed. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003).\n> \n> \n>"
}
] |
2022/02/19
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61398",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54585/"
] |
61,404
|
For some time now, I have been trying to figure out my characters' motivation is good or not. My goal is not to have a complex motivation, but rather something people can empathize with.
My main character is named Carlyvc. His goal is to achieve greatness, and the way he will achieve his goal is by going to the academy: a place for every kid from the low class of the kingdom of Ult to go to achieve greatness for themselves and their families. That greatness takes a place among the elite, chosen by grace. As a result, he will no longer be humiliated and looked down upon by the elites as every low-ranking person is.
His motivation is driven by 2 things. His aunt Suzie and grandfather Alfred. They are the only family he has ever known. He feels he owes it to them to give them a good life -- a selfless reason. But deep down he has a deep disregard for the elite, so much so that he wants greatness so he will be recognized like they have been recognized, with respect and have people look up instead of down.
In conclusion: My main character has a mixture of motivations but a clear goal. But I'm not sure if it is good enough.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61399,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "The author using physical qualities as if they were the individuals names, making them proper nouns. I think this might qualify as a [metonymy](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj5uNb2jov2AhVVHzQIHXiQDpQQFnoECAYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMetonymy&usg=AOvVaw1TGPoV29XIXhyjjXD6liz2)\n\nIt is a fine technique because it gives the reader a uniquely identifiable name to identify a minor character. It also demonstrates some qualities of the POV characters: wit, intelligence or absence of it, irony.\n\nIt can get old fast if over used. An example of where it wasn’t over used is S. King’s *The* *Stand*, he refers to Randall Flag as the Walking Dude for a good part of the novel, but that is the only character that is purely referred to by a sobriquet. There is Trash Can Man, but we know his name and know Trash Can is a cruel nickname.\n\nOver use examples might be like if the names connote condescension and snark by the viewpoint character. Some people might think its really funny, but for me I’d likely see it as cheap jokes and it would annoy me.\n\nAlso, if every character is given a unique sobriquet by the viewpoint character, like Green Toupee and Limpy and Tee-shirt guy, then it will likely have a distancing effect. If the POV character or the narrator don’t care about the people they are interacting with, then that can back project onto the character and narrator, making them some one I don’t have any interest in.\n\nOf course, there are scenes were it can work, like when it is impossible for the POV character to know anything about the people he or she is watching — a like a new reel or surveillance through a telescope to make up a few examples."
},
{
"answer_id": 61402,
"author": "Laurel",
"author_id": 34330,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/34330",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "These are examples of epithets and they are capitalized.\n\n> \n> Capitalize the following: [...]\n> \n> \n> * Epithets and substitutes for the names of people and places: Old Hivkogw, Old Blood and Guts, The Oval Office, the Windy City.\n> \n> \n> — [Fact Monster](https://www.factmonster.com/features/grammar-and-spelling/capitalization), from *Webcnar's II New Riverside University Dictionary*\n> \n> \n> \n\nAn example in literature via [ThoughtCo](https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-an-epithet-1690668):\n\n> \n> \"In H.G. Wells's science fiction novel The Time Machine (1895), the narrator uses epithets to refer to all but one of the characters who frequent the Time Traveller's—itself an epithet—house every Thursday evening: the Medical Man, the Provincial Mayor, the Editor, the Psychologist, the Very Young Man, and so forth,\" (Ross Murfin and Supryia M. Ray, The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, 2nd ed. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003).\n> \n> \n>"
}
] |
2022/02/19
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61404",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54594/"
] |
61,412
|
I'm so close to finishing my first book, but I'm having so much trouble coming up with a conclusion.
I know what needs to happen, but I just can't seem to ***finish*** it.
I'm not sure if it's writer's block, a subconscious fear of finishing it/it not being perfect, or if I need to rethink my planned conclusion.
I've tried everything I know to get past this: skipping scenes and writing what I already know is gonna happen, taking breaks, going back, reading my work from the beginning, planning it out, etc., but I'm stuck!
Anybody who has written a book and finished it, do you have any tips for me?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61414,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I have not finished a novel, but I’ve finished several short stories.\n\nThere is no secret. It doesn’t matter how you finish your novel. Write the ending badly. It’s entirely okay to feel slightly ashamed and even incredibly incompetent as the first ending you write.\n\nPut the words to paper. That is all that matters\n\nOnce you’ve finished your novel, the real work begins. Once it is finished you can start revision. Until it is finished, you can’t start revision. It is that simple.\n\nRevision is where you take that draft and give it a good hard critique. Maybe share it with people, to gauge their reactions to what you’ve written. Then, you fix it. And, this is not fixing typos or spelling errors. This is fixing the story so you are telling your best version of the story you are capable of writing. And, you are doing from the whole perspective of the story — from Prologue to Appendices.\n\nThat is when you will see how your story needs to change so that the start fits the middle and leads you to a satisfying conclusion.\n\nAfter you’ve typed those words ‘The End’ and you are revising your heart out, and you get stuck and can’t figure out what to do, then you’ll know that you are looking at a mistake. And, that is great. Because it means you’ve uncovered something in your story that isn’t working right. And, it will usually be somewhere prior to the thing you don’t know how to fix. You look for and understand it and figure out how to figure out how to fix it, then you’ll know how to fix the thing that stumped you in the first place."
},
{
"answer_id": 61415,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "I've finished three novels. You might try story analysis.\n\nInstead of just reading your book, try to relate it to three act structure. You can find some fairly detailed versions of this that also break the acts down into several beats. Personally I consider four equal acts; I, IIa, IIb, III.\n\nI would stress that this three act structure is not some dictate from Nvikuspeara or something, it is actually a pattern distilled from hundreds of successful stories, by analysis. This is, roughly, what makes stories 'work', it is some kind of reflection of the human experience.\n\nYour trepidation to finish may come from your subconscious, perhaps you have not met an implicit promise you made to the reader. Try to figure out what went wrong with your story.\n\nStories open with describing the hero's normal world.\n\nIn the middle of Act I some incident, by chance or mistake, leads them to a problem.\n\nInitial attempts to solve the problem fail, the problem intensifies, and by the end of Act I, the hero must leave their normal world.\n\nYour story doesn't have to follow this formula precisely, but roughly the kicks in face demanded by the three act structure are necessary to build sympathy toward your character, so in contrast their happiness means something later.\n\nWhether you are a discovery writer (like me), or follow a written plot, chances are your story follows the basic three act structure, it is the natural form of successful stories.\n\nAs you write a story, you make some implied promises to your reader. These can also be subverted, but eventually some of those promises have to pay off. The villain (even if not a person but nature or society) is defeated, the original problem that drove our hero out of her normal world is solved, she either returns to her normal world and resumes her life, or she forges a new normal that promises (for the reader) to be satisfactory. She has romance, or she is reunited with her sister, or whatever. The bad guys are busy turning into dust, or at least have moved on.\n\nDon't just read your story. Analyse it, scene by scene. What is this scene FOR? What change does it accomplish, in her thinking, in her knowledge, in unraveling some piece of the problem.\n\nSherlock gets three scenes leading him to his primary suspect, and one confrontation that convinces him he's got the wrong lad. He's shocked. Back to square one. Kicked in the face, metaphorically speaking. A scene of frustration, to show Sherlock is suffering. But then, recovery -- A realization -- If that lad didn't do it, then ...\n\nEach scene should advance something. A plot, or subplot. It can be an important character trait of one of your characters: Often this is a promise that this trait is important. We show off Sherlock's superhuman memory and attention to details very early, as part of the Normal World, even in some relatively inconsequential setting. We do that because the plausibility of the entire story relies upon those superhuman abilities, we can't spring these abilities on readers as a surprise halfway through the book. It's why every sSperman movie begins with Superman and quickly switches to Clavk Toby in the first few minutes (or vice versa), we don't follow Clavk Toby halfway through the story and **then** find out he's Superman.\n\nIf I have writer's block I presume it is my subconscious telling me that something does not fit, something is wrong or inconsistent. Maybe it has become boring, I have been too easy on my hero. Maybe it isn't turning out right, and I need to rewrite something. I turn to story analysis, even writing a scene breakdown of what has happened so far, why I felt the scene was important and what it accomplished, perhaps in analysis later I can connect that to the story.\n\nIt doesn't have to be complicated. What happened in the scene? Why is that needed, or what does the reader know now they did not know before? What are the ramifications of the scene? As a reader, does this scene make you expect something later (i.e. is there an implicit promise in the scene?)\n\nGood luck."
},
{
"answer_id": 61416,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If in doubt, EDIT:\n==================\n\nYou are going to have a vast amount of editing to do before your first novel is done. I could give you lots of advise, but for now, since you're stuck, I would go to the start of your story and start working my way through the story, fixing spelling, changing scenes you realized you wanted a different way, and adding emotional content, color, descriptions, and so forth.\n\nSome folks say, \"Don't edit until you're done!\" but you may be doubting the existing content. Reading through and analyzing everything will either reassure you of the quality of the story, or reveal to yourself what the underlying issue is that's bothering you. It will re-acquaint you with the overall flow of the story and hopefully get your creative juices flowing.\n\nBut the editing will need to get done anyway. I don't even look for beta readers until I've edited AT LEAST once, since it's embarrassing to hand people crap."
},
{
"answer_id": 61419,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Congratulations, you've almost finished your first draft.\n\nIt may feel like you're close to the goal line and once you punch in that final key on the keyboard the book is, or is supposed to be, done.\n\nThat's pretty far from the truth... (sorry!)\n\nIn my experience, you've come anywhere between about halfway and one-tenth of the way...\n\nThis is the first draft, it's allowed to be crappy... or, well, at least not ready-for-publication-and-finished perfect. (And if you're a perfectionist your novels will always feel crappy and you'll have to learn to deal with it...)\n\nIt's ok that you don't have the \"perfect\" ending for your book. You're not supposed to know what's perfect while writing the first draft.\n\nI suggest that you finish the book with the best ending you can muster. If you feel like you're writing crap, tell yourself you'll fix it in editing. (Because that's exactly what you'll have to do to make it your best effort...)\n\nOnce finished, put the novel away for an as long time you need to start to forget a bit about it (we're talking weeks, months, some authors even put it away for a year).\n\nYes, you need distance to the novel in order to not only let it simmer in your unconscious, but also in order to see it with fresh eyes. And right after finishing the first draft is the perfect place to take that pause...\n\nPerhaps do some other writing in between, or just relax and take care of all the things that may have been neglected while finishing the story.\n\nThen pick it up again and read it from the first to the last page, trying, as much as you can, to capture that first reader impression.\n\nRead fast, take limited notes, and read all the way to the finish before you start changing the text.\n\nMost likely you'll realize things (both good and bad) about the book you did not, could not realize while writing the first draft. Including the ending!\n\nOnce you've read the first draft, you start editing.\n\nIf you don't know what to do while putting the novel away, I suggest reading James Scott Bell's \"Revision and Self-Editing for Publication.\" It contains practical advice and information both on writing and on editing the first draft."
}
] |
2022/02/21
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61412",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26590/"
] |
61,430
|
I would like for my story to continue moving, but I find that I interrupt action with details or inner thoughts, mood, emotion, etc. Hence, how can I spot an interruption in my writing that could drag the quality of my writing down?
Furthermore, I have tried to dedicate a paragraph or a large a section to focus on specific things such as description of setting, description of select items, inner thoughts, action, etc. However, I find that it is **too much** all at once. So, how can I structure my paragraphs to allow the reader to focus on one specific idea, and keep the story moving without piling on too much of one idea?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61432,
"author": "user613",
"author_id": 40257,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/40257",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "In your story **every paragraph should help your story move forward.**\n\nIf you're describing the brilliant sunset for a whole paragraph, it probably will only bog your story down. No matter how amazing you find the descriptions to be. Better off skipping such details, unless they somehow contribute to the story. A sentence or two can be fine. A whole paragraph is most often, from my experience, unnecessary. \nHowever, if the paragraph you're describing involves the thoughts of a character which have to do the story and its plot, you may find that not only do you want to keep it, but that adding an additional paragraph gives your writing even more depth.\n\nA good way of testing your writing, and gaining an understanding of what you can improve is to **reread your writing**. If you give yourself a few days or weeks distance from the story you wrote, you will find that you'll notice details that you didn't notice before. You might be able to read a paragraph, and see for yourself if it helps the story, or does nothing for it. \n**Have others read and critique your writing** as well. Ask them where they felt the story had too much descriptions/thoughts etc. Speak out your reasoning with them, and get their advice on how such paragraphs could be improved (or eliminated). \n\nThere is no one right answer to this dilemma of yours. It's all about what works for your and your story. As you write, and read, you'll gain and understanding of how you write best and what works for your. \n\nGood luck!"
},
{
"answer_id": 61433,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "First, the obvious: Don't tell the reader what is obvious. Second, don't tell the reader things that don't matter.\n\n> \n> (GOOD EXAMPLE): Mwla's phone vibrates. It's Zotn.\n> \n> \n> \"Dude! Where are you?\"\n> \n> \n> \n\nWe don't have to tell the reader:\n\n> \n> (BAD EXAMPLE): Mwla's phone, in her zebra striped protective case, vibrates in her back pocket, an incoming call. She reaches around to extract the phone, instinctively careful not to hit any side buttons, and squints to read the screen in the sunlight; it is Zotn. She uses her thumb to answer the phone, and puts it to her ear. She says, \"Dude! Where are you?\"\n> \n> \n> \n\nYou don't write every detail of every action when the actions are obvious; if you do, the reader gets bored. Trust your reader to fill in the gaps; including\nmoods and emotions, if they are obvious from the context and content of their speech. If I wanted to convey that Mwla is irritated and angry with Zotn, I can make her say: \"Dude! where the hell are you?\"\n\nOur job as the writer is to guide the reader's imagination, but we can trust them to fill in the blanks. We don't tell them where to place every foot on the trail. We only write about things that change and make a difference that is important to the story.\n\nOf course we do describe new settings, but we don't need to keep re-describing settings, or people, or their momentary mood.\n\nWhat the reader is interested in, on this tour, is the changing situation, the changing information about the \"mystery\" or problems they are facing. The turning points in the story. Their added points of understanding, which are sometimes erroneous (thus giving us twists) but nevertheless cause them to make decisions, change their actions, change their circumstances -- That is the **action** in the story, these turning points. These are what is interesting.\n\nWe only supplement those with settings, sometimes emotional states. We want the reader imagination immersed in the story, visually and otherwise. The scenes should play in their head like a movie. But these aids to the imagination must be relatively concise; we describe a new setting in half a page (100 words), or a page at most.\n\nBuilding a set in the reader's imagination cannot take too long, they will get bored. Part of our job is to winnow down the description. We don't have to make them see *exactly* what we imagine, we pick the critical details that set the ambience of this place, that exemplify it.\n\n> \n> Towering book cases, heavy oak stuffed with thick books and ribbon-tied scrolls, a century of dust and cobwebs on everything. A rough stone floor with faint paths worn into it. In one corner a planetary globe floats in the air, slowing turning. Mwla realizes it isn't Earth.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> Zotn is busy looking up toward the ceiling. Mwla nudges him, and nods toward the globe. \"Zotn. Check out the globe.\"\n> \n> \n> \n\nDescription, followed by a change. A discovery.\n\nIf there is something else in this library that needs to described, we will get to it. The things they find there. Zotn notices a scroll that is NOT covered in dust, it contains a clue they need. Mwla feels a draft, and finds a secret door. Whatever. We describe what we need to support and justify the changes in our characters, usually limiting ourselves to the changes that will have permanent effect; the things that will cause course changes.\n\nThe exception, of course, exposition and character building: These are scenes that change the *reader* and their perception of the characters. If we need them to know that Seck is cruel for the fun of it, the scene that does that isn't changing Seck, it is revealing Seck to the reader.\n\nThe same if we want to show that somebody is unfaithful, or a false friend, or a traitor. Scenes that reveal characters don't necessarily change the characters, they change the reader by revealing the character. Using such revealing scenes is the preferred way to inform the reader, versus exposition: Don't just tell the reader Julia is an expert pickpocket, find an excuse for a scene with Julia to show us Julia successfully picking a pocket.\n\nThis is why in movies like Ocean's 11 we are typically introduced to characters that have particular skills in scenes where their skill is on display. The pickpocket picking pockets, the acrobat doing acrobatics, the card shark ripping off amateurs in poker, the remote control boys having fun with remote controls.\n\nWhat matters is change, in either the reader's understanding of the characters, or in the characters thinking, emotions or actions going forward. If your writing is not advancing this, you are overwriting.\n\nI can't give you a hard and fast rule for what to keep and what to toss. There are none in writing. But your question suggests you already have a sense of this. So I hope focusing on the **changes** each paragraph or scene accomplishes will help sharpen your perception of where the stalls and interruptions are and how to fix them."
},
{
"answer_id": 61439,
"author": "Mary",
"author_id": 44281,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/44281",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "It's an awkward way to write, but if you put that stuff in the first draft, and revise it out in the second, it works.\n\nIt may be your way of balking at writing something you find difficult. Practice can help. If you can identify *when* you interrupt the flow of action, you may be able to consciously work on the issue."
}
] |
2022/02/23
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61430",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54634/"
] |
61,431
|
My character is very talkative. As the narrator, how is she to balance her talkativeness in dialogue, narration, and description without making it boring, too long, or make it seem like she's dumping too much information?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61435,
"author": "Alexander",
"author_id": 22990,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/22990",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "**You can make this very interesting, if it fits your writing style**\n\nTraditionally, 1st POV characters tend to think a lot, but speak little. If your character is talkative, you can make her [Thinking Out Loud](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThinkingOutLoud) or even do [Audience Monologues](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AudienceMonologue) (TV Tropes warning) all the time, and it would look natural for her. No more beating around the bush with descriptions and reflections - when you, as an author, need to tell something to the audience, your character can literally speak that out loud."
},
{
"answer_id": 61440,
"author": "Mary",
"author_id": 44281,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/44281",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "You will have to make her an interesting person to listen to.\n\nThis depends a lot on your style, but a talkative character is going to be as boring or interesting as her manner of talking."
},
{
"answer_id": 61446,
"author": "Jedediah",
"author_id": 33711,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/33711",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Example 1:\n\n> \n> On September 29th, at 7:38 AM, I was struck by a blue SUV while\n> crossing the street. The SUV had slid on the newly-fallen snow and\n> failed to stop. I died 2 1/2 minutes later, 23 minutes before the\n> ambulance arrived.\n> \n> \n> \n\nExample 2:\n\n> \n> Janice always told me to be careful crossing the street. I died\n> crossing the street, you know. It was a Tuesday. The car slid on the\n> snow, in September! It never snows in September, but it did that day. What are the odds.\n> \n> \n> \n\nWhen you're telling a story in 1st Person, your character is necessarily saying something. The impression that the narrator is talkative comes through in what details you emphasize (or just include), and the style of presentation. You're not necessarily saying more.\n\nIn general, in 1st Person narration, you're revealing something about the character based on what the character thinks is important enough to include, and how formally or casually those things are mentioned. It's another layer where tone and character can be defined. Even distant, clinical language will communicate something. Chattiness will communicate something else."
}
] |
2022/02/23
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61431",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54639/"
] |
61,442
|
I am writing my thesis protocol and I use many technical definitions, some of them not related to my career.
If I copy paste for those definitions, should I include the reference where I took it from? Wouldn't that be too many references?
[This definition](https://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/indicators/642/en/) for example.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61443,
"author": "Chenmunka",
"author_id": 29719,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/29719",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "For a thesis it is always a good idea to be clear where all your information comes from. Your thesis will be examined and clarity makes that examination simpler and shows your work.\n\nHow you reference the glossary source would depend upon how you are indicating all references. You could simply use the same reference number against all terms taken from the same place."
},
{
"answer_id": 61444,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "I'd ask your advisor. In linear algebra we don't source the definition of common terms like \"orthogonal\" or \"symmetric tridiagonal matrix\". The example you gave does not look the original definition of \"water stress\", and doesn't reference an original definition, so I presume it is a common term in water management.\n\nA reference should be to the original author that invented the term or first used the term in a publication; references should not be to another anonymous document that is not academically published and just uses or defines the term.\n\nThe point is to give credit to inventors (or originators) where credit is due; and your current reference does not do that. If you are already supplying the definition, you can attribute it inline, to \"Common term of Water Management\" or something like that. Again, consult your thesis advisor, this is their job.\n\nSo there may be no possible reference for \"Water Stress\".\n\nThat said, numerous references don't hurt in a thesis, unless you intend to publish it in a journal or conference. In the latter case, references do count toward the page count, which is usually strictly limited in such venues.\n\nSo you would likely have to trim your thesis, but that is common, even dividing it into multiple academic papers.\n\nAgain, consult your advisor, don't rely on the advice of random Internet dudes."
}
] |
2022/02/24
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61442",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/51975/"
] |
61,449
|
Say I define a phrase like 'pen' or '10 miles'. Then when I refer to these defined phrases inline in the text, how should I refer to them to let the reader know that I am referring to the defined phrase rather than the literal meaning of the phrase?
Should I use quotes (e.g., 'pen'), mark them as italic, or something else?
>
> You may use a pen but don't use *pen*.
>
>
>
I'd like to hear your thought/suggestions as I assume there isn't any standard or style guide here?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61450,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "You have the right idea, make them distinctive. Quote them, capitalize them, use italics or bold or underlining.\n\nHowever, if you really want clarity, make them words that are not spelled the same as any other words in the document, or make them a combination of words that cannot occur anywhere else in the document.\n\nLike instead of calling it \"pen\", call it p-e-n. Or if some group names itself \"10 miles\", always write \"the group 10 miles\".\n\nI wrote a mathematical paper in which I referred to something as a Representative vector. But never just as \"the representative\", or \"the representative vector\", for clarity it was always the two words \"Representative vector\" or \"Representative vectors\" with \"Representative\" capitalized.\n\nIf you want your writing to be instantly clear, don't invent ambiguities when you don't have to. Clarify with more words when necessary (e.g. I can't change the name of a group like \"10 miles\"), or invent words that don't conflict with existing words, or make them stand out in some way that is unambiguous."
},
{
"answer_id": 61452,
"author": "Laurel",
"author_id": 34330,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/34330",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "This may be governed by your style guide. In APA (via [SJSU](https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/y.shimazu/APAexamples.html)):\n\n> \n> Quotation Marks\n> ---------------\n> \n> \n> to introduce a word or phrase used as an ironic comment, as slang, or as an intended or coined expression. Use quotation marks the first time the word or phrase is used; thereafter, do not use quotation marks (APA, 2001, p.82).\n> \n> \n> \n> > \n> > ......the \"without-online\" students appeared to be alert and to learn faster than the \"with-online\" students. The without-online students exhibited qualities such as willing to guess, not being inhibited, willing to make mistakes, etc.\n> > \n> > \n> > \n> \n> \n> \n\nBut what if you're redefining \"pen\" and also want to use the old definition, like in your example? The best option in my opinion would be to not do that because it's very confusing no matter what formatting you're using. Redefine a different expression. Remember, in academic and technical writing, people skim. The meaning of your redefined words should be clear enough to skimmers, or it should be clear that they need to go back and look up the term where it's introduced."
}
] |
2022/02/25
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61449",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54658/"
] |
61,457
|
I'm writing a short story/novelette (unfinished but at about 7k words) and I have 5 chapters already. I intend to add more content during a second or third pass.
I've been using chapters to change scene, but not all the scenes are very long and don't seem worth a new chapter.
Is it possible to change scene smoothly without changing chapters? I know I can just abruptly cut, but something feels *off* and jarring about doing that.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61458,
"author": "Ash",
"author_id": 26012,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26012",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "There is nothing saying that a chapter has to be a given size, or be a given *anything at all*. I've seen one word chapters, not often and several of them failed miserably to be useful but a couple of them were brilliant, and novels with no chapter breaks at all, or breaks of any kind in fact. The point is varying chapter length is common and some of those variations can be quite drastic. If you want to stick to one chapter one scene you'll have to accept some variation; if you want to use multiple scenes to minimise chapter length variances there are some simple ways to do that and some techniques that make it less jarring, the main ones are:\n\nAlways use some form of break; either the classic triple asterisk or the slightly subtler double paragraph break, to denote the shift. This informs your reader's expectations.\n\nLead from the old scene into the new: this works best when characters know each other, one can wonder what someone else is up to but there are other ways to link scenes including the old standby of \"meanwhile...\". This tells your reader where the story has gone before they have to get too far into the new scene, or even before the scene even begins.\n\nI'm a big believer that writing is improved by good reading and S.M. Stirling is an absolute master at weaving multiple storylines together both within single chapters and bouncing around in time (both forwards and backwards) and geography between chapters without it feeling disconnected. I cannot recommend the *[Nantucket Trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantucket_series)* and *[Emberverse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emberverse_series)* enough in this regard."
},
{
"answer_id": 61459,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Typically in a novel you indicate a scene break within a chapter by centering \"\\*\\*\\*\" or \"---\" on a line by itself. (Without the quote marks, of course).\n\nIn Hijrp Potfeq and the Sorcerer's Stone, JK Rowling does this by leaving an extra blank line.\n\nIf you use \"\\*\\*\\*\" or \"---\", everybody knows what it means, and your publisher may change it to an extra blank line in typesetting to save paper space (and cost)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61462,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "The most important things when it comes to visual breaks in the text are on one hand the POV and on the other giving the reader a natural pause in the reading.\n\nSo, to answer your question: You can have more than one scene per chapter and you can have chapters as long or as short as you want.\n\nChapters aren't really that important in reading. Other aspects are way more important, but here are some thoughts:\n\nThe natural pause in the reading may be something you want, or maybe you want to be a stern taskmaster when it comes to the reader... it's of course always going to be judged in their eyes anyway. Providing a chapter break where a reader can put the book down (especially if it's a chapter ending with some kind of hook) can make it more likely they will pick it back up later.\n\nWith respect to the POV, if you have more than one POV it's important to mark when the text changes POV (unless you're doing head-hopping, then you usually cannot use visual markers in the text).\n\nFor instance, having a distinctive scene or chapter in one POV and then using a break when the POV changes are a good idea.\n\nBut if you have only one POV, nothing prevents you from creating a one-chapter never-ending flow of text with no breaks or divisions at all. Even more so when the text isn't a full novel.\n\nIf you look at Veronica Roth's \"Divergent\" you'll see she's very conservative with these kinds of breaks and sometimes it's even jarring.\n\nOf course, being jarring to the reader is never a good idea (unless it's intentional).\n\nYou may need to use something in between your scenes. I call them \"transports\" and it could be a sentence or a paragraph moving us from one scene to the next.\n\nWhile these can be helpful to create a natural flow, I also suggest always trying to remove them (replace them with a blank line, \"\\*\\*\\*\" or similar) and see if it works anyway. \"Transports\" should only be used when they are really needed..."
},
{
"answer_id": 61488,
"author": "Robbie Goodwin",
"author_id": 23124,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23124",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Could you start from why you’d want to to that?\n\nThe number of chapters should come into this only if, for instance, eight people are trying to solve seven clues in six locations, etc.\n\nThe question comes back to what’s changing and how much that matters and only the detail can really tell us whether switching from a brick wall to a picture window, with or without a corner between them, calls for a new chapter, a paragraph or a sentence… or the text can just run on.\n\nDescriptions of different aspects of, say, a building, a person or the weather justify their own changes but what constitutes a scene, or a chapter?\n\nClearly the front and back of my building are different physical scenes, but in the dramatic sense, we might walk round the house several times in a single scene… even a single cine shot!\n\n“Meanwhile, back at the ranch” is usually too large a leap but “meanwhile, at the back of the building” might still be within earshot and if you’ve told the reader there’s a window, switching to the view through it should work.\n\nI'm saying this is a case form follows function."
}
] |
2022/02/26
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61457",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/3986/"
] |
61,467
|
My novel is an epistolary à la Bram Stoker's *Dracula* and there are some scenes that simply have no one around to record. Modern epistolary stories, such as the trend of “found footage” movies like *Apollo 18*, tend to leave these undocumented scenes blank to add mystery.
I feel my story has expository scenes which simply can’t reside in an epistolary (largely because this is telling of [true events in a fictional setting](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-fiction-based-on-a-true-story#how-to-write-fiction-based-on-a-true-story)).
I am certain with enough effort, I could concoct some way to put the expository elements into someone’s journal, and then have that journal find its way to the narrator somehow. But it will be a large investment and add distracting pages. Because the protagonist journal exposes the central plot, I would like to know what value-add a story gets by maintaining a purist first-person POV.
The fastest way to get through exposition is a 3P Deep narrator. Will this tend to devalue an epistolary story?
Note: It is Vol. I of III; the sequel may well be 3PD straight through, but the world (literary universe–not the planet literally) essentially reacts to the events discovered in the footage.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61458,
"author": "Ash",
"author_id": 26012,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26012",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "There is nothing saying that a chapter has to be a given size, or be a given *anything at all*. I've seen one word chapters, not often and several of them failed miserably to be useful but a couple of them were brilliant, and novels with no chapter breaks at all, or breaks of any kind in fact. The point is varying chapter length is common and some of those variations can be quite drastic. If you want to stick to one chapter one scene you'll have to accept some variation; if you want to use multiple scenes to minimise chapter length variances there are some simple ways to do that and some techniques that make it less jarring, the main ones are:\n\nAlways use some form of break; either the classic triple asterisk or the slightly subtler double paragraph break, to denote the shift. This informs your reader's expectations.\n\nLead from the old scene into the new: this works best when characters know each other, one can wonder what someone else is up to but there are other ways to link scenes including the old standby of \"meanwhile...\". This tells your reader where the story has gone before they have to get too far into the new scene, or even before the scene even begins.\n\nI'm a big believer that writing is improved by good reading and S.M. Stirling is an absolute master at weaving multiple storylines together both within single chapters and bouncing around in time (both forwards and backwards) and geography between chapters without it feeling disconnected. I cannot recommend the *[Nantucket Trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantucket_series)* and *[Emberverse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emberverse_series)* enough in this regard."
},
{
"answer_id": 61459,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Typically in a novel you indicate a scene break within a chapter by centering \"\\*\\*\\*\" or \"---\" on a line by itself. (Without the quote marks, of course).\n\nIn Hijrp Potfeq and the Sorcerer's Stone, JK Rowling does this by leaving an extra blank line.\n\nIf you use \"\\*\\*\\*\" or \"---\", everybody knows what it means, and your publisher may change it to an extra blank line in typesetting to save paper space (and cost)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61462,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "The most important things when it comes to visual breaks in the text are on one hand the POV and on the other giving the reader a natural pause in the reading.\n\nSo, to answer your question: You can have more than one scene per chapter and you can have chapters as long or as short as you want.\n\nChapters aren't really that important in reading. Other aspects are way more important, but here are some thoughts:\n\nThe natural pause in the reading may be something you want, or maybe you want to be a stern taskmaster when it comes to the reader... it's of course always going to be judged in their eyes anyway. Providing a chapter break where a reader can put the book down (especially if it's a chapter ending with some kind of hook) can make it more likely they will pick it back up later.\n\nWith respect to the POV, if you have more than one POV it's important to mark when the text changes POV (unless you're doing head-hopping, then you usually cannot use visual markers in the text).\n\nFor instance, having a distinctive scene or chapter in one POV and then using a break when the POV changes are a good idea.\n\nBut if you have only one POV, nothing prevents you from creating a one-chapter never-ending flow of text with no breaks or divisions at all. Even more so when the text isn't a full novel.\n\nIf you look at Veronica Roth's \"Divergent\" you'll see she's very conservative with these kinds of breaks and sometimes it's even jarring.\n\nOf course, being jarring to the reader is never a good idea (unless it's intentional).\n\nYou may need to use something in between your scenes. I call them \"transports\" and it could be a sentence or a paragraph moving us from one scene to the next.\n\nWhile these can be helpful to create a natural flow, I also suggest always trying to remove them (replace them with a blank line, \"\\*\\*\\*\" or similar) and see if it works anyway. \"Transports\" should only be used when they are really needed..."
},
{
"answer_id": 61488,
"author": "Robbie Goodwin",
"author_id": 23124,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23124",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Could you start from why you’d want to to that?\n\nThe number of chapters should come into this only if, for instance, eight people are trying to solve seven clues in six locations, etc.\n\nThe question comes back to what’s changing and how much that matters and only the detail can really tell us whether switching from a brick wall to a picture window, with or without a corner between them, calls for a new chapter, a paragraph or a sentence… or the text can just run on.\n\nDescriptions of different aspects of, say, a building, a person or the weather justify their own changes but what constitutes a scene, or a chapter?\n\nClearly the front and back of my building are different physical scenes, but in the dramatic sense, we might walk round the house several times in a single scene… even a single cine shot!\n\n“Meanwhile, back at the ranch” is usually too large a leap but “meanwhile, at the back of the building” might still be within earshot and if you’ve told the reader there’s a window, switching to the view through it should work.\n\nI'm saying this is a case form follows function."
}
] |
2022/02/28
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61467",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260/"
] |
61,475
|
When I write, I often write in a way that is very descriptive of the scenery and the way the scenery flows, and often never focus on character development. As a result of this, dialogue usually never occurs, since most characters are there to move the story along. How much does dialogue enhance a story, and how much is it needed?
If it helps, the genre I write in primarily is Sci-Fi/Fantasy
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61476,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Dialog is a central element of a story. Looking at formats like screen and stage plays, it could even be considered one of the primary elements.\n\nThat being said, it is not at all required.\n\nVery few things are required to tell a good story.\n\nHowever, without dialog, it becomes harder to do that.\n\nAnd given that it could be considered a tried and proven rule to have dialog in a fictional text, my suggestion would be to learn to do dialog and what it adds to the story before attempting to break the rule and not use dialog."
},
{
"answer_id": 61478,
"author": "Vogon Poet",
"author_id": 41260,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "I am going to have to answer the title question with a definitive “No, dialogue is not necessary for a good story.” There are a vast array of examples. One of the most famous that comes to mind is [*The Waves*](https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Waves.html?id=G708Q0sSPjwC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&gboemv=1) by Virginia Wolfe (1931) which is entirely written in the soliloquies of six characters.\n\n**The non-fiction genre** will more often recount a story and never once give any character dialogue. Consider histories of Civil War battles. There are great stories which never quote one character.\n\n**Documentaries** - especially ones about nature - can often be done with only a narrator, never entering a single dialogue.\n\n**Fiction** has had many examples as well. *[The Slow Regard of Silent Things](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Slow_Regard_of_Silent_Things)* has a great deal of monologue but no dialogue.\n\n**Poetry** very rarely has any dialogue. Consider Edgar Allen Poe’s *SHADOW—A PARABLE*, which has exactly one sentence of dialogue. The epic science fiction poem *Aniara* by Harry Martinsen is 103 cantos—longer than most novels—and contains 2 verbal sentences.\n\nDialogue is not needed for a great story, no. Dialogue uniquely applies to stories where people interact in conversation. That doesn’t always need to happen."
}
] |
2022/02/28
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61475",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54682/"
] |
61,482
|
So the way magic is performed in my story's world is by carving runes into the flesh, and lately I've become worried that this may be glorifying self harm.
In the story, society generally views magic as a positive thing, and people see nothing wrong with it/the way it's performed—while the main character slowly begins to realize the negative impact performing magic her whole life has had on her. I wouldn't really say I'm portraying it as an inherently good/bad thing, more so a tool with unfortunate consequences. It's probably also worth noting that, due to the way the magic works, there is usually little to no scarring.
The magic users themselves, though, are definitely portrayed in a more 'attractive' light you could say, either in the form of highly spiritual monastics, or for-hire rogues trying to survive in a harsh desert environment. They're also considered an oppressed minority group.
I guess I'm just worried about the possibility of my magic system inspiring real self harm in real life. Should I change it? If not, any considerations for moving forward with it? Ty in advanced.
Oh, also one last thing, my story is a comic—so this would be portrayed through illustration rather than written word—if that makes any difference.
**Edit:**
Thank you for the feedback everyone! I've made the decision to change my magic system to remove the self harm element. I definitely see now how portraying my magic system the way I was planning to, especially in a visual medium, can be harmful. Thankfully I'm not too far into the planning process of my story, so changing things around should be relatively painless.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61487,
"author": "Robert Grant",
"author_id": 22742,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/22742",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "While I have my reservations about it, it seems no worse than Mistborn where people ingest various metals to gain magical powers. What I will say though is that it just doesn't seem practical..? I mean how long would it take to carve a rune into your flesh when you need to do a bit of magic? Doesn't seem like it'd be quick. And what happens when you don't need it anymore? Do you then have to heal yourself? or are you stuck with it?\n\nWhy not go for something like scarification or tattoos? There are indigenous peoples across the world that practice scarification, whether for aesthetic reasons or as a social construct, the same goes for tattoos, why not use something similar for your magic world? You could have apprentices with very few marks and elders that are covered in them, they could be earned through some kind of test to move up a hierarchy and you could use them to differentiate between various orders, like healers, warriors, clerics etc. There's a ton of possibilities there that don't involve arbitrarily cutting yourself.\n\nJust a suggestion."
},
{
"answer_id": 61492,
"author": "Vogon Poet",
"author_id": 41260,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think the question answers itself by being a question, honestly. If I write something down, hoping a vast audience of kids will fall in love with my vision, and *really* worry that kids will fall in love with my vision? I generally won’t write it down.\n\nHowever, assuming your story is deeply invested in self-harm rites, attach the magic to an uncommon item. For example, even old legends kept many women safe from dragon sacrifices by requiring them to be virgin. Hard to emulate that for a good part of the population. Carving runes with a stick or a common knife doesn’t work. Specify that *it’s only a knife “that has taken the tongue of a troll” which can create the magic from a fleshrune!* or some such impossibility.\n\nI stick with my first answer however, stay away from things that make you go on the internet for moral implications. Your gut was probably right."
}
] |
2022/03/01
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61482",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54684/"
] |
61,496
|
As a young writer, I usually write when I have the time; after I finish my homework or school. I find it difficult to get a solid idea. For starters, the first thing you need for a story is concept or should I say plot. I didn't really know how to do this, as I didn't focus on writing until I was 13. I can't get a single concept consistent for my story. I kept scrapping the plot, the characters, the world-building, the arcs and etc.
Even when I managed to write my plot, I would often edit it as I have a feeling that it wasn't perfect enough. Call me a perfectionist, but I don't know if writers brainstorm and plan on characters/plot, and then look at it and they keep changing the characters/concepts/plot until they then think it is perfect. I feel like there are things missing about a plot or a concept, but I can't point my finger at it.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61497,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Let me recommend Stephen King's (and my own) approach, \"Discovery Writing.\"\n\nIn this approach, you don't begin with a plot, you let the plot develop as you write.\n\nInstead, you begin with a **character** you personally find compelling, your hero. My approach is to give my hero something they are very good at, a skill or trait, and also something they are not very good at, which will matter.\n\nYou introduce your hero, hinting at the thing they are good at, living their normal life. That is what you think and write about first; your hero's normal day to day life, happy or neutral, they are getting by on their skill.\n\nBut then they encounter a problem, something they care about, even something they feel compelled to solve, but the hero **cannot solve it with the skill they are good at.**\n\nIn fact, it will turn out, the only way to solve it is with the skill they are particularly deficient in. And there is your story: Their journey to correct their deficit and become a better person, to solve this problem.\n\nAlong the way, there should be opportunities to use the skill your hero **is** good at, to help or defend others, and reinforce their heroic status. But in the finale, having overcome their deficit, becoming competent in the skill they were bad at, is what lets them overcome their main problem (or villain or whatever).\n\nYou don't have to plan the novel. Or the plot. Discovery writer's start with a character, their personality, their skills.\n\nYou don't have to do a lot of world building; you can pick a theme (modern times, medieval, futuristic, fantasy) and build the world as you go, to suit your story.\n\nDiscovery writing is **character** focused. You get at least one character's personality set in your mind, and start writing.\n\nI recommend using the \"Three Act Structure\" as a guide. Google \"three act structure\" with \"guide\" or \"template\" etc, you'll get something like the image below. Dozens of them, in fact, so pick one you like.\n\nBut the point is not to pre-plan all of the plot, you use this as a compass to write a good story, with conflict and character growth. Notice these are in percentages of story; they apply to short stories or long ones. Google \"typical novel word count\", you will find the typical adult novel is 70,000 to 120,000 words. Pick a length, I'll say 100,000 for convenience.\n\nIn the structure, at 12% (1/8th) of the story, is the \"inciting incident\", the problem the hero encounters, that will eventually overwhelm them and force them to leave their normal world (that happens around 25%).\n\nNow these percentages are not iron rules; there is leeway, but basically you should be done introducing your hero and any other critical characters (normal life contacts) as you close in on 12,500 words; they should be getting to the \"inciting incident\", the thing that happens that will ultimately change their life. It may not seem to, they may try to ignore it, but if they do it gets worse or there are consequences.\n\nAnd the same for these other turning points; about 15 or 16 of them. (You can even ignore some minor ones if you want). If you overwrite, it's fine to write 105,000 words, or underwrite at 95,000. These are just guideposts you should see along the way.\n\nIf you get stuck, go back and rewrite. Save your old stuff in a backup file with a date; so you can reference it if you want, then delete pages and redo them. Discovery writers do a lot of rewriting to polish up and refine the plot **after** they discover it through writing.\n\nIt turns out to be about the same amount of work, but for **me**, when I tried outlining early on, I always found that once the plot was set and resolved, I lost interest in writing the story. Discovery writing, with the 3-Act structure template as a guide, rescued my hobby. The template just tells me the type of thing I should be writing at this point in the story. That is why I say it is like a compass; it shows the direction you should be traveling in.\n\nNot knowing exactly what would happen next kept the writing engaging for me. I don't know exactly where the path leads, I am just laying down the next stepping stone on the path. When I am done, I will stand on it, look at my compass, and figure out where the next stepping stone must be.\n\nI think whether you are a Plotter or Discovery writer is a matter of personal makeup. For me, if I plot, I lose interest in the writing, it seems like a chore. Just know there are two types, and both types have wildly successful published authors. If you aren't getting anywhere with Plotting, perhaps you should try abandoning the planning, start writing and follow your compass.\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2hDGe.png)"
},
{
"answer_id": 61498,
"author": "Kate Gregory",
"author_id": 15601,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/15601",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "It just isn't so that you have to start with plot - some do, some don't. More importantly, you don't have to make up a whole entire new plot of your own that has never before been done. I remember a trope that \"there are only 7 star trek plots, they just keep redoing them\" - the 7 being things like \"they meet a mysterious civilization and help to end a war\", \"the transporter malfunctions and everything is weird for a while but it works out\", and so on. Books and books have been written on the standard plot tropes like \"Coming of Age\", \"Fish Out of Water\", \"Boy Meets Girl\", Hero's Quest\" and so on. That's the scaffolding on which your particular plot can hang. You may not need to know it to any more detail than those two or three words when you start.\n\nHow to avoiding scrapping all the stuff you say you scrap? Two ways, really: one, don't write it until you're sure you're going to need it, and two, don't scrap it when you run into trouble. The first is about outlining and planning and various things you've probably already been taught or heard about. The second is more reactive and agile, and comes with practice.\n\nWhat does \"don't scrap things\" mean? Say you've written a protagonist (a hero of some kind) and some situation in which the story starts, you have an idea of transformations and challenges that are going to happen, and you start writing and you find yourself writing a character -- companion, enemy, doesn't matter -- or some lovely venues, and then suddenly you decide you hate your plot. This is where you might think you need to scrap all that. **Wait. Can you fix it?** If you change that starting situation will it work? If you introduce another character halfway back through the book, can they make the plot work now? Or can you pivot so the hero realizes the apparent goal is not actually the right goal, and starts working towards something else? Think about those Hallmark movies where the big city lawyer goes to the small town to help close the factory or blow up the dam or whatever and ends up falling in love with the baker and moving to the small town and just helping people handle their small business law needs and lives happily ever after.\n\nLearning how to fix things that aren't going right is most of what writing is. Sometimes that means throwing away that three page speech of righteousness that the hero declaimed to the entourage, because you realize it's ridiculous and no-one would do that. Sometimes you have to scrap a whole location or a whole character. But more usually, you have to go insert or adjust something further back that makes what's happening now ok to happen. You're the writer! You can change anything! If your hero is falling in love with the companion, but you made the companion married, or too old, or whatever, you can change that about the companion. Or you can split the companion into two characters, and put all the stuff that makes the hero fall in love into the character that's ok to fall in love with.\n\nThe one thing you don't do is dramatically scrumple up all your pages and throw them away and say \"oh well, now I have to think of a different unique plot no-one else has ever thought of.\""
},
{
"answer_id": 61503,
"author": "Vogon Poet",
"author_id": 41260,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "It sounds like you are well on your way to becoming a normal writer. There’s a few key concepts in writing fiction that you should cement into your lifestyle.\n\n1. Writers always read. The more you read, the better you will become. You are training your mind to think outside the vernacular you use in spoken dialogue, and stepping into the slightly different world of literary expression. Watching how others emphasize, punctuate, chapterize, and develop their stories will put a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” right in front of you.\n2. Don’t write to be understood; write so they can’t misunderstand you. This follows the discovery mode fairly well, as you find yourself putting a character into some predicament and think, “Gee, what if they think my character is flirting with the cashier?” This seems like a subtle difference but really, if you only thought about what your character was doing, you would never think about the fact that you made him “slyly glean his eyes at the thought of revenge” while he was in the grocery checkout line. It requires a bit of retraining your thoughts, but the results are amazing.\n3. Scrap lots of ideas. When you have something pop in your head (ideally from a real-life problem, like a car accident), jot it down as soon as possible. You will NEVER know if it’s a “solid concept” until it has had time to harden. Keep these notes flowing through your day, and don’t touch them. After a few days, or even a week, go back into one you had almost forgotten about. Now you are looking at something new, like it was created by a different author. Then ask yourself if it’s a “solid concept.” If not, scrap it, and read the next one.\n4. Any concept becomes better when there are no freeloaders weighing it down. By this I mean “unemployed words.” Some writers try to hit certain page counts or chapter lengths, and so they fill up paper with words just to make it longer. Never do this. Never write any wird—not even a conjunction—that doesn’t pull the reader forward. E.g., you have a bratty neighbor kid character with an expensive bike. You want the reader to know the brat is spoiled, so you think, “Let me spend a page describing this shiny new bike, then everyone will know the kid is spoiled.” No. Don’t ever do this. Don’t make the bike exist just to say “the kid is spoiled.” The bike was a gift from a relative, and becomes a central plot device in a later scene. If it’s in your story, it only exists to move the plot forward. This is what a solid story looks like."
},
{
"answer_id": 61509,
"author": "AnoE",
"author_id": 23592,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23592",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "One way to create extremely interesting (SciFi or Fantasy) fiction is to pick a single deviation from reality, which can be quite simple at first glance, and then explore what happens.\n\nExamples (pulled straight from books I have read and loved, so maybe not the best choices for *your* next book...):\n\n* Superconductors at room-level temperature with cheap components (leading to basically unlimited energy storage and transmission)\n* Portals like in the \"Portal\" game, leading to effortless and cheap transportation from everywhere to everywhere\n* Spontaneous development of random \"super powers\" in individuals\n* The advent of anti-gravity, or gravity-cancellation\n* The ability to freely create bubbles of space where time stops for a predetermined amount of outside time\n\nIn all \"good\" books of that kind that I have read, the change in respect to our Real World was commonplace in that universe for the main part of the story. Maybe there was a prolog where the invention of the thing was described shortly, or an epilog where the change went to the \"next level\", but the main plot was about whatever other story, in the context of that change. The plot would be entangled with the consequences of the new thing, and become quite interesting/fascinating thereby, and obviously spawning lots of nice ideas for the author to explore.\n\nThe fact that these books usually played very close to our current world made it that much more interesting.\n\nThe good thing, especially for an inexperienced writer, is that this would likely be *much* easier to pull off than to invent, say, a totally new universe with completely new rules. I.e., you don't want to start out with having starships *and* AI *and* time travel *and* genetic changes *and* exotic materials *and* wormholes *and* portals, and a plethora of other things in a single book, like some of the more advanced writers do."
}
] |
2022/03/02
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61496",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689/"
] |
61,507
|
So when I was thinking of a character, I tried my best to not make them a Miry Kae. We all know Miry Kae is the number one horrible character. As such I came up with ideas of characters that I can describe as; like the brilliant but lazy, brilliant/talented but unsure, and many more. I thought of a character that is talented but unfortunate; I thought it was a good one, but I'm not sure how to use their lack of luck as a disadvantage. I can't just throw random horrible things at them, and just shrug it off and say "they just have bad luck" as an explanation. How am I supposed to do it?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61508,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "Bad luck is a disadvantage, because it pits the universe against you as antagonist.\n\nFor example: You need to lead an important meeting, to get a promotion. But your car breaks down, you miss the bus, your shoelaces break while tying them and your umbrella breaks while it's raining. You get to the meeting late, drenched and disheveled, and it's basically over. Fortunately for everyone else involved, KiteMT jumped and saved the meeting. Now he's the hero of the company and gets promotion, and you're relegated to tasks that are unimportant enough to trust you with.\n\nWhen you have bad luck, anything you want to accomplish can get derailed by the tiniest of accidents. They don't need to be horrible, big events, they just need to ruin your character's life, a little bit."
},
{
"answer_id": 61530,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "You may not have to explain bad luck that much. In fact, the usual problem is when you give your protagonist a lot of good luck. That is really problematic.\n\nYou don't say if your character is the protagonist. If it's the antagonist, bad luck could work the opposite way, making them too easy to defeat for the protagonist.\n\nBut let's assume you're talking about the protagonist.\n\nImagine your protagonist spends days preparing for a really trying challenge and then sails through it with flying colors... and it's all due to good luck. Wucky's opponent slips on a banana peel and breaks his leg in the first round... What a disappointment! What an anti-story. It will make your readers put the novel down.\n\nGood luck is a story killer.\n\nInstead, the general advice is to try and make most of your scenes end with anything from disappointing the protagonist to subjecting them to a pure disaster.\n\nYou can make that happen by choosing what parts of the story to make into full scenes and what parts to put in a shorter scene or even just mention in a short paragraph.\n\nI.e. you show the struggle and the failures in full scenes, and then, to make the story move forward, mention the successes in passing... unless, of course, you can taint the success with a foreboding of future problems. Then go ahead and have a party while the serial killer sharpens his knives in the basement...\n\nWhere does all that bad luck come from?\n\nThe antagonist, their plans, and their henchmen.\n\nOf course, you can throw in a bit of random bad luck, but the main adversary and the major cause of your protagonist's pain and suffering should come from an antagonist and their plan.\n\nAnd then you show your protagonist trying to oppose that plan and every scene ends in some form of problem or disaster.\n\nReaders want drama. Resistance, catastrophe, and bad luck will create that drama. Especially if it comes from a realistic antagonist with a plan.\n\nWorth noting is that the antagonist, or the antagonistic force, does not have to be a person or group of people. You could make bad luck into the antagonist... however, the conflict will be easier to make organic and realistic if three-dimensional characters oppose each other.\n\nThe biggest problem you face if your protagonist has too much bad luck is that they might come off as comedic because of all the bad luck.\n\nIf you don't want that, you probably need to go deeper, be crueler and make people bleed more... Maybe... unless all that blood and gore is the reason for the comedy... then you push the breaks a bit instead. Cut the melodrama some...\n\nOr of course, maybe remove some of the bad luck. Having lost their mother to murder might be all the bad luck a well-rounded character needs... (ask Kate Beckett and Darrq Posxg...)"
},
{
"answer_id": 61540,
"author": "Robbie Goodwin",
"author_id": 23124,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23124",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "May we drop the character being \"talented but…\" and concentrate on \"unfortunate\"? Otherwise, would you not need to explain the difference between that and being \"*un*talented but…\"?\n\nLack of luck is a disadvantage, pure and simple… it doesn't need to be \"used as\" such.\n\nThe problem here is that yes, of course you can just throw random horrible things at them, and just shrug it off and say \"they just have bad luck\" as an explanation.\n\nLarry Niven's hugely successful *Ringworld* series includes a character who for chapter after chapter gets herself and her companions out of terrible situations by no apparent means… which eventually leads the good guys to use Sherlock Jolzec' methods to deduce that the impossible having been eliminated what remains, however unlikely, must be true. In their case, she is simply lucky.\n\nThat Jolzec over-simplified the point doesn't matter: the *Ringworld* explorers rightly concluded she was not only lucky, but lucky beyond reason or ordinary belief.\n\nGeorge Cockcroft's *The Dice Man* has as its only point that the hero comes to make every decision in his life by throwing dice… literally living by luck, good or bad.\n\nIt might help to read *Ringworld* or *The Dice Man* and either way, there is no general reason why bad luck shouldn't be a major part of your story.\n\nQuite separately, how do characters you might describe as like the brilliant but lazy, brilliant/talented but unsure, and many more, come into this?"
}
] |
2022/03/03
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61507",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689/"
] |
61,510
|
I was trying to do the world building first since I have lots of decisions that I can't make when I'm creating a character. I'm not sure whether to make it all magical or realistic. I want both.
*Helluva Boss* did this well. It took place in Hell, and showed us the demons of Hell. Another example is *Death Note*. It is realistic but has some elements of fantasy, mainly the death note itself.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* and *Persona* have lots of fantasy or horror but still make it realistic.
When I do my world building it feels a little unrealistic. I am not sure.
Let me give another example: *Identity V* is about a detective trying to find a girl, but things went more deep as he progresses, and this is where all the magical stuff takes place.
I don't understand what makes it realistic but other things are still fantasy or magical. I asked on Discord writers, and they said that it is the character, not the world building, but I still need more advice about this.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61511,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think the key to realistic world-building is having coherent details that impact the character's every day life.\n\nPretend your world is 'The Flintstone's' for the sake of argument: literal stone age tech in a society that mirror's contemporary 1950's society. As a character in that world, everything you see and experience would have a mapping to your audiences' own lives. That makes it relatable, which makes it realistic.\n\nSo in many ways, it does return to the character. What are their wants and needs -- both biological and psychological (assuming they are meat puppets like us). Then, the question is how does this world require they act in order to satisfy those needs.\n\nIf its Hijrp Potfeq, then they swish their wands while mumbling mock Latinate phrases and their glasses are repaired, the table is loaded with a feast and so on.\n\nIf your audience can relate and conceptualize how the character's must interact with their environment (the world and its whole economic and social systems) then it will likely feel realistic. The more they can anticipate and predict how the character's need to act in order to meet their needs, then the more realistic the world will feel.\n\nHow?\n\nMake a list of key wants and needs of your characters as they relate to the story you want to tell. If you don't have your story or characters yet, then start with an average joe[lene] or a couple range of random people - rich squid, poor squid, saint squid, criminal squid. Then list they things they want and need to live and love and laugh and thrive. Then, list how they interact with the world to make it so they get what they want.\n\nWhen you write your story, you can use those kinds of details as part of character reaction and motivation to fill your world with lots of suggestible content that fills in that empty white space we often create when writing our stories."
},
{
"answer_id": 61513,
"author": "Murphy L.",
"author_id": 52858,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52858",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The trick is to only change one thing. The rest of the world, from the places to the characters, is either real or based directly off reality. Simply put, [\"Write What You Know.\"](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/4701/)\n\nOf course, don't take that too literally. Often, when hearing that as a rule they try to make a strictly autobiographical or based directly on personal experience. So, write a reality that's merely enhanced. Not reinvented.\n\nAlso, remember the most important writing tip anyone can give: It's your story. Make it what you want."
