Questions tagged [style]

This tag should be used for questions that deal with a consistent style in your writing, such as when asking about typical ways to introduce a certain aspect to your reader by showing-telling or if you are concerned that your readers might feel that a change in the point of view might be perceived as inconcsistency.

This tag should be used for questions that deal with a consistent style in your writing, such as when asking about typical ways to introduce a certain aspect to your reader by or if you are concerned that your might feel that a change in the might be perceived as inconcsistency.

You should mention what kind of writing you are interested in, such as whether you are interested in or . Furthermore you should define what you are currently doing and why it's not working the way you think it should work. The you already received from your , if this is applicable to the type of writing you are interested in, could also be relevant to give answerers a better understanding of your situation.

When asking about a style you should aim at getting information about a or that might help you consistently apply this style in your writing. In your question you should make it obvious what you are searching for and what you are hoping to achieve with this, such as whether you want to improve the speed of writing or the feelings of your readers towards a set of .

1402 questions
224
votes
26 answers

The "Rules" of Writing

There are a lot of axioms that get tossed around in creative writing courses, books on writing, and of course, the Internet. Often, these little gems are explained to new writers as though they were fact, to be taken for granted. Just as often,…
sjohnston
  • 4,785
  • 7
  • 34
  • 47
74
votes
21 answers

How to overcome the fact that I can't write?

My problem is that I basically suck at writing. Especially prose. Part of it is basically because I don't practice as much as I could. Part of it is because I'm just not talented in that way. However (seemingly) brilliant ideas for stories keep…
Jakub Hampl
  • 996
  • 7
  • 11
62
votes
4 answers

What kind of protagonist or writing style is Jack Sparrow?

I want to ask about a certain style on how to present a character. I know Jack Sparrow is from a movie (and I've only watched the movies too) but I want to integrate in my writing how he was presented in the movies. To be short, he's a protagonist…
Endan Pendleton
  • 764
  • 1
  • 6
  • 10
61
votes
23 answers

Choosing character names is a constant difficulty

I find it hard to name my characters. Every normal name sounds funny if applied to a product of my fantasy. If I take a common name, I may get the image of someone I know into my head. And that may influence my vision of the character in a way I…
Mnementh
  • 2,032
  • 1
  • 22
  • 37
57
votes
8 answers

"All of a sudden..." ?

I am writing a manuscript for a novel. It's my first attempt, and often I find myself wanting to write "suddenly" or "all of a sudden". I do this when I want the scene to change in an instant, or the reader to be surprised. What is a good way to…
Tim Chaves
  • 745
  • 1
  • 5
  • 6
44
votes
8 answers

What is the correct usage of "P.S." in Emails?

I've been wondering this for a while. What is the correct usage of "P.S." in e-mails? Where should and shouldn't it be used?
tugberk
  • 551
  • 1
  • 4
  • 6
43
votes
16 answers

Do hard to pronounce names break immersion?

I have a character in my book named Jiolluav (with the correct accent, Zholl-you-of or /ʒōl-'yoo-äv/), and I've written my entire "novel" (it's a work in progress) using this name. When I asked a friend to read it, he gave me a couple pointers with…
Anoplexian
  • 581
  • 1
  • 4
  • 12
42
votes
14 answers

What can a novel do that film and TV cannot?

I have enjoyed writing prose for years and have a few short stories penned. I would like to build up to a novel but believe I have identified a potential weakness in my storytelling. My style is grounded in visual language, and always has been. I…
Smeato
  • 531
  • 1
  • 4
  • 7
41
votes
8 answers

When is it okay to "tell", instead of "show"?

One of the major mantras of writing fiction is "show, don't tell". Is it ever okay to tell? When?
StrixVaria
  • 5,983
  • 3
  • 42
  • 44
40
votes
4 answers

How do you avoid purple prose?

I try to watch out for bland, overused adjectives and I keep adverbs to a minimum but -- I hear this phrase a lot and I'm not even sure what it means?
Ben
  • 719
  • 5
  • 9
39
votes
5 answers

How to write a nice frame challenge?

When answering questions on Stack Exchange, some of us challenge the assumptions of the author. These frame challenges can often be quite popular answers. This popularity, however, can simply be a measure of entertainment value, and not quality.…
Summer
  • 4,481
  • 2
  • 22
  • 60
37
votes
7 answers

Should software product release notes be in marketing voice or technical voice? (software documentation)

Typically, the voice of marketing content doesn't match the voice of technical content -- marketing is trying to persuade you that you need something; technical writing is generally instructing you how to use something. (I'm specifically talking…
37
votes
12 answers

Want to write, have ideas, no story telling techniques or experience, feeling lost?

I have developed a sci-fi/fantasy mixed universe with many characters, good amount of background lore and I have a plot for at least two different stories each for a single/multi novel length. So far all of this is standing simply written down as…
36
votes
5 answers

Explicitly correcting yourself while writing - how appropriate is it ?

Like so: He worries – well, not worries, but laments a little – that he senses people don't read Henry James anymore (sentence source: Monkey See, NPR Blogs ) I've used this style myself occasionally. But it really doesn't go well with the purist…
0xff0000
  • 463
  • 4
  • 6
35
votes
4 answers

Referencing figure in text - capitalize the word "Figure" or not? Why?

I see it quite a lot. It looks a bit like this: It can be seen in Figure 3 that... My gut feeling is that there is no reason to scream in the middle of a perfectly calm sentence. I would like to write it like: It can be seen in figure 3…
jonalv
  • 453
  • 1
  • 4
  • 7
1
2 3
93 94