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Are there tools that can aid an author in writing a branching storyline? I would like to know whether there are any tools that would help an author write a branching storyline. Usecases may for example be: campaigns for Pen and Paper games visual novels Choose Your Own Adventure -style books The common thing is that there are people who will interact with your work by choosing certain paths, all of which you have to account for. The problem with writing these things in Word is that you can very quickly lose track of where exactly you wrote what and which events predate the current state you are writing about. Overlooking paths you have already accounted for can happen quite fast. Putting new paths you haven't thought of before into the document is quite difficult. Making multiple files can lead to a lot of files and thereby it becomes difficult to keep track of everything again. Of course often you have certain decisions that lead to branches and then merge the branches for key events again, but most the problems I mentioned are still there. Is there software that would help me overcome these problems? Preferrably the software should be free. <Q> While not a program I would suggest using a flowchart . <S> A flowchart is a type of diagram that represents an algorithm, workflow or process, showing the steps as boxes of various kinds, and their order by connecting them with arrows. <S> Since you mention visual novels in your question 2 good examples <S> I know of are the flowcharts that you can find for the translations of the visual novels <S> Tsukihime and <S> Fate/Stay night . <S> While not the full image of Fate <S> /Stay <S> Night 's you can track down the original .pdf <S> file <S> (it's included in Mirror Moon's translation of the original game and the Realta Nua PC Translation (the latter is what I'd recommend)). <S> You can see how the flowchart can not only track progress, but also allows you to play with choices and variable management during planning for branching storylines <S> ie. <S> in Fate Stay Night <S> you see how it shows where it branches at the end of the 3rd day and that there is a check to see if you continue with the Fate Route (Blonde 1 ) or Heaven's Feel Route (Purple). <S> As for a program you might want to try yEd . <S> The link there takes you to the Software Recommendations SE Site where I asked for software for making Character Relationship Maps. <S> In a way Character Relationship Maps are very similar to flowcharts and using yDe myself <S> /Stay Night 's in it. <S> 1 <S> : I say Blonde because the route colours match to the heroines who Shirou becomes romantically involved with. <S> Fate = Saber who has Blonde hair, <S> Unlimited Blade Works = <S> Rin who generally wears Red, Heaven's Feel = Sakura who has Purple Hair <A> I am using Ink by Inkle Studios. <S> It's writer-oriented and open source. <S> They have a free editor/compiler that exports an elegant web version, and they have a Unity plugin. <S> The syntax feels more sophisticated than other tools I've tried. <S> Rather than a flowchart or mindmap, Ink is more like coding in HTML – it uses markup syntax to handle the interactivity. <S> Story sections are defined by index names, and typically end with several choices which redirect the reader to other index points in the text. <S> At it's basic level, Ink is similar to the CYOA books except you don't "turn to page 23 <S> " you jump to an index point by name. <S> This makes writing more intuitive for non-programmers. <S> Ink is also designed to exhaust the choices, so the next time the reader returns to a section the option he picked last time is removed. <S> This works within the text as well, for instance changing the dialog or descriptions the second and third times through. <S> The options can also be randomized, or only appear once conditional variables have been satisfied. <A> There are several tools you can use to create this: here's a few the amazing Ink (already mentioned), which also has a plugin for Unity Twine to write your branching stories and export to HTML, very visual overview Yarn Spinner, which includes a compiler to signal unreached branches and logical inconsistencies <S> Chatmapper, specifically designed for dialogue Ren'Py, to create visual novels (uses python) <A> I want to add one more tool: Archivos . <S> (No personal link, I just saw a demo from them and plan to check them out when I start writing more.) <S> https://archivos.digital/about-archivos/ <S> Then, Storytellers connect those story elements by defining the relationships between them that articulate not just the existence of the connection but also its nature (professional, personal, political, geographical, etc.). <S> The relationships in ARCHIVOS also support a hierarchy, like that of a parent to a child, or a manager to an employee. <S> This framework will help identify and organize the structures within the story world. <S> As those structures become clear, Storytellers become true story architects, able to refine the and enhance the impact of their stories <S> This post of theirs about how to use it for LARPing seems to connect to a branching storyline -- some things are consistent, but choices lead to different EVENTS which can lead to other EVENTS, and you can map them out: https://archivos.digital/make-your-larp-even-more-awesome-with-archivos/

I can say that you could make a flowchart similar to Fate Ink has evolved over a few versions, and was used on the game 80 Days which is the best branching narrative game I've seen. First, ARCHIVOS helps Storytellers document the characters, places, and events of their stories, detailing the basic framework for the tale.

How do I remove Nikkud (vowel marks) from a Word 2016 document? I am working on a commentary on Ethics of the Fathers and I want readers to be able to read sources I'm quoting in their original Hebrew. I am getting most of my sources from sefaria.org and unfortunately many of the sources have Nekudos (vowel marks) while most of them don't. For consistency and professionalism I want all the sources to not contain Nekudos. For example this line: מֹשֶׁה קִבֵּל תּוֹרָה מִסִּינַי. אוֹמֵר אֲנִי, לְפִי שֶׁמַּסֶּכֶת זוֹ should be משה קבל תורה מסיני. אומר אני שמסכת זו. I expect to need to do this hundreds of times so I need something fast. Somebody once made me a document with Macros to do this but it isn't working on Word 2016. Does anyone else have an efficient way to do it? Thank you so much. <Q> I was looking for the exact same thing. <S> Dug around and found ways to do it outside Word, but really wanted to do this without leaving Word. <S> I wanted to keep maqqef and sof pasuq, so I had to use three separate ranges <S> (if you don't want those characters, you can simplify this to one search for the whole range 1425-1479). <S> The results are below. <S> If you select text and run the macro, it will only apply to the selection. <S> If you don't have a selection, it will run to end of document. <S> Sub HebrewDevocalizer()With Selection. <S> Find .ClearFormatting <S> .Replacement. <S> ClearFormatting .Text = <S> " <S> [" & ChrW(1425) & "-" & ChrW(1469) & "]" .Replacement. <S> Text = "" .Forward = <S> True .Wrap = <S> wdFindStop <S> .Format = <S> False .MatchCase = <S> False .MatchWholeWord = <S> False .MatchKashida <S> = <S> False .MatchDiacritics <S> = <S> False .MatchAlefHamza = <S> False .MatchControl <S> = <S> False .MatchAllWordForms = <S> False .MatchSoundsLike = <S> False .MatchWildcards = <S> TrueEnd WithSelection. <S> Find. <S> Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAllWith Selection. <S> Find .ClearFormatting <S> .Replacement. <S> ClearFormatting .Text = <S> " <S> [" & ChrW(1471) & "-" & ChrW(1474) & "]" .Replacement. <S> Text = "" .Forward = <S> True .Wrap = <S> wdFindStop <S> .Format = <S> False .MatchCase = <S> False .MatchWholeWord = <S> False .MatchKashida <S> = <S> False .MatchDiacritics <S> = <S> False .MatchAlefHamza = <S> False .MatchControl <S> = <S> False .MatchAllWordForms = <S> False .MatchSoundsLike = <S> False .MatchWildcards = <S> TrueEnd WithSelection. <S> Find. <S> Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAllWith Selection. <S> Find .ClearFormatting <S> .Replacement. <S> ClearFormatting .Text = <S> " <S> [" & ChrW(1476) & "-" & ChrW(1479) & "]" .Replacement. <S> Text = "" .Forward = <S> True .Wrap = <S> wdFindStop <S> .Format = <S> False .MatchCase = <S> False .MatchWholeWord = <S> False .MatchKashida <S> = <S> False .MatchDiacritics <S> = <S> False .MatchAlefHamza = <S> False .MatchControl <S> = <S> False .MatchAllWordForms = <S> False .MatchSoundsLike = <S> False .MatchWildcards = <S> TrueEnd WithSelection. <S> Find. <S> Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAllEnd Sub <A> A quick Google search on hebrew remove nikkud <S> gave an answer. <S> On Github <S> there's a JavaScript with a live preview code . <S> If it's little text you could use the JavaScript either online or download and use it on your pc (save as .js ). <S> The Hebrew charcodes are all between 1425 and 1479 and the nikkud are between 0591 and 05C7. <S> Python implementation (tested): import unicodedata# nikkud-test.txt is the file you save your text in.f= open('nikkud-test.txt','r', encoding='utf-8') content = <S> f.read()normalized=unicodedata.normalize('NFKD', content)no_nikkud=''.join([c for c in normalized if not unicodedata.combining(c)])no_nikkudf.close()f = <S> open('no <S> -nikkud-test.txt','w',encoding='utf-8')fw = <S> f.write(no_nikkud)f.close() <S> This works very fast. <S> UPDATED: <S> How to use this script? <S> Download Python 3.x.x from the python.org Save your nikkud text to <S> nikkud-test.txt <S> in whatever directory From the start menu start your cmd shell/command prompt/terminal. <S> Move to directory where you saved your file by typing cd <S> followed by the directory type python or open an iPython console. <S> copy + paste script <S> no-nikkud-test.txt will show up in the same directory UPDATE without Terminal <S> (Tested with Python 3.5 IDLE and iPython) <S> Download Python 3.5 or higher from python.org Save your niqqud text to <S> niqqud.txt in your Documents folder. <S> (Windows / Mac) <S> Open IDLE from the Start Menu. <S> (Alternatively, use iPython ) <S> Copy and paste the function below: def hasar_niqqud(source="niqqud.txt"): " <S> ""This function removes niqqud vowel diacretics from Hebrew. <S> @param source: <S> The source filename with .txt extension." <S> "" import os, unicodedata path = os.path.expanduser('~/Documents/'+str(source)) <S> f= open(path,'r', encoding='utf-8') <S> content = <S> f.read() normalized= <S> unicodedata.normalize('NFKD', content) <S> no_niqqud=''.join([c for c in normalized if not unicodedata.combining(c)]) <S> f.close <S> () path = os.path.expanduser('~/Documents/'+str(source)[:-4]+"-removed.txt") <S> f = open(path,'w',encoding='utf-8') <S> f.write(no_niqqud) <S> f.close() Then run the function with this code: hasar_niqqud() <S> That's it! <S> You can find the output in the Documents folder niqqud-removed.txt <A> In case your list is in Excel you could use this macro (based on the suggestion of Jonathan Potter). <S> Select a range of cells, then execute the macro in VBEditor. <S> Sub HebrewDevocalizer()Dim i <S> As Integer <S> For i = 1425 To 1469 Selection. <S> Replace What:=ChrW(i), Replacement:="", LookAt:=xlPart, _ SearchOrder:=xlByColumns, MatchCase:=False, SearchFormat:=False, ReplaceFormat:=False <S> Next i <S> For i <S> = 1471 <S> To 1474 Selection. <S> Replace What:=ChrW(i), Replacement:="", LookAt:=xlPart, _ SearchOrder:=xlByColumns, MatchCase:=False <S> Next i <S> For i <S> = 1476 <S> To 1479 Selection. <S> Replace What:=ChrW(i), Replacement:="", LookAt:=xlPart, _ SearchOrder:=xlByColumns, MatchCase:=False <S> Next iEnd Sub <A> I looked for an App that would provide the nikud (vowels) to words I was using to create a glossary. <S> However, once I had the words in that form, I could no longer sort them (as we can tell from these questions). <S> However, the same App, https://nakdan.dicta.org.il/ also allows the user to select the "modern Hebrew" version, and if you click on לחץ כאן (click here) <S> a little dialog box appears. <S> Click on the black box that basically takes you to another version to add vowels, it actually then wipes out whatever vowels you had there. <S> You may have to play around a bit with it to get the hang of it and/or do it in parts. <S> Then you can just copy and paste into your spreadsheet in a temporary column to use for sorting. <S> After final sorting, delete that column. <S> Give that a try for a work-around! <S> Regards,Madeleine

Did some more reading and discovered the key is to run a find and replace, searching for the vowel characters in the Hebrew Unicode block.

How to write a reminder on the day before a meeting? Me and my professor will meet tomorrow. Since it's been a long time after we last talked about the meeting,I'm thinking about sending her an email reminder. But I'm not sure about how to write this email. Is it okay to say "Shall I meet you tomorrow at ..."? or should I mention our previous conversation? How to do it in a polite way? Thanks a lot! <Q> Personnally, I like to send a meeting reminder that is not just a reminder, but adds new information to the previous correspondence. <S> For example, I might suggest a meeting agenda, inform the person what the meeting is about or what it is that I would like to talk about. <A> If all aspects of the meeting are already set (place, time, agenda), then you could go with something like "I'm looking forward to meeting with you tomorrow. <S> I'm glad we'll have time to talk about..." <A> Maybe you are looking forward to it, or maybe you could talk to them about something interesting, then say something like see you tommorow/soon! <S> I would suggest doing it so that it sounds pleasant and polite.

"Shall I meet you..." is fine, but you would try and make it sound pleasant.

Points to keep in mind while writing a romantic novel So I'm currently working on a story that kinda is a romantic novel. But I need some starters, like what exactly to keep in mind while writing a romantic novel? (From the reader's point of view) the basic psychology of a reader when reading a romantic novel. I've read somewhere that people expect a happy ending, both characters meet each other and live happily ever after stuff. what key points should be kept in mind while writing such novel? <Q> Here are some points: <S> Give the characters good reasons for falling for each other. " <S> He was kind to me" is not as good an answer as much lazy fiction has made us think. <S> It's all too easy to forget to give everyone a rich three-dimensional personality. <S> One of the good things about love stories is that relationships can give a character a better understanding of who they are as a person. <S> Make sure each lover undergoes appropriate character development. <S> Be very careful with any sex scenes you write. <S> They should be less about the mechanics and more about feelings. <S> Research <S> the conventions of the genre, and think carefully about which to honour in your work and how to do so (or how not to). <S> Will he be an architect? <S> Will she be a florist? <S> Will the other guy be a richer jerk? <S> Romances have experimented with alternatives since at least Romeo and Juliet . <S> Give the plot, in its ending or otherwise, something that makes it stand out from other "Jennifer Aniston falls in love" plots. <A> If you want to write a popular romantic novel do what other romantic novels do. <S> Some pointers: love and death: these are central themes in a large share of books. <S> You may want to include some sickness or death in your kinda romantic novel. <S> audience: who are you targeting? <S> Women, men, stay-at-home <S> (wo)men? <S> I think women in general tend to read more romantic novels that include some erotica. <S> I think men tend to like fatalism such as sickness and death. <S> A combination of the two would give the best of both worlds. <S> point of view: women's romantic novels are generally told from a female point of view, men's romantic novels are from a male point of view. <S> transience (in Japanese also called mono-no-aware): the concept of life is short. <S> Love and have love while you can. <S> Include elements (motives) that represent transience. <S> It's alright to not have a happy ending (e.g. Romeo and Juliet). <A> A romance novel has romance at the heart of it. <S> Typically this means two people falling in love, and the journey as they fall. <S> Sure, it might be set in a space opera, like Star Wars. <S> But if you take away the love story portion, and you are left with practically nothing? <S> It's a romance. <S> It is arguably true that you should try to uphold ideals of some sort. <S> Sex after marriage, if you are writing a Christian Romance. <S> Courting the right way, if it's set in a more austere environment--Elizabethan London, for example. <S> The core, however, should be romance. <S> That's the story your selling. <S> Now. <S> Consider the following. <S> Depending on where you plan on publishing (thousands or routes, so I won't get into that now), there could be criterion already in place. <S> At what point the two Main Characters meet, when the first date is, the first kiss. <S> Some publishers get almost micromanagingly specific about this. <S> Consider that before writing. <S> Many readers enjoy the falling in love part. <S> And they want the real deal. <S> No insta-romance, no love at first sight ( <S> common complaints I've heard, but maybe your target audience wants that, do your research). <S> They want a strong female character falling for a strong male character. <S> Two decent human beings that find comfort in each other's arms. <S> There is also quite the market for LGBT romance novels. <S> If you can pull it off, there's money to be made. <S> Do your research if you aren't LGBT, or you could just get people upset, though. <S> My gayday isn't picking up much from the OP. <S> Two people that positively affect each other. <S> They compliment each other, they are good for each other. <S> This makes for some timeless romance classics, if done right. <S> Consider that you can ignore all the above, if you write it the right way. <S> Take as a plausible premise: A deranged serial killer finds the love of his life in his psychiatrist. <S> She understands him, how he ticks, how he is put together. <S> And he likes that. <S> (above could be a Joker and Harlequin love story, and while it's IP infringement, and DC Comics won't take well to that <S> , it could be a compelling story if you get it right.)

Consider what makes a compelling couple. The plot should be true to the characters, not necessarily to a cliché ending. A sad but beautiful loving-till-the-end ending will work too.