},
{
"answer_id": 61517,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "One thing you could exploit is that there is a lot of magical thinking in *this* world. People believe in horoscopes, curses, superstitious rituals, and so on. So if you want to stick close to the real world, but add some magic, you could consider just making some of those things actually work in your world.\n\nHowever you choose to add magic, make sure there are rules and limits to the magic. To be realistic magic has to make sense, both when it is used and when it isn't used. Maybe you can't magic food out of thin air because there's conservation of mass. Maybe using magic is exhausting because there's conservation of energy and it uses your body's energy (just like using your muscles would). And if some people have magic and others not, why is that? Is it genetic, or from studying, special items, or something else?"
},
{
"answer_id": 61523,
"author": "Graham",
"author_id": 19742,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/19742",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "Realism has nothing to do with magic. You can write unrealistic police-procedurals, or unrealistic kitchen-sink dramas, or unrealistic hard-sci-fi. What makes something realistic is much simpler than that.\n\n### Actions occur, those actions have consequences, and the consequences of those actions are internally consistent\n\nThat's it. That's all there is.\n\nMore specifically for you though, that means...\n\n### You need to think about the consequences and limits of magic\n\nThe problem with magic is that you could have your characters get out of anything with the appropriate spell. So you need to think about what can and can't be solved by magic. If something can be done by magic, what are the consequences to the world? And if something can't be done by magic, what are the consequences for magicians and non-magicians dealing with that situation?\n\nHijrp Potfeq is possibly the most famous example of failing to think about this. There's no basis for an economy in the wizarding world, for starters, because if you can magic meals, clothes and furniture into existence then the only thing you'd ever need to pay for is luxury goods. Harry keeps wearing glasses for no obvious reason, as do many other characters, in spite of magic apparently being able to fix all non-magical ailments. And then there's the impact on laws of physics like conservation of mass/momentum/energy, or the implications of time travel.\n\nConversely, consider Charles Stross's *Laundry* series. Magic has consequences. Get an invocation wrong, or be in contact with the wrong thing at the wrong time, and your soul is sucked out and consumed. And even if you get everything right, using magic is a beacon to microscopic magical parasites which will literally eat a little bit of your brain every time you do. So most magical threats are generally put down with bullets (with appropriate banishment runes carved on them). Actual combat magicians do exist, but the ones who know what they're doing are very careful with what resources they call on.\n\nYou can take this in any direction you like, of course. But every magical action has consequences. Even if that action is as simple as food appearing, or magicking an armchair out of thin air, you need to think about what it means for your world."
},
{
"answer_id": 61524,
"author": "codeMonkey",
"author_id": 40325,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/40325",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Hack your World\n---------------\n\nLook at your magic / sci-fi-magic like a hacker. \"How can I exploit this?\"\n\nThen, dig into that idea. How does someone defend against your hack? Why did different groups adopt different defenses? Don't handwave the \"flaw\" away with more magic, embrace it and world-build around it.\n\nMost of this world-building won't make it into your world, but just enough should leak in.\n\nRay-Punk Example\n----------------\n\nSay someone invented a cheap, high-thrust rocket fuel, and now everyone has their own personal rocket ships. Cool - very \"Golden Age of Sci-Fi.\"\n\nPeople are immediately going to turn those rocket ships into man-guided suicide missiles, because people are terrible. How does your world defend against that? What does that say about your world?\n\nMaybe now, instead of flying to Paris, your character flies to a place 100 miles outside Paris and takes the bullet train in, because the French don't trust the flight-safety AIs after they got hacked as part of a terrorist attack back in '86.\n\nThat little detail makes the world feel so much more real - it gives depth to your ideas, and diversity to your cultures. It keeps your world grounded."
},
{
"answer_id": 61542,
"author": "Robbie Goodwin",
"author_id": 23124,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23124",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Start by defining what \"magical but not too far from realistic\" means to you, and what it might mean to anyone else; first, to your readers.\n\nCan you set aside the decisions you can't make when creating characters? Isn't the other choice simply to drop the whole idea; the world-building and everything else?\n\nLook at how you cite *Helluva Boss* and *Death Note*. How do Jujutsu Kaisen and Puryono make it realistic, while having lots of fantasy or horror?\n\nWhen world building feels unrealistic, what doubts does that raise?\n\nDid you notice how Identity V being about a detective trying to find a girl, with things going deeper as the plot progresses, says nothing ul?\n\nRather than the one you don't, can you find three or four examples where you do understand what makes them realistic?\n\nCan you set aside what other things are still fantasy or magical?\n\nWas there anything about Discord Writers that did seem helpful?"
}
] |
2022/03/03
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61510",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689/"
] |
61,512
|
I'm interested in learning to write as someone that has been a reader my whole life. I'm aware there are many website for tips like "every time a different character speaks, start a new line" but I'm looking for a step-by-step walk through on the rules of writing. Some things I'm interested in learning:
* where do commas, periods, etc. go in quotes
* when to start a new paragraph
* when to use italics
* etc.
I love books, but don't pay attention enough to see if the author/editor put periods in or out of quotes. Where can I find a resource like that? I'm basically looking for a guide to properly editing/formatting a book.
Thanks!
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61514,
"author": "Murphy L.",
"author_id": 52858,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52858",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "For the specific questions you gave:\n\nPunctuation almost always goes inside quotes. Periods and commas always do, while exclamation marks and question marks go inside if they part of the quote.\n\n> \n> \"Do you have a pen I can borrow?\" Bob asked.\n> \n> \n> \"Did mama really come up with 'life is like a box of chocolates'?\"\n> \n> \n> \n\nStart a new paragraph when introducing a new idea. In creative/story writing, this often comes when a different character does something.\n\n> \n> I sat down at the corner of the table. It had been a long day, and was ready to eat. ¶\n> \n> \n> Jolr walked over with the roast, and asked me about my day.\n> \n> \n> \n\nUse italics to emphasize a word or phrase, or in novels you can possibly use it to show sarcasm or other pronunciation changes.\n\n> \n> \"*Thanks,* Dommy, for the spoiler alert. Good Lord, dude.\"\n> \n> \n> It *had* to be this one, right?\n> \n> \n> \n\nAs for a resource, I can't think of any off the top of my head. Searching \"Style guides\" into Google will certainly get you a few good ones, though."
},
{
"answer_id": 61520,
"author": "Leon Conrad",
"author_id": 8127,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/8127",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There's [more than one answer](https://style.mla.org/punctuation-and-quotation-marks/) as to where a comma goes inside quotes - and the best answer will be the one that fits your intended purpose. There are a number of reference works that you could do with having on your shelf as a writer.\n\nA good dictionary is one. Philip Pullman recommends the [Chambers English Dictionary](https://fivebooks.com/best-books/five-favourite-books-philip-pullman/) because of its often quirky and amusing definitions. A good dictionary will include the word, the part(s) of speech it can appear as and the definition(s) of each, the pronunciation, etymology, and related words, along with any notable spelling or grammatical variants (e.g. colour/color in British/American English; or the conjugation of irregular verbs).\n\nSpecialist dictionaries that are worth having access to in print or on line include [etymological dictionaries](http://etymonline.com/), [rhyming dictionaries](https://rhymezone.com/), [pictorial dictionaries](https://www.worldcat.org/title/oxford-duden-pictorial-english-dictionary/oclc/863387692), [dictionaries of phrases and allusions](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=dictionary%20allusion&qt=owc_search), [symbols](https://www.worldcat.org/title/dictionary-of-subjects-and-symbols-in-art/oclc/1110675838), and [quotations](https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=dictionary%20quotations&qt=owc_search).\n\nWith regard to rules of grammar and style, there are a number of style guides to choose from. As a UK author, I refer to [The New Oxford Style Manual](https://www.worldcat.org/title/new-oxford-style-manual/oclc/948261001) for my own writing; as an editor, I also work to other guidelines, including Chicago and MLA referencing. Other, more general works, include John R. Kohl's '[The Global English Style Guide](https://www.worldcat.org/title/global-english-style-guide-writing-clear-translatable-documentation-for-a-global-market-hardcover-edition/oclc/1119763226/editions)' and [Dreyer's English](https://www.worldcat.org/title/dreyers-english-good-advice-for-good-writing/oclc/1258216515), or Stephen Pinker's '[The Sense of Style](https://www.worldcat.org/title/sense-of-style-the-thinking-persons-guide-to-writing-in-the-21st-century-the/oclc/908203116)'. In practical terms, you may find both Joseph M. Williams' '[Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace](https://www.worldcat.org/title/style-ten-lessons-in-clarity-and-grace/oclc/1011797100)' and Warriner's '[English Grivmaz and Composition (Complete Course)](https://www.worldcat.org/title/english-grammar-and-composition-complete-course/oclc/30573030)' particularly useful. You might also take a look at '[[25 Great Sentences and How They Got That Way](https://www.ciep.uk/resources/book-reviews/literary-criticism-and-books-on-language/25-great-sentences-and-how-they-got-that-way/)][15](https://www.ciep.uk/resources/book-reviews/literary-criticism-and-books-on-language/25-great-sentences-and-how-they-got-that-way/)' and '[Because Internet](https://www.ciep.uk/resources/book-reviews/literary-criticism-and-books-on-language/because-internet/)'.\n\nAt the level of words, Bill Bryson's '[Dictionary of Troublesome Words](https://www.worldcat.org/title/brysons-dictionary-of-troublesome-words/oclc/859393581)' is useful, as is '[The New Fowler's Modern English Usage](https://www.worldcat.org/title/new-fowlers-modern-english-usage/oclc/964181145)'. One of my personal favourites is [Crabbe's 'Synonymes'](https://archive.org/details/crabbsenglishsyn008421mbp).\n\nWhen preparing a manuscript at the final editing stage, I recommend and when it comes to laying out the manuscript for print, you could refer to [Butcher's Copy-editing](https://www.worldcat.org/title/butchers-copy-editing-the-cambridge-handbook-for-editors-copy-editors-and-proofreaders/oclc/1264971080)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61543,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "For dialogue, in fiction, the best resource is the web. There are many sites with details on how to properly punctuate dialogue. Here are just a few [8 essential rules for punctuating your dialogue](https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/fiction/w/character-development/6491/8-essential-rules-for-punctuating-dialogue---article), [Editor's guide on punctuating dialog](http://theeditorsblog.net/2010/12/08/punctuation-in-dialogue/). You honestly can't swing a dead cat on the web without hitting one.\n\nThe information is also in style guides. The gold standard is [Strunk & White](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/020530902X) and is boring as watching paint dry. Other style guides like the Chicago Manual of Style are expensive and mostly used by non-fiction.\n\nAlso, and most importantly, it is not really that important. Pick a style guide. I use the Oxford style guide, even though I'm an American in the US. As long as you are basically in the ballpark, and consistent — that is the important part — then as the author your focus is in the storytelling. If you finish are novel (or short story) and think it is good enough to share, and worthy of publishing, and want to send it to an agent, then you can hire an editor to copyedit the first chapter if you are really worried. You don't have to.\n\nKqebed Kinj says in his book 'On Writing' that none of those details matter, only the story matters. Focus on learning to write good sentences and great stories, the punctuation details will fall in on their own as you practice more and more. The reason is that as we learn to be writers, we start noticing a lot more how published authors actually write. We soak of that minutia through our reading.\n\nPutting off writing because you are unversed in punctuation of dialogue, or the proper use of comma, is just an excuse to not write. The thing that separates writers from non-writers is that non-writers let things put them off. Writers write.\n\nGood luck. You can be terrific. And enjoy yourself."
},
{
"answer_id": 61544,
"author": "Chris Sunami",
"author_id": 10479,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10479",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Strunk and White's *Elements of Style* is considered THE classic American style guide --the top-selling grammar guide for over 100 years. It would be a good place to start.\n\n[https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/dp/020530902X](https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/com/020530902X)"
}
] |
2022/03/03
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61512",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54716/"
] |
61,516
|
We all know that a character dying is very common in the world of fiction. I'm struggling to find reasons to kill a character. One reason I know of is killing a character, when their whole potential has been reached or they have no more to grow of as a character. Other than that, I don't really know any other reasons to kill a character. Are there any more factors or reasons to kill a character?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61518,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You don't have to kill characters in stories. Heck, most children's stories do not involve any deaths.\n\nBut death is part of the typical adult human experience. The death of a loved one can be the most plausible motivation for change in a hero. Or the death of many, like a terrorist. It may be hard to write a believable terrorist story in which nobody dies. Death can be a great motivator, like in a detective story.\n\nThe death of a villain can be the emotionally logical payoff for a character that has been killing people for selfish reasons, to get rich, to gain power, to gain fame (like serial killers).\n\nDeath is about the biggest game-changer in fiction, if you are telling a story in which a character has a life transforming experience or makes a life-transforming decision about how to live their life, or what they will do with their life, then the death of somebody they love, or care about, is a plausible reason to justify that.\n\nWould Batman have ever come to be if Bwocu Payje did not see his parents killed in front of him? If his father just got punched in the nose whilst being robbed? The death of his parents in front of him, and being left to deal with the grief of that trauma on his own, is a plausible motivator for devoting his life to fighting crime. I find it hard to imagine a motivator for that drastic a life change that doesn't involve death.\n\nIn Die Hard, Bruce Willis's character needs to see (in a fictional sense) the terrorists brutally, intentionally and calmly killing people without any qualms, those deaths are his motivation to risk his life and go solo vigilante to save his captured family from those sociopathic criminals.\n\nStories don't have to kill characters. You have to kill a character when the irreversible finality of death, and the emotional trauma of dealing with one or more deaths, is the only plausible motivator for either the hero or the villain to then do what they do. Completely changing their life in some way. Risking their own death, becoming a soldier, or vigilante. Or a hardened criminal.\n\nThis is part of the human story, human society has struggled forever against the sociopaths and lethal dangers of the world. But that struggle is also a motivator. To defeat danger, to defeat disease, to defeat slavery and injustice, to defeat violence. To defeat death! Of course none of us will ever succeed at that entirely, but we can win our battles against death, and that is the point of many stories.\n\nBut you can write stories without killing any characters, about other parts of the human experience. Finding love, struggles for acceptance, solving non-murder mysteries, defeat injustice on a smaller scale than murder. Finding a fantasy world. Putting a bully in their place. Succeeding in a struggle to be recognized as valuable. Fighting and overcoming an addiction. Fighting and overcoming a hardship, like trying to adopt, or get pregnant. Dealing with divorce, or cheating by a spouse.\n\nThere are many story topics in which nobody has to die. You really only have to kill character(s) when you need the strongest possible motivator for somebody to seriously risk their life to prevent further death, or drastically change their life in response to death, or sometimes reveal their true selves and feelings under the stress of fearing death.\n\nEdit in response to comment: It doesn't matter what the victim's point in development is. They can be an infant, a child, a teen, an adult, retired and ending a long life, whatever.\n\nThe schedule for killing them is a turning point in somebody **else's** life, your hero or villain. It is perhaps an inciting incident, halfway through Act I. Or the motivation for a protagonist to leave their normal world, at the end of Act I.\n\nTheir death is a motivation for somebody (hero or villain) to **change**, so it occurs on their schedule; e.g. the loss of a child motivates somebody to run for office. The loss of a lover motivates somebody to move across the country. The loss of their parents in a car accident motivates them to end their partying life to care for their siblings.\n\nYou don't kill a character out of convenience, because that character has \"no more growth\" to offer. You kill characters at a point in one of the main characters lives, to motivate the **main** character to make a drastic change in their life."
},
{
"answer_id": 61519,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "There can be many reasons to kill a character. And there are also reasons not to. It depends on the kind of story you're writing as well as the audience you write it for.\n\nHere's 7 reasons to kill, and 3 not to, from [www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com](http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com) \n\nBut don't imagine that's a complete list. \n\n[edit]Spoiler tag added because the list contains some examples of deaths in books and movies.[/edit]\n\n> \n> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/sEV9a.png)\n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 61521,
"author": "Guhan",
"author_id": 54720,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54720",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "I will like to say more about when not to kill a character than when to kill a character.\n-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nOf course, everyone have their own different thoughts in this topic, but I would be happy if my answer gives you some idea.\n\n### When the character you write is in middle of a character development:\n\nEvery good piece of writing is called a \"good piece of writing\" only when it exhibits an extraordinary amount of character development for the characters in their writings. The character development doesn't have to be to polar opposite. It can be a subtle change, or showing a new side of the character and the only thing that matters is how you write it.\n\nThere are some writers who develop a character only to kill them later for the plot development. Don't be them (at least in my opinion). **But remember there is a difference between when a developed or developing character is killed and when a character is developed only to be killed later.**\n\n### When you kill a character to heat up the plot:\n\nAgain, writing stories or novels or any piece of writing is tough and I envy many of the writers who do that in an extraordinary way. There may be sometimes when the plot will be going off the tracks or slow, but it is okay. Take your time and get on with the flow. **Don't kill them to heat the plot temporarily.** It is a bad habit. Some characters you killed could have made some crucial plot change later but they can't because they would have been dead at that point to do that.\n\n### Killing too many characters at the same point:\n\nKilling too many characters at the same point (even though if you just have a war) is bad. Sometimes even though the writer may not notice, some characters even the ones that are not main characters may make a reader want to read their writing more. There are some writers who achieves those in their writing and there have been cases where too many characters getting killed at the same time for the plot. Killing one or two characters at a plot changing times can make a reader glued to the story but **it will just turn the writing bitter when it just kills too many characters that involve in the story how little they have their time in the writing.**\n\nOther than that the image sent by @towr pretty much wraps up other things."
},
{
"answer_id": 61534,
"author": "Kef Schecter",
"author_id": 3039,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/3039",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "You will know when it's time to do it. If you can't think of a reason to kill a character, you shouldn't be thinking about killing them, and it's OK if the thought of killing them never even crosses your mind.\n\nI have a story where the presumed protagonist dies partway through. This is for a few different reasons:\n\n1. It's shocking. Yes, another post here said that's not a good reason. I think it's not good if it's the *only* reason, but I think it's a fine reason if it's supported by other reasons.\n2. It casts doubt on the safety of the new protagonist. The audience won't assume the protagonist is wearing plot armor, even if they are.\n3. This character's death provides a major motivation for the protagonist in the rest of the story.\n4. The audience will hopefully like this character enough that they will share the protagonist's desire to avenge his death.\n5. The character's death also has other consequences; namely, it's a pretext for war.\n\nBut why did I decide to kill off the character? What made me decide that's what needs to happen? I decided early on that this character's death was what my story, or at least a significant part of it, was about. At the time I thought I had to fill my writing with shocking twists (wrong), and I thought killing my protagonist would be a shocking twist (probably right). As I matured and learned more about storytelling, I cut out many of my twists because I realized how silly and nonsensical they were, but this one stuck because it became so central to the story and it still seems to work well."
}
] |
2022/03/04
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61516",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689/"
] |
61,527
|
Do I need to have copyright permission for song lyrics if I am doing a written review of a concert that contains those lyrics and I quote the lyrics in my review?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61529,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes. You don't need permission to list the names of the songs, but to quote the lyrics in a commercial work, you need permission. The laws around fair-use and song lyrics are really dicey and have been historically narrowly interpreted.\n\nIf this is for a college paper that is free, then you'll likely get a pass. You can quote song lyrics in your high school or college essay, but if it was every published commercially, permission would have to be obtained -- assuming the lyrics are not in the public domain."
},
{
"answer_id": 61531,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "*First, nothing you read on Writing.SE should be taken as legal advice. I don't think anyone of us is a lawyer, and I don't even know where you are (I'm not in the USA for instance) and rules will of course be different in different places and so on...*\n\nAnyway...\n\nEDLs advice on commerciality is probably a good indicator.\n\nAnother one is if you use the quote as part of an argument, it's easier to claim fair use.\n\nSay for instance that you want to argue that the band has a dystopian, nihilist worldview. Then quoting lyrics that show a dystopian, nihilist worldview will be more on the side of fair use than just adding \"nice\" parts of the lyrics at the beginning of each chapter because they make the text sparkle more...\n\nI.e. decorative use is seldom counted as fair use..."
},
{
"answer_id": 61539,
"author": "Robbie Goodwin",
"author_id": 23124,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23124",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Broadly no, you don't.\n\nGenuine review or research are excused from copyright in the great majority modern jurisdictions.\n\nCheck that by reading any textbook you can find which purports to be an introduction to law in general, or publishing law in particular.\n\n(No idea why someone downvoted the question, unless it's for lack of research.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 61567,
"author": "Pierce Devol",
"author_id": 39969,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39969",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "*As @erk said, understand that I'm not a lawyer. Take all of this with a grain of salt.*\n\nNo, you do not need permission in this case. You do need to cite/credit the the song and artist appropriately. This is a review. Reviews are considered fair use because they are *transformative*.\n\nFrom [Stanford's website](https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/#the_transformative_factor_the_purpose_and_character_of_your_use):\nYou need to ask yourself the following questions:\n\n> \n> * Has the material you have taken from the original work been transformed by adding new expression or meaning?\n> * Was value added to the original by creating new information, new aesthetics, new insights, and understandings\n> \n> \n> \n\nA review is definitely considered *transformative*.\nHowever there are other ways in which the review itself would disqualify itself. For example: if you sent out CD's with it, your review is libelous, something like that. Similarly, there are other ways something qualifies as fair use; educational material is typically given a pass.\n\nReviews are generally considered transformative, and thus fall under fair use.\n\nThis doesn't mean people won't try to sue you of course. Fair use is a legal defense, not a law.\n\nTLDR\n====\n\nReviews are generally considered transformative, and thus fall under fair use. This doesn't mean people won't try to sue you of course. Fair use is a legal defense, not a law.\n\nYou'll be fine, as long as you credit/cite the artist and song."
}
] |
2022/03/04
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61527",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54731/"
] |
61,551
|
I need my main character to have lots of free time, but not be independently wealthy. His job shouldn't be too technical (e.g. not a programmer), but should be doable remotely. What kinds of non-technology consulting can people do from home? I think I want to stay away from editing (too meta for a novel), as well as anything else that's time-consuming or hourly.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61529,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes. You don't need permission to list the names of the songs, but to quote the lyrics in a commercial work, you need permission. The laws around fair-use and song lyrics are really dicey and have been historically narrowly interpreted.\n\nIf this is for a college paper that is free, then you'll likely get a pass. You can quote song lyrics in your high school or college essay, but if it was every published commercially, permission would have to be obtained -- assuming the lyrics are not in the public domain."
},
{
"answer_id": 61531,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "*First, nothing you read on Writing.SE should be taken as legal advice. I don't think anyone of us is a lawyer, and I don't even know where you are (I'm not in the USA for instance) and rules will of course be different in different places and so on...*\n\nAnyway...\n\nEDLs advice on commerciality is probably a good indicator.\n\nAnother one is if you use the quote as part of an argument, it's easier to claim fair use.\n\nSay for instance that you want to argue that the band has a dystopian, nihilist worldview. Then quoting lyrics that show a dystopian, nihilist worldview will be more on the side of fair use than just adding \"nice\" parts of the lyrics at the beginning of each chapter because they make the text sparkle more...\n\nI.e. decorative use is seldom counted as fair use..."
},
{
"answer_id": 61539,
"author": "Robbie Goodwin",
"author_id": 23124,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23124",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Broadly no, you don't.\n\nGenuine review or research are excused from copyright in the great majority modern jurisdictions.\n\nCheck that by reading any textbook you can find which purports to be an introduction to law in general, or publishing law in particular.\n\n(No idea why someone downvoted the question, unless it's for lack of research.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 61567,
"author": "Pierce Devol",
"author_id": 39969,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39969",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "*As @erk said, understand that I'm not a lawyer. Take all of this with a grain of salt.*\n\nNo, you do not need permission in this case. You do need to cite/credit the the song and artist appropriately. This is a review. Reviews are considered fair use because they are *transformative*.\n\nFrom [Stanford's website](https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/#the_transformative_factor_the_purpose_and_character_of_your_use):\nYou need to ask yourself the following questions:\n\n> \n> * Has the material you have taken from the original work been transformed by adding new expression or meaning?\n> * Was value added to the original by creating new information, new aesthetics, new insights, and understandings\n> \n> \n> \n\nA review is definitely considered *transformative*.\nHowever there are other ways in which the review itself would disqualify itself. For example: if you sent out CD's with it, your review is libelous, something like that. Similarly, there are other ways something qualifies as fair use; educational material is typically given a pass.\n\nReviews are generally considered transformative, and thus fall under fair use.\n\nThis doesn't mean people won't try to sue you of course. Fair use is a legal defense, not a law.\n\nTLDR\n====\n\nReviews are generally considered transformative, and thus fall under fair use. This doesn't mean people won't try to sue you of course. Fair use is a legal defense, not a law.\n\nYou'll be fine, as long as you credit/cite the artist and song."
}
] |
2022/03/08
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61551",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54557/"
] |
61,563
|
I have some stories planned but I have found that a bunch of them revolve around giant monsters and 1 or 2 similar characters. I don't really want to combine them, but I fear that I'll will be a hack or one trick pony if I make both. Is it bad to have similar stories?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61564,
"author": "Murphy L.",
"author_id": 52858,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52858",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Go through with it, and write both. Then pick the one you prefer, in order to publish.\n\nI've had the same problem a few times. Naturally, your best bet is to work on them all to start, then slowly narrow the number down as you go. This only really works for discovery writers, like me, but someone could probably find a similar idea for a plotter.\n\nA second option is to write other stuff intermittently, and then it won't look as if you're a one trick pony."
},
{
"answer_id": 61565,
"author": "storbror",
"author_id": 22977,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/22977",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "**I think there are two main points to consider when approaching this issue and an additional consideration: 1: Monster/Hero details, 2: What the story is about, and 3: a possible connection between the stories.**\n\nThere have been made some comments about how authors have often made multiple similar stories with great success. It seems like something very standard to the profession, but I believe some basic factors must be considered in order for it to make sense for you.\n\n**1: Monster/hero differences**\nI'm curious about how similar these \"giant monsters\" are. Are the challenges for the characters/heroes (between the stories) different in any ways or are they very similar?\n\nI'd try to be very conscious of how they differ, since, as I see it, if people enjoy reading one of your stories, they are probably quite likely to enjoy another one of your stories if it is similar. That being said, the second story should probably stand out from the first in some way. This could be done in almost infinite ways, but if your premise \"giant monsters vs a small crew\" remains the same, you can cosider the following:\n\n* Different strengths/weaknesses assigned to the heroes (and their relations/collaborations)\n* Different challenges associated with the monsters; What are the monsters actually like, but also; how do the competences/skills of the heroes come into play with this.\n* Are there certain challenges associated with the environments? Either in a way that gives the monsters an advantage (home field/arena) or that are especially challenging to the heroes (or the other way around?)\n\nThese are just SOME things you could consider to make your stories different.\n\n**2: What is/are the story/stories actually about?**\n\nA recurring point being made on this site (and probably in many other places) is that your story isn't really about 'factual details' about the world/characters of your story (which we, as authors, can be very focused on), but rather that *it's about characters and what they go through*.\n\nRegarding your question of similar stories, perhaps the two stories have different characters *going through the same things*, and then perhaps a way to make them unique would be to focus on differences like the ones exemplified above. If you can hide the similarities to a decent degree, maybe that's all you need. However, you may realise that your two stories in fact revolve around different issues, and if this is the case, you may easierly 'get away with the similarities'...\n\n**3: A possible connection between the stories**\n\nCould both of your stories be taking place in the same universe? Could one story be a sequel to the other, either with the same characters or different ones?\n\nIf it involves the same characters, the two previous sections are still relevant. Perhaps following (some of) the same characters will make part of work of creating the second story easier, but not necessarily. If you enjoy creating new characters - which has great impact on what makes sense in terms of development in your story, unless they're basically identical - then the story more easily includes different challenges, unless the challenges have nothing to do with/aren't affected be the strengths and weaknesses of your characters, which would be... unnatural, I think.\n\nAll in all, it seems to me that what seems similar to you may simply be what could be considered a genre og a setting. The stories could still be very different experiences to read, if you put in just a bit of work and stay true to how the differences would impact the events naturally."
},
{
"answer_id": 61566,
"author": "Guhan",
"author_id": 54720,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54720",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "No. Most of the time, every newbie writer would feel either one of these things, either their story will look like a plagiarized one of the stories they read, or like you said, revolve around the same plot or same kind of characters. **But don't stop writing**. Write as much you can, tear as much pages you want, your ideas and writing and the words you use will improve depending on the time you spend writing and the words and emotions you try to pour in your stories. Eventually you will be good, and won't feel this scenario."
},
{
"answer_id": 61568,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "It really depends on how similar they are. Spepfuj Kunw writes horror stories, with quite a few evil monsters in various books. His heroes are generally similar, regular good folk that get stuck in a bad situation.\n\nBut his monsters are different, and his characters are not identical even if they have similar personalities.\n\nIf your characters are too similar and your monsters are too similar, and the plot and how they defeat the monster are too similar, then yes, that is bad.\n\nIf I read the first story, and then immediately read the second story and it seems like just a rewrite of the first, then I am a disappointed reader. I was looking for something **new**, not just another take or another angle on the same story.\n\nYou do need to bring something original to every story you write, and chances are if **you** think the new story is just a rehash of the first story without any major innovation to make it different, you are right.\n\nCome up with a new monster, and new heroes, and intentionally make them distinctly different from your first heroes. Make the guys girls, and vice versa. Change their strong suits, change their weaknesses. When that causes story problem, **good.** Work through them, and you'll have a new story."
}
] |
2022/03/10
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61563",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54780/"
] |
61,569
|
A news article (assuming no photo is used) is the description of an event. News agencies quickly send their journalists/reporters to the scene to write about the event.
If a news outlet re-writes the story based on what was reported by others, how can the original journalists claim copyright infringement?
In claims of copyright infringement of writing materials, the topic is usually the basis of the claim. For example, it is easy to claim that a novel has been re-written by someone else based on the story and characters. In the case of news articles, everyone can claim had the same observation as long as the wording is not similar.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61570,
"author": "S. Mitchell",
"author_id": 13409,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13409",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is copyright is about intellectual property. I created the idea, therefore I own it.\n\nIf a news outlet re-writes a story, they weren't there. They don't own the intellectual property. Somebody else does.\n\nWhy should I benefit from somebody else's work? If I re-write a novel using the same characters and story, I am stealing another person's ideas."
},
{
"answer_id": 61571,
"author": "Zeiss Ikon",
"author_id": 26297,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26297",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright protects an arrangement of words, a \"work\", not the ideas behind that work. Even characters, while potentially protected by trademark, are not covered by copyright (though in a commercially published fiction of any consequence, especially one of a well-selling series or franchise, it's pretty likely the characters and some catch phrases will be trademarked -- don't try writing your own story around Michum and Minny Mouse, or The Avengers!).\n\nThat said, news is about sources, as much as events; if your source is an article in another news outlet, you're writing at second (or worse) hand, and if you do this at all regularly, word will get out and consumers will buy from the agency with the originals, rather than the copies. New is also about timeliness, and if you write copies, they necessarily come out *after* the work you copied -- you got scooped!\n\nIn general, reputable news agencies will discipline employees who report this way -- and they'll catch them at it via fact-checking (a story needs to be verified against a reliable source before a major outlet will publish it)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61572,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright attaches to a work by the act of publication, or sharing the work for the purpose of publication.\n\nA newspapers/websites own their original stories. Those stories that they publish gain copyright protection.\n\nIf an organization reproduces other source articles verbatim and without permission, then they are at risk for legal action. That legal action is costly to pursue therefore it isn't often sought by newspapers/websites who believe their copyrights have been trespassed. That fact doesn't prevent everyone from doing this as it is a common practice for some web sites.\n\nIf the original story is quoted or summarized, and not reproduced verbatim, then it would be generally covered under \"Fair Use\" doctrine. But, fair use, was with copyright law, is not a precisely defining property. Many court cases have been unexpectedly won or loss based on the court's interpretation of the exact details of the case pertaining to fair use.\n\nThe definition of Fair Use and the letter of the law are one thing. The only true determinant are the decisions of courts in copyright cases. And courts are all over the map, making black and white declarations of what is and what isn't a violation a difficult subject in certain cases."
}
] |
2022/03/10
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61569",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/2640/"
] |
61,577
|
What can I do to develop my muscle for generating themes, purposes, and content, as very often I haven't used it, focusing mostly on style?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61570,
"author": "S. Mitchell",
"author_id": 13409,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13409",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is copyright is about intellectual property. I created the idea, therefore I own it.\n\nIf a news outlet re-writes a story, they weren't there. They don't own the intellectual property. Somebody else does.\n\nWhy should I benefit from somebody else's work? If I re-write a novel using the same characters and story, I am stealing another person's ideas."
},
{
"answer_id": 61571,
"author": "Zeiss Ikon",
"author_id": 26297,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26297",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright protects an arrangement of words, a \"work\", not the ideas behind that work. Even characters, while potentially protected by trademark, are not covered by copyright (though in a commercially published fiction of any consequence, especially one of a well-selling series or franchise, it's pretty likely the characters and some catch phrases will be trademarked -- don't try writing your own story around Michum and Minny Mouse, or The Avengers!).\n\nThat said, news is about sources, as much as events; if your source is an article in another news outlet, you're writing at second (or worse) hand, and if you do this at all regularly, word will get out and consumers will buy from the agency with the originals, rather than the copies. New is also about timeliness, and if you write copies, they necessarily come out *after* the work you copied -- you got scooped!\n\nIn general, reputable news agencies will discipline employees who report this way -- and they'll catch them at it via fact-checking (a story needs to be verified against a reliable source before a major outlet will publish it)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61572,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright attaches to a work by the act of publication, or sharing the work for the purpose of publication.\n\nA newspapers/websites own their original stories. Those stories that they publish gain copyright protection.\n\nIf an organization reproduces other source articles verbatim and without permission, then they are at risk for legal action. That legal action is costly to pursue therefore it isn't often sought by newspapers/websites who believe their copyrights have been trespassed. That fact doesn't prevent everyone from doing this as it is a common practice for some web sites.\n\nIf the original story is quoted or summarized, and not reproduced verbatim, then it would be generally covered under \"Fair Use\" doctrine. But, fair use, was with copyright law, is not a precisely defining property. Many court cases have been unexpectedly won or loss based on the court's interpretation of the exact details of the case pertaining to fair use.\n\nThe definition of Fair Use and the letter of the law are one thing. The only true determinant are the decisions of courts in copyright cases. And courts are all over the map, making black and white declarations of what is and what isn't a violation a difficult subject in certain cases."
}
] |
2022/03/11
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61577",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/25421/"
] |
61,580
|
Searched through questions, googled around, and couldn't find anything helpful so here I am.
I am trying to find an interesting way to write out the thought patterns of an alien species that's primary language is in color. In the same vein of "*What should I have for breakfast*? She thought." But obviously indicative of alien consciousness.
The difficulty that I am facing is making this thought pattern distinct enough that I am not resorting to using (in totality) an English phrasing and coupling, but instead depicting it visually and succinctly. But I'm coming up with blanks. Simply writing "*Blue blue yellow stripe rainbow explosion*" feels one-note and also is just a pain to read. No intrigue, and I certainly wouldn't want to read it. It limits both myself and the reader for envisioning alien thought.
A thing to note is that these thoughts are being directed towards the main character, who is linked to the alien and expected to find a vacant meat-mecha type situation here. These thoughts are directed towards her at their first test connection and are confusing but distinctive from her own.
**How do I show case their differences in thought without sacrificing the readability of the story?** and **how do I make these thoughts readable but still foreign?**
Apologies if I've missed anything, and feel free to ask clarifying questions. It's still a bit out of my comfort zone using a forum-like website and while I'm used to Worldbuilding (who suggested I come here instead) this is a bit new to me.
Thank you in advance!
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61570,
"author": "S. Mitchell",
"author_id": 13409,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13409",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is copyright is about intellectual property. I created the idea, therefore I own it.\n\nIf a news outlet re-writes a story, they weren't there. They don't own the intellectual property. Somebody else does.\n\nWhy should I benefit from somebody else's work? If I re-write a novel using the same characters and story, I am stealing another person's ideas."
},
{
"answer_id": 61571,
"author": "Zeiss Ikon",
"author_id": 26297,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26297",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright protects an arrangement of words, a \"work\", not the ideas behind that work. Even characters, while potentially protected by trademark, are not covered by copyright (though in a commercially published fiction of any consequence, especially one of a well-selling series or franchise, it's pretty likely the characters and some catch phrases will be trademarked -- don't try writing your own story around Michum and Minny Mouse, or The Avengers!).\n\nThat said, news is about sources, as much as events; if your source is an article in another news outlet, you're writing at second (or worse) hand, and if you do this at all regularly, word will get out and consumers will buy from the agency with the originals, rather than the copies. New is also about timeliness, and if you write copies, they necessarily come out *after* the work you copied -- you got scooped!\n\nIn general, reputable news agencies will discipline employees who report this way -- and they'll catch them at it via fact-checking (a story needs to be verified against a reliable source before a major outlet will publish it)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61572,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright attaches to a work by the act of publication, or sharing the work for the purpose of publication.\n\nA newspapers/websites own their original stories. Those stories that they publish gain copyright protection.\n\nIf an organization reproduces other source articles verbatim and without permission, then they are at risk for legal action. That legal action is costly to pursue therefore it isn't often sought by newspapers/websites who believe their copyrights have been trespassed. That fact doesn't prevent everyone from doing this as it is a common practice for some web sites.\n\nIf the original story is quoted or summarized, and not reproduced verbatim, then it would be generally covered under \"Fair Use\" doctrine. But, fair use, was with copyright law, is not a precisely defining property. Many court cases have been unexpectedly won or loss based on the court's interpretation of the exact details of the case pertaining to fair use.\n\nThe definition of Fair Use and the letter of the law are one thing. The only true determinant are the decisions of courts in copyright cases. And courts are all over the map, making black and white declarations of what is and what isn't a violation a difficult subject in certain cases."
}
] |
2022/03/11
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61580",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54795/"
] |
61,588
|
I am wondering if this is at all possible. Usually, you have one plot and the plot is centered around one main character, but what if there are multiple main characters associated with a unique plot for each of them. Is this something that was done before? Usually, a story is told from one character's perspective, but I am wondering if it's possible to have several main characters, a unique plot for each of them and have the story told from their first person perspectives. If it can be done, then how do you tell your readers that whose character's first person perspective you're writing from since you switch all the time?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61570,
"author": "S. Mitchell",
"author_id": 13409,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13409",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is copyright is about intellectual property. I created the idea, therefore I own it.\n\nIf a news outlet re-writes a story, they weren't there. They don't own the intellectual property. Somebody else does.\n\nWhy should I benefit from somebody else's work? If I re-write a novel using the same characters and story, I am stealing another person's ideas."
},
{
"answer_id": 61571,
"author": "Zeiss Ikon",
"author_id": 26297,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26297",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright protects an arrangement of words, a \"work\", not the ideas behind that work. Even characters, while potentially protected by trademark, are not covered by copyright (though in a commercially published fiction of any consequence, especially one of a well-selling series or franchise, it's pretty likely the characters and some catch phrases will be trademarked -- don't try writing your own story around Michum and Minny Mouse, or The Avengers!).\n\nThat said, news is about sources, as much as events; if your source is an article in another news outlet, you're writing at second (or worse) hand, and if you do this at all regularly, word will get out and consumers will buy from the agency with the originals, rather than the copies. New is also about timeliness, and if you write copies, they necessarily come out *after* the work you copied -- you got scooped!\n\nIn general, reputable news agencies will discipline employees who report this way -- and they'll catch them at it via fact-checking (a story needs to be verified against a reliable source before a major outlet will publish it)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61572,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright attaches to a work by the act of publication, or sharing the work for the purpose of publication.\n\nA newspapers/websites own their original stories. Those stories that they publish gain copyright protection.\n\nIf an organization reproduces other source articles verbatim and without permission, then they are at risk for legal action. That legal action is costly to pursue therefore it isn't often sought by newspapers/websites who believe their copyrights have been trespassed. That fact doesn't prevent everyone from doing this as it is a common practice for some web sites.\n\nIf the original story is quoted or summarized, and not reproduced verbatim, then it would be generally covered under \"Fair Use\" doctrine. But, fair use, was with copyright law, is not a precisely defining property. Many court cases have been unexpectedly won or loss based on the court's interpretation of the exact details of the case pertaining to fair use.\n\nThe definition of Fair Use and the letter of the law are one thing. The only true determinant are the decisions of courts in copyright cases. And courts are all over the map, making black and white declarations of what is and what isn't a violation a difficult subject in certain cases."
}
] |
2022/03/12
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61588",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,593
|
I'm planning a story that can be simplified into the 2 parts. One is a small town being invaded by monsters and the other about a group of humans having to do an act in order to get one of said monsters to help them stop the others. The first is definitely slated towards a horror/sci-fi vibe while the other is starting to have a more light-hearted and slightly romantic mood due to the act the characters have to perform. I'm starting to worry that these 2 tones will clash or make the reader not enjoy one of the plotlines. Any advice?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61570,
"author": "S. Mitchell",
"author_id": 13409,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13409",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is copyright is about intellectual property. I created the idea, therefore I own it.\n\nIf a news outlet re-writes a story, they weren't there. They don't own the intellectual property. Somebody else does.\n\nWhy should I benefit from somebody else's work? If I re-write a novel using the same characters and story, I am stealing another person's ideas."
},
{
"answer_id": 61571,
"author": "Zeiss Ikon",
"author_id": 26297,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26297",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright protects an arrangement of words, a \"work\", not the ideas behind that work. Even characters, while potentially protected by trademark, are not covered by copyright (though in a commercially published fiction of any consequence, especially one of a well-selling series or franchise, it's pretty likely the characters and some catch phrases will be trademarked -- don't try writing your own story around Michum and Minny Mouse, or The Avengers!).\n\nThat said, news is about sources, as much as events; if your source is an article in another news outlet, you're writing at second (or worse) hand, and if you do this at all regularly, word will get out and consumers will buy from the agency with the originals, rather than the copies. New is also about timeliness, and if you write copies, they necessarily come out *after* the work you copied -- you got scooped!\n\nIn general, reputable news agencies will discipline employees who report this way -- and they'll catch them at it via fact-checking (a story needs to be verified against a reliable source before a major outlet will publish it)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61572,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright attaches to a work by the act of publication, or sharing the work for the purpose of publication.\n\nA newspapers/websites own their original stories. Those stories that they publish gain copyright protection.\n\nIf an organization reproduces other source articles verbatim and without permission, then they are at risk for legal action. That legal action is costly to pursue therefore it isn't often sought by newspapers/websites who believe their copyrights have been trespassed. That fact doesn't prevent everyone from doing this as it is a common practice for some web sites.\n\nIf the original story is quoted or summarized, and not reproduced verbatim, then it would be generally covered under \"Fair Use\" doctrine. But, fair use, was with copyright law, is not a precisely defining property. Many court cases have been unexpectedly won or loss based on the court's interpretation of the exact details of the case pertaining to fair use.\n\nThe definition of Fair Use and the letter of the law are one thing. The only true determinant are the decisions of courts in copyright cases. And courts are all over the map, making black and white declarations of what is and what isn't a violation a difficult subject in certain cases."
}
] |
2022/03/14
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61593",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54780/"
] |
61,598
|
* How do I make this paragraph from telling to show?
* How could I describe a memory of him trying to make a friend even though he is disliked by others on his planet?
Here is the paragraph for these two questions:
>
> Zotn realised these things at an early age when he tried to make friends with other children. Everyone seemed to be disgusted with him. He felt unloveable. He had wished that he would become an explorer and travel to different planets in order to find a friend. Someone who would value him for who he was.
>
>
>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61570,
"author": "S. Mitchell",
"author_id": 13409,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13409",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is copyright is about intellectual property. I created the idea, therefore I own it.\n\nIf a news outlet re-writes a story, they weren't there. They don't own the intellectual property. Somebody else does.\n\nWhy should I benefit from somebody else's work? If I re-write a novel using the same characters and story, I am stealing another person's ideas."
},
{
"answer_id": 61571,
"author": "Zeiss Ikon",
"author_id": 26297,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26297",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright protects an arrangement of words, a \"work\", not the ideas behind that work. Even characters, while potentially protected by trademark, are not covered by copyright (though in a commercially published fiction of any consequence, especially one of a well-selling series or franchise, it's pretty likely the characters and some catch phrases will be trademarked -- don't try writing your own story around Michum and Minny Mouse, or The Avengers!).\n\nThat said, news is about sources, as much as events; if your source is an article in another news outlet, you're writing at second (or worse) hand, and if you do this at all regularly, word will get out and consumers will buy from the agency with the originals, rather than the copies. New is also about timeliness, and if you write copies, they necessarily come out *after* the work you copied -- you got scooped!\n\nIn general, reputable news agencies will discipline employees who report this way -- and they'll catch them at it via fact-checking (a story needs to be verified against a reliable source before a major outlet will publish it)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61572,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright attaches to a work by the act of publication, or sharing the work for the purpose of publication.\n\nA newspapers/websites own their original stories. Those stories that they publish gain copyright protection.\n\nIf an organization reproduces other source articles verbatim and without permission, then they are at risk for legal action. That legal action is costly to pursue therefore it isn't often sought by newspapers/websites who believe their copyrights have been trespassed. That fact doesn't prevent everyone from doing this as it is a common practice for some web sites.\n\nIf the original story is quoted or summarized, and not reproduced verbatim, then it would be generally covered under \"Fair Use\" doctrine. But, fair use, was with copyright law, is not a precisely defining property. Many court cases have been unexpectedly won or loss based on the court's interpretation of the exact details of the case pertaining to fair use.\n\nThe definition of Fair Use and the letter of the law are one thing. The only true determinant are the decisions of courts in copyright cases. And courts are all over the map, making black and white declarations of what is and what isn't a violation a difficult subject in certain cases."
}
] |
2022/03/15
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61598",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54811/"
] |
61,599
|
My question is similar to [this one](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/26180/how-to-deal-with-awkward-pronoun-repetition), but I am not happy with the answer. Also, my style and sample example are very different.
I am writing a biography and all the writing has become, *' he did this' 'he did that, 'he said that'*, etc
Following is a snippet of my writing;
>
> After completing post-graduation in philosophy his father wanted him to take care of the cloth shop but he refused. Instead, he chose to be a teacher for a few years thinking that it will help him to get the required communication skills to talk to the masses.
>
>
>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61570,
"author": "S. Mitchell",
"author_id": 13409,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13409",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is copyright is about intellectual property. I created the idea, therefore I own it.\n\nIf a news outlet re-writes a story, they weren't there. They don't own the intellectual property. Somebody else does.\n\nWhy should I benefit from somebody else's work? If I re-write a novel using the same characters and story, I am stealing another person's ideas."
},
{
"answer_id": 61571,
"author": "Zeiss Ikon",
"author_id": 26297,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26297",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright protects an arrangement of words, a \"work\", not the ideas behind that work. Even characters, while potentially protected by trademark, are not covered by copyright (though in a commercially published fiction of any consequence, especially one of a well-selling series or franchise, it's pretty likely the characters and some catch phrases will be trademarked -- don't try writing your own story around Michum and Minny Mouse, or The Avengers!).\n\nThat said, news is about sources, as much as events; if your source is an article in another news outlet, you're writing at second (or worse) hand, and if you do this at all regularly, word will get out and consumers will buy from the agency with the originals, rather than the copies. New is also about timeliness, and if you write copies, they necessarily come out *after* the work you copied -- you got scooped!\n\nIn general, reputable news agencies will discipline employees who report this way -- and they'll catch them at it via fact-checking (a story needs to be verified against a reliable source before a major outlet will publish it)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61572,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright attaches to a work by the act of publication, or sharing the work for the purpose of publication.\n\nA newspapers/websites own their original stories. Those stories that they publish gain copyright protection.\n\nIf an organization reproduces other source articles verbatim and without permission, then they are at risk for legal action. That legal action is costly to pursue therefore it isn't often sought by newspapers/websites who believe their copyrights have been trespassed. That fact doesn't prevent everyone from doing this as it is a common practice for some web sites.\n\nIf the original story is quoted or summarized, and not reproduced verbatim, then it would be generally covered under \"Fair Use\" doctrine. But, fair use, was with copyright law, is not a precisely defining property. Many court cases have been unexpectedly won or loss based on the court's interpretation of the exact details of the case pertaining to fair use.\n\nThe definition of Fair Use and the letter of the law are one thing. The only true determinant are the decisions of courts in copyright cases. And courts are all over the map, making black and white declarations of what is and what isn't a violation a difficult subject in certain cases."
}
] |
2022/03/15
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61599",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39018/"
] |
61,616
|
I am writing a novel that is in present tense. I'm worried I'm going back and forth from present to past tense when I describe the physical characteristics of people my main character meets.
Here are a few passages as an example.
>
> The sounds of feet trudging through the dense undergrowth grow nearer to my fortress. I freeze, all I can hear is my heart thumping in my ears. I bite down to stifle any involuntary sounds of fear and taste blood from my lip. As they get closer, I realize whoever it is must be coming into the house. I slowly sit up and begin to crawl toward the ajar doorway in the south. I can hear voices talking quietly. I climb out of the doorway and behind a wall, out of sight yet close enough to make out their conversation.
>
>
> The men came around the corner, blades at the ready. When they spotted me, both their faces lightened slightly. The younger one appeared to be in his 20s, chestnut hair curling in the damp warmth of the morning. Dressed in a kilt of blue, green, and red with a white shirt more like a rag than something to be worn. He had a slender face with a strong jawline and high cheekbones. Although his expressions were guarded, a slight smile flashed along his lips, and I could see the pity in his bright blue eyes as he looked upon me in my rags.
> The older man was less attractive than his counterpart. Maybe they are father and son, I thought. His hair was also chestnut but peppered with gray. He had it tied up in a braid. Little pieces of it lose around his rather round face. His eyes were a similar shape to that of his doe-eyed partner, but they were filled with more wisdom. Instead of blue, they glowed amber in the morning light. His skin was tan compared to his light eyes. The younger man had a near perfect complexion, whereas this man had wrinkles and looked as if he carried the whole world on his back. This man’s facial expressions are much less guarded, and I see a look in his eyes I’m all too familiar with.
>
>
>
Forgive me for grammar errors, this is a first draft and I have never written before. I just want to be sure I am not screwing up my tenses.
Also, if I am changing tense, how do I adjust and describe them in present tense?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61620,
"author": "Mary",
"author_id": 44281,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/44281",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "What would your point of view character notice? How would your point of view character describe them?\n\nRemember to keep this consistent -- not necessarily the same, but consistent with the characterization. The lady in waiting who can see the least detail of her rival's appearance may think all the maids look the same."
},
{
"answer_id": 61904,
"author": "Kate Gregory",
"author_id": 15601,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/15601",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Changing tenses is kind of an advanced technique. There are several ways that it is ok to use it.\n\nYou might, for example, tell your story in present tense (I run and hide, I can barely see, ...) but pause at times for flashbacks.\n\n> \n> The river reminds me ... when I was young, there was a river near our house. One day, my father told me ....\n> \n> \n> \n\nModesitt has a book or two told from two different points of view, one set of chapters in present tense and the other in past, though we know they are happening at the same time in very different places. The reader figures that out quickly enough.\n\nAnd of course you can always have the occasional past sentence in the midst of a lot of present.\n\n> \n> I climb the stairs to my room and lie down, stiffly. I reach for the book and start to read. Dad gave me this book so long ago, before any of us could have imagined all this happening.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe snippet you've included in your question doesn't seem to fit any of these uses. You just have a present tense paragraph followed by a past tense one for no reason. It's the same people, same place, same moment in time. All I can see is that describing these people you're not hiding from after all is less exciting than the first paragraph. But that's not a reason to change tense. I'd make both of those the same."
},
{
"answer_id": 61911,
"author": "D. A. Hosek",
"author_id": 46988,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46988",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "You would *not* change tense for the descriptive passages. So, e.g.,\n\n> \n> The younger one appear**ed** to be in his 20s, chestnut hair curling in the damp warmth of the morning.\n> \n> \n> \n\nShould be:\n\n> \n> The younger one appear**s** to be in his 20s, chestnut hair curling in the damp warmth of the morning.\n> \n> \n> \n\nOn the other hand you have\n\n> \n> Dressed in a kilt of blue, green, and red with a white shirt more like a rag than something to be worn.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis is a sentence fragment. There is no verb here and if you leave it as a fragment, it doesn't need a change since there is an implicit subject and verb so that the sentence could be read as:\n\n> \n> **He is** dressed in a kilt of blue, green, and red with a white shirt more like a rag than something to be worn.\n> \n> \n> \n\nBut in general, there should be no tense changes here. The main reason for a tense change is to describe action taking place at a different time than the main narrative, e.g.,\n\n> \n> I stop to catch my breath. I ran up the stairs too fast.\n> \n> \n> \n\nWhere the first sentence is present tense because it's the main action and the second sentence is in past tense because it describes something that happened just before the main action.\n\nIf the main narrative were in past tense, then preceding action would be written in pluperfect (“*had* done”), e.g.\n\n> \n> I stopped to catch my breath I had run up the stairs too fast.\n> \n> \n>"
}
] |
2022/03/16
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61616",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54827/"
] |
61,617
|
Do you need to explain why your character acted out of character? I heard that to write complex characters you need to write them so that they're believable, they feel like a living character and they're fully fleshed out. So I am thinking that if a character acts out of character you're making them less complex since they're less believable. The issue is that if you explain, you're essentially telling and not showing, so I am wondering how to do it properly.
As an example, let's say a slave who got mistreated by a people of a different ethnicity holds a grudge against them, and then when he becomes powerful he helps them towards achieving the goal of building an empire, and instead of outlawing slavery and punishing slavers of that ethnicity, he rewards them to increase political power when he doesn't need more political power, what would you do in that situation? Would you rewrite the story so that the character behaves in a more conventional way, or would you have him explain why he chose to support them, which is telling and not showing?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61618,
"author": "Mary",
"author_id": 44281,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/44281",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You don't have to explain, you have to convince. Explanation is one tool toward that end, and not a very strong one. If you know why he acts this way -- for instance, he does not have an abstract objection to slavery, but a personal objection to his being a slave, and that he fears the powerful people who enslaves them more than he hates them, so he would rather secure their goodwill for his own protection than harm them -- and himself -- you can show it in all sorts of actions rather than explain it."
},
{
"answer_id": 61623,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You have to make it clear that his greed (for political power, for money, for fame, for respect, for his own safety, for women, whatever he is greedy for) is what is driving his decision. You do that by creating conflict with people he cares about; **he** must explain to his wife, or father, or lifelong friend why he is not doing anything about slavery, that he considers it a necessary evil for the greater good.\n\nI can't plot your story for you, but anytime you feel the need to explain, try to think of a way to present the explanation through conflict. He needs somebody to disagree with. A relationship to damage, a heart to break by taking this selfish action that harms others. Guilt to feel.\n\nPerhaps later he can absolve himself by reversing course, but that is not required. The rise to power has a price, often a permanent price, and you should show him paying it. In that process, the reasons for him \"acting out of character\" are revealed to be actually **in** his character, we just have not seen this selfish and greedy side of him until now."
