Writing Stack Exchange
Writing Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
13
votes
3 answers

Writing 19th century upperclass English dialog

I was recently rereading bits of Pride and Prejudice and the dialog is absolutely brilliant. How can I learn to write dialog that sounds like it is from this general era? For example are there any lists of words that I should try to substitute or…
Casebash
  • 233
  • 2
  • 6
12
votes
3 answers

How to write a novel if you only have five minutes here, ten minutes there to work on it?

I once read an interview with some Fantasy author, who told how she wrote her first novel in the breaks between classes when she was working as a teacher, because she couldn't write at home due to her four children (I forget the exact details, but…
user5645
12
votes
4 answers

Using a pen-name: possible legal issues

My question is about publishing under a pen-name. Does it have to be registered as a trademark? If it's not registered as a trademark, can someone sue a writer for using it? Because every name you pick is surely also someone else's name. (Every name…
Jackie
  • 121
  • 1
  • 3
12
votes
3 answers

What are some regular contests unpublished short story authors might enter?

One good way for new authors to become recognized is a contest. What contests exist that: Accept short stories Occur on a regular (annual, semi-annual, bi-annual, etc.) basis Are friendly to unpublished authors Ideally provide a good amount of…
Mnementh
  • 2,032
  • 1
  • 22
  • 37
12
votes
6 answers

Can I use real presidents (past and present) and real companies in a fictional story?

I'm not sure if I want to use real people and companies or make up an entirely different world with different people, presidents, and companies than our real world. If I did the latter I would offer the possibility of other universes in the preface…
user6116
  • 121
  • 1
  • 3
12
votes
9 answers

Software to organise world building?

There were a couple of other questions about this, but they were asked many years ago, so I thought I'd start a new one. For a long time, I used Wiki on a Stick to organise my worlds and allow for easy access. That software is no longer supported…
user5965
12
votes
10 answers

What are some examples of modern original plots?

In a comment on this answer, a valuable community contributor suggested that it is possible to be totally original in writing, despite the fact that other valuable community members have stated that it's not. Since the comment was in the context of…
justkt
  • 6,705
  • 2
  • 38
  • 55
12
votes
5 answers

I want to write a Choose Your Own Adventure styled e-book, what's a good approach?

If you don't remember, Choose Your Own Adventure books had bits of a story, then options for the reader to give them more of a feeling of control in their adventure: "If you want to walk through the dark tunnel, turn to page 16. If you want to take…
jbnunn
  • 223
  • 2
  • 6
12
votes
12 answers

Is dialogue in a novel necessary, or just padding?

I can usually tell the story I want to in less than 10,000 words. I'd really like to accomplish writing a novel and I have a complex idea I want to use and explore, but I am worried I won't need 75,000 words to tell it. Most popular novels are chock…
johntait.org
  • 499
  • 1
  • 4
  • 11
12
votes
5 answers

Why Use Excessively Short Chapters?

Some of my favorite Frank Herbert books go 70 pages between chapters. All the James Patterson books go 2-3 pages between each chapter. I know non-fiction uses chapters to help navigate, which means chapters are dictated by the related content. What…
pblock
  • 345
  • 1
  • 2
  • 10
12
votes
1 answer

How are multilingual scenes handled when the story's main language is translated into that of its minor one?

Say you have an English book in which there is a particular dialogue where one of a handful of participating characters is speaking French. In this dialogue the fact that he's speaking French is a central point of the scene, as none of the other…
temporary_user_name
  • 3,325
  • 7
  • 25
  • 42
12
votes
8 answers

Writing about a subject on which you have no expertise?

So I signed up for a novel workshop, and within a month the first chapter will be due. Problem is I that want to use characters who are well-versed in mathematics, especially group theory or model theory, yet I have no expertise whatsoever in those…
Sniper Clown
  • 223
  • 3
  • 7
12
votes
4 answers

How to make clear that a thing is technology, not magic?

In a toy world I am writing in, most of the stuff is fairly hard science fiction—I handwaved a warp drive with reasonable physics and basically nothing else, sticking entirely to technologies that we either already have or we know could work.…
controlgroup
  • 1,464
  • 6
  • 25
12
votes
6 answers

How do I write only five-word sentences?

How do I write with sentences of five words or less? That was a way to master brevity suggested in an answer to my question What aspects of flow are necessary for good writing?
user70995
12
votes
2 answers

Is there any hope of a fictional short story being published?

I mean under 100k, probably less than 50k because it's a short story. Actually, I'm not sure how many words a short story has so I have two questions. How short is a short story and is it worth the effort to write a short story if your goal is to…
johnny
  • 1,363
  • 3
  • 14
  • 22
1 2 3
…
99 100