How many pages make a chapter in a chapter book? I am writing my first chapter books for an older audience around 18+ and I need a little help with knowing when one characters point of view should end and the next begin. Can anyone help me? <Q> If I understand the question correctly, we are being asked when POV should switch, and this question also assumes that POV will switch at chapter breaks. <S> Typically, POV should switch when a scene ends, and the subsequent scene would feature a problem that will have greater stakes for a different POV character. <S> POV is usually best served to the character who has the most to lose in a scene, and so when the greatest burden of the stakes shifts from one POV character to another, then so should the POV. <S> As for chapter breaks, well, that's largely a matter of opinion. <S> Something to keep in mind, however, is that a chapter break can serve an author well when there is a hook that will draw the reader on to the next chapter. <S> Breaking a chapter after a peak of activity or tension may draw the reader on in an effort to find out what happened next. <A> I found an interesting Blog post on this. <S> https://blog.reedsy.com/how-long-should-a-chapter-be/ <S> Based on their review of different books, the average word count is between 3000 and 4000 words. <S> That being said, it's up to you. <S> As long as you have covered everything it makes sense to cover in that chapter, then you are done. <S> For the fun of it, I looked to see what the shortest chapters in books are. <S> I found this lovely gem out there. <S> https://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/the-20-shortest-chapters-in-literature/99631 <A> The number of pages is as many as are needed. <S> As Bryan shows, a chapter can be as short as a word, or a sentence. <S> it can be very long. <S> In general, most chapters are a continuous narrative (a combination of exposition and dialogue) of sequential action. <S> It could be exposition that covers the highlights of a thousand years, or it could cover a single conversation with a stranger in a parking lot. <S> For example, the chapter ends when they board the train, there is zero plot development or character development you wish to do on the train, nothing you want to reveal in dialogue, no scenery worth describing that helps with the plot or foreshadowing or anything else, so the chapter ends. <S> The trip is uneventful in the literal sense. <S> The next chapter begins, <S> "They finally found the Knightsmark hotel in Tragerton, where ..." . <S> (IMO) <S> Your writing should always be concise and not wander into sideshows much; everything I write is to advance something about the plot or characters. <S> So I do not write about spans of time in which nothing advances, like when my main character is asleep, or traveling alone, etc. <S> Such spans of time are generally good times to break the chapter, and/or POV. <S> Readers may not exactly be expecting a chapter break to cover a large span of time, but they are at least accustomed to that happening, and the next chapter beginning <S> "[some_time_span] <S> later, ..." , whether that is minutes, days, weeks, months, years, a lifetime, whatever. <S> One chapter ends with a baby being born. <S> The next begins <S> "John grew into athletic young man, unfortunately already balding at twenty-five." <S> The time span is certainly not necessary, just a POV change is fine. " <S> While Allen was doing that, Bill was still puzzling on how to get into the safe." <S> You change when the setting changes, <S> the POV changes, or uneventful time needs to elapse. <S> Do not cut or add words to try and reach some "good length". <A> Forgive me for nitpicking, but I can understand anything in this. <S> 18+ could mean 75 years old, and you don't write the same way for that age group as you would a 18-35 year old target audience. <S> That aside, there is no hard and fast rule. <S> Sure, there are guidelines. <S> One such guideline states that each scene should be roughly 3500 words. <S> But adhering too strictly to that gives you problems. <S> Let's say you're in a pivotal scene, and you're now at 4500 words? <S> Do you break off the scene? <S> Start off in the next chapter? <S> Why is "1 scene = 1 chapter" a rule? <S> Truth is, it isn't. <S> And how long or how short each scene is depends on what you want to show. <S> And example from Arch Angel's Shadow (by Nalini Singh). <S> One chapter was ten pages long (roughly 5000 words). <S> Another was a single page (rought 500 words). <S> Why? <S> The shorter chapter was describing the antagonist, vaguely showing they were waiting, waiting for the right moment. <S> That the victim was already growing weak, her skin thin as paper and almost see-through. <S> Those 500 words hit you. <S> Hard. <S> You get a sense of urgency, a sense that it might already be too late. <S> That it probably is too late. <S> Another victim is going to die, and you don't want that for her. <S> In those 500 words, Singh achieved what she wanted to. <S> Why drag it out? <S> End the chapter, end the scene, move on. <S> And leave your reader with that ball of worries in the pit of their stomach. <S> If that is your goal, never offer a word more than what you need to achieve it. <A> You can do your own thing though. <S> Also, next time you write a question, you should be slightly more specific. <S> Like other comments pointed out, you should specify what age. <S> You said 18+, but that could be 19 or 92. <S> You write differently for those two ages. <S> I'm very late, but this might help other people who come to this question.

The chapter ends when you need to "shift gears", a break to something else, when you can't write any more useful things for the reader to have in THIS narrative, and you wish to start another. 15 pages per chapter, is my answer.

In first person narrative, is it acceptable to end rhetorical questions with a period? In first person narrative, would it be acceptable to use a period in place of a question mark when the narrator is asking a rhetorical question? example: My car broke down again. Why does this always seem to happen when I'm broke and between jobs(? or .) I feel, as the narrator, it is more of a statement and I am trying to display an emotion other than inquiry. <Q> A rhetorical question is still a question, isn't it? <S> I would use a question mark for a question and a period for a statement. <S> "Why does this always happen to me?" <S> "Rats, this always happens when I'm broke and between jobs." <A> A question is a question. <S> The reader may not understand if you don't put the question mark at the end. <S> If you're reading outloud, a sentence with a question mark at the end would curve up, but if it's a period, you would only take a pause. <A> Questions are used if you normally aren't sure. <S> For example: Did the car break down? <S> You don't know it the car did break down, therefore using a question mark would make sense. <S> The car broke down. <S> You know that the car broke down. <S> It is a statement and you wouldn't need to ask anyone if it did.

The period should be used when stating a statement.

How can a main character learn about a secret event that will take place? I am writing a story for a comic book and at this point I am stuck. I want my protagonist to learn that a delivery of a key item by the bad guys will occur. I already thought about the possibility of interrogating a bad guy, but I find this a little overused. Can you suggest a way he can find that out? <Q> The X-Files Approach <S> The Classic Batman Approach (also known as the 007 Approach) <S> The bad guy is so arrogant that he tells the whole plan to your protagonist while trying to kill the hero in an elaborate and inefficient way. <S> Then walks away, allowing the hero to escape. <S> The Sherlock Holmes Approach Through a series of extraordinary deductions, using mundane and readily available facts <S> , your protagonist calculates that the only possible time and place for the delivery is... <A> The other answers outlined the basic methods and hopefully you've already used one of them in your story. <S> Another possibility is that the protagonist works in an industry that the bad guys require to carry out their plans. <S> A piano moving company that is asked to move a strange box. <S> The right size and weight for a piano, but the wrong shape. <S> A police station clerk takes the routine notification call of the movements of the local armored delivery service. <S> And recognizes the address. <S> If the item requires lots of electricity, the workers at the local gas and electric company will figure something's up when the transformer blows and has to be replaced. <S> Normally this happens when people start growing pot in large quantities indoors and legal issues keep them from just telling the G&E company they need the upgrade beforehand (seriously!) <S> but the lineworkers sent out to fix things can tell it's not agriculturally related. <S> Many possibilities here. <S> Just remember that nobody works alone. <S> The bad guys either have an insanely large staff working for them (which means they can't control them) or they outsource some of the labor (cleaning, delivery, even cooking 100 pizzas). <S> If the protagonist is the in the right place at the right time, or someone close to her <S> /him is, that's all it takes for the wheels to start turning. <S> Add in a name (person's name or a shell company) <S> s <S> /he recognizes as involved, or a known address, or something else that turns a routine event into a suspicious one. <A> A couple of other ideas that haven't been suggested yet: <S> The protagonist gets lucky. <S> Someone defects. <S> One of the villain's mooks decides he wants nothing more to do with whatever's going on, and tells the hero about it. <S> Sabotage by another villain. <S> If this is a superhero comic with a rogues' gallery of different villains, Villain B might decide he doesn't like Villain A muscling in on his territory and rat him out to the hero. <A> While the hero is sneaking around, he hears two henchmen "You know, the Joker got the bomb, we should get out of town" <S> Text Message <S> Beat up the henchmen, look at his phone, there is a message from Joker. <S> " <S> Gotham ready for boom boom! <S> Thanks for the delivery! :P :D :P <S> > <S> D <S> Informant <S> The Hero has informants feeding him the information. <S> This could be a person or a video camera/ tracer/ hidden microphone. <S> There are many ways for him to learn the information. <S> It might even be fun to let the reader know, but not the hero... then have the hero arrive very late (or too late)... <S> Depends on the story. <A> Plodding discovery. <S> The hero is investigating many persons or places connected to the bad guys, and at one place happens to learn some big deal is supposed to be delivered on Day X. <S> He doesn't know <S> it is the key item, he is just there with his binoculars to find out what the big deal is.

Your protagonist has a secret friend in the bad guys organization who sends him cryptic hints and clues. He's off chasing an unrelated (or seemingly unrelated) lead or clue, and just happens to stumble across evidence of the impending delivery: financial records, an overheard mook conversation, or even the actual delivery preparations. A few quick thoughts (thinking of Batman here) Overhear a conversation

Which is the correct way to punctuate this dialogue with ellipses? Below are four alternate dialogues that I am confused between. I'd like to know which is the correctly punctuated one. Also please explain how to use ellipses in a dialogue which is interrupted by a dialogue tag. The tag has to come between the trailing off and on. Now, I was a captor in Chirag’s realm, waiting for my execution. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to make it quick. But painless…?” Chirag said, “…no promises made.” OR “Don’t worry, I’ll try to make it quick…but painless?” Chirag said, “…no promises made.” OR “Don’t worry, I’ll try to make it quick. But painless…?” Chirag said. “No promises made.” OR “Don’t worry, I’ll try to make it quick. But painless…?” Chirag said, “no promises made.” <Q> Strictly speaking, all four of them are correct, but stylistically, I'd recommend the third one, as the "No promises made," strikes me as a complete, independent thought, as in, " <S> No promises [are] made [by me]." <S> As for the ellipsis... <S> http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation/faq0066.html <A> Aside from the third item being correct, as others have noted, the punctuation around the dialogue tag reflects how it interacts with your two pieces of dialogue. <S> You can have an ellipsis at the beginning of a piece of dialogue, but the text has to support it. <S> " <S> So if you're not into men, and you're not into women, that makes you..." "... <S> Aromantic, I guess?" <S> he said with a shrug. <S> In your snippet, No promises made. <S> is a complete sentence. <S> It has a crisp beginning. <S> Chirag isn't trailing into it, so there's no need for a beginning ellipsis. <S> And since the dialogue tag Chirag said is completing the thought of the first sentence, it correctly ends with a period. <S> If you want a trail-in and trail-out with the same person, it would run something like this: <S> “Don’t worry, I’ll try to make it quick..." <S> Chirag smiled with too many teeth. "... <S> but I'm not making any promises about painless. " <S> In this case, the dialogue tag is a complete sentence with a period. <S> Your trail-in text is a continuation of your trail-out text, so it starts with an ellipsis and a lowercase letter. <A> While I don't disagree with any of the other answers, I would actually style this altogether differently. <S> "Don’t worry, I’ll try to make it quick. <S> But painless?" Chirag said. <S> "No promises made . . . <S> " <S> There's something "wrong" to me about showing an elliptical pause right before a question mark. <S> Here, the voice trails off at the end of the dialog as Chirag considers what he will do. <S> Alternatively, there is another variation I would prefer. <S> "Don’t worry, I’ll try to make it quick. <S> But . . . painless?" Chirag said. <S> "No promises made." <S> This moves the pause to directly before the use of painless , and avoids my issue of it being between the word and the question mark.

An ellipsis indicates that the speaker is trailing off at the end, or gradually building up to speaking at the beginning.

Capitalization after use of colon? This is a sentence from a current writing project detailing how people in jail feel about reading. It provides an escape from the reality of what lies before them: time. Should "time" be capitalized? I've seen published examples of both upper and lower case instances during a brief research of the issue. <Q> As far as I've ever seen, no. <A> I have seen capital letters after colons if what comes after the colon is a full sentence: <S> These rules have only one purpose: They are meant to humiliate. <S> If you remove the subject and verb, the word after the colon stays lowercase: These rules have only one purpose: to humiliate. <A> Another thing to consider is the context. <S> For instance, you might be "passing the time by hanging out" or you might be "subjected to the whims of Time". <S> In the former example, time is an object. <S> In the latter example, time is more like an entity... <S> much like how people may refer to "Death", "Life", "Truth", etc. <S> as opposed to "death", "life", "truth", etc. <S> From the description of your writing project, it doesn't seem like you'd refer to Time, though I'm sure you could if you crafted your writing project that way. <A> Lots of opinions here, but let's look to a higher authority. <S> According to the Chicago Manual of Style , the word after a colon is lowercase, even if it starts a complete sentence, unless it's a proper noun. <S> The exception is when the colon introduces multiple sentences or when it introduces speech.

You don't capitalize the word following a colon, unless it's a proper name.

What tips would you give to someone about to write a stage play? This is a broad and subjective question. However, I think it can be answered with advice such as: Don't include car chases, train accidents or other things that require special effects that can't be created using lights and sound. <Q> My advice is to try and act out the parts, actually say the lines, make the movements, and so on. <S> If necessary, use cardboard boxes or other cheap stuff (empty aluminum cans as wine glasses or a lantern) for your props. <S> Use a sheet of paper with a name on it, put it on the floor for other actors. <S> Use your living room as your stage, or your bedroom or kitchen or garage. <S> In other words, you can do this very cheaply with imagination and dispensing with self-consciousness, to ensure your play doesn't present some insoluble or insanely expensive puzzle for a set designer, and isn't going to feel awkward to act out for your actors, or be too clunky and inauthentic to say. <S> That you don't give them lines or emotions that are <S> too difficult, or stage directions that won't work, and that you don't leave them standing there like a mannequin while some other actor works through a three minute speech. <S> Actors want something plausible to DO, even if it is pacing. <S> Stage plays are unlike the movies. <S> In a movie, the camera can focus on one actor doing something (even giving a speech) and the other actors are offscreen and don't have to do a thing. <S> So the offscreen actors can be mannequins, and in truth may not even have been present while this scene was shot! <S> This is not true on a stage, once an actor comes in, the audience sees them until they exit. <S> So they must be exited once they no longer contribute to the scene or would be distracting. <S> Until then, they need some work to do if they are going to stick around for another interaction. <S> That's why Mom hears a chime offstage and leaves to check on the bread for five minutes before she returns: We have no plausible busy work for her to do while Bob and Janet argue about his sister moving into the guest room, so we invent some errand for her to do offstage. <S> Get your head out of the page, act things out. <S> Make sure things "flow" and "feel right" to you. <S> It will change your writing, and to producers and actors is more likely to "feel right" too. <A> Let us use an analogy first: <S> Almost everyone goes through a phase in their teens where they write poetry. <S> Agents and editors can give witness to the amount of poetry that is being submitted to them. <S> At the same time, poetry is the one genre that sells the least number of copies. <S> Because almost no one reads poems. <S> This implies that most aspiring writers who write and submit poetry do not even read poetry themselves. <S> According to aforementions agents and editors, this becomes clear from the lack of understanding of lyric principles apparent in the submitted poems. <S> Conclusions from the analogy: If you want to (learn how to) write a stage play, read stage plays. <S> What you read, will answer your question. <A> Research the sort of plays that they actually put on and think about duration, number of characters, technical complexity etc. <S> as well as style and subject matter. <S> Try to involve potential performers or venues as early as possible in your writing process, even if it's just approaching a theatre or director an asking "Would you be interested in a play about werewolves that lasts six hours and involves a lot of pyrotechnics? <S> " <S> Many theatres these days have writing workshops or writing schemes <S> you might be able to get involved with. <S> Get actors to read through your script as part of your writing process, both individually and as a group exercise. <S> As a writer, it's worth bearing in mind that a lot of theatre these days is "devised" to some extent, i.e. made up by the performers in a workshopping environment, often with a specific performance space in mind, so your idea of a writer's role in creating a play may be different from theirs. <A> There are two writing challenges that are especially sharp for playwriting: Suspension of disbelief, and understanding what is happening onstage. <S> Accordingly, Aristotle recommended "three unities" for plays: One main action/plot, one location, one time frame. <S> Although relatively few plays stick strictly to these rules, there are some good reasons behind them. <S> You don't have the cinematic visuals in a play that make changing settings and timeframes compelling in a movie. <S> And you don't have the time in a play to explain or play out all the subplots of a novel. <S> So, the closer you stick to the three unities, the easier your play will be to produce, to understand, and to suspend disbelief for. <S> But what if you don't want to stick to the three unities? <S> Death of a Salesman covers a lot of ground, but it's all mostly in Willie Loman's mind and memories. <S> The "real world" stuff is all in the one location, within a relatively brief span of time. <S> Man of La Mancha has a particularly clever solution, where the entire show is a play within a play. <S> The frame story all takes place in realtime in a jail cell, while the play-within-a-play doesn't respect the three unities at all. <S> That allows the audience to suspend disbelief and embrace the rudimentary set and visual effects. <S> In general I've found that the more successful realist plays I've seen stick pretty closely to the three unities. <S> The ones that (successfully) discard the three unities are usually more memory-based or imaginative/fantastical. <S> In either case, you want to limit your overall number of main characters and plots: if you have too many, they'll either get short shrift or make your play too long.

If you want your play to be performed, write with a particular theatre or acting troupe in mind, or a particular type of venue/ensemble.

How to come up with good titles? Can you help me find a suitable title for my book? I'll tell you the main idea so that you guys can help. It is a romance highschool story that revolves around a vampire boy and a human girl. Due to an incident the vampire has to live with the girl. At first their relationship is awkward, but slowly they start becoming friends. Eventually the vampire develops strong feelings for the girl. So this is the main idea. And one more thing: they both are faced by rivals who are against their relationship. So people please let me know how I could choose a suitable title. I have written the whole story a long time ago, but I'm stuck with the title. <Q> How to find a suitable book title: Look at published books in your genre and understand the basic principle behind their titles. <S> of your story <S> the setting, atmosphere, main emotions <S> the personalities, weaknesses, drives etc. <S> of your <S> protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) <S> For each of these brainstorm as many words and short phrases as you can come up with. <S> Delete everything that has already been used as a book or movie title. <S> If possible, employ a sample of your target audience and ask them which of the remaining titles would most make them want to read the book. <S> If not, or if your target audience sample suggests several titles, pick the one your gut reaction tells you is the most fitting. <S> Submit your manuscript and be disappointed at the title your publisher chooses. <A> " The Twilight Saga ", nah I'm just kidding. <S> My (serious) answer: <S> Infanguation <S> It's clearly a pun, referencing the word "infatuation," which is defined as an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for someone or something. <S> It all depends on the seriousness of the book, though. <S> If it's an extremely serious novel, this title may not be the best to go with, as opening with a pun may give off the vibe that humor, or at least a not-so-serious tone can be found on the inside. <A> The Warming of A Cold <S> Still Heart or New Light <S> For a Dark Heart

Make a list of the theme, topic, premise etc. Given that your story is about a vampire and love, I'd say " Infanguation " comes close to being an appropriate book title.