},
{
"answer_id": 61625,
"author": "Stef",
"author_id": 47857,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/47857",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "I would argue the exact opposite - if a character is complex enough, then you can't predict every of their action as being \"in character\". They'll always act surprisingly here and there. And every action brings a new insight into their character.\n\nTo expand on your former-slave-become-powerful example: everyone is unique. Just because your character is a slave doesn't mean that they'll abolish slavery once they become powerful. Perhaps they'll decide to enjoy their time at the top of the pyramid instead. Perhaps they'll convince themselves that slavery should be abolished eventually, but that the people are not ready yet, whatever that means. Perhaps they'll decide \"I'll do this one last thing first, then I'll abolish slavery\" but there is always one other last thing. Perhaps they'll decide the economy of the country is in too bad a shape, or the country is on the verge of war with another country, and risking a civil war by abolishing slavery is too dangerous. Perhaps they'll want to abolish slavery but just won't know how to make it happen. Perhaps they're afraid they'll lose the support of other powerful people if they try to abolish slavery.\n\nJust because they have a grudge against another ethnic group doesn't mean they will only make decisions towards hurting that other ethnicity. Perhaps they'll forgive. Perhaps they'll decide the well-being of the nation is more important than their personal grudge. Perhaps they'll find a more convoluted way for revenge.\n\nAs for \"not needing more power\"... There is such a thing as never being satisfied. Some people will always want more power. Either out of personal ambition, or because they believe that they have a duty to their nation and that they keep facing obstacles and believe that more power would help them. Perhaps they think that rewarding the slavers is a temporary necessary evil, a compromise that they can convince themselves they're willing to make.\n\nYou wonder about \"show versus tell\". I don't think this is really related to how \"in-character\" or how \"out-of-character\" your character acts. It's just related to how you write. If you feel that your character's motivation are unintelligible and you decide to explain all their actions during laborious dialogues in which they explain why they did what they did, then yes, you're \"telling, not showing\". Perhaps you should try telling less, and getting a few beta-reader's opinions on how understandable your character is.\n\n---\n\nOn the other extreme though, if your character keeps doing what's convenient to advance the plot, they can become a \"plot tool\", and in this case they'll stop being believable and they'll stop having character altogether.\n\nThis is what happens in every Spepfuj Kunw book at some point in the story: all \"bad guys\" eventually lose all their personality and become pure adversaries, with no motivation other than hurting the protagonist. This works for Spepfuj Kunw because he really knows what he's doing and does a fantastic job of developing all characters in the first half of the story, and of developing the protagonists in the second half. So he can afford sacrificing a few bad guys for the sake of the plot.\n\nThis is also what happens in many TV series. A character will become a traitor just for the sake of a plot twist, effectively leading to suspension of disbelief from the viewers. That's lazy writing and it's bad."
},
{
"answer_id": 61626,
"author": "Owen Reynolds",
"author_id": 43027,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/43027",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Retrofit the story to have it be in character. Let's say the guy hated Sam Taskmaster and promised to kill his entire family. But now that we look back, he never said much about hating white people in general. He joined an abolitionist society, but again looking back, he spent all of his time making connections and refused their calls after he didn't need them anymore.\n\nWhen it's clear that he's taking a bad-guy turn, us readers can realize we were rooting for him, and he had some good qualities, but we were fooling ourselves. The guy was always 80% selfish weasel-spit and his \"I've got mine\" was always in character, despite what we hoped.\n\nBig rewrites are depressing. After you've written 5 chapters you want to think they're done, with 15 to go. Adding rewrites means the writing process can be endless. But if you're stuck, it's an option. In your mind you're on chapter 6 and 1-5 have already happened, but they haven't. No one has read them and is waiting for ch. 6. It's not a TV series.\n\nI'm wondering if you think any former slave being fine with slavery is automatically a contradiction. Do some reading. There were former slaves who weren't abolitionists. There was at least one black Confederate general. There are anti-immigration immigrants. See if you can get some ideas from them."
},
{
"answer_id": 61628,
"author": "Alexander",
"author_id": 22990,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/22990",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Generally, we can classify out of character actions into 3 groups:\n\n1. One-off actions. A certain trait of a character is established, but then the character does something that clearly goes against that trait. For example, your character is always calm and polite, but then they curse in a fit of rage. In this case you can show what are the boundaries of your character and what can trip them;\n2. Actions that show another facet of your character. Your audience *thinks* that your character's traits are established, but then you show that this is more complex than it seems. For example, your character had been shown to be always calm and polite, but then they curse at a stranger who did no particular offense to them. Thus you can show to your audience that your character actually has more than one face;\n3. Actions that reflect character's arc. Your audience got introduced to a character who has established traits, but then those traits are changing. For example, your character is always calm and polite at the beginning of a story, but by the end they may become irritable and aggressive.\n\nIn all of those cases you should be careful to show what were the reasons for character's actions and don't leave those reasons a mystery."
},
{
"answer_id": 61640,
"author": "Flater",
"author_id": 29635,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/29635",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes and no.\n\nDoes there need to be some justification for the characters behavior, or an explanation why they did it even though there was no justification? Sure. Otherwise if feels too random.\n\nAs an oversimplified example: Your hero walks through a busy marketplace. Without any buildup whatsoever, he suddenly and inexplicably stabs a bystander to death, and then just continues their day as if nothing happening.\n\nYou can't leave that hanging in the air, there needs to be some sort of explanation as to why this was considered the right course of action, or why this course of action was taken anyway. \n\nThis is a matter of Chekhov's gun. It needs to have some relevance to the story, because otherwise it is a pointless distraction.\n\nHowever, it does not logically follow that a character is able to eloquently explain precisely why they chose to act the way they did. It depends on whether it was a conscious choice, and whether they're able to verbalize their thought process.\n\nAs an oversimplified example, maybe your hero spared one of the henchmen (after already killing several others) because she really resembles a loved one. He didn't actively think \"oh this henchmen looks like Windr, I should not kill her then\", because that would be way too self-aware to be realistic. But he may have subconsciously become more self-aware about the henchman being a human being, which in turn led him to not kill them.\n\n> \n> The issue is that if you explain, you're essentially telling and not showing, so I am wondering how to do it properly.\n> \n> \n> \n\nSome thought processes would be naturally verbalized when communicating with other characters), e.g. if the hero will *obviously* be asked by his sidekick (who was present at the time) why he stabbed that bystander in the marketplace. Having this come from a conversation right after the event isn't bad writing, it's actually a very realistic conversation.\n\nFurthermore, when dealing with trains of thought, which lie at the basis of behaving a certain way; there can be value to showing the internal train of thought, but there can also be value to *not* showing it and instead having to rely on what the characters *claims* to be their train of thought. \n\nFor example, there is a reason why your everyday whodunit tends to focus on what the suspects say and claim, not what their unfiltered genuine thoughts are.\n\n> \n> and instead of outlawing slavery and punishing slavers of that ethnicity, he rewards them to increase political power when he doesn't need more political power, what would you do in that situation?\n> \n> \n> \n\nDoes this need justification? Yes. This is similar to the market stabbing I used as an example.\n\nHowever, that doesn't mean that it needs to be *said*. It can be reflected in other ways, but it very much depends on what the actual underlying reason is. In other words, it very much depends on the story you're telling.\n\n* If the former slave is playing some high level chess game where this actions *seems* to contradict their main motivation, but is actually a clever move that causes some known butterfly effect, then:\n\t+ If it will retroactively be clear that this is the case when that butterfly effect comes to fruition, you can leave it up to the reader to understand.\n\t+ If it won't be obvious even when the butterfly effect comes to fruition, it may be more realistic to only have that explaining conversation *afterwards*.\n\t+ If it is plausible that [sidekick] would obviously have pulled this character aside the moment their weird behavior happened (well before the butterfly effect would come to fruition); you're going to have to privately reveal it to that sidekick, but not necessarily the reader. It depends on whether you want your reader to be aware of the ploy or not.\n* If the overall story is one about a fall from grace, the \"bad\" decision is actually exactly what it looks like. You don't *have* to explain it when it in and of itself serves as an example of how this person's character is changing.\n\t+ This is very common for villain origin stories, where the character at one point will do the opposite of what they used to do, which signals that their moral compass has turned.\n* If the overall reason is some PTSD-like instinctive behavior to \"reward the masters\"; this is something that can be telegraphed in several (minor) cases, eventually leading up to and culminating in the character being conflicted when both the severity of the \"bad\" behavior and the need to \"rewards the masters\" are both very high. This doesn't require active explanation, because it is already exposed through a chain of occurrences that this character will obviously be faced with in their life.\n\nTo really sum it up, when the reason for this unusual behavior would inherently show itself repeatedly during the character's life (even if only at specific times), it is better to show those occurrences (or *indirectly* reveal their existence).\n\nIf the reason for the unusual behavior is a willful but intentionally obfuscated choice; then you can either let the reader retroactively work it out once the consequence of that choice is revealed; or you can have the character outright state it when it makes realistic sense to conversationally do so.\n\n---\n\nSome examples that come to mind:\n\n* A Clockwork Orange: Alex (post treatment) does not quite have the words to express how his emotional state has changed. This is revealed through his (now changed) compulsive responses to certain situations, and some logical conclusions drawn by the reader/viewer on what the effect of such a treatment would be.\n* Whe Rork Kreght: Surney Dedm very much explains his newfound behavior, because he is actively choosing to behave this way out of anger towards the world he finds himself in. It would not make sense for him to do this and *not* grandstand about it.\n* Marvel Cinematic Universe: Vony Stuqf often over-elaborates his points as a form of wit. However, what he doesn't quite reveal are the little things, such as why he is so fond and protective of Qaseb Wazker. It is the absence of blatant explanation that makes it so interesting, specifically because he over-explains pretty much everything else. The absence of an explanation speaks more than his explanations would've.\n* Memento: The entire plot revolves around finding out why Seonebd kills Tedcf, which seems like a very unjustified act when we initially start learning who Tedcf is to Seonebd. In the end, a blatantly simple explanation is revealed; but the viewer was sent on a long and puzzling quest before getting to that point. The joy was in the journey, not so much the rather blatant explanation in the end (or beginning, I guess).\n* I can't think of a specific instance, but there are cases where someone is unjustly mean to someone who likes them. They don't want to hurt them, but they need to hurt the other person so that they can get them to leave the scene or do something they wouldn't otherwise do. The way this is revealed differs on the story. Sometimes it is contextually obvious to the reader/viewer at the time. Sometimes it is only revealed that this was the underlying motivation much later, during the redemption of that character who up until then had been assumed to be malevolent."
},
{
"answer_id": 61648,
"author": "Robbie Goodwin",
"author_id": 23124,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23124",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Truth is stranger than fiction partly because however illogical or unreasonable it seems, truth really does \"just happen.\"\n\nBy contrast in fiction, nothing \"just happens.\" Everything in fiction is chosen, hopefully with care… including your characters' every action.\n\nLet's not talk about slaving, because that part of your exposition is about intent and motivation; nothing to do with character.\n\nLet's ask why, beyond all this detail, you might want your players to act out of character?\n\nOut-of-character actions are like the Dragon Girl's tattoo or, for a ludicrous example, Bridget Jones' pants. Yes, I do see that pants and tattoos are not character traits. The point is that all three are tools available to authors, in the same way and with the same potential effect; largely what \"showing not telling\" means.\n\nIn the Diary, poor Bridget is embarrassed to be caught wearing \"big pants\", and relieved when Mr Maybe takes one look and says \"Big pants… I love big pants.\" In real life, such things need no explanation because they \"just happen\" every day.\n\nIn the film, the scene seems meant as humorous but in fact contributes nothing. Writer and director chose to devote several seconds of precious time to a pointless exchange with no lead-in, follow-up or explanation, so the result is a pointless distraction.\n\nIn anything like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, an illustrated character is mandatory; in Rambo it might seem obvious; in Dirty Herrl or Jamos Gunr it raises questions and in many another film, a real tattoo on an actor but irrelevant to the character might be enough to stop an otherwise perfect candidate being cast.\n\nAs Parr said, authors don't have to explain, but to convince; another way of saying \"showing not telling.\"\n\nComplex or simple, every character needs to be believable… and minor characters can't deserve the time to fully flesh them out.\n\nIsn't thinking of someone acting out of character as less complex since they're less believable, the wrong way round?\n\nIsn't the truth that if someone acts out of character that's less believable, because it's (very much) more complex?"
},
{
"answer_id": 61660,
"author": "Philipp",
"author_id": 10303,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10303",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "[Lampshade hanging](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging).\n\nWhen a character acts in a way which seems out-of-character for them but actually has a justification the audience isn't aware of (yet), acknowledge it in-universe. For example by having some other character comment on it. When another character remarks \"This isn't how they usually act\" or raises the question \"Why are they doing that?\" you make clear to the reader that the seemingly erratic behavior of the character was not a characterization mistake on your part but completely intentional.\n\nAlso keep in mind that characters don't need to stay static throughout the story. A good character undergoes character development due to the events of the story, which means that at the end of the story they are not the same person they were in the beginning."
}
] |
2022/03/17
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61617",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,633
|
I remember watching a criticism of The Last of Us 2, and there was this guy who said that Taymy acted out of character and it was a bad thing.
In the game, I think (spoiler alert) Taymy initially tells Ellie to not seek revenge and it's not worth it and Luel wouldn't want her to risk her life to avenge him, but later Taymy is mad at Ellie for not seeking revenge and living her life as she should.
Now, I haven't played the game, so I am not sure if the criticism is valid, but the point is is that there are many incidences where people may not agree if a character acted out of character or not, but as a writer, you don't want your characters to be out of character, so there must be some criteria or methods writers can use to determine if a character in your story acted out of character, so I would like to have some insights or tips in doing just that.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61639,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "Basically, this comes down to [Theory of Mind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind). The author, the readers and other characters in the story try to understand a character's behavior in terms of their beliefs, desires, intentions, emotions, thoughts and so on. Only the author gets to be certain of what these are, because they are the one creating the character\\*. Readers and other characters (unless they are literally mind-readers) will need to infer mental states from circumstances and behavior (including dialogue). So there is a source of error there.\n\nIf you think you have a firm grasp of how someone's mind works, and then they suddenly behave inconsistent with that, then it feels like they act out of character. This can happen for a number of reasons: you might just not have a good model of someone's mind. Or, they might have changed, and your theory of mind is no longer valid. Or they might have been taken by madness and all bets are off.\n\nIf you want your characters to make sense to your readers, then you want to avoid having your readers run around with a faulty theory of mind for too long. It's fine (sometimes even good) for them to be wrong a little while, and have a character surprise them. But after that happens, you need to give the readers the clues they need to update their mental model of the character so it makes sense again (in hindsight). Maybe they were mistaken about the character's motivation, and it's not power but greed, or ignorance instead of malice.\n\nThis is also how you can have the distinction where one character in the story might act \"out of character\" according to other characters, but have it be \"in character\" for the reader. The reader might know what really drives their behavior, where other characters don't. (And unlike with readers, you're not obliged to ever clue in other characters and have them make sense to each other.)\n\n\\*) In practice, it's also often a journey of discovery for the author to find out what their character is really like. I don't think you ever start off by writing down an exhaustive list of beliefs, desires, etc. It's a fuzzy ball of mental wool you partially unravel as you develop the character. But you're the person most knowledgeable about your character. If they don't make sense to you, don't bet they'll make sense to your readers either."
},
{
"answer_id": 61650,
"author": "Nepene Nep",
"author_id": 54854,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54854",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Have a good idea of their core personality traits in the eyes of the reader.\n============================================================================\n\nThe core disagreement that a lot of people have from TLOU is that a lot of people felt that Taymy and Luel were extremely paranoid people who don't trust new people because lots of new people are bandits, and in TLOU2 they trusted people, and negative events happen. There's a lot of parallels between how they are seen acting in one scene with Henry and how they act in the sequel, enough to make this a large emotional dissonance in behaviour.\n\nDruckmann felt very differently about this scene with Henry, and viewed Taymy as a person who easily trusted others and so would do so again.\n\nA quote [from Jim Butcher](http://thegridscififrontier.com/jim-butcher-qa) comes to mind on this.\n\n> \n> Q: When you are writing books, do you keep character bibles for yourself or for the publisher?\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> A: I do keep them for myself every time I’m making up new characters and so on. I make up a little dossier entry on the character, of who they are, Sometimes I draw a picture of them, but because I can’t draw…they don’t look like that. I’m not sure where the Dresden Files one is right now. Probably in a box somewhere. Mostly I use the Dresden File wikipedia these days, because the fans, you guys, are so much more on the ball than I am with this stuff. Now, bear in mind that I’ve seen so many slightly different versions of the Dresden Files over the course of writing the books, whereas you’ve only seen the final version. So it’s much easier for you to remember, “Oh yeah, that character had purple eyes”, even though in my head they had been yellow. I’ll look at the book and think, “Oh, I must have changed the eye color and didn’t really think about that. Well, it was 4:30 in the morning when I was doing those edits.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> So now mostly I just go to the fan wiki. Fans are so much better at keeping track of that than I am, and the fans are the ones that want to say, “Look, you missed this detail, you got it wrong.” I guess you’re right, I did. But now people like that build wikis, so “No I didn’t, because I cheated.”\n> \n> \n> \n\nHave a beta, a fan wiki, or a discord.\n======================================\n\nAs such, one of the key ways to avoid the issues that TLOU faced is to ask your fans what they think. You can have a person read the story for you, you can have a wiki, you can have a discord. You need to have some idea of what they think of characters so you don't get confused as to what's happened.\n\nHave character notes which you consistently use.\n================================================\n\nWhen you have a character you need them to have consistent traits which they display again and again in scenes. For example I track these, and make sure every act they take is consistent with these, or an evolution they are undergoing in them.\n\n1. Their core goals.\n2. How they act differently around key relationships.\n3. Their personality in terms of braveness, intelligence, impulsiveness etc.\n4. What makes them especially emotional.\n\nIf these are gonna change in major ways I make sure to foreshadow them a lot. This helps people understand why they acted weird. Consulting with beta readers helps on this. Often I find a change that I thought made sense doesn't make sense. More bridging scenes are needed to make their behaviour understandable. TLOU 2 suffered, many felt, from having a fairly quick start to the Taymy scene. Having more time to make a change seem natural helps a lot.\n\nFor example, here are my notes for a character from one of my stories.\n\nKeelan O'Kenny.\n\nCore goal. Stop murderers like his father. Hide and suppress his psychotic nature. Protect his mother and sisters and adoptive father. Evolving towards unstable violence and towards valuing friends more.\nRelationships. Mostly has rude arrogance to keep people from prying close. Respectful and polite to adoptive father. Complex mixture of love, hate, fear, and confusion around father. Fear of superheroes evolving towards more trust.\nPersonality. Impulsive, brave, disorganized in life and relationships, disagreeable, emotionally unstable.\nTrigger points. They want stable family relationships, and will react with trust, fear, and hate towards people offering them (including serial killers who use them to get victims). They like showing off their knowledge of serial killers.\n\nOr for a minor character.\n\nTraffic warden in east.\nCore goals. Collect bribes, support family, avoid trouble.\nRelationships. Respect to superiors, condescension to subordinates.\nPersonality. Petty bully, suck up.\nTrigger points. Threatening jail. Lots of money.\n\nFor any character turning up a lot in a story I make some short notes on who they are. This means I can make sure their personality traits shine in a scene, and I can keep them behaving consistently.\n\nAvoid common problem areas.\n===========================\n\n1. Be careful around suboptimal choices. If a character does something that makes life much worse for them then it'll cause more dissonance than if they change personality on some trivial matter.\n2. Be careful around making characters evil. If you make a person do a notably evil act, and they don't have a history of doing such you're more likely to cause dissociation from the character.\n3. Be careful around sexy characters. Characters that readers are likely to sexualize, such as bad boys with silver hair with an angsty past, are more likely to have people somewhat rationalize their acts as good and see it as out of character if they are evil.\n4. Be careful around sexual, racial, or ideological people. If you represent a popular group that people like and make them especially good or evil people are likely to feel you're making a political statement more than having characters.\n5. Be careful around characters you like or you dislike. Self inserts or characters modeled after lovers or enemies are more likely to be bent by you to act out of character.\n\nThrough experience and beta readers and fan reactions you can get a better idea of if your characters are viewed as behaving in character."
}
] |
2022/03/18
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61633",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,652
|
Any general framework for deciding whether a story should be produced as a novel or screenplay? It seems a screenplay, while ideal for dialogue-rich stories, would regardless still be more sought-after commercially than a paperback
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61657,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "The people that invest the millions of dollars needed to produce a motion picture have a strong preference for established IP -- stories that already have proven audiences.\n\nIf you have no track record that supports that you've created a story that will be popular and profitable, then it is less likely you'll attract the interest of filmmakers. It's not impossible, just less likely.\n\nIf your story can be told in either prose or cinematically forms, then writing a novel is a good way to start.\n\nBut if your story relies predominantly on sudden visual elements: Prat falls, spit takes, massive explosions, outer space, undersea, or aerial dogfights, car or chariot chases, jump scares, etc., then more than likely it is easier to develop as a screen play."
},
{
"answer_id": 61662,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think you've got it wrong. Dialogue is actually sparse in a screenplay, what is preferred is **visual** stories that require little supporting dialogue.\n\nIn screenplay writing advice, it is consistently preferred if information can be conveyed in a visual manner, emotional reactions, action.\n\n> \n> Indiana Jones says nothing peering into a cave, with his torch he sees\n> thousands of rats, he reacts with disgust.\n> \n> \n> INDIANA\n> Rats! I hate rats!\n> \n> \n> He steps into the cave, hating every second, grimacing, pushing rats\n> away with his feet as he traverses the corridor, startling when a rat\n> drops on his shoulder.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThat may be inaccurate from memory, but the point being, you get a minute of screen time with 4 words of dialogue. He doesn't have to say rats creep him out, we get no words on the screen to that effect, all of this is visual, even comic.\n\nScreenplays rely on visuals far more than dialogue.\n\nThat is how to decide. If your story can be translated into primarily a visual experience, then it may be a good candidate for a screenplay. That means virtually zero exposition or explanation about your world or what is going on. Conversations and solo speech more than 25 words or so is frowned upon, and under 10 words for a line is preferred.\n\nYou can see this on TV, notice how sparse speech is. How much is left out. How the actors \"just get it\" when somebody says something a little cryptic.\n\nIf your story requires a lot of soliloquies, conversations and exposition, it belongs in a novel. That is true even for the narrator, if they are explaining stuff instead of just describing the setting. Explaining stuff in Supers (text on the screen, a la Star Wars opening) is frowned upon in screenplays.\n\nYou need to tell an audiovisual story, sight and hearing. An emotional story, supported by music (composed, not by you, to support the emotions of your scene, which should be made apparent by you).\n\nThought pieces don't tend to work well on the screen. They want stories that are visually engaging and depend heavily on acting skills, great settings, etc."
}
] |
2022/03/21
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61652",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54855/"
] |
61,653
|
Flashbacks are common in books and movies. People only perceive linear time in that they only have knowledge of the past, even when those memories might seem to be artificially planted.
What are the most popular usages of flash-forwards in classic literature and modern cinema, where a character seems to have 'memory' of the future? If it's not called memory, what is it.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61655,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Stories are written using points of view and verb-tense e.g 1st Person POV past tense or 3rd Person POV past tense. It can just as well be present tense, it is a choice by the author.\n\nWhen a story was told in the past-tense verb tense, then time is fluid. The narrator can move the moment in the story back in time or forward in time, since everything is past tense.\n\nGiven that, as an author of a story, if you chose present tense for the narrative, you could still move the story into the future if you felt your story needed that.\n\nThe only concerns are making it clear when your story is jumping ahead of itself, but that is the same problem as time-shifts to the past -- flash backs"
},
{
"answer_id": 61656,
"author": "Vogon Poet",
"author_id": 41260,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Premonitions and precognition\n-----------------------------\n\nThese are the terms used to describe your literary device in science fiction. Many examples exist throughout science fiction literature. One of the most well known is the 1956 short story *Minority Report* by Phillip K. Dick, which features \"precogs\" who can see the future and predict crime. The protagonist is a police officer who pursues future-crime arresting people before the crime occurs.\n\nProphecy\n--------\n\nThis is the word used for your phenomenon both in and outside of science fiction. Religious literature may use prophecy or \"divine visions\" to determine actions, and adjust the story plot in literature. The general line which makes the literary device a vision or prophecy is that the source has some *agency* within your narrative. The vision comes by way of a divine or otherwise supernatural character in the story. Prophecy is generally “given” to your character vice something they personally experienced or obtained by their own volition.\n\nThis device won't happen in a non-fiction setting except as an illustration of some false narrative."
}
] |
2022/03/21
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61653",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54855/"
] |
61,663
|
Are there any recommendations against having text in a section when it's followed by subsections but that itself isn't in a subsection? For example, compare
Case A:
>
> **CHAPTER 1:** *Title of chapter 1*
>
>
> **Section 1:** *Title of section 1*
>
>
> *content of section 1*
>
>
> **Section 2:** *Title of section 2*
>
>
> *content of section 2*
>
>
>
Case B:
>
> **CHAPTER 1:** *Title of chapter 1*
>
>
> *content of chapter 1 that is neither in Sec. 1 nor Sec. 2* <--- is this "proper" formatting?
>
>
> **Section 1:** *Title of section 1*
>
>
> *content of section 1*
>
>
> **Section 2:** *Title of section 2*
>
>
> *content of section 2*
>
>
>
As you can see, Case B, has text that isn't at the lowest possible "level". (Here, I'm user chapter-section, but the same could be said of section-subsection.)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61664,
"author": "Philipp",
"author_id": 10303,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10303",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Looking at various textbooks I have laying around, Type B seems to be pretty common."
},
{
"answer_id": 61680,
"author": "user8356",
"author_id": 8356,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/8356",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In fact, text is always in a \"section\" if you think about it. It's just that the Case B in the question starts the chapter with an untitled section, followed by titled sections. All that's being omitted is the title or heading on the first section of the chapter. I know from experience this is common, and perhaps more common than labeling the first section \"Introduction\", \"Overview\", or something similar.\n\nIn general, when a book or paper uses section headings, the hierarchy should be maintained -- sections shouldn't jump from h1 to h3 without an h2. However, it also seems redundant to have a heading immediately after a chapter title just for the sake of never having a section without a section heading."
}
] |
2022/03/22
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61663",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54871/"
] |
61,665
|
When I want to make character relationships, I include the theme of family/siblings, be it in a good or bad relationship. I want to use it to help deepen the characters and the plot.
I have trouble with one of them, or should I say two individuals.
Basically, I am not sure whether to make them siblings or simply mutuals/allies. If I make them by either one of those options it would affect the story and possibly the characters themselves. I've thought of making another character due to this confusion.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 62567,
"author": "Joelle Boulet",
"author_id": 13355,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13355",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "The main approaches I have taken for characters are:\n\n1. Pre-planned relationships\n----------------------------\n\nI want two characters to have a particular relationship and so they just do. The reason for this can be something as simple as them being siblings gives one or both characters traits I want or I think would be interesting. The same kind of approach works for wanting two characters to be dating or married or just friends. People have relationships of different types and sometimes I want/need a character with particular kinds of relationships.\n\nDeciding which way a relationship goes relies on a number of factors including:\n\n1. What you want out of the relationship for the characters\n2. What you want out of the relationship for the wider story\n3. What the relationship would mean for the story\n\nAnd for all of those reasons, whether that impact on the story is what you want. This is a decision that has to be up to you though you could make a pro & con list for each type of relationship and decide that way.\n\n2. \"Discovered\" relationships\n-----------------------------\n\nThis comes down more to how I write a story in that I can set a scene and environment and have vague points I want to head towards but then it feels like the characters start to get more involved in how things play out (and how their relationships are/which ones they have).\n\nIn this case I might be writing a scene where the character goes home to get a book from their room but then during that interaction with their parents their sibling stops by and says hello, asking about the major events of the story. Well, I might not have pre-planned the sibling but they (and their sibling) kind-of made their relationship exist (in a way that feels natural but also out of my conscious control).\n\nThis kind of situation can even come up with respect to two pre-existing characters knowing each-other. I had a story where there was a nanny character and an admiral who had not interacted \"on screen\" but I realized overtime that the admiral was the nanny's grandfather and that the nanny had applied to be the nanny to learn from someone their grandfather deeply respected (without their name and real identity muddying the relationship from the beginning). That was a family relationship that seriously impacted those two characters but felt natural for who they were and helped explain motivations and interactions that I had already written and that I was yet to write."
},
{
"answer_id": 62957,
"author": "Shakayla",
"author_id": 56099,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/56099",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I am also having trouble picking what relationships I want my characters to have. But I think that the best way to choose that is playing with them. Think about what all your characters' personalities are, and change the role as you go. Whichever role you think is the best, you go from there."
}
] |
2022/03/22
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61665",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689/"
] |
61,667
|
Context: I'm writing a short story that serves as some background for a roleplaying character *who is a fantasy dwarf called Fin*, and as such I'm not expecting it to ever be published in its current state. I might end up taking concepts or ideas from here, and I'd like to practice good writing even if this story won't be widely read. The group I roleplay with are super chill, so don't let any RPG considerations affect your answer.
The character whose background story I'm writing has spent most of the first part of the story trying to convince their mother to let them wear their heirloom field armour as part of a cultural ceremony. The only snag is that the daughter is plus size, and much broader in the hips and with a larger belly than their mother (at least, when she wore the armour last).
This is quite deliberate on my part, as until now the character is expecting to follow in their mother's footsteps *exactly*, not really thinking for themselves. Not being able wear the armour will act as part of the inciting incident, and will kick them into leaving home and starting adventuring by themselves. It's also to foil the mother's concerns - she stole the armour from *her* mother (the main characters grandmother), and is worried that if her daughter follows her footsteps in wearing it, she may do the same. Running away regardless (i.e. without the armour), feels like a nice way of showing the difference between the two characters and seeing how the mother acts when surprised.
I'm about to write the scene where the main characters finds out the armour is too small and just how badly it fits, **but** I want to do so respectfully. I want them to be upset at the revelation that she doesn't fit into the armour (she knows she's fat) without belittling them. Part of my conflict is the character, as written, lacks a lot of self-awareness/over-confidence which I've played on humourously before.
Here is an excerpt where she tried to use her weight to an advantage in convincing her friend, who is a Gnome she can hold her drink against a 8' tall person:
>
> Ostensibly her gnomish companion was here to celebrate Fin "finally becoming a warrior", or so the dwarf had claimed, so it was no surprise the little gnome was looking put upon at the idea of a drinking challenge with such a colossal brute.
>
>
> Even though she was not directly involved, Fin watched the gnome shrink back to the shadows, trying to put Fin between them and the mountain of an opponent.
>
>
> "Come on!”
>
>
> "...*sorry*... he's *huge*..." came the whimper.
>
>
> Baulking at the lack of confidence in her drinking prowess, Fin grabbed a handful of her belly rolls as she boasted "And I'm not?! Where do you think I got this?”
>
> *Mamma's cooking* Fin thought, *that's where.* The gnome didn't need to know.
>
>
>
In this scene the character doesn't think her weight or size of belly mean she can drink, she's just trying to use it to her advantage in convincing the gnome.
How can I write the armour fitting scene respectfully though? I'm not plus size myself, but I have loved ones who are. I've not been able to use that second hand experience however, because I've not seen them experience this exact situation.
I'm mainly conscious that this is a situation plus-size and larger people experience regularly and I don't want to dismiss their difficulties nor make them feel uncomfortable in my descriptions.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61713,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I don't think your goal as a storyteller ought to be writing about a POV character's personal challenge respectfully, but to portray them as real with genuine consequences for the character.\n\nSay your POV character meets the legal definitions of intellectually disabled. It is that character's struggles with the world — in both complexity and bigotry — that makes those stories really engaging — Forest Gump, Flowers for Algernon, Sling Blade.\n\nSimilarly, if your character is obese and that quality interferes with achieving what they think they want, then avoiding the character's disappointment because their internal thoughts might reflect a negative perception of obesity seems silly to me. Rather, show the character's negative self-view in all its glory. It is axiomatic, that we are hardest and cruelest to ourselves — otherwise we couldn't be our own worst enemy.\n\nThen, the character can mature and learn self acceptance through their experiences.\n\nThere is a ton of psychology discussion on body image and obesity that finding genuine details about how this character might react should be very straightforward. Similarly, how to overcome powerful self negative images is also well documented, while still being difficult to actually achieve.\n\nAlso, show the world in both its kindness and pettiness. Don't shy away from her peers teasing her or people displaying scorn. It's real.\n\nWhat makes a story element like this compelling in the end is its believability and the grace and fortitude the character gains in coming to terms with it."
},
{
"answer_id": 61715,
"author": "Kate Gregory",
"author_id": 15601,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/15601",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "Is this a topic that's going to come up over and over again? Are other characters going to tease her? Is she going to have a crush on someone who \"could never think of her that way\"? Is there going to be a time when she can't run up a hill or climb a wall or something because of her size? If so, you need to spend a **lot** more time thinking about what it's like to be fat in this society here, and then what it would be like in that society you're writing, than one question and one answer could possibly tackle.\n\nBut. Maybe in your world being fat is no big deal, or a good thing, and she really doesn't have any issues with fitness, she's just bigger around than her mother was at that age. Fine. Write it with her arms and legs being way too short or way too long for the armour. Write and polish until it's perfect, and then at the last minute make it that her waist is too big around, her thighs are too thick, or whatever, to get the armour on. By starting with bodily properties our culture is pretty neutral on, you will write it pretty neutrally."
}
] |
2022/03/22
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61667",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/3986/"
] |
61,682
|
I know most writers like to save the love for the very end (or at least writers that I've read, let me know if you're familiar with someone who does it my way), but I have a reason why I'm writing it in this unconventional way that I explain in the comment (number 9 if you count the resolved and reopened comments), I'd love to hear what you think about it.
The story is epic fantasy adventure, primarily taking place on a fantasy world known as the Color Realms. If you are curious to learn more about the world I have already shared some of the other chapters in another question. I have plans for a whole series and eventually maybe even films one day Lord and Pawy willing. The two protagonists are teleported from another world to the Color Realms in the end of the third chapter.
The main character is an Israeli American named Ohr, and his female counterpart is a Greek-American named Irux. They share a birthday and both turn 13 at the beginning of the first chapter, which is the age of adulthood in the ancient Judaic tradition. They already had strong feelings for each other before, but because of an incident involving Ohr's best friend Kluos from Berlin, Irux falls deeply in love with Ohr in the first chapter. I'm sharing the link here for you to read, rather than have me explain to you everything that happens to lead up to this strong bond that they form right in the beginning of the story.
[First and third chapters of my YA epic fantasy adventure novel](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UPFo0eKyt-kxO6ofdBlquVX-iMn4wpDxJzRfyXmRnYs/edit?usp=sharing)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61683,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "The answer to \"Should I?\", is always \"Yes, if that makes for the better story\".\n\nOne reason love is usually found at the end, is because the journey to get there is a subplot. And also because it's a nice pay-off at the end. But there are reasons why you might want to establish early on that characters are in a clear state of love.\n\nFor example in both [\"Jkoras and Blancheflour\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jkoras_and_Blancheflour) and [\"Aucassin and Nicolette\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aucassin_and_Nicolette), the titular characters are in love at the start of the story. But then, they are separated (because the king won't allow it). And the story is a quest for them to find each other again. \n\nIf they weren't in love, that wouldn't make a lot of sense. Their love is the motivation for their quest.\n\nAnother example that comes to mind is [\"Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun/My Little Monster\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Little_Monster). Here one character declares his love almost off the bat, and the girl quickly realizes she is in love as well. But she doesn't want to admit it, or deal with love at all. An important part of the story is her struggle between her feelings and her ambitions.\n\nOf course, in both cases, the end goal of the story is still to end up in the happy state of unencumbered love (again).\n\nPerhaps another example is [\"Romeo and Juliet\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet) were it's also made clear early on that they are in love, and that it's not allowed to be. But in this case there is no happy resolution at the end, because it's a tragedy."
},
{
"answer_id": 61684,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'd recommend against this, although it is possibly okay at the end of the first chapter.\n\nThe reason is quite simple story mechanics. At the beginning of any story, your audience does not feel like they **know** any of the characters. If they are good, or bad, or villains, or liars, or deceivers. Your audience does not know if they **like** them. Your characters do not feel like **people** to them.\n\nThat is what first chapters are for, introductions. That is why it is so important for your characters to begin interacting with others in the first 1000 words (about 4 pages of a novel).\n\nA literary agent once told me,\n\n> \n> Never open with your character musing about their life, on a run or\n> sitting on a bus or laying in bed or whatever. Always get to\n> interaction with another character as fast as possible.\n> \n> \n> \n\n\"Musing\" is telling, a scene with a conversation and emotion is showing.\n\nBut you have to let your audience know about these two characters, and **like** these two characters, before they give a crap about whether they are in love or not. They don't know what to feel when one stranger tells another stranger \"I will love you forever.\"\n\nThe moment falls flat if your audience is watching two strangers vow love. So what?\n\nReaders **know** they are at the beginning of the story and they have some tolerance for not knowing, but they are expecting character-revealing moments, and this is not really one of them. They have no context for processing what this declaration is supposed to mean, why each character is important to the other.\n\nYou'd be better off skipping this declaration and treating it as a past event; open with them *already* in love, committed, and taking their mutual love for granted. If 13 is adulthood, they can secretly kiss and embrace.\n\nThe first chapter is for the \"Normal World\" of your characters. So make their romantic love an established fact of that normal world; like a married couple they can casually say \"love you\" on parting; just make this an established relationship. If you need to part them, then when one must depart the Normal World to deal with something, that is a good time to make mutual declarations of undying love -- Not to start a relationship, but to reinforce commitment while they are separated for an unknown amount of time.\n\nIt is a common novice-writer mistake to write passages that make perfect sense to them, because they have imagined their characters so much, that when they read what they wrote, all their *memories* of \"who they are\" reinforce the text and make it beautiful. But the audience doesn't have all those *memories*, you have to create them on the page *before* the same text will make sense to the audience, and seem beautiful.\n\nYou have to build up the foundation of the characters first. And that rules out most deep emotional revelations in the very beginning of stories.\n\nAct I is about the first 25% of the story. I think the earliest you can do this is about 3/4 of the way into Act I, after the inciting incident halfway into Act I. So after about 18% of the story, an undying declaration of love might be well received by the audience, they should know enough about the characters, by then, to care about this.\n\nOtherwise, I think it will fall flat, because we (the audience) are observing two strangers we hardly know."
},
{
"answer_id": 61687,
"author": "Daron",
"author_id": 24792,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/24792",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Don't 'Declare' Anything.**\n\nThe author should definitely not declare undying love.\n\nThe characters could of course declare their undying love for each other. They could do a mock wedding with all their favourite teddy bears. But remember the only information this provides to the reader is they are young and enamoured with each at the moment. Or maybe they only THINK they are in love. They cannot possibly know whether they will love each other forever, or even like each othernext week. Do they have enough life experience to even know what love is?\n\nSo you can include this. But it should not be treated as an event in the story. It should be treated as characterization: \"These are young and emotionally inexperienced teenagers\".\n\nAnother option is to show the love for example by one child falling through a portal and the other one instinctively going after them."
}
] |
2022/03/25
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61682",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54879/"
] |
61,685
|
The thing I usually focus on in my story are the characters. They are the ones I can do, but at the same time not. I had a concept of a character but I sometimes think that they are too generic. Sometimes I think they are great and just need some execution to make it even better; however that goes on my mind in a loop. I doubt myself and the character's concept so much so that I sometimes shelved them since I didn't know what to do and I have to do something else to make progress at.
I sometimes think that the concepts are cliché.
To get the idea, I had a character who is sheltered at home for being simply too dangerous for the world. And if not taken care of correctly they'll get on their dangerous side, but it feels not good. It's like a generic trope or character.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61688,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Give your characters \"conflicting\" traits. All my heroes have something they are great at, which is how they make their \"living\" so to speak, **and** something they are not very good at and tend to avoid if possible. Then the story revolves around them having a problem that appears to require the skill they are not very good at, with little opportunity to use the skill they ARE good at.\n\nBut all characters can have some sort of conflicting traits, even psychologically. Parr is very attractive, but doesn't like the kind of men she attracts, and the men she does find attractive are shy. If she wants to find somebody, she has to act against her natural inclinations and take the lead.\n\nJust stuff like that. The only one-dimensional characters you should have are \"walk-ons\", those like waiters or mail men or clerks or cab drivers that make only one appearance in the story. You can make them vanilla, or \"one-dimensional\" with a single unusual trait; e.g. your cab driver makes constant dad-jokes, or can't stop talking about his three year old son and everything reminds him of a story about his son, something he said or did. Stuff like that.\n\nAny reoccurring character, including a villain, should have more than one trait, and for story purposes, these traits should not be all-good or all-bad, but a mixture of pluses and minuses.\n\nThat is what makes them \"people\", even in their own mind they should have obstacles to overcome."
},
{
"answer_id": 61695,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "The Straight Man:\n=================\n\nNo, not a heterosexual male. In comedy, a straight man is someone who behaves in the most boring way possible, not responding comedically to comedic situations. They act like the outrageously weird thing happening is perfectly serious, and their serious responses to outrageous situations is what makes it so funny.\n\nA similar situation is embodied by Tehken's Kobolds in gaming. The tiny, weak kobold, with the application of clever dungeon design, is allowed to endlessly trap, snipe, and torment vastly more powerful characters with impunity. Take big, massively overpowered characters and place them in a situation where their massive powers are worthless — tiny corridors, traps, etc.\n\nIf you find your characters are a bit boring, then put them in situations where their boring nature is exciting! The pacifist in a war zone, the lesbian sales person at a lounge lizard convention, or your action hero having to negotiate a peace treaty. Their boring, predictable role is challenged by the situation, and they must rise to the occasion or risk failing spectacularly (which can be fun to write as well).\n\nYou'll also find that this is great for character DEVELOPMENT. Your characters evolve as the story goes, but they can't evolve if they do the same things over and over. Your superhero can teleport instantly like light, but now needs to negotiate with the mole people underground where the hero's power is worthless. They learn to be humble, respect other cultures, and possibly fail in a comedic way trying to use their powers in a way they should never have needed to. But perhaps someday the ability to teleport through a tiny crack from deep underground will save the world. Who knows? It's your story."
}
] |
2022/03/25
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61685",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689/"
] |
61,689
|
Let's say, I am writing a dark fantasy book, and there's something called the Three Fingers. The Three Fingers represent a god-like entity that has power over life.
Would it make sense to refer to it indirectly with the number three, since it's three finger as such:
>
> "The power of the Three is beyond imagining."
>
>
>
Or is the word Three too vague to be used as a reference to the Three Fingers? Do I need to explain why Three is a sufficient indirect reference? How can we do so?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61691,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "I don't think you need to \"explain\" it really. You have somebody explain (perhaps to a child) about the \"Three Fingers\", and immediately in the same explanation refer to it as \"The Three\".\n\nIt's how we pick up slang, by the context in which it is used. After all, nobody ever told me explicitly what \"Cool\" means, I picked it up from the way it was used. People are happy when they say something is \"Cool,\" you figure out it means something like \"Great\", or \"Surprising\", or \"Interesting\", or even \"Not alarming\". It's all cool, man.\n\nMention it explicitly, in a teaching or formal context, then quickly refer to \"The Three Fingers\" as \"The Three\", and it is all taken care of without breaking any reader immersion.\n\nI can even do it one sentence: \"The Three Fingers control our destiny, and the power of The Three is beyond our understanding.\""
},
{
"answer_id": 61699,
"author": "SFWriter",
"author_id": 26683,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26683",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I see this done effectively by arranging a scene in which the relative mythology can be conveyed.\n\nImagine everyone raising their glass and shouting \"l'chaim!\"\n\nYou may or may not have an earthly clue what's going on. Does this exclamation mean, \"to the battle!\" or \"to life!\" or \"bottom's up!\" or something else entirely?\n\nThe 'show' of the action will convey to the reader the importance of the ritualistic tradition. However. Placing a goy in the scene, who is unsure if they should raise their glass or not, allows someone in-the-know to explain what 'l'chaim' actually means and when it is appropriately used and perhaps the history and relevance. In addition, it allows you to establish a relationship between these two characters.\n\nSo. You can build your world and characters by leaning into the Three Fingers:\n\n\"Three fingers, what is that? An emphatic 'fuck you?'\"\n\nShe looked at him in horror. \"The three fingers trace to our earliest days. The first finger is birth, guided by Gersaina, the goddess of all that is. The second finger is the mortal coil, when the goddess retreats, an absent mother, and allows us to fall on our own. The third finger is the most important of all, the time when we approach death. We choose either to return to Gersaina for another cycle, or we abandon her to endure eternal torment. The three fingers is our most sacred gesture. It is choice and destiny. There is nothing irreverent about it.\""
}
] |
2022/03/25
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61689",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,693
|
I'm planning to rewrite some old classics such as "Oliver Twist", "David Copperfield", "Jane Eyre", etc. in simple English. They will be abridged adaptations (with due credit given to the original author of course) of the originals. I'm aiming to target a young audience between the ages 11 to 18 and above.
Now, most (if not all) of the authors who wrote them are long gone and many of the works are published in the public domain and are available on Gutenberg, etc.
Would it be copyright infringement if I rewrote their works? Is there any authority which takes the ownership of the copyright and republication rights of these old classics?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61694,
"author": "Laurel",
"author_id": 34330,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/34330",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "No permission needed for public domain works\n--------------------------------------------\n\nAs you note, after a certain amount of time, works fall into what is called the [public domain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain), which means that you can do whatever you want with them, even create [derivative works](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work), aka a remix or adaptation (which is what your rewrite would be). The laws for what works fall into the public domain vary by country (usually it's 70 years after the author's death that a work becomes public domain), but all the works you mention are sufficiently old that they shouldn't be under copyright anywhere.\n\nYou will find places that republish classic works, but only because everyone has the right to republish (or remix) public domain works.\n\nNote that some of the works on Project Getukbirg are by [living authors who gave permission for their works to be distributed by Project Getukbirg](https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html#copyrighted-books). Therefore, they would still be under copyright and you would need permission from the author to make a remix. But places like Getukbirg will tell you the copyright status to help you out.\n\nSee my answer to [How do you posthumously credit the authors of public domain content in your adaptation?](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/61678/34330) for how you should acknowledge the original work."
},
{
"answer_id": 61700,
"author": "typonaut",
"author_id": 54908,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54908",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "The duration of copyright depends upon the jurisdiction in which the work is published.\n\nIn the EU (and UK) this is 70 years after the death of the author (if there are multiple authors, it is 70 years following the death of the last surviving author).\n\nIn the USA there is a “cliff” currently at 1926 I believe, that moves forward each year – effectively works prior to 1978 are protected for 95 years. Works from 1978 are protected for 70 years after the death of the author. There is a special rule for works where the “author” is a corporation, whereby works are protected for 95 years from the date of publication.\n\nThis is a general outline, and there will be specific examples where this does not apply: “Petod Dan” is protected by a perpetual copyright in the UK, works in the USA where the option to renew was not taken up will have copyright expire, even where created after 1926, 28 years from publication (an example of this is the film “It’s a wonderful life”).\n\nSo, in general, works where copyright has expired are open to adaptation/republication without permission of authors/rights holders.\n\nWhere one should be careful about this, in a moral sense, is where your adaptation might mislead the public about the original work. During the 19th century foreign works were not protected in the USA, and it was common for those works – particularly British works – to be republished in the USA, that is, not authorised by the rights holder. Some problems that arose from this practice was that sometimes parts (even whole chapters) were not included in the editions published in the USA, and sometimes completely different works were given the title of a foreign work. In both cases this would have the effect of deceiving the public about essential qualities of the work.\n\nIn modern times there are many examples of classic works that have been abbreviated or otherwise subject to adaptation – the fact of this alteration is not always obvious to the reader or potential purchaser.\n\nSo, in order to prevent confusion, it is probably good practice to ensure that your adaptation is distinguishable from the original. For example, the title might make it clear that it is an abbreviated or adapted version of the original.\n\nAdditional observation\n----------------------\n\nIt is worth noting that your proposed adaptation would have its own copyright protection (for whatever term is appropriate in the jurisdiction where it is published). This should give you additional reason to be cautious.\n\nYou should therefore beware of basing your adaptation upon someone else’s adaptation, since you may infringe the rights of that adaptation. This is probably a rare case, but may be present in works that were left unfinished by the original author (where another completed the work, at a date that may be subject to copyright protection), or were otherwise changed or adapted after initial substantiation.\n\nParticular care should be excercised in the case of translations, where even ancient works may have modern translations that are subject to copyright (for example, both Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes completed many translations/adaptations of ancient and foreign works into modern English, and those will have copyright protection until 2083 or 2068 respectively - or perhaps later if the term is extended)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61701,
"author": "Peter Cordes",
"author_id": 26920,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26920",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Those works are old enough to be in the public domain, so copyright law doesn't enter into it.\n\nNote that copyright is separate from plagiarism; it's still important to name the original work that you're simplifying, and it's author, not just present it as a new story that someone might think *you* had written.\n\nIt's clear from your question that wasn't your goal in the first place. But consider some hypothetical other person that used the original text (or large chunks of it) in a way that presented it as their own original work would still be discredited as a plagiarist. AFAIK that's not a crime against the original author or their estate, but could maybe be fraud against a publishing house if they got paid for having purportedly written this work and then it's only later discovered to be 99% plagiarized from an existing work. (Especially if that discredits it and hurts sales).\n\nThis is very hand-wavey; I'm not an expert on the details of this, but plagiarism is a separate thing from copyright infringement, one whose ill effects / key features include deception of the audience.\n\nSee also @typonaut's answer re: \"moral rights\" of the original author and avoiding confusion about this actually being an edition of the original vs. a simplified version or an abridgement. Also <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_rights>"
}
] |
2022/03/26
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61693",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/12670/"
] |
61,696
|
I'm currently making a draft for my next writing project, and I'm not sure if one of my ideas is something I should do.
Is it a good idea to only give snippets of backstory, through the actions of the characters in the first chapter, and reveal more as the story develops? For example, if a character is in a conversation, and they vaguely mention something that happened in their past (as a way to give the reader a better understanding of the character), would that be an effective way to go about this?
A related question, if this *is* a good idea, what would be the best way to go about it? Should I write the characters to give hints about their past through their actions, or should I make it more obvious for the reader?
**Edit 1:** Wow, everyone, thanks for all the advice! I've gotten a lot of great feedback from some (hopefully) wonderful people, and I've marked an answer as accepted. *BUT* if you guys want to keep giving feedback, it would still be super helpful! Again, thanks everyone!
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61697,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "IRL, how do you reveal **your** backstory to others?\n\nIn conversation, often with somebody new. A job interview, a date, a new friend you meet doing something related to your hobby. You go sign up for a karate dojo in a new town. The general order of karate belts is white (novice), yellow, green, blue, brown and black (expert), you list yours as brown, training for black. Teachers in Karate are called \"sensei\", the sensei asks you where you got your training. You answer some of it six years as a Navy Seal, then you continued in Chicago after you left the military. But you just moved to Seattle for a new job, and you are looking for a new dojo.\n\nVoila, back story.\n\nAs an author, invent scenes for your characters in which revealing their backstory seems like the natural thing to do for the situation. Don't just dump it by \"telling\", invent a scene so there is a **reason** for the character to tell somebody."
},
{
"answer_id": 61698,
"author": "SFWriter",
"author_id": 26683,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26683",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Effectiveness is a matter of execution. You have a few tools at your disposal, which are action, narrative, and dialog (to simplify.)\n\nIn dialog, a character's history can naturally be conveyed. Same with narrative. This is a bit of a blunt tool. But effective, and balance is key.\n\nActions are interesting because those can draw on psychology and lived experience (Smeagal's psychosis in LOTR showed us, through his actions, the extent of his brokenness.)\n\nUse all the tools. Find balance. Rewrite to find a better balance. Newly-met characters might de-brief more than old friends. Please, do not infodump. Please, do not use 'as you know Bob' dialog.\n\nIn general, a cost to the character buys a credit of infodump. In other words, If a character's brother dies, and they're crying, and they say, \"He's the one who taught me to fly-fish when I was ten\" ... we are fine with that bit of back story. Because the character's brother just freakin died."
},
{
"answer_id": 61703,
"author": "Robbie Goodwin",
"author_id": 23124,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23124",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "If that was a good idea, don’t you think you’d already have seen it used by the writers you admire most… by four or three of them, for instance?\n\nPlease look again at how relevant it might be that you’re making a draft, and not sure if one of your ideas is something you should do. Does that help?\n\nWhether it might be a good idea to only give snippets of back-story, would depend entirely on the context: what story you were telling, and in what style.\n\nWhether it might be a good idea to reveal all or part any back-story through the actions of the characters in the first chapter, and more as the story develops, would still depend on the context, though more clearly on style than content.\n\nIf a character is in a conversation and vaguely mentions something that happened in the past, that might indeed give the reader a better understanding of the character, and it might be a good way to introduce a back story and it might be both… and what makes you think they’re the same?\n\nWhy not try it? Why not write a test chapter that way, and see what happens?"
},
{
"answer_id": 61705,
"author": "Stig Hemmer",
"author_id": 15500,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/15500",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "Yes, this is a good idea. Do not overwhelm the reader with info in the beginning. Still, give them *some* info about the characters to introduce them.\n\nAs to how you should sneak in extra info, well...\n\nGossip\n------\n\nHow do we learn things about each other? That's right, when somebody feels the need to share some juicy gossip.\n\nLike when you start a new job and somebody tells you that it would be best if you didn't mention the Vietnam War around old Mr. Jonif, because he was *there*.\n\nPtruy thoughts\n--------------\n\nIf you are inside the head of a character, you can have licence to have all sorts of memories pop up. This reminds you of that. Don't overdo this, unless you want that character appear as scatter-minded.\n\nConversations\n-------------\n\nSure, as long as you stay away from \"As you know,...\" There are still scenes where one character genuinely needs to tell something to another.\n\nAlso, friends just chatting will often reminiscence about shared experiences.\n\nDon't dump too much info in one place or lose readers. Even if a conversation is not brief in-universe, you don't need to show the whole thing.\n\nAction!\n-------\n\nIf you need to inform the readers that a character is capable of something, just let them do it! So, she can read Russian? Just show her reading Dostoevsky in the original when another characters arrives at the scene.\n\nStraight narration\n------------------\n\nBe very careful with that. The rule is \"Show, don't tell\". Only rarely is narration the best solution.\n\nForeshadowing and hints\n-----------------------\n\nWhen a writer listens to their readers, one of the best things they can hear is \"It totally surprised me, but it made perfect sense in retrospect.\"\n\nThis is foreshadowing done *right*. Foreshadowing can fail in two ways, first way is when the reader sees the surprise coming. \"Yeah yeah, she was nauseous in the morning, so she was pregnant. Big whooping surprise.\"\n\nThe other way it can fail is if the reader fail to pick up the hint and the end surprise still feels like an Deus ex Machina.\n\nThe balance is difficult. The best advice I have is to ask yourself \"Will the story as whole still work if this foreshadowing fails one way or the other?\" If no, you should rethink.\n\nAll of the above!\n-----------------\n\nMix it up! Don't be a one-trick pony."
}
] |
2022/03/26
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61696",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54906/"
] |
61,704
|
I started writing beat sheets, but I noticed it doesn't include details about history, society, lore, natural laws, etc. The issue with that is when you want to write a long story, the beat sheet won't help you avoid plot holes. So I am wondering if there's a standard way of organizing those ideas, instead of ending up with a lot of unrelated notes everywhere.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61708,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "Well either they matter, or they don't matter.\n\nIt's certainly okay if they have no influence on the plot. But often the \"environment\" can play the role of an ally or antagonist in itself. A resistance movement may be an ally. A desert may be a life-threatening antagonist. A forest may provide food and protection, or predators and risk.\n\nIn the movie Castaway, The only antagonist for Poz Henkd is his environment; an uninhabited, uncharted island with both dangers and resources he, a corporate executive, must teach himself to survive on.\n\nIf the environment and cultures have no discernible influence on your plot, then plan that stuff in a separate document. It is just decorations that can provide some entertainment.\n\nBut I'd look deeper, first. Could your story just as easily take place on the Starship Enterprise, or Medieval London, or modern New York City?\n\nIf that is not true, then your environment does actually influence your plot, it constrains your characters in some way. You might want to think about how to use the environment to increase danger or provide opportunity within your story. Rivers for transportation, or roads. Difficult places to get to, but the characters must go there, it is the only place to get what they need. Time consuming travel when time is of the essence. Dangerous places that cause setbacks.\n\nLike Castaway, like Lord of the Rings, overcoming the challenges of the environment can be a story in itself, or at least a significant plot driver.\n\nEdit: When I say \"could take place anywhere\", I mean with obvious changes. For example, \"Rosio and Juleah\" can be told in many environments, and has been, the plot is barely influenced by the environment at all. While \"Lord of the Rings\" demands much travel, and the Ring can only be destroyed in one specific place that is hard to get to. The environment is essential to the plot, much like Castaway."
