Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [philosophy]

This tag should be used for questions about the role of philosophy in your writing. For philosophical questions you may want to check out Philosophy.SE.

This tag should be used for questions about the role of philosophy in your writing. For philosophical questions you may want to check out Philosophy.SE.

23 questions
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5 answers

My views on the central theme of my book have changed - how do I bring in that nuance?

I've been working on a fantasy story that explores the creation and evolution of religion. But I'm struggling with what I'm fundamentally trying to say regarding religion. When I first began, I was much more militantly atheist than I am now, and my…
ani ben
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13
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9 answers

Do writers write philosophical essays?

I'm son to two philosophers, and maybe this shaped too much my way of understanding the world. I think a lot, or maybe thinking means a lot to me. And, mainly, I think about art questions and art philosophy. I was educated in this way I now abhor,…
h4ml3t
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8
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6 answers

What's the significance of ancient mythology in literature?

Whenever I see a movie critic praise Ridley Scott's Prometheus, they seem to be drooling over all the mythological references, although most don't necessarily complement gaps in the story or enrich itself. I see the same pattern repeated over and…
Sedat Kapanoglu
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8
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7 answers

What do I do when I know the general summary of how a scene goes but I cannot figure out precisely what the character say?

I have a number of scenes in my story that involve two or more characters talking to each other about various issues, many of which wander into semi-philosophical discussion regarding some of the general themes of the story (e.g., the arguments you…
user2352714
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7
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3 answers

David Foster Wallace's technique in "Consider the Lobster"

After reading the essay "Consider the Lobster" by the famous writer David Foster Wallace, I realized that Wallace had employed a rather sly technique. If you're interested in answering this question, I suggest you read it (or part of it... it's…
Franklin Pezzuti Dyer
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6
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11 answers

Can writing actually be creative?

I've been pondering this a lot just now. After reading and learning about tropes online, rhetoric devices, and all relative things, it's come to my attention that writing seems less of a creative, artistic approach, and more of a rehashing of…
Tired Gonza
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4 answers

How to create a surreal/fantasy - feeling in a real world?

I know the question seems pretty unclear, so let me try to explain it. So I'm writing my first book and already have big plans. I don't aim to publish. It's just for me. I want the book to be philosophical. I want it to contain all the ideas and…
Lew Pérez
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2 answers

If the narrator of the story is a pet, can I still add some philosophical stuff into its narration?

So, the story is about the heroine of the book, but the whole thing is narrated by her pet. Initially the plot is light and easy, but later into the story, it gets a little serious. There's stuff like death and blood bath. Now here, in the few…
user37485
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Integrating complex philosophical concepts into a story

I would like to integrate the concept of "Nietzschean affirmation" in my short story. What are the typical ways to go about it? I don't want to put it there in plain sight, but make it obvious enough for an astute reader to see my intention. I am…
puffofsmoke
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2 answers

What exactly makes a story interesting? (philosophical)

So I am trying to write a story for a game. I am more of a systems guy so this is uncharted territory. I try not to follow examples ("make terrible things happen to the characters") but rather the philosophical aspects as that opens up a lot of…
GRASBOCK
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3
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4 answers

Writing a novel largely composed of question-answer sessions

I am a novice writer, just starting on a mini novel in the Science Fiction genre. The crux of the novel is about 4 or 5 discussions between protagonist and a set of particular individuals with their own motives, and trying to convince them to do…
user1669710
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How to identify your own so-called "darlings"?

tl;dr; It recently occurred to me that I don't have a good smoke test for identifying those passages we might call "darlings". It can be hard enough to cull even the obvious darlings, but it can be another problem entirely to recognize them in the…
elrobis
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How to express Nihilism without explicitly stating it?

In my novel, the character is sitting in a café sipping coffee, and she is watching a busy street of people rushing towards London underground after the office hours. I want to express the thoughts in my characters mind about Nihilism and/or…
user30875
1
vote
1 answer

Abreviating "Emphasis mine" within author citations

I am using author citations along with a List of Abbreviations in order to cite the same works by the same author repeatedly throughout a book-length text. Often I add italics to point out specific meaning within multiple-line quoted material. Can I…
Kilaya Ciriello
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How do I produce a useful piece of literature out of an idea?

I have an idea. People help each other not because they feel pity for someone else but because they feel pity for themselves by imagining as if it were them in that situation like the other person and expected help from others Whether you agree or…
Turkhan Badalov
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