Where to find examples of real life situations and counter-arguments to support your arguments in an essay? I'm currently writing an essay for a school assignment. My teacher's—and Google's—answers as to where to find examples of real life situations and counter-arguments to support my arguments in an essay has not been adequate. An example of one of the claims I have made in my essay is "Knowledge’s ability to be quantified is relative to the definition knowledge is given". I do not seek arguments to support this claim but rather how the process of finding real life situations (such as a study, etc.) to support my claims or a counter-example to show critical thinking is done. I've tried to find them, but I simply do not know where to start. <Q> I think you need logic to support that claim, it is not the type of thing that can be studied. <S> (Or you might find that kind of logic in academic philosophy.) <S> The logic is, you find it self-evident [requires no proof] that to quantify anything requires a method of measurement that consistently returns a unique position on a scale of possible values (or a tight range of values with minor measurement errors allowed). <S> *['consistently' because it cannot give random values if the person and test conditions remain the same, e.g. an IQ test with randomized questions that returns 180 on Monday and 95 on Tuesday, for the same person under nearly identical conditions, is useless; no decisions should be made based upon such a test.] <S> Therefore to quantify 'knowledge', we need to define a scale of possible values and devise a method of measurement for knowledge. <S> That in turn logically demands a definition of what we mean by knowledge that constrains what we test to the consistently quantifiable. <S> Examples of what would be difficult to quantify is 'knowing what it is like to be in love.' <S> On the other hand, it would be easier to devise tests, with experts, to quantify 'knowing how to play the piano'. <S> A more nuanced example might be 'Knowing the history of France.' <S> Nobody can know the entire history of France and everybody that has lived there and what they have done. <S> So in that sense, knowing the history of France is unquantifiable; a Frenchman may know enough facts about the history of his own family tree to fill several books, while knowing nothing of the political, economic, social or technological history of France. <S> But if we define knowledge of the history of France to consist of the political history, we can devise a test to see what people know, and quantify this knowledge in that way. <A> Maybe your own level of abstact language is confusing you? <S> What you are saying is that when you want to measure ("quantify") something, you need to know what it is that you want to measure ("definition given"). <S> To substantiate that claim, you can now research both theory of measurement and theory of definition. <S> But I would say that this statement is so commonsense that it needs no citation – after all, how would you measure something if you didn't know what you were measuring. <A> There's no shortcut for this kind of research --believe me, I worked for years to find one! <S> Sometimes someone just happened to study what you're looking for. <S> That's a bit of a long shot, however. <S> Your next best bet is to see if you can trace back where you got the idea from, and what convinces you it is true. <S> Then try googling those topics. <S> Wikipedia is often a great place to start, although you never want to cite Wikipedia, use the sources Wikipedia refers to instead. <S> Often times, once you set your mind to it, you can find an article, book or opinion piece that has your general claim in it. <S> Then trace the sources they cite to build more support or narrow in on your specific idea. <S> If you still can't find anything, you're making a claim that you have no empirical support for. <S> It might be true, but it's probably not a claim you should be making in a paper like this.

The first thing to try is just google your main keywords, and see if any reputable research comes up.

What Genre Category for a Semi-Fictional Memoir? What genre do these types of Memoirs fall under? "Inspired by true events?" ... Is Semi-Fictional Memoir a "thing"? I definitely don't feel that "fictional autobiography" fits. I have been writing a lot of short stories that are Memoir-ish, that are based on true events in my life. Because I don't remember every detail, I tried to make some parts of the stories obviously fictional. But, in some stories, it isn't so obvious that parts are fictional. I feel that making it obvious in some stories would be intrusive, and undermine the tone. I am hoping that applying the proper genre label would be sufficient. <Q> It's one of the most famous and successful formats. <S> It is generally considered as a sub-genre of the novel, and filed under fiction. <S> Famous autobiographical novels include David Copperfield (Dickens), Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Joyce), To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee), and Invisible Man (Ellison). <S> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiographical_novel <S> If it isn't long enough for a novel, it still falls under the category autobiographical fiction , which is not the same as "fictional autobiography." <S> The former is fiction inspired by real events, the latter is fiction presented in the form of an autobiography (similar to a mockumentary). <S> Most publishers don't distinguish between fiction and autobiographical fiction (unless there's a danger someone will sue you for libel!). <S> And most readers who care will assume all your fiction is autobiographical anyway. <S> The general rule of thumb is to not sell something as "non-fiction," "memoir" or "autobiography" unless it's 100% true. <S> Anything less than 100% true is "fiction." <S> http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/10-ways-to-tell-if-your-story-should-be-a-memoir-or-a-novel <A> Inspired by true events <S> The thing with memoirs is just that: one person's recollection of an event. <S> This naturally brings in omissions, incorrect recollections, and more than a few times, altered perceptions (we tend to remember the best of ourselves). <S> "Inspired by true events" has a lot of common use (my wife watches only those movies), so I would personally go with that. <A> From Wikipedia: Autofiction usually has a protagonist using the author’s name and combines autobiography with fiction. <S> One famous author of autofiction is Margurite Duras.

This is an autobiographical novel , a novel based loosely on your own autobiography, but without guarantees of fidelity to actual events.

Using software with my writing? I am looking for a good writing software. I'm not talking about something to perform just grammar/spelling checks, like word, which is great, but not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something more designed for writing a novel. I'd like it to be free. <Q> This is definitely a touching question considering how much time writers spend on their computers. <S> There is Microsoft Word. <S> I love Word, however writing in it is unorganized and messy. <S> If you desperately needed a good spell checker, though, Word is the way to go. <S> You can find it here . <S> I use Scrivener. <S> and it is overall amazing. <S> Organization is a breeze, full screen mode is awesome, and tons of tools are built in (including random name generation). <S> You can find it here . <S> As a side note, if you are looking for something to jot down ideas, the same people that made Scrivener also made Scrapple . <S> I personally haven't used it, but I will probably buy it sometime soon. <S> There is a free version. <S> With a free mobile app, it is perfect for using when inspiration comes. <S> For editing, I use AutoCrit . <S> It has advanced editing features that help find your writing style problems. <S> It does not help much with grammar. <S> It is based around style. <S> AutoCrit does have a high monthly fee. <S> I got it on sale for winning NaNoWriMo, but I think I pay for it anyways if I hadn't. <S> Lastly, if you are writing science fiction or fantasy you might need some wacky names. <S> Here is a generator for that. <S> While designed for business names, it works great for crazy names. <S> In summary, when I work I take notes in OneNote (and probably Scrapple sometime soon), write in Scrivener, and edit in AutoCrit. <S> I use Word primarily as my middle man since I can't directly export from Scrivener to AutoCrit. <A> Specialized Writing Software: <S> Scrivener Dramatica <S> yWriter <S> Ulysses <S> Papyrus Autor <S> Patchwork (only in German) Specialized Screenwriting Software: <S> Final Draft <S> Celtx and more on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screenwriting_software <S> I can personally highly recommend all of the directly linked software (I don't now about the other screenwriting software listed on the Wikipedia page), and they are all often recommended by other writers (if they use specialized software at all and not MS Word, Open Office / Libre Office Writer, or a plain text editor). <S> That is, to my knowledge this is the best software out there. <S> Which one fits your personal needs best is something that you have to decide by studying the respective websites and testing the demo versions. <S> Papyrus Autor is a German software that has been around since 1992 and has become the most widely used writing software among German-speaking authors. <S> Patchwork is a new software from Austria with the richest set of features among all writing software (all of which can be activated or deactivated according to personal needs, so they don't in fact overwhelm) which has been greeted with enthusiastic user reviews. <S> Both come with the best available German spell and grammar check (from Duden, which otherwise is only available as a paid plugin for MS Word or InDesign) as well as with a style analysis devised by German author Andreas Eschbach (and described on his website). <S> I added these two applications to the list for German users, of which there are plenty on this site. <S> I'm not familiar with the English GUI of Papyrus Autor. <A> I use something no-one has mentioned, LyX . <S> It's designed for mathematicians and physicists to write documents full of TeX/LaTeX-typeset equations, which is how I happened upon it, but it's much more multi-purpose than that. <S> It can be used to write scripts and, if you know what you're doing, novels. <S> (I've used it for that purpose several times, but first it was how I wrote a PhD thesis.) <S> It has a number of advantages over Word (but these might also be features of other options people have mentioned), such as: Easy breakdown of document into parts, chapters, sections etc., be they numbered or unnumbered; <S> It works out how to position everything for you in a WYSIWYM , not WYSIWYG, format; <S> Ability to create invisible "notes". <S> But there are disadvantages: <S> You write a .lyx file but export from it to another format that can be read without LyX (LyX notes' contents won't show up); The WYSIWYM format has some colour settings that, while having no effect on the output, can annoy you as the user unless you spend a few minutes changing them; The document's settings may take a bit of customisation to look like a novel (I set the document class to Memoir; if you need any further help, look at the TeX SE). <S> I cannot speak for other programs, but there will be surprisingly long lists of pros and cons for everything, and ultimately the software is less important than your ideas. <A> Personally, after trying (almost) everything, I ended up using Vim. <S> Couldn't be happier with it. <S> However, I can see why only coders use it for writing novels. <S> There is a tremendous learning curve that makes even Scrivener look reasonable. <S> So to the list above, I'd add Manuskript . <S> It's an open source clone of Scrivener that focuses less on places to horde research and more on giving outlining tools to the user. <S> When I last used it (November of '17) there wasn't much documentation to support it. <S> I found it intuitive, but I imagine that might have more to do with my familiarity with Scrivener than the UI of Manuskript.

Scrivener doesn't have the best editing tools, but it is made for writing I currently use OneNote (also part of Office).

How can we make reviewing HTML documentation easier? Summary: I'm looking for a way for reviewers to comment collaboratively as close to "inline" as possible on a large HTML project. The problem in detail I work on a team that documents a large product. The HTML documentation set has hundreds of individual pages (with sidebar hierarchical table of contents, as you would expect); a PDF of the entire doc set is 5000+ pages. When we document a new feature or make broad improvements like reorganizations, we publish an HTML build for review by developers, QA, support, the product manager, and other writers. We publish the entire doc set in this build, not just the changed pages, because sometimes context matters. To mitigate that, we provide links to the specific topics that changed. We actually add these links to the doc plan, a specification that we produced earlier describing the intended changes -- this way people can, if they want, see the background of why we made a particular change. The doc plan is a page on the internal wiki. Right now, when we send out a review request, we point people to that wiki page, and ask people to post their feedback as comments. This allows everybody to see each other's feedback, which means (a) less repetition compared to individual responses and (b) earlier discovery of disagreements among reviewers. But long comment chains can be hard to navigate too, even with threading. And people still have to do some extra work to write those comments, because they have to tell us what they're reacting to. Typical comments begin with something like "in 'Installing Plugins', the description in the third paragraph isn't quite right because...". This approach works better for us than either email responses or individually commenting on PDFs of just the selected topics. (We've done both of those.) Is there a way to make it even easier by allowing people to attach comments right there in the HTML, kind of like commenting on Google Docs, but without having to import our large doc set into some other tool just for this purpose? Or is the current approach the best we can do without a lot of extra work? We want to make it easy for people to comment and see others' comments. The bar to beat is comments on a wiki page. We aren't interested in importing a large HTML doc set into some other tool (that people would have to learn). I'm wondering if there's, say, some Javascript package out there already that we can inject into these builds to support this goal, or some other way to achieve this goal. Tools in use We use source control (git), with feature work being done on branches. The review builds are produced from those branches and are persistent. (Most of our reviewers are not comfortable reviewing the HTML source, or I would sidestep all of this by having them review the raw source on the branch.) We use Madcap Flare to create and build the docs. Flare's schema for the doc source is an extended HTML; all HTML is valid, plus they add some tool-specific tags that are used at build time. The output is conventional HTML. We use Jenkins to manage the build process. Jenkins currently calls a script that does some housekeeping and invokes madbuild.exe (Flare's build engine). That script publishes the HTML on an internal server. In principle, therefore, we could modify the build script to inject something extra into the output just for these branch builds. We own the server, so we can add things to it if needed (like a way to store comments). <Q> On one project I worked on, we did reviews via a work- in-progress server, which was an HTML version of the current state of the docs. <S> We created a modified build script for this server which included the following: A status indicator for each topic (ready to review, draft, final, etc.) <S> An ID for each topic. <S> Paragraph numbers in each topic. <S> An instruction to raise any issues found, in review or otherwise, in the issue tracking system using the topic ID and paragraph number. <S> This was relatively low tech. <S> Commenting did not happen in the docs interface itself. <S> But it seemed to work well. <S> Reviewers had an easy way to indicate what their review comments applied to. <S> I think they tended to review with a text editor window open and made comments by paragraph number, then pasted it into the error tracker. <S> These were all operations they were well used to doing, so there was no learning curve or unfamiliar tools to use. <S> The work in progress server was live all the time that the docs were being developed, with appropriate status notifications on each topic. <S> We found that a number of people in the organization found it useful to have this information available during development and we occasionally got feedback outside the formal review process. <A> Not sure if I can adequately answer this, since I know little about web development. <S> But I'll try to give some ideas. <S> I would use JavaScript to comment inline and SQL to store the comments. <S> Double-click/select a word in the text. <S> A comment box pops up. <S> The user can type a comment and hit "OK". <S> A comment (entry) is created, and the word gets highlighted. <S> [Optionally you can let people choose to type of comment (e.g. spelling error or conceptual error).] <S> An entry is created in the database: it stores the URL, the paragraph, the word(s) marked. <S> Every entry gets its own ID. <S> A script writes a marker with the ID to the HTML source. <S> JavaScript opens the stored (marked) comments and allows to add a respond. <S> You should probably also add time and author. <S> Easiest would be to let the author write one's own unique name. <S> Better would be having user accounts when doing the reviews. <S> Depending on your needs you can choose to display all the comments for that page on the right-hand side of that page. <S> Or you could open a comment by clicking on a highlighted word. <S> I hope I could give you some ideas. <S> Good luck! <A> A number (or range) is quick to type. <S> Easy solution: <S> Every line in the code is stored in a database as: Line number <S> String <S> 4763 printf("Hello, World!"); In the Wiki, the line of code is clickable. <S> When you click on it, a comment form unfolds under the line. <S> In the database, the comments are stored as: <S> Line number Comment Comment author <S> 4763 lol John <S> When there are comments for a line, the Wiki displays the number of comments behind the link. <S> This number is clickable. <S> Clicking on it displays the comments under the line, clicking again hides the comments. <S> All this should not take longer than an afternoon to implement for an experienced programmer. <S> You say that "[m]ost of our reviewers are not comfortable reviewing the HTML source". <S> What then do they review? <S> The rest of your question seems to say that your reviewers look at lines of code. <S> Isn't that "the HTML source"? <S> If not, explain.

Simple solution: Commenters must refer to code by line number.

Where should I put my tl;dr? By definition TL;DR, short for "too long; didn't read", is Internet slang to say that some text being replied to has been ignored because of its length. In slang it can also stand for "Too lazy; didn't read". It is also used as a signifier for a summary of an online post or news article. Wikipedia Usually the author of a long post gives a tl;dr, a summary of the what the post about in a short paragraph or sentence. This can be put before the post begins, or the after. tl;dr We are asking you to start saving water and electricity for the sake of our environment. Blahblahblah... I've seen two types of people, who scrolls down to see the tl;dr, and those who looks for the summary on the top of the post. This makes me unsure where to put my post summary. If I were to write a post, a letter, etc. how can I decide which position is the most beneficial to me, i.e avoid people skipping my question entirely and getting the message across. tl;dr How can I decide that putting my tl;dr at the top of the post, or bottom, will benefits me the most? What factors should I consider? I'm thinking more about the types of the post: informational post might be better with bottom summary, while question better with top summary. What other factors affecting this? Note: Some put a notification at top of the post, informing a tl;dr is available at the bottom of the post. <Q> Where to put the a tl;dr or summary is going to vary depending on the piece. <S> For example, an email from I.T. warning about a change will include the most important information and what users need to do upfront, and then may include further details beneath that for those who are curious. <S> Having the tl;dr at the beginning means people are more likely to see it. <S> In other pieces of writing it makes more sense to have it at the end. <S> tl;dr <S> If the tl;dr is important information, put it at the top. <S> If it's for convenience, put it at the bottom. <A> The tl;dr at the end is often the result of an unthinking or lazy writer. <S> For example on a Q&A-site like this, someone reads a question, feels an inclination to reply, and begins to write an answer before they think their answer through. <S> As a result, they think while they write and only understand what they want to say when they come to the end of what they have said. <S> Given this post hoc understanding, they now "summarize" their insight. <S> Therefore, often this alleged "summary" is the answer proper, while the long prefix is actually not an answer at all but the person thinking up their answer "aloud". <S> In many forum posts everything but the tl;dr could easily be deleted without loss of any relevant information. <S> Professional writers usually open their text with a summary. <S> Newspaper articles summarize the content very briefly in the title (this is called a "descriptive title"), then more extensively in the lead paragraph, and then the rest of the text provides the detail for those that want that detail. <S> Similarly, scholarly articles have a title that summarizes the central finding of the research, then an abstract gives the most important details, and then the text itself gives all the detail for those that want to know more. <S> Good blog writers (or Q&A-answerers) do the same: they summarize the essential information at the beginning of the text . <S> This is userfriendly, because users always see and briefly scan the beginning of a text, even if they intend to scroll to the bottom. <S> Thus, everyone gets a basic idea of what a text is about and what the central information is, before they have to waste time searching for that. <S> tl;dr See my first sentence ;-) <A> I've usually seen it posted at the bottom, end of post, usually quoted or bolded to stand out. <S> At the front doesn't have the same impact. <S> It seems more like an intro/ summary. <S> They are hoping you read their post, or skimmed over enough of it to have an idea what is being posted. <S> The tl;dr is a summary of the long post. <S> It is a hook to help the reader remember the key points of the post. <S> The "tl;dr" is more less a "cute" way of addressing and phrasing the summary. <S> tl;dr <S> Post it at the end as a summary of your post. <S> Those who read it see the highlighted points. <S> Those who haven't read the full post get a general idea and can choose to go back and reread or not. <S> Also is this a question about you writing a "tl;dr" type post or a blog, or is it a question based on what you are reading? <S> Another possibility for the "tl;dr" is the author is having trouble finding their own point in the post. <S> I know I am guilty of it. <S> Watch out, reread a few times and make sure you're getting to the point and not writing around the point. <S> It may take a few passes to realize that and go back and trim the post. <S> (that's why I heavily edit most of my posts.) <S> The first pass is usually an incoherent jumbled mess. <S> The second pass is a little more cleaned up. <S> More words spell checked and some clean-up attempted. <S> I may expand some points or cut points. <S> Further passes I'll focus on how each sentence reads and try to fix fragments. <S> I'll try to further expand or cut irrelevant clutter. <S> Depending on how much time and how many edits are allowed (if any at all) <S> a post may get stuck as less than polished. <S> That said Putting tl;dr, could be used as an excuse to avoid doing further editing. <S> If you're tempted to put one in, you may want to go over and reread your post and see what you can trim, shorten, or condense before resorting to putting a "tl;dr" type disclaimer in. <A> I'd be inclined to put a summary at the beginning, similar to an abstract in an academic paper. <S> That way people would see it first, those who were interested could read further, and those who were not would still see the summary. <S> Putting it at the end might lead those who weren't particularly interested to feel they had wasted time getting there, and those who were to think "what do you mean? <S> That was just fine. <S> " <S> You've already identified "tl;dr" as slang, so all the usual questions about where slang works and where it doesn't will apply. <S> This particular one isn't one of my favourites - if the writer really thinks the post is too long, why didn't they do something about it? <S> The other thing about slang is it can date quite quickly. <S> It might look groovy now, but in a year or so the posts might look like they were written by a square.