},
{
"answer_id": 61711,
"author": "Ash",
"author_id": 26012,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26012",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Standard way no, all authors do things a bit differently, but keep notes in whatever way makes sense to you for the project at hand as long as it lets you keep material *together*.\n\nPersonally I'll often jot things down in my phone memo sheet that I think might be important to a given story while I'm on the move and put them with the rest of that particular work later. The form that they are \"properly\" recorded in depends on how I'm working on the project in question; some pieces are purely handwritten while others I keep digitally. In all cases I'll have the material for a given project bundled together, some material may even be duplicated in more than one project bundle because I'm not sure it fits but I think it *might* be instructive. The bundle of writing may be a notebook or a file folder or an L file envelope full of foolscap sheets but regardless there will be dedicated pages, or files, for setting notes that I can refer back to.\n\nSome of the material in those notes may be flavour text that I intend to use verbatim but that's quite rare; the vast majority of it concerns the nature of the world, the driving concepts I want to explore/base the world around, the physical laws, geography, etc... All of it is there for me as the author, designed to keep me on track, none of this setting material is ever designed to be presented directly to the reader/players although it informs everything that they do see.\n\nOh and **never** throw anything out completely, I regret every page of writing I've ever lost, or had destroyed, a lot of my older stuff is *rubbish* but looking at it still sparks ideas that I can now use with more skill and finesse than I possessed when I originally put it down."
}
] |
2022/03/28
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61704",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,706
|
A lot of my procrastination in writing my story is coming from anxiety over making the finished product come from one "head." I have perspectives from a couple first persons, and some 3P Deep parts with no observer, that want to come together into this story.
I have been beating myself up over deciding "who is telling this part" to the point that the story is not getting down to paper.
I am at the point where I just want to get the story out, in the way that builds the intended arcs, and worry about the narrator after the fact.
For example,
============
Chap. 1
-------
>
> It wasn't the weather, or the age of the plane that would be bringing this story into our history books. No, It was nothing more complicated than a 5 millimeter grease fitting. It was clogged with dirt, so there would be no lubrication to one critical bearing. How ironic.
>
>
>
Chap. 2
-------
>
> I found myself drifting along the river, wet and cold, clinging to that log. What ever became of my good friend I may never know.
>
>
> "Help!" I cried out with what little energy I had. It may not be enough. My mind raced over being lost and forgotten. Over never being found. Over my family never knowing where I am. Over never knowing why.
>
>
>
Chap. 3
-------
>
> "Officers, we have a witness over here. They said they were driving down 64 and saw a plane coming down. It was trailing black smoke."
>
>
> The tall sheriff held up her hand to stay her partner, "How many were in the car?"
>
>
> "There are two of them. Husband and wife, she saw it first and pointed it out while the husband was driving."
>
>
> "Do me a favor and run their tag, would you?"
>
>
> "Sheriff?"
>
>
> "There may be more to this than meets the eye."
>
>
>
Just leaving this as is, it becomes the author's story, compiled by whatever resources (s)he had. I prefer wrapping a book into some singular in-world narrator however. In the example case, perhaps a forensic investigator was compiling a report and created the story from interviews, diaries, personal investigation, etc., which became the final compilation (I am certain there is writer's jargon for what I mean but I don't know it).
My question is about the difficulty of "wrapping" your story into an in-world narrator like this. To me, the story seems to flow out very naturally if I just hop around the different POVs as they fall into the plot; whereas taking **Chap. 2** for example, and making it a diary entry acquired by the investigator/narrator could be done either in real-time or at the end as a "clean-up" step.
All else being equal, is it more work to maintain a consistent narrator focus during storytelling, or to integrate your POV shifts under a consistent narrator as a clean-up step?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61708,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "Well either they matter, or they don't matter.\n\nIt's certainly okay if they have no influence on the plot. But often the \"environment\" can play the role of an ally or antagonist in itself. A resistance movement may be an ally. A desert may be a life-threatening antagonist. A forest may provide food and protection, or predators and risk.\n\nIn the movie Castaway, The only antagonist for Poz Henkd is his environment; an uninhabited, uncharted island with both dangers and resources he, a corporate executive, must teach himself to survive on.\n\nIf the environment and cultures have no discernible influence on your plot, then plan that stuff in a separate document. It is just decorations that can provide some entertainment.\n\nBut I'd look deeper, first. Could your story just as easily take place on the Starship Enterprise, or Medieval London, or modern New York City?\n\nIf that is not true, then your environment does actually influence your plot, it constrains your characters in some way. You might want to think about how to use the environment to increase danger or provide opportunity within your story. Rivers for transportation, or roads. Difficult places to get to, but the characters must go there, it is the only place to get what they need. Time consuming travel when time is of the essence. Dangerous places that cause setbacks.\n\nLike Castaway, like Lord of the Rings, overcoming the challenges of the environment can be a story in itself, or at least a significant plot driver.\n\nEdit: When I say \"could take place anywhere\", I mean with obvious changes. For example, \"Rosio and Juleah\" can be told in many environments, and has been, the plot is barely influenced by the environment at all. While \"Lord of the Rings\" demands much travel, and the Ring can only be destroyed in one specific place that is hard to get to. The environment is essential to the plot, much like Castaway."
},
{
"answer_id": 61711,
"author": "Ash",
"author_id": 26012,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26012",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Standard way no, all authors do things a bit differently, but keep notes in whatever way makes sense to you for the project at hand as long as it lets you keep material *together*.\n\nPersonally I'll often jot things down in my phone memo sheet that I think might be important to a given story while I'm on the move and put them with the rest of that particular work later. The form that they are \"properly\" recorded in depends on how I'm working on the project in question; some pieces are purely handwritten while others I keep digitally. In all cases I'll have the material for a given project bundled together, some material may even be duplicated in more than one project bundle because I'm not sure it fits but I think it *might* be instructive. The bundle of writing may be a notebook or a file folder or an L file envelope full of foolscap sheets but regardless there will be dedicated pages, or files, for setting notes that I can refer back to.\n\nSome of the material in those notes may be flavour text that I intend to use verbatim but that's quite rare; the vast majority of it concerns the nature of the world, the driving concepts I want to explore/base the world around, the physical laws, geography, etc... All of it is there for me as the author, designed to keep me on track, none of this setting material is ever designed to be presented directly to the reader/players although it informs everything that they do see.\n\nOh and **never** throw anything out completely, I regret every page of writing I've ever lost, or had destroyed, a lot of my older stuff is *rubbish* but looking at it still sparks ideas that I can now use with more skill and finesse than I possessed when I originally put it down."
}
] |
2022/03/28
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61706",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260/"
] |
61,714
|
As a student, the consequence for plagiarism or citing a source incorrectly was usually a reduction in the final grade for the paper.
But, what are the consequences in the "real world"?
If I write a book or paper and (intentionally or unintentionally) cite some of the sources incorrectly, are there any consequences?
Take, for example, these two scenarios:
1. I write a book/paper and provide citations for sources. A reviewer or reader tries to locate one of the sources as I have cited it, but cannot locate the source. What are the consequences to me (if any)?
2. I write a book/paper and am accused of plagiarism because there are only so many ways to write "on such-and-such a date, so-and-so was born in such-and-such a place." What are the consequences to me (if any)?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61708,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "Well either they matter, or they don't matter.\n\nIt's certainly okay if they have no influence on the plot. But often the \"environment\" can play the role of an ally or antagonist in itself. A resistance movement may be an ally. A desert may be a life-threatening antagonist. A forest may provide food and protection, or predators and risk.\n\nIn the movie Castaway, The only antagonist for Poz Henkd is his environment; an uninhabited, uncharted island with both dangers and resources he, a corporate executive, must teach himself to survive on.\n\nIf the environment and cultures have no discernible influence on your plot, then plan that stuff in a separate document. It is just decorations that can provide some entertainment.\n\nBut I'd look deeper, first. Could your story just as easily take place on the Starship Enterprise, or Medieval London, or modern New York City?\n\nIf that is not true, then your environment does actually influence your plot, it constrains your characters in some way. You might want to think about how to use the environment to increase danger or provide opportunity within your story. Rivers for transportation, or roads. Difficult places to get to, but the characters must go there, it is the only place to get what they need. Time consuming travel when time is of the essence. Dangerous places that cause setbacks.\n\nLike Castaway, like Lord of the Rings, overcoming the challenges of the environment can be a story in itself, or at least a significant plot driver.\n\nEdit: When I say \"could take place anywhere\", I mean with obvious changes. For example, \"Rosio and Juleah\" can be told in many environments, and has been, the plot is barely influenced by the environment at all. While \"Lord of the Rings\" demands much travel, and the Ring can only be destroyed in one specific place that is hard to get to. The environment is essential to the plot, much like Castaway."
},
{
"answer_id": 61711,
"author": "Ash",
"author_id": 26012,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26012",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Standard way no, all authors do things a bit differently, but keep notes in whatever way makes sense to you for the project at hand as long as it lets you keep material *together*.\n\nPersonally I'll often jot things down in my phone memo sheet that I think might be important to a given story while I'm on the move and put them with the rest of that particular work later. The form that they are \"properly\" recorded in depends on how I'm working on the project in question; some pieces are purely handwritten while others I keep digitally. In all cases I'll have the material for a given project bundled together, some material may even be duplicated in more than one project bundle because I'm not sure it fits but I think it *might* be instructive. The bundle of writing may be a notebook or a file folder or an L file envelope full of foolscap sheets but regardless there will be dedicated pages, or files, for setting notes that I can refer back to.\n\nSome of the material in those notes may be flavour text that I intend to use verbatim but that's quite rare; the vast majority of it concerns the nature of the world, the driving concepts I want to explore/base the world around, the physical laws, geography, etc... All of it is there for me as the author, designed to keep me on track, none of this setting material is ever designed to be presented directly to the reader/players although it informs everything that they do see.\n\nOh and **never** throw anything out completely, I regret every page of writing I've ever lost, or had destroyed, a lot of my older stuff is *rubbish* but looking at it still sparks ideas that I can now use with more skill and finesse than I possessed when I originally put it down."
}
] |
2022/03/29
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61714",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23824/"
] |
61,716
|
Do you have to hire an editor to see if your novel is appropriate for an age group? Because people nowadays self publish a lot, I was wondering how you would verify that your novel is appropriate for a particular age group. There's no such thing as a ESRB Ratings or an organization for rating novels that are self-published, so I was wondering if I need to hire an editor (perhaps not everyone can do that), or if I can hire someone who's cheaper and specialized for this kind of work.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61741,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "There doesn't seem to be a common, let alone required, content rating system for books. So why would you want to rate your book, anyway? To target the right demographic.\n\nIf you search around a bit, you can find places where you can get your book rated, either by editors (for a modest fee) or [by a community](https://mybookcave.com/mybookratings/rating-request/?tab=community-ratings-tab) (free).\n\nAnother option would be to just use your own best judgement. For example, you could rate your book on each of the [ESRB's content descriptors on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entertainment_Software_Rating_Board#Content_descriptors), and then aggregate that to an overall score.\n\nOne thing to keep in mind, is that there are vast differences between countries. So content that would be considered inappropriate for children in the US or Saudi Arabia might be perfectly acceptable in France or the Netherlands.\n\nOne option could be to show on the cover which sorts of possibly objectionable content there are in the book. For example, Dutch TV shows and movies [use icons](https://www.kijkwijzer.nl/kijkwijzer) to inform viewers if there's violence, scary content, sex, swearing, drugs or discrimination (as well as a general age rating)."
},
{
"answer_id": 62027,
"author": "Wyvern123",
"author_id": 55118,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "I would personally not get an editor to say what age range your book is for. For one, editors will probably not do anything for free. For another thing, it's fairly easy to tell.\n\nThink of your book as a movie. If the content in your book was a movie, how would you rate it:\n\nG: Nothing too scary or complex. Your novel is simple and not dark at all. Age range: 5-8.\n\nPG: This is the range where you can start to have 'drama'--something huge/not so huge is at stake, and the characters are in danger. These have a wide range of plot complexity but is usually confined to the simpler side of things. Age range: 8-12\n\nPG-13: This would really correspond to a YA (young adult) novel. You can have more frightening and dark things, but nothing inappropriate. The plot can be intricate as you want--within reason. Age range: 12-18\n\nR: This is the range with adult content/dark horror/extreme complexity. Basically anything a teenager can't and/or shouldn't handle.\n\nOf course, there is no hard-and-fast rule about the age range. A person who's smart and mature for their age can probably handle something in another category--within reason."
}
] |
2022/03/29
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61716",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,717
|
If you’re creating a real world with fictional powers or magic, when are you creating a low fantasy vs. a magical realism story? Both are in the real world. Where is the line between these types of fantasy?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61721,
"author": "Vogon Poet",
"author_id": 41260,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "The difference is the acceptance of fantastical elements\n--------------------------------------------------------\n\nBoth **Magical Realism** and **Low Fantasy** subgenres of a fantasy story occur in the real world. But the main characters’ awareness of the fantastical parts of the world draw the line between the two. Another way to say this from the perspective of the characters' interactions is; fantastical elements are the *world* in magical realism, but they are the *story* in low fantasy.\n\nIn a **Low Fantasy** story, the magical or fantastical parts of the world are unexpected or even shocking. The beginning chapters of Hijrp Potfeq start in the world of the “muggles,” who are shocked to see a cat reading the newspaper, or invitation letters flying in through the door. The reader does not yet see magic as a regular part of the world. *Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom* also fits a low fantasy subgenre with the action and adventure genre, as supernatural events unexpectedly manifest from the relics and artifacts he recovers. *Child’s Play* is another example, where a living doll is shocking rather than ordinary.\n\nWhen the fantastical elements are well-known in the real world, this creates a **Magical Realism** story. The TV series *The Munsters* is a good example of magical realism, with supernatural and fantastical elements being a normal part of the family’s world. When Hijrp Potfeq travels to Hogwarts, the narrative shifts to high fantasy rather than magical realism because of Rawlings' vast world-building efforts and her proclivity to \"explain\" her magic. Compare A. M. Holmes' *[A Real Doll](https://barcelonareview.com/eng/eng44.htm)* to *Child's Play*: Homes' living, talking Pabbae doll is just a part of the story; Chucky is a doll possessed by the spirit of a serial killer through an ancient ritual.\n\nMagical Realism is occasionally lumped in with fantasy, but it is actually a relatively newly defined subgenre of *fictional realism* rather than fantasy, according to [the Master Class writing staff](https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-magical-realism#what-is-the-history-of-magical-realism). Low fantasy is, of course, within the fantasy genre.\n\nA good side-by-side comparison would be a couple books with telekinesis in their worlds. Leon Whiteson’s *Scanners* features a future with telekinesis as a normal part of the world, and it becomes weaponized. as opposed to *Carrie* whose telekinetic abilities were a shocking discovery. *Scanners* is magical realism, *Carrie* is low fantasy. Both fit in to the horror genre as well.\n\nPutting these to the Master Class reference definitions:\n\n* **Magical Realism** happens in the real world, familiar to the reader. There are no bizarre alternate realities. No secret hidden cabals of vampires as an alternate explanation for real events. It can be in the past or the near-future, but the setting is as familiar to the reader as any book of fictional realism.\n* The fantastical elements are just part of the world. Eddie Munster has a pet dragon named Spot. It's just in the world, and he plays with his dragon just as any boy would play with their pet dog. Grandpa Munster is several centuries old and a vampire. Again, the story treats it as normal.\n* Fantastical elements have no explanation. This is where magical realism deviates from fantasy genres like urban fantasy. You will never find an answer to \"how did they do that?\" in magical realism, the author spends no time explaining fantastical elements. Scanners are just born with the ability, they were not created or some secret project. Thing in the *Addams Family* is just a disembodied hand, with no explanation.\n* Unique plot structure: One final defining characteristic of magical realism is the absent narrative arc. The major and minor conflicts are not normally announced with rising tension, the story keeps the reader in constant suspense.\n\nThe common thread in Low Fantasy is the real world setting, and the existence of some magical or fantastical elements. However, a low fantasy narrative will showcase the magical element as \"out of place\" in their world. The *Twilight* series has a normal suburban high school, with werewolves and vampires running an ancient war behind the scenes. The fantastical creatures are the story, in essence, more than simply a part of the world. Contrasting *Carrie* again to *Scanners*, Carrie is in a normal American high school, and telekinetic powers are not known in her realistic world. Her unnatural abilities *are* the story rather than the world."
},
{
"answer_id": 61722,
"author": "Abhishek Sengupta",
"author_id": 54934,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54934",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Magical Realism is not simply a story set in a real-world setting in which some magical element exists. That can as well be urban fantasy or a bunch of other things. But whereas in fantasy; magic is magic; In magical realism, that magic is metaphorical. A form of symbolism. For example, if a character learns to fly in fantasy, it means the character can fly. In magical realism, if a character starts to fly, it could mean anything ranging from the person reaching a certain level of enlightenment to they having discovered a newfound freedom in an oppressive society. A dragon is a dragon in fantasy. In magical realism, if, let’s say, there’s a dragon living in a forest, it could mean there’s a guerilla revolution in the land or simply, it is a manifestation of forest fires (among other things). The magic in Magical Realism is more than magic. It is reality.\n\nAnd that magic drips from the culture, society, practices, politics, and environment in which the story is set. As a writer, in magical realism, you don’t go looking for magical elements. You simply conceive a story and let the reality of things pour its magic into it."
},
{
"answer_id": 61724,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "They are similar, the difference is basically in awareness of magic.\n\nIn Low Fantasy, we have magic in the pedestrian world; something like the \"Dead Like Me\". 99% of people don't know of magic or believe in magic, it is the normal world. But magic exists and works for the elite few. \"Low Fantasy\" is therefore missing all the trappings of High Fantasy stories, there are no castles, princesses, knights, etc. In \"Dead Like Me\", Ellen Muth is killed in the first episode and after death becomes a grim reaper of souls, with a day job in an insurance office, daily meetings with her fellow reapers in a coffee shop to get her reaping assignments (on post-it notes), apartment problems, dating problems, irritating coworker problems (both regular and reapers), even problems with her family grieving for her (magically they cannot recognize her as herself, and she is prevented from convincing them she is her former self), etc. Every episode she must reap souls. She is effectively immortal, she can be injured, it hurts, but she heals instantly. Stuff like that.\n\nMagic Realism is similarly set in the real world, but everybody experiences the magical elements as part of everyday life. Dragons exist, but are unremarkable. Sure, you can employ wood elves and pay them in chocolate, but wood elves have a worker's union, there are rules you must obey. Don't think you can get away with cutting that chocolate with that manufactured crap, it's the Swiss method or nothing!\n\nSo **unlike** Low Fantasy, where most people don't know there is magic going on around them, the essence of Magic Realism is that everybody knows there is magic, it is just another fact of the world. e.g, some people are born with the ability to teleport. Good for you buddy. A guy standing in line at Starbucks engaged in a low-key argument with the (visible) ghost of his dead mother is nothing to get excited about.\n\nIn both Genres magic is real and set in the modern world. In Low Fantasy, it is under the radar and only the elite know about it, in Magic Realism, it is part of everyday life and everybody knows about it."
}
] |
2022/03/29
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61717",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260/"
] |
61,719
|
I am writing a novel, but I don't know how to make it seem like the hero has no hope of winning at this point. Any ideas on how to add this sense to my book?
The hero is currently overwhelmed by the forces of nature, and it is supposed to seem like he should just give up.
How can I add a feeling of no hope for my hero, before a hope is revealed?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61728,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Here are some things you can do to add a sense of hopelessness:\n\n* Add a guy (or several) with guns—increase the power of the antagonistic force\n* Reveal (and polish up) the master plan of the hero's foe—make it as impossible to stop as possible\n* Make the antagonist more ruthless—kill some of the hero's friends...\n* Deprive the hero of support towards the end so that s/he is facing off the final \"boss level\" all alone\n\nHowever, it's more important that the reader feels there is no hope than that the hero does.\n\nA hero that says, I don't care if it's impossible, I'm going to do it anyway will likely also get lots of reader sympathy.\n\nWhat you can do, however, is to add a midpoint mirror moment where a hero that goes through a change will ask themselves \"who am I? why am I this way? why am I doing this to the people around me?\" while a hero that does not change (or follows a flat arc) has more of a mirror moment along the line \"I'm probably going to die.\" (See \"Write Your Novel From The Middle: A New Approach for Plotters, Pantsers and Everyone in Between\" by James Scott Bell)\n\nThis happens in the middle of the story and it can be a low moment, but usually, the midpoint represents a realization that the current strategy isn't working and motivates the hero to change things up (e.g. go from reactive to proactive, go from believing in a lie to believing in a truth, realizing some important stuff about the conflict, the antagonist, themselves or all of the above...)\n\nYou can usually increase the sense of hopelessness by making the events that happen to the hero more horrible. To do that:\n\n* Move the event physically closer to the hero (e.g. from \"hearing about some horrible event\" to \"being the victim of a horrible event\")\n* Make the hero more responsible for the events\n* Repeat the events more than once\n* Pile on other events that might logically follow the event (divorce, getting fired, anxiety attacks, depression, other people injured, etc)\n* Make the antagonist emotionally closer to the hero (e.g. from a total stranger to the hero's parent...)\n* Tailor the event to the hero's personality or emotional state\n\n(See \"The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma\" by Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman)"
},
{
"answer_id": 61729,
"author": "Murphy L.",
"author_id": 52858,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52858",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Make them fight earlier in the book, and have the hero lose. But, here's the important part: have him lose very, very, very badly. Naturally, if he lost so horribly at first, how could he end up winning?\n\nThen, when the rematch happens, have him start out losing again. Once again, very, very, badly losing. Make him nearly die. Make sure this is the climax.\n\nAnd then let him come back. Slightly. One dodge, one punch, then fifty more from his opposition. Until it seems like his punch was a fluke and he'll never land another. Then, he does. Enough of a punch, that his opponent is left stunned, long enough for your hero to land another. And another. Until he gets the miraculous win.\n\nAlso, before the fight, you can do some things. Make it be an already bad day, in some way. I'm sure you can find something, his friend's dog dies or so. That'll certainly bring his confidence down."
},
{
"answer_id": 61731,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "Cruel To Be Kind:\n=================\n\nThere are lots of ways to make it seem like your hero is going to fail, both to him, and to the audience. But readers ***expect*** the hero to win, and the hero is supposed to be plucky and persevere. To get past these expectations, you need to write like the story is ***about*** the hero failing.\n\n* **The hero is foreshadowed to fail**: Set the hero up to fail. Maybe there's a prophesy (false) that seems to predict the hero failing, or dying (the oracle predicting Neo ISN'T \"the one.\"). Perhaps the story is set up so it looks like the main character will really be just a supporting character to the \"true\" hero, with the story told from their perspective, and the \"true\" hero fails (leaving the main character to step up and save the day). Or you have the hero seemingly doomed by his character flaws, while you present the reader with an alternative narrative about how they expect the story will turn out.\n* **The Character seems to fail:** Maybe the Nazgûl capture the ring of power that absolutely must not fall into Sauron's hands and give it to Sauron. Now you have to come up with a plausible alternative to victory that doesn't just look like a deus ex machina. Or maybe Thanos gets the infinity stones and kills half of all life in the universe, and the sequel is miraculously reversing defeat.\n* **The character ***ACTUALLY*** fails**: The character spends the story trying to save his home city from destruction, and gets to watch as his home burns to the ground. Now the hero must come up with a new goal that redeems their failure. Or the villain conquers the kingdom and murders the rightful king, and the hero must now compromise their integrity to save the people and things they care about by serving the villain. In this case, you may need to reset the expectations of the story. Trent the transformer seeks to overthrow the kingdom of Xanth, and the hero tries to fight him, but in the end Trent is king and we realize that the kingdom needs a powerful wizard to rule it.\n* **The actual goal is different from the apparent one**: The story revolves around breaking into a bank to get the money the hero needs to achieve goal X. The bank job fails publicly, but the heroic Yebun Boad story inspires the people to rise up against their evil corporate overlords. The goal or a greater one is achieved by a completely alternative route.\n\nThere can also be more specific elements that raise doubt in the reader's mind about the way the story will turn out.\n\n* **Ambiguous moral**: Your story is not black and white. The hero is a little scummy, and the the villain winning wouldn't be the end of the world.\n* **The character seems to need to compromise their integrity or ethics to achieve the goal.** *Okay, yes, this is a huge stereotype.* They seem to abandon their goal to preserve their integrity, and the act of keeping their integrity leads to ultimate victory (the villain having a change of heart, or an investor who values ethics saving the hero's business despite the character not robbing the bank to get the needed money).\n* **Pyrrhic Victory**: The character is trying to save people and those people die one at a time. While the final goal is achieved, the story seems to be about the losses.\n* **The hero loses hope**: Your hero is convinced they have or are failing, and abandon their quest to try and save themselves or achieve a lesser goal (saving their family?). But wait! The opportunity to save the world once more presents itself, and the hero must give up on their side-quest (suffering personal loss) for the chance to achieve the ultimate goal.\n* **The supporting characters lose hope**: If Dumbledore tells Hijrp Potfeq that Voldemort is going to win and he needs to flee, then the reader will see the strong, seemingly infallible support character give up hope and abandon the main goal. The hero may keep trying, but everyone starts doubting there is any chance of success.\n* **Raise doubts about the goal**: If Arnold Schwarzenegger seems like he really is having a psychotic break and making up the whole thing in his head, maybe the story in Total Recall is different than the audience thinks. Or perhaps the hero is seeking revenge, and we begin to doubt that all the people dying (including innocents) is worth it."
}
] |
2022/03/30
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61719",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54921/"
] |
61,736
|
How do you show a wolf howling in a comic book panel if the wolf isn't visible? In some movies, you see a shot of a mountain and you hear wolves howling in the distance, perhaps behind the camera. How do you do this in a comic panel? The issue is that you should maybe use a text bubble, but then the text bubble doesn't point towards anything. How is this normally done? Are there other alternatives?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61737,
"author": "Vogon Poet",
"author_id": 41260,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "Sounds in the distance are spelled over the backdrop\n====================================================\n\nWhen a sound happens off screen, and out of dialogues, the sound or words simply float in the frame, like this:\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wvtRD.jpg)\n\nThis happens to be a ghost, if you can’t guess. But a roar, or even speaking detached voices can float over the frame.\n\nIf the sound comes in dialogue but off screen, you point the bubble out of the frame (cut the point of the spike flat, so it is clear the point extends beyond the frame."
},
{
"answer_id": 61752,
"author": "ConradJD777",
"author_id": 54949,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54949",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "Excuse the quick mockup, but perhaps something like this? This method puts the sound effect in a bubble that is shaped like or gives clues to what is making the sound. This kind of thing could also be done in varying degrees of style, such as only using ears on a bubble or doing a full drawing. [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/j23oS.png)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61820,
"author": "birdy",
"author_id": 21573,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/21573",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would suggest showing a panel with a silhouette of a wolf howling --perhaps closely zoomed in to the muzzle if you don't want to confirm that it's really a wolf (ie, might be a werewolf). Then you could follow up with a panel showing the sound effect echoing through the woods. You could even have characters reacting to it in fear, if that's the atmosphere you want to convey to the audience.\n\nMy rationale is that even if the wolf isn't *present* in the scene, comics often need to exaggerate visuals to communicate extra information that would normally be present in audio (ie, no soundtrack means the background colors change to indicate mood). And using a silhouette helps to communicate that the wolf might not physically be there in the moment, while still evoking the concept of a wolf howling."
}
] |
2022/03/31
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61736",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,740
|
Through reading some self-published novels, I have noticed some writers in their character dialogue put an exclamation mark or question mark before an ellipsis and sometimes after. However I am not well versed in the meaning behind them and would like to know how does it affect the speech when used and when should one use it so that I may learn to implement it when I start writing.
For example, I do not know the difference between "What?..." and "What...?" or "Right!..." and "Right...!"
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61742,
"author": "Glorfindel",
"author_id": 14426,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/14426",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is no difference in meaning between them, it's just a matter of style. The examples mentioned on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis#In_English) have the ? and ! *after* the ellipsis and that looks more natural to me as well (the ellipsis is part of the sentence, and punctuation ends it). But your mileage may vary...!"
},
{
"answer_id": 61743,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "An ellipsis in dialogue indicates an unexpected pause or silence or trailing off. (While dashes indicate a sudden break or interruption.)\n\nSince \"What?\" and \"What!\" are complete utterances, it is hard to interpret \"What?...\" or \"What!...\" because we **expect** the punctuation to be the end of the sentence. I suppose it might be interpreted as a puzzled expression or desire to say something more, but the speaker is struggling to think of what to say. In that case, I'd write that in exposition. *Narp looked like he wanted to say more, but struggled to find the words.*\n\nI don't think using \"!...\" is a shorthand that conveys that properly, it is just confusing and will break reader immersion.\n\n\"What...?\" is a more reliable method, it indicates the questioner asked \"What\" and intended to elaborate but was at a loss for words; so there was a pause, then a questioning expression.\n\nSimilar to a character talking to their mother, they might say \"What the... What in the world are you talking about, mom?\"\n\nThe reader will guess the character caught himself before saying \"What the fuck\" to his mother.\n\nI can't think of a good reason to use an expression ending punctuation followed by an ellipsis. \"!...\" or \"?...\" or \"[period]...\". Laziness, perhaps."
},
{
"answer_id": 61753,
"author": "codeMonkey",
"author_id": 40325,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/40325",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Don't mix Ellipsis and other Punctuation\n----------------------------------------\n\nEllipsis simply imply a pause. It is stronger when we *explain* that pause.\n\n```\n\"What?...\" she said.\n\"What?\" she said, voice dying off as horrible realization dawned.\n\"What?\" she asked, her voice thick and slow with confusion.\n\"What?\" she said, fury throttling whatever words would have followed.\n\n```\n\nThe first example doesn't tell us anything except that there was a pause. The other examples imply a pause, but give us much more information about the scene - the emotions of the characters and their tone of voice.\n\nEllipsis would not add anything to those descriptions, so don't bother including them."
}
] |
2022/04/01
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61740",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54942/"
] |
61,747
|
I've read the "On writing" and other valuable positions. I've learnt all about unnecessary adverbs and repetitions. I can make words of my characters sound strong and natural.
Whereas most of writing guides I encountered focus on making dialogue less dull I'm afraid I went too far in the opposite direction.
The conversations I write seem too intense and short. It's almost like a punchline in response to a punchline in response to a punchline. Every sentence coming out of my heroes mouth is a strong statement conveying a lot about themselves, their opinion and decisions.
Single lines seem interesting, quotable and probably would do just fine in movies. But I aspire to write books and my guts tell me I should work on this matter. While reading my dialogues I have a feeling, that they are a bit exhausting. A reader needs to absorb a lot of information fast. The dramatic change happens during two pages scene and it's just too rapid. In the end the conversations as a whole seem a bit unnatural because no one in real life exchange ideas at such a rate.
The whole thing reminds me of a time before I learnt the "show not tell" rule. Then I also produced too little text for an action presented. I have practiced and now am satisfied with a length of my stories. Unfortunately it doesn't exceed to dialogues in particular.
Let me give you an example. The following scene takes place in a plane between a stewardess and a young man. I got rid of all the bits.
*Please keep in mind, that I'm not a native English speaker and I write in a different language. I did my best with the translation though.*
>
> 'Good morning... Hi. I just wanted to let you know we have free sits in the first class.'
>
>
> 'So?'
>
>
> 'I thought maybe you'd want one. You can sit comfortably there. And talk.'
>
>
> 'I paid for the seat 22C.'
>
>
> 'Yes, but...'
>
>
> 'I can imagine first class is more enjoyable. If I became rich, I will always book there.'
>
>
> 'I don't get it.'
>
>
> 'I don't want anything for free. I prefer to earn it.'
>
>
> Pause. The boy:
>
>
> 'I miss something. Can you help me?'
>
>
> 'Sure.'
>
>
> 'I'm really thirsty. Can you bring me some water?'
>
>
> Stewardess comes back with a water and wine.
>
>
> 'I wanted only water.'
>
>
> 'I'm also thirsty. Your name is LainvM, isn't it?'
>
>
> 'Yes. And yours?'
>
>
> 'Kurovire. Are you a model?'
>
>
> 'Everybody asks this question.'
>
>
> 'You're so beautiful... I'm sorry!'
>
>
> 'I'd rather be a garbage man. I despise models.'
>
>
> 'Why?'
>
>
> 'They are useless. They don't exist. Imagine I do modeling. I would be on a billboard downtown. What difference would it make? Mo or someone else, who's gonna even notice. Do you agree with me?'
>
>
> 'I don't know... I've never thought about it this way.'
>
>
> 'You did. Let me prove it to you. When you think of a typical model, what's the first adjective that comes to your mind? It's dull, right? That's what everybody thinks of them. Pretty, but dumb.'
>
>
> Pause. The boy:
>
>
> 'How about you? Have you always worked as a stewardess?'
>
>
> 'Yes.'
>
>
> 'How long?'
>
>
> 'I started at uni. Four years ago I changed the airline. I don't know any other job.'
>
>
> 'Are you satisfied?'
>
>
> 'Maybe, I don't know. I have nothing to compare it to. Sometimes I wish my life was more stable.'
>
>
> 'But people respect you, don't they? You are necessary. It's not another bullshit job.'
>
>
> 'I'm glad you admire my work.'
>
>
> 'I'm jealous. I could have never thought so of myself.'
>
>
> 'I'm sure you did plenty of good work.'
>
>
> 'Well I haven't. I never got a chance. They always say I'm too young and unexperienced. Bullshit. They keep me at distance out of envy.'
>
>
> That's why I'm on this plane. I'm going to do something great.'
>
>
> 'I got to go.'
>
>
> 'Sure.'
>
>
> 'The flight is long. Maybe you will change your mind.'
>
>
>
So here we learn so much. The protagonist is extremely pretty and actually annoyed with everybody pointing it out. He's a bit immature yet on a task to prove himself capable. The stewardess on the other side is attracted to him and a bit shy.
Doesn't sound like you've learnt all of that from a stranger in a five minute talk, does it? At least to me this dialogue is not satisfying even though I got a pretty valuable information.
As I want to improve my writing, but don't know which way to go I will welcome any feedback and highly appreciate any advice.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61754,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I don't mean to be brutal, but this is not good good dialogue. It doesn't make sense, for one. And it appears to be just two talking heads, there is very little description here to build a visual scene, which is what you want to do in a novel.\n\nIt doesn't sound realistic at all. It doesn't sound like the writer has ever flown. And it is quite transparent as an information dump.\n\n> \n> \"Good morning... Hi.\"\n> \n> \n> \n\n1. Good morning is already a greeting. Why the ellipsis and \"hi?\" It's redundant.\n2. Saying \"So?\" is just rude; and it is obvious if the stewardess says there are free seats in first class, it is an offer to move. The appropriate response, if you don't want the free seat, \"No thank you.\"\n\nAt worst, \"Do you mean free as in available to buy, or free as in I can move for no charge?\" But you wouldn't say even that, if you don't want to sit in first class. \"No thank you\" solves the issue whether they are available to buy or free of charge. You would not ask this question if you were not interested in moving.\n\n> \n> I don't get it.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe stewardess will not argue with or question his claim. If somebody doesn't want the seat, the stewardess moves on to offer it to somebody else. And would probably offer it first to the least comfortable person in coach, anyway.\n\n> \n> Pause. The boy:\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'I miss something. Can you help me?'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'Sure.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'I'm really thirsty. Can you bring me some water?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis is a waste of time. She's a stewardess. She doesn't care why you want water. These four lines can be \"Can you bring me some water?\" or something similar. You could have combined this with the refusal;\n\n\"No thank you. But when you get a chance, can I get some water?\"\n\n> \n> Stewardess comes back with a water and wine.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'I wanted only water.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nWhy is he saying this? She's a stewardess. She serves passengers. Presumably somebody else wants wine, His only response should be \"thank you\" as he reaches for the bottle of water. (It will always be a bottle.)\n\n> \n> 'I'm also thirsty. Your name is LainvM, isn't it?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nNo, never. A stewardess will not drink wine on the job. Ever. If she is an alcoholic, perhaps she will sneak something in restroom, but she will never drink openly.\n\nThis line could probably be, \"You're LainvM, right? I'm Kurovire.\"\n\n> \n> 'Kurovire. Are you a model?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nShe's a stewardess. They fly constantly. They have no time to be models.\n\n> \n> 'Everybody asks this question.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nNo, they don't. Very few people will ask if a pretty woman is a model, especially if she is obviously working another job.\n\n> \n> 'You're so beautiful... I'm sorry!'\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis is unrealistic. What is he sorry for, he doesn't know that he's offended her yet.\n\n> \n> 'I'd rather be a garbage man. I despise models.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis conversation is just awkward, it isn't natural. And why would somebody despise models?\n\n> \n> 'They are useless. They don't exist. Imagine I do modeling. I would be on a billboard downtown. What difference would it make? Me or someone else, who's gonna even notice. Do you agree with me?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nFar too long, and downright irrational.\n\n'They are useless'? They sell clothing, they are highly paid, they are not useless to their employers.\n\n'They don't exist'? Of course models exist.\n\n'What difference would it make?' Well, it would earn you more money.\n\n'Me or someone else, who's gonna even notice.' Yourself? The person that is happier hiring you instead of someone else?\n\n> \n> 'I don't know... I've never thought about it this way.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'You did. Let me prove it to you. When you think of a typical model, what's the first adjective that comes to your mind? It's dull, right? That's what everybody thinks of them. Pretty, but dumb.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nAgain, not everyone, and when people think of a typical model, the first adjective that comes to mind is not 'dull', it is 'sexy' or 'pretty' or, as LainvM himself proved earlier, 'beautiful'.\n\n> \n> 'How about you? Have you always worked as a stewardess?'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'Yes.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'How long?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nToo much exchange.\n\n'How long have you been a stewardess?'\n\n'Always. But only four years on this airline.'\n\n> \n> 'Are you satisfied?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nAfter the previous response, this would likely be 'Have you ever considered something else?'\n\n> \n> 'Maybe, I don't know. I have nothing to compare it to. Sometimes I wish my life was more stable.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nFirst, people tend to know if they like their job, and second, of course she has seen other jobs and can compare. And third, this is irrational: If she wishes her life was more stable, she IS comparing her job to more stable jobs!\n\n> \n> 'But people respect you, don't they? You are necessary. It's not another bullshit job.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'I'm glad you admire my work.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nThese sound unrealistic. Stewardesses are mostly thought of as waitresses in the sky. That does not make for respect. They know more than that and can respond to emergencies, but those skills are seldom used or seen.\n\n> \n> 'I'm jealous. I could have never thought so of myself.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'I'm sure you did plenty of good work.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nWhy is she sure about this? He's a random guy on the plane. She sees thousands of them.\n\n> \n> 'Well I haven't. I never got a chance. They always say I'm too young and unexperienced. Bullshit. They keep me at distance out of envy.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> That's why I'm on this plane. I'm going to do something great.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nApparently this is the boy talking twice in a row, but that isn't clear from your text. If it is, why is it in two lines?\n\n> \n> 'I got to go.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'Sure.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'The flight is long. Maybe you will change your mind.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe whole conversation is much too long and much too personal for a stewardess and a passenger, unless the plane is nearly empty. Even then, stewardesses will tend to be near the very front of the plane, where their station is, not hanging out in the middle. or up in First Class, to be available to provide better service there.\n\nYou would be far better off if your protagonist's conversation was with the passenger sitting next to them. I have had conversations with fellow passengers dozens of times; people get bored and want to chat. They ask what you do, you ask what they do, where they are headed, if they are coming home or leaving, etc.\n\nIn those dozens of flights, I have never once had a conversation of more than one or two lines with a steward or stewardess, except for one accidental one: She was sitting next to me, not dressed as a stewardess or working. She was catching a flight to visit her parents, a free perk for a stewardess if there were unsold seats, at least at that time. I did not know that when we began talking.\n\nIf it is important for your girl to be a stewardess, I'd suggest a conversation like that. She IS a stewardess, but not on duty. She can drink alcohol. Get you extra cookies. And you've got three hours to talk.\n\nAnd instead of asking her if she is a model, just have her make a flirty game of it.\n\nThe boy said, \"What do you do?\"\n\n\"Well... How about you guess?\"\n\n\"You look like an actress.\"\n\nShe laughed. \"I wish. I can't act!\"\n\n\"Oh. A model?\"\n\n\"Strike two. Then I'd have to be graceful, and always look bored.\" She makes a haughty passive face, but then grins. He grins back.\n\n\"Then I give up.\"\n\n\"I'm a theoretical physicist at Harvard University!\"\n\nLainvM is surprised. \"Really?\"\n\nShe laughs again. \"No. I'm a stewardess! I'm on vacation, flying home for my Dad's sixtieth birthday. You know we fly free, if there are empty seats.\"\n\n\"Now I don't know what to believe.\"\n\nShe nods toward the front. \"Ecicio and Brort are working this flight, wait and see. They'll call me by name.\"\n\n\"Then I'll believe you. I'm LainvM, by the way.\"\n\nHe holds out his right hand to shake, but it is awkward sitting beside each other. Kurovire just briefly clasps his hand with both of hers.\n\n\"Kurovire.\"\n\nSomething more like that. The point is not to be compact, the point is to have a realistic sounding conversation, that flows. And you probably don't even want this much, if Kurovire is not important to the story later. Then this would just be an information dump. Any long conversation needs to have a plot purpose, in this case, perhaps, introducing LainvM to Kurovire as an important part of the plot or a subplot (like a love story).\n\nWhen you are writing, always remember that people that read novels **like to read**. They aren't counting words, they want to be immersed in your imagined reality."
},
{
"answer_id": 61757,
"author": "Vogon Poet",
"author_id": 41260,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Add more space by describing the *communication*, not just the words\n--------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nDialogue doesn’t mean just spoken words, because *nobody* communicates with only words. Facial expressions, body gestures, sighing, hand waves, and so many adjectives and adverbs paint the whole dialogue. Dialogue is *communication*\n\nLet’s try a lump of dialogue with only words, and then with *communication:*\n\nThis is taken from the classic, *The Great Gatsby*:\n\n1. With speaking only:\n\n> \n> I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way East, and how a dozen people had sent their love through me.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Do they miss me?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath, and there’s a persistent wail all night along the north shore.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom. Tomorrow! You ought to see the baby.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “I’d like to.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “She’s asleep. She’s three years old. Haven’t you ever seen her?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Never.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Well, you ought to see her. She’s—”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> Tom interrupted, “What you doing, Kics?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “I’m a bond man.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Who with?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> I told him.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Never heard of them,”\n> \n> \n> \n\n2. Now, watch F. Scott Fitzgerald complete the communication, **With full dialogue:**\n\n> \n> I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way East, and how a dozen people had sent their love through me.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Do they miss me?” she cried ecstatically.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath, and there’s a persistent wail all night along the north shore.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom. Tomorrow!” Then she added irrelevantly:\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “You ought to see the baby.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “I’d like to.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “She’s asleep. She’s three years old. Haven’t you ever seen her?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Never.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Well, you ought to see her. She’s—”\n> Tom Buchanan, who had been hovering restlessly about the room, stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “What you doing, Kics?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “I’m a bond man.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Who with?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> I told him.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Never heard of them,” he remarked decisively.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> This annoyed me.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe very first thing you must be doing to understand how to write well, is read often. You will see these techniques as you experience them first hand."
}
] |
2022/04/01
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61747",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/48855/"
] |
61,760
|
I get how you can "show" for example the story of a woman who is sad by merely describing the stars in the sky, but how do you describe the intensity of her emotion in a poem? I think you can do it by describing the sounds and movements, but in certain situations, like when you describe the stars in the sky, you can't really express the intensity of an emotion by doing that (stars don't make sounds, star can move quickly, but shooting stars are not associated with sadness). Aside describing movements and the sounds of a scenery, is there anything else I can do to express the intensity of an emotion by showing and not telling?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61754,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I don't mean to be brutal, but this is not good good dialogue. It doesn't make sense, for one. And it appears to be just two talking heads, there is very little description here to build a visual scene, which is what you want to do in a novel.\n\nIt doesn't sound realistic at all. It doesn't sound like the writer has ever flown. And it is quite transparent as an information dump.\n\n> \n> \"Good morning... Hi.\"\n> \n> \n> \n\n1. Good morning is already a greeting. Why the ellipsis and \"hi?\" It's redundant.\n2. Saying \"So?\" is just rude; and it is obvious if the stewardess says there are free seats in first class, it is an offer to move. The appropriate response, if you don't want the free seat, \"No thank you.\"\n\nAt worst, \"Do you mean free as in available to buy, or free as in I can move for no charge?\" But you wouldn't say even that, if you don't want to sit in first class. \"No thank you\" solves the issue whether they are available to buy or free of charge. You would not ask this question if you were not interested in moving.\n\n> \n> I don't get it.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe stewardess will not argue with or question his claim. If somebody doesn't want the seat, the stewardess moves on to offer it to somebody else. And would probably offer it first to the least comfortable person in coach, anyway.\n\n> \n> Pause. The boy:\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'I miss something. Can you help me?'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'Sure.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'I'm really thirsty. Can you bring me some water?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis is a waste of time. She's a stewardess. She doesn't care why you want water. These four lines can be \"Can you bring me some water?\" or something similar. You could have combined this with the refusal;\n\n\"No thank you. But when you get a chance, can I get some water?\"\n\n> \n> Stewardess comes back with a water and wine.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'I wanted only water.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nWhy is he saying this? She's a stewardess. She serves passengers. Presumably somebody else wants wine, His only response should be \"thank you\" as he reaches for the bottle of water. (It will always be a bottle.)\n\n> \n> 'I'm also thirsty. Your name is LainvM, isn't it?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nNo, never. A stewardess will not drink wine on the job. Ever. If she is an alcoholic, perhaps she will sneak something in restroom, but she will never drink openly.\n\nThis line could probably be, \"You're LainvM, right? I'm Kurovire.\"\n\n> \n> 'Kurovire. Are you a model?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nShe's a stewardess. They fly constantly. They have no time to be models.\n\n> \n> 'Everybody asks this question.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nNo, they don't. Very few people will ask if a pretty woman is a model, especially if she is obviously working another job.\n\n> \n> 'You're so beautiful... I'm sorry!'\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis is unrealistic. What is he sorry for, he doesn't know that he's offended her yet.\n\n> \n> 'I'd rather be a garbage man. I despise models.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis conversation is just awkward, it isn't natural. And why would somebody despise models?\n\n> \n> 'They are useless. They don't exist. Imagine I do modeling. I would be on a billboard downtown. What difference would it make? Me or someone else, who's gonna even notice. Do you agree with me?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nFar too long, and downright irrational.\n\n'They are useless'? They sell clothing, they are highly paid, they are not useless to their employers.\n\n'They don't exist'? Of course models exist.\n\n'What difference would it make?' Well, it would earn you more money.\n\n'Me or someone else, who's gonna even notice.' Yourself? The person that is happier hiring you instead of someone else?\n\n> \n> 'I don't know... I've never thought about it this way.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'You did. Let me prove it to you. When you think of a typical model, what's the first adjective that comes to your mind? It's dull, right? That's what everybody thinks of them. Pretty, but dumb.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nAgain, not everyone, and when people think of a typical model, the first adjective that comes to mind is not 'dull', it is 'sexy' or 'pretty' or, as LainvM himself proved earlier, 'beautiful'.\n\n> \n> 'How about you? Have you always worked as a stewardess?'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'Yes.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'How long?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nToo much exchange.\n\n'How long have you been a stewardess?'\n\n'Always. But only four years on this airline.'\n\n> \n> 'Are you satisfied?'\n> \n> \n> \n\nAfter the previous response, this would likely be 'Have you ever considered something else?'\n\n> \n> 'Maybe, I don't know. I have nothing to compare it to. Sometimes I wish my life was more stable.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nFirst, people tend to know if they like their job, and second, of course she has seen other jobs and can compare. And third, this is irrational: If she wishes her life was more stable, she IS comparing her job to more stable jobs!\n\n> \n> 'But people respect you, don't they? You are necessary. It's not another bullshit job.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'I'm glad you admire my work.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nThese sound unrealistic. Stewardesses are mostly thought of as waitresses in the sky. That does not make for respect. They know more than that and can respond to emergencies, but those skills are seldom used or seen.\n\n> \n> 'I'm jealous. I could have never thought so of myself.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'I'm sure you did plenty of good work.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nWhy is she sure about this? He's a random guy on the plane. She sees thousands of them.\n\n> \n> 'Well I haven't. I never got a chance. They always say I'm too young and unexperienced. Bullshit. They keep me at distance out of envy.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> That's why I'm on this plane. I'm going to do something great.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nApparently this is the boy talking twice in a row, but that isn't clear from your text. If it is, why is it in two lines?\n\n> \n> 'I got to go.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'Sure.'\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> 'The flight is long. Maybe you will change your mind.'\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe whole conversation is much too long and much too personal for a stewardess and a passenger, unless the plane is nearly empty. Even then, stewardesses will tend to be near the very front of the plane, where their station is, not hanging out in the middle. or up in First Class, to be available to provide better service there.\n\nYou would be far better off if your protagonist's conversation was with the passenger sitting next to them. I have had conversations with fellow passengers dozens of times; people get bored and want to chat. They ask what you do, you ask what they do, where they are headed, if they are coming home or leaving, etc.\n\nIn those dozens of flights, I have never once had a conversation of more than one or two lines with a steward or stewardess, except for one accidental one: She was sitting next to me, not dressed as a stewardess or working. She was catching a flight to visit her parents, a free perk for a stewardess if there were unsold seats, at least at that time. I did not know that when we began talking.\n\nIf it is important for your girl to be a stewardess, I'd suggest a conversation like that. She IS a stewardess, but not on duty. She can drink alcohol. Get you extra cookies. And you've got three hours to talk.\n\nAnd instead of asking her if she is a model, just have her make a flirty game of it.\n\nThe boy said, \"What do you do?\"\n\n\"Well... How about you guess?\"\n\n\"You look like an actress.\"\n\nShe laughed. \"I wish. I can't act!\"\n\n\"Oh. A model?\"\n\n\"Strike two. Then I'd have to be graceful, and always look bored.\" She makes a haughty passive face, but then grins. He grins back.\n\n\"Then I give up.\"\n\n\"I'm a theoretical physicist at Harvard University!\"\n\nLainvM is surprised. \"Really?\"\n\nShe laughs again. \"No. I'm a stewardess! I'm on vacation, flying home for my Dad's sixtieth birthday. You know we fly free, if there are empty seats.\"\n\n\"Now I don't know what to believe.\"\n\nShe nods toward the front. \"Ecicio and Brort are working this flight, wait and see. They'll call me by name.\"\n\n\"Then I'll believe you. I'm LainvM, by the way.\"\n\nHe holds out his right hand to shake, but it is awkward sitting beside each other. Kurovire just briefly clasps his hand with both of hers.\n\n\"Kurovire.\"\n\nSomething more like that. The point is not to be compact, the point is to have a realistic sounding conversation, that flows. And you probably don't even want this much, if Kurovire is not important to the story later. Then this would just be an information dump. Any long conversation needs to have a plot purpose, in this case, perhaps, introducing LainvM to Kurovire as an important part of the plot or a subplot (like a love story).\n\nWhen you are writing, always remember that people that read novels **like to read**. They aren't counting words, they want to be immersed in your imagined reality."
},
{
"answer_id": 61757,
"author": "Vogon Poet",
"author_id": 41260,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Add more space by describing the *communication*, not just the words\n--------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nDialogue doesn’t mean just spoken words, because *nobody* communicates with only words. Facial expressions, body gestures, sighing, hand waves, and so many adjectives and adverbs paint the whole dialogue. Dialogue is *communication*\n\nLet’s try a lump of dialogue with only words, and then with *communication:*\n\nThis is taken from the classic, *The Great Gatsby*:\n\n1. With speaking only:\n\n> \n> I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way East, and how a dozen people had sent their love through me.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Do they miss me?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath, and there’s a persistent wail all night along the north shore.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom. Tomorrow! You ought to see the baby.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “I’d like to.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “She’s asleep. She’s three years old. Haven’t you ever seen her?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Never.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Well, you ought to see her. She’s—”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> Tom interrupted, “What you doing, Kics?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “I’m a bond man.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Who with?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> I told him.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Never heard of them,”\n> \n> \n> \n\n2. Now, watch F. Scott Fitzgerald complete the communication, **With full dialogue:**\n\n> \n> I told her how I had stopped off in Chicago for a day on my way East, and how a dozen people had sent their love through me.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Do they miss me?” she cried ecstatically.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “The whole town is desolate. All the cars have the left rear wheel painted black as a mourning wreath, and there’s a persistent wail all night along the north shore.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “How gorgeous! Let’s go back, Tom. Tomorrow!” Then she added irrelevantly:\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “You ought to see the baby.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “I’d like to.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “She’s asleep. She’s three years old. Haven’t you ever seen her?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Never.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Well, you ought to see her. She’s—”\n> Tom Buchanan, who had been hovering restlessly about the room, stopped and rested his hand on my shoulder.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “What you doing, Kics?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “I’m a bond man.”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Who with?”\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> I told him.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> “Never heard of them,” he remarked decisively.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> This annoyed me.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe very first thing you must be doing to understand how to write well, is read often. You will see these techniques as you experience them first hand."
}
] |
2022/04/01
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61760",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,765
|
When I was making my characters, I was a little picky and had trouble, for I am not the best at decision making. However, when I do come up with characters, I usually get some of their concepts from research of the supernatural or symbolism in objects or philosophy to make a character of it.
So far, I've only came up around four characters. All of these are still in development, which means their concepts and character can change. However, I have some form of feeling towards a particular one. I relate a lot to this character, and feel that they are my favorite. Comparing this one to the other characters, I relate to them the most and the ones I like a lot and put lots of thought too. And I like to put myself in their perspectives to make me understand how to write them, but also because I like them as a character.
But this made me question if this character of mine is a self insert or I'm just projecting myself to them, which would still be considered a self insert, would it not?
So here comes the question: is it a self-insert or not?
And how can I avoid it or overcome it?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61766,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "I believe all authors insert themselves into their stories in some way, and that isn't a bad thing. It is an effective technique to use for characters who need possess knowledge of the greater world about that story -- so not the protagonists, but supporting characters like the Wise Latina who provides insight on strategies for investment portfolios or the gruff wizard that teaches the ways of calculus and physics.\n\nI think the gripe about self-inserts is that the author tends to go easy on the character, since the character is a proxy for them. The author's job is to put their protagonists through hell, making life as hard as possible, hitting the characters with every dirty trick and underhanded scheme to bring them to ruin.\n\nAnd, who would want to do that to themselves? As a result, the plots are weaker and the crisis is more simply disposed of, once the character has some minor epiphany.\n\nAs long as your stories are brutal to the protagonist, full of conflict and loss and hardship, it is immaterial if you've inserted yourself in the story.\n\nIf you don't want to insert yourself into your story, make a list of how you view yourself -- strengths and weaknesses and foolish foibles and admirable traits -- then then only give your character the opposite of those traits."
