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1500 questions
16
votes
11 answers
How do I have to refer to a person of a specific racial group?
My novel is developed in an East Asian environment (specifically Japan) and my main character is not Asian, she is from Central América and is Mixed Race. Now, my main character is going to refer to a new Caucasian character who is a girl from…
Marian-Danny
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16
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6 answers
How should I introduce multiple characters without it being repetitive?
In my story, I have 8 characters I really want to focus on, which is already a pretty large cast to begin with. At the beginning of the book, something important happens to each of the 8 that kicks off the main conflict of the story. The…
Eucaa
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votes
7 answers
How often do writers develop characters before plot, and why?
As someone who writes a little as a hobby, this is something that I haven't really thought about until just recently, but...
Is it common for a writer to develop characters before actually coming up with a plot for those characters to be a part of?…
JAB
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7 answers
What would a reader like to know about a character first?
Two characters of opposite sex meet in a blank room (nothing remarkable about the setting) for the first time and the reader isn't familiar with either of them. Since genre would sway the answer to this, let me say it is Action-adventure.
My…
Jimminy Critic
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16
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8 answers
What are the best authors to read if you want to get better at humor and comedy in writing?
I’ve read humor like Three Men in a Boat and PG Woodhouse, but those comes nowhere close to folks like Dave Barry or Rory Blyth.
What are some sources, blogs, books, articles, authors, etc. that you should be reading if you wanted to add humor in…
thousandtyone
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16
votes
11 answers
What is the effect on the young reader when there is no "Happy Ending" in a story for children?
It is a common practice for a story for children to have a happy ending. Would it be considered inappropriate and disappointing for the young reader if his hero/heroine will suffer a horrible tragedy in the end? Or maybe not a horrible tragedy, but…
Axarydax
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votes
7 answers
What is considered "childish" in fictional writing?
There are some people who have read some of my book so far and they think it is childish and then some say it's somewhat morbid.
What are your views on what each of those terms means?
Aspen the Artist and Author
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How feasible is it to write a story without any worldbuilding?
Is it possible to make a story (with a plot and characters) that has no worldbuilding or explanations for events? Like whenever anything happened in the story there was no background or explanation behind it. It would be similar to things like "The…
Snowshard
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16
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14 answers
Is it bad storytelling to have things happen by complete chance?
Background
I recently noticed in my latest masterpiece novel there is quite a lot of things happening by chance. For example:
The main character just happens to pass by an old, frail warrior who can direct him to where he needs to go to advance the…
Featherball
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16
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10 answers
How to refer to clothes without modern words ? (e.g: t-shirt)
This is a constant struggling point of mine. Most of my settings take place in fictional worlds often inspired by various parts of human history.
For instance, one of my stories is located in an Ancient Egypt inspired world. (EDIT : My setting is…
user19124
16
votes
6 answers
How do I know when my work is ready for critique?
I run a critiquing group once a month and I've had several of my members say they aren't sure how to tell when their work is ready for critique. I'll be covering this in a workshop tomorrow night, but I figured I'd toss the question to you guys as…
Jerenda
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16
votes
6 answers
Why aren't detective stories written in the protagonist's POV?
I've noticed that successful detective stories are, nearly always, not written in the point of view of the detective himself. The protagonist (i.e. the ingenious detective at the heart of the story) is usually referred to by his sidekick or one of…
Soha Farhin Pine
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16
votes
14 answers
Are there any good tablets out there for writing/editing?
I like being able to take my work anywhere with me, but sometimes my laptop is just too big to take with me. Battery life on tablets seem to be much better than laptops as well. Are there any tablets that would be good for writers and editors?…
Ralph Gallagher
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16
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10 answers
Sympathetic portrayal of devout, rule-abiding characters
I'm having trouble portraying religious, devout characters as protagonists or viewpoint characters. When I try, I get the sense that the reader - not sharing the characters' beliefs - will have trouble accepting the characters' non-rational beliefs…
Standback
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16
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5 answers
Where can I find sales numbers for books?
I'm a writer, working on a non-fiction book proposal. Finding public, free sales numbers for comparable titles is nearly impossible. BookScan is a subscriber service run by Nielsen. "Above the Treeline" is a subscriber service that collects sales…
user1135