It could be placed in the top of the post, but I think the purpose (whether stated or not) is there to summarize what the author posted. For example, someone sharing a story might include the tl;dr at the end to avoid spoiling anything for someone reading the whole thing.

How do I write and describe a room full of panic? How do I write about a room full of panic? I have searched for the answer but all I get is how to write a panic attack. I am trying to write a scene where there is a party. The party is to celebrate the end of a fictional war. War heroes and important figures are invited to the White House for this party. Party things happen, but in the middle of it all a fictional President gets shot. The main character is in the bathroom, but I am not writing this story from his perspective. I am trying to write this scene, and I think I've done well, up until the point of after the gunshot. So, I am trying to find advice on how to write a room full of panic. How do I transition from screaming to questioning and yelling to other present emotions? What part of the room should I focus on? Should I just describe the scene from where the main character is? Are there going to be specific reactions from the background characters or should I just describe the side characters emotions and actions? I do not know, and I would like advice to answer these questions. Thanks. <Q> This will largely depend on your POV character, but consider this: The worst thing about a situation like that isn't knowing the president was shot, it's NOT knowing what is happening. <S> People are screaming and running, there's a crush as they push to the door. <S> Others (security) are yelling and trying to move towards the unknown, not away. <S> More guns get drawn, possibly more shots fired etc. <S> Is your POV with someone? <S> Are they separated? <S> Can they find them again? <S> If there's a child involved, the fear ratchets up to 11. <S> Are they being herded somewhere? <S> If they are knocked over, chances are they'll get trampled before they get back up. <S> Panic isn't being scared of a specific thing. <S> It's being scared without knowing what is happening, other than something bad. <S> In terms of what part of the room to focus on - in a mass panic situation, unless your character is trained otherwise, it will be their immediate area; where the closest exit is (and moving towards it); and what obvious, visible threat there is (i.e. a fire, a guy with a gun etc). <S> If they are trained, it will still be their immediate surrounds, but they'll also be looking for the threat and trying to either move towards it or assist others moving away from it. <S> Either way, there will be a lot of bodies moving around, making spotting anything difficult. <A> Also I avoid commas and use mainly full stops, as commas create pauses in the action which can be helpful at times when the reader might need a break. <S> In terms of panic I think using these grammar tricks and words describing a panicked state could help you convey a panicked room. <S> Hopes this helps. <A> Write about panic? <S> Where? <S> What happened? <S> Who's panicking? <S> Why? <S> What can we do about it? <S> I've got to get our of here! :-) <A> The answers are all very good. <S> +1. <S> In addition, I'd recommend some internal reaction or insight of the PoV character. <S> Describe the scene, use the devices described here, ... but also add in the immediate reaction of the character. <S> Fear? <S> Competence? <S> Memory of a similar situation? <S> Confusion? <S> ... Joy? <S> (Maybe your PoV character is evil.) <S> This can develop the scene into a longer one if you feel it's too undeveloped, and add a little depth and help the reader stay grounded. <S> A few more thoughts: Sometimes in crisis time lengthens. <S> Decide if that is happening here. <S> Sometimes a crisis leads to PTSD later. <S> You may decide to have a character flashback to the shooting at the next political event. <A> Part of it depends how "main" the main character is. <S> If it was first person narration or third person which only follows the one character, it might be good to keep the description of the panic to a few odd sounds coming through the bathroom wall, and have the main character emerge and think "what happened here?". <S> If you already have other points of view, are any significant characters involved in the scene? <S> Pace will be important in a scene like this, but it can also be used to show the significance of other characters. <S> Action films have a way of doing this where the crowd is shown in short snaps of vision while the significant character moves through it all in slow motion. <S> This can also be done with the written word, using sentence length and structure, and by dropping into the viewpoint of the significant character. <S> For example : A woman was crying. <S> A man sat on the floor, his head in his hands. <S> Jane looked for John in the sea of movement but couldn't find him, the crowd coalescing into one and then separating into flickering moments of confusion, anger and fear. <S> A chair fell to the floor. <S> A broken champagne glass lay in a sudden puddle of stillness. <S> If you're going for a sense of chaos (which I'm guessing you are), switching between short concise clauses and longer sentences will add to this - and incongruous, small and apparently insignificant details <S> are the things people remember from a chaotic scene. <S> While pace is everything, a continuously rapid pace will seem less chaotic than one with variation and contrast. <A> I think it's most important to describe every sense there is, but quickly, without much thought. <S> Adrenaline follows panic, and it doesn't leave room for reasoning or questioning. <S> I also believe that in the heat of the moment, a character will find him/herself doing something because of shock, and then realize something. <S> (oh no, <S> my little sister, where is she?) <S> For example: Amidst the chatter, the laughter and the joy, I felt something was wrong. <S> Nothing proved to be askew, but I could sense it. <S> All of a sudden, a thunderous sound exploded across the vast and crowded space. <S> Screams filled the room, heads ducked for cover, and champagne glasses dropped to the ground. <S> I found myself doing the same as the sounds reverberated through the room. <S> I dared to look up. <S> Security guards were rushing to the front. <S> I twisted my head to see what they were seeing. <S> There, a lone man was standing, his shirt bleeding through. <S> I covered my mouth in shock. <S> I felt numb. <S> The security guards began shoving us out just as the smell of blood met my nose. <S> I hope this helps. : )

In terms of an action scene, I usually write using short sentences to create a quick pace.

What is the best description for this particular kind of building (and apartment arrangement - Central European style of building)? I'm looking for the word to describe of a particular type of apartment building. I attached a picture to illustrate it. It is a building that has several apartments on each story with an exterior corridor/passage linking them. What word best described this architectural style? <Q> Multi-story apartment block, single-loaded exterior balcony over colonnade. <S> Single loaded refers to all apartments being on one side of a corridor, hall or other accessway / circulation path. <S> Exterior balcony describes the circulation path. <S> Colonnade describes the row of columns supporting the balcony, which functions as an arcade at the ground floor. <S> @Morgan Meredith is correct that in addition, architects, designers, planners, developers, and builders would add a letter descriptor for the shape of the building's floorplan (how the building would look from directly overhead) such as "H" <S> shaped, "L" shaped <S> , "U" shaped and so on; if the building footprint is square with a large space in the centre that would be a "courtyard" building (in some places called a caravanserii) which are common in locales with significant diurnal heat buildup. <S> Hope this helps. <S> P.S. - I'm an architectural designer - been in the field for over a decade, working on multi-family housing, affordable housing, mixed-use projects, commercial, single-family residential communities, university student housing, university dining commons, and so on - so you could say this question's right in my wheelhouse! <A> You can further describe it by the shape of the building (H, L, T, E, or square). <A> I don't know of any commonly-used term to describe this type of building. <S> I wouldn't be surprised if architects had a name for it, but most people probably wouldn't recognize such a technical term. <S> If you want to be clear, I think you need to take a sentence or so and describe it.

I would call that a "motel-style apartment block".

Formatting of Text in Technical Writing (Procedure Writing) In a procedure, when describing a UI component, we use the bold font to represent UI components. We also match the text with the letter case of the UI component. But do we need to match the font style too? For example, if the UI component is in italic formatting, do we need to write the text in italic characters? <Q> This is all about recognition. <S> The user may recognize the component being mentioned by name (verbal) or by sight (visual). <S> Recognition by name is sufficient in most cases. <S> If you are going for recognition by name, the the reason for bolding the text in the manual is to offset the name from the rest of the text so that the reader can easily pick out the name. <S> It is not about making the text look like the text in the interface, because you are relying on recognition by name, not appearance. <S> On the other hand, if you are going for recognition by sight, then you are creating a picture of the control in the documentation and that picture should be an exact match for the control or the visual match will not work. <S> This means that you are going to want to match everything: font, color, style, etc. <S> Often the best way to do this is with a graphic or a photograph of the control rather than by manipulating the font. <S> There is no point in doing anything between these two, however. <S> If the visual match is not complete than either the reader's visual matching will be confused or they will fall back on verbal matching, in which case the font choice etc is irrelevant. <A> These are style questions and mostly a matter of opinion; but if the matching is intended to help the user recognize the key, then if I were writing a manual I would match the italics, and if possible the font as well. <S> I presume by "procedure" <S> you do not mean code, but a recipe of action for a human operator to accomplish some goal or outcome. <A> Typically in documentation you would want every UI reference to be styled consistently. <S> This would lead me to think that matching font styles to individual elements is not the ideal approach. <S> This will help your audience recognize a UI element when they see one in the text.

Best practice would be to create a style guide that includes how you are going to indicate a UI element, and adhere to that in all cases.

Is it acceptable to use synonyms to achieve rhythm? There are some works that have a certain kind of voice, which is due to their rhythm. But is this due only to word order and like things, or do their authors actually choose synonyms to achieve rhythm? When I read certain things, I find it hard to see how a more common or obvious word could be chosen, yet I hear a certain kind of rhythm. So is this feeling that the most common word was chosen a failure of the imagination? Did the author in fact use a word different than what might have originally occurred to him? Some people might say that using synonyms is bad because it detracts from clarity, many people not knowing the meaning of the words. Please know that I am not talking about the metrical rhythm of verse, but the more flexible, albeit poetic rhythm of prose, based on the patterns of stress and non-stress, and perhaps their grouping into certain types of units. <Q> The reason is that synonyms do not mean the same thing. <S> They are only close, each one has different overtones. <S> For example, Virtuous, Moral, Pure, Righteous, Good and Ethical are considered synonyms. <S> But "Moral" and "Righteous" have religious overtones, "Ethical" has a logical overtone, a "Pure woman" does not seem the same as a "Good woman. <S> " <S> A "pure" woman tends to mean virginal or chaste, a "good" woman can be neither, but we'd expect her to be faithful, honest, and hard working. <S> "Good" is used in circumstances where "Virtuous" would not be, we don't say "Virtuous dog." <S> Even more nuanced, I can imagine real differences between a "good heart" and a "virtuous heart." <S> "Virtuous" in its definition requires "high moral standards," while a "good heart" is not about morals, per se, and more about being kind or helpful for its own sake, not because rules demand it. <S> BECAUSE synonyms do not always mean the same thing, the answer is generally no, <S> it is seldom acceptable to use synonyms to achieve rhythm, because the most rhythmic will seldom be the most accurate word to use. <S> Failing to convey the meaning as accurately as possible is, IMO, bad writing. <A> I would venture to guess that most writers whose prose has a poetic quality produce that quality naturally, without conscious effort. <S> However nearly anything that can be produced by nature can be reproduced by craft, so I would also venture to guess that there are writers who spend a great deal of time and effort --and consider alternate word choices -- in order to produce that same poetic quality. <S> In the end, however, the method of production doesn't matter. <S> Ideally a piece of prose should sound effortless and natural --even if it took days of steady effort to produce. <S> Contrariwise, prose can easily sound forced and labored even when produced in a single burst of inspiration. <S> So the real question is whether the final product meets expectations, not how was it created. <A> As someone who worries a lot about rhythm in my own writing, I would say that rhythm is more often achieved by changing word order than by by changing words. <S> Prose rhythm does not depend on exact scansion anyway, so choosing a word with a different stress pattern doesn't do that much for you. <S> Prose rhythm allows for unlimited unstressed syllables. <S> The effect of rhythm is achieved far more by making the key words fall in the stressed positions of a sentence. <S> In the preceding sentence, for example, I positions the key phrases "effect of rhythm" and "stressed position" at two ends of the sentence. <S> I also use the words "far more" in the middle of the sentence to slow the reader by a suggestion of contrast, thus creating a kind of see saw that further emphasises the key phrases at either end. <S> This is a very common rhetorical device in prose. <A> There are many reasons that a good writer may choose a particular word. <S> As Amadeus notes, synonyms normally do not all mean EXACTLY the same thing: there are shades of meaning. <S> But, no offense to Amadeus, but I think he oversimplifies when he says that the exact meaning is the only or overriding criterion. <S> Sometimes a writer chooses a certain word because the sound of the word fits his context better. <S> To take a trivial example, if I was writing a book for children, I probably would not write, "It is advisable to aspire to be a virtuous youngster", but more likely, "You should try to be a good boy or girl". <S> Even if the first is a more accurate expression of what I am trying to say, I likely want to keep the language simple for a children's book. <S> If I was writing a love scene, I'd be more likely to write, "Bob was so overwhelmed by Sally's awesome beauty that he was unable to breathe", than "Bob thought Sally was pretty and it made him act weird. <S> " I am suddenly reminded of the medical technician who said that in his training they were drilled in proper medical terminology, so when the doctor asked him what was wrong with the young patient he had just brought in, he said, "Probable contusion of the cranium. <S> " <S> The doctor then turned to the little boy and said, "Aww, did you bop your gourd?" <S> I would certainly be careful with using a synonym that has a more desirable tone or rhythm, but whose meaning doesn't quite fit. <S> I occasionally come across some very odd choice of words, and I think about it and realize, Oh, the obvious word to use hear would have been X, but they didn't want to use that because it would have created an undesirable rhyme (or whatever), <S> and so they used this other word that doesn't really fit. <S> For example, I once saw a billboard advertising sun glasses that had the text, "Look ma, I'm glancing at the world through my [brand] sunglasses!" <S> "Glancing" seemed a very odd word in the context, but what I'm sure happened was that the first draft was, "Look ma, <S> I'm looking at the world ... <S> " Then someone decided they shouldn't use "look" twice so close together, and came up with a goofy substitution.

Authors often look to synonym dictionaries to find words different than what first occurs to them, but this is generally NOT to achieve rhythm, but to find a more accurate or evocative word for what they really mean.

Details: How do you describe a character's clothing in a story? I'm writing a story and I need to describe the character's appearance. My character is wearing a football jersey and running on the field, so how can I describe this better? This is what I came up with: Aiden watched the player with number ten written boldly on his football shirt running on the football field. I need to make this better and I need ideas and help. I know it sounds ridiculous but English is not my first language and that's why I'm struggling with it.Thank you :) <Q> Do not say "written boldly", everybody knows what a "football shirt" looks like. <S> A "football shirt" is a "jersey", the reader will know it is a football jersey by any single mention of football. <S> Aiden watched the boy with jersey number 10 running on the football field. <S> +1 Morgan. <S> "analyzed", for example, or "recognized", or "was impressed by the speed of", or "was amused by the awkward run of". <S> More words do not hurt if they convey some kind of emotional impact, and "watched" does not. <S> The same applies to his "run"; the word is very neutral, but if it is going to have any impact on Aiden, it could be better characterized somewhere on the scale of incompetent to astonishing, or unique, or recognized as being a particular person she knows. <S> But for plausibility's sake, it should not be on the rail at either extreme unless this running ability is a critical plot point (as it was in Forrest Gump). <A> Try using more visual details for the reader. <S> Incorporate multiple senses. <S> How does the jersey look, besides the number? <S> How is the player running? <S> Is he quick or lumbering? <S> Describe the player <S> : what's his body shape? <S> And how is Aiden watching this: with surprise, regret, envy, admiration? <S> Basically, pretend you are describing the scene to a friend who is at the game, but is visually impaired or blind. <S> How can you give that person the experience of the game without her seeing it? <S> http://www.wright.edu/~david.wilson/eng1100/sensorydetails.pdf for some helpful hints. <S> As many an English teacher says, "Don't tell me; show me." <A> You have tons of options, depending on the context and the purpose of that sentence: <S> If we already know the scene is at a football field, then "Aiden watched Number Ten running on the field." <S> ("Football" is redundant.) <S> If we already know the character Aiden is watching the activities at the football field, then "Number Ten ran on the field." <S> ("Aiden watched" and "football" are redundant.) <S> If Number Ten isn't part of the story, then you could even delete the whole sentence. <S> Or "Aiden sat in the bleachers watching the game." <A> There are many ways to approach this, but here are a few thoughts I had reading your question: Definitely use "football jersey" rather than "football shirt" Describe <S> not just what the clothing is but <S> how it is - does it fit tightly, or is it loose? <S> Are the colors bright or faded? <S> Does it appear worn-out or dirty, or freshly washed? <S> Pay attention to how the character is running, and describe it in a way that says something about the eyes through which you're seeing him run. <S> Does he sprint, charge, jog, or pant, etc? <S> try to avoid using adverbs a lot (like "boldly" - if you have others in surrounding context, this one could probably go). <S> Hope <S> this is helpful! <A> Scene <S> I'd include something that describes the running of number 10, their strength, their speed, how they interact with other players, the sweat that would be obvious if it's mid game and the sounds of the crowd, the hush that falls when people anticipate changes to the score, their disappointment or cheers, how big the crowd is, what time of day is it, what the weather is like - really bring the whole area to life, <S> No 10 <S> Their reactions to these changes, if there's some previous injury they're concerned about affecting them and their performance, if there's someone in the crowd they want to impress like talent scouts, friends, family or a love interest, how long they've been part of the team, if they're a seasoned pro or not. <S> Aiden <S> Their reactions to the scene, if they have history with the players, why they're watching No. 10 specifically, who they're rooting for, why, if this is their fist game, where in the crowd they are, are they with friends, colleagues, do they even like the game or are they just supporting someone they care about, are they just a supporter or do they have a specific role, such as being a manager, talent scout, reporter...

To expand, if you want something better than the neutral "watched", try "admired" or some other word for observation that conveys some kind of intent or emotion.