},
{
"answer_id": 61767,
"author": "user2352714",
"author_id": 43118,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/43118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Your character almost certainly is a self-insert on some level.\n\nThis can be said without even looking at your character for several reasons. All characters are, on some level, drawn from one of two sources: people in our own lives and other characters we see in fiction. There ultimately is no other source. I've seen people try to do otherwise and it virtually never produces a functional character.\n\nAnd, because there is no person we know better than ourselves, this means that our protagonists, who we tend to delve the most deeply into their psychology of, tend to draw most strongly from our own mentality. This is the case *even if* the character was intentionally designed with a specific archetype or to be as far away from the author's personality as possible. Even if something else was intended over time the protagonist will come to resemble the author, if only subconsciously, because the author is going to be using their internal life experience to determine what seems reasonably in-character for the character or not (psychologists would call this ego-syntonicity).\n\nI can attest to this first hand. A couple of my protagonists who I intended to fill very specific fictional archetypes ended up taking on some of my personality traits by accident, to the detriment of the story, and I've seen other authors express similar sentiments.\n\nWhat this means, though, is that the question is not how to stop your character from being a self-insert, but how much should your protagonist take after you. No character *should* take after the author or real people/other characters 100%, rather a more optimal pattern is to mix and match traits to create unique patterns as to what best fits the story. In this way ask yourself \"how does my protagonist resemble me and how do they differ\", and just as important \"what life events have caused their thought and logic process to be different than mine\". The latter is important to keep you from getting writer's block when faced with decisions your character would make that differ from yours."
},
{
"answer_id": 61777,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Use Character voice\n-------------------\n\nInserting yourself into the story isn't necessarily a problem, however, if it happens in several characters and they all sound and think like you, then you have problems.\n\nYou want the characters to sound unique, and if they don't, I suggest working with their voices.\n\nThis can be done by creating character voice journals.\n\nA voice journal is a document that is written in your character's voice. In essence, you keep writing until the character starts saying things that don't sound like you.\n\nHere are some ways to write voice journals:\n\n* It could be free writing, just let the character talk about anything and everything\n* It could be answering questions. Any character-building questions will do. For instance, how was your childhood? Tell me about your first love? What would you be willing to die for?\n* It could be your character telling you about something that is important to them and that makes them very angry\n* You could put your character into an interrogation and force them to tell you their darkest secrets—perhaps in a bad cop-good cop scenario?\n* Have them tell you about their happiest memory\n\nFor all these questions the actual information from answers and interrogations and so on may be important, but the most important part is how the character answers the questions or tries to get away with not answering them. If they resist, push them until they explode. How does that make them sound?\n\nThe result should be language that doesn't sound like you and that doesn't sound like any other character (in literature, preferably...)\n\nPlace two different characters' voice journals side by side, are they different? Then you're probably on the right track. Can you identify who said what without dialog attributions? Then that's very promising.\n\nYou write your longest and most comprehensive voice journals for your POV characters, but even smaller roles can be helped by a shorter voice journal.\n\nIf you want to read more about voice, I suggest taking a look at ”VOICE: The Secret Power of Great Writing” by James Scott Bell."
}
] |
2022/04/02
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61765",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689/"
] |
61,780
|
I might phrase this post wrong. Forgive me, for English is not my first language.
I don't know how else to describe it. But why do it felt like my very *own* character that I made felt very different from this particular scene or interactions.
I could be writing it and go "this isn't very canon of them/this isn't how they should react/do"
Can someone explain or help?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61782,
"author": "erikric",
"author_id": 97,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/97",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If your characters start acting \"on their own\", you should just follow them and write down what they do. It means they have come alive and are acting as independent characters, instead of just serving your plot.\n\nYou probably have to do a lot of rewriting to make it fit with the rest of the story. This could mean a total rewrite from the start, or you may need to add a scene that explains why the character is acting differently.\n\nAnyway, congratulations. Self-writing characters is usually what you want to happen."
},
{
"answer_id": 61784,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "When the character does something that falls outside of what you've planned or what they've done before it's in most cases a sign that the story/character is telling your things should change.\n\nOr, to use psychological language, it's not the character that's acting or the story that's talking, of course. It's likely your unconscious. It has, as it tends to do, picked up some hints that something in the story doesn't work, can be improved, or should be done differently from what you've planned.\n\nIn most cases, it's a good thing. However, sometimes it can also be due to tiredness, fear (e.g. doing comedy where there should be dark drama), or just plain old procrastination.\n\nThe main thing to remember is that your first draft is a first draft, meaning it's a suggestion of what the final book might become.\n\nThe good thing is, you don't have to make all decisions now, just keep writing, if you go completely wrong and have to backtrack put the new material in a separate document for later review and give it another try.\n\nBut if you can keep going, do that. You will be surprised by what you think of the story once you've finished it as compared to what you think of it now.\n\nJust keep going. Postpone all \"bug fixing\" to editing."
},
{
"answer_id": 61810,
"author": "Daniel Wilson",
"author_id": 37231,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/37231",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Why is your character doing something \"out of character\" for him? Is his character more complex than previously revealed in the story? Did he act in panic? Was he intoxicated? Depressed?\n\nHumans are complex and often have exceptions to the things they \"never do\" or \"always say\". If your fictitious characters have some of those exceptions it makes them more believably -- as long as the exceptions are believable."
}
] |
2022/04/04
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61780",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54963/"
] |
61,781
|
English is not my first language.
I feel the obvious answer is just research, but I'm talking about very specific jobs in a different timeline.
My main character is from Colombia 1950s and is an assistant/son of a tailor.
It's just part of his life, not the overall focus of my story, but I do have to mention some scenarios where there's a time he's helping his father or where the plot is happening in their shop.
I know the common knowledge of how tailor shops work, but I have a hard time depicting years worth of expertise and knowledge on tailoring through the character. It doesn't help I'm neither Colombian nor know much about 1950s clothing in Colombia
Is there a site where I could get some proper research other than Wikipedia, or is there another solution I could hear of?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61783,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Overall, I'd suggest the site [Job Evaluator](https://job-evaluator.com/job-overview/). That link leads to the table of contents, which lists 120 jobs in alphabetical order.\n\nWithin that, this link is for Vaitons:\n\n[Vaiton Career: Salary, Outlook & 85+ Things You Have To Know](https://job-evaluator.com/tailor-career/)\n\nI did read some of that, it sounds reasonable and authentic. Below is a copy of the table of contents; I should think this will provide all the detail you need. 1950 would be similar, just pick the skills unlikely to change, and skills that don't depend on any computers or other modern technology.\n\nAs for salary, you can scale 2022 salaries back to 1950 using the Consumer Price Index, or if very early, by comparing something like gold prices or even what a day's wages could buy in terms of grain or something.\n\nFor 1950, multiply by 8.5%; so the median annual wage given for tailors in 2022, $41K per year, would be $3,485 per year in 1950. But would buy approximately the same things in terms of housing, food, clothing, entertainment, etc. (Presuming the things existed in 1950.)\n\nSo typical duties include hand-sewing, alterations (spelt \"alternations\" in the article), repairs, etc, besides custom fitting and making new clothes from scratch. A tailor requires a strong knowledge of sewing various kinds of stitching, and understanding of many fabrics (how they sew, cut, how they feel and what they weigh, how they breathe, wrinkle, insulate, the environments they are best in.)\n\nBut read for yourself.\n\nTable of Contents\n\n```\nWhat does a Vaiton do?\nResponsibilities & Duties of a Vaiton\nWhat a Typical Day of a Vaiton looks like?\nVaiton Salary 2022\n Vaiton salary brackets 2022\n Vaiton salary 2022 by expert level\n Vaiton salary by state 2022 (average)\nJob Security of Vaitons\nFuture Outlook of Vaitons\nWorking Hours of Vaitons\nJob Satisfaction of Vaitons\nPromotion Opportunities of Vaitons\nCareer Levels of Vaitons\nFields and Types of Vaitons\nEducational Requirements for Vaitons\nHow to become a Vaiton\nCharacter Traits you need as a Vaiton\nVaiton Skills\n Hard Skills for Vaitons\n Soft Skills for Vaitons\nExit Options for Vaitons\nVaiton – Similar Careers\nVaiton Career FAQs\n Is working as a tailor physically demanding?\n Is working as a tailor mentally demanding?\n Is it dangerous to work as a tailor?\n How long do tailors stay in their jobs?\n Is it easy for tailors to find a new job?\n Is it hard to switch from being a tailor to another field of work?\n Do tailors have a high social status?\n Can you help out your family and friends as a tailor?\n Can tailors work remotely?\n Is it easy to find a partner as a tailor?\n Do tailors have to work on weekends?\n Do tailors have to work on holidays?\n Do tailors have to work at nighttime?\n Do you have to travel as a tailor?\n Are tailor pensions good?\n Are tailor salaries going up?\n Can you have a positive impact on society as a tailor?\n How long does it take to become a tailor?\n Is it difficult to become a tailor?\n Do you need to be smart to work as a tailor?\n Do tailors have a good work-life balance?\n Do tailors have to work many extra hours?\n How to maximize your chances of becoming a tailor?\n Can tailors work part-time?\n Do tailors work indoors or outdoors?\n What does the workplace of a tailor look like?\n Do you have to look good for working as a tailor?\n Is a tailor career beneficial for your private life?\n Do you need a college degree for becoming a tailor?\n Do you need to be certified to work as a tailor?\n How much does it cost to become a tailor?\n Is being a tailor a good career?\n Is it easy to start your own business as a tailor?\n Can tailors teach themselves?\n Do tailors make good money?\n Is it ever too late to become a tailor?\n Do tailors have to quit their careers early?\n What is the hardest thing about working as a tailor?\n Can you provide for your family by working as a tailor?\n Will tailors suffer from old-age poverty?\n Can tailors retire early?\n Do tailors get a fixed or variable salary?\n Can you get rich as a tailor?\n Do tailors need a second job?\n Do you get continuous training as a tailor?\n Do you get sick pay as a tailor?\n Do tailors have a high level of responsibility?\n Can tailors work abroad?\n Is it stressful to work as a tailor?\n Is it boring to work as a tailor?\n Is being a tailor hard?\n Are tailors at risk of burnout?\n Is there a dress code for tailors?\n What kind of tailors are paid the most?\n What percentage of tailors are women?\n Do I need a mentor to succeed as a tailor?\n Do tailors have a high life expectancy?\n Do tailors suffer from sleeping problems?\n What states are best for working as a tailor?\n Who do tailors work with?\n Is working as a tailor cool?\n Can you start a side hustle as a tailor?\n Do you have to be creative as a tailor?\n Do tailors suffer from being overweight?\n How employable are tailors?\n Are tailors happy with their jobs?\n Is working as a tailor exciting?\n Can you have a positive impact on our environment as a tailor?\n What are the pros and cons of working as a tailor?\n\n```"
},
{
"answer_id": 61924,
"author": "Joelle Boulet",
"author_id": 13355,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13355",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The answer really is research. You can find lots of information just by searching online and refining your search terms. If you don't know what search terms to use then starting with wikipedia or a site like the \"Job Evaluator\" that Amaheor suggested can get you started.\n\nSince you are looking for something sufficiently recent as the 1900s you could try going to a local public archive. There you might find records from local tailor shops or photos, etc. While they don't match the setting of your story you can use them for more search terms and for the aspects of tailoring that are region independent (maybe aim a bit further back in time if your country would have been more technological in the 1950s than Colombia).\n\nAs for the clothing trends, you can look for photos from Columbia from that time frame. Looking explicitly for fashion photos will often restrict things to women's clothing but looking for workers or protestors or restaurants or shops would give a wider variety of subjects. Again though libraries and archives can help (though this time limited to online only). If you can find online archives of colombian newspapers could get you photos and if you can read spanish (or can put the articles through a translator) you could get some ideas about things that are important in that place and time (though be aware that journalists may have biases that will differ from the population somewhat).\n\nA final place to look would be to see if there is a Colombian cultural organization nearby your area. These kinds of organizations can be common wherever a large number of expats from some region move to. If so then they might have access to photos and newspaper articles and other materials from the time and place. You may even find someone you could ask directly some questions about living in Colombia and what things were like there in the 1950s.\n\n**TL;DR**\n\nThere isn't so much one website as the need to draw from multiple sources. For this searching online would help but if you don't know what searches to look for then libraries, archives, newspapers, and cultural organizations could help you formulate your search terms or even by providing the answers themselves."
}
] |
2022/04/04
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61781",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54963/"
] |
61,786
|
What should the table of contents look like? How would you organize it? The table of contents and how it's organized would be helpful in knowing how to write the documention for a program for a large company. Do you go button by button or UI element from left to right, or is there some other way you can organize it?
Let's assume it's made for users.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61788,
"author": "JonStonecash",
"author_id": 23701,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23701",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "The key question is, who is the audience for the documentation?\n\nPossible answers: people who are trying to learn how to accomplish one of several tasks, the testers performing quality assurance testing, the lawyers who are establishing boundaries about the software does, and prospective buyers who want to know if the software provides specific functionality.\n\nEach of these groups (and others) would benefit from a document tailored to their needs. Most users of a large, complex package like Microsoft Word use only a small fraction of the features. If I do not use footnoting in my work, I do not want to wade through a detailed explanation of the feature in order to find out how to do the thing that I really want to do.\n\nThe next problem is cost. Each of these tailored documents will cost money to create and more money to maintain. It is unlikely that every audience can or will be served. Too often, this means that the bare minimum of documentation is produced by technical writers who are not given the time or resources to do anything more than enumerate the buttons and UI elements."
},
{
"answer_id": 61802,
"author": "Books",
"author_id": 54977,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54977",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Any software user guide will be a complex document no matter how you create it.\nBy far the best option these days is to create it as an e-book style PDF complete with a comprehensive (three-levels) table of contents for ease of navigation and rapid access to any written content.\n\nHowever, since the advent of really good and easy-to-use screen capture and video editing software, combining an e-book along with clickable hyperlinks or static links to a video library playlist makes this a breeze.\n\nUsing three of the world’s best software applications to accomplish this is easier than you might think. The addition of a google account and a YouTube creator’s account makes all this possible.\n\nSpeech recognition software enables seriously fast compilation of any document, the optional additions of Grammarly and Snagit complete the list of items needed to create any style of professional workbook, workshop manual or user guide.\n\nThe learning curve to do all this efficiently, professionally, and for the lowest possible cost is a steep one. But well worth the effort.\nThe needs of the end-user are the critical criteria that dictate specifically how your document must be created and presented.\n\nYou will gain immediate feedback from your user guides, both the written content and the linked video content, from the very second that someone puts them into practice in real-time.\n\nIf you’ve made any blunders anywhere, they will be rapidly pointed out to you!\nThen comes the time for some very quick modifications to your user guide content and a quick republish and the job is done.\n\nIf you are producing hardcopy documentation then you will need to use a print on demand service as your users require it, and as a paid-for version, because if you produce hardcopy as a stock item it is virtually impossible to rectify any issues once print production has started and filters into any distribution network.\nYour stock will become unusable and unsaleable and your business reputation and your bank balance will be permanently tarnished.\n\nAn e-book, on the other hand, does not suffer from the above ailments and can be modified as required and back into circulation the same day whether product delivery is by a link in an email or a website download location.\n\nVideo content produced as supporting content for the e-book can also be very rapidly correctly reproduced and back into circulation the same day.\n\nI find that software user guides are best produced as a multi-video content displayed playlist, and also with a comprehensive and well-detailed table of contents for ease of user navigation throughout the contents.\n\nFor example; if it takes two hours to go through a particular software showing all the functions, it’s better to separate all those functions into separate videos.\n\nYour goal should be to produce videos of say 15 minutes in length for the comfort of user absorption or of a duration enough to cover the particular software functions that can be broken down or segmented.\n\nThe days of filling a hardcopy book with hundreds of screenshots (very time-consuming to create) of software demonstrations are over.\n\nI’ve produced all manner of user guides, workbooks and workshop manuals for everything from software to mechanical items over the past 20 years. It’s standard practice for me to offer everything in all formats.\n\nThe e-book with linked video content wins hands down every time these days and is almost always chosen as the preferred medium for accepting complex or tedious information.\n\nWhen you ask your end-users what they want, and how they want it delivered, the response is usually rapid and precise.\n\nAn ‘ask campaign’ works very well for any informational product."
}
] |
2022/04/05
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61786",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,789
|
Is there a time where a character's death in a story would be unnecessary? Not the main character, but someone really important to the protagonist like a caretaker/parent to advance the plot?
Deaths in fiction are mostly used for motivators like revenge/justice/character arc etc.
People around me told me that it's "lazy and cliche" and that there's ways for me to move a story differently without it.
I do plan to use a character death for my coming of age story to showcase one of the trials and tribulations he has to overcome.
Is it bad/lazy writing? Should I scrap the idea and come up with a different plot advancement?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61790,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "Yes, sometimes it is entirely unnecessary to kill a character.\n\nIf you just need to get the character \"out of the way\", for example so that the main character can no longer rely on their help and has to step up himself/herself, then you can have them move abroad, get captured, fall into a coma, get into a fight with the main character (and be unwilling to help), etc. In this case, choosing to kill them just because that's the first thing that comes to mind, could be considered lazy. And it is definitely cliche if the character is a mentor figure or another likely-to-die-along-the-way trope.\n\nHowever, it is also possible that the death itself is necessary to the plot. That could be for the unique emotional impact of death, or maybe so they can come back as a ghost or zombie, or so the main character can meet them in the afterlife, or whatever. In those cases you can't avoid it, because you won't be able to write your story otherwise.\n\nSo the question to ask yourself is: does the death of this character serve my story better than the alternatives? Aspects like how cliche/expected it is has some influence on that, because readers may just shrug it off."
},
{
"answer_id": 61791,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Death can be an irreplaceable motivator. It can also be an enabler. It can also be the reason for a person's personality and outlook on life.\n\nIn \"Sleepless in Seattle\", the entire story hinges on the fact that the male lead's wife has died, and his son needs a new mother. She has to be dead, not just disabled, not just divorced, to enable the plot.\n\nIn one of my stories, the female hero has a first love and first lover that dies, when they are teens, in part because of an impulsive decision by her. She holds him as he dies, knowing her impulsive decision is the reason he is injured, and dies.\n\nNo, they can't just break up. Her motivation in the story depends heavily on her guilt; the entire course of her life is changed by her guilt, in a way that is implausible for any break up. We can get over break ups. We don't get over causing somebody's death, a sensitive person can carry that guilt to the grave.\n\nIt is possible you can think of a way around killing a character, but it may come across as unrealistic. Sleepless in Seattle is an example, the story would have to be completely different if the wife of Poz Henkd was alive and well. We just don't have the same sympathy for a divorced Dad as a young Widower, and why is he \"sleepless\" if not grieving? Why would an engaged Meg Ryan obsess over him?\n\nSleepless in Seattle is unrealistic if the wife of Poz Henkd is alive; it is a different story requiring much more explanation to be plausible.\n\nAnd the same is true in many stories, death is the ultimate motivation, and for villains, the ultimate punishment, cheered if they are particularly vile and harm innocents, like women and children.\n\nThe psychology of an audience is not necessarily the same as their real-life philosophy. In fiction, it is okay to harm the bad guys, especially when the author goes out of their way to provide the proof that the bad guys **are** bad guys that harm innocents. So harm in return is justified.\n\nIn real life, we are seldom offered the same conclusive proof, and so our opinions are changed or modified. Just in case we are punishing an innocent person, perhaps we should not be so harsh, and should focus on prevention of further harm instead of focusing on vengeance.\n\nIn fiction, you can justify vengeance. And you aren't really hurting anybody if you kill a character. If you write well they may *feel* real, but they are just a figment of imagination. No actual persons or animals were harmed in the writing of this novel.\n\nFeel free to devise characters to be killed that will arouse the emotions of the audience. Mentors, lovers, innocents, even children. Few things can be more life-changing than the death of a loved one, and what we write about is often the highs and lows of life. Often exaggerated."
},
{
"answer_id": 61803,
"author": "Obie 2.0",
"author_id": 26982,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26982",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes, it can be unnecessary.\n\nAs you say, \"Deaths in fiction are mostly used for motivators like revenge/justice/character arc etc.\" Death and loss can be ways to move characters forward, but they are not the only things that can motivate people.\nUnfortunately, the simplicity of character death does mean that it tends to be overused as a means of moving a story forward. The death of a parent or other guardian is a particularly well-used trope in this regard. Of course, there is a reason for this: people *do* tend to be strongly affected by the loss of people who filled a parental role in their lives, and this *can* influence their future actions. Fiction tends to take this to extremes, though: a parent in any given heroic adventure or coming-of-age story where characters can die at all has at least a 50% chance of dying, and instead of the protagonist moving on eventually as most people do, it *will* become the driving force behind their actions. That is likely what people mean when they tell you that is lazy and cliche.\n\nSimilar problems can arise with other character deaths. One example would be that some groups frequently end up slotted into the \"minor character\" slot, to be killed off at leisure regardless of plausibility while the main characters survive implausible odds: for instance, at least in the United States, LBGTQ and Black characters tend to die disproportionately in many works of fiction for this and other reasons.\n\nThere are at least two possible, opposite, but not completely exclusive ways of mitigating these issues. You can go for some degree of verisimilitude: people will sometimes die, but it won't be a question of how convenient it is for other characters' stories. Alternately, or additionally, you can try to make sure that characters only die when it is an unavoidable part of the plot.\n\nFiction is not life, of course, but verisimilitude can be a valuable aspect of many stories, and can help mitigate the problematic aspects of killing characters off because of the role they fill in a story (e.g., parent, love interest, disposable redshirt). A commitment to verisimilitude means that your traditionally disposable characters will most likely (but not always!) survive and your traditionally immortal characters will be at risk. One example of a story (in my opinion) does this well is the TV series *Midnight Mass*: midway through the story,\n\n> \n> the character who has been the central protagonist dies, and his ex-girlfriend takes over as the primary protagonist.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThey don't die as a heroic sacrifice, nor is their death just a piece in someone else's story. It is just one of those things that happens, just like death really *is* one of those things that happen. It is given meaning, but by the character accepting their death and how they and others process it, not as the culmination of their entire plot arc.\n\nOf course, nor is verisimilitude the be-all and end-all: if your heroic Starfleet captain protagonist is killed by a stray Klingon torpedo in the middle of a pitched battle midway through a season, it may certainly be realistic for the situation, but it is also likely to be deeply unsatisfying for the audience. Unless you are completely dedicated to a particular artistic vision for the story where anyone truly can die at any time if it would make sense in real life under comparable circumstances, this is where it can also be helpful to consider whether a character's death is essential to the plotline.\n\nIn this case, for instance, if you are aiming for a certain plotline caused by the character having faced difficult circumstances in their life, and the death of their caretaker is just a tool for that, consider, for instance:\n\n* Could it also work to have their caretaker be (or become) abusive or emotionally distant?\n* Could it also work to have them separated from their caretaker by some means, such as deportation, imprisonment, a business trip, or just growing up and moving away?\n* Does the death that affects them have to be their caregiver? Sometimes the deaths of other relatives, friends, or complete strangers can have an equally powerful effect on someone's life."
},
{
"answer_id": 61813,
"author": "Peter - Reinstate Monica",
"author_id": 28730,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/28730",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Death and birth are the two most profound and, literally, existential human experiences. They are at the center of many works of art. If you need the existential experience of death, somebody will have to die. In that case it is absolutely necessary. Separation, injury, insanity: Nothing equals the transition from being into not being.\n\nThat said, if you play a loud instrument it'd be nice if you played it well.\n\nOne thought: I very much liked Richard Linklater's [Boyhood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyhood_(2014_film)), which I recommend watching if you are interested in adolescence. The main character experiences a couple of life-threatening events (a drunk drive with his step dad, throwing sharp implements at each other) without him or somebody else actually dying. I thought that was great writing. Lesser authors would perhaps have let one of these events go wrong (I was half expecting it each time), and that might have come across as cheap emotion-squeezing. Instead, the looming possibility emphasized how precarious our existence is: The possibility of destruction is always there. Alas, thank goodness, it doesn't often materialize. A great move by Linklater.\n\nSo the answer to your question is, a bit tongue-in-cheek: If it is necessary, it is necessary. If not, then not."
}
] |
2022/04/05
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61789",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54963/"
] |
61,794
|
I wanted to ask this question after seeing [this question](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/61768/what-are-some-guidelines-on-writing-the-filler-scenes-after-you-lay-out-the-plot). The two question are similar but kind of touch on somewhat different topics.
Specifically, I am wondering what one should do about "fake" filler scenes. That is, scenes that on the surface look like filler, but are necessary for the story in order to make the plot make sense. Typically these often add important foreshadowing, reveal plot-critical details about the characters, or reveal key details that make later developments make sense. They will often seem banal at first glance, but if these scenes are removed the story falls apart. These kinds of scenes are done easily and frequently in television or long-running comic format, as there is more for filler, but cannot easily be done in movies or books.
A good example of "fake filler" might be the episode "Riddle of the Sphinx" in the animated series *Generator Rex*. In this episode the heroes fight what appears to be a one-off villain that seems to be part of a simple monster-of-the-week story unrelated to anything important, only for the very last scene to reveal that the monster was actually created by one of the series' overarching villains and thus important for the main story.
Or, this is another example from my own writing (and shows how it kind of falls apart outside of television). I have two plot elements that involve significant betrayal, one in which a character feels torn between their conflicting loyalties and the chaos that erupts when said loyalties are exposed, and another where a character posing as a parental figure turns out to be the story's primary villain. *However*, unless those emotional connections are established beforehand, which are the type of character developments that generally take several subtle scenes instead of a few big dramatic flourishes, they have no meaning to the reader and it comes across as telling, not showing.
* In the first case, the plot revolves around a villain character (not *the* villain, but a high-ranking minion) who infiltrates the heroes but ends up falling in love with one of the protagonists. The climax is basically the truth gets out and everything descends into chaos. *However*, unless there are sufficient scenes establishing how these characters feel about one another ahead of time, the reader feels like they are being told how the characters feel about one another, rather than shown, and thus the events of the climax have no emotional resonance. The scenes *are* important, but they're subtle character-building and not action-heavy in an otherwise action-heavy story and put the "action" part of the plot on hold. There are few story beats between **"villain infiltrates heroes"** -> **"villain and protagonist get a crush on one another and villain becomes conflicted"** -> **"villain's true nature gets revealed"**. I thought about adding some B plot to keep the tension up while the romance arc and character development happens in the background but the problem is...those scenes would be *actual* filler. As in they would only exist to waste the reader's time long enough for the characters to start developing a budding romance.
* In the second case, the character is *the* villain the book revolves around. Their actions effectively drive the conflict, but until they betray the heroes there is no conflict. Yet they don't exist until the book begins, so unless there is some buildup to flesh out their relationships with other characters their betrayal has no emotional weight to the reader. *Starting* the story with their betrayal results in a "who is this and why should we care" reaction from the reader, so it's not possible to move the beginning there to "[start as close to the end as possible](https://www.themarginalian.org/2012/04/03/kurt-vonnegut-on-writing-stories/#:%7E:text=Every%20sentence%20must%20do%20one,what%20they%20are%20made%20of.)", because there's no context. I considered introducing a "B villain" group to act as antagonists until the reveal but that effectively inverts the problem, now you have a secondary villain group whose actions are meaningless because their whole purpose is to distract the reader until the real antagonist is ready to move, and would play no further role in the plot.
Notably, these characters are in different stories, so the two cannot be put together to solve the issue.
**Given this, how do you handle more subtle scenes that might halt significant action and come off as filler but overall are necessary foreshadowing or character development for the plot to work?**
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61797,
"author": "Mary",
"author_id": 44281,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/44281",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Disguise them.\n\nIt is, admittedly, very difficult, but the scenes have to be made interesting in their own right at the time. (As an added bonus, this distracts from their purpose in the larger plot, so the reader is more likely to be surprised and yet satisfied.)\n\nIn particular, the two cases you mention call for *bridging conflict*. That is, there has to be some conflict they are working on together to show the relationship, but which ends plausibly when the story swerves. This should be something that will draw out the relationship's strong and weak points as best as possible."
},
{
"answer_id": 61807,
"author": "codeMonkey",
"author_id": 40325,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/40325",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Sub Plots are Real Plots\n------------------------\n\nIf your sub plot:\n\n1. Has a central conflict\n2. Has someone taking a risk in an attempt to solve that conflict\n3. Reveals something about a character's values\n\nCongratulations! Your sub plot is a real plot that adds value to your story.\n\nRun with your B plot."
},
{
"answer_id": 61816,
"author": "Arcanist Lupus",
"author_id": 27311,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/27311",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Your scenes should be doing more than one thing at a time\n---------------------------------------------------------\n\nYou should aim for your scenes to have multiple purposes. A single scene can develop character, advance the plot, and expand the worldbuilding all at the same time. If the reader thinks that they know what the primary purpose of the scene is, they won't look as closely at the hidden secret purposes.\n\nFor example:\n\nIn the first Hijrp Potfeq book, Herrl opens a chocolate frog card on the train. The obvious purposes of this scene are to emphasize how unfamiliar the Wizarding World is to Herrl, and to introduce Dumbledore as a character. But the text of the card itself will turn out to be an important plot point later, allowing then to learn about the Philosopher's Stone."
}
] |
2022/04/05
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61794",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/43118/"
] |
61,796
|
The ["jump scare"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_scare) is a standard storytelling technique in horror and science fiction film and video games, in which a very rapid transition (stereotypically, a creature literally jumping up at the camera) is used to create a sharp emotional shock to the viewer.
I've been reading a fair amount of classic horror (primarily H. P. Lovecraft), and I *never* see jump scares used. Rather, the most common horror technique is gradual narration of unspeakable abominations over several paragraphs, pages, or chapters which slowly builds emotional tension. More things are left to implication than explicitly stated (e.g. describing a torture rack without saying who, if anyone, was tortured on it). Writing, "Suddenly, a twelve-tentacled beast resembling that of the squidlike predators of Arcturus VII hit the spaceship's cockpit window!" doesn't give the same emotional effect because it is filtered through the literacy areas of the reader's brain and broken down there rather than experienced directly through the fundamental human senses.
My question is, is there a way to write an effective "jump scare" in a short story or novel or do jump scares only work in screen-driven media? Are there specific written works that demonstrate effective use of horror-style jump scares?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61804,
"author": "Murphy L.",
"author_id": 52858,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52858",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Put it in a new paragraph, and make it as abrupt and quick as possible. Don't use descriptions of what happens, and definitely don't delay it with words like 'suddenly' or 'and then'.\n\n> \n> Owna walks through the corridors of the mansion, dark and empty. The floorboards creak underneath each of her footsteps. She searches though, room after room, doorway after doorway, inhabited merely by cobwebs. \"It's got to be here somewhere.\" she mutters to herself, only barely louder than the pouring rain outside. The end of the hallway comes, and she opens the final screeching door. The hinges rub and squeak, and the darkness emerges from the room. The light flickers for a few seconds, then gives up and returns the darkness. She had made it to the middle of the massive ballroom by then, and had found nothing of true value, other than a pair of doors on the other side. A creaking emerges from behind her. The door closes, removing any remaining orange from the room. The only light left is that of lightning through the windows. The only sound is the rain and whispering wind.\n> \n> \n> She screams.\n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 61828,
"author": "SFWriter",
"author_id": 26683,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26683",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I believe you are right. Jump scares are most effective when visual. The closest, in literature, is the screenwriting advice: When stuck, have someone burst in with a gun.\n\nBut the question reminds me of other advice: Writing has advantages not available to visual media.\n\nThe written word lights up new portions of our brains, it draws us in, seduces us in ways films can't.\n\nIt seems you're trying to 'show' something for effect, in writing, but consider that you might be missing other tools. Film is limited to 'showing,' whereas literature has the luxury of showing and also telling. Effective telling, interiority to character, and it's powerful.\n\nSo, you are right I think, but another question is: How does horror literature evoke emotion without relying on techniques like the 'jump scare'? May or may not open new doors for you."
},
{
"answer_id": 61835,
"author": "Sean OConnor",
"author_id": 55014,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55014",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes. The bit in 1984 where the voice says \"You are the dead\" just about made me jump out of my skin.\nThe scene was detailed, first cerebral, then intimate, full of emotional impact, using metaphors, etc. Most importantly, it featured two, and only two characters. The direct, unintroduced address of the two characters by a third was shocking."
},
{
"answer_id": 61858,
"author": "Michael Lorton",
"author_id": 1125,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/1125",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is an issue with pacing. A movie has a jump scare and the viewer instinctively processes the sight and the sound, and it goes right to his physiological response. He will move in his seat, his heart-rate will go up.\n\nReading is a far more intellectual process: the reader sees the text and various parts of her brain unpack its meaning. Because it is gradual, telling her “There was a loud noise and a sudden movement — but it was only a cat!” has very little emotional effect.\n\nAs a writer, you have two choices.\n\nOne is to gradually create the emotion you want over paragraphs and pages — a creeping sense of dread, looming danger to the protagonist, whatever.\n\nThe other choice — which unlike a jump-scare is actually more difficult than suspenseful writing — is the [wham line](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WhamLine/Literature). It’s effectively the intellectual equivalent of a jump-scare, but it only is scary *once you understand it*. Nothing in the actual text is necessarily scary, you have to consider the implications and then... wham!\n\nTVTropes cites a line from the first *Hijrp Potfeq* book:\n\n> \n> It wasn’t Snape. It wasn’t even Voldemort. It was Quirrell.\n> \n> \n> \n\nI have no idea what that actually means. I assume the three proper nouns are three characters in the story, the first two of whom are known to be antagonistic, but the third was not.\n\nFor the reader, who has been following the characters and internalized their roles, apparently this was quite the jolt."
}
] |
2022/04/06
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61796",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/22049/"
] |
61,799
|
How do you clue in your readers as to what your theme is, especially when the theme is morally wrong? Let's say your theme is: Survival is the most important thing, and to survive you must be willing to commit any crime. Because this theme is so wrong, it's difficult to assume your readers will understand what the theme of your story is since it's a theme that's rarely if ever adopted by an author. How do you clue in your readers to that?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61805,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "In movie scripts, they often want the theme expressed early in the film; somewhere before the inciting incident. Usually this is expressed in some form by one character summing up a situation for another; that character may be the protagonist or anybody talking to the protagonist; even an extra, a homeless bum.\n\n> \n> \"What goes around, comes around.\"\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> \"You can whine about it, or do something about it.\"\n> \n> \n> \n\nIn your case, the line might be something like, in response to a news story:\n\n> \n> \"I get it. He had to save his kid. Who cares about a train full of strangers?\"\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> \"Screw morality, I'd go down swingin' too.\"\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> \"Our morality shrinks as our desperation grows. Remember that.\"\n> \n> \n> \n\nIf you can have a character quickly state your theme explicitly and sound natural, fine. Otherwise, just allude to it, as I have done. And invent situations in which the characters, even walk ons, **exemplify** the theme. Don't keep stating it."
},
{
"answer_id": 61808,
"author": "user2352714",
"author_id": 43118,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/43118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm a little confused as to what you mean by the moral/theme of a story being \"morally wrong\", and this ties into the general answer to your question.\n\nThe entire point of the theme of a story is to reveal some moral truth about the way the world works (or at least how the author believes the world works). This is why it's often called \"the moral of the story\". Imparting moral wisdom and life lessons is the entire reason humans started telling each other stories in the first place.\n\nThus, the theme of the story must be something that you, as the author, actually believe. \"Morally wrong\" implies that you, as the author, do not believe in the moral message of your own story, because per your own words you have a moral compass and this message is illegitimate according to your own sense of right and wrong. The theme and moral should flow naturally from the story. If you don't believe in your own conclusion you can't make an honest argument.\n\nNow, if *you* believe this to be true and you are trying to convince *other people* of its validity, you have an entirely different problem: no one will want to read your story.\n\nHumans are generally pro-social animals, and as a result any story that tries to promote unprovoked aggression as a *good* thing (i.e., \"commit any crime to survive\" as you state, which would include things like assault and murder) will set off red flags and disgust most people. Committing unprovoked aggression against other members of the in-group (and sometimes the outgroup) is *the* worst sin a person can commit in every single human society on the planet. There *are* published authors who try to promote similar \"subversive\", pro-aggression messages, such as Ayn Rand or the Marquis de Sade, but also note that these authors have a very small fanbase and the average person considers them deranged.\n\nAt worst, people will just find the story distasteful and...not read it. At best, they'll read it and deliberately misinterpret the message because the moral is just so alien to human sensibilities no one will be able to resonate with it. There are plenty of cases where an author intended one moral message in a story and the audience gleefully ignored it for whatever reason.\n\nIt's not possible for an author to force people to agree with their moral stance, merely present their moral argument as to why they think the way they do, and if someone's morals are so warped and alien they come off as disturbed in contrast, most people won't listen to what they have to say."
},
{
"answer_id": 61814,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Progression:\n============\n\nThe logical way to introduce this idea to your reader is for the characters to have to make a series of increasingly questionable actions to survive or thrive. But you can be subtle about it, if you want. Give a character an opportunity to do the right thing, but make it a bitter experience when they choose the \"right\" thing. The nun they save isn't a nun, but a prostitute in a costume. Or they rescue someone who then steals something from them they need to survive (triggering a series of increasingly desperate choices...). The goal is to embitter the character so we empathize with their seemingly flawed choices. After all, the 'other' they harm would have stabbed them in the back just as readily.\n\n* If the goal is to point out the evil intrinsic in the character from the beginning, then have the character do something small and petty and selfish, like throwing away a solicitation from a charity. This draws attention to the character being impure from the get-go. Evil in small things indicating evil in big things. But the character can verbally espouse good values at the same time (\"we should give to charity - but not today.\") to emphasize the hypocrisy.\n* If the goal is to track the declining morality of the characters, then make them do something bad while trying to get revenge for their betrayal. The person steals their water, and they destroy the water rather than let the thief keep it. They would rather condemn the thief to death than see them succeed at the character's own expense. But then when confronted with the same opportunity to steal the means of survival, the character can make the same flawed but necessary choice as the thief.\n* Some people will lead with a prelude including the character doing the most despicable thing possible to survive. Then it cuts back to the seemingly innocent and good character earlier, and the reader is left to wonder what series of terrible events or choices led to the good character doing something so terrible."
}
] |
2022/04/06
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61799",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,809
|
I'm writing a story where the main character wakes up on a boat with no memory, and throughout the story his past will be revealed, along with other characters in the story. It's written from the main character's perspective, but I don't know if the flashbacks should be first person or third. I also want to tell parts of the story when the main character isn't there, so the reader can know details that the main character doesn't. I was thinking just writing the main story in 3rd person, but I can't because the main character doesn't know his name for the first chapter. Any help?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 62284,
"author": "Nora Smith",
"author_id": 55519,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55519",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "First of all, when writing a flashback with the character not having any memory of this flashback you might want to write the story in the third person at the beginning since it wouldn't make sense for the story to switch perspectives. However, there are many award-winning books that switch between first-person and third-person and it would be more understandable and logical to change from first person to third person. For example, \"The Lace Reader\" by Brunonia Barry switches from the main character and her POV to the third person when the other main character tells his story. I hope this helps and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask."
},
{
"answer_id": 62286,
"author": "Wyvern123",
"author_id": 55118,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55118",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would honestly use third person--if the main character has lost his/her name, it might be confusing having a third-person shift, but done correctly you can make it clear that the person on the boat is the person in the flashback."
},
{
"answer_id": 62287,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think that I have a quibble with a character who has lost their memory having a flashback. It is entirely appropriate for a novel to have time shifts -- forwards and backward -- so in that sense, it would be entirely appropriate for some scenes show the character after they've lost their memory and have other scenes before the character lost their memory.\n\nAs for POV, it doesn't matter which you choose from a character standpoint. 1st or 3rd will work equally well and have natural trade-offs depending on your goals as a storyteller. Though, in 3rd person POV, the narrator isn’t the POV character and it would be strange for the narrator to have memory loss. This doesn’t present any problem for first person POV since the character is the narrator.\n\nI think that the deciding factor is in the two POVs, does the reader know this is the same character? If so, then it would be important to give the character a consistent voice. And, this might be a challenge if the post-memory-loss character is saintly like Mother Thersa and the pre-memory-loss character is akin to Atila the Hun. Both character need to sound kind of similar since the reader knows both are the same individual.\n\nThen, if the reader isn't supposed to know both characters are the same person, then they'd have different voices. But, as the story is getting nearer to the reveal then might need to converge, so that the reader understands how this pre-memory-loss character became the post-memory loss character."
},
{
"answer_id": 62290,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Life is Like a Dream:\n=====================\n\nFirst, I think this is a style question, and there will be as many right answers as people with artistic vision. BUT if I was writing something like that, I would treat flashbacks the character us unaware of as third person recounting of story.\n\nIf the character is remembering things they don't properly \"remember\", I would treat it in third person as well, describing it like a dream. If needed, the character can tell the memory like he's watching someone else performing the actions. In a real sense, they ARE just watching someone else (their previous self) doing things the main character (the amnesiac) didn't do. If they regain their memories, then old and new are re-integrated. If not, they are two separate people."
}
] |
2022/04/06
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61809",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54984/"
] |
61,817
|
I was considering the use of filler chapters in my story, to flesh out the character's problems and daily life. These don't necessary progress the plot, but they do help the characters' relationships with each other to grow and develop and be useful for the plot. However, it seems like a bad idea as the more progressive it is, the better the story. I'd also have to consider the pacing, as the existence of filler chapters seems to make it looks slow.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61818,
"author": "Phil S",
"author_id": 52375,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52375",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "You've correctly identified that you shouldn't be using \"filler\" chapters to bulk something out, and I sympathise that you don't want to force the pace/action into the scenes just to fulfil the requirement.\n\nThere's not an easy answer to this - some readers may get bored if nothing \"is happening\", but you also don't want to force this character building/bonding into other scenes and dilute them too much.\n\nIs there no suitable \"downtime\" between action (generally you write the interesting bits, then dodge the rest) where this could fit better? Remember that some slower paced action amongst the rest can provide the reader with a nice little break, and reset their appetite for more action - provided it doesn't last too long.\n\nWhat is the \"dramatic question\" for these scenes? Is there any tension that you could be building with these chapters?\n\nMost fundamentally of all, are these \"filler\" chapters enjoyable to read? Personally, I'm quite happy to read something slower if I like the characters, what they're talking about is interesting, and the piece is well written."
},
{
"answer_id": 61819,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "You have about 1/4 of the story (Act I), upfront, in which the audience is *expecting* you to introduce and flesh out the personalities of the characters. This is when the audience will forgive some stalls and such. There is often some sort of action in the middle of Act I, the \"inciting incident\" or crisis that is going to begin the plot, but even that doesn't mean the end of fleshing out the characters. The hero(es) will not be forced out of their \"normal world\" until the end of Act I, which is when the inciting incident or crisis has proven intractable to address and dismiss as a \"normal\" problem they could handle while continuing their normal life.\n\nSo to start, I suspect you are starting your action too early, jumping into it before you have told us who is who, and letting us in on a glimpse of their early life.\n\nAfter that, in Act IIa and IIb, action should rise and fall; successes and failures, battles and rest. It is in-between the battles that you can further advance the personal plots and such for the characters.\n\nIn a typical movie, we see this character development in the lulls between the action; quiet talk during travel, during rest, during eating. That is how the \"B\" story (usually a romance) develops; we alternate between the \"A\" story (action and suspense) and the \"B\" story (the transition breaks between action scenes, these are more reflective, conversational, and often tender or character revealing).\n\nEven most action movies are not non-stop action. But if you are writing wall-to-wall action, then don't worry about character development. The audience is absorbed in the action."
}
] |
2022/04/07
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61817",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689/"
] |
61,823
|
Let's say you make your character use a special magic wand to kill his opponent, but you forgot to mention and describe what the wand was, can you do a flashback as soon as your character brandishes the wand or after he uses it? If it's a bad thing to do, what can you do to make it work since there's no going back when you wrote the story and it was already published (novel series, television episode, etc.).
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61825,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "Not really, it is not ok. You **can** do a flashback; but it will still seem to the audience a deus ex machina.\n\nReaders aren't stupid and they expect characters to survive by wits, not luck. This seems to be a situation where the writer didn't know what to do, so they come up with a flashback that is so important it *should* have been mentioned before, and *oh so conveniently* saves the day in what looks like an unwinnable situation.\n\nThink 007, he is always getting out of scrapes with magical-seeming devices, but the authors are always careful to have Q, before the mission starts, provide him with just the equipment he will need later in the show. An exploding watch that can destroy a room, carbon nano-fiber that can cut through steel, machine guns behind his headlights, a driver's seat that ejects with a parachute in the back, so 007 can drive off a cliff if he needs to (and of course he needs to). Even that is recognizable as a deus ex machina, Q is a bona fide fortune teller to predict so accurately what 007 will need.\n\nIf you have written yourself into a corner, put a scene early in the current work which still **can** be changed, to provide the hero with something that will preferably *assist* them in getting out of the scrape. Preferably, it is not a cannon, but perhaps some sort of innocuous distraction. Instead of a magic wand, say a magic coin. And it doesn't kill the bad guy, when the hero tosses it into the air, it flashes so bright it temporarily blinds everybody with their eyes open. The hero closes his eyes, tosses it, and has a few seconds to do something the villain cannot see, including rushing and killing the villain. Even the hero, when he gets it early on, isn't sure what it is good for, other than a party trick. What can I do in two seconds? (Well, turns out, stab somebody in the throat that cannot see you coming.)\n\nThis trick or some other, do not ever make it easy on your hero. **The hero** must be the one that thinks creatively under pressure and comes up with how to use the party trick to win the battle.\n\nEven my example, off the top of my head, is probably too obvious. You have the advantage, as an author, of being able to think all day about a non-obvious use of a magical trick we would not expect in battle, that your hero can then think of in an instant. The more clever and unexpected the use, the more delighted the audience will be. So write an early scene where the hero acquires some magical item that seems useless in battle, but provides him the distraction he needs to escape or defeat the villain."
},
{
"answer_id": 61830,
"author": "Kate Gregory",
"author_id": 15601,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/15601",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you really are releasing your story in pieces, and at the high point of piece #7, you want your character to use an item that they must have obtained back in piece #3, but you didn't mention in piece #3, don't interrupt the action to flashback and explain where the item came from. Make it a mystery. Describe what's happening (a glow coming from the character's hand, or the opponent just freezing in place for no apparent reason) and all the consequences with little exposition at all. Then, when the excitement is all over, have another character (representing the audience) ask \"what was THAT?\".\n\nAt this point your character can explain why this is in fact not a total surprise you just pulled out of nowhere because you didn't have a good way to end the battle. Ideally, this explanation would refer only to things you showed the audience in earlier pieces (say an aside in narration about 3 days of boring training we would never need, or a dumb heavy pack they all have to carry for no reason) that now gain significance as the character explains them. But if you're really stuck, it might be enough that the other character already knew about them.\n\n> \n> What was THAT?\n> \n> \n> A thermo-thauma bridge, of course. [Cheerful smile.] Mediated through a pencil because that's all I had. You didn't skip the third day of thermo training, did you? That's when it really got useful.\n> \n> \n> The first two days were so boring, I went to the health centre and got a skip note.\n> \n> \n> Well, I bet you're glad I didn't!\n> \n> \n> \n\nIt might take you a while, but look back through your earlier pieces for some \"blah blah blah\" moments like training you don't describe, reading you don't describe, annoying packing or supply lists, and see if you can pretend you meant those all along to be foreshadowings of this moment.\n\nIn general, having a huge crisis resolve quickly and very easily, relying on something not previously shown to the audience, is a deus ex machina, a god in the machine, and not a good thing. We have a number of [questions tagged with that](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/deus-ex-machina). The key to DEM prevention is foreshadowing, and this question is specifically about what to do when foreshadowing isn't available to you. Still, reading those questions may give you some more possibilities, or help you tone down that last-minute \"oh yeah, I do have this magic wand in my pocket that I never mentioned before\" that strains credibility.\n\nThere is another option which is to build up the item as the crisis builds. Like something is warm, or vibrating, or I-can't-explain-it-but-its-calling-me in the hero's backpack, or sewn into the lining of a coat. [Ideally you can call back here to something the audience did see when they got their backpack or picked up the stick for another reason.] Eventually our hero has to stop whatever crucial thing they're doing to pick the item up, causing some mini crisis like losing their weapon or getting separated from the group, and things get worse, and the item glows brighter or whatever, and then it ends up in their hand (since they don't have a weapon) and then -- BLAMMO! -- so the hero discovers this amazing power at the same time as the audience. But that is much harder to write."
},
{
"answer_id": 61833,
"author": "Tom",
"author_id": 29863,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/29863",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Another way to avert sudden death is to have something random interfere, such that the coup de grace is spent and the villain caught off-guard.\n\nExample: hero is bound in a chair, and the villain points a gun at the hero's head. The chair unexpectedly breaks a split-second before the villain pulls the trigger, making the bullet miss and partially freeing the hero, who then scrambles away in the two or three seconds it takes the villain to process what just happened.\n\nTo disguise and mitigate the *deus ex machina* nature of this sort of thing, make the event (1) not caused deliberately by intelligent actors, (2) kind of unpleasant for the hero, and (3) merely avert the worst rather than completely turning the tables.\n\nIn the chair example, the chair presumably breaks because it is old and under special strain because it's tied to an anxiously writhing human. This could be foreshadowed *in the current episode* by describing creaking sounds as the hero is tied to it, or by pointedly noting the decrepitude of other objects in the area when it is introduced, or even by having the hero mentally contemplate the way their own body will decompose when it's left here after their execution.\n\nIn a scenario where the imminent danger is a magical attack, perhaps it's enough simply to distract the villain with a sudden beam of light caused by the rising/setting sun, or with a suspicious noise from another room that prompts them to pause out of caution or fear of discovery. Or even an allergic sneeze, which then does double-duty as character development for the villain."
},
{
"answer_id": 61838,
"author": "vsz",
"author_id": 19704,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/19704",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Why the need for having the flashback *\"as soon as your character brandishes the wand or after he uses it\"*? If you have your character use it in a part of a series, if it's in a pivotal moment, it likely doesn't happen on the first page or during the first few minutes of the episode. Even if the whole story is broken into separately published parts, each part has a climax of some sort in the later stages of it. Therefore you can have your flashback early in the episode, and have your character use the power received in the flashback, somewhat later in the episode.\n\nThere is quite an [unkind word](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AssPull) for cases where a surprising and hitherto unknown new power is introduced right in the moment it is needed to overcome an obstacle."
},
{
"answer_id": 61839,
"author": "Shern Ren Tee",
"author_id": 55016,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55016",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "So your protagonist has just killed a villain with a wand from seemingly nowhere. Surprise!\n\nOf course, there's nothing *wrong* with a good surprise. After all, everybody remembers the moment when Girth Vedur turns and tells Luku Htyqalnef: \"No, I *am* your father.\" But you're here because you have a feeling your surprise isn't *quite* that good, quite that well-earned. (Few have been.) Alas, if you had planned better, this surprise could have been the pay-off of some brilliant plan years in the making! Now you have to explain where this wand came from and what it's doing in your story.\n\nWell. A slightly more positive way to think about it is that you've just taken out a loan. You've asked your readers to lend you some credibility. That's okay! All writers do that. No story was ever fully foreshadowed in the first three paragraphs. But now, you must *make good on that loan*.\n\nYou need a pay-off.\n\nPerhaps the wand is less *deus ex machina* and more *phew ex machina* -- instead of killing the villain outright, it simply gives your hero enough breathing room to make a cowardly retreat. Perhaps your villain simply *feigned* death, and is now plotting a dastardly revenge in a suitable evil lair. Perhaps the wand was a once-off and broke in half after that. Why, the wand probably took your hero's arm with it in the process! Or the power your hero summoned with the wand siphoned off the last dregs of power from the seal on the tomb of McTerrible The Even Worse Demon.\n\nThe point is, any surprise can be forgiven if, *moving forward, the story is better for it*. Make your surprise small and its pay-off great."
},
{
"answer_id": 61846,
"author": "Owen Reynolds",
"author_id": 43027,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/43027",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I've seen this work where the idea is the author or first-person narrator *deliberately* hid it from us until the last second, to make the story more exciting. A nice way is to not show the escape gimmick yet. Just flashback and explain how they suspected a trap, who they talked to next, where they went after that (maybe to an underused character who we enjoy seeing again). As readers we don't see where this is going at first, which makes it fun when we realize they're explaining the surprise up their sleeve in the present. A key is to have the story make at least as much sense with the sudden reveal. In your case he's walking defenseless into an obvious trap -- oh, he's not defenseless, he was just fooling the bad guy the same way he fooled us.\n\nThe pretty sure the old Mission:Impossible TV show did this. After the bad guy saw through their plan at the end, they flashed-back to show the plan's second half, so actually they did fool the bad guy. That was fun since it felt like the best way to explain the plan-within-a-plan without confusing us.\n\nOne of the Dresden Files books did it just nakedly, and those sold pretty well. We're at the final climactic scene where he's about to die, and we get a whole series of flashbacks of the \"I suspected a trap and here's how I prepared\" that was hidden from us earlier. It more-or-less works as writing partly since the sudden reveal merely evens the odds, and also the \"is he seriously just walking into a trap?\" thing."
}
] |
2022/04/08
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61823",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,831
|
There used to be a regular column entitled, “Toward More Picturesque Speech” in Reader's Digest, It was pretty heart warming, I used to adore it. Where can I find more of these?
Here are few examples:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fdtER.jpg)
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/6AfnL.jpg)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61825,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "Not really, it is not ok. You **can** do a flashback; but it will still seem to the audience a deus ex machina.\n\nReaders aren't stupid and they expect characters to survive by wits, not luck. This seems to be a situation where the writer didn't know what to do, so they come up with a flashback that is so important it *should* have been mentioned before, and *oh so conveniently* saves the day in what looks like an unwinnable situation.\n\nThink 007, he is always getting out of scrapes with magical-seeming devices, but the authors are always careful to have Q, before the mission starts, provide him with just the equipment he will need later in the show. An exploding watch that can destroy a room, carbon nano-fiber that can cut through steel, machine guns behind his headlights, a driver's seat that ejects with a parachute in the back, so 007 can drive off a cliff if he needs to (and of course he needs to). Even that is recognizable as a deus ex machina, Q is a bona fide fortune teller to predict so accurately what 007 will need.\n\nIf you have written yourself into a corner, put a scene early in the current work which still **can** be changed, to provide the hero with something that will preferably *assist* them in getting out of the scrape. Preferably, it is not a cannon, but perhaps some sort of innocuous distraction. Instead of a magic wand, say a magic coin. And it doesn't kill the bad guy, when the hero tosses it into the air, it flashes so bright it temporarily blinds everybody with their eyes open. The hero closes his eyes, tosses it, and has a few seconds to do something the villain cannot see, including rushing and killing the villain. Even the hero, when he gets it early on, isn't sure what it is good for, other than a party trick. What can I do in two seconds? (Well, turns out, stab somebody in the throat that cannot see you coming.)\n\nThis trick or some other, do not ever make it easy on your hero. **The hero** must be the one that thinks creatively under pressure and comes up with how to use the party trick to win the battle.\n\nEven my example, off the top of my head, is probably too obvious. You have the advantage, as an author, of being able to think all day about a non-obvious use of a magical trick we would not expect in battle, that your hero can then think of in an instant. The more clever and unexpected the use, the more delighted the audience will be. So write an early scene where the hero acquires some magical item that seems useless in battle, but provides him the distraction he needs to escape or defeat the villain."
