Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
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1 answer

Translating analogies in a 100 year old fairy tale

I am having a hard time translating analogies and descriptions in a fairy tale written a century ago. My fear is today's children will not understand the analogy at all or misunderstand it, and as such it will not have the desired affect. At the…
Ivana
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Should you avoid using hard-to-describe gestures and acts in a novel?

Should you avoid using hard-to-describe gestures and acts in a novel? Some gestures that are often used in real life are hard to describe without using familiar languages or slang. One such example is: He did the "I am watching you sign" before…
user36239
13
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4 answers

Ways for main character to influence world following their death

The main character of a story dies before the story itself ends. Nothing new here, you can keep a story interesting following their death. But I have an additional requirement: The dead main character has to exert influence to the story world even…
Core Xii
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Self publishing: Do I still need to follow the arbitrary word count limits?

I am thinking of going down the self publishing path. Now looking at most agents and publishers websites, it seems the expected word count for most novels is around 70-90K. Now these word counts may have made sense in the traditional world, where…
Shantnu Tiwari
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Are there any good magazines about writing?

As in all other fields I'm interested in, I love to have a subscribtion that makes sure some hugely inspirational material gets dropped into my mailbox once in a while. I'm not looking for magazines that prints stories submitted by users, but rather…
erikric
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4 answers

How can you prevent your work from getting stolen?

I have written a book recently, and I want to share it so it can be reviewed, but I am worried over that it might get stolen if I do so. So is there a way, like a watermark or signature, to protect it, showing that the work belongs to me?
SirDancealot
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3 answers

Can I write a different book before my sequel?

I am just about done writing the first book in a series. I have an idea for the next book in that series (let's call it "book a"), but I also have another idea brewing in my mind which takes place in another universe (let's call it "book b"). I want…
AnnWithNoE
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How to stick to your vision when you’re highly suggestible?

As a person, I'm a bit of a people-pleaser. I tend to bend over backward to avoid conflict and make people happy. I've reached the point in my writing process where I've started to send out drafts of my work to beta readers to get feedback. However,…
user2352714
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6 answers

Writing for an Audio book. What are specifics?

What are specific requirements, a writer should follow, when writing something that is going to be (or just can possibly be) not only read but listened as well?
rem
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When is it a good time to move on to another project?

I've seen it mentioned in software development the concept of Fail Early, Fail Often. Using failure as a learning process is important to get better at any craft. In my writing, I have a habit of beating on story for a while, hoping to get them to…
ICodeForCoffee
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What marketing techniques are effective for short story eBook collections?

I have a collection of short stories that I'm currently selling in the Amazon Kindle marketplace, and one of the biggest hurdles to actually getting my works read is lack of exposure. My passive plan (once my KDP Select period is over) is to publish…
Strozykowski
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8 answers

Will including maps at the end of my novel keep readers engaged?

I am writing a fictional historical novel. The setting is in another part of the world, nearly 100 years ago. I would wish to make the novel understandable to my fellow Westerner. Understanding geography is the CRUX of this fictional novel. What is…
Marium
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How do I write LGBTQ+ characters for a romance story, as a non-LGBTQ+ person, without using potentially offensive stereotypes

So today, some of my friends challenged me to write a short story and gave me a number of prompts from which to write, most of which were admittedly not great. There was one, however, which worked for me. It is a nice, short story about a dude who…
Chromanyx
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Is it legal to write about trademarked material and use the terms?

I am contemplating writing a technical book (and probably self-publishing it) on a proprietary programming interface for a well-known software package produced by a very large company. The company name and many of its packages are of course…
Chad Cooper
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How far into a speculative novel should one go before introducing the central conflict?

By speculative, I mean mostly science fiction, fantasy or intrigue. For example Neal Stephenson's Anathem, which is a 900-page book, goes well past the 200-page mark before the central conflict begins to take form. Works such as these have universes…
HNL
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