Can I split a long scene up by switching the camera from one arguing couple to a different couple? If I have a long scene in a cafe with a couple arguing (comedy) can I split the scene up by changing the camera angle to a couple in another corner? It is technically the same scene, but it could be broken up like this. I would not want to step on the feet of a director or camera man, but it would need to be this specified change. <Q> I wouldn't worry about it. <S> It is the director's job to see and worry about visual impact, you don't have to do it, and you should not do it. <S> S/he will provide any visual variety necessary if they think the camera is in the same place for too long. <A> If the other couple are relevant to the story this would be fine, but if they're not characters in their own right and don't reappear later, it's probably best avoided. <S> At least some of the readers/viewers will want to know who they are, and if they suspect they were only introduced as a scene break the audience will be merciless. <S> If you were thinking of contrast (for example our couple are arguing their way to separation, the other couple are leading up to a marriage proposal) it could work, but you would have to visit them several times during the cafe scene - it wouldn't work only once. <S> For something that would break the scene without distracting the audience, something like dropped plates (Amadeus - it's an homage, honest) or a waiter asking how their dinner is going would work better. <S> If you're going for incongruity, go full on and have someone walking past in a gorilla outfit <S> - it'll have the audience scratching their heads but they're more likely to find it quirky than being annoyed by characters they might or might not need to care about. <A> In a story, you can do anything. <S> :/ <S> Whether it's good is another story. <S> And whether cutting to another couple is another story is itself the story of this decision. <S> Are you cutting because the primary story isn't engaging? <S> If you are, that is the real story here: you need to tell a more interesting story. <S> Cutting away may be avoiding the issue and having it worse. <S> If cutting away reinforces your story, in an additive, smooth way, then it may be just what the scene needs. <S> Ideally, most things in your story are additive and matter. <S> What you have here is a story-smell. <S> In programming it's called a code smell. <S> Something doesn't smell right to you. <S> It's worth taking a closer look and looking at all of the tools in your toolbox. <S> It may not be what you initially think it is. <S> Long is the adjective coming to your mind, but it's likely not the root cause. <S> What do you think the problem is? <S> Is it self confidence, boredom, weak dialogue, or lack of progression? <S> Something else? <S> If you don't know, run it by done friends.

If the scene cannot be shorter, then it is up to the director to break it up somehow, and that can include changing the camera angle, focusing on something else (stage business in the background, like dropped plates or something ignored by your arguing couple, or just glanced at by them).

Is inner monologue a bad way to show character traits? Is directly showing a characters inner thoughts and conversations with themselves too telly or cheesy? <Q> Not necessarily, but the propensity to indulge in internal monologue is itself a character trait. <S> Fundamentally, the way we assess the character of someone in fiction is the same a how we assess their character in life: by their actions. <S> Sometimes it makes sense to shortcut the process of establishing character by telling us directly some aspect of the character's character, but even that is best done by telling us how the typically act (as opposed to dramatizing a whole scene). <S> So, if you show a character's internal monologue, readers will interpret that first and foremost as a piece of behavior and will judge first and foremost that indulging in internal monologue is a character trait of the person. <S> Will the content of that internal monologue also reveal aspects of their character? <S> Sure. <S> But you have to treat that in context of the broader effect of showing all that internal monologue. <S> If you use it to reveal a character who is not contemplative by nature, the dissonance will be obvious and will undermine what you are trying to achieve. <A> True feelings. <S> Such as, if Jack is telling the truth about never cheating on Jill, if the photograph of him doing so had to be faked. <S> The same with secret desires, dislikes, hatreds, plotting, faking friendship or even faking love or sexual attraction for nefarious purpose. <S> Jack may have faked his love for Jill to get laid. <S> Or alternatively, Jill may have faked her enthusiasm for Jack's clumsy and laughably stupid seduction of her, to become trusted enough by him to rob him blind. <S> You should not abuse inner thoughts, readers trust they are the real thing. <S> Just like in real life, actions and dialogue can be misleading lies. <S> Inner dialogue should be the true thoughts; I think it would be a violation of the "reader contract" to find out they were lied to by some previous passage portrayed as an inner thought or feeling. <A> Nope. <S> Best selling authors do it all the time. <S> Its encouraged as long as it adds to the story instead of being a distraction; which is the general rule to putting in anything. <A> It is a trap where too many things as resolved through inner monologue when it might make the story more dynamic. <S> I suffer from that big time where the character thinks and thinks and thinks about stuff but does not do anything about it. <S> My personal take is that it is not bad, but whenever you can have the character DO something that would prove the dialogue, it helps. <S> Keep it short whenever possible. <S> Show, don't tell. <S> And thinking about stuff has a bad tendency to have you tell, rather than show. <A> Inner monologue can be used to GREAT effect. <S> As others have said before me, it isn’t inherently bad or cheesy. <S> Depending on the medium however, should determine how often it is used. <S> If Your Project Is A: Visual Novel: Inner monologue is practically essential, however if you can see the character than you should have their monologues supported by character animation. <S> Book: Inner monologue should be used specifically with the protagonists opinions about other characters and the situation at hand. <S> However remember the rule of “show don’t tell,” especially in bigger, pivitol moments your characters actions should indicate your character’s feelings, as actions speak louder than words. <S> Voice overs are used sparingly in film for a reason. <S> As you can both see and hear the emotions of a character, “actions speak louder than words” and in film this is a must. <S> I would only use it if you deem absolutely necessary, for perhaps the tone you want. <S> Something Else <S> : Try to think of the most notable example of inner monologue in that medium you can think of. <S> Figure out how effective you think it was, and why it was effective, and use that as your baseline. <S> If you can’t think of any, then there is likely a better way of doing it.

Inner monologue is used quite frequently, and it can reveal character traits that may not be revealed any other way: Film: I would use this very rarely. It's not inherently bad

A mix of the Medieval Age and the 21st century period Just a short question, but is there a term for eras or ages being mixed together in a story? To be more specific, I'm writing a story which is primarily set during the Middle Age. However, some of their technology belongs to the 21st century. For example, some of the technologies involved mainly focus on converting thermal energy from the environment into an energy source. There is also some form of electricity involved. So is there an actual term to describe this under, or is it really just labelled under "fantasy and sci-fi"? I am really sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm stuck at what to call it. <Q> Clockpunk Most of the following comes from the article: <S> Punkpunk: A Compendium of Literary Punk Genres <S> First of all, appending "punk" at the end is often used to show that the main character or characters belong to a certain niche group and are rebelling against the current society - the defining aspect of which is in these cases the technology. <S> Anything that is categorized as "-punk" can therefore be said to focus on the technological aspects of a society and illustrate the problems that arise from excessive usage of such technology, whether from a personal or a societal standpoint. <S> There are lots of different genres that belong to this "-punk" group and you can categorize all of them under "retro-futurism" or "sci-fi-punk". <S> Here is a list of genres taken from the mentioned site and shortened: <S> dystopia; technology is usually steam-powered dieselpunk : World War I or World War II; big machines and black smoke biopunk : <S> cyberpunk, but with a focus on biology, such as implants and DNA hacking bugpunk : biopunk, but only with bugs... <S> transistorpunk : <S> Cold War <S> nanopunk : <S> cyberpunk, but only with nanotechnology decopunk <S> : dieselpunk, but with Art Deco style... <S> atompunk : shortly after World War II From then on it's getting pretty ridiculous (the author says this themselves), <S> but : clockpunk : <S> Like steampunk, but in the time of Leonardo Da Vinci <S> According to Wikipedia Leonardo lived towards the end of the medieval age. <S> At least close by. <S> "Medieval" can mean anything from the 6th to the 15th century and <S> Leonardo was born 1452, so it's not unreasonable to say that your genre is in fact clockpunk . <A> steam·punk (as quoted from Dictionary.com) a genre of science fiction that has a historical setting and typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology. <S> "if you like steampunk, this is a great book for you" a style of design and fashion that combines historical elements with anachronistic technological features inspired by science fiction. <S> "the essence of steampunk is homage to vintage fashion with a modern, sassy twist" <S> Do bear in mind that Steampunk is typified by its Victorian England setting, not Medieval. <S> However, by the definition, it could work. <S> I don't read the genre, because it's too anachronistic for me, but read some of the fiction, and see if your work matches it. <A> If the technology was transported from the future to the age in question, it might be considered time-travel sci-fi. <S> If the technology was developed in the Medieval period independently of temporal interference (some mad genius just happened to invent this stuff half a millennia ahead of its time) <S> then it might be labeled as alternate-history, though alternate-history usually deals with the ramifications of tweaks to history.

cyberpunk : started the trend; future dystopia; humanity and technology become one steampunk : past (victorian era)

Should the narrator use pseudonyms in writing? I have characters who have to use false names. Should the narrator use their real name or false name? For example, if person A was being called Adam when their real name was Archie, person B would call them Adam, but should the narrator say "Adam walked over" or "Archie walked over"? <Q> Use the real name. <S> I do this all the time, in my current writing the main character (a female) is often spying to gain information, and pretends to be a fictitious person to do it. <S> My narrator always calls her by her real name. <S> She introduces herself by her assumed name and responds only to it. <S> She never uses her real name anywhere but in her real life. <S> "Karen?" <S> Jon asked. <S> Ariel looked up. <S> " <S> Yes sir?" <S> I have not written a situation in which overlap between missions occurs; that would be unusual in my story universe, but if I did, she would make an excuse to any person that knew her by a previous name. <S> For example, that in a previous job she had stopped using "Mary" and taken to using her middle name "Karen" to avoid a conflict with another "Mary". <S> Something like that. <A> Have a look at the question <S> Would it be cheating to change the main character's “name” partway through the story? <S> for an idea of how changing the name midway through the story can be done and discussions about whether this is a good idea or not. <S> But note that the author in that case only wants to switch the name once. <S> If the narrator should know about the real name he should normally use that one. <S> You can then explain what each fake name means that Archie created and why certain people are calling him Adam . <S> Especially if you are planning to use multiple fake names, such as Archie being called Adam by people in his school and Bert by people in his sports club and <S> Dean when talking with strangers on the internet. <S> Comparing it to your username might help you to visualize this. <S> My friends and family wouldn't call me Secespitus in real life. <S> Even if they know this name that I have given myself as a sort of fake identity , it wouldn't occur to them to use this name if there was not a compelling reason to do so. <A> Real name <S> > <S> Fake name <S> That is true if and only if the narrator is supposed to know the real name of the character. <S> For instance, in a first person narrative, the narrator may not be privy to such information, hence they will be stuck with the name that they think to be "real". <S> If the narrator discovers the true name of the character during the story, they may decide to switch for the true name, or keep the fake one, given that they have become accustomed to it. <A> I had the same issue in one of my stories. <S> In it, two female ninjas were infiltrating the dregs of society in a port city, and needed to go by pseudonyms <S> (it wasn't a serious training according to the point of view character, and she has a major sass problem). <S> So what did I do? <S> I put the question to the character. <S> Because I was writing 1st person (my usual thing, though this works well when writing in 3rd person, if close to a sole character. <S> Be warned that if you switch the lens, you need to switch the name, and that gets confusing). <S> So Aya, the point of view character, brought her usual sass to bear, and she referred to her companion as 'Kara' (seriously, with the quotations every time) for the duration of their infiltration. <S> My advice to you, is look at what matches the narrative. <S> If written in omniscient 3rd person, you can't really get away with much, but in 3rd limited and 1st? <S> You can use the voice of your point of view character to tell you what makes more sense in the situation. <S> Spy constantly changing name? <S> They might need to think of themselves by this name to keep from coming over as apathetic to the name or disingenuous. <S> Sassy character that hates the situation, but understands it well enough to cooperate? <S> Count on taking little victories whenever they can. <A> If it is your MC that's using a pseudonym, how do they think of themselves? <S> Have they become the mask, adopted a new personality, put their real identity in a closed box? <S> Or do they sometimes forget to respond when called by their pseudonym?You can convey information by the way your narrator calls your characters. <S> For example, in his "Belgariad" series, David Eddings always refers to his MC as 'Garion'. <S> The character's proper name is ' Bel garion', the 'Bel' part signifying <S> he's a sorcerer and a person of high status in the world. <S> By calling him 'Garion', Eddings tells us that the character is not wholly comfortable with the whole position and power, not quite used to it yet. <S> In the same book series, another character is referred by the narrator as 'Silk'. ' <S> Silk' is a pseudonym of a prince, who lives the life of a spy. <S> Spying is his life, what he does and enjoys doing. <S> Being a prince is, to this character, something random that happened. <S> He prefers being 'Silk' to being 'Prince Kheldar'. <S> If it's not the MC that's living under a pseudonym, how was the pseufonymed character first introduced to them - under the fake name, or the real one? <S> Does the MC continue thinking of them under one name, having to remind themselves to use the other?

The narrator should normally use the real name and be consistent with the usage.

Printing a book in word - double sided, multiple pages on one sheet I want to print a mini book, of about 8 pages, one one sheet. It should be something along the lines of this , which I have tried. But this is not double sided, so when you are done, you see blank sides in between each page. I have a double sided printer and figure there must be a way to do this so each page is printed front and back. Any templates or instructions? <Q> I've done this a lot to print out drafts. <S> I have 2 methods but prefer the 2nd: <S> In word, Layout > Page Setup (small icon bottom right of ribbon box) <S> > <S> Margins > Pages section > Book fold. <S> Then when I print I'll use landscape and select "print on both sides". <S> In word, save as pdf, then print <S> > booklet (print on both sides selected). <S> I have an epson printer and both of these methods work <S> okay. <S> If the double sided print still doesn't print, and the "print preview" looks good, it might be a printer settings problem. <S> The links online will be how to print a booklet (or book fold) in word. <S> However double sided printer problems will depend on the make of the printer. <S> Alternatively, when I want to print an 8 page booklet on 1 sheet <S> I print <S> double sided on a4 with the text in a6 and use a guillotine. <S> That way each page takes up a quarter of the a4 and the booklet can be formed by cutting the a4 in half portrait. <S> If printing pdf I would use "Multiple", pages per sheet, 2x2, page order horizontal and check print on both sides. <A> I ended up creating my own template using text boxes in Word. <S> Like this:2,5 <S> upside down.1,6 right side up. <S> Next page <S> 4,3 upside down.back, cover right side up. <S> Printed back to back. <S> In the end, I preferred the look of the original link, despite it being smaller and having blank backs. <A> I have a manual process 1 first print <S> the odd pages <S> >> <S> > <S> > <S> > you must select reverse print in this step 2 after the printer finishes its task you should hold the printed pages and reverse them clockwise 180 <S> 3 untick the reverse print and print all the even pages

If you are lucky enough to have access to adobe indesign, there is also a file>print booklet 2-up perfect bound option that works like a charm. If printing from word I would use the dropdown 4 pages per sheet at the bottom of the print dialogue.

Do you have to write in the tone of ordinary speech? Must writing always be done in the tone/style of ordinary contemporary speech? For example, some people might say that the conjunction "for" is archaic and should not be used in modern prose, but it seems to be a part of modern English according to grammar guides and the dictionary. The argument seems to be that since no one talks like that, no one should write like that. But is it wrong to use the conjunction "for"? Do people always have to write in the tone of ordinary speech? <Q> Another option is trying to show the reader that they are in a time that is unlike the one they are used to. <S> It is not required to write in the tone of ordinary speech if the character you are trying to portray is supposed to be different from what is perceived as "normal" or "ordinary". <S> It can also be used as the voice for your narration. <S> Archaic speech could show that you are aiming for a fairytale style. <S> If, on the other hand, you are not writing fiction, but for example a thesis, you may not want to use archaic speech as it would be a bit more difficult to understand and is quite often unnecessary, making it a distraction from the content your are trying to make the reader understand. <S> Though many people believe that it can potentially make you sound smarter. <S> Of course in any case you as the author can decide whether you like it or not. <S> If there is an editor involved he may change some things, but if you prefer to sound archaic for whatever reason then that is your choice. <S> The normal argument is that things that are not "normal" are often harder to understand, which may or may not be what you want to achieve and which may or may not put your readers off, depending on who your target audience is, what your medium is, what content you are trying to show and what feelings you want to convey. <A> However, if your character was raised in an isolated community or circumstance that continue to speak like people did a century or more ago, using "for" instead "because" along with other grammatical oddities could be a unique quirk of speech for them. <S> We'd still understand them, I'd only use them where they'd naturally appear, but it provides the occasional reminder they are unique. <S> (Not so many quirks that the reminders are constant.) <S> For example, I wrote a math wizard that never says the word " <S> So", he says "Thus" or "Therefore", as we would in a formal proof. <S> Even if he is explaining why pepperoni should only be on half the pizza. <A> You should never write in the tone of ordinary speech. <S> Ordinary speech is unreadable. <S> It is repetitive, broken, trivial, and largely mindless. <S> Dialogue is not speech. <S> Dialogue should be crisp, relevant, coherent, readable, and should move the story along. <S> As such, dialogue is always to a greater or lesser extend stylized. <S> In many cases writers will stylize the speech of different characters in different ways in order to provide a clear differentiation of the speakers for the reader. <S> (Does Sam talk like Gandalf, or Gollum like Gimli?) <S> Whether "for" as a conjunction is truly obsolete is debatable. <S> Certainly "because" is the lazy alternative today, but for is by no means archaic. <S> You could well use the choice of for rather then because to stylize on character's speech. <S> (And "'cus", "on account of", "since", and "reason being" for other characters. <S> Of such trivial devices, sometimes, are distinctive voices made.) <A> No one actually writes exactly as they speak, it would be practically unreadable with all the "ums" and pauses, and non verbal communication. <S> So, what we put on the page is always a stand-in for the spoken word anyway . <S> It's also the case that people speak in many different registers, so there's no one set "tone of ordinary speech." <S> Given that, I think it's generally acceptable to write in ways that may be quite distinct from ordinary conversation. <S> HOWEVER, you never want the way <S> you express yourself to take all the attention. <S> Writing is always aimed at some larger goal, and if people are distracted from that by odd or archaic word choices, that's a bad thing. <S> If you can use the conjunctive "for" in a way that isn't jarring or confusing, and that serves your writer's goals, then go for it. <S> But I would counsel caution, for it would be a great pity for your writing to be dismissed merely because of your word choices.

This depends on the message you are trying to convey If you are writing fiction you may use archaic speech to make a character unique, or you may have everyone speak that way to show how the society acts. The conjunction 'for' has fallen out of favor, what modern people say is "because".

