Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [trends]

This tag should be used for questions related to trends that can be seen in regards to certain ways of writing or readers consuming written works.

This tag should be used for questions related to trends that can be seen in regards to certain ways of writing or readers consuming written works. For example you should use this tag if you are asking about how common certain phrases or types of stories are in a certain market segment, or if you would like to know more about current trends in an academic context.

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Why is young adult romance now being written primarily in the first person?

My recollection is that when I started reading romance novels in the 1980s, the majority (perhaps 60%) were written in the third person. This included some "young adult" romances with characters in their early 20s. I stopped reading them until…
Tom Au
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Does my protagonist *have* to succeed?

I'm thinking about a YA dystopian novel and have planned it quite thoroughly. However, when I look back, the antagonists tend to always be a few steps ahead of my protagonist, and my protagonist is always just too late to stop the antagonist. This…
Adi219
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Do modern readers believe the first person narrator can't die?

Back in highschool in the 90s we had an assignment to write an extra chapter for a book. After some discussion the teacher told us that under no circumstances can we kill the protagonist as the book was being told in first person and therefore the…
Andrey
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How acceptable is "alternate history" in writing (nowadays)?

On another site, I wrote a critical review of a book that featured a "King Frederic II" of France who reigned between 1777-1819. I pointed out that this was a particularly unfortunate time to confuse the facts because the actual events of the time…
Tom Au
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Has leading changed over the last 15 years?

When I was in primary school, I was told to use 1.0-line leading for papers; in secondary school, this jumped to 2.0 lines; in early tertiary school (i.e. college/university), I was told to use 1.5 line; and then, after my 3rd/4th year began, more…
SarahofGaia
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Is BDSM becoming mainstream?

Seems that in the last decade there is more and more stories with a BDSM arc. For instance: The Fifty Shades series The Sword of Truth series The Black Dagger Brotherhood series I remember when I first read the Wizard’s First Rule and…
Reed -SE is a Fish on Dry Land
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If a character has an unusual name, should I use nicknames and initials?

I'm writing a contemporary romance novel. The hero's name is Jovanne Diedi De Rossi. Other characters call him by a variety of nicknames, Jay, Jo, Jove, Dee... I chose to go with JD as the narrator, so I'd write something like JD checked the time…
ZeeDaye
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Comparing writing style and clarity of instructional language

Background: I am comparing a historic set of procedural instructions for the same action see mini-corpus below (1770-now). I have noticed that almost all are in the active voice but the older ones use 3rd person while the newer ones use imperatives.…
user50741
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