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1500 questions
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6 answers

Any advice on creating fictional locations in real places when writing historical fiction?

I am currently working on a historical fiction novel set during the tail end of the Harlem Renaissance, in the 1930s. As such, I would really like to have the story take place in Harlem. However, the specific places I plan to have my characters…
apenandadream
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4 answers

Am I a new writer?

I have a very crudely written book that I self published through Amazon in 2013. I did not do any advertising for the book and it only sold about 80 copies. I am now in the process of a query letter to a publishing company, and they have two…
Steven Johnson
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2 answers

Writing slurred speech

One of my characters gets drunk and accidentally kills another. He has a couple of lines where he needs to sound obnoxiously, falling-down drunk. Is there a good way to accomplish this? What sounds should he have trouble pronouncing, and what…
user36961
11
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5 answers

Is Academic Ghostwriting legal?

I recently learned of the concept of academic ghostwriting (see, e.g. this article) - by which I mean the situation where a student goes to another person, or perhaps a service, and pays them to complete an assignment for them. In the linked…
davidlowryduda
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11
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6 answers

How do I write real-world stories separate from my country of origin?

I live in India. And the stories I write don't want to. The thing is, as you all might already know, my country has an extremely- excessively, perhaps- rich cultural and historical heritage. It's imbued in each and every part of our daily life in…
Udbhav Seth
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11
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4 answers

What are the components of a legend (in the sense of a tale, not a figure legend)?

I'm compiling in-world legends for my built world, and would like them to feel like established legends from our own human experience. What should I keep in mind while writing these legends? What elements, styles of prose, turns of phrases,…
SFWriter
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6 answers

Picking a theme as a discovery writer

When I write I often don't have any great meaningful moral to share. I don't have a message that I want to convey to the reader. I often don't write about the nature of the battle between good and evil. Or what constitutes good. Or coming of age in…
Summer
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4 answers

How can I introduce the names of fantasy creatures to the reader?

In the story, these fantasy creatures are everyday animals that most people in the story already know. How can I introduce them in an natural way that instantly makes readers remember their names? The story is in comic book form, so that might open…
M Arif Rahman Winandar
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11
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1 answer

How to name indistinguishable henchmen in a screenplay?

A large group of indistinguishable henchman feature throughout my screenplay. What is an acceptable naming method for them? Let's say I wanna call them 'Red shirts'. Can I ... A) Call them all RED SHIRT, even though they are different characters? B)…
Andy A
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11
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3 answers

How to handle characters who are more educated than the author?

This is inspired by a few things that have been breaking my immersion when reading Worm. The main protagonist is a teen, and most chapters are first-person POV, so grammatical casualness fits. I don't expect her to use subjunctive, and her use of…
April Salutes Monica C.
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If you're not a professional, what motivates you to keep writing?

Writing. There comes a time in my daily routine. I get a striking idea. A topic to write in my blog. A pondering about a specific event that happened hours ago. As a working professional (not as a writer) I didn't get time to reflect on these…
Prasad_Joshi
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10 answers

Is a stroke of luck acceptable after a series of unfavorable events?

The protagonist sets out on a journey to reach a goal. But the further he gets into the story, the clearer he understands that the odds aren't in his favor. He experiences loss, frustration, anger, fatigue. He falls, rises again, and falls once…
Liquid
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7 answers

Will it be accepted, if there is no ''Main Character" stereotype?

There is a character in every story. Special One. It becomes the center of the story. i.e. the Main character. The author takes special care of them. Provides them wise thinking. Good luck. A charm. In some cases special powers, too. Sometimes…
Prasad_Joshi
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11
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9 answers

How can I make a non-linear timeline less confusing?

My story is broken into 8 sections. Sections 1 and 2 take place simultaneously, in two different worlds. The other 6 continue in a linear fashion (switching back & forth between the two worlds as needed). Right now it's not particularly obvious…
user36961
11
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7 answers

Does it really serve a main character to give them one driving want?

I often feel that we fall into a trap of believing that we must provide a driving goal for a main character at the outset. And yet, as I look at compelling fiction, main characters do not have the same simplicity of a single defining characteristic…
SFWriter
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