Descriptive words to slow down the pace of the story? Is it true that to slow down a story, you add descriptive words in place of an action? I feel like the pace my story is going at, I'll finish it in less than 200 pages. It just doesn't feel right to end it so short. I just made the MC meet the MV and I feel like the last time the villain was mentioned he was fighting an angry pack of wolves, and he was unfamiliar with the surroundings and culture he was in (he's an alien). So, at this point he had just gotten a group of his men and found a hover scooter for each of them. And they somehow already found the MC. Like, do I expand on the villain's thoughts and feelings to better slow the story, or do I keep it how it is? With nothing to do, Haku took the chore of exterior design, and lifted the sloping roof, repainted, and replaced the decks boards with wood that he cut out of the forest near the house. This happened fairly quickly and only took him a few hours to complete. Haku wiped his forehead on his arm, removing the majority of the sweat that culminated there. His ears picked up a distant noise and he swerved on his heels, making a full 180 turn. Motorized humming emanated from the East and several hover scooters rode up to the house. The guy in the front dismounted his scooter and lifted his visor up, his face was completely alien. Haku got a closer look at him as he confidently strode up to where Haku was. His features were all off, they were pointed and sharp, and his eyes were too...discolored. They were a bright turquoise that were filled with life. Haku was skeptical and pressed a button on his watch, notifying KoKo that something was wrong. “Cute house,” the man said, almost sarcastically. His voice was soft and angelic. It filled Haku with dread, though, because he knew that wasn’t an ordinary human quality. “What are you?” Haku asked, not caring that it was inconsiderate to ask that. “I’m really glad you asked that, human.” The man started, he took his helmet completely off now. He had ears that were pointed at the top, not in a ‘birth defect’ sort of way. “I am what you would call an Elf, young one. I am Prince Vincent.” He bowed towards the very confused Haku. “I come from my home planet, Morbus, to reactivate our interdimensional contract. It was a lawfully bound promise to keep each other thriving. Your NOVA went back on their word to help us, and now my home is dying,” while the man was speaking, Haku noticed a hint of fangs in the stranger’s mouth, his hair was the same color as his eyes, and his eyes looked reptilian. Haku had a memory of his father mentioning NOVA one time, apparently, they control the workforce and careers for able citizens around the world. They were also the lead sponsors for the earliest space explorations. That will explain why there are otherworldlies here. <Q> Is it true that to slow down a story, you add descriptive words in place of an action? <S> No, it isn't. <S> If you add them, it is with the purpose of clarifying your setting or creating a certain mood. <S> The slowing down is a consequence, not a purpose. <S> There's little as annoying as going through a story that throws descriptions at you just to slow the narrative. <S> I feel like the pace my story is going at <S> , I'll finish it in less than 200 pages. <S> It just doesn't feel right to end it so short. <S> Why doesn't it feel right? <S> I have read long short-stories and short novellas that are perfect in terms of rhythm, events and cohesion. <S> Lengthening them would have destroyed them (IMHO). <S> Besides, I doubt descriptive words could bump the page number that much. <A> I should think your villain is not well developed, or your hero is not sufficiently motivated. <S> What has the hero been doing all this time, and why does s <S> /he see the villain as a threat? <S> What has the villain done that s/ <S> he knows about and is willing to take the risks of a battle to stop? <S> When the hero meets the villain for the first time, they are generally not successful in any attempt to thwart them. <S> (In real life maybe, but in fiction it does not make for a good story). <S> The hero must struggle or the victory is empty, like the victory of successfully laundering a load of shirts. <S> If your natural inclination is they meet quickly, say due to the technology of the alien or something, then you need to have that meeting result in a stalemate, or (non-lethal) defeat for your hero. <S> In fact, in most stories we expect your hero to have a series of more defeats and losses than wins, and your villain to have more wins than losses, so the final victory of the hero means something. <A> One way to break down a story is intention versus obstacle . <S> The intention is what the protagonist must accomplish, and the more necessary the intention is, the better. <S> At the same time, the obstacle is what prevents the protagonist from realizing their intention, and just as necessary as the intention should be, so insurmountable should be the obstacle. <S> It doesn't hurt for the reader to think the obstacle is completely impossible to overcome, at first. <S> If your protagonist is realizing their intention(s) too quickly, then probably you have not made the obstacle(s) as strong as they should be. <S> As the parentheses in my previous sentence suggests, another approach or outlook is to have smaller intentions as part of the larger overall intention, and likewise smaller obstacles that block the success of the smaller intentions. <S> That is how a serial TV drama stays interesting over (hopefully for the writers) over 100 episodes. <S> You could use the same technique with chapters. <S> Either way, it's best to make things really impossible for the protagonist. <S> At the same time, one piece of advice I've heard lately that makes a lot of sense to me is to <S> write out your whole first draft before you do any edits or rewrites. <S> Get it all out there <S> and then you have something you can look at as a whole and figure out where the real issues are. <S> This also helps prevent a problem of constantly rewriting the first 100 or 200 pages and never getting to the ending. <S> And you still may have a lot to learn about your story that will help inform your rewrites. <A> I would be thinking in terms of descriptive passages, like "It was a dark and stormy night, when..." Such passages give context to your characters' actions. <S> They also provide a clue to their emotions, because most people will think and act differently on a "dark and stormy night," than on a "bright and sunny day. <S> " All other things being equal, of course. <A> First, finish your first draft, just because at the pace your going at feels like it’s too short, doesn’t mean that’ll be the reality of it. <S> Then take a look at your characters, <S> if you had someone read your first draft, do you know a lot about your main villain? <S> Is he this serial killer who has been around for thirty years, murdering rivals in his profession, yet still protects innocent bystanders from senseless violence while on a venture of self-destruction. <S> Or is he just kind of a dick? <S> Developing your villain and other important characters in subplots from different POVs can both enhance your story, and lengthen it. <S> Having said that, don’t just make it longer because, “it’s under 200 pages.” <S> If in that time you’ve told a cohesive, well developed narrative with interesting characters. <S> Then don’t try and just pad or pages because it’s “too short”. <S> There are many great novellas out there <S> that’s aren’t that many pages, such as the infamous Jekyll & Hyde. <S> TL;DR (Kind of) <S> Or Maybe the protagonist beats the antagonist too quickly and needs more of an uphill battle. <S> Just don’t artificially extend the length to make it longer.

Although descriptive words can slow down a story, you do not add them with that specific purpose. : If you feel like your novel is incomplete try developing your villain and supporting characters throughout subplots or POVS. If what doesn't feel right is the rhythm, then I'd suggest going over the structure and revising it carefully.

How can I introduce languages that will be spoken in the long term? My story is a little bit weird because it starts in a Spanish speaking country and then moves to Japan where everybody speaks japanese and I don't know how to introduce this new language that will be spoken for almost the rest of the book. Extra notes: My Main Character speaks fluent Spanish, English and Japanese. My MC is a 15 y.o. mixed girl. Some other speaking language Characters will appear in the future. <Q> Do you know any Japanese? <S> Peppering your work with local language, when done well, can add character, authenticity and ambiance to a novel and you don't have to tell the reader outright that the characters are speaking Japanese. <S> For example, Troppo by Madelaine Dickie won the T.A.G Hungerford award. <S> It's set in Indonesia but written in English. <S> Madelaine uses the local language beautifully and even though you don't always know what the words mean, the scene isn't lost. <S> It's a gritty book with lots of swearing, so I've starred it out, but you get the idea. <S> On the bus to Sukadana I vomit for eight hours straight into sandwich-sized plastic bags. <S> Halfway into the trip, I s <S> *** myself. <S> “Oh f <S> ***. <S> Tell the driver to stop,” I ask the conductor up the back. <S> “Sebentar, sebentar,” he waves his hand, palm-down, and lights another kretek cigarette. <S> He obviously hasn’t smelt it yet, but by the time we get to the rumah makan (the roadside food house), his head is out the window and the seats around me are empty. <S> We stop for half an hour. <S> I spend the whole time in the toilets, sobbing and sucking in the furry smell of old c <S> ***. <S> I consider leaving the bus <S> but there are no rooms at the rumah makan and no village <S> nearby, only the hazy midday stretch of rice fields and pandanas palms. <S> This scene is at the start of the novel and from that point forward, she doesn't need to tell you that a kretek is a cigarette or that a rumah makan is a roadside foodhouse. <S> You might not know that sebentar means 'in a minute' <S> but you get the gist. <S> Reading the book, you feel like you're in Indo. <S> Language can be a really effective tool for adding authenticity. <A> I would write something like, "After Marian got off the plane from Mexico City at Tokyo's Narita Airport, she stopped speaking Spanish. <S> Instead, she introduced herself to everyone in Japanese as 'I am Marian Gonzalez,' and thereafter spoke Japanese with everyone that she met in Japan." <S> In this way, you make it clear that dialog rendered in English in the text was actually spoken in Japanese, and prior to landing in Tokyo, in Spanish. <A> Does it actually matter to the story <S> that the language they are speaking changes? <S> Most of the time in international stories, the difference is language is not germane to the plot in any way and is simply ignored. <S> A well-told story focuses the reader's attention on the elements that matter to the story. <S> It does this first and foremost simply by leaving out any mention of environmental factors that don't impact the story directly. <S> Thus they don't talk about the weather unless it affects the story. <S> They don't talk about food unless it affects the story. <S> They don't talk about clothing unless it affects the story. <S> And they don't talk about language unless is affects the story. <S> So unless it affects the story, simply don't mention it at all. <S> If it does affect the story, though, then how you handle it depends on how it affects the story and you will have to tell us that before we can suggest anything meaningful. <A> Unless there is a reason to specify they speak Japanese over Spanish or [language], mention it once and move on. <S> If the MC interacts with someone in another language, the MC may stumble on their words a little. <S> Happened to me: I spent a year in France and when I called my parents, I thought my mother had a very thick Montrealer accent <S> and I searched for a few words.

Show don't tell... Since your character is familiar with Japanese, have one of the Japanese comment on the MC's mastery of the language, or correct their grammar.

Is it okay to publish a fan-fiction book from a TV series? I'm 13 years old and I'm writing a story called 'Destiny'. This book is a fanfiction of the TV-Show "Merlin" (the TV series 2008) and I've added a character into it. There currently is no book of Merlin, so would it be okay to publish this book or would I have to get permission from the directors and creators of Merlin? It's not complete yet, but I really want to publish a book on it one day. <Q> That means publication as an actual novel is out. <S> It's also 100% sure you would be denied permission <S> if you did ask, not because you're a kid, but because when they get ready to publish a book, they will hire an established author. <S> On the other hand, however, most popular shows have active communities of fan-fiction writers and readers. <S> Some shows actually even encourage those communities. <S> If you can find a community like that, you'll have a place to post your work, get feedback, and maybe even build a fan base of your own. <S> You might even have more people reading your work than if it was a book. <S> I don't personally enjoy fan fiction, but millions of people do, and some very big and famous writers got their start that way. <S> So keep on writing, share your work with other Merlin fans, and you'll be well on your way to writing an original novel with your own all-new characters and setting one day. <A> Of course you would need the permission of the creators. <S> A fanfiction is always based on something existing and you are not allowed to earn money with it. <S> And allow me to say that: With 13 most of my stories were underdeveloped and hadn't shown any sign of something, that could suck the readers in and hold them. <S> As hard it is to say <S> (but you wouldn't ask if you wanted to be sugarcoated), but why should an million dollar producer, pay a 13 year old to write a story, if he could get Stephen King for example. <S> As long as you didn't make a name as writer, have connections into the field of work or are related to some famous writer, the chances are very near to 0 to publish a fanfiction to an existing story. <S> There is a writer, who got famous with a fanfiction (E. L. James), but even she changed the characters, places and names as she published the story as book. <A> What do you mean by Merlin? <S> The legendary character of Arthurian legend who is in the public domain and anyone can write and publish story about him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiction_featuring_Merlin Or specifically from a TV show or story featured on the list? <S> That might be more complicated... <S> you might have to read up on copyright law from your country. <S> Whether your fiction is good enough to be published is another matter. <S> Edit: If you do indeed mean the 2008 series, then what might help you determine if you need permission is actually reading up on the stories of Merlin that the show is based on(start with the Wikipedia article and go from there). <S> That way you can determine what aspects of your story belong to the TV writers and which ones are fair game and are just part of the Merlin myth which is in the public domain. <A> The short answer is NO, you don't have to ask for permission. <S> Merlin, and the characters associated with him, were created in around the 1680's according to this site (a very interesting read - with video included): <S> https://firemark.com/2016/02/18/can-name-characters-famous-characters-old-book-entertainment-law-asked-answered/ <S> If you are taking from a series, for example using Thor and Loki directly from the Marvel Universe, then maybe need check. <S> Characters can be trademarked, but the names themselves cannot be trademarked because they've appeared in much older works. <S> Another example is Tolkien's characters names, taken directly from mythology (although the characters are different).

Fan fiction is a legal gray area, but in general these days, most shows will ignore it UNLESS you are trying to make money from it in some way --in which case they will definitely come after you (lawyers always follow the money!). Only if the creators allow that.

How should I document a product release with an inherently flawed design? The deadline is looming and someone realizes the product can't be shipped without documentation. Once the product leaves the remit of the software engineers (who obviously only ever write wonderful code) and is passed on to a more objective audience an obvious design flaw is discovered. May be the password is being sent using GET , maybe the so-called REST API is inherently stateful , maybe there is just some kludge which makes loading the data very painful. Anyway, there is no capacity to change the code to fix the flaw before the deadline. Something must be shipped and documented as-is . The engineering team will have to fix it with a patch in the next version. What is an effective strategy for documenting such a product? Should the design flaws be highlighted or ignored? <Q> This is essentially a business problem, which is not to say it is off topic, because technical writers exist to solve business problems. <S> But it is not a problem the writer should try to solve on their own. <S> You have to get guidance from the product manager. <S> However, there is a very good chance that the product manager has not thought this through, so you may have to go to them an lay out a set of options and their potential consequences: <S> Document the flaws clearly. <S> Likely consequences: limited adoption. <S> Upsides: avoid disappointing or misleading customers. <S> Hopefully keep them interested in what you are doing for the next release. <S> Don't mention the flaws at all. <S> Likely consequences: higher initial adoption followed by disappointment and possibly lawsuits when the flaws become apparent. <S> You may turn customers off long term and not have the chance to win them back once the fixed version is released. <S> Alternatively, you may survive the initial disappointment and ride the first mover advantage to a home run with the second release. <S> Document around the flaws. <S> That is, write up procedures that work around the design flaws. <S> Likely consequences: The product may appear weirdly designed or over complicated on first release, which may not matter if it has unique functionality that people want. <S> Second version can then be sold as a significant upgrade with improved ease of use. <S> However, the time to develop, test, and document the workarounds could delay the release. <S> Option three is way more common than most people may suspect. <A> Absolutely document them and point them out to management. <S> As Mark says, this is a business problem. <S> As a coder myself with forty years of commercial experience, your problem is that almost any flaw can be exploited to the detriment and possible losses of your clients, such a password sent using GET. <S> Despite license agreements that disclaim any and all responsibility for such losses, lawsuits can still happen and may cost a fortune to defend and/or settle, and even worse, publicity if such a thing happens and it is clear your company knew of it can be devastating to your company's reputation, reliability, and sales. <S> If your company cannot be trusted, and you have any competitors at all, they will exploit such a flaw mercilessly. <S> Arrange it so management can excise it quickly if they don't want to let people know <S> ; that is their job, and not every design flaw is exploitable, as you note some are just stupidly and unnecessarily clumsy. <S> (A good example of that is a phone system that requires the caller to identify themselves more than once, or enter an account number more than once.) <S> Write it up; as an addendum or final word on a feature, or whatever. <S> Keep your copy of the documentation with that write up. <S> They can kick it upstairs or tell you to kill it, that is a business decision they have been tasked with making. <S> Do not presume it is your role to make it for them; it lets them (rightfully) blame you for any fallout. <A> Based on my experience with salesforce.com, you could always mark the feature as a Beta. <S> You might even borrow their verbiage : <S> This release contains a beta version of the [xyz feature] that is production quality but has known limitations. <S> We welcome your feedback [on some support channel]. <S> This lets people know that the feature exists but is flawed. <S> This helps clearly identify that there are issues you know about, but didn't have time to fix (yet). <S> You don't even need to explicitly state what those limitations are, until/unless specific customers that run into the flaws open support cases.

Show it to your supervisor for a final decision, along with some form of the reasoning above. Write your documentation; you can describe the flaw without calling it a flaw or mistake, it is just the way the product is done.

How to write long extracts in a foreign language? In my writing there are eight groups of people, each with their own language that they speak. Do I put large amounts of writing into their language or english? Do I write it first in theirs, then in english, or do I just write it in english and forget about the original language? <Q> POV, POV, POV <S> The POV is important when doing that. <S> Who says what? <S> Who understands? <S> What is the outcome? <S> If the story is from one perspective, then the narrator would say something like <S> The Japanese talked among themselves before they replied. <S> "Yes, we can do." <S> Seeing that, the French began to chatter, waving their hands wildly in a heated discussion. <S> The Indians nodded to each other speaking in low tones. <S> If the exact dialogue is important, then you change the PoV. <S> "We should do it, " said Tanaka <S> "Can we complete it in time?" <S> "It will be difficult, but yes" Tanaka stepped forward and announced "Yes, we can do," in his broken English. <S> That triggered reactions across the room. <S> Hearing the Japanese' response, Pierre was livid, he was certain they would not agree. <S> [...] If everything happens at the same time, then you can make short time jumps back in time <A> I would avoid putting in too many languages. <S> I know some people get away with it, but what are the odds of someone, who bought an English novel, speaking Japanese, French, Italian, and Pashtu? <S> I'd have to say, pretty small. <S> Then comes your ability to write in these languages on the level of the speaker. <S> If one person is well-versed, they'll call you out on something not adding up and it can break immersion (kind of a big thing for most readers). <S> JP Chapleau explained it well enough how to get it all across without actually writing in the 'target language'. <S> One tactic some might find interesting, is writing in the the target language, and 'sub titling' it to explain what's going on. <S> But it's hard to do unless your point of view character can reasonably (<-- important word right there) understand all eight languages. <S> Be honest, how many people speak 8 languages? <S> IRL? <S> Not many. <S> In fiction? <S> Groans <S> way too many. <S> In Star Wars KOTOR, the main character spoke... what was it, 1500? <S> I think "an impressive amount of alien languages" shouldn't be anything but Mary-Sue red flag. <A> You might look at "War and Peace" to see the effect of large parts of text being written in a foreign language: it is a book in Russian, with a significant part of the dialogues between nobles being in French. <S> When Tolstoy was writing this, he could expect his readers to be bilingual. <S> Nowadays, Russian publications all have the French sections translated into Russian in the footnotes, while translations to other languages get to choose between this, and just translating the whole thing straight, and marking the relevant parts as "having been in French". <S> So, as a reader, unless you're bilingual, you'd be reading the whole text in one language, only some of it would be more clunky. <S> Which seems to suggest "forget the original language". <S> JP Chapleau gives a good explanation of how to do this. <S> There are exceptions, of course. <S> Tolkien incorporates into his writing phrases, and even whole poems, in the elven languages, sometimes translated, other times not. <S> The reader, obviously, is not supposed to understand what is being said in those cases. <S> Neither does the POV character. <S> The purpose of those (very brief) inserts is not merely to say "elves speak a foreign language". <S> It is to convey a pleasant (or unpleasant when it's Dark Speech) <S> sound of a language, the words of which are not understood. <S> You might, for example, have a character saying something in a foreign language that sounds like something else in English, causing a misunderstanding. <S> In that case, you'd want to incorporate the foreign language, as it is the sound <S> that's important, not the content of what's being said.

