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1500 questions
12
votes
6 answers
Are paired adjectives bad style?
I have the habit of using paired adjectives in my writing:
The noise from the engine lulled her with its slow and monotonous rythim ...
... the lights on the ceiling filled the room in a soft and warm hue ...
... his skin was smooth and thin, like…
Liquid
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12
votes
2 answers
Scansion tool for checking my meter
Are there any software tools available that will help me dissect my meter? I have always been extremely poor at scansion and while my writing doesn't suffer terribly for it, it makes writing strict meter very difficult for me. In fact I don't think…
Summer
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12
votes
3 answers
How would we write a misogynistic character without offending people?
In a short story I am writing, I have this misogynistic character who keeps saying misogynistic stuff, and I thought it would be a bad idea to give him dialogue lines. I was thinking that, because I thought the readers might think that I, the…
puffofsmoke
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12
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1 answer
Monsters of psychological horror
According to Wikipedia, psychological horror is
Psychological horror is a subgenre of horror and psychological fiction that relies on mental, emotional and psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle readers, [...] and it often uses…
Liquid
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12
votes
4 answers
Is using an 'empty' metaphor considered bad style?
I just had this sentence off my head:
A crown of fire spread through the country consuming everything on its
way.
What I mean by empty metaphor is a metaphor that doesn't really have any meaning or even purpose. The same sentence could be…
user36239
12
votes
5 answers
How does one write from a minority culture? A question on cultural references
Christian culture is dominant. Thus, even without being Christian myself, I can recognise, understand and appreciate references that are within that culture, like the Pietà:
Sam sat propped against the stone, his head dropping sideways and his…
Galastel supports GoFundMonica
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12
votes
7 answers
What language shall they sing in?
I'm writing a middle-grade novel in English. I have time-traveling kids from 1995 America who go to Ancient Egypt to join the Exodus. None of the kids speak anything but English (aside from a few words). The people they visit mostly speak…
Cyn
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12
votes
3 answers
What to do about readers reading into things?
I have certain people in my life who insist on reading way too much into my writing. As it is, I do my best to avoid giving my characters initials or names or appearances that coincide even a little with anyone I know. Still I get "clearly…
HedgeMage
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12
votes
3 answers
Writing short stories in an original world setting
I'm writing short stories in a Fantasy world setting I have created — medieval times, magic, dragons, etc. People who are familiar with such a world may not find a problem reading a short story set in an unknown world. Since short stories are…
Oren_C
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5 answers
How do I respectfully write black characters in a 1930s Arizona setting?
I'm writing a cartoon script aimed at a children/young-adult audience (similar to the audience of Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, and Over the Garden Wall).
It deals with the daughter of a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like couple who has to find her parents…
Avital S.
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3 answers
Where is the best place to "twist" a series?
I have plans for a fantasy trilogy in which the main characters defeating the threat in each book simply makes way for the new threat of the next book. This way, the main characters can continue to grow and take on more powerful threats as the…
StrixVaria
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12
votes
3 answers
Is it bad to project myself into my story?
After reading that a Mary-Sue often is a projection of the author, I realized most of my stories are.
Is it a bad thing?
My MC aren't Mary-sues (at least I hope so), they're the opposite of perfect and always succeeding: I focus on flaws and…
Teleporting Goat
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votes
5 answers
How best to recover from catastrophic text loss?
This morning I had an accidental select all delete followed by auto save, which prevented me from just hitting undo. My novel became an empty file. I use MS Word.
I had emailed a copy of it a few weeks ago, so was able to retrieve 628 pages. I must…
Rasdashan
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12
votes
5 answers
What's "fair use" for borrowing someone else's invented term?
Let's say I'm writing a sci-fi novel. I want to use a word which another writer has coined, which has become well-recognized outside the original book, for the name of an alien species in my story.
I want to do something akin to this:
Jacob walked…
Lauren-Clear-Monica-Ipsum
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12
votes
4 answers
How to go about breaking up a looooong YA story?
A while ago, I played around with a short story idea in a genre I don't normally write (Young Adult fiction). The story took on a life of its own, growing quickly to a novella, and now is definitely a novel, trying to stretch itself to a…
HedgeMage
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