Writing Stack Exchange
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1500 questions
19
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9 answers

Death as person - A funny part of the story? Or serious stuff?

Death as a person is commonly known to any reader of the "Discworld" series from Terry Pratchett. Also death appears in the series "Supernatural" as one of the apocalyptic riders. Another approach in this case is not known to me. The thought of…
Pawana
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9 answers

Writing a character who is an expert in something that I can't know

I'm writing a story where the main character comes back from the dead. The character is fully lucid, knowledgeable and articulate about what has happened. I want to depict the character as an expert, but I don't have any knowledge/experience of what…
robertcday
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Brands to use, brands not to use

Inspired by GGx's question Will traditional publishers force you to remove brands? I would probably not want to mention a brand name of a small brand in my work: a small brand might not want to be associated with a fictional work because of…
Galastel supports GoFundMonica
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19
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Will traditional publishers force you to remove brands?

I’ve read the other questions on this topic but the answers seem contradictory and somewhat opinion-based. Some posters have said you ‘don't want to risk the wrath of corporate lawyers’ (or trademark lawyers) others have said that using brands is…
GGx
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Do readers not like a book if it's too dark and the characters almost never win?

I started a book and although I wanted it to be dark, will the readers find it too dark if the characters almost never win? Or are a lot of readers into that? In my book the two main characters' whole lives are terrible, but the point is they’ve…
Angel
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9 answers

Is it ok to reference something modern to give the reader a better idea of what something looks like if the book is set in the Middle Ages?

This is a random example but would it be bad if I said something like this when the book is set in a historical setting: “Edwards sword was black and shiny like a brand new car” is it not ok? Should I only reference things around that time period of…
Angel
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8 answers

Characters that take on a life of their own

There are definite advantages to writing comprehensive character maps, but one downside that I've found is that when a character is fully fleshed out, she/he tries to take on a life of her/his own and sometimes this can be to the detriment of the…
robertcday
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3 answers

Pros and Cons of different styles of publishing

I was reading on the meta site that someone thinks we're hostile to self-publishing, and I read over some old questions looking for evidence. I didn't really find signs of hostility, but I certainly did see several people expressing concerns about…
Kate S.
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9 answers

How to open a novel?

Looking at the function of the beginning of a novel, it is clear that it should hook the reader and draw him or her into the story. Different techniques for achieving the hook have been described, such as an ironic turn, naming extreme stakes,…
user29032
19
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7 answers

What are the signs of accidental self insertion?

I am currently writing a novel where the main character will be far more powerful than most of the people in the world and I am worried that I will end up losing sight of what I am writing and start writing a power fantasy where the main character…
Maiko Chikyu
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6 answers

Should I describe a person or a room first?

If you are introducing a new character and a new location, both are going to be involved for a while, which description should I put first? The character becomes close friends with the protagonist and is significant throughout, the room is where the…
Ajnatorix Zersolar
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Should technical writers illustrate their own documents?

In my opinion, visual material is of crucial importance in technical documents, especially in procedures, but paradoxically, technical illustrations seem to be a dying art. Is it better for a technical writer to also do technical illustration, or is…
Federgraf
19
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11 answers

How do you know when to give up on a writing project?

Writing is rewriting. The first draft of a novel is commonly riddled with mistakes: the beginning doesn't grip, the characters aren't consistent, the plot has holes, the story lacks suspense, turns aren't foreshadowed and appear ex machina, the…
Sylvain Prudhomme
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5 answers

How do I make it so my story happens in an ambiguous time frame?

Nothing extreme, of course. No mentions of futuristic time-traveling gadgets or teleportation or the like. Or, conversely, nothing that smacks of medieval times or anything that immediately causes a reader to connect the dots. I want my story to be…
Jack Rabbit
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Why do writers use pseudonyms?

It's common enough -- recently I was looking for Seanan McGuire's newer book only to find it was published as "Mira Grant". Why would an author do this?
Billy ONeal
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