So, my advice, is avoid putting in the 'other language' if you can (and I can't think of one reason why you can't).

Which free text analysis tools do authors use? I'm looking for free tools to perform some text analysis. I don't want just simple Flesch-Kinvaid or Coleman-Liau score, I was hoping for a tool that identifies problem sentences, overused words, etc. There is a plugin for Google Docs called "ProWritingAid", but every report requires payment. Before I go ahead and pay for it, I wanted to check in and see if there were standard free tools available for creative writers. <Q> The Hemingway "app" (a website, really) is probably the most common suggestion for this, although you can Google others to try. <S> You may need to experiment with a few of them. <S> Unfortunately, the Hemingway app can condemn Hemingway's writing . <A> Grammarly. <S> It does the job, essentially everything you've said <S> and it's definitely worth your money. <A> Sorted from most technical to least technical. <S> My first thought was to use Python with the NLTK package . <S> If that's too technical <S> the somewhat less technical <S> AllenNLP <S> might be worth to check out. <S> It supports co-reference resolution , which means it can track entities across sentences. <S> It could be useful for checking whether you're overusing words. <S> Did a quick Github search for correct sentence and found: <S> chat correct : a Ruby script that helps correcting sentences and that shows the mistake made. <S> Did an other Github search on grammar check : <S> language-check : a Python script using LanguageTool that checks for writing mistakes and can automatically give a suggestion for improvement. <S> LanguageTool : provides a simple browser add-on for FireFox and Chrome. <S> It also has a stand-alone version and a Google Docs add-on. <S> I think this would be the least technical solution.

Markov sentence correction : a Python script using a Hidden Markov model (i.e. machine learning) to correct sentences based on a vocabulary list.

Presenting unrelated or vaguely-related stories in a setting in backwards chronological order by epoch? I'm thinking of a science-fiction or science-fantasy setting wherein modern humanity colonizes a new homeworld in a classical star system, bombs themselves back to a Neolithic technology level, and progresses back to a second space age with no knowledge of their history. I've mostly been spending my time and efforts worldbuilding for the last few weeks, and I have a basic framework for the setting itself. Problem: I have never attempted to write anything on such a large scale. This setting lends itself to multiple unrelated or vaguely-related stories, a la Dune (although comparing myself to Frank Herbert feels pretty presumptuous). I was wondering whether my idea of presenting first the post-humanity colonies of my gas giant at war with each other, then a late Medieval fantasy-ish period on my "second homeworld" with post-humans, and then finally modern humanity discovering and colonizing the "second homeworld" would make any sense to a reader? Not that that would necessarily be the goal. I'm actually sort of digging the idea of being sneaky about these stories even being in the same setting, and letting the readers figure that out on their own time. I don't know, maybe I'm being waaaaay too ambitious. Let me know what your thoughts are, anyway. Thanks so much for your feedback! This project has been brewing for a long time and I'm only just moving on it. <Q> I'm working on a similar premise. <S> No bombs in my world, they return to the ~stone age through other means, but five inflection points in human history play out with details specific to the new system. <S> I think making the groupings stand on their own is important. <S> I think it is also important to give thought to the largest arc (the ~30,000 year arc you are envisioning.) <S> You are also freed up to pick the set of stories that will work best for introducing your world. <S> You do not need to present them in chronological order. <S> If they are independent it doesn't matter if you do space age first or last. <S> You do need the stories to be good, and then the order is beside the point. <S> Those are my thoughts. <A> Unless you want to do something like A Canticle for Leibowitz where three different ages are tied together in one novel under an overarching idea of nuclear fallout and the church, I think it would make the most sense to pick one story and write it first. <S> Many fantasy/SF series have in universe continuities that don't match the publication order (e.g. C.S. Lewis's Narnia books, McCaffrey's Pern stories, Bujold's Vorkosigan saga). <S> Even if you do some major retconning between novels (Star Wars Prequels) <S> your time skips are certainly large enough that knowledge being lost or distorted makes sense. <S> As a reader I find hints at how a current state came to be cool (the satellites orbiting Pern), but if it's Fantasy/SF I'm usually most interested in the story at hand and the world building directly relevant to it. <A> If they are separate narratives from separate POVs <S> then there's no real reason to tell them in any particular order, you can jump around or even treat the different times as entirely separate series of tales with tie-ins at the beginning and end that only you understand to mesh them together until you clarify their relationship later. <S> If however you're telling the whole tale from a single all-seeing third person POV, possibly a post-human historian from the far future of the narrative universe, then you need to tell things in a coherent fashion, while you can still mix-and-match the publication order it needs to be clear where in the history a particular story sits. <A> It's reminding me of the protagonist's arc in a detective story - start with the corpse, find out how it got there, find out who it was, find the stories of the people associated with how it got there and so on working back to the motive for the crime. <S> I'm not suggesting you write it that way, but if you bear in mind that your readers will be familiar with that construction, it should be relatively straightforward to meet (and to confound, if you want to surprise them) <S> their expectations.

Making each group of stories stand on its own frees you up - You can not feel too bogged down by any of the details of the other time settings.

What is the best way to collect comments on a draft document that is out for review by stakeholders? Draft technical documents can be reviewed by stakeholders. Stakeholders can be fellow practitioners, industry specialists, senior managers, regulators, and so on. The purpose of a stakeholder review is usually to receive feedback in the form of comments. The comments can be compiled by whoever is managing the documentation project and be used to improve the document prior to publishing. Comments have traditionally been collected on a comments form that is supplied with a draft. Comments can also be returned as notes attached to a PDF. These methods have a low barrier to entry and are useful for a wide-reaching review. But these methods are becoming obsolete as content is developed on the web. What is the best modern practice to collect comments on a draft? <Q> As Chenmunka says, there are many systems that will provide a "place" to review the content. <S> As for the actual process, I think that depends on where you content starts. <S> Is it in MS Word? <S> Then Chenmunka's suggestion is probably the lowest effort and best method. <S> A slightly more "modern" alternative might be Google Docs. <S> If it's structured (XML/DITA) or web focused (Markdown), then you have a lot more tools to choose from. <S> Many documentation systems come with review mechanisms. <S> The way these mechanisms are implemented vary widely, so be sure to really test them before implementing one <S> (I'm a huge fan of POCs). <S> Another option is using a staging site. <S> If you're publishing to a knowledge base, wiki, or web CMS, most of them will have some feedback mechanisms built in. <S> If you run a staging site you can use it as a place to review content before that content is published to the live version. <S> In the end, you need a central place to collect comments. <S> Ideally, this place is very close to the source content, because that's going to be the primary determining factor in how much work it is for you, as the technical writer. <A> You can use a cloud document system such as Microsoft's Sharepoint or one of the similar competitors. <S> Publish your document there along with the comment form template <S> and then you can either: <S> Allow reviewers to complete the form offline and upload their versionto the site Allow reviewers to complete the form online With the likes of Sharepoint you can restrict access to stop the reviewers from seeing each other's submissions. <S> This is especially useful if the reviewers are from outside organisations. <S> Or, if allowing online completion you may wish to have just one comment form which all can see. <S> This is more controllable than, say, putting an editable version of your document online and having reviewers add comments within it. <S> You have a number of received, identifiable comments that can be referenced and audited against as necessary. <A> A meeting of all stakeholders on a regular basis with concrete action steps agreed (i.e redraft x, review by person y.) can be effective. <A> Inline comments where reviewers can reply to each other and everyone gets email notifications of updates work the best for me. <S> Confluence's implementation is the best I've used, but it has the weakness that the inline commenting feature is invisible until you select the text you want to comment on. <S> Reviewers who don't know to do that stick with comments at the bottom of the page instead, which is somewhat less efficient. <S> Google Docs' implementation looks similar, but the workflow isn't as elegant. <S> I often have trouble finding which comment an email notification relates to and questions often get left unanswered. <S> (More generally, Google Docs has the same problem as Word in providing far too many formatting options for casual users, so if they have edit permission the doc is likely to end up a terrible mess.) <S> Acrobat / Adobe Reader shared PDF review seems similar but due to network issues I've never been able to get it to work. <S> I'll take it over Word any day if comments are provided over email. <A>

GitHub provides an inline comment feature which is pretty neat to facilitate reviews, as well as promote discussion among developers about the content and the comments.

How can I ensure that my documentation is understandable both for native and non-native speakers? In short: When writing documentation that will be read both by Anglophones and non-native speakers of English who have various levels of language proficiency, how do I make sure that both these recipient groups find the text comprehensible and easy to read? While numerous style guides (example: the widely praised MailChimp style guide ) advocate some variety of 'friendly, informal, straightforward', adopting a style like this can be at odds with making the text easily understandable for non-native audiences. There are some strategies which would satisfy both groups of recipients: using simple sentence structures, applying consistent terminology, avoiding cultural references, etc. But in some aspects of style and tone, the two groups might need different treatments. Example: The use of contraction such as "it's" or "you'll" is permitted by sources such as Microsoft Manual of Style, or even the more conservative Chicago Manual of Style, and using only long form may be considered overfly stuffy and formal. On the other hand, I've been told by non-natives that contractions of that sort should be replaced with more explicit full phrasing. How can I reconcile the needs of these two audiences? <Q> In terms of just writing for non-native speakers, the Simple English Wikipedia has some good guidelines for writing articles that seem applicable here. <S> There's a fair amount of detail and some examples in the article itself, but a brief summary would be: Prefer common words to more unusual ones <S> Use simple grammatical structure: avoid long compound sentences with multiple clauses if possible <S> Do not use idioms <S> Do not use contractions "as this allows learners to recognize familiar grammatical patterns" <S> Use correct grammar and spelling Documentation that sounds a bit too formal isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I agree that it can be at odds with wanting to make it flow well. <S> There's probably a balance to strike, and how far you lean one way or the other probably depends on what kind of documentation it is. <S> How-tos are often more informal, sometimes with humour mixed in, while it's more important for technical reference documentation that information is absolutely expressed accurately and precisely. <S> Overall, you'll probably need to consider your audience when making this choice: if you're happy making your text a little less easy to read for non-native readers, you may be able to make it more comfortable reading for native speakers. <S> There's no perfect method to satisfy both, I think. <A> Documentation can be equally understandable for both native and non-native speakers. <S> But in that case, it might not be equally appealing to native and non-native speakers. <S> Documentation that is written in a simple, easily understandable language will probably get the message across for both groups. <S> But it might read unfamiliar or awkward to native speakers and might be problematic from a marketing perspective. <S> As an example, Simplified Technical English comes to mind ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Technical_English ). <A> Generally that will make it more difficult for an international audience <S> For example, don't use terms like "don’t get bent out of shape," "it’s not rocket science", or "it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg." <A> I'd say you're on the right track with the common strategies you list (simple sentence structure, etc). <S> When there's a conflict in strategies, you may have to do a little deeper audience analysis. <S> Or you can prioritize -- for example, the native audience may not "need" a casual tone as much as the non-native audience "needs" clarity. <S> It's probably good for both audiences to avoid idioms.

Maybe you decide to minimize contractions (for example, "it's" and "don't" may be straightforward enough for your non-native audience) and generally keep the word choice and sentence structure simple and consistent. I'd say a major factor is to avoid idioms or local terms/phrases.

Why do many manuals and technical documents seem to prefer passive voice? It seems like many manuals and technical documents prefer passive voice over active voice. Is this true, or is it just my perception? If so, why? <Q> In academic writing, scientific papers and similar, it is normal practice to avoid writing in the first person. <S> Such documents are written in the third person. <S> Check the writing style guide of any scientific journal for confirmation of this. <S> This practice carries through to a large number of technical communications. <S> When writing in the third person, the passive voice becomes more natural. <S> There is a tendency to follow on from: <S> The system does x to <S> The system is affected by <S> x rather than x affects the system <S> This tendency doesn't make the use of passive correct or preferred . <S> It is just a common tendency among some writers. <S> It would be recommended to continue to use the general principle of minimising the use of the passive voice. <A> Speaking only from my own experience, passive voice is often a last resort. <S> I write a lot of user guide material, and my company's style guide discourages using passive phrasing, but even more strongly discourages using second-person pronouns. <S> So while it may feel more natural for me to write "You can access the setting in the widget," I may have to use " <S> The setting can be accessed in the widget" instead, assuming I can't figure out another way around it. <S> I suspect this is true of other widely-used style guides as well. <A> Well, there is no good practical reason for it. <S> In other words, there are no studies showing that passive voice is more effective in communicating technical information. <S> That leaves us with social reasons, which are necessarily a little more speculative and anecdotal. <S> There is history to suggest that the following may be factors: <S> Neither of these propositions is true but they seem to be frequently held by people whose training and experience is not in communications. <S> The passive voice can be used to conceal the actor. " <S> John hit Frank" becomes "Frank got hit" with the accusatory "by John" elided out. <S> Thus it absolves the speaker either of taking responsibility or of assigning it. <S> Communicators who seem unsure of themselves or who don't really want to communicate at all often take refuge in the passive to avoid taking or assigning responsibility. <S> If people are in a field where passive documentation is common, they may simply copy that style. <S> It is remarkable the extent to which people will produce information designs that they would never use or like themselves just because they think those designs are conventional. <S> People choose the conventional over the useful all the time. <A> I can add that more than a decade ago, I was senior tech writer with an engineering & manufacturing firm whose product was used in semiconductor fabs, and when I started, the vast preponderance of their tech docs were littered with egregious passive voice, as well as massive redundancies and an over-reliance on repeated heavily-bolded all caps warnings where there were use-case risks. <S> I found, after discussion with the heads of Document Control and Engineering that this was a result of the one class each engineer had been required to take in tech comms during university - and that independently, at no less than ten top-flight US engineering programs, these student were taught that passive voice would somehow help them magically evade liability and responsibility <S> should an enduser be harmed in the use of their product. <S> Needless to say, this is a baseless belief, belied by both competent writing and many years of case precedent, and once I presented studies, and brought in a risk-specialist attorney to explain this, we shifted language. <S> Old: <S> "Should an incompatible gas be flowed through this purifier's getter bed, an uncontrollable runaway exothermic reaction may occur, with risk of harm to nearby persons or property. <S> When facilitizing this unit, confirm gas compatibility." <S> New: <S> "Caution: <S> this purifier may explode or catch fire if the wrong gas is flowed through the getter bed. <S> Double-check for correct gas to purifier chemistry at installation and again prior to flowing gas. <S> " <S> I suspect that though this was more than a decade and a half ago, the same thinking may still apply. <A> I don't think it's a default standard any longer, and hasn't been for some time. <S> Perhaps it's just that older documentation is still hanging around or used as a base document for similar, new products without any thought (or time) to update it to active voice. <S> Personally, I've avoided using passive voice as a default for the past 20 years (and surreptitiously updated an entire suite of Standard Operating Procedures to active voice over the course of a few years).

People often feel that because documentation is a "business document" it must be formal, and they often feel that the passive voice sounds more formal than the active voice.

Instruction manuals: should the end-user be addressed directly (passive vs imperative)? Manuals come with virtually any appliance, and they typically target the end-user.Among other things (legal specifications, part numbers…), these documents contain specific instructions on what to do and what not to do with the appliance. Should these documents directly address the user (imperative form) or should they be written in passive voice? Example: Do not place living animals inside the microwave under any circumstances. Under no circumstances are living animals to be placed inside the microwave. What are the different effects of either style? <Q> Use direct, simple, clear, imperative instructions. <S> Passive voice and subjunctive make your language unclear and complicated for an international audience. <S> Luckily in this respect there is no argument among the various schools of thought. <S> For details, peruse the following style guides. <S> Both make very instructive reading. <S> The IBM Style Guide is my reference of choice, when in doubt: IBM Style Guide Microsoft's own version is a little more controversial but some companies insist on it: <S> Microsoft Manual of Style <A> Passive voice gets a bad reputation. <S> We're taught to avoid it at all costs. <S> For the most part that's correct, too. <S> It's dull, slows the sentence, and is often vague. <S> If you're writing end user documentation, you should have a style guide and follow it. <S> There's nothing wrong with active voice and even using "you" as long as it's the style you want, along with the tone and intent. <S> Passive voice has a place, too. <S> Mostly it emphasizes the action, not the actor. <S> In your example you could add "Living animals are not to be placed inside the microwave under any circumstance." <S> The three sentences each have a nuisance that the writer has to decide among. <A> Recently, my favorite documentation style is the one promoted by the Pragmatic Bookshelf, a major technical publisher. <S> The PB authors must structure their books as conversations with their prospective readers.

The authors must clearly indicate who should do what, and refer to the reader either as "us" (at the instructional phase) or "you" (at the exercise-"do-it-yourself" phase). I advocate passive voice in API documentation to be clear about the actor.

