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1500 questions
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A handful of gems
So I'm facing an issue after many years of writing, and several unsuccessful novels. In my own estimation, all my books contain a "handful of gems" --wonderful scenes that really come to life. But they aren't enough to make the books as a whole…
Chris Sunami
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How do I draw attention to a girl's chest without making it overly lewd?
So, I have a group of main characters, and the current viewpoint character is going to introduce a... very well-endowed character. How do I write this so that I get the point across that she's that way, but not making it sound overly lewd or…
Kale Slade
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11
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I cannot figure out the exact genre (and target audience) of my book
For more than three years, I've been writing and re-writing my novel involving immortal characters.
Now I'm finally gathering courage to write a query letter and begin searching for agents. My problem is that I don't know what kind of agents to…
undecided
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11
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Dialogue writing practices?
First time novelist, long time writer here. I'm looking for creative writing exercises to help with my dialogue.
Any ideas?
TheIrishGuy
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Should I care if my short story has the same title as someone else's book?
It appears to be a pretty obscure book. It's on Amazon, but there are no descriptions or reviews. From the cover, I'd say it was a kids book, which would put it in a different market.
Let's assume that this short story of mine is fit to publish,…
Shadow
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4 answers
On copyright laws and plots
I was pondering a lot on the issue with copyrights on plots. Is having an identical plot infringing someone else's copyrighted work?
I am fully aware that the character names are copyrighted and cannot be copied. I am also fully aware that the…
Pacerier
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How can show that my cold hearted character is coping with grief?
I have a little contradiction in my story that may well be fatal.
In my high sci-fi setting, one of my main characters is an android. Let's call him Bob. Bob is efficient, cold and straight-to-the-point: we may as well say that he is heartless. To…
Liquid
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How to make a character work for an idea?
One of the main rules for developing a good storyline is to make sure that the characters work for their achievements.
Perhaps before they can slay the dragon and rescue the princess the knight has to complete a quest for a scarecrow to get a magic…
Liath
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How do you escalate a story's plot after killing the Big Bad?
Everyone remembers the Death Star and how it was supposed to be the most potent superweapon in the Star Wars-verse. Then in the Expanded Universe, they needed to add tension to the series since the Emperor was gone and kept pumping out new…
Incognito
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Interviewing a person for a character
So I'm building a character who works in a particular field of science and I found an e-mail for a scientist on the internet and emailed him. I described how I'm writing a sci-fi story and gave him some details to get him interested in the project.…
Harshfi6
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How overcome the budget constraint while building a fiction writing career?
Recently I was exposed to several sources that suggest that writing one novel a month is possible:
The book 2K to 10K by Rachel Aaron,
"Write. Publish. Repeat", and
my old statistics file that shows that on good days I wrote over 4000 words per day…
user23411
11
votes
10 answers
How do I keep the plot interesting in a humorous book?
I am about to start writing a fantasy-comedy novel. A problem I found in 1-2 books of this genre is that the plot becomes weak, and the story starts to slow down.
The reason I believe this happens is that there is no big struggle or evil villain.…
Shantnu Tiwari
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11
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Characterisation: What lines can an antihero cross while retaining reader sympathy?
Now, to clarify ahead of time; I'm quite aware that compelling doesn't necessary equal sympathetic and vice versa. That being said, here is the dilemma.
There's a character that I intend to write who is an antihero, both in the classical Greek sense…
Matthew Dave
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6 answers
Third Person POV: What level of telling is acceptable for character motivation?
The novel I'm writing is third-person limited POV in style. This means that the narration's coverage is limited to what the POV character can observe, think, feel, while others' thoughts, feelings, and out-of-sight actions are naturally not…
Matthew Dave
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11
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8 answers
The stages of writing - what are they?
So, I'm likely finished with my idea in form of a novel, but now comes the difficult part with the rewriting.
That's when I thought: What are the general Stages of writing?
Of course I know the Outline and the Draft. This is where the story takes…
Pawana
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