},
{
"answer_id": 61830,
"author": "Kate Gregory",
"author_id": 15601,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/15601",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you really are releasing your story in pieces, and at the high point of piece #7, you want your character to use an item that they must have obtained back in piece #3, but you didn't mention in piece #3, don't interrupt the action to flashback and explain where the item came from. Make it a mystery. Describe what's happening (a glow coming from the character's hand, or the opponent just freezing in place for no apparent reason) and all the consequences with little exposition at all. Then, when the excitement is all over, have another character (representing the audience) ask \"what was THAT?\".\n\nAt this point your character can explain why this is in fact not a total surprise you just pulled out of nowhere because you didn't have a good way to end the battle. Ideally, this explanation would refer only to things you showed the audience in earlier pieces (say an aside in narration about 3 days of boring training we would never need, or a dumb heavy pack they all have to carry for no reason) that now gain significance as the character explains them. But if you're really stuck, it might be enough that the other character already knew about them.\n\n> \n> What was THAT?\n> \n> \n> A thermo-thauma bridge, of course. [Cheerful smile.] Mediated through a pencil because that's all I had. You didn't skip the third day of thermo training, did you? That's when it really got useful.\n> \n> \n> The first two days were so boring, I went to the health centre and got a skip note.\n> \n> \n> Well, I bet you're glad I didn't!\n> \n> \n> \n\nIt might take you a while, but look back through your earlier pieces for some \"blah blah blah\" moments like training you don't describe, reading you don't describe, annoying packing or supply lists, and see if you can pretend you meant those all along to be foreshadowings of this moment.\n\nIn general, having a huge crisis resolve quickly and very easily, relying on something not previously shown to the audience, is a deus ex machina, a god in the machine, and not a good thing. We have a number of [questions tagged with that](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/deus-ex-machina). The key to DEM prevention is foreshadowing, and this question is specifically about what to do when foreshadowing isn't available to you. Still, reading those questions may give you some more possibilities, or help you tone down that last-minute \"oh yeah, I do have this magic wand in my pocket that I never mentioned before\" that strains credibility.\n\nThere is another option which is to build up the item as the crisis builds. Like something is warm, or vibrating, or I-can't-explain-it-but-its-calling-me in the hero's backpack, or sewn into the lining of a coat. [Ideally you can call back here to something the audience did see when they got their backpack or picked up the stick for another reason.] Eventually our hero has to stop whatever crucial thing they're doing to pick the item up, causing some mini crisis like losing their weapon or getting separated from the group, and things get worse, and the item glows brighter or whatever, and then it ends up in their hand (since they don't have a weapon) and then -- BLAMMO! -- so the hero discovers this amazing power at the same time as the audience. But that is much harder to write."
},
{
"answer_id": 61833,
"author": "Tom",
"author_id": 29863,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/29863",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Another way to avert sudden death is to have something random interfere, such that the coup de grace is spent and the villain caught off-guard.\n\nExample: hero is bound in a chair, and the villain points a gun at the hero's head. The chair unexpectedly breaks a split-second before the villain pulls the trigger, making the bullet miss and partially freeing the hero, who then scrambles away in the two or three seconds it takes the villain to process what just happened.\n\nTo disguise and mitigate the *deus ex machina* nature of this sort of thing, make the event (1) not caused deliberately by intelligent actors, (2) kind of unpleasant for the hero, and (3) merely avert the worst rather than completely turning the tables.\n\nIn the chair example, the chair presumably breaks because it is old and under special strain because it's tied to an anxiously writhing human. This could be foreshadowed *in the current episode* by describing creaking sounds as the hero is tied to it, or by pointedly noting the decrepitude of other objects in the area when it is introduced, or even by having the hero mentally contemplate the way their own body will decompose when it's left here after their execution.\n\nIn a scenario where the imminent danger is a magical attack, perhaps it's enough simply to distract the villain with a sudden beam of light caused by the rising/setting sun, or with a suspicious noise from another room that prompts them to pause out of caution or fear of discovery. Or even an allergic sneeze, which then does double-duty as character development for the villain."
},
{
"answer_id": 61838,
"author": "vsz",
"author_id": 19704,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/19704",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Why the need for having the flashback *\"as soon as your character brandishes the wand or after he uses it\"*? If you have your character use it in a part of a series, if it's in a pivotal moment, it likely doesn't happen on the first page or during the first few minutes of the episode. Even if the whole story is broken into separately published parts, each part has a climax of some sort in the later stages of it. Therefore you can have your flashback early in the episode, and have your character use the power received in the flashback, somewhat later in the episode.\n\nThere is quite an [unkind word](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AssPull) for cases where a surprising and hitherto unknown new power is introduced right in the moment it is needed to overcome an obstacle."
},
{
"answer_id": 61839,
"author": "Shern Ren Tee",
"author_id": 55016,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55016",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "So your protagonist has just killed a villain with a wand from seemingly nowhere. Surprise!\n\nOf course, there's nothing *wrong* with a good surprise. After all, everybody remembers the moment when Girth Vedur turns and tells Luku Htyqalnef: \"No, I *am* your father.\" But you're here because you have a feeling your surprise isn't *quite* that good, quite that well-earned. (Few have been.) Alas, if you had planned better, this surprise could have been the pay-off of some brilliant plan years in the making! Now you have to explain where this wand came from and what it's doing in your story.\n\nWell. A slightly more positive way to think about it is that you've just taken out a loan. You've asked your readers to lend you some credibility. That's okay! All writers do that. No story was ever fully foreshadowed in the first three paragraphs. But now, you must *make good on that loan*.\n\nYou need a pay-off.\n\nPerhaps the wand is less *deus ex machina* and more *phew ex machina* -- instead of killing the villain outright, it simply gives your hero enough breathing room to make a cowardly retreat. Perhaps your villain simply *feigned* death, and is now plotting a dastardly revenge in a suitable evil lair. Perhaps the wand was a once-off and broke in half after that. Why, the wand probably took your hero's arm with it in the process! Or the power your hero summoned with the wand siphoned off the last dregs of power from the seal on the tomb of McTerrible The Even Worse Demon.\n\nThe point is, any surprise can be forgiven if, *moving forward, the story is better for it*. Make your surprise small and its pay-off great."
},
{
"answer_id": 61846,
"author": "Owen Reynolds",
"author_id": 43027,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/43027",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I've seen this work where the idea is the author or first-person narrator *deliberately* hid it from us until the last second, to make the story more exciting. A nice way is to not show the escape gimmick yet. Just flashback and explain how they suspected a trap, who they talked to next, where they went after that (maybe to an underused character who we enjoy seeing again). As readers we don't see where this is going at first, which makes it fun when we realize they're explaining the surprise up their sleeve in the present. A key is to have the story make at least as much sense with the sudden reveal. In your case he's walking defenseless into an obvious trap -- oh, he's not defenseless, he was just fooling the bad guy the same way he fooled us.\n\nThe pretty sure the old Mission:Impossible TV show did this. After the bad guy saw through their plan at the end, they flashed-back to show the plan's second half, so actually they did fool the bad guy. That was fun since it felt like the best way to explain the plan-within-a-plan without confusing us.\n\nOne of the Dresden Files books did it just nakedly, and those sold pretty well. We're at the final climactic scene where he's about to die, and we get a whole series of flashbacks of the \"I suspected a trap and here's how I prepared\" that was hidden from us earlier. It more-or-less works as writing partly since the sudden reveal merely evens the odds, and also the \"is he seriously just walking into a trap?\" thing."
}
] |
2022/04/09
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61831",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/48301/"
] |
61,832
|
>
> "Chuckles, then I might try to become President then!"
>
>
>
Do you use chuckles? Because chuckles is considered to be an onomatopoeia. I also considered "Haha", but it looks weird. How do comic books do this?
>
> "Haha, then I might try to become President then!"
>
>
>
The reason why Haha looks weird, is that you never emit a sound like "haha" when you chuckle.
I've seen the use of [Chuckle] in movie scripts, but I don't find it appealing and I haven't seen that in a text bubble in a comic book.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 63390,
"author": "Himanshu Jain",
"author_id": 56522,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/56522",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "You are correct that HaHa would not suit for a chuckle. Better could be HeHe (He He). In fact, LoL is not exactly a chuckle but would look better than HaHa."
},
{
"answer_id": 63396,
"author": "hszmv",
"author_id": 25666,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/25666",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "\"Chuckles\" is not an onomatopoeia but a noun or verb (to chuckle) and it is not an interjection like \"Haha!\"\n\nIn this case, a number of options can be used such as one \"Ha\" or a \"Huh\", \"hmm\" or other similar. The laugh may be more impulsive response like a \"frrrt\\*\" which is especially useful if the character is trying to suppress a laugh. Using the acronym \"LOL\" or \"ROFL\" can be said by someone to denote they find amusement that should show laughter, but aren't impulsively laughing OR denote a sarcastic response indicating they are not amused. Often it depends on age as a teen or someone addicted to text communications might say it out loud (\"El Oh El\", \"Rawful\") without Irony, while a character who is being sarcastic might use it to deliberately communicate the sarcasm to someone who they assume would only talk like this (Think Daffy Duck's sarcasm dripping line \"HaHa HeeHee HoHo It is to laugh!\" to convey to Porky or Bugs he's not enjoying their delight in his misfortune).\n\nConsider the Simpsons characters of Edna Krabapple and Nedmoq Munz who have the catchphrases \"Ha!\" and \"HaHa!\" respecively. The former can both be chuckles, but Edna's seems more impulsive (usually released in response to an idea she finds silly on the mere premise) while Nedmoq's goes from an impulse (done in response to a sudden incident as a genuine impulsive laugh) or a deliberate mockery of someone else's misfortune.\n\nIf you must use \"chuckles\" try to remove it from the dialog bubble and give a minor noted dialog outside of the dialog."
}
] |
2022/04/10
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61832",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,836
|
Yes, I know that an animal is referred as “it” unless the relationship is personal (like a pet that has a name). Then they'd be "he" or "she"
It's more on the context of: A person and their animal companion(s)
For example: A man riding a horse in a jungle.
*Despite the picturesque landscape, he was fully aware of the dangers beneath the wilds.*
*Fortunately, they hadn't encountered any wild predators*
I feel like the answer is obvious which is kinda embarrassing but can "they" be used in this context?
Or will it be a "he" instead?
Edit: It seems I have created a lot of confusion because I didn't make it clear, and I do apologize for that.
I am asking if "they" would be used in case of a person and their animal companion together. (Plural pronouns)
For me, it felt like the man above in the example is not alone because he have a horse with him. Even though it's an animal. That's why I'm asking if it's correct to use "they", "their" etc.
Because plural pronouns are used mainly for two or more humans? Can they be used too for a human and an animal?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61855,
"author": "Topcode",
"author_id": 47479,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/47479",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "As long as it is consistent I would say there is no issue with it.\n\nIf you said “He rode into the forest” immediately followed by “they didn’t encounter any danger” that could cause confusion to the reader on if “they” means there is another person.\n\nAs towr pointed out, it can also help to establish that the horse is being viewed like a person, and therefore being referred to as he, she or they like in the the example, rather than just it."
},
{
"answer_id": 61860,
"author": "Alexander",
"author_id": 22990,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/22990",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Consider carefully**\n\nAs you mentioned, at the present it would be uncommon to use \"they\" pronoun when referring to animals. A horse rider typically is fully aware of the biological sex of the ride. Thus, if you use \"they\" to refer to a single animal, readers would expect you to give more explanations regarding gender identity of this animal. I am not sure that this is your plan.\n\nIf you don't want that pronoun to stand out, make sure to use \"they\" regularly throughout your book to refer to different animals. This way the reader wouldn't wonder if there was a specific reason to use a neutral pronoun."
},
{
"answer_id": 61862,
"author": "Kate Gregory",
"author_id": 15601,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/15601",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "Absolutely, *they* can mean a group of people, a group of animals, a mixed group of animals and people, a bunch of inanimate objects, and more.\n\n> \n> He looked at the knives on the table. They all had wear marks.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> The farmer was leading a small flock of sheep, and Protagonist watched as they headed down the road.\n> \n> \n> \n\nI wouldn't use it for \"Skepe has a car and is driving it here. They should arrive in 10 minutes or so\" where they means Skepe and the car. But I might for Skepe and his broadsword who have had a lot of adventures together. It's completely correct for the rider and horse who, together, have not encountered any predators.\n\nThere is a slight nuance: by narrating the horse and person as *they* the horse matters a bit more. You would also be correct to ignore the horse and just say of the rider \"he hadn't encountered ...\". Choosing *they* doesn't ignore the horse the way you might ignore a car, or the hero's boots, or whatever. It's a choice.\n\n---\n\nOriginal answer, on referring to a single animal as \"they\":\n\nIf you are narrating something close to the protagonists thoughts, and the protagonist knows the animal's gender, then no, don't use *they*.\n\n> \n> He rode through the jungle, glad of the extra protection of the horse. Her sure feet found a way along paths he could barely see.\n> \n> \n> \n\n(I've noticed it's quite common for our brave young man to find a mare or filly for these adventures, probably because it's less confusing when there are two different pronouns in the narration.) Also specifically for horses and farm animals, you get subcategories of gender all the time. A mare has had a foal, a filly hasn't. Males might be stallions or geldings. The idea that someone would be riding a genderless horse? Maybe if they were blindfolded, in which case knowing nothing about the animal would be a big part of the scene you're setting.\n\nIf the protagonist doesn't know, then usually *it* is more common for animals, and *they* for people.\n\n> \n> The stranger, with glittering silver chains draped around their body, was also riding a horse, with ribbons tied in its mane.\n> \n> \n> \n\nIf the creature either doesn't have a binary gender (sci fi or fantasy) or it's just not something people normally know about a creature, then you're going to have to address it in dialog. People give genders to cars and boats and tools so they will probably give some to their trained fire ants.\n\n> \n> \"I'll treat him well\", he promised, then paused. \"He? She? Is this --?\"\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> The vendor laughed. \"One you don't know, you can call it. But that would be rude for your own. Treat them well, and they'll treat you well. This one, their favourite snack is dried fruit. You get some, you be sure to share with them.\"\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe extra sentences are to make it clear the vendor isn't referring to plural animals, like saying \"if you treat dogs fairly they respond well.\" (And can set up something with dried fruit later.) You can probably be smoother than that."
},
{
"answer_id": 61871,
"author": "Angela Devison",
"author_id": 55037,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55037",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Good question! In the CIS countries, just the same appeal to the animal is said as \"they\". When a Ukrainian or a Russian speaks English, of course, they say \"it\", but in their language, the animals are treated like \"they\". So it is possible."
}
] |
2022/04/10
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61836",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54963/"
] |
61,840
|
Is it possible to turn a seemingly evil woman who is also obnoxious into the protagonist main love interest? I was thinking about a story where there's this woman and she is extremely obnoxious and seemingly evil like Harley Queen from Batman, but I can't seem to find a way to make her likeable and turn her into a sort of perfect woman and the main character's main love interest. Is this even possible, or it's one of those things that will turn off a lot of readers like a Deux-Ex Machina?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61841,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "I think it is possible, and in fact I've seen it done: I highly recommend the series \"Killing Eve.\" (In fact the series finale is on tonight).\n\nIn this series, a woman named Villanelle is a sociopathic assassin for a criminal organization. At the beginning, Eve is an investigator, Villanelle is assigned to kill her. Well, Villanelle is truly evil, she portrays sociopathy pretty accurately, and she falls in love with Eve, and eventually becomes Eve's love interest. All the while, Villanelle is killing innocent people in nearly every episode.\n\nIt's pretty weird, but it is well written and makes sense and I have found it very entertaining.\n\nPart of the believability is Villanelle's emotions, she is not cold, and definitely not robotically evil. She feels hurt, disobeys orders, kills people \"off-book\" for insulting her. She gets hurt and feels betrayed. She sometimes kills assholes just because it is the right thing to do. She goes to try and make up with her abusive mother, and ends up killing her mother and burning the house down.\n\nHer emotions make her an interesting character. Sometimes she is killing just because it is her job and she doesn't question it. Other times she is killing out of anger or her hurt feelings or just on her own personal quest for information. You start to feel sympathy for her, once you get used to the idea that she can kill without compunction, and is very good at it."
},
{
"answer_id": 61842,
"author": "FluidCode",
"author_id": 54629,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54629",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "If the woman is openly evil and obnoxious, if she does not gossip or scheme. If she ends up behaving in an anti-conformist manner unintentionally. Then she might inspire some sort of trill of confusion or rebellion that drags the protagonist far from his usual world. In that case I would add to the woman character a bit of sarcasm."
}
] |
2022/04/10
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61840",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,843
|
I'm currently writing a paranormal thriller novel where people can inhabit other peoples' bodies -- regardless of sex, gender identity, or sexuality. I'm currently in moral turmoil over how to use pronouns for a specific character, because the character themselves does not identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. As a gay man who keeps himself as educated as possible on gender identities and pronouns, I'm really hesitant about how to approach writing this character's pronouns -- or if I should at all.
So in my novel I have a character named Dalleth. Dalleth has lived over 700 years, and has "body hopped" into a couple dozen bodies, often times assuming the identities of those bodies. Dalleth's soul began in a man's body and, before Dalleth had encountered all things paranormal, was comfortable identifying as a straight, cisgender male. However, after Dalleth gains the ability to body hop, living countless lives and seven centuries, Dalleth now considers bodies as nothing more than vehicles -- tools to create a new world.
A friend suggested I stick with Dalleth's original pronouns (he/him/his). Throughout my book, Dalleth inhabits many different bodies of various sexes. At one point he inhabits a female body (one which presents as a feminine woman). The prose quickly gets muddied when I am using male pronouns, because I find that I am often having to remind the audience that Dalleth is currently in a woman's body.
So my question is: would it be right/ ethical to refer to Dalleth as they/them/their? Those are the pronouns I have used whilst drafting. I'm hesitant because pronouns are chosen to better represent ones own personality and gender expression. Whereas I'm not looking at Dalleth's pronouns from the perspective of identity per se. Dalleth sheds a lot of their identity throughout their many lifetimes because they're so focused on their end goal. It could be argued that Dalleth is agender because they don't identify with gender expression at all. I don't want to be exclusionary or dismissive of trans/ intersex/ non-binary people when writing this character.
I'm also worried people will think I'm being purposefully subtle about representing trans/ intersex/ non-binary people. I don't see any artistic merit in making LGBTQ+ representation the subtext of my writing. If I'm portraying a true LGBTQ+ character, I do so literally, purposefully, and proudly.
I've experimented using Dalleth in place of any pronouns, as I have done for most of this post. However, just like this post, my prose quickly reads as laboured.
Whilst researching online, I came across the use of pronouns per/pers. I also understand that many people who are agender sometimes choose to use a mix of pronouns. Perhaps it would be more sensitive to choose he/him/his and she/her/hers depending on the body that Dalleth is in.
I hope the above post makes sense. I appreciate that my issue is within a paranormal/ fantasy world and not a situation applicable to everyday life.
EDIT #1
The story is told in third person. For a majority of the story my protagonists are aware of Dalleth's long history and their abilities. Currently I have used pronouns that match the body that Dalleth is in. Here is an extract to illustrate what I've been doing:
>
> At the centre of it all, upon a futon, was a thin white woman sat with her legs crossed. Waist-length dreads reached down her back, and her eyes were magnified through wire-rimmed glasses. She wore a white boiler suit like everyone else.
>
>
> A woman who, beneath flesh and bone, was really Dalleth.
>
>
> Dalleth untangled her legs and rose from the futon.
>
>
>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61844,
"author": "Jack",
"author_id": 55021,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55021",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "As a reader I recommend you use the pronouns appropriate for the viewpoint of the current scene of the text. If the scene is that Dalleth of Dalleth's inner thoughts, then use whatever pronoun Dalleth would use; for instance:\n\n> \n> *I'm not used this new body*, {pronoun} thought.\n> \n> \n> \n\n...where {pronoun} is a pronoun that represents what Dalleth thinks of Dalleth at the moment.\n\nOn the other hand, if it is an external scene, then use the pronoun appropriate to the scene, in its current context.\n\nAssuming Dalleth has body-hopped into Fofy Anhe in 18th century London:\n\n> \n> Major Wolford watches Fofy Anhe bemusedly. Her swoon earlier in the afternoon was unlike her; she always despised such dramatic tactics used by ladies of society. Now, watching her navigate across the room, her usual grace is gone, supplanted by a stumbling awkwardness, as if unused to her own body.\n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 61856,
"author": "Nyctophobia457",
"author_id": 52632,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52632",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "**It's up to you**\n\nThis question relies on what you as the writer believe the identity of your character is. This is not something that other people are able to decide for you since you are the one making the character. No one knows this character's mind except you.\n\nIf the character unequivocally identifies as male, then no amount of body-swapping will change that. The same thing applies if the character identifies as female. No amount of body-swapping will change that they are female.\n\nSo if your character always uses \"he/him/his\" pronouns, then that does not have to change when he is in a different body.\n\nA character who is gender-fluid or non-binary, however, would have a different experience with shape-shifting, though. They might feel that they assume a new gender with each new body that they take. They might prefer to be called \"she\" when they look more feminine, and \"he\" when they have a more masculine appearance.\n\nPersonally, I think the best way to write this would be to have the character initially think of themselves as a man but then gradually start to realize with each new body that their gender identity was never as straightforward as that. They might realize that they like being called different pronouns in different bodies. Or they might realize that they no longer care about the concept of gender in general and simply consider themselves genderless after a certain point.\n\nTo summarize, the only answer to this question is that your character's pronouns are up to you.\n\nIf you want people to refer to them as \"she\" when they are presenting as feminine and \"he\" when presenting as masculine. That's fine. If you want him to only be referred to as \"he\" regardless of what body they are in, that's also fine.\n\nI'd say it makes sense to have a character who shapeshift refer to themselves in a neutral sense, but it does not matter either way.\n\nYou ask in your question \"Would it be right/ ethical to refer to Dalleth as they/them/their?\"\n\nTo which I say, of course, it's perfectly fine. If that's how you'd say Dalleth identifies.\n\nRepresentation is a good thing. You shouldn't feel afraid to add it to your story. No non-binary person in their right mind is going to get mad at you because you wrote a non-binary person in your book."
}
] |
2022/04/10
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61843",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55020/"
] |
61,845
|
Can you completely skip bridge scenes in movies or comics books?
Let's take an example.
1. Marua is told by Zuizi that the princess was kidnapped by Biwpor.
2. **Marua asks Zuizi where the princess is being held.**
3. **Marua asks Toad where the princess is being held.**
4. **Marua goes to Biwpor's castle.**
5. Marua defeats Biwpor.
6. Marua saves the princess.
Is it completely normal and completely ok to skip 2, 3, 4? Why? I feel in certain situations it might be too abrupt and people will react "Wait, what?", but I can't tell exactly when this reaction would likely happen.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61848,
"author": "Mary",
"author_id": 44281,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/44281",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The question is whether you confuse the reader. Therefore the important thing is to convey any information that the reader would have learned in them.\n\nFor instance, if the first scene ends with Marua saying that he would ask Zuizi, and if necessary Toad, this will convey how he learned where to go.\n\nIf it is important that it was a long, hard slog to the castle, that has to be conveyed too.\n\nBeware of omitting drama. If either character tries to talk him out of it, for instance, or has to be persuaded to tell."
},
{
"answer_id": 61853,
"author": "Philipp",
"author_id": 10303,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10303",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "What is the story you actually want to tell?\n\nIs it \"Marua gathers information about where the Princess is being held?\" or is it \"Marua rescues the princess?\"\n\nWhen the whole process of finding out what actually happens doesn't add anything to the story, doesn't introduce any relevant information about the characters and the setting and doesn't provide any relevant character development, you can just cut it. Zuizi can tell Marua everything he needs to know. And when the journey to Biwpor's castle is uneventful, you can represent it with a single paragraph in a novel, a single panel in a comic or a couple seconds of [travel montage](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TravelMontage) on film.\n\nNevertheless, those \"bridge scenes\" might actually be useful.\n\n* You can use them for worldbuilding. That means you show (don't tell) the audience what kind of world the story takes place in and how it functions. Provided that this worldbuilding will become relevant over the course of the rest of the story.\n* You can use them to introduce the protagonist and show what kind of person they are by showing how they interact with different people and how they approach minor obstacles they face during their journey. That can be used to foreshadow how they are going to resolve the major conflict of the story and/or set up contrast with how they are going to act in the end of the story after they went through some character development.\n* You can introduce supporting characters who are going to become relevant over the course of the story, and set up character arcs for them you are going to finish later.\n\nAs an example, let's take *The Lord of the Rings*. The whole trilogy could be summarized as \"Frodo receives The Ring; Frodo goes to Mordor; Frodo throws The Ring into a volcano\". The whole \"Frodo goes to Mordor\" part takes up the vast majority of the work and could be described as a very long series of bridge scenes. Are they a waste of time? No, because they include lots and lots of worldbuilding, interesting character development for Frodo and the people he meets during his journey and plenty of interesting subplots. All of this provides context for the final climax of the story. So it's three thick books / 11 hours of movies well spent."
},
{
"answer_id": 61854,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Skip the boring bridge scenes that are not required for plausibility. If skipping a scene might break audience immersion, include enough to patch that leak in your story.\n\nFor example, in many shows, we see a pair looking over evidence, one realizes something, looks up and says 'NevisMI is in London!'\n\nCut to same two characters dressed differently in some iconic place in London.\n\nWhy does that work? Because none of the details of arranging travel or traveling are relevant to the story. The audience gets that, we skipped the boring parts.\n\nIn a Sherlock story, Sherlock examining evidence has an epiphany, and declares he knows who killed Miss Piggy. Cut to the police interrogation room, the team thanks NevisMI for coming in, he may be able to help them narrow down the killer's escape route...\n\nIn a military show, the team is informed they have to take out NevisMI the multi-billionaire criminal boss, super well-protected. Cut to a scene in which they begin the infiltration of NevisMI's camp.\n\nWhy can't we just cut to the fight with NevisMI himself? Because that is implausible. The audience is jerked out of immersion, and into analytic mode, by anything that makes no sense. How does a multi-billionaire criminal boss end up completely unprotected in a fight with our hero?\n\nUnless you need some scenes for character development or as part of a sub-plot romance or something, you want your scenes to be like expensive stepping stones, as far apart as possible from one plausible scene to the next plausible scene, but not a noticeable \"jump\" that leaves the audience saying \"Wait... How did they know X? Or Y?\"\n\nThe audience will presume your characters are normally competent human beings, and can get from Denver to London without incident.\n\nOr can manage to find a restaurant, order, receive their food, and begin a conversation. So on the phone, \"Let's meet at that lunch counter by the courthouse\". Don't show a response, or hanging up, just cut to the attendees at a booth, already seated, served, and food eaten, small talk accomplished, then start the crucial plot-advancing conversation.\n\nYes, skip all the bridge scenes you can. But that may not be ALL bridge scenes. Sometimes they are crucial for the audience to understand what is going on.\n\nYou can't go from Sherlock saying \"I know who killed Miss Piggy.\" To the interrogation room with a distraught NevisMI telling a smug Sherlock, \"Okay, I did it! Okay? I had to!\"\n\nThat has skipped too much. The audience will lose story immersion, \"Wait, he never told us how he knew... What just happened?\"\n\nBridge scene or not, you must include the scenes that impart information crucial to advance one of the plots of your story. The main plot or subplots, like romantic interests, or a reveal about a character's past. Or the main plot is rescuing our child, the subplot is rescuing our broken marriage.\n\nOften, bridge scenes that could otherwise be skipped, because nothing crucial happens in the main plot, are still good places to advance a subplot. Precisely because such moments are not overshadowed by the main plot. So keep that in mind as a second use of bridge scenes."
}
] |
2022/04/10
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61845",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,847
|
Up until around the early-through-mid 1800's (of the real world, for clarification), the rights of criminals, disabled people, and the poor were commonly ignored. As a result, the justice system was swayed heavily against these groups of people, and the prisons were beyond inhumane, with their residents being treated as far less than animals.
I am writing a fantasy story that is meant to capture the sheer savageness of those places in the dark times before the Prison Reform. You can tell just by reading the historical summary it's based on that the place, situation, and overall theme of the book is supposed to be overwhelmingly brutal.
And yet when I actually sit down to write the book, it always comes out soft. I'm not sure if I respect my character's lives too much or what, but the violence is never as bad, the living conditions are never as terrible, and the whole sense of the book is never as vicious as I want it to be or plan it to be.
It's not that I don't try to make it feel that way. It just... doesn't.
So my grand, overarching question is pretty much the title: **How do I make a place/situation seem brutal,** and prevent this theme from (for lack of a better term) being lost in translation?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61852,
"author": "EDL",
"author_id": 39219,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39219",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Describing the casual brutality of your world is often insufficient, to convey its terribleness. Sharing horrible things like cows pimping out baby chicks and nuns selling hashish from their nunneries have little impact on their own.\n\nBut, adding character reactions to those brutal events, through narrative and dialog gives you an added dimension to make an impact. If a character observes an underserved beating, for instance, how they react is an opportunity to illustrate the impacts of cruelty and brutality on the human psyche and how different their culture is from our relatively peaceful and justice-loving society.\n\nI think a difficult aspect of this is to avoid using modern or contemporary sensibilities about violence. What we would consider grotesque, they might consider a Tuesday. Having the character react dully or with insensitivity will distance them from the reader. Maybe they could react strongly, but for the wrong reasons. Like intervening in the beating, because the it was the character’s waiter that was getting beat up and it would deal his dinner."
},
{
"answer_id": 61865,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Vivid Settings:\n===============\n\nThere's nothing wrong with EDL's answer; reactions are important to give context to the situation. I think, though, you want to be giving your readers a concrete image in their minds of the horrifying conditions. Introduce a little horror into each thing, rather than make a long string of ghastly description. But it should be ghastly.\n\nThe key to the setting being truly horrific is to describe the minutiae of misery. The Water isn't dirty, it smells like urine, with unidentified bits of brown floating in it. The food isn't maggot-ridden, instead the character debates if they should squish or eat the maggots (decided by if the character thinks they are too hungry versus if eating the bugs will make them vomit), finally deciding to squish all the food to crush the maggots into the food before it is eaten (at which point the character gets violent diarrhea and can't hold down food anyway). The prisoner doesn't have infected skin, he gets beaten for begging to have his gangrenous hand cut off so as not to die.\n\nTry to engage **all senses** and as vividly as possible. Use harsh, unpleasant descriptors for every situation, not just information. Show don't tell, so if it's cold, ice forms in the water and drinking it hurts tender gums. If it's hot, even the walls sweat and the water is tepid."
}
] |
2022/04/11
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61847",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54962/"
] |
61,849
|
I fear that my fictional nation may be too similar. It is based on Great Britain, and is in high fantasy, but this is the description:
Similarities:
1. It is an archipelago.
2. It is somewhere similar geographically to where England would be.
3. While it is not the first country to industrialize, it is the first to have an industry that affects history.
4. It is called a "Commonwealth".
5. They have a powerful navy.
6. They have an overseas empire.
Differences:
1. The archipelago is 3 times bigger than England.
2. It is more west than the real England.
3. Their empire is not as expansive.
4. The monarch still has a high authority.
For more information, this fictional country takes place in a fictional world, but some of its geography is similar to the real world, most specifically their equivalent to Europe, Asia, and the northern part of Africa.
I just want to hear your thoughts, want to know if it is too much like Britain, and/or if it is, if that is okay? Another choice is to suggest how to make it more different.
---
For those who are asking some questions, here are some helpful details:
1. I am not trying to make a political statement.
2. This is for the world of an open-world fantasy RPG.
3. This post is also asking for some ways and suggestions to make it different from Britain.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61850,
"author": "AncientGiantPottedPlant",
"author_id": 55034,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55034",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "Absolutely. Many sci fi and fantasy authors have done it openly. [The Shire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shire) was rural England. [Ankh-Morpork](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh-Morpork) is London. [Prydain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Prydain) was more or less Wales.\n\nThe thing to decide is if you are commenting on the UK or not and be aware that beyond a certain level of similarity, people will assume that you are.\n\nTolkien, for instance, was often accused of writing LOTR about WW2 and the Scouring of the Shire about communists in the UK, which annoyed him greatly."
},
{
"answer_id": 61851,
"author": "o.m.",
"author_id": 42579,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/42579",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "*Note: This answer was written on Worldbuilding.*\n\nA dice-and-paper RPG has different requirements from a novel. You should decide if you want to **use the similarity** to inform your players, or if it will lead to distracting preconceptions for your readers. To stress differences, there are several options:\n\n* Drop the name Commonwealth if there a powerful monarch. The country isn't about the *common good*, it is about the *l'etat, c'est moi*. Or use it exclusively, a king without a kingdom, let alone multiple united kingdoms, just a king of the Commonwealth. (Names don't have to make sense, after all.)\n* Introduce a few *highly visible* differences. The monarch is still active, so drop the House of Lords? Change the nature of the Commons? Use titles other than *king* and *queen*? Have them ecclesiastically subordinate to a mainland church?\n* Change the geography. More than just two big landmasses? Make it so that there is no fictional counterpart of Ireland, or if you need a colonial possession of this kind, make it many smaller islands or not quite as near (and not *just* to the West of the main landmass):"
},
{
"answer_id": 61857,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Of course it is. Countries don't have trademarks on their culture, or cities, or anything else.\n\nI'd worry more if your fictional country is too close to some published author's fictional country. Too much similarity there, if not based on a common reality, could be infringement.\n\nFor example, don't set your story in Hogwart's. Even if you call it something else or change a few details, if Rowling objects and a jury thinks you are too close, this could be bad for you. But basing your fictional city on San Francisco or Seattle or London or Mexico City, that's not a problem. It can even be an easy route to realism; obviously London's layout \"works\", while inventing your own layout from scratch might waste a lot of time you could have been writing, and you still might miss something you didn't think to consider, like waste and power plants, drainage, public transportation, traffic laws, where police and courthouses are housed, etc. If you need any of that halfway through your tale, just consult a map, and make up new names for the streets or districts."
},
{
"answer_id": 61859,
"author": "Daron",
"author_id": 24792,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/24792",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Silly Exceptions**\n\nMy advice if you are concerned about seeming to make a political statement, put some silly exceptions into your world. In particular slap down some silly things about the most politically charged bits of Britain. For example the queen; former conquest and enslavement of half the planet; the Irish Troubles; nuclear bombs; Borus Pehmtof having bad hair; Churchill's knees, . . . The list goes on.\n\nIt is hard to read a political message in a world where the queen is replaced with a bag of centipedes with a badly drawn face in brown crayon.\n\nIf this is the only exception in your world then it might be interpreted as republican rather than nationist but in a silly way. If this is too much for you then also lampoon the nationalists so it is clear you have no loyalty to either side."
},
{
"answer_id": 61866,
"author": "Davislor",
"author_id": 26271,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26271",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There are a few different ways this could come across, and mainly, you want to minimize the misunderstandings.\n\nSometimes, people invent a fictional country as an allegory. Other times, they invent a fictional country precisely so that their work won’t be read as a message about a real one. You want the country to be clearly similar enough or dissimilar enough that most readers won’t be confused about which one you meant.\n\nThe kind of ambiguity you don’t want is where only one thing is different, you meant that to show that the fictional country isn’t exactly the same as Britain, but some of your readers think, “That’s nothing like the Suez Crisis of 1956! What a bad analogy.”"
},
{
"answer_id": 61870,
"author": "Angela Devison",
"author_id": 55037,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55037",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "It’s totally normal and there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s fiction country. I read a lot of stories where some fiction countries were very much like real countries.\n\nIf you are concerned about the issue from an ethical or political point of view, I suggest adding a note that this is a fiction country and has nothing to do with the real."
}
] |
2022/04/11
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61849",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55024/"
] |
61,867
|
How do you accurately describe a race track without using an image?
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/GJG4j.jpg)
Let's say you have this image, but you can't use it as a reference. How do you manage to exactly describe it in a way someone could exactly reproduce roughly the same shape without having the exact lengths for each section?
I am not asking if I should describe it accurately, but I don't really see how you can describe the race track shape accurately by just using words. You could say it looks like an aligator, but it's not an accurate description of the track at all.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61850,
"author": "AncientGiantPottedPlant",
"author_id": 55034,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55034",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "Absolutely. Many sci fi and fantasy authors have done it openly. [The Shire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shire) was rural England. [Ankh-Morpork](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh-Morpork) is London. [Prydain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Prydain) was more or less Wales.\n\nThe thing to decide is if you are commenting on the UK or not and be aware that beyond a certain level of similarity, people will assume that you are.\n\nTolkien, for instance, was often accused of writing LOTR about WW2 and the Scouring of the Shire about communists in the UK, which annoyed him greatly."
},
{
"answer_id": 61851,
"author": "o.m.",
"author_id": 42579,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/42579",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "*Note: This answer was written on Worldbuilding.*\n\nA dice-and-paper RPG has different requirements from a novel. You should decide if you want to **use the similarity** to inform your players, or if it will lead to distracting preconceptions for your readers. To stress differences, there are several options:\n\n* Drop the name Commonwealth if there a powerful monarch. The country isn't about the *common good*, it is about the *l'etat, c'est moi*. Or use it exclusively, a king without a kingdom, let alone multiple united kingdoms, just a king of the Commonwealth. (Names don't have to make sense, after all.)\n* Introduce a few *highly visible* differences. The monarch is still active, so drop the House of Lords? Change the nature of the Commons? Use titles other than *king* and *queen*? Have them ecclesiastically subordinate to a mainland church?\n* Change the geography. More than just two big landmasses? Make it so that there is no fictional counterpart of Ireland, or if you need a colonial possession of this kind, make it many smaller islands or not quite as near (and not *just* to the West of the main landmass):"
},
{
"answer_id": 61857,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Of course it is. Countries don't have trademarks on their culture, or cities, or anything else.\n\nI'd worry more if your fictional country is too close to some published author's fictional country. Too much similarity there, if not based on a common reality, could be infringement.\n\nFor example, don't set your story in Hogwart's. Even if you call it something else or change a few details, if Rowling objects and a jury thinks you are too close, this could be bad for you. But basing your fictional city on San Francisco or Seattle or London or Mexico City, that's not a problem. It can even be an easy route to realism; obviously London's layout \"works\", while inventing your own layout from scratch might waste a lot of time you could have been writing, and you still might miss something you didn't think to consider, like waste and power plants, drainage, public transportation, traffic laws, where police and courthouses are housed, etc. If you need any of that halfway through your tale, just consult a map, and make up new names for the streets or districts."
},
{
"answer_id": 61859,
"author": "Daron",
"author_id": 24792,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/24792",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Silly Exceptions**\n\nMy advice if you are concerned about seeming to make a political statement, put some silly exceptions into your world. In particular slap down some silly things about the most politically charged bits of Britain. For example the queen; former conquest and enslavement of half the planet; the Irish Troubles; nuclear bombs; Borus Pehmtof having bad hair; Churchill's knees, . . . The list goes on.\n\nIt is hard to read a political message in a world where the queen is replaced with a bag of centipedes with a badly drawn face in brown crayon.\n\nIf this is the only exception in your world then it might be interpreted as republican rather than nationist but in a silly way. If this is too much for you then also lampoon the nationalists so it is clear you have no loyalty to either side."
},
{
"answer_id": 61866,
"author": "Davislor",
"author_id": 26271,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26271",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There are a few different ways this could come across, and mainly, you want to minimize the misunderstandings.\n\nSometimes, people invent a fictional country as an allegory. Other times, they invent a fictional country precisely so that their work won’t be read as a message about a real one. You want the country to be clearly similar enough or dissimilar enough that most readers won’t be confused about which one you meant.\n\nThe kind of ambiguity you don’t want is where only one thing is different, you meant that to show that the fictional country isn’t exactly the same as Britain, but some of your readers think, “That’s nothing like the Suez Crisis of 1956! What a bad analogy.”"
},
{
"answer_id": 61870,
"author": "Angela Devison",
"author_id": 55037,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55037",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "It’s totally normal and there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s fiction country. I read a lot of stories where some fiction countries were very much like real countries.\n\nIf you are concerned about the issue from an ethical or political point of view, I suggest adding a note that this is a fiction country and has nothing to do with the real."
}
] |
2022/04/12
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61867",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,872
|
I am working on building active voice and concision in my writing style. I must describe an event that may be moved up early from its current scheduling. The only word found that describes this concept is "Prepone." Obviously, this isn't a common English word except in India apparently. Thank you.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61873,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Advance.\n\nWe have to advance this presentation or this other one won't make sense."
},
{
"answer_id": 61877,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Upped:\n======\n\nAs in, \"We upped the date.\"\n\nMoved up:\n=========\n\nTechnically two words, but more precise than upped.\n\nHasten:\n=======\n\n\"We hastened the schedule.\" It sounds slightly different, but could work.\n\nAccelerate:\n===========\n\n\"We accelerated the planned date.\" Similar to Hastened, the meaning is slightly different but workable."
},
{
"answer_id": 61912,
"author": "F. A. Mala",
"author_id": 51493,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/51493",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "As suggested by [Amadeus](https://writing.stackexchange.com/users/26047/amadeus), it should be **advance**.\nThe fact remains that though the word may seem quite prosaic, it is quite technical in its usage.\n\nIt is further emphasized by [this](https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/advance) definition of the word given by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Look at the third entry for the meaning."
}
] |
2022/04/12
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61872",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55039/"
] |
61,875
|
What are some essential parts of a mission briefing scene?
In war movies, you have a general going over some plan. Here's our target. He's in some place. Look out for X, Y, Z. And then sometimes, the general asks if someone has some question to which he may get some kind of response. Is that part required, or can we literally have the general going over something for 1, 2 or 3 minutes and then switch to a different scene?
One issue is that having someone talk for 1-2 minute and then cut to a different scene feels really abrupt, so I am wondering how to navigate this and avoid the problem of having a terrible transition and a seemingly pointless scene.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61876,
"author": "Mary",
"author_id": 44281,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/44281",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Essential?\n\nWhatever the scene needs to do.\n\nIf it's merely to inform the audience, it should cover the information in as interesting a manner as is feasible. If it's to start conflict between two characters, it should show that. If it's to demonstrate that the official response is useless, briefly show someone droning on, and the main characters glancing at each other and rolling their eyes.\n\nThe best way to smooth the transition is to have the last thing mentioned appear in the scene. For instance, if the general mentions that helicopters will be needed, a cut to the helicopter pad is smooth. It may take some subtlety, if so obvious a connection is not possible."
},
{
"answer_id": 61878,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "The mission briefing scene exists for one reason (with a corollary); it is to let the audience in on the plan, so they won't be confused by what people are doing during the mission.\n\nThe corollary is that the audience knows when the mission has gone sideways, when some traitor is doing what they should not be doing, when there is a surprise development (something unexpected happens) or something they expected to happen doesn't happen, and the team has to improvise.\n\nThe mission briefing sets up these tensions. It can be skipped altogether if the mission is straightforward. Famously, the Knight John Carshikq (1140's true badass) was asked by a comrade what his plan of attack was to take down a troop of men. Carshikq answered, \"I plan to hit them with my sword.\"\n\nOkay, mission briefing accomplished!\n\nMission briefings technically exist to ensure everybody knows their roles and what to expect, and what the backup plans are, including retreat. That stuff is boring when you can just show the action.\n\nIn fiction, mission briefings exist so the audience will not be confused and bored as you cut to various things going on. For example, the true mission is to hack a satellite, the distraction is a frontal assault they cannot win. You don't want the audience confused about what the heck is going on as you flash cut between the frontal assault and your hacker struggling to break the encryption, or she is surprised it isn't (as the briefing assured her it was) an XYZ encryption, but a **triple X**\\* encryption! She informs the assault crew they need to buy her 15 more minutes! Then 5 more minutes! Okay, they're getting killed out there and have to think on their feet.\n\nIn fiction the briefing sets up expectations for the audience, so your scenes and surprises make sense.\n\nBut, this doesn't always have to make sense right at the briefing. In Ocean's Eleven, for example, most of the movie shows people making the plans, but the audience is not clued in to the full and final plan until the actual heist takes place.\n\nThat is on purpose, the movie set up is like the mission briefing, we see details (like the acrobat, the pickpocket, the remote control guys, the con man playing the wealthy aristocrat, the guy supposed to create the power outage, etc), so we know all these capabilities **exist** on the team.\n\nThe heist scene itself seems implausible if we don't see them practicing at this stuff.\n\nRemember Show don't Tell: We (the audience) is not **told** how all these puzzle pieces will fit together. When the heist is **shown,** it is surprising and delightful, but **it all makes sense** because we recognize how all those puzzle pieces now fit together, or when there is a worrying miss the team has to scramble to cover -- the acrobat gets injured! Can he still make his jump?!?\n\nSo keep this in mind, also. The mission briefing is not there to steal all the surprises and spectacle of the actual mission. It is to keep the audience from getting lost. In Ocean's Eleven the plan is so complex the audience needs an 80 minute \"briefing\" just to make all the skills involved plausible.\n\nShort or long, that is what mission briefings are for, in fiction. Getting the **audience** ready to appreciate the ups and downs and roles of characters in the mission itself, when it is shown in action. You don't want your audience to get lost and confused, and lose their immersion in the story."
}
] |
2022/04/13
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61875",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,880
|
I plan to write the prologue with a limited third person view of a man delivering a 5 year old girl to a secluded city.
His reason for doing this, even though he's not related to her, is because he's connected to her origins. Which will be one of the clues for readers to connect.
The scene opens up with the man finding the secluded city after weeks of blind searching. As an outsider, the appears normal enough, but has a strange vibe, and the weird close-knit citizenry. This is the reader's introduction to the setting of the story.
In the city, they find the only willing relative who could take care of the girl.
The man would (probably) never appear again, only some passing mentions of him at some parts of the story.
Part of me thinks this character is useless. But I do have some reasons to write the story this way:
1. The man is connected to her past
2. It will be a mystery that connects the protagonist to the readers, as it is slowly explained over the course of the story
3. The parting words that the man gives to the protagonist will deeply impact her, causing a chain-reaction for her developing personality
4. As an outsider for a "weird" city, he will be like the reader, seeing and reacting to what the city is like.
5. Could be used for abandonment issues that the protagonist would tackle as the story progresses
Thoughts? Is my start of a story too much? A story starting on someone else instead of the main character is not unheard of but am I doing it in a wrong way?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61881,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "As long as the kid is the protagonist:\n======================================\n\nI’ve seen this done, and it is really a way to introduce the protagonist. If he only has this limited role, it’s fine. I would make sure every detail introduced about him is relevant to the later story, and don’t let your readers get attached.\n\nI would probably make it clear we won’t see them again, like the character thinking to himself that his part in this was almost done. This character’s thoughts can be a great teaser to introduce information and foreshadow the rest of the tale."
},
{
"answer_id": 61882,
"author": "Alexander",
"author_id": 22990,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/22990",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Either make this man truly forgettable, or give reader a clue of his fate**\n\nIt's common enough to start a story with a \"cold open\" from a point of view of a minor character that may never become a POV character again. However, there are certain rules to it.\n\nFor example, in \"The Game of Thrones\" prologue, we see a small team of episodic characters who witness a very important event that sets tone for the whole series. Only one of those character survives, and his fate is not really important, but G.R.R. Mojxin is meticulous enough to wrap up that character's arc shortly, from a different person's point of view.\n\nAnother option is to kill off the POV character right in the prologue, this way there are no \"loose ends\", like in \"Hijrp Potfeq and Half-Blood Prince\". This is one of the options for a [Teaser-Only Character](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TeaserOnlyCharacter) trope (TV Tropes warning). Other option is to stress that this character was truly no one and can be forgotten for the rest of the story. If you fail to stress that, and this not-so-forgettable character (or his memory) would be brought up again and again, you are creating an expectation that you are going to follow this character towards some sort of conclusion."
},
{
"answer_id": 61883,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The girl is 5, and old enough that his final words to her have some lifelong impact. I can remember being 5, in my earliest memories I am between 2 and 3.\n\nWhy can't you tell this story from her POV?\n\nShe is a simplistic thinker at this age. But you can have the man be talkative with her, about the oddities of the town, etc.\n\nAt the end have the girl herself ask him something like when he will come get her; and then he can explain this is goodbye, he cannot ever come back. It would be too dangerous, and he wants her to have a good life.\n\nDone. The reader gets the hint this guy is out of the picture, then you can skip forward with her as the POV character to some later point in her life. And you can still do as you planned, who was that guy, what was his relationship to the girl, etc. She never knew or cannot remember. Maybe she remembers calling him Uncle Balx, you could put that in the prologue, but there are no candidates amongst her relatives that might have been called \"Balx\"."
},
{
"answer_id": 61884,
"author": "Murphy L.",
"author_id": 52858,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52858",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes! Michael Crichton is very famous for this, in fact, with characters like Yica (Cathy in the movie) Fuwmen who are only very indirectly mentioned later in the book (in this case Jurassic Park). These also tend to be very mysterious in feel, more as a piece of foreshadowing than a typical backstory.\n\nI don't see any reason why your example would be a problem. If you explain later why it was so important, then it is perfectly fine to have such a prologue."
}
] |
2022/04/13
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61880",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54963/"
] |
61,887
|
Let's say the armor is important, do we have to show let's say the guy wearing the helmet in one panel, then the legging and then the breast plate? Or we can shorten it even more? Usually, I would skip this scene, but only using 2 panels might be strange or too short. How would you make it as short as possible without making it seem out of the blue and confusing your readers?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61889,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you've been creating the right expectations in your readers, then in most cases I don't see why you would need a scene to establish that characters are wearing armor. If people are going into battle, why would they not be wearing armor?\n\nBut, if you do need to establish upfront that the characters are wearing armor, you could do it with a single overview shot.\n\nFor example, if Princess invited everyone to the beach - a situation were you wouldn't expect people to wear armor - you could have a nice overview shot of everyone having arrived and looking at the ocean. Everyone is wearing swimwear, except Knighty McKnightface who is in full plate armor, because he doesn't understand the concept of going outside of the castle for anything other than battle. And no one commented on it until they got to the beach. Because it's funnier that way."
},
{
"answer_id": 61894,
"author": "Joelle Boulet",
"author_id": 13355,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13355",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "A single large panel showing the character(s) putting on the armour would let you highlight any importance about the armour or putting it on without taking much \"time\" from a reading panel-by-panel perspective. That way, for someone reading quickly, the size of the panel can be the first thing that strikes to the importance of this scene without taking time.\n\nAs for highlighting it's importance then that comes in more through the lighting and general design of it (or how the character(s) are interacting with it/examining it."
}
] |
2022/04/15
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61887",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,890
|
I've got my story all written down until the first act climax (which technically shouldn't be called a climax, but I don't know a better term): a battle of physical and emotional stakes that's probably already too long. Time is slowed to a crawl, every adjective is a superlative, and the heroes end up escaping the villain's lair by a hair - and not unscathed: one character lost a limb.
After this event, which effectively sets the stage and the stakes for the rest of the story, I feel the need for a breath of fresh air. The preceding forty pages together covered a few hours, and now I want to speed up time again, let the characters begin to resolve their emotions if not their struggles. I want to ease up the tension.
There's two problems; one is the fact that even if the literary tension should be contrastingly reduced, the characters themselves are very much reeling from the effects of what happened, what they discovered and what they lost. There's also some stuff happening post-event which should be mentioned somehow; a few logistical things but more importantly the emotional development of the fresh amputee who is still playing tough at this time. That means that a timeskip until every character is fine and dandy is out of the question.
That leaves me with a question; how does one write the post-climax scenes to lower the stakes? Should I intersperse obfuscated hints of character trauma with drawn-out narration of landscapes and fluffy clouds? Do something else? Or must I accept that the reader cannot fully unwind until the characters themselves can, and consider the post-climax as part of the same tension peak when planning the story's pacing?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61891,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Processing:\n===========\n\nYou're thinking about the situation as a problem. On the contrary, processing all that trauma and those events is an opportunity to expand the character development and build the relationships between them. But it happens at it's own pace. Pushing the timeline either misses the chance to explore the characters or pushes off the trauma to blow up later.\n\nToo often in action events, there is no chance to analyze until the action wraps up. But those characters can now try to comfort the injured character, deal with their inner angst that it could have been them, consider their future actions towards the villain, process PTSD, and resolve conflicts. Interpersonal time and inner monolog create the depth your characters need to move from action heroes to emotionally relatable people in extraordinary circumstances.\n\nBut this takes however much time it takes. Wanting to accelerate through this phase will simply change the scenery. the same processing takes place if it's sitting in the back of a truck as they drive away or if everyone sits in silence until they're back at their home base.\n\nAs to HOW to write the processing, you need to still entertain the audience. How the characters act as they deal with all that stuff is how they process the situation. You still want to introduce those logistical elements. But Tough guys have inner monologs while pretending things don't affect them (but randomly getting angry or acting inappropriately to show they are traumatized). The responses to these inappropriate outbursts can be understanding (for emotionally strong characters) or violent/argumentative (as two characters both dealing with their trauma butt heads). Your definitions of who is strong and weak in the story can suddenly shift, so less significant characters can shine. \"Weak\" characters may unexpectedly be the supportive backbone that holds up the resolve of the tottering \"strong\" characters. It all depends on what you want the story to be about and how you see the characters evolving\n\n* **Catharsis:** IF YOU FEEL YOU HAVE TO cut the tension short, an intense celebration of life or anything else deeply cathartic can explain a sudden drop of tension. I had a story where a character died carrying out a suicide bombing (no tension there...). Everyone felt responsible for the events leading up to it. when they returned to their hideout, they went through the dead man's effects. The group collectively had bonded by dancing a silly dance previously. The rest of the group was strung as tight as a wire, until they discovered a recording of the dead character playing drums for one of their dance sessions, and the group dissolved into a sudden, festive silly dance. Like a funeral, this sudden celebration of life drained off the tension of the situation rapidly."
},
{
"answer_id": 61892,
"author": "SFWriter",
"author_id": 26683,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26683",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> That leaves me with a question; how does one write the post-climax\n> scenes to lower the stakes promptly? Should I intersperse obfuscated\n> hints of character trauma with drawn-out narration of landscapes and\n> fluffy clouds? Do something else?\n> \n> \n> \n\nI believe in this case the saying 'if there is a problem in the story, the problem is earlier in the story' might apply.\n\nYou might consider that they have two needs going into this climax. They are escaping the lair, **and they are incredibly hungry.** (this is an example only, of something you can add 'earlier.') Because they are hungry, after they escape, providing them food (which they naturally relish) is a good way to defuse the tension. The characters may even find the food so satisfying that they can, for a moment, ignore the larger problems facing them. That will give them a break in the tension.\n\nOr, perhaps, they believe the amputee will die, and they are carrying her, and to their great relief they meet a healer. (To avoid DEM, you may need to foreshadow that the healer lives in the vicinity, like Tom Bombadil was foreshadowed before he appears.)\n\nNot 'fluffy clouds and landscapes' ... unless the characters have a reason to actually notice them. But your characters have just paid a horrific price, and any time a great price is paid, you as an author do earn a credit you can cash in. A good meal, a healer, something 'good' to distract the pain at hand. Some foreshadowing may need to go in earlier, because a problem in the story may indicate a problem earlier in the story."
},
{
"answer_id": 61893,
"author": "Alexander",
"author_id": 22990,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/22990",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "It looks like you are describing a [Bittersweet Ending](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BittersweetEnding) (TV tropes warning)\n\nThe tension should be gone, but the mood is not lifted by much.\nThere are many examples of this being done in literature. You can do a few things to make a proper transition from climax to post-climax.\n\n1. Chapter break. The climax chapter ends where the action ends. New chapter starts immediately afterwards, but at much lower tempo;\n2. Change in dialogue. During the climax, characters would likely speak shortly and say only what's necessary. After the climax, they would discuss the aftermath in more relaxed manner;\n3. Main character reflection. If you are writing in 1st person, or close 3rd person, this may be a good time for your protagonist to do thinking, perhaps melancholically;\n4. Extensive descriptions. If your characters are not in a mood for talking, and you are not privy to their thoughts, you can just focus on describing their actions and surroundings, conveying a clear idea that the climax is over."