Is it better to repeat steps listed elsewhere in a manual, or to refer the reader to where the steps are listed elsewhere in the manual? We have a tool that we cannot replace that does not support single sourcing. As a result, with instructions that involve the same node, we either repeat the same dozen steps over and over, or refer the user to say chapter 2 sectionXY23 to perform steps 1-17 and then carry out step 2 and 3 from here. The first alternative is a lot more user friendly but heavy on maintenance. The second solution is really awkward but can be maintained. Which one is more future-proof? (This tool is here to stay so there is no replacement option.) <Q> This is a close duplicate of <S> Does DRY <S> (Don't Repeat Yourself <S> ) Apply to Documentation? <S> My short answer is do what's right for the user, not yourself. <S> That's probably repeating the code, especially if there's extra or modified steps included. <S> You'll lose the user along the way. <S> My long answer is that this is a also a good case of writers needing to push back against management. <S> Mark Baker is correct in that TestLink isn't a documentation tool at all. <S> And why is management even pushing it in this role? <S> Writers have a responsibility, even a mandate, to demand the right tools. <S> We're put upon enough as it is. <S> Management isn't requiring developers to use Word as their IDE, even though it can technically do that. <S> If management doesn't see the problem with using the wrong tools, then they have to live with the consequences. <S> In this case, it begins with higher maintenance costs, longer schedule requirements, and high risks with quality standards, as writers have to update the same material in several places. <A> I concur that <S> Does DRY <S> (Don't Repeat Yourself <S> ) Apply to Documentation? <S> pretty much answers the question on what is best for the user. <S> However, the question was: Which one is more futureproof? <S> (This tool is here to stay so there is no replacement option.) <S> Here's why: As time goes by, you'll keep on accumulating duplicate, hard-coded content. <S> At some point it will become impossible to maintain it, so you'll begin offering outdated or erroneous content to customers. <S> Your users will not be able to do their job because they'll be getting outdated content. <S> You'll end up with bad content and unhappy users. <S> With your particular setup, I'd say that "correct content available through timely and accurate referral" trumps "all the content in the right place at the right time". <A> I think there is one thing to be said on this that is not covered by <S> Does DRY <S> (Don't Repeat Yourself <S> ) Apply to Documentation? <S> and that is this: <S> It is not uncommon that there are common operations that must be performed as part of many different tasks. <S> For instance, you might have to log on to the admin interface before performing dozens of different admin tasks. <S> Lets suppose that logging on to the admin interface is a moderately complicated procedure with four or five steps. <S> Do you put those four or five steps in every task instruction or do you simply write: <S> Log on to the admin interface (see page 6). <S> (or make the text of the step a link to the instructions for logging on) <S> The answer, I believe, depends on the frequency of use. <S> Omitting them actually makes most operations faster and easier to understand. <S> But if you are writing for people who only do admin tasks once in a blue moon, it is better to include the step for logging on in each procedure because people will need them every time and it will be a lot easier for them if they are inline. <A> Based on the communications model used in physical engineering and architecture, the correct answer is "refer", whether the data occurs in long technical documents, specifications or in the final construction drawing sets. <S> a) Accuracy & ease of maintenance. <S> b) Simplicity & low information duplication. <S> c) <S> Clarity - enduser has only ONE place to find datum "x", not 12. <S> d) <S> Clarity - regulatory reviewer has only ONE place to find datum "x", not 12. <S> e) <S> Be authoritative <S> : say it once, say it right, when in doubt tell 'em to look at it again.

In your case, as much as I don't want to say this - referring might turn out better in the long run. If you are writing for people who will be doing admin tasks frequently, you use the reference format because they will quickly learn how to log on to the admin interface and will not need those instructions each time.

How to effectively document a product composed of complex microservices? I have a highly flexible software product consisting of a series of loosely coupled microservices . Each component is effective at a single job, but may be dependent on inputs from other services. It is expected that additional services will be added later. The overall product could be considered to be something like the game Mousetrap . A practical use case for the whole product could be a complex combination of services. Maybe I have a ball-rolling-down-stairs component, but just documenting the inputs and outputs seems incomplete as only once I combine it with the kicking-foot component and the dropping-cage component does one possible overall use case of the product (catching mice) get satisfied. What is the best way to document such dependent services? To clarify I'm not just interested in what to document. I'd also like opinions on how to split up and structure the documentation, especially as the product gets more complex. <Q> What you just described is almost every Web based REST API. <S> Those are nothing more than a series of calls, sometimes into the hundreds or thousands, that the developer has to put into a meaningful sequence. <S> This also goes for client-based APIs, too. <S> The answer is tedious but not complex. <S> First, every call has to be documented individually. <S> Developers have to understand what the call does, parameters, side affects, and caveats. <S> That's the easy part. <S> Then it has to be explained how these parts fit together. <S> This gets a little harder. <S> This may be done through several comprehensive samples, a getting started, or comprehensive how to articles. <S> You may not be able to document all the cases, but you can document enough so that they could extrapolate into new situations. <S> You're an API documentation writer now. <S> In doing this, keep in mind a useful approach and write for yourself. <S> That means, writing to yourself while you learn the product. <S> If you need to learn something, others will need to know that, too. <S> If you find something confusing, they will. <S> What did you find useful while learning? <S> Finally, review others' APIs. <S> A good starting place is ProgrammableWeb.com. <A> Much depends on how the microservices are packaged for the consumer. <S> This part may take some insight from product management and actual users, and may take the form of use cases, examples, road maps, and the like. <S> There probably won’t be a linear path through the entire product set for every reader. <S> Keep the documentation organized in topic-based modules to help various readers navigate the topics for their own needs. <A> I've worked on a few doc sets like that. <S> While API reference documentation is one case where you see this problem, the problem occurs at the "module" level too. <S> Your question is about microservices, which take inputs and produce outputs and can be chained together. <S> I'm going to describe a case that wasn't microservices in particular but had similar properties. <S> One system I documented was a development kit for plugins to an existing software system. <S> That is, users weren't writing stand-alone things; they were writing things that would be injected into an existing system. <S> A plugin could contain any mix of several types of components -- data visualizations, gesture definitions (for example, new drag-and-drop behaviors), web-service integrations, extensions to the system's information architecture, and more. <S> And while you would think that everything would depend on and flow from the information architecture, there were times when the kind of visualization you were creating or the particulars of a web service informed IA. <S> The approach I took, which our users found helpful (yes, actual user feedback!), was threefold: <S> For example, data visualizations depend on the IA, but I didn't repeat information about the IA in the data-vis doc; I linked to it. <S> Even if you're delivering PDFs instead of HTML, and they're too large to reasonably combine in one document, you can reference other documents. <S> I wrote a substantial introductory document that described the plugin system (and explained how to assemble them), introduced each of the functional areas, and presented an example more substantial than "hello world" but still simple enough to follow. <S> I accompanied the documentation with a suite of runnable examples that used various combinations of the components at various levels of complexity. <S> I cannot over-emphasize the importance of varied, runnable, realistic examples for a system like this. <S> You can't (and shouldn't) show every possible combination, but you can show groupings that make sense together . <S> Users copy examples, so this is a good way to demonstrate best practices. <S> To summarize: document the pieces so that they stand alone as much as possible, write documentation that ties the pieces together, and show real examples.

I documented each functional area independently, but cross-linked topics where appropriate. If users can mix and match, you need to document each microservice separately, but include “meta” information for the user to combine the chutes and ladders (to mix game analogies) together.

Should IKEA assembly instructions be used as positive examples to train technical writers? Often, assembly instructions are bad (example via Adafruit ): But they don’t have to be: writing assembly instructions is a skill that can be learnt, and there are institutions which teach it. IKEA is the world's largest furniture retailer , and as far as assembly instructions are concerned, their consumer-facing documents are among the most widespread. Their instructions can be found here . For example, these are the instructions for one of their Billy bookcases. In teaching how to write assembly instructions: copyright questions aside, should IKEA’s documents be used as good examples? <Q> I think they are great examples—if your use case matches. <S> They never explain two things differently across all their products. <S> Take the world's most sold book case, that Billy you referenced . <S> It has only about seven instructions and it uses no single word—yet everyone is able to set it up. <S> No words takes all the translation efforts off the table as well. <S> Remember however that their whole design and production process is aimed at keeping those instructions easy and the parts standardized. <S> If you're not designing your product that way then you'll have a hard time reducing that manual to that simplicity. <S> The instructions are the result of fifty years of optimizing furniture design, packaging and the instruction itself. <S> They only work that way if you reduce the amount of different parts and necessary tools that you can show distinctly what kind of part the drawings are referencing to. <S> (Billy requires only two people, three tools, six connector parts and six panels.) <S> If you've got a similar setup it's a great example. <A> I'll add my prior experience to this: the purifier company for which I worked long ago used PLCs for controls on their more complex devices, and had previously spent huge time and effort to write convoluted text descriptions of both user and more technical operations of the onboard software; these descriptions were "baselined" that is, pulled from older manuals from "base models" into newer ones and marked up, to theoretically make them applicable to the newer model. <S> As a result of this baselining method, they had significant issues with accuracy of these descriptions when I started - more than 25% error rates in critical areas, so I replaced almost all of it with screencaps and small text callouts, step-by-step images showing how-tos: <S> both physical procedures like how-to-install and on-screen procedures such as resetting-the-thermocouples, or cold-starting-the-getter-bed. <S> This led to a huge increase in accuracy per manual per model AND better comprehension and use by both endusers and infield techs. <S> I still kept a lot of text heavy descriptions of chemistry, especially the stoichiometry and thermal interactions, but overall, I effectively "ikea-ised" those manuals and felt <S> this was a very solid approach to improving quality, ease-of-maintenance, and clarity. <A> Ikea instructions are not the best example of inclusive design. <S> They aren’t accessible (AFAIK), and they are confusing for people with cognitive issues or learning disabilities. <S> Less words is good for internationalization, but not necessarily the best choice for inclusive, accessible documentation.

So, though they are oft-maligned, I think Ikea style manuals are an excellent exemplar of technical communications.

Problems with getting meaningful and actionable feedback from readers As someone who doesn't get paid to write stuff nobody reads :), I'm always on the lookout for the best ways to collect meaningful and actionable feedback from my readers so I can improve the quality of the docs I write.What kind of strategies/tools/etc. do you guys use for this? EDIT:Let me clarify what I mean by "meaningful and actionable feedback": To get meaningful feedback from our readers: We must focus only on the most important issues from the readers' point of view. We must ask only the fewest possible number of questions that can cover all of these important issues. The terminology we use must be clearly and universally understood by all respondents. For feedback to be actionable , it must meet the following criteria: The readers' responses must be unambiguous. The issues that the respondents are concerned about must be easily understood and easily addressable by the people the feedback is intended for. <Q> Online docs for customers <S> The absolute first for online docs: analytics and some sort of feedback form. <S> Analytics (such as Google Analytics) let you gather and explore reader data - anything from demographic information to search patterns and behavior patterns. <S> However, this data is often tricky to interpret and requires a lot of observation, trial, and error to get results. <S> The key here is to keep it very simple and very easy to send feedback. <S> For example: a question or two, some sort of star rating, the option to submit a free-worded comment. <S> You will tend to get mostly negative feedback (people are just prone to sending feedback when they're unhappy) - but it is usually the thing that drives positive change. <S> You will also get non-docs feedback at times, especially in end-user oriented documentation (people will complain about the product). <S> You can then build on from there with targeted surveys shown to readers under certain conditions or sent to particular customers through your customer success channels. <S> Offline docs for customers <S> Anything internal - online or offline Face to face interviews plus feedback solicited through an official review process. <A> I'd recommend identifying your 'power users' and work directly with them. <S> As in all situations the people your documentation is aimed at will differ. <S> Those that do not read at all, those that refer to the documentation only after all else failed, and on the other side of the spectrum the guys that read the new release cover to cover and send you a memo pointing out every single typo and then some. <S> If the no-readers are on the left and the memo responders are on the right <S> you need the rightist middle ground. <S> Long-time users deeply entrenched in the subject matter that help out the newbies would be ideal. <S> I called them power users but a more precise/formal term might be Business Analyst if that is actually a position in your company. <S> Now you need to find one or more guys with this skill set able AND willing to sit down for a thorough analysis of the document you want to tackle. <S> Be prepared for feedback that another document needs attention more urgently and/or other suggestions quite out of the box . <S> How to find them? <S> Any sort of user organisation will know, or more likely have such a person as chair. <S> In my experience this is the fastest and most effective method to push your output to the next level (and beyond). <A> This depends somewhat on the audience. <S> You could have internal corporate docs that can only be viewed by coworkers, publicly available docs that everyone can see, etc. <S> Certainly a comments section is a good start, as is contact information for personalized support. <S> Generally there is also a review process to get the docs published in the first place. <S> This is best handled by making review and sign-off a requirement that is enforced by project management, and not an informal process. <S> For example, if you are using a project management system like Jira, Remedy, etc. <S> the item should be added to the task for the SME or someone similar and only closed out once that review process has been completed.

Feedback forms (be it a way to send email or a rating form or even a discussion board). Another way would be to use your customer success management people to reach out to customers and facilitate docs interviews with them. Perhaps a questionnaire distributed along the docs (not likely to be very successful).

Does DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) Apply to Documentation? In programming, it's usually accepted that DRY code is better code in most situations. Does this principle also apply to documentation? I'm asking about the documentation output , not necessarily the source material (there are tools for keeping the source content DRY even if there's a lot of repeated content). Example: suppose I have the following content: Some task Prerequisite setup task How to do X How to do Y Should "How to do X" and "How to do Y" explicitly say "Before doing this, make sure to do Prerequisite setup task "? What are some good rules to follow when deciding if documentation should repeat itself? I intended this question to be about end-user documentation. In some context, such as code or compliance documentation, the answer may drastically change. See Chenmunka's answer for some of those implications. <Q> The more your documentation is aimed at people reading it like a book the less you should repeat yourself. <S> The more your documentation is a look at this one page read <S> it put it away <S> the more you should repeat yourself. <S> The most concrete example I can think of are aviation emergency checklists. <S> No Co-Pilot is ever required to look anywhere else after he opened the correct check list. <S> Everything is on that one page. <S> Even if it's a step that is on half the pages (think inform tower ), if it's deemed important enough to be there <S> it's on every check list. <S> Since you apparently use automated documentation I'd say few repetitions in the user training guide but repeat yourself a lot in the emergency recovery runbook. <A> No. <S> Don't repeat yourself is a good content management rule, which is what it is in programming as well. <S> If you have two instances of the same thing it becomes harder to manage them. <S> If it were not for the management issues it raises, there would be no point to the DRY doctrine. <S> But the same pieces of information is often needed in more than one place. <S> Programming handles this by a function call. <S> Functions exist so that a piece of code that performs a useful function can be used in many places. <S> That code is, in fact, repeated, it is simply repeated at run time, rather than write time. <S> The equivalent of run time for documentation is read time. <S> Just as the same function needs to be repeated many times at runtime in software, the same information needs to be repeated many times at read time in documentation. <S> This is why some documentation tools have elaborate content reuse systems: to enable content that occurs once at write time to occur many times at read time. <S> The reason that the same information needs to occur many times across a documentation set (or multiple documentation sets, if you have more than one product or version) is that people do not read the whole documentation set at once (or ever), they dip into it opportunistically when they need something, particularly when they are stuck on some operation. <S> They are only going to read a small portion of the documentation set at any given time. <S> For them, the topic or page that they find is the documentation set. <S> (I call this, Every Page is Page One.) <S> That page needs to have the information they need to complete their task. <S> It can link to related material where needed, but there is still going to be a lot of repetition necessary to create usable docs. <A> This largely depends on the output. <S> If your output is a single print or digital page that can be consumed at a glance , DRY applies. <S> If you're working with online or digital content <S> that is searchable and users are likely to land at it from any possible place (via search engines, via built-in search, via "jumpable" index), DRY does not apply. <S> In this case, as users are likely to end up on your page because they are looking for particular information or a particular problem solution, you want to provide all the relevant and important information in one place. <S> So they can do their job and solve their problem. <S> You don't want to reference them to yet another page or yet another section that drives them out of the current context. <S> Basically, with this type of output, "repeat" in the following cases: <S> The information is essential to the completion of the task. <S> Skipping it (placing it somewhere else and expecting someone to read it separately) results in the user being unable to perform the task. <S> The information is crucial to the safety and well-being of the reader. <S> Skipping it (placing it somewhere else and expecting someone to read it separately) results in the user being harmed and suing you. <S> The information is an integral part of the completion of the task. <S> For example, a step, somewhere in the middle of the procedure, of clicking Next or OK, or performing something else. <S> Or information about the required privileged access. <A> Yes it does. <S> You will be writing your code based upon a Software Requirements Specification. <S> This will contain a series of numbered clauses in the form: <S> If x happens do y <S> These clauses will not repeat themselves as they must be uniquely testable and auditable. <S> DRY most definitely applies in this part of the documentation. <S> So in your code documentation, you expect to see statements along the lines of: Function <S> x() satisfies requirement 123. <S> This gives you a one-to-one verifiable trace that the software has been written to do what it should do. <S> Any repetition, e.g. <S> Function <S> x() satisfies requirement 123 but needs function y() which satisfies requirement 234. <S> leads to the possibility of confusion and later disagreement as to whether the software passes verification and validation. <S> Also, many automated V&V tools will baulk at multiple references. <S> Obviously dependencies must be documented, but repetition should be avoided if possible. <S> The User Manual will, in many cases, refer to the Requirements Specification. <S> Indeed in some cases, the Requirements Specification is the User Manual. <S> The requirements are written from the point of view of the end user and the Requirements Specification is also used for training. <S> This can be a contractual requirement in my experience. <S> There too you will need to reduce the number of repetitions if possible. <A> I produce web based help - which is usually read on a per page basis, and have a DRY approach. <S> I'll usually just add a cross reference into steps, rather than repeating - as this is much easier to manage.

If your output is a print book and is meant to be consumed as a book (as a whole, rather than piece by piece), DRY applies.

What are standard techniques that indicate to the documentation reader that they are to substitute their own appropriate text (e.g. username, domain)? When reading manuals or guides, I can easily get confused between what is meant to be example text, and what is actually meant to be used. For example, sometimes the username to login to use a product might be "user". How do I indicate to the new user that "user" is the default account, or that "user" is just an example name? Are there any standard symbols that could be placed around the text? <Q> In my experience , this combination of points does the job nicely: <S> At the beginning of your guide, provide an instruction on how you'll be referencing commands, user-specified text/options, etc. <S> Italic is common for this. <S> For example: text indicates text that you need to provide and should represent actual data, such as your email address, username, password, etc. <S> Use consistent formatting options, capitalization, and syntax across your docs. <S> Use a common special character to surround user input, such as the already suggested %, <> braces, or [] braