Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
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5 answers

Can I give a lecture about my book without disclosing my real name?

I have a non-fiction book about language learning, entrepreneurship, productivity and personal growth in general. The problem is: I have published this book using a pen name (pseudonym). I would prefer to keep myself anonymous, as the book is filled…
Chaotic
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What is a beat?

I keep hearing the word "beat" in Writers.SE, as in "... break your scene into beats" from this question. What is a beat? How is it different from a scene?
Shantnu Tiwari
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Is it considered lazy writing to have a dry prelude at the start of a book?

I'm thinking of the crawl sequences at the beginning of Star Wars, that just give you the background information straight up, and then start the excitement. I've just been wondering if putting a prelude like that at the beginning of a novel would be…
Clarkey
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How to make a repeating plot "slice" not annoying

In my fantasy novels, I don't want to kill anyone off, I just want to get them injured, like badly. I made up numerous believable excuses for this (low-violence, a genuine will to live on the enemies' part, magnetically levitated trauma plates, long…
Mephistopheles
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Avoiding Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy

Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy is when the audience is put off by the incredibly dark nature of a fictional work and won't care what happens next, lose interest or want all the characters to die off. For example, A Song of Ice and Fire can cause…
user29299
20
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5 answers

The psychology of finishing a piece of fiction

I have a psychological oddity when it comes to my own writing (particularly fiction, and particularly longer work). Obviously it may just be a personal problem, but perhaps other people have similar issues: When I am working on my (longer) writing,…
Chris Sunami
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What pronoun should a hermaphrodite species use?

In my fantasy novel, I have a species that is fully hermaphroditic: all individuals have both male and female reproductive organs. Like garden snails. Consequently, they have only one gender. They explicitly state that they don't mind when confused…
Galastel supports GoFundMonica
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7 answers

Pretty flowers with clunky Latin names

I am writing a fantasy novel set in the Middle East. For multiple reasons related to both plot and atmosphere, I'm using flowers and flowering trees a lot in both descriptions and dialogue. Trouble is, many plants that are very common in the Middle…
Galastel supports GoFundMonica
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How do you mix dialogue with actions of a character?

I'm not talking about if it's right to go like: "See you later, Mom!" Sierra grabbed an apple and ran out of the front door. I'm more concerned with something I remember seeing but can't remember how to do. It's where words in the character's…
Alaerth
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Resources about different people types?

I'm native German, but trying to write in English for various reasons. One of the big points in a story is to keep the characters very distinct from each other, and that requires some knowledge about the culture. As said, I'm native German, so it's…
Michael Stum
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Do editors rewrite?

I write fiction, I guess you could say experimental fiction, but I just feel I am more of a stylist. Every story of mine that's been accepted was taken as is. Now, for the first time, I am dealing with an editor who sent back a heavily edited draft…
August Canaille
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How to know the reason for rejection?

Just out of curiousity, how do people figure out the reason their work is not accepted? I tried submitting my work to a newspaper but the editor rejected it with a brief message. How do people get feedback on their work besides friends and family? I…
Jeffrey04
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What can I do if I hate my own protagonist?

So I'm writing a fantasy novel, and I have my plot fairly fleshed out, and I have my main players, my world is built, and now I've started to really flesh out my characters more. The only problem is, I've already fleshed out about 5 of my secondary…
circepix
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I have 97 pages in my book draft. Is it too late to swap to third person from first?

I've been writing a One Piece fan fiction to improve my writing. I foolishly decided to write it in first person and now I kinda want to change it to third person - but I'm already 97 pages into the book. Should I do it? This is the first piece of…
Seann Powell
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How realistic should dialogue and character voices be?

I've heard a lot of conflicting suggestions in the past regarding dialogue, so I'm hoping I can get a solid answer here. Some people have told me that the best way to go about dialogue is to make it as compact and to-the-point as possible. Good…
Summer
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