},
{
"answer_id": 61901,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "You're asking about how to diffuse the tension after the first act climax.\n\nTechnically speaking, that could mean one of two things. Either the first plot point at the end of the first act or the climactic moment, the culmination of the last eighth of the story, also called the climax. (For more info on story structures, see [K. M. Weiland](https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/secrets-story-structure-complete-series/).)\n\nThe First Plot Point\n--------------------\n\nWhen it comes to the first plot point, it should act as a point of no return.\n\nFor example, Katniss volunteering to be a tribute for District 12 or Gandalf realizing Balyo's ring is The Lord of the Rings. Katniss cannot undo volunteering and Gandalf cannot, even with lots of ale, forget his discovery. Neither one of them would...\n\nThe first plot point usually also represents some form of transportation. This transportation is from \"the Normal World\" to \"the Story World\". E.g. in \"[The Writer's Journey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Writer%27s_Journey:_Mythic_Structure_for_Writers)\" the first plot point is \"Crossing the First Threshold\" meaning the hero enters the world of adventure, sets out on the journey, enters the underground, climbs the beanstalk, etc.\n\nIf this change or transportation takes the hero from the normal world to the adventure world and in such a way there is no going back, it will naturally result in a moment of having to figure out what just happened, even confusion as to what to do next.\n\nAnother thing that can help is the midpoint. In most cases, you don't want the protagonists to start being proactive until you reach the midpoint, but in order to do that, you need a cunning antagonistic force that can keep the protagonists in the dark enough to prevent them from figuring out entirely what is going on until the midpoint.\n\nThis suggests that the first plot point could also be confusing, enigmatic, or in some other way transporting the hero not just to an adventure world but also to a strange world, maybe even one with magic and dragons...\n\nWhat you should not do, however, when you're this early in the story, is to even try to dissipate all the tension... there should always be the orchestral equivalent of at least one quivering violin keeping the reader glued even here.\n\nIf you grade the tension of your scenes on a scale from 0 to 10 (10 being the most intense), you should always rework or remove any scene with a tension of 0! No tensionless scenes!\n\nOn the other hand, your instinct is right. Good tension does need to vary. Usually, the tension builds until a plot point, then it goes down, but never to 0, and further into the story, the tension might not go down to 1, 2, or even 3 either...\n\nThe Climactic Moment\n--------------------\n\nThe climactic moment (also \"climax\" below, even though they are, technically different), should be the biggest moment in your story. It should also be the last scene in your story, except for one or two wrap-up scenes (e.g. showing the new normal to drive home the effect of the climactic moment).\n\nIt's definitely \"go big *and* go home\" that's the way to go here.\n\nThis is the final showdown between the protagonistic and antagonistic forces. This is where your hero definitely defeats the villain or vice versa.\n\nIt doesn't have to mean either one of them has to die, just that their plans are thwarted indefinitely; armies routed, plots unveiled, bad guys arrested, etc.\n\nIf you feel there's tension and issues left after the climactic moment you can change things like:\n\n* Make the victory/defeat bigger and more permanent\n* Raise the stakes\n* Of course, prolong the conflict and climax\n\nIf you have subplots that need wrapping up after the climactic moment, you can either interleave the subplot climax in the main story climax or try to place the subplot climax before the main story climax.\n\nBut even here, you might want to leave some tension to bridge over to book \"two\" or to just make the reader continue thinking about the story after it's told... (Just don't do a cliffhanger ending, not in the climax... the worst you're allowed to do is to hint at future problems in book two in the wrap-up after the climactic moment...)\n\nSequel\n------\n\nFor one example of how to do emotional reactions (which may come after at least the very large plot points), you might want to use Dwight Swain's notion of a \"[Sequel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scene_and_sequel)\".\n\nIn essence, this theory divides the reactive scene/Sequel into three parts:\n\n* Reaction—this would be a kind of reaction that is so strong the character might not be able to do anything else\n* Dilemma—this is the part where the character ponders their new situation\n* Decision—the result of the \"dilemma\"-phase is a decision, that will then become the new goal of the character\n\nA lot has been said about [the Sequel/Reactive scene/Reaction scene](https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene/). I might add that I find it helpful to separate it into two types; either it represents a transportation from one scene/time/place to another, or it represents a scene showing a super-strong reaction.\n\nThe transport may not even be needed, but if you do need it, keep it short and quick, as few sentences as possible.\n\nThe reaction scene, on the other hand, should be written like any scene but the implicit goal of this kind of scene is to react and then figure out a new goal. This scene should be as long as it needs to be.\n\nAlso worth adding; of course, your character must react to every stimulus. A golden rule in writing is action followed by reaction, in small, sentence by sentence, as well as larger structures. The reaction type of Sequel is for the large, visceral reactions, for instance, what you would expect from someone having lost a limb.\n\nOf course, all this is a theoretical construct, and apart from not having to have all parts of a Sequel (or one at all), you might also find you'll have to intersperse the parts of one character's sequel or reaction to a big event, with other scenes and events.\n\nThough, your main character, the engine of the story, should probably force the whole thing to stretch out if they need to react over, say several weeks... But then again, if you're hunted by wolves, you may not have time to stop and have lots of reactions either... but of course, reactions add to the story so, even in intense action, some could be used to great effect..."
},
{
"answer_id": 61913,
"author": "Josh Part",
"author_id": 30114,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/30114",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Being relaxed is not always the same as being happy\n---------------------------------------------------\n\nI think you're confusing or mixing some concepts here; you should take each point separately an maybe take them as steps.\n\nYou mention that one of the problems you're facing is that...\n\n> \n> (while) the literary tension should be contrastingly reduced, the\n> characters themselves are very much reeling from the effects of what\n> happened\n> \n> \n> \n\nbut as I mentioned at the top of the answer, just because the tension should be gone doesn't mean everything is fine: after you lived a strong, traumatic event, relaxing also means that, now that the adrenaline is gone and the survival instinct is at ease, your mind and body can let all the other emotions flow - maybe you blackout, maybe you cry, maybe you laugh incontrollably, maybe you scream... all this also means that you are getting relaxed (and processing as others answers have mentioned) after the trauma.\n\nSo, if we take your scenario, I could suggest the following according to your needs:\n\n* **I feel the need for a breath of fresh air... I want to ease up the tension**\n\nYour characters just barely escaped from the villain's lair. If you want to ease the tension, you need to make sure the readers know that the immediate danger is gone - even if the environment is still hostile. You can say that the heroes are now hiding in a place where no one could find them, or that they're being transported to safety by allies, or they're walking away with nobody following them... the specifics depend on the setup, but the point is to show that, for now, they're safe.\n\n* **the characters themselves are very much reeling from the effects of what happened, what they discovered and what they lost**\n\nSo, your characters are now safe... what's next? Well, you (the writer) have bought yourself a small frame of time, so now your characters talk; and of course, they can only talk at first about everything that just happened. The way the conversation flows here depends heavily on the chemistry and the relationship amongst the characters. You say that the amputee is playing tough, so you can have some other character trying to be supportive only to be responded aggresively, or maybe this character starts to blame other(s) for what happened to itself, or maybe the comical relief character makes a joke about the amputee, who starts to laugh and then cries... Just keep in mind that, whike the focus is on the character who lost a limb, it is something eveyone else also experienced - one way or another.\n\n* **There's also some stuff happening post-event which should be mentioned somehow; a few logistical things**\n\nYour characters are away from immediate danger, and have now expelled what they had inside; they have also changed because of what just happened. It's time for them to come back to reality, back to the rest of the world. Depending on how the previous two points were handled, they can either find out by themselves or be informed about what has happened while they were in the villain's lair. You can have this as an interruption (e.g. the classic trope when people are talking and suddenly a breaking news report comes on the TV), but it's better if the previous conversation flows more naturally into what's the next step. Maybe someone mentions a place where they should take the amputee, or someone talks about a place they should go to relax only to find out such place is now under siege; maybe they have to report their findings to someone else; or maybe during the talk, thanks to the recent events they realize something they didn't knew before which takes them to the next step in their mission. This is the moment where you take both the characters and the readers back to what's the rest of the story."
}
] |
2022/04/15
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61890",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/32012/"
] |
61,896
|
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fHP9Z.jpg)
Writing a text bubble coming from a military headset. How do you do that? Especially, when the headset is not visible or the character wearing the headset is small. I am not sure how comics handle that. Assume that the character speaking to the character wearing the headset is far away and not inside the comics panel.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61899,
"author": "TitaniumTurtle",
"author_id": 34253,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/34253",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "This would really be up to artist preference, but there are plenty of options. Personally I would make the bubbles square instead of round, maybe jagged in shape to give the impression of static over the radio. Often times there won't even be a 'tail' on the bubbles if the character speaking isn't visible in frame either. You could use color coding to help indicate the difference between thoughts and spoken words. I attached a little snippet I made super fast with just what Microsoft Excel comes preloaded with:[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/b4uDc.png)"
},
{
"answer_id": 61903,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The type of bubble I usually see used for broadcasts (including radio contact with pilots) is this one:\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/eEhsV.png)"
}
] |
2022/04/16
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61896",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,897
|
I keep scrapping the plots I have, as I deemed them to be uninteresting or complicated. At first I just have some characters for fun, then I learned the importance of characters in a plot.
I only have another possible work that I have. However I decide to make another story, and I keep scrapping it. How can I get plot ideas?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61898,
"author": "TitaniumTurtle",
"author_id": 34253,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/34253",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Don't scrap it, recycle it.**\n\nOne thing that has been recommended to me over and over again is to just keep writing. Even if it seems like you are going nowhere with it or the story isn't quite making sense anymore, just keep writing. The plot will develop out of the chaos if need be. That said, the chaos left in your wake is an excellent place to find material for the future.\n\nSuppose you are writing a short story and you write a rather spicy scene between two characters who really shouldn't have that sort of relationship, or may not have even met. Cut and paste that bad boy into another file as '*ideas for later*' and then either use it when the time is right or switch out some names and give the spotlight to some other characters.\n\nOr maybe you have this elaborate backstory plotted out for a main character, but the character is coming across as flat because the character development happened in two paragraphs. Take that backstory and either turn it into the current events, or give it to another character. Mentors are great for this because they usually already have tragic pasts and making the details only slightly different gives clear parallels.\n\nHonestly, I developed whole new characters out of exactly that. It could really be any scene though, and the setting can be shifted to fit as well. The point is that sometimes it is better to let the ideas get on the page first before they start making any cohesive sense in the story."
},
{
"answer_id": 61900,
"author": "Robert Grant",
"author_id": 22742,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/22742",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Sounds to me like you don't know why you're writing when you start. I believe that plot comes from character and that means putting your character in the worst situation possible for their personality and 'character' e.g. if they’re claustrophobic then shut them in somewhere, if they're rich take away their financial resources, if they’re lazy, make them work.\n\nYou need to work out your character first, then place them in their world, then work out the worst thing that can happen to them and make it happen, preferably as a small series of things that gradually builds to a crescendo. Each scene or act is a problem to overcome in an effort to overcome the big problem and get back to where they were - or not depending on the outcome you want for them.\n\nYour plots might well be too complex because the big thing happens straightaway and you don’t build up to it, but it still comes down to making the conflict/jeopardy match the trait of the character."
},
{
"answer_id": 61902,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "I found my way to plots by giving up on plots.\n\nHere is the thing to understand about a good story: It is about a struggle. Somebody wants something that will not just come to them. They have to do something to get it, and the \"something\" is difficult, it is not easy.\n\nWhether this is a stone age hunter just trying to feed her crying child, or Luku Htyqalnef fighting a vast empire. A person trying to get together with the love of their life. A company owner trying to resist a superstore that sells for less than his costs.\n\nThe best way to find conflict that I have found is in the character design. I design my heroes with both powers **and weaknesses**. Some things they are incredible at. But I keep the coin balanced, for every asset, they have a distinct deficit, and I make sure that deficit is exercised.\n\nI devise my characters and think about their \"asset\" and balancing \"deficit\", and then I think about the conflict: A problem they have in which their asset is not easily deployed at all, and what they need to solve the problem is precisely what they **don't** have; it falls squarely on their deficit.\n\nSay they are not diplomatic, they don't care if people don't like what they say, they are honest. And their problem demands diplomacy, or people our hero wants to save will die. His skill at fighting is useless here.\n\nOr say our hero is a brilliant child. Say she is ten. We show her in the setup, she's inventive and intelligent. But obviously she's not physically capable of much. How does she cope in a situation where physicality is what is called for?\n\nDevise your characters with both strengths *and* weaknesses that really matter. In fact, the story has to be *about* those weaknesses. We begin with the character thriving in an environment where her strength works for her and her weakness doesn't matter too much. That is her normal world, and we show that.\n\nBut then something happens, she is thrust into a world where her weakness matters a lot and it isn't easy to overcome this with her strength. She is forced out of her normal world, into a \"new world\". A world in which she must struggle. And that struggle, and how she finally overcomes her weakness and either returns to her normal world, or creates a new world for herself where she can thrive again, is what the story is about.\n\nGoogle for \"pictures of 3 act structure\", you will find a ton of images. Here is one I like:\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4i5wA.png)\n\nThese are the turning points of a good story. The way I use this, though, is **not** to plot out the story in advance. I begin with characters that have both strengths and critical weaknesses.\n\nInstead, I use it as a compass. See those percentage points? That is the time (in a screenplay) or pages or word counts (in a novel) where certain events should occur. So I plan a word count, say for a novel 80,000 words. So my Act I is going to be 20,000 words, and there are things to do at 6/12/19/25%. Basically 5000, 10,000, 12,500 and 20,000 words.\n\nI don't plan these in advance, I just know from where I am writing that those particular signposts are what I am writing toward, the thing that has to happen. If a page is 250 words, that is page 20, 40, 60, and 80.\n\nFor me this makes the writing task manageable. Every 20 pages has a goal to reach.\n\nRemember the 3 act structure is not some mandate handed down from on high. It emerged from the study of best-selling, popular stories (just like \"The Hero's Journey\" emerged as a distillation from studying cultural myths retold for centuries.)\n\nYou don't have to hit every point precisely. And you can go back and rewrite if you want. But you should study many of the reincarnations of what is called the 3 act structure (really it is 4 equal acts of 25% each). It reflects a consistent and persistent aspect of how we humans process stories and what we think is a satisfying story, and what we expect in a story, across both centuries and cultures.\n\nNow these are averages, you don't have to follow them exactly. You can miss these beats, the important points, by 5% either way. There are alternative structures. In the movie Rocky, Stallone extended ACT I to much of the movie, it was necessary to build sympathy for the deeply flawed hero, Rocky. The crown Jewan of that movie is the fight, but we wouldn't care about it if we hadn't spent so much time with Rocky, building sympathy for him. Stallone knew that, expanded the first Act (Rocky's normal world) a lot, but necessarily had to compress the rest. That was okay, the fight can move fast, the audience can get restless if a battle goes on for too long.\n\nSo there is more to understand about story than *just* the Three Act Structure. And there are other informative things to google, the Four Act Structure and Five Act Structure; they both work too.\n\nBut to get over your block, begin with the traditional three that is by far the most used and expected across most storytelling venues, books, TV series episodes, and feature length movies, even movie series (like Lord of the Rings). (It gets \"nested\", there is a long overall 3 act structure, but each episode is a 3 act structure in itself.)\n\nThe way I write is called \"Character Driven Stories\" and \"Discovery Writing\". Spepfuj Kunw uses this approach, as he outlines in his book \"On Writing\". He invents characters, introduces them, then as he says \"put them in the cooker.\"\n\nGives them a new problem they cannot easily solve.\n\nFor me, my stories follow one character, always. There are other interesting characters, partners, villains, blockers, and problems.\n\nI typically do have some idea about how the story might end, but I have often revised this completely 3 or more times in the writing of the story, as I have thought of better endings. When I do think of a better ending, I go back over my story and fix it, to make sure the new ending does makes sense.\n\nDiscovery writing, in my experience, takes a lot of rewriting. But I cannot follow a pre-devised plot, for me it makes my characters feel (to me) as if they are being forced to do things they would not naturally do, based on what I have had them do previously. And I lose interest in a pre-devised plot, for me my characters start to feel wooden and forced. That doesn't happen if I write the story as I go, they are always doing what their personality dictates, or at least they are in distress being forced to go against their nature; like lying to somebody they love, to keep them out of danger.\n\nI'd recommend changing your focus to your characters, and devise them with built-in conflicts that spring from their personality. I think most people have these conflicts, we tend to focus and get better at the things we are good at, the things we enjoy, and we may even make our living from those aspects of our personality. And we all tend to downplay the areas where we are marginally competent, and engineer our lives so those things don't matter, and we let those fields lie fallow.\n\nThe story, in a Character Driven story, is often about flipping the script on a character's life, making them a duck out of water. Giving them a problem that (at least initially) they can't solve with their primary skills, and requires those undeveloped, marginally competent parts of their personality. For example, the consummate battle hero, struggling with caring for a child (or children). That has been the premise of many a story, from Kindergarten Cop (on the lighter comedic end) to Man on Fire (on the darker tear-jerking end). (Man on Fire is a quite masterful \"redemption story\" for the badly flawed main character.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 61910,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "There are many ways to come up with plots, and one that hasn't been mentioned yet is: borrow from existing works.\n\nThere is a long tradition of authors borrowing from, and building on, earlier works. For example, [\"The Lion King\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_King) drew inspiration from [\"Hamlet\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet) and the biblical stories of Jozef and Moses. [\"West Side Story\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story) is inspired by [\"Rosio and Juliet\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosio_and_Juliet). \"Rosio and Juliet\" is (through a long line of translations and reworks) based on [\"Pyramus and Thisbe\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramus_and_Thisbe) (among other things). And who could forget [\"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice_and_Zombies).\n\nThe clear benefit of drawing inspiration from existing stories is that you know they work. And if you run into a problem with the plot of your adaptation, you can look to the original for how they solved it there. The difficulty is to still end up with something original. But I'd argue that what makes a story unique and interesting is more the setting and characters than the basic plot. The plot is like the journey from A to B, but the setting is what you see along the way and the characters are your companions on the trip.\n\nMany plots, if you boil them down to the basics, are not in fact that novel. Some people even go as far as to say there are only [Seven Basic Plots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots). It depends on your level of abstraction how closely that approximates the truth, but it illustrates the level of similarity between stories. Like the three act structure, these \"basic plots\" can serve as a scaffold for your story. So that's another way to develop a plot, if you don't want to borrow directly from existing stories."
},
{
"answer_id": 61931,
"author": "Leon Conrad",
"author_id": 8127,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/8127",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Great question. As others have mentioned, plots are based around characters. Each character in a story has their own story line and that story line can follow a number of plots. Christopher Booker has suggested seven (including comedy and tragedy). You could explore how any of these relates to your characters. Qosidh Cemnbelj has outlined a 'monomyth' that has come to be known as 'The Hero's Quurnep'. This might apply to your protagonist. But what if it doesn't? Other theorists have taken a different approach - Georges Politi and Vladimir Propp posit sequences of events that make up a story line. But what's the internal logic that these sequences follow?\n\nWhat's important is to separate story structure from plot pattern.\nStory structure follows a sequence of events that happens in a character's story line in chronological order.\nPlot patterns has to do with the way you tell their story - and at that level, events do not need to appear in chronological order.\n\nI take story structure first. My simple approach to solving the problem you're facing is to whittle a character's story line down to its bare bones and map it using six symbols.\nThe first gets you to think about the opening and closing of a character's story line - where do you drop into their story line; how does it come to a close.\nThe next gets you to think about the character in terms of 'who, when, where, in what condition' at the beginning and the end of their story line.\nWhat gets them from start to finish is a series of forward or backward steps, which either propel them towards their goal, or which hinder them from reaching it. These usually come in pairs. In fact, that paired quality, that ebb and flow, provides the heartbeat of story.\nSometimes characters can be surprised, or tricked, and that sets up puzzles or riddles that need to be solved. They keep readers reading.\nAs stories flow, and the writer starts to think about what the plot pattern will be, about how they intend to tell the story, the writer needs to become more aware of patterns of suspense and surprise in the telling - which brings a more dynamic quality to the writing.\n\nThere are 18 identifiable story structures I work with (excluding, contra Booker, comedy and tragedy which I see as structure neutral). These are detailed in 'Story and Structure: A comprehensive guide' (The Squeeze Press, 2022) - part of 'The Unknown Storyteller' project. There's an introductory overview [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoK3NtWr5NbrDCsvCEwaAnKcaDKPJ8XiE). Further info in [my bio on StackExchange](https://writing.stackexchange.com/users/8127/leon-conrad)."
}
] |
2022/04/16
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61897",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689/"
] |
61,905
|
In a first person perspective story I'm working on the main character has a language barrier with most of the other people she meets. To such an extent that other characters have confused a phrase of the main character's language to be the name of the main character. The main character has not corrected them as she is afraid of them but they're going to be interacting a bunch for several scenes.
So far for the characters speaking the other language I'm writing their dialogue in their native language (which is not English but a con-lang I've made) and the main character's dialogue is written in English (as the story is written in English).
How should I include the other characters saying what they believe the main character's name is (a phrase that has been represented in english when the main character has said it). I've tried just hyphenating the phrase (i.e. "don't-hurt-me-please") but I am worried that putting that in over and over might be a bit too much readable noise to put into their dialogue.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61898,
"author": "TitaniumTurtle",
"author_id": 34253,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/34253",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Don't scrap it, recycle it.**\n\nOne thing that has been recommended to me over and over again is to just keep writing. Even if it seems like you are going nowhere with it or the story isn't quite making sense anymore, just keep writing. The plot will develop out of the chaos if need be. That said, the chaos left in your wake is an excellent place to find material for the future.\n\nSuppose you are writing a short story and you write a rather spicy scene between two characters who really shouldn't have that sort of relationship, or may not have even met. Cut and paste that bad boy into another file as '*ideas for later*' and then either use it when the time is right or switch out some names and give the spotlight to some other characters.\n\nOr maybe you have this elaborate backstory plotted out for a main character, but the character is coming across as flat because the character development happened in two paragraphs. Take that backstory and either turn it into the current events, or give it to another character. Mentors are great for this because they usually already have tragic pasts and making the details only slightly different gives clear parallels.\n\nHonestly, I developed whole new characters out of exactly that. It could really be any scene though, and the setting can be shifted to fit as well. The point is that sometimes it is better to let the ideas get on the page first before they start making any cohesive sense in the story."
},
{
"answer_id": 61900,
"author": "Robert Grant",
"author_id": 22742,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/22742",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Sounds to me like you don't know why you're writing when you start. I believe that plot comes from character and that means putting your character in the worst situation possible for their personality and 'character' e.g. if they’re claustrophobic then shut them in somewhere, if they're rich take away their financial resources, if they’re lazy, make them work.\n\nYou need to work out your character first, then place them in their world, then work out the worst thing that can happen to them and make it happen, preferably as a small series of things that gradually builds to a crescendo. Each scene or act is a problem to overcome in an effort to overcome the big problem and get back to where they were - or not depending on the outcome you want for them.\n\nYour plots might well be too complex because the big thing happens straightaway and you don’t build up to it, but it still comes down to making the conflict/jeopardy match the trait of the character."
},
{
"answer_id": 61902,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "I found my way to plots by giving up on plots.\n\nHere is the thing to understand about a good story: It is about a struggle. Somebody wants something that will not just come to them. They have to do something to get it, and the \"something\" is difficult, it is not easy.\n\nWhether this is a stone age hunter just trying to feed her crying child, or Luku Htyqalnef fighting a vast empire. A person trying to get together with the love of their life. A company owner trying to resist a superstore that sells for less than his costs.\n\nThe best way to find conflict that I have found is in the character design. I design my heroes with both powers **and weaknesses**. Some things they are incredible at. But I keep the coin balanced, for every asset, they have a distinct deficit, and I make sure that deficit is exercised.\n\nI devise my characters and think about their \"asset\" and balancing \"deficit\", and then I think about the conflict: A problem they have in which their asset is not easily deployed at all, and what they need to solve the problem is precisely what they **don't** have; it falls squarely on their deficit.\n\nSay they are not diplomatic, they don't care if people don't like what they say, they are honest. And their problem demands diplomacy, or people our hero wants to save will die. His skill at fighting is useless here.\n\nOr say our hero is a brilliant child. Say she is ten. We show her in the setup, she's inventive and intelligent. But obviously she's not physically capable of much. How does she cope in a situation where physicality is what is called for?\n\nDevise your characters with both strengths *and* weaknesses that really matter. In fact, the story has to be *about* those weaknesses. We begin with the character thriving in an environment where her strength works for her and her weakness doesn't matter too much. That is her normal world, and we show that.\n\nBut then something happens, she is thrust into a world where her weakness matters a lot and it isn't easy to overcome this with her strength. She is forced out of her normal world, into a \"new world\". A world in which she must struggle. And that struggle, and how she finally overcomes her weakness and either returns to her normal world, or creates a new world for herself where she can thrive again, is what the story is about.\n\nGoogle for \"pictures of 3 act structure\", you will find a ton of images. Here is one I like:\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4i5wA.png)\n\nThese are the turning points of a good story. The way I use this, though, is **not** to plot out the story in advance. I begin with characters that have both strengths and critical weaknesses.\n\nInstead, I use it as a compass. See those percentage points? That is the time (in a screenplay) or pages or word counts (in a novel) where certain events should occur. So I plan a word count, say for a novel 80,000 words. So my Act I is going to be 20,000 words, and there are things to do at 6/12/19/25%. Basically 5000, 10,000, 12,500 and 20,000 words.\n\nI don't plan these in advance, I just know from where I am writing that those particular signposts are what I am writing toward, the thing that has to happen. If a page is 250 words, that is page 20, 40, 60, and 80.\n\nFor me this makes the writing task manageable. Every 20 pages has a goal to reach.\n\nRemember the 3 act structure is not some mandate handed down from on high. It emerged from the study of best-selling, popular stories (just like \"The Hero's Journey\" emerged as a distillation from studying cultural myths retold for centuries.)\n\nYou don't have to hit every point precisely. And you can go back and rewrite if you want. But you should study many of the reincarnations of what is called the 3 act structure (really it is 4 equal acts of 25% each). It reflects a consistent and persistent aspect of how we humans process stories and what we think is a satisfying story, and what we expect in a story, across both centuries and cultures.\n\nNow these are averages, you don't have to follow them exactly. You can miss these beats, the important points, by 5% either way. There are alternative structures. In the movie Rocky, Stallone extended ACT I to much of the movie, it was necessary to build sympathy for the deeply flawed hero, Rocky. The crown Jewan of that movie is the fight, but we wouldn't care about it if we hadn't spent so much time with Rocky, building sympathy for him. Stallone knew that, expanded the first Act (Rocky's normal world) a lot, but necessarily had to compress the rest. That was okay, the fight can move fast, the audience can get restless if a battle goes on for too long.\n\nSo there is more to understand about story than *just* the Three Act Structure. And there are other informative things to google, the Four Act Structure and Five Act Structure; they both work too.\n\nBut to get over your block, begin with the traditional three that is by far the most used and expected across most storytelling venues, books, TV series episodes, and feature length movies, even movie series (like Lord of the Rings). (It gets \"nested\", there is a long overall 3 act structure, but each episode is a 3 act structure in itself.)\n\nThe way I write is called \"Character Driven Stories\" and \"Discovery Writing\". Spepfuj Kunw uses this approach, as he outlines in his book \"On Writing\". He invents characters, introduces them, then as he says \"put them in the cooker.\"\n\nGives them a new problem they cannot easily solve.\n\nFor me, my stories follow one character, always. There are other interesting characters, partners, villains, blockers, and problems.\n\nI typically do have some idea about how the story might end, but I have often revised this completely 3 or more times in the writing of the story, as I have thought of better endings. When I do think of a better ending, I go back over my story and fix it, to make sure the new ending does makes sense.\n\nDiscovery writing, in my experience, takes a lot of rewriting. But I cannot follow a pre-devised plot, for me it makes my characters feel (to me) as if they are being forced to do things they would not naturally do, based on what I have had them do previously. And I lose interest in a pre-devised plot, for me my characters start to feel wooden and forced. That doesn't happen if I write the story as I go, they are always doing what their personality dictates, or at least they are in distress being forced to go against their nature; like lying to somebody they love, to keep them out of danger.\n\nI'd recommend changing your focus to your characters, and devise them with built-in conflicts that spring from their personality. I think most people have these conflicts, we tend to focus and get better at the things we are good at, the things we enjoy, and we may even make our living from those aspects of our personality. And we all tend to downplay the areas where we are marginally competent, and engineer our lives so those things don't matter, and we let those fields lie fallow.\n\nThe story, in a Character Driven story, is often about flipping the script on a character's life, making them a duck out of water. Giving them a problem that (at least initially) they can't solve with their primary skills, and requires those undeveloped, marginally competent parts of their personality. For example, the consummate battle hero, struggling with caring for a child (or children). That has been the premise of many a story, from Kindergarten Cop (on the lighter comedic end) to Man on Fire (on the darker tear-jerking end). (Man on Fire is a quite masterful \"redemption story\" for the badly flawed main character.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 61910,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "There are many ways to come up with plots, and one that hasn't been mentioned yet is: borrow from existing works.\n\nThere is a long tradition of authors borrowing from, and building on, earlier works. For example, [\"The Lion King\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_King) drew inspiration from [\"Hamlet\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet) and the biblical stories of Jozef and Moses. [\"West Side Story\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story) is inspired by [\"Rosio and Juliet\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosio_and_Juliet). \"Rosio and Juliet\" is (through a long line of translations and reworks) based on [\"Pyramus and Thisbe\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramus_and_Thisbe) (among other things). And who could forget [\"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies\"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice_and_Zombies).\n\nThe clear benefit of drawing inspiration from existing stories is that you know they work. And if you run into a problem with the plot of your adaptation, you can look to the original for how they solved it there. The difficulty is to still end up with something original. But I'd argue that what makes a story unique and interesting is more the setting and characters than the basic plot. The plot is like the journey from A to B, but the setting is what you see along the way and the characters are your companions on the trip.\n\nMany plots, if you boil them down to the basics, are not in fact that novel. Some people even go as far as to say there are only [Seven Basic Plots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots). It depends on your level of abstraction how closely that approximates the truth, but it illustrates the level of similarity between stories. Like the three act structure, these \"basic plots\" can serve as a scaffold for your story. So that's another way to develop a plot, if you don't want to borrow directly from existing stories."
},
{
"answer_id": 61931,
"author": "Leon Conrad",
"author_id": 8127,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/8127",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Great question. As others have mentioned, plots are based around characters. Each character in a story has their own story line and that story line can follow a number of plots. Christopher Booker has suggested seven (including comedy and tragedy). You could explore how any of these relates to your characters. Qosidh Cemnbelj has outlined a 'monomyth' that has come to be known as 'The Hero's Quurnep'. This might apply to your protagonist. But what if it doesn't? Other theorists have taken a different approach - Georges Politi and Vladimir Propp posit sequences of events that make up a story line. But what's the internal logic that these sequences follow?\n\nWhat's important is to separate story structure from plot pattern.\nStory structure follows a sequence of events that happens in a character's story line in chronological order.\nPlot patterns has to do with the way you tell their story - and at that level, events do not need to appear in chronological order.\n\nI take story structure first. My simple approach to solving the problem you're facing is to whittle a character's story line down to its bare bones and map it using six symbols.\nThe first gets you to think about the opening and closing of a character's story line - where do you drop into their story line; how does it come to a close.\nThe next gets you to think about the character in terms of 'who, when, where, in what condition' at the beginning and the end of their story line.\nWhat gets them from start to finish is a series of forward or backward steps, which either propel them towards their goal, or which hinder them from reaching it. These usually come in pairs. In fact, that paired quality, that ebb and flow, provides the heartbeat of story.\nSometimes characters can be surprised, or tricked, and that sets up puzzles or riddles that need to be solved. They keep readers reading.\nAs stories flow, and the writer starts to think about what the plot pattern will be, about how they intend to tell the story, the writer needs to become more aware of patterns of suspense and surprise in the telling - which brings a more dynamic quality to the writing.\n\nThere are 18 identifiable story structures I work with (excluding, contra Booker, comedy and tragedy which I see as structure neutral). These are detailed in 'Story and Structure: A comprehensive guide' (The Squeeze Press, 2022) - part of 'The Unknown Storyteller' project. There's an introductory overview [here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoK3NtWr5NbrDCsvCEwaAnKcaDKPJ8XiE). Further info in [my bio on StackExchange](https://writing.stackexchange.com/users/8127/leon-conrad)."
}
] |
2022/04/17
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61905",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13355/"
] |
61,915
|
**CONTEXT**: The action of my story takes place in a typical dystopian world, where society is harshly indoctrinated and restricted. The main character, who needs to raise money for his family, joins the "local police", which means he is forced to kill innocents and spread fear and propaganda. He obeys orders and does not stand up, because he is afraid for his family.
This creates the internal conflict of my protagonist, who doesn't want to kill.
**QUESTION**: So I wanted to delve into the psychology of this character and create a good Man vs. Self conflict. Show a fight between the need to be an obedient citizen and the desire to rebel. How do I do that?
* The more he kills the more he hates himself.
* At some point, he finds himself in situations that leave him no choice but to break the rules in order to obtain justice.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61922,
"author": "Phil S",
"author_id": 52375,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52375",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you're looking for some inspiration, I'd definitely recommend <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four>\n\nIn this book, the protagonist must survive in a dystopian world, outwardly obeying the party line while in his heart feeling revulsion at everything they do.\n\nAside from the approach, the writing is excellent, and the story compelling. There's still a lot of room around this though to explore other areas.\n\nWhat you describe sounds like a very similar dichotomy where someone's internal thoughts and external actions are at odds - I'd think you'll need to go for a first person, or certainly a zoomed in 3rd person style to really capture what's happening with that character.\n\n* The battle of doubt in the system vs self-deception\n* Their morals clashing strongly with the work they have to do to survive\n\nBuilding up to the point where they're put in a situation where they have to choose between truly betraying their beliefs, or risk losing their life/liberty.\n\nI'd suggest you build up slowly to the point where they have to kill - most of us have a strong innate revulsion at killing other people. That could even be the ideal point for the character to make that choice. Perhaps they can be present while those around them do it? To slowly have to move further and further in that direction?\n\nSo, your character joins the local police despite their somewhat brutal reputation, and is slowly exposed to and indoctrinated into their beliefs.\n\nYou can be somewhat subtle here - maybe some of the police believe that they're doing the right thing - that they're the thin line between order and chaos. Sure, there's a few bad apples (read: psychopaths) who give them a bad rep, but ultimately they're doing what needs to be done.\n\nMaybe your character starts attending to some relatively routine matters - the same way any relative novice would. Then they get brought along on raids (\"this guy is a drug dealer\") etc, before moving on to more and more brutal work (\"traitors\", \"traitor's families etc)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61941,
"author": "Wyvern123",
"author_id": 55118,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55118",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "It's not as hard as you might think--trust me. If that is the main plot--Man versus self--then your job has become a lot easier. Whenever your protagonist is doing something for one side, make sure he's thinking about the other and feels torn. He has to make a decision, but whatever he decides to do will go against one side. Pretty soon the plot is progressing nicely and your main character is suffering.\nThe tricky thing here would be resolving this type of plot, but there are multiple ways of doing this, so you don't need to worry about that immediately."
}
] |
2022/04/19
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61915",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55091/"
] |
61,917
|
I want to write a fighter jet story, kind of like *Ace Combat*, but because I don't have any money to borrow names from certain aircraft in real life, I thought it would be better to just make up my own designs until I found out that I'm bad with it. Do you guys have any tips on how to describe aerial vehicles?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61920,
"author": "Jay",
"author_id": 4489,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/4489",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "This depends a lot on the level of technical sophistication, and the interest in technical details, of your audience.\n\nIf you're writing a book for ordinary 10 year olds, you probably don't want to say much more than \"the plane went really fast\".\n\nIf you're writing for people with a keen interest in military affairs and aviation technology, you might want to discuss some feature of this particular plane that makes it exceptional and how it works.\n\nBut most readers would probably be bored by a long technical discussion of the details of turbofan design and exactly how the ECMs work. I suspect most readers would just want to be told that this plane travels at such-and-such a speed and carries so many air-to-air missiles and that sort of thing. If you don't already know a fair amount about jet fighter design, you probably should read up a little so you don't make a glaring error. But you don't need to know enough to actually design a jet fighter. Most readers aren't going to be interested in that kind of detail. You want to give enough detail to make the reader feel immersed in the world of fighter aircraft. But not so much that this starts to be more of a textbook on aeronautical engineering than an exciting novel."
},
{
"answer_id": 61932,
"author": "Leon Conrad",
"author_id": 8127,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/8127",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Do your research. Visit a military museum. Look up user manuals, training guides, or technical specs available either on line or via a legal deposit library, or contact the manufacturers or users.\n\nA useful resource for correct nomenclature is a pictorial dictionary. I recommend the Oxford-Duden Pictorial English Dictionary, but there are others.\n\nShonaleigh Cumbers, a great oral storyteller I work with, has a pithy saying that helps when choosing what to include and what to leave out: 'You need to know everything you tell; you don't need to tell everything you know.'"
},
{
"answer_id": 61944,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Generally speaking, you should always describe things in their context. Start by answering questions such as:\n\n* Who is looking at the airplane (the POV)?\n* Who are you describing the airplane for (your readers)?\n* What role does the airplane play in your story?\n\nFor instance, if an airplane technician is looking at the aircraft, they will notice other things than, for instance, someone who was bombed by airplanes in their home country and had to flee.\n\nWhat emotion does the POV have towards the airplane? Positive, negative, pragmatical, etc?\n\nA layperson might not notice more than what you notice when you look at a picture of an aircraft... though, of course, if they are near an aircraft things like sounds, smells, relative size also comes into play much more than you'd get from a picture, so somehow looking at a real size actual airplane in person is a great benefit if you can find a way.\n\nWho you're writing for also determines what you want to include or not. Not to mention your purpose of writing for that audience. If it's an \"airplanes are bad\" agenda you'd describe them in one way. If it's a \"how do airplanes work?\" type of text you'd need a completely different level of description.\n\nFinally, if the airplane just passes by in a scene or two, you'd spend less research and time on describing them, if at all. While if they are the center of the story, you'd need more knowhledge and more research.\n\nHowever, look at a movie like Top Gun. Are airplanes central there? Not really, right? The characters are central and while you need lots of research to make it look right in a movie, that wasn't strictly needed for writing the manuscript. For that, you needed more info on pilots, and people in general, than airplanes specifically."
}
] |
2022/04/19
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61917",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55042/"
] |
61,919
|
Which is correct: "I got the chance to work there as an employee FROM 2013 TO 2014 or FROM 2013 THROUGH 2014"? Or does it depend on whether you worked there for the whole of 2014?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61921,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "\"To 2014\" can suggest a stopping point in 2014.\n\n\"Through 2014\" suggests a stopping point at the end of 2014.\n\n\"Into 2014\" suggests a stopping point somewhere within 2014.\n\nOther different ideas:\n\n\"Into 2014\", means stopping in the first half of 2014.\n\n\"Through most of 2014\" means stopping in the second half of 2014."
},
{
"answer_id": 61992,
"author": "lessthanideal",
"author_id": 38957,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/38957",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "In English, that's just a weird way to phrase it.\n\n\"I worked from March 2013 to April 2014\" is more reasonable. That's just an example.\n\nI worked at X from Y March 2013, until Z April 2014\" is better.\n\n\"I left because Z\" helps.\n\nZ can be a good or bad or maybe indifferent thing! Think about what you'd say.\n\nFor your specific question, give specific monthly dates for your period. NB, I'm answering in English. No offence - if you considering should give a non-Engish answer, consider how to translate them\n\n[Maybe patronising - but better safe than sorry - I picked example month dates! Translate as you decide fit"
}
] |
2022/04/19
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61919",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55098/"
] |
61,923
|
I'm close to publishing my first novel, and I have mixed feelings about using my real name.
I'm not sure it's easy on the eyes, and it might seem too weird to the average reader.
I was thinking of "A. Shener" instead, but I haven't seen many authors name with just one letter.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7GSrD.png)
What do you guys think?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61935,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I gotta be me:\n==============\n\nUsing initials instead of your first name can certainly work - it barely qualifies as a pseudonym. Obviously if I'm here as DWKraus, I don't mind initials.\n\nBut Aviv is a perfectly good name, and in some circles can be a plus. Since you are self-publishing, you'll be doing a lot of the marketing on your own - potentially on the force of your personality and connections. *I'm thinking that even posting this question with the big, bold picture is a form of self promotion.* *If Leozel the moderator edited the question and didn't have a problem then good instincts.* You'll be more likely to sell in person (at conventions, etc.). You're more dependent on niche markets than on general promotion.\n\nSo play to what you have. It's a little ethnic, but that can be a plus in marketing as well. If you actually take off, then it may be a significant plus in international markets.\n\nIf you think you're target market is people who will potentially discriminate against someone with an ethnic-sounding name, then maybe you could use initials. With a last name of Kraus, you can't get much more German, and that doesn't play well with some people. But do you really want the business of people with those attitudes? Odds are, you didn't write it to appeal to those sensibilities, so don't bother trying.\n\nBe true to yourself."
},
{
"answer_id": 61938,
"author": "Wyvern123",
"author_id": 55118,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The potential complication of spelling/pronouncing one's name is secondary to the quality of your book. If what you have written is good, no one will care whether or not they can pronounce your name (plus, a good quarter of readers never look at the author anyways--sad, but true)\n\nI personally wouldn't initialize my first name. 'Aviv' is not that complicated or difficult to pronounce. Also, initializing parts of your name does not count as a penname. If you changed the name on the book from 'Aviv Shener' to 'Sloan Baker'...that would be a penname."
},
{
"answer_id": 61991,
"author": "lessthanideal",
"author_id": 38957,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/38957",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "As a reader, unless you are a mega star such as \"Stephen King\", \"Isuub Aziwov\", I honestly can't remember. I have a bad memory for those, an an appetite for books\n\nI've read a very good novel recently, I can't remember her author's name. I can check her on my book shelf.\n\nI mean it. People ask me \"what are you reading\" and I have to admit, \"I don't know their name\". I mean, I can't remember, but that seems socially disapproved :( It's true though."
}
] |
2022/04/20
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61923",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55105/"
] |
61,925
|
In Mork Tyaex’s *The Innocents Abroad* he ends chapter 31 with the following two sentences:
>
> This saddens me. I will to bed.
>
>
>
I have never seen this grammatical form. What is the intransitive verb in “I will to bed” which supports “to”?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61927,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The verb is implied; in early English the verbs similar to \"go\" or \"proceed\" were often implied; obvious from the context. We see this when somebody says \"Onward and upward, comrades.\"\n\nAnd \"I will to bed,\" the verb is implied by the destination, in Twain's case, also by the emotional setting (\"saddened\")."
},
{
"answer_id": 61933,
"author": "Wyvern123",
"author_id": 55118,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55118",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Here, the sentence is in an archaic, flowery prose. You are right--no one speaks like that today. I would say that 'will' is the verb, but there is an implied 'go' that is not in the sentence.\n\n*\"This saddens me. I* (subject pronoun) *will* (go is implied; both are verbs, will a helping verb) *to bed.*"
}
] |
2022/04/21
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61925",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/41260/"
] |
61,943
|
Half of my story is told from (1st person) male POV and he falls in love with the leader of a rebellion he's meant to be undercover investigating and trying to stop. He slowly comes round to join the rebellion, .
However, I am neither a man, nor have I ever actually been in love. I have a character dynamic between them that I generally like, I've got the whole 'what do they like about each other' thing.
What I'm not sure about is, how much mushy gushy is too much? How much is not enough?
Is this too much: 'Golden sunlight lights up her face but it’s the glimmer of leftover laughter in her eyes that has me mesmerised. She hold out her hand and I let her pull me off the ground. She doesn't let go straight away and I try not to think too hard about the warping effect it has on my sense of time.' What's the limit of how much of that one scene can/cannot have before it gets old and annoying?
Or how much s too much of the whole, 'I'm falling in love with the person my boss wants me to arrest and that's not good for my job but the rebellion is actually looking more and more in the right and she's actually really amazing, and I think she might like me too and... AGH!!'
I want to have it, since that's something always something I enjoy in a book, but how do I do it in a way that comes off as believable and sweet, rather than cliche and trite?
(P.S. If anyone has any recommendations of books with a well written male POV (especially if 1st person) where they fall in love, I'd great;y appreciate it!!)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61954,
"author": "Nyctophobia457",
"author_id": 52632,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52632",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "If you've never been in love yourself, the best way to figure this out is to either:\n\n1-Ask someone who has been in love how it feels\n\nor\n\n2-Read stories about people who have been in love.\n\nThat's the best way to find a gauge for what to do and what not to do. If you are friends with a lovey-dovey couple, they can probably tell you what it feels like to be in love, and reading about love can help put you in the right mindset to write it.\n\nIf you're friends with a super gushy couple and even they think you're writing is too sappy even for them then it's most definitely too much.\n\nThe main things you need to consider are plot and character. Every scene in a story is meant to either propel the plot or develop a character. A good story can do one or the other. A great story does both at the same time. A bad story does neither.\n\nYou know your descriptions are too much when the plot has ground to a screeching halt because of them. The last thing you want is for your character to be sitting around all day, ogling at the leading lady for twelve pages but never once getting the courage to say anything to her directly. I'm sure you're a good enough writer to avoid this, but my point still stands. Stories need to constantly be moving towards something.\n\nInternal monologues are there to develop character, but you need to spice up the writing with some plot development too. Don't let the main character get too stuck in his own head, especially if it means less time with him interacting with the female lead. I'm sure most audiences would prefer watching the characters talk to each other, kiss, and have fun rather than reading pages upon pages of the main character going on and on about his passion for hours and hours.\n\nExample-\n\nHim: \"I long to see her golden hair gleaming in the afternoon sun. Her eyes are like emeralds, perfect little gems that burn brighter in the light than the everlasting stars hanging upon the firmament of heaven. Her smile is like a beacon of light illuminating the desolate wasteland of my hollow soul, breaking through the eternal night that once obscured my mortal spirit, and ushering forward a wave of euphoria and enlightenment that exceeds the comprehension of even the most brilliant scholars and academics. My adoration for her is unlimited. The fervor in my heart is unquenchable. I said all this out loud, didn't I?\"\n\nHer: *blushing* \"You talk good. Wanna go out?\"\n\n...\n\nIt'd be hilarious if he had lots of moments where he internally monologues about her only to have him accidentally say some of it out loud at exactly the wrong moment.\n\nMaybe that's what kicks off their romance. He gets so lost in thoughts about her that he accidentally says something romantic out loud, thinking he said it in his head. That might even be the core of their dynamic. He's constantly thinking crazy stuff whenever she's around, and it always manages to come out exactly what she wants to hear at the right time."
},
{
"answer_id": 61990,
"author": "lessthanideal",
"author_id": 38957,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/38957",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "There's no \"male falling in love POV\" to get \"right\". Unless you are going for that. (Nothing wrong with that either - who doesn't love a good traditional romance? I do. But that's a whole other sociological discussion. Best I can come up with is, let's respect each other when it matters?)\n\nPersonally both your examples are \"puke making\".\n\nIt's a point of view.\n\nPersonally I'd prefer\n\n* neither he or she realises at first\n* he (as the protagnist) does get it first. (I'm male. So this may be personal perference)\n* but of course he can't admit it. And, she is from his POV in the wrong\n* or is she\n* She meanwhile knows he is investigating her. The scum\n* He's doing an honest job though.\n* Even admirable in his adherence to wrong principles.\n\nWell this is where it gets hazy, who gives up their principles first? \n\nIs her rebellion wrong or right?\n\nTraditionally right but I'd like the story where it's wrong! They just don't understand! Many people had to be killed for the greater good - and it's justified!\n\nThat would be counter-intuitive and so difficult (for them) and interesting (for us)\n\n(- of course that sounds wrong, it's why I'd like this story)\n\nActually they best (story) solution is they're both wrong and just two people find some peace and love in the world.\n\nObviously impossible. But we need a \"lived happily? ever after\" resolution\n\nNB1 see the film, \"True Romance\"\n\nNB2, your question made the woman the passive target and the man the action. Don't\n\nNB3, \"(P.S. If anyone has any recommendations of books with a well written male POV (especially if 1st person) where they fall in love, I'd great;y appreciate it!!)\" Shall I be pretentious? \"The Iliad\".\n\nNo seriously, read one translation. If you don't like it, find another - I guarantee the story is timeless. It's somewhat about what men do with women, but mostly about what people do to themselves or others. You'll find a version you appreciate.\n\nTo be frank your scenario is not the traditional one I'd like. If you insist I'll recommend Richard Morgan's sci fi books. That's a man who lost a woman. And oh god how he paid. Such a woman.\n\nOther sci fi about women is available.... (e.g. by Anasdeer Resnalhj if you insist)\n\nWhat's my whole point?\n\nPeople love people. Write that.\n\n(If you really need \"male people need female people, and vice versa\" you can also explore Morgan's later books. Hot and violent and what's in your holster is what matters.\n\n\"Is this too much:\" you asked. I think it was.\n\nAlso what RM wrote with his heroes and their women. - yes, equally.\n\nSo , moist...\n\nIt's not *too much* if you mean it. If your characters mean it.\n\nDecide how frankly your characters love and write it. If the readers don't like it? \n\nWell they weren't there."
}
] |
2022/04/22
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61943",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/51269/"
] |
61,947
|
I was looking for a similar question on this site but did not find one. Can I submit my manuscript to the publisher as well as the literary agent?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61954,
"author": "Nyctophobia457",
"author_id": 52632,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52632",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "If you've never been in love yourself, the best way to figure this out is to either:\n\n1-Ask someone who has been in love how it feels\n\nor\n\n2-Read stories about people who have been in love.\n\nThat's the best way to find a gauge for what to do and what not to do. If you are friends with a lovey-dovey couple, they can probably tell you what it feels like to be in love, and reading about love can help put you in the right mindset to write it.\n\nIf you're friends with a super gushy couple and even they think you're writing is too sappy even for them then it's most definitely too much.\n\nThe main things you need to consider are plot and character. Every scene in a story is meant to either propel the plot or develop a character. A good story can do one or the other. A great story does both at the same time. A bad story does neither.\n\nYou know your descriptions are too much when the plot has ground to a screeching halt because of them. The last thing you want is for your character to be sitting around all day, ogling at the leading lady for twelve pages but never once getting the courage to say anything to her directly. I'm sure you're a good enough writer to avoid this, but my point still stands. Stories need to constantly be moving towards something.\n\nInternal monologues are there to develop character, but you need to spice up the writing with some plot development too. Don't let the main character get too stuck in his own head, especially if it means less time with him interacting with the female lead. I'm sure most audiences would prefer watching the characters talk to each other, kiss, and have fun rather than reading pages upon pages of the main character going on and on about his passion for hours and hours.\n\nExample-\n\nHim: \"I long to see her golden hair gleaming in the afternoon sun. Her eyes are like emeralds, perfect little gems that burn brighter in the light than the everlasting stars hanging upon the firmament of heaven. Her smile is like a beacon of light illuminating the desolate wasteland of my hollow soul, breaking through the eternal night that once obscured my mortal spirit, and ushering forward a wave of euphoria and enlightenment that exceeds the comprehension of even the most brilliant scholars and academics. My adoration for her is unlimited. The fervor in my heart is unquenchable. I said all this out loud, didn't I?\"\n\nHer: *blushing* \"You talk good. Wanna go out?\"\n\n...\n\nIt'd be hilarious if he had lots of moments where he internally monologues about her only to have him accidentally say some of it out loud at exactly the wrong moment.\n\nMaybe that's what kicks off their romance. He gets so lost in thoughts about her that he accidentally says something romantic out loud, thinking he said it in his head. That might even be the core of their dynamic. He's constantly thinking crazy stuff whenever she's around, and it always manages to come out exactly what she wants to hear at the right time."
},
{
"answer_id": 61990,
"author": "lessthanideal",
"author_id": 38957,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/38957",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "There's no \"male falling in love POV\" to get \"right\". Unless you are going for that. (Nothing wrong with that either - who doesn't love a good traditional romance? I do. But that's a whole other sociological discussion. Best I can come up with is, let's respect each other when it matters?)\n\nPersonally both your examples are \"puke making\".\n\nIt's a point of view.\n\nPersonally I'd prefer\n\n* neither he or she realises at first\n* he (as the protagnist) does get it first. (I'm male. So this may be personal perference)\n* but of course he can't admit it. And, she is from his POV in the wrong\n* or is she\n* She meanwhile knows he is investigating her. The scum\n* He's doing an honest job though.\n* Even admirable in his adherence to wrong principles.\n\nWell this is where it gets hazy, who gives up their principles first? \n\nIs her rebellion wrong or right?\n\nTraditionally right but I'd like the story where it's wrong! They just don't understand! Many people had to be killed for the greater good - and it's justified!\n\nThat would be counter-intuitive and so difficult (for them) and interesting (for us)\n\n(- of course that sounds wrong, it's why I'd like this story)\n\nActually they best (story) solution is they're both wrong and just two people find some peace and love in the world.\n\nObviously impossible. But we need a \"lived happily? ever after\" resolution\n\nNB1 see the film, \"True Romance\"\n\nNB2, your question made the woman the passive target and the man the action. Don't\n\nNB3, \"(P.S. If anyone has any recommendations of books with a well written male POV (especially if 1st person) where they fall in love, I'd great;y appreciate it!!)\" Shall I be pretentious? \"The Iliad\".\n\nNo seriously, read one translation. If you don't like it, find another - I guarantee the story is timeless. It's somewhat about what men do with women, but mostly about what people do to themselves or others. You'll find a version you appreciate.\n\nTo be frank your scenario is not the traditional one I'd like. If you insist I'll recommend Richard Morgan's sci fi books. That's a man who lost a woman. And oh god how he paid. Such a woman.\n\nOther sci fi about women is available.... (e.g. by Anasdeer Resnalhj if you insist)\n\nWhat's my whole point?\n\nPeople love people. Write that.\n\n(If you really need \"male people need female people, and vice versa\" you can also explore Morgan's later books. Hot and violent and what's in your holster is what matters.\n\n\"Is this too much:\" you asked. I think it was.\n\nAlso what RM wrote with his heroes and their women. - yes, equally.\n\nSo , moist...\n\nIt's not *too much* if you mean it. If your characters mean it.\n\nDecide how frankly your characters love and write it. If the readers don't like it? \n\nWell they weren't there."
}
] |
2022/04/23
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61947",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39018/"
] |
61,948
|
Like a son tuning out his mother's scolding. Or a character being distracted as their friend blabs on about something.
Would it be like:
>
> "Isn't he dreamy? I mean, look at the size of those muscles–"
>
>
> He didn't mean to ignore his friend. But, watching a wall of paint dry is better than listening to this. He tunes her out as he did watch the wall.
>
>
> "–Remmy? Are you even listening? I've been talking for 5 minutes here."
>
>
>
Not a great example but is it right to use a dash? At the end and beginning of the dialogue? Are there other right ways?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61949,
"author": "Joelle Boulet",
"author_id": 13355,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13355",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Breaking the dialogue with a dash or an elipsis (...) would both work. A dash feels like a more abrupt break of listening than the elipsis. You could even break with the elipsis and return with the dash to show a more sudden tuning back in.\n\nIf you wanted an even slower break of paying attention you could include outside the dialogue something where the character half-checks in and makes note of the topic or maybe some words the speaking character has said.\n\nExpanding your example to show this last suggestion:\n\n> \n> \"Isn't he dreamy? I mean, look at the size of those muscles...\"\n> \n> \n> He didn't mean to ignore his friend. But, watching a wall of paint dry is better than listening to this. What is she saying now? Something about the guy's favourite music or something? He tunes her out as he watches the wall.\n> \n> \n> \"...Remmy? Are you even listening? I've been talking for 5 minutes here.\"\n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 61955,
"author": "Alexander",
"author_id": 22990,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/22990",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There are a few options.\n\n1. A monologue. One of the characters speaks all the time, only it's not a traditional soliloquy, but rather a series of statements, each of which can be met with a reply - only reply never comes. This reads like a play, no descriptions or thought processes need to be shown;\n2. Descriptive pauses. Instead of replies, you describe silent respondent's actions, without divulging his or her thoughts;\n3. Reflective pauses. Instead of replies, you give indication of what the silent responder is thinking at the moment (this is most similar to your shown example)."
}
] |
2022/04/23
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61948",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54963/"
] |
61,952
|
I am in the process of writing a book and one of my characters cannot speak. Essentially, she knows this world's version of sign language and generally uses it. If a person does not know sign language, she writes in a notebook for them. Because of this, I've run into a bit of a problem when writing the dialogue. I am uncertain on the best way to structure it while still making it clear that she is not speaking out loud. It also gets confusing because her dialogue can end up mixing with her internal monologue.
The problem and my main question would be: **what is the best way to distinguish my character's non-verbal communication from spoken dialogue and internal thoughts without anyone getting confused?**
My first idea-Put her dialogue in italics and her thoughts in normal text.
Example 1
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked her.
*I've never been more sure of anything in my life,* she told him.
I've never been less sure of anything in my life, she secretly thought.
My second idea-Main dialogue is in italics and quotes.
Example 2-
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked her.
"*I've never been more sure of anything in my life,*" she told him.
*I've never been less sure of anything in my life,* she secretly thought.
...
Honestly, neither method seems correct.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 62563,
"author": "Joelle Boulet",
"author_id": 13355,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13355",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Here are 3 solutions to this issue that each have their own upsides and downsides.\n\n1. Use different tag words and normal quotes\n--------------------------------------------\n\nUsual tag words for dialog are things like \"said\", \"whispered\", \"shouted\". For signed language you can use \"signed\" and possibly throw in adjectives for other variants than the 'default' (signed energetically, signed quickly, signed slowly, signed surreptitiously).\n\n### Ex:\n\n> \n> \"Are you sure this is a good idea?\" he asked her.\n> \n> \n> \"I've never been more sure of anything in my life,\" she signed to him.\n> \n> \n> I've never been less sure of anything in my life, she secretly thought.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe upside is that this explicitly says how the information is being communicated. The downside is it only works so long as every line of dialogue is tagged appropriately - getting repetitive.\n\n2. Use different quoting characters\n-----------------------------------\n\nUse quote characters from other languages for signed statements. Things like the double guillemets « like this » or the single guillemets ‹ like this ›. While not the standard in English they are simple enough to understand and would provide a different appearance to the signed text.\n\n### Ex:\n\n> \n> \"Are you sure this is a good idea?\" he asked her.\n> \n> \n> « I've never been more sure of anything in my life, » she told him.\n> \n> \n> I've never been less sure of anything in my life, she secretly thought.\n> \n> \n> \n\nAlternative quoting characters from English-related text can be borrowed from programming where there are three main types of quotes used. The usual double quotes \"like this\", the single quotes 'using apostrophes' and the angle/backtick quotes `like this`. Single quotes obviously can cause confusion with apostrophes so might not be the best idea\n\n### Ex:\n\n> \n> \"Are you sure this is a good idea?\" he asked her.\n> \n> \n> `I've never been more sure of anything in my life,` she told him.\n> \n> \n> I've never been less sure of anything in my life, she secretly thought.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe upside is that this marks the information as being delivered differently than the spoken dialogue. The downsides are that it uses characters that English speakers/readers are not as familiar with for the quotes, and it doesn't explicitly say how the delivery is different.\n\n3. Italicized quoted text\n-------------------------\n\nThis is much like the example you provided except that the only text in italics is also in the quotes. Internal monologues would be in plain regular text.\n\n### Ex:\n\n> \n> \"Are you sure this is a good idea?\" he asked her.\n> \n> \n> \"*I've never been more sure of anything in my life*,\" she told him.\n> \n> \n> I've never been less sure of anything in my life, she secretly thought.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe upside is that this marks the information as being delivered differently than the spoken dialogue. The downsides are it means you cannot use italics for other forms of emphasis (or language differentiation), and it doesn't explicitly say how the delivery is different.\n\nConclusion\n----------\n\nI would say a combination of the first option and one of the other options is best."
},
{
"answer_id": 62603,
"author": "hszmv",
"author_id": 25666,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/25666",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I always liked using the \"less than/equal than\" in place of quotes, or inside them to denote speech that I would like my readers to know but is not necessarily English in how it should be depicted\n\n> \n> \"\" She signed.\n> \n> \n> \n\nIn this case, the language is translated into grammatically and syntactically correct English even if the direct translation means something else (for example, in German, the common way to ask for the time is \"Wieveil Uhr ist es?\" The literal translation is \"How many clocks is it?\" but the correct meaning in English is \"What time is it?\" and it normally gets translated to the latter rather than the former (though the film Casablanca has a hilarious scene where a German-speaking refugee couple, trying to learn English as they are fleeing to the U.S, ask Rimv in English \"How many clocks is it?\" to which Rimv gives the correct time in English and then quips that that couple will fit in in America. The scene is funny because of the funny foreigner trope but hilarious if you have passing knowledge of German).\n\nAnother way this could be done is to have someone translate for her, especially if the POV characters do not understand sign language. This could even lead in to a few hilarious moments where it's clear that the translator is not making a direct translation to cover up that the mute character has a \"mouth\" on her and said something very rude.\n\n> \n> At the suggestion, Aluke's hands flew in a wild frenzy of signs that Bob was surprised the translator could even follow. Bob wasn't sure the exact nature, but he caught several extended middle fingers. Finally, Aluke's hands stopped and she shifted her enraged gaze from the translator to Bob.\n> \n> \n> \"She...um,\" the Translator said in a flustered voice, \"She said 'She would rather die'.\"\n> \n> \n> \"No she didn't,\" Bob said, slightly grinning.\n> \n> \n> \"No,\" the translator blushed, \"but given the formal nature of the event, I decided to give you the gist of what was said. I gather you figured out the passion with which it was said.\"\n> \n> \n> \n\nHere we can reasonably infer that Aluke tossed the middle finger around and was much more intense in her response than the more diplomatic translator. Even still, Bob could catch through her tone what was being said. This is actually common among professional translators as there might be an idiom or pun that doesn't translate well to the language. For one example, I remember seeing an interview with a English-Japanese translator who explained the difficult task of conveying the crassness of the Donald Trump quote \"Grab them by the [expletive]\". Apparently while the Japanese language does have words for that particular body part, the English word doesn't translate because in Japanese, none of the applicable words are used in way that is more crass than another... and saying he referred to a part of the anatomy as a kitty cat will just baffle the Japanese listener."
},
{
"answer_id": 62610,
"author": "codeMonkey",
"author_id": 40325,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/40325",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Treat it Like Normal Dialog\n---------------------------\n\nI just finished an audiobook version of Glen Cook's *The Black Company.* It features multiple mute characters who just had slightly different dialog tags. It was very easy to follow.\n\n> \n> \"Are you sure this is a good idea?\" I asked.\n> \n> \n> \n\n> \n> \"I've never been more certain of anything in my life,\" Darling signed.\n> \n> \n> \n\nDialog tags could include:\n\n* Signed\n* Replied, fingers [descriptor]\n* Said in finger-speak\n* etc.\n\nYou probably only need to remind the user it's sign once per scene. After that, just use \"said.\""
}
] |
2022/04/23
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61952",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52632/"
] |
61,957
|
**Context**
In my fantasy world, there are two realities that people travel back and forth between constantly. There is the "real world" where everyone travels when they are awake, and then there is the "dream world" where they all go when they are asleep.
One of my characters has an illness that prevents them from walking in the real world. They can get around fine with crutches, but they usually need a wheelchair.
However, in the dream world they are able to walk normally without any assistance.
This is the heart of the issue.
**The Problem**
I want to be respectful towards people who have physical disabilities, but if my character has the power to simply waltz into another dimension where they can walk perfectly fine whenever they want, it feels like it detracts from the character. Rather than having to learn and adapt because of their physical disability, the dream world feels like an excuse to handwave away any consequences the character might face due to their inability to walk.
It's like having a character with no legs, only to give them the power of flight. Or giving a person with no eyes the power of super-sonar that lets them sense things from crazy distances. Even though the character technically has a disability, the magic/supernatural elements scrub away most of the problems that the character would face due to it.
On one hand, I want to keep the character as they are. and I don't want to eliminate the idea of this magical otherword. Still, it feels wrong to write a character with a physical disability and then immediately do a 180 and say "but you see, there's magic in this world, so the character can just hop into another dimension whenever they want and walk just fine there."
I want to keep the world as is, and I want to keep the "dream world" parallel dimension, but I don't want to undermine the character's struggles with their disability just because they can go "Any time I want to walk, I can hop into this alternate dimension where anything is possible. Isn't that convenient!"
At best, that seems like bad representation. At worst it seems outright insulting to people with real disabilities.
**The Question**
If my character cannot walk in the real world, but has the ability to fall asleep and travel to a dimension where they *can* walk, how can I combine these two story elements without disrespecting people with real world disabilities?
(To answer this question, please give one example of the best way these two elements could work together.)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61959,
"author": "Joelle Boulet",
"author_id": 13355,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13355",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "For starters: A character being able to walk in the specified dream world does not necessarily take away from the character's struggles with not being able to walk in the real world.\n\nSince in the dream world you cannot change where you are in the real world and where you cannot just toggle back and forth between worlds to move or gain any other advantages that come from walking vs being in a wheelchair, the dream world can be used as a way to show contrast. That character will still need to be able to move about in the real world and would still struggle with the challenges that might mean. Then again later they can go to the dream world and walk around, which gives an opportunity to show how that difference affects the character and how it affects their interactions with other characters (and the world).\n\nBy having events that require them to move around in each world you can show the character's strengths and weaknesses under different circumstances. That does not mean that their differences are lessened, in fact it lets you contrast the same character with themselves.\n\nAnd again since they can't move around/do what they need to do in the real world by just hopping back and forth between worlds, they still do have those challenges in the real world.\n\nExample Time\n============\n\nExample 1:\n----------\n\nThe character with the disability needs to get to some hard to get to place in the real world in order to rescue a dreaming person whose life is threatened in both worlds. Maybe other characters are already busy in the dream world trying to save that person or maybe the character with the disability has the skills/tools necessary to get past some obstacle (need to hack or only authorized personnel are allowed).\n\nExample 2:\n----------\n\nAfter climbing a mountain in the dream world, the characters sit down for a short rest. The character with the disability laughs about how much harder that would be for them in the real world. Another character remarks that that sounds frustrating and they can talk about how they feel about it. Maybe later the character-with-the-disability nods and says that their legs would also not be as sore from climbing in the real world since climbing would have meant mostly upper body strength there.\n\nExample 3:\n----------\n\nAfter carrying an injured comrade down a long hill/stairs in the dream world, the characters take a break. The character with the disability remarks that it would have been much faster for them if they could have used their wheelchair on a ramp. The others ask about difficulty stopping and the character-with-the-disability nods but is confident they could have done it, after all their wheelchair has above average brakes.\n\nConclusion\n==========\n\nSomeone having a disability in the real world and not the dream world does not mean that disability does not matter. Not only that but there may even arise occasions where the perceived disability might be an advantage in certain circumstances (and so not having it in the dream world becomes a disadvantage itself). The disability will still impact the character and in fact the contrast over having one in each world can be used for more character building opportunities (and opportunities for conflict/difficulty."
},
{
"answer_id": 61968,
"author": "Phil",
"author_id": 55146,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55146",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I read Thomos Homizavz when I was about 11. I couldn't understand why when they were in the alternative world they were fully healthy, had friends and were respected. When they came back to the real world to their leprous body with nerve damage, debts, isolation and general hatred from neighbours and police.\n\nYears later I broke a knee and the difference in what I could do (sports) to reality, nothing. What I could experience if I took the painkillers to the reality of pain.\n\nI understand now why Covenant wouldn't risk allowing himself to live in the dream, to escape from reality as the risks are great if they are just 'tripping'. The real world risks are similar, addiction, a total spiral of your world, none is healthy.\n\nYou do what you can, you try to stay independent and do as much for yourself as possible, but you have to learn to pace yourself, to ask for help when something you could do easy before is hard or risky now. Short temper when you are in pain, with you apologising to anyone you snapped at.\n\nStill if I went to another world where I could walk without pain, climb, fence, ski, scuba again, I'd really hate to come back."
},
{
"answer_id": 61970,
"author": "Cyrus",
"author_id": 24641,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/24641",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "It sounds like you have a great hero's journey on your hands.\n\nRather than making their disability not matter, it will be twice as hard on your character. Returning to the real world is likely to make them feel much worse than the other characters (if any others can).\n\nFrom the initial high of being free to move in the other world, you can take your character to the lows of \"withdrawal\" and the consequences if they neglect the real world for too long.\n\nWhether the ordeal is more physical (being evicted after neglecting to pay rent for too long) or mental (having to face all their despair and negative feelings), the character will have to do this mostly in the real world.\n\nIt will allow you to explore your character in depth and make it more emotional when they complete their journey in whatever way you have planned:\n\n* If the finale is planned for the dreamworld, obviously the disability will not play a role at that time, but the character's growth should.\n* If the finale plays out in the real world you can combine it with their personal climax, overcoming their despair and resolving to try *anything* even if it looks hopeless for them.\n* Finally the true test could involve the character having to give up their ability to enter the dreamworld, the greatest sacrifice they can make.\n\nBy treating your character as a person that happens to have a disability greatly affecting their life instead of just a vehicle for you to play around with this disability on/off idea, I think you will not disrespect people with a disability regardless of how the character ends up."
},
{
"answer_id": 61971,
"author": "griff",
"author_id": 55149,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55149",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Have you seen the movie Avatar? Sounds very similar to the main character's circumstances. Perhaps placing some limits on when the character can traverse realities, so that they can't just always live in the best reality, but have to maintain their livelihood in both realities equally. This forces the character to continue to live 50/50 in a disabled state."
},
{
"answer_id": 61972,
"author": "Steve Jessop",
"author_id": 8477,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/8477",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think you can approach this in a fairly simple principled way: **what are the consequences of the character's disability**?\n\nMost of your question describes there being no consequences at all. If it's true that the character has a choice of two worlds, and literally the only difference between those worlds (for them) is that they walk in one and use a wheelchair in the other, then sure, I find it believable they might move full-time to the one where they walk. Especially if they acquired this illness rather than being born with it, and/or they are fundamentally avoidant of its reality.\n\nHowever, I agree with you that this is a very shallow representation of disability: if a fictional tree falls in a fictional forest and nobody writes about it, does it make a sound? If there are no consequences whatever of your character's disability, and it has no effect on their quality of life, then are they really disabled? It's more like someone who doesn't like their home town so they never go back there, than it is like someone living with a disability. It's believable, but it's quite the cyberpunk cliché: \"reality sucks so I don't go there much\".\n\nFurthermore it's also wholly believable that they they wouldn't live fully in the dream world, or that they'd stop doing so after a time. Maybe they (in common with most people with disabilities) don't see their disability as the end of the freaking world, or at least most of the time they don't think that way and don't find life utterly unbearable. Maybe there's something in the \"real\" world that is worth having that can't be had in the \"dream\" world - it's your job to decide and to put that there. Maybe they are otherwise forced by circumstance, society, or events, so they have no realistic choice. Maybe if they don't spend time in the real world, the illness progresses faster and they die (for a reason, I mean, like they're treated in real-world. Not because their illness is, \"allergic to dream-world\". Unless you can make that work).\n\nIf they're a/the protagonist in a novel, then pretty much by definition they are going to have to do some things that they don't really want to do. At least initially, as they are or appear at the start of the novel, they will not want to do them. A couple of shoves and some character growth will soon change that, though. They might try to resist doing them, but it ain't going to work. Even as a secondary character, it's not a bad idea for them to face some kind of meaningful difficulties. So, it doesn't really matter what they think, does it? They're going to have to deal with the \"real\" world at some point.\n\nFundamentally, I have no disability and I don't seriously compare this to a disability, but: I do have my house set up pretty much how I want it. It's great. I still choose to leave the house. People with disabilities, far more so, often have their houses set up to be way more comfortable and convenient for them than most of the rest of the world is. They still leave the house, in huge numbers, for a whole host of reasons ranging from: they want to, through to: they have to in order to continue living.\n\nJust don't act like the \"solution\" to disability is for it to magically go away at the end. Either this is a character who lives in dream-world, with the minor quirk \"can't walk in real-world\", or it's a character living in both worlds who has a genuine and unavoidable disability in one of them, which you can address in a way that's respectful to non-fictional disability. That said, obviously some illnesses can be cured and some conditions can be treated, so nothing's out of the question.\n\nI imagine probably there's a trap in assuming that it's \"natural\" to want to avoid the disability by staying in the \"dream\" world, or \"natural\" to want to embrace the disability as part of the character's identity and hence cling quite strongly to the \"real\" world. I don't think either is correct, and different people have different views about their disabilities at different times, but on the whole I get the impression that the desire to be \"cured\" (and I use that term in snigger-quotes for disability in general even though it applies to many illnesses) is less universal than I might have naively imagined.\n\nIf you are not disabled yourself and aren't in a position to even begin to know what's OK and what's not, then you aren't writing from that POV, and you almost certainly won't represent it accurately. Maybe with a lot of research and listening, but pretty much forget about it. Likewise, I can't give you permission to write it: at best only your readers with disabilities can do that. The fact that this character can get a rest from managing their disability \"any time they like\", yes, that's going to take something away from the portrayal, since most disabilities don't work like that. But the alternative is to write a whole lot of characters all exactly the same as you, so I think you kind of have to give it a go and see what happens.\n\nNote that you can always use test readers, so you can ask people not, \"should I try this?\", but \"I tried this, here it is: is it OK?\". If it's not OK, change it or scrap it.\n\nJust noticed you require an example. Unfortunately I haven't seen it yet, but at least include CODA. I'm pretty sure it's mostly \"OK\" since although it clearly got some things wrong (which you can read about online) and a lot of Deaf people have raised ways that it's unrealistic, I haven't noticed any furious boycott-storm. The general narrative seems to be that it represents some degree of progress, and that where it misses people seem to accept that's due to honest failure rather than fundamental disrespect. Also, I think many Deaf people experience a world in which everyone in their own home signs, and so the effect on their communication really is very different indeed in some places than others. I wouldn't take it as the last word on how Deaf people live their lives in America, and an assessment from Lennard Davis is particularly striking: \"this genre of films is glued to a different reality: it is as if birds were obsessed with making movies in which humans were miserable about their inability to fly.\" But it definitely plays with a version of two-worlds, so why not look at it and learn from what it does well and its shortcomings?"
}
] |
2022/04/24
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61957",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52632/"
] |
61,962
|
In Stone Ocean, the antagonist explains his power at the end of the series. I am wondering if this is telling and not showing and if there are situation where telling and showing is completely ok and what are those situations. Because I feel like there might be a good use case for doing this, but I don't know when it's appropriate or not.
SPOILER ALERT
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DuHze.jpg)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61965,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "\"Show don't tell\" is not an absolute, inviolable law that will get you cast into writer's purgatory if you break it. It's a guide for writing a better story, by being mindful of what will appeal more to your audience. \"Showing\" is *not* the goal, keeping your audience captivated is.\n\nIf you're not sure whether to show or tell in a scene: try both. Then pick what works best.\n\nSo consider, what would be the alternative in this case? The story is (presumably) over and we want to tie up loose ends for the readers by explaining the antagonist's powers. Do we do a quick exposition, or ... what? What would be the alternative?\n\nI don't know the story in question. There *might* be a better alternative. And as writer you should think about it. But having the character just tell things from his perspective might be the best solution. Since he's already talking to the protagonist (presumably), it fits in the narrative.\n\nAlso note that \"show don't tell\" primarily applies on the author's level, not on the character's level. Here the author is showing the character explaining his powers."
},
{
"answer_id": 61966,
"author": "F1Krazy",
"author_id": 23927,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/23927",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "\"Show, don't tell\" doesn't apply to manga or comic books the same way it applies to standard prose.\n\nOn the one hand, because manga and comics are visual media, almost everything in them is inherently shown, even sound effects and dialogue. The only way for a mangaka or comic writer to \"tell\" the audience something is through narration boxes, which have the additional drawback of taking up valuable space on the page.\n\nOn the other hand, there are a lot of things that are hard to show through static images alone, without the benefit of motion or sound. As a result, both manga and comics have a long-standing tradition of having their characters narrate, either out loud or in thought bubbles, what they are doing, what someone else is doing, what's going on around them, and so on. All of this helps the reader understand what's going on.\n\nIn the case of your specific example - Enrico Pucci explaining his Stand's powers - this is justified because, from what I know of said powers, they fall under the category of being hard to convey through static images alone, so *someone* has to explain to the audience what he's actually doing. It's also common enough that TV Tropes (obligatory warning: massive time-sink!) lists it as a trope in its own right: [Explaining Your Power to the Enemy](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy)."
}
] |
2022/04/25
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61962",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/36239/"
] |
61,973
|
I was doing some exploratory writing without much planning/thinking and one of the characters acted in a way I wasn't expecting!
In the narrative the character (normally kind/warm) is under stress, but I wasn't expecting them to behave the way I wrote them (aggressive/dismissive). [I've not had good feedback on the scene because of it.](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/61974/how-do-i-warn-prepare-my-beta-readers-when-giving-them-small-excerpts-to-read)
I'm wondering how to decide whether I should keep on this direction, and on a rewrite/revision drop hints; or if I should completely revert them to their loosely planned characteristics (kind/warm) regardless of the background stress they're under?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61976,
"author": "Joelle Boulet",
"author_id": 13355,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/13355",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "My answer would be to keep the reaction to the stress.\n\nThis kind of thing where characters sometimes react and do things I do not expect is something that I let influence my writing and I usually feel like it results in more realistic seeming characters.\n\nIf you want to you might be able to tweak other parts of the work to maybe foreshadow this might happen or to have another character maybe check in with the character who reacted in an unexpected way. After all, even kind and warm people can break under pressure (especially if the kind/warm aspect is a mask they might be portraying to protect themselves or otherwise be more comfortable in their life)."
},
{
"answer_id": 61979,
"author": "Kevin",
"author_id": 11108,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/11108",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "In general, I agree with Joelle, but I think it depends on a number of factors:\n\n* What is the role of this character? In particular, is this character intended to be static or to develop?\n* If this character is intended to be static, were you already planning to give them more \"screen time\" for other purposes, or are they a minor character who won't appear again?\n\t+ The work probably should acknowledge this departure in some way or foreshadow it. Since your character is static, we've already ruled out this moment itself serving as foreshadowing of some greater development later on, but for a character you intend to develop, that would also be an option. In time-constrained media like TV and movies, this may not be worth doing (and so you should consider removing the OOC moment altogether), but in a more flexible medium such as a novel, you have a lot more leeway for this sort of thing.\n\t+ Giving your minor characters too much development and growth can make it harder to keep the reader focused on your main characters. However, there is a balance; a totally static background cast may feel simplistic and boring.\n\t+ You might also consider contextualizing this as a round-static character rather than a flat-dynamic character (i.e. \"that's not character development, you just never saw them when they're angry\" - but you will obviously need to reword that to appropriate in-universe phrasing). The advantage here is that you don't need to spend a lot of time and energy worrying about how the rest of the cast is going to react to this \"new\" behavior, because it's not new, it just hasn't been seen by the reader before.\n* If this character is intended to develop, does this moment demonstrate the kind of development that you want the character to undergo?\n\t+ If the out-of-character moment aligns with the direction you want the character to take, then that's great, you can use it as a starting point for their subsequent development.\n\t+ If the out-of-character moment is directly contrary to the character's intended development, then that can still work, because the character may reflect on their behavior and their own ideals, and consciously decide to behave differently in the future. Arguably, this is even better than the previous bullet, if handled carefully, and assuming you're willing to give the self-reflection plenty of \"screen time.\"\n\t+ The problem is in cases where it's a gray area in between those two extremes. You want the out-of-character moment to connect with the intended character development in some sort of logical way, or else it will just feel random."
},
{
"answer_id": 61980,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Can It Serve A Purpose?\n=======================\n\nI personally find that these little events in the story with character acting out of character are god-sends for writing. I get subtle sub-plots appearing and unexpected conflicts that can complicate an otherwise boring scene. My characters become richer and more complex, less two-dimensional and with deeper inner struggles.\n\nThe big question is, \"Does this serve a function that advances the plot, advances the development of another character, or that makes the character even more relatable?\"\n\n* **PLOT**: If this character is truly good, but for a brief moment seems darker, do antagonists seek to take advantage (incorrectly)? Does there need to be internal conflict in the group to increase drama? Can this reveal some deeper secret related to the plot (the character got angry due to childhood abuse that reveals the protagonist's father as an alcoholic)?\n* **CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT**: Perhaps your protagonist is a [Pollyanna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollyanna) and hopelessly naïve about life. By having an unfailingly good character reveal a dark side, they are opened to the idea that everyone has a dark side. Maybe later, when they themselves fly off the handle inappropriately, they are more forgiving of themselves and survive the situation. This is just one example.\n* **EVEN MORE RELATABLE/GOOD**: Everyone has angry moments. Even Jisis scourged the money changers. If your unfailingly good character turns around and is desperate to make amends, explain their reasons (dark secrets?) or redouble their goodness, then the character can still appear completely good, yet become more relatable. If the reason is dark secrets, the plot may thicken AND the character is still sympathetic."
},
{
"answer_id": 61985,
"author": "Amadeus",
"author_id": 26047,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/26047",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "As a Discovery Writer, I live for those moments, I absolutely want my characters to surprise me and act on their own.\n\nAt the start of the story, all my characters are malformed lumps of clay; I have imposed upon them some basic personality type, but that is just a veneer they wear, their \"every day\" personality.\n\nUnder stress, they reveal their true selves; their unguarded selves. Beats me what that is! Whatever feels appropriate to them in the moment.\n\nBut once I find it, I go back to the beginning, and reshape that lump of clay, to better reflect who they really are, AND whatever veneer they wear.\n\nIn normal life, this girl is sweet, joking, and gets along. Under stress, she is calculating and ruthless and takes no prisoners. Of course there are alternatives, but when somebody tried to rape her, she had an opportunity and blinded him for life. And she feels no regret for it. She doesn't brag or talk about it, she won't even admit it was intentional. She changes the subject when it comes up, and returns to being sweet, joking, and getting along. But my readers know she doesn't cower under pressure, she is stone cold analytical and as ruthless as they come. Any time she is threatened, the reader feels tension about how she will react; because in their mind cowering is off the table.\n\nAs far as I am concerned, characters that feel like they have their own minds are pure gold. Now that you know who that character is, rewrite whatever you need to make this consistent, both their easygoing character and this underlying whatever-you-found, be it steel or dung.\n\nChances are your subconscious tossed you this one over the fence, knowing you need more drama and realism in your story. Let your subconscious be your collaborator. As you write, you subconsciously build models of your characters as if they are real people, not just puppets on your stage. Your subconscious is telling you, based on what it knows so far, this is how that person should react. It should do that with all your main characters, and this is great, your sub knows better than you what a consistent person is like, with both light and dark in their personality, both grief and joy in their past.\n\nIf you need to adjust your ending to make it plausible, given this change in character, do it. We write scenes from our imagination, but the subconscious does 95% of the work in making imagination realistic. Consciously we pick the words and order, what is important to convey in the moment, but the subconscious is providing the imagery and simulating the characters, what they are feeling and thinking.\n\nTrust it. If your subconscious says your character is aggressive/dismissive in this circumstance, then based on what has happened before, it has concluded the character's kind/warm exterior *is too unrealistic*, and under stress their core is exposed. Perhaps for this character it is a matter of choice, or childhood training and discipline, to be kind/warm. Perhaps they have always gone along, to please MurajV and PopiyG, to be a good boy and get their praise, suppressing their natural more aggressive and dominating urges.\n\nGo with that. It is a gift from your subconscious. It has developed a character with depth and layers and skills you did not design in. Revisit your story, and see where hints of this deeper personality might be foreshadowed or hinted at. Incidents from the past, recalled, perhaps, that your character blows off as no big deal."
}
] |
2022/04/26
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61973",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/3986/"
] |
61,974
|
I recently shared an excerpt from my writing with friends who are acting as casual 'beta alpha-readers' (I use this term extremely loosely), partly as they have more lived experience with, and sensitivity to some of the topics in my writing (being a woman and/or plus-sized, [something I'd asked about before](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/61667/how-can-i-write-a-character-who-inherits-armour-clothing-that-doesnt-fit-becaus)).
It did not got well, as I had written some very raw stuff about a character being mistreated due to their size in an unrealistic way.
In the excerpt the main character is forcibly made to wear some armour by their mother (who essentially has super strength), in preparation for a festival. I wrote it such that the armour clearly doesn't fit and it looked like neither character noticed until the main character being forced into it couldn't breathe.
On re-reading the excerpt I identified two issues:
1. On reflection the scene was darker/more extreme than I needed, and should have had a content warning specific to the topics my 'beta alpha-readers' are helping with. Part of this is because I wrote a character more extremely than would be expected, and [I'm figuring out how best change this](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/61973/my-character-surprised-me-with-their-behaviour-while-writing-them-should-i-keep).
2. After re-reading the preceding scene, the excerpt lacked any context or build up to indicate the direction it was heading in. Prior to the scene in the excerpt, the main character is clearly aware of the issue, but doesn't react in time. Instead I dropped the 'beta alpha-readers' into a moment just before the action.
I'm limited on how much I can share with my friends at a time (both the chat client message length limits, and how much I can expect them to read at a time), and I didn't catch the troubling themes myself. In retrospect, I had written the excerpt in a rush, and then not reread before sharing.
How can I best warn/prepare my friends who are doing me a favour by reading these small excerpts, and prevent over sharing distressing stuff?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61981,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune:\n============================================\n\nI think that technically what you are using these folk for is as [alpha readers](https://indiesunlimited.com/2016/12/06/the-difference-between-alpha-beta-and-arc-readers/). That's fine, but the expectations of alpha readers is a little higher than beta readers. They *by definition* are looking at raw product. They should know what they are getting, and if you don't think they can handle it, then maybe you need to save them for beta readers later on when the product is cleaned up.\n\nBut, you say, I *REALLY* need them to do this! That may be true, but finding good readers is a hard process. A good beta reader is a hard thing to find as well. You may want to do more writing and editing before handing it on to others, and if format is an issue, see if you can switch to something like e-mail that supports a larger version. If you're going to dump the early unformed trash on people, be sure they are willing to be garbage collectors.\n\nYou may be a bit too dependent on positive feedback about your work. Insecurity is an absurdly common thing for writers, but you need to cultivate the willingness to write a bunch and get criticism, or you'll never make good progress. From personal experience, **DON'T write your passion project first!!!** You need to cut your teeth on some material you won't be heartbroken to have torn to shreds and critiqued to death. I hate short stories, but even I will admit that the discipline of trying yo wrap up an entire point and plot in a small package is valuable. Just don't ask me to share the first, second, third or fourth story I wrote. They aren't pretty.\n\n* As for the emotional reaction: The LAST thing you want to do is reduce the impact of the scene to your beta readers! The whole point of beta readers is to tell you what doesn’t work quite right. If you inoculate your beta readers, you reduce the authenticity of their reaction. Are you going to put a warning in the final book, “This chapter may offend some readers, discretion is advised”? If you rewrite the scene with hints about what is going to happen, or mellow the severity, then you’ve learned something. If it doesn’t upset them, it’s okay. But you don’t want to make it more palatable if it isn’t.\n* If any of your readers take offense at how you write, then be clear that you’re still learning to write and being experimental. Then thank them for their valuable feedback. If they can’t separate you from your writing, then let them read the finished product, not the raw content."
},
{
"answer_id": 61989,
"author": "Laurel",
"author_id": 34330,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/34330",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "Adapt the Consent Checklist\n---------------------------\n\nThe [RPG Consent Checklist](https://mcpl.info/sites/default/files/images/consent-in-gaming-form-fillable-checklist-2019-09-13.pdf) is a list of potentially objectionable things that might be encountered in an RPG. Each item has checkboxes for the player to indicate how they feel about each item: red means don't ever show it, yellow means show it offscreen or maybe after a discussion, and green means that there are no objections (currently). There are also blank lines at the end for you to do write-ins.\n\nWhile I have never seen something like this used outside the context of RPGs, I think it would be a good tool here.\n\nHave everyone fill out the sheet once, and allow them to update it as they see fit between readings. You should also set the expectation that they can stop reading if they don't like the subject (even if it's not written down on their sheet).\n\nThe checklist is not a perfect tool out of the box because not everything is represented (though it does contain a number of items I would never have considered otherwise). In your case, not fitting into tight clothing/armor could be considered claustrophobia or physical restraint, but it's a stretch.\n\nHowever, you know that you want to do themes that explore the challenges of being overweight so bring that into the discussion. Maybe someone else would have thought of it. Maybe it would have come up in a completely different context (e.g. asthma).\n\nUsing this tool means that you can be proactive instead of reactive. Instead of only figuring this stuff out when you've already written your story and handed it off, you should have some idea before you put pen to paper. Do you write about red or yellow topics? You decide what to do. You can still write freely and share your work with other people (just not your friends who would be bothered by it)."
}
] |
2022/04/26
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61974",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/3986/"
] |
61,975
|
I was trying to come up with a power system. I didn't manage to but I decided to just learn first about power systems from other authors and other series. I was searching anime, TV shows, and manga. I was reading and searching and I understand some things so that I can write my power system easily.
Then I watched a video that explains the power system in Hunter x Hunter, Nen. And, long story short, it was complex and very difficult. The author put lots of work into its rules and usage.
However, this made me ask the question: Can I write a power system that is complex and how can I execute it properly?
Compared to other anime and shows, Hunter x Hunter's power system is very complex and difficult to construct. And I know that you don't need a complex power system to make a good one; for example, Owl House: the bigger the circle the more powerful it is. Consistent and easy to understand. But that's the thing, I'm not sure if I have a complex power system if it would be good, since it couldn't be easy to understand, and I'm just here sitting in confusion.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61978,
"author": "ZDL",
"author_id": 55091,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55091",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "The most important rule about writing a complicated magic system is that, first of all, *you need to understand it*. You have to know what is your magic like, what it's used for, how it works, and what are its downsides, upsides, and restrictions.\n\nNow, in fiction, we differentiate two types of magic systems, the opened one and the closed one. Open magic is when the rules aren't strictly explained and supernatural things happen without deeper clarification, like in the Lotr series. The closed one is when the author introduces the reader to how it works (like in HxH).\n\nThe upsides of writing a complicated closed magic system are that you can be original and creative, and you can *play* with your magic. Now, if you know exactly what is your supernatural system and how it works focus on what impact it has on your story. What do its rules and restrictions contribute to the characters' choices and the diegetic world? If it really is bonded with an action, world, and characters, explaining it won't be hard for readers, because they will understand it along with the story.\n\nIt obviously won't be an easy undertaking, but I think that such a challenge as creating a complicated magic system is ambitious and flowering, so I definitely think you should try bringing your magic to life."
},
{
"answer_id": 61995,
"author": "Spencer Barnes",
"author_id": 45107,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/45107",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "The key thing to recognise here is that **any magic system in fiction is defined by its limitations**. Magic without limitations is pure deus ex machina where anyone whatsoever with no prior warning can \"magic!\" any object or situation into existence, and this would leave huge pitfalls and plot holes as no character would ever be in a situation outside their control or comfort zone, which is basically a requirement for any satisfying fiction. \n\n(Technically even in that situation the limitation would still exist, the usefulness of the random magic being limited by the intelligence, cunning and audacity of individual characters and their relative power compared to each other).\n\nThe basic limitations used in magic systems are:\n\n* Limited effect - magic can only achieve certain results, and/or only on certain objects/people/situations.\n* Some sort of trade-off or cost to any magic that is done (e.g. does it tire a character, use up a resource they have, or have another adverse effect on the user or surroundings)\n* More fixed situational limitations - where the magic only works in certain places, can only be done by certain people, requires certain training, etc.\n\nNote that randomising any of the above (so that the magic may or may not work even if the characters fulfil the requirements) can make a more interesting story.\n\n---\n\nApplying this to your question:\n-------------------------------\n\nGenerally speaking, the tighter the limitations on the magic, the more nuanced the story as the characters have to be more cautious in order to use magic effectively. \n\nWhen planning to write a 'complicated' system of magic, you need to be sure what you're after; do you want a system with many stringent *unrelated* limitations, or do you want one where the limitations are interlinked and interdependent?\n\nFor example of an interlinked one, \"*Magic only works to change people's minds, and for normal people the effect is temporary unless the magic is done under a full moon, but if you're a trained wizard then the effect is permanent but also your own mind gets changed unless it's done under a new moon, and if you attempt to change multiple people's minds at once it won't work at all except on full moon*\". \n\nHere we've taken 4-5 basic limitations (limited temporary effect, moon phase, whether you're a wizard, limited number of people affected, plus a trade off effect for wizards only) and mixed them far more than necessary; the result would make for a story that would be too complex for a reader to understand or keep track of, unless possibly the whole story was about a pioneer pushing the boundaries of the system.\n\nFor independent rule systems, 4 to 5 rules of that sort (where rules don't affect each other) is probably about enough without being over-excessive. Bear in mind that two of the same type of rule (two trade-offs for magic, or two situational requirements to fulfil) will still compete, and drama can be created in the story by the characters' efforts to meet multiple requirements simultaneously.\n\n**TLDR;** Yes, you can make a complicated power system, just think carefully about how you want to achieve that."
}
] |
2022/04/26
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61975",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689/"
] |
61,987
|
Many characters have a backstory and it is usually sad. However I do wonder, when is it that you have to reveal a character's backstory. I've watched some videos of writers explaining how to reveal a backstory and most importantly when we have to reveal it to the audience/readers. And they told me to do it not too long after we meet the character or mid-way in the plot. Some also suggested making them act a certain way or learn about their motives and intentions then we reveal their backstory. But it is to explain the character's role in the plot
However, when I watched a well-written show, they showed us a backstory of a character immediately after the character just got hit on the face and before they got sent onto a trial.
And I wonder, is there a proper timing and execution to reveal a backstory?
I mean, one of the reasons why Demon Slayer is not that good in writing is because of how they reveal the character's backstory right before they die or right when they die.
I asked writers from a Discord server and they say that it depends on the flow of the story, but I'm still confused about it.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61988,
"author": "Nyctophobia457",
"author_id": 52632,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/52632",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "**Reveal It Whenever It Has the Most Emotional Impact**\n\nLike many things in writing, there is no one \"right\" way to do everything. You could reveal the backstory of the character at the beginning of the story, the middle, or the end. The important question to keep in mind is: when will this reveal have the most impact?\n\nThe whole point of a backstory is that it's meant to help us see the character in a new light. It fleshes out their motivations and gives reason for their actions. For example, when we first meet the character, they have killed a close friend of the protagonist. Because of this, we as the audience are led to believe that they are a heartless monster.\n\nBut then it is revealed that the character only killed that person because they murdered his entire family in cold blood.\n\nThis shows us as the audience that things may not be as black and white as we initially thought. It serves as a double punch because we learn that a character we thought was the bad guy actually had a point, and a person we thought was a good person might have been a horrible monster.\n\nHere are some things to avoid:\n\n1-Try not to exposition dump. Worldbuilding is at its best when the audience is slowly being fed important information and context clues, even without them necessarily realizing it.\n\nYou don't want to hit the audience with every last piece of information about the character's backstory at the same time. Especially if it's deep and complex.\n\n\"I was born in the kingdom of Meltros, and my wife was killed in a horrible fire, which inspired me to kill the evil king who ordered my wife's death...Now let me monologue about how I became a wizard's apprentice, found the sword of darkness buried in a stone, and how I paid my taxes, and brushed my teeth. I have the strangest compulsion to let you in on all the most intimate details of my life, almost as if I'm being compelled by some invisible author to give my backstory.\"\n\nIt's better to drip-feed the audience information over time.\n\nFirst, you notice how the character is always looking at a locket of someone.\n\nAnother character accidentally mentions the character's wife, and the man freezes up, saying he does not want to talk about it.\n\nThen you notice that there is a horrible burn mark under his shirt.\n\nThe character also has a strange obsession with bringing down the Empire, and he fights with more fervor than anyone on the team.\n\nAfter building it up for a while, then you finally drop the information bomb that the woman in the locket is his wife, she's dead, and he was there in the fire that killed her, and he still has the burn marks to remind him.\n\nTake your time to foreshadow what the character's backstory is first. Then the information will be more satisfying when the full story comes out.\n\n2-Timing is everything.\n\nIf the backstory is twelve pages long, you don't want to shove it in the middle of a high-action scene just because you really wanted to add a bunch of unnecessary information.\n\nLet's say the characters Xojin and Jay are in the middle of a life-or-death fight...and then we interrupt that fight halfway to have a flashback about an unrelated character, Roken, and her tragic backstory.\n\nYou don't want to interrupt the action just to drop more exposition about the characters, not unless you have a good reason for it, such as you are intentionally trying to leave the audience on a cliffhanger.\n\nDon't have the characters drone on about their past struggles for too long, or you risk losing the audience's interest. If you're gonna have a scene where they sit down and tell people their backstory, really take the time to plan out the scene. Show us how the past experience has affected the character. Make it deep but concise. No matter what, do not break the story's flow."
},
{
"answer_id": 62047,
"author": "Jay",
"author_id": 4489,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/4489",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "As @nyctophobia457 says, there is no one right time. There's no formula where you can say, \"You should reveal the backstory 37% of the way through the novel\" or some such. It ... depends.\n\nI would generally avoid revealing a backstory too late. If you wait to reveal it until just before it is relevant, it looks like you just made it up on the spot to justify the next scene. Readers expect a character to be developed or revealed over time. And if you wait too long, you may have to provide other explanations for the character's actions and motivations throughout the story, or nothing will make sense.\n\nThere are stories where a backstory is revealed early so that we understand the character's motivation as the story unfolds. There are stories where the backstory is revealed later, so that puzzling things the character did earlier in the story suddenly make sense. It depends on what you're trying to accomplish."
},
{
"answer_id": 62054,
"author": "Jinsoo",
"author_id": 55236,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55236",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I see a lot of people say you shouldn't add the backstory at the beginning of your story, I feel as if that's true. Why? let me break it down\n\nIf you start your book with a backstory of your protagonist the reader will have no reason to learn more about your character, presumably not even want to continue reading your book because what's the use of learning almost everything about your character in the first chapter? It would be best to learn about the character throughout the story, I'll give you some ideas.\n\nReaders can find out about the character's past: your character can have something happen to them or a certain event or even an item can remind them of their past, example: a certain flower can remind your protagonist of its mother and how their mother used to smell in the past/in their childhood. Try to hint their past throughout the story. Your reader should not just follow your plot, the character matters too, therefore, make your character a priority. The reader should also learn about the character and follow our character throughout the story/plot. This will also give the reader a chance to sympathize with the character while also at the same time following the plot of the story. This is very important if you want to make a realistic, likeable protagonist. It would annoy the readers to have so much information about one topic (a character) just thrown at them so effortlessly, it will overwhelm them.\n\nThat's why I think you should add the backstory throughout the story, or you can add a long backstory in the middle of your book, but mainly its suggested to add hints and flashbacks or reminders of your characters past, if you have a great beginning, and a interesting character that will intrigue the reader to read on they will also want to learn more about your character so it will motivate them to read on, to know that they'll be understanding and learning more about this characters past and what shaped them as the person they are in the book, because they liked and connected with the protagonist from the beginning. I hope this helps and makes sense."
},
{
"answer_id": 62056,
"author": "Satch421",
"author_id": 55241,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55241",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Think of the back story as part of your story. Of course, if your work is short and the back story is comparatively long and detailed, that thread risks derailing all the rest. In my novel, \"Ukraine Skies, Baltimore Lights,\" I provided the back story for many characters in stand-alone chapters, sometimes before the incident where the reader's understanding of the character will change perceptions about character motives... sometimes afterward (so the reader might exclaim, \"aha!\"). You can also use dialog between characters to share the backstory, either after one character specifically asks, \"Why did you do that?\" or perhaps more casually in passing."
}
] |
2022/04/27
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61987",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689/"
] |
61,996
|
One of my main characters' family is Asian (specifically Korean-American). The oldest sister, Cgelsoe, is a child prodigy. When her toxic and shitty parents found out, they exploited the hell out of it, bragging about her, making sure she got into the best possible college. She was their golden child.
They never let her have a real childhood. She was never able to play, or make friends with kids her age, and left for the University of Pennsylvania at 13-14, and is absolutely miserable there.
I know Asians being depicted as smarter than everyone is a harmful stereotype, so what could I do to have it be less possibly offensive?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61999,
"author": "Crimsoir",
"author_id": 54689,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/54689",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "As an Asian (southeast Asian + East Asian), I have seen many Asians depicted as smarter than other people, because of the impression that we can all do math. And it's always math that we are good at, presented in fiction and media.\nSo I have a few answers for this one:\n\n1. Have another Asian that isn't as smart as Chelsea, or make her the complete opposite. This character could be a foil to her or whatever that could fit the story.\n2. Have another smart character like Chelsea, but who isn't Asian.\n3. Have her not be good at math.\n\nThe point of those first two is to neutralize the stereotype. Asians with racist stereotypes have that as their only personality trait. You have Chelsea miserable from being forced to do everything perfectly as a child prodigy, and you must try to develop it from her, so that it's not her only trait. Flesh them out; give them a character arc.\n\nYou could flesh out the parents too.\n\nI of course can't represent Asians as a whole or give a one clear answer for your problem. As my experience as an Asian person might be different than other Asians. So another thing I would suggest is to gain other Asian writers' opinions and answers. And do more research on Asian stereotypes and representation."
},
{
"answer_id": 62001,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Lean in:\n========\n\nRather than shying away from the stereotype, lean in and make a point of recognizing it and discussing it. In some ways, this is breaking the third wall, but it can be something Cgelsoe or her sister are picked on about, or feels self-conscious of.\n\nPerhaps Cgelsoe deliberately behaves contrary to her stereotype to make a point of it being false. Perhaps she dislikes her Asian heritage because she blames it for how her parents treated her. 13-14 is a little young to be portraying promiscuity, but some other kind of abusive behavior (it's college, so weed or booze would be available) would emphasize this. She might discuss having surgery when she's older to get double eyelids to look less Korean, or seeks makeup and hair color to blend in with Westerners.\n\nUltimately, this will make her feel more ashamed of her identity, but she's doing it to get away from a stereotype. What's a bigger stereotype than a foreigner acting shamed or ashamed of their native culture?"
},
{
"answer_id": 62046,
"author": "Jay",
"author_id": 4489,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/4489",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'd say, just don't worry about it. Not for one character.\n\nIf you wrote a book with 20 Asians and 20 black people and every Asian is a math whiz and every black person is a violent criminal, I'd say that is indulging in stereotypes. (And as always, there could be cases where it makes perfect sense. Like if the setting of the story is a school in Korea for math prodigies, then the fact that all the children in the school are Korean math prodigies wouldn't be particularly remarkable. Etc.)\n\nBut if you have one character who fits a stereotype, so what? I find it tedious when someone goes out of their way to make a character not match a stereotype. Like when the auto mechanic is a woman and it's obvious that the reason why the author made the auto mechanic a woman was because he wanted to break the stereotype that most auto mechanics are men, etc, it's just trite. I get it: you can write a story where we'd expect a 90 year old black woman but instead you made the character a 19 year old Swedish man. That doesn't challenge the reader's stereotypes. The reader knows you're deliberately reversing the stereotype, so all it does is confirm them."
}
] |
2022/04/28
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61996",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55170/"
] |
61,997
|
I’m trying to reduce the number of clichés in my manuscript, and I’ve found 11 instances of characters raising their eyebrows. A couple I don’t mind, but it feels like too many.
What other actions can be used to indicate “mild surprise”?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 61998,
"author": "DWKraus",
"author_id": 46563,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/46563",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "Alternatives:\n=============\n\nEvery expression conveys subtly different messages. All these are in the same family, but each means a tiny bit different thing.\n\n* **Glare**: Implies a bit of hostility.\n* **Just stared**: Suggests more shock that you'd even suggest such a thing.\n* **Cough**: A bit of a challenge, but subtle, and your reader might miss the significance.\n* **Throat clearing**: Similar to the cough, a bit more overt and challenging.\n* **Choke**: Significant shock, almost less incredulity than disbelief.\n* **Face scrunch**: Mild disgust, but can just be incredulity.\n* **Deep breath**: Suggests you don't know what you're talking about, or the following conversation will be uncomfortable.\n* **Pause of action**: Establish the character is doing something beforehand. When they suddenly pause, they seem to be evaluating the statement.\n* **Snort**: Like they think what you said is a little funny/absurd.\n* **Squint**: Like they are evaluating what you are saying, thinking hard and not just accepting.\n* **Finger tapping**: This conversation just became a waste of time/stupid because of what you said and I'm anxious to stop talking to you.\n* **Eye Roll** (possibly followed by exhale): Oh, great, here comes the crazy/stupid thing I feared was going to be said.\n* **give a sideways glance**: An old-fashioned expression that is essentially identical to raising an eyebrow, with perhaps a tad more open skepticism. Best when two people are walking or sitting next to each other.\n* **To look askance**: Again, an old-fashioned expression almost identical to giving a sideways glance. Perhaps a bit more shocked.\n\nThis isn't complete, but it certainly gives you a few alternatives in the right contexts."
},
{
"answer_id": 62003,
"author": "Peter - Reinstate Monica",
"author_id": 28730,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/28730",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There are different flavors of surprise: Some are delightful, some make you angry, some raise your curiosity, some are hard to believe. Each flavor may cause a different reaction.\n\n*Raising an eyebrow*, I think, often has an ironic undertone, like in a lovely child story I read a while ago: \"'Dad says that he always did his homework in time when he was my age.' Grandpa raised an eyebrow. 'Is that so?' was all he said to that.\"\n\nIf news or events are puzzling one might also **frown.**\n\nA very mild surprise that only needs some time to process may just cause a little **hesitation.**\n\nIn a conversation that was so far unremarkable, a surprising statement may cause the listener to **look up,** or turn and look (perhaps sharply) at their counterpart.\n\nAt unwelcome news or at an unwelcome touch somebody may **stiffen.**\n\nStiffening is (perhaps partially) an unconscious physical reaction. There are others: A heartbeat quickens, cheeks flush, hands flutter, goosebumps appear, words stumble, things get knocked over. But, of course, with ever more dramatic involuntary responses we may be leaving the realm of \"mild\" surprises."
}
] |
2022/04/28
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/61997",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39906/"
] |
62,004
|
I am self-publishing my ebook on my own website. I currently have the manuscript in MS word. Now, for the final publication in PDF format how do I decide upon the font and font size of the book content?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 62045,
"author": "Jay",
"author_id": 4489,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/4489",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I wouldn't obsess over this. Use a reasonably normal font size, like somewhere between 11 point and 14 point. Unless this book is intended to be read by people with vision problems. Use a normal-looking font. Not something excessively decorative or unusual. Because the novelty of an unusual font will quickly wear off and then it will just be annoying and hard to read."
},
{
"answer_id": 62048,
"author": "Erk",
"author_id": 10826,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/10826",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "[How to Format a Manuscript for Self-publishing](https://jerryjenkins.com/format-manuscript-for-self-publishing/) has some advice on book formatting (you can probably find more).\n\nIf you can, use any e-book format *other than* PDF. (Check out the link.) Other formats will allow the reader and the user to select font and font size and will have a default setting (in most cases configurable by the reader).\n\nPlaces like Amazon will likely also enforce using their format (mobi, if I remember correctly).\n\nIf, on the other hand, you're formatting a PDF for print, use Jerry Jenkin's advice for print formatting. [10 Best Fonts to Make Your Book Look Like a Bestseller](https://swatt-books.co.uk/10-best-fonts-look-like-bestseller) has a page on fonts, but generally, printed text should have serifs."
}
] |
2022/04/29
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/62004",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/39018/"
] |
62,007
|
Wondering if I could get an opinion on this sentence in which the author lists some of his father's favorite quotes (apologies for crudeness):
>
> A greatest hits list of those would include: “flatter than piss on a plate,” “there’s a difference between scratchin’ yer arse and tearin’ it all to pieces,” and, “he (or she) could talk the arse out of a bucket.”
>
>
>
Is this proper?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 62209,
"author": "Jack W. Hall",
"author_id": 55402,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55402",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "What I've picked up myself about writing with punctuation is that first you need to start every new piece of dialogue on a new line; for instance\n\n> \n> \"Just wanting to check on you.\" \n> \n> \"Like I said before, I'm fine.\"\n> \n> \n> \n\n**Next, you want to worry about quotes within dialogue.** What you want to do about this problem is that quotes within will have '' instead of \"\". A good example for this is:\n\n> \n> \"What about that 'problem' we've been having? Did you forget about that?\"\n> \n> \n> \n\nI hope this helps in any way."
},
{
"answer_id": 62473,
"author": "hszmv",
"author_id": 25666,
"author_profile": "https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/25666",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "To whit, punctuation differs between American English and British English. In the former, punctuations are inside quotes, and double quotes denote the speaker while single quotes are for quotes within quotes. In British English, punctuation is outside of quotes and single quotes denote a quote buy the speaker while double quotes are for quotes within quotes. To say nothing about the fact that this type of list is called an Oxford Comma which has it's own debate about how to properly format.\n\nNow, that aside, given the spelling of certain words used in your quotes (ass) it shows that the quote's originate from someone speaking British English. Because of this, it should be punctuation outside of the quotation mark\n\n> \n> A greatest hits list of those would include: “flatter than piss on a plate”, “there’s a difference between scratchin’ yer arse and tearin’ it all to pieces”, and “he (or she) could talk the arse out of a bucket”.\n> \n> \n> \n\nYou'll also note that I removed the comma between \"and\" and the final quote because no matter what side of the Oxford comma debate you stand, there is never a comma placed after \"and\". And is not a listed quote... it just denotes the final quote in the list.\n\nThis also changes if you that whole quote is dialog (If it is, the double quotes are correct, but you need to follow up with single quotes. If not, than these quotes need to be changed to single quotes.\n\nAs someone who is an American, I would likely hold this to be proper list format (save for the period placement) as in an Oxford comma, the commas denote the end of one item on a list. Since this is a list of quotes, the Oxford comma would be placed outside the quote, since the quotes are items on the list... the oxford commas are not part of the individual quotes themselves. However, I would still put a period (Full Stop for the Brits) inside the final quote if it ends the thought.\n\nFinally, if this is a list of quotes within dialog quotes, you can end wit a triple quote but be consistent with closing inner quotes before closing outer quotes."
}
] |
2022/04/29
|
[
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/questions/62007",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com",
"https://writers.stackexchange.com/users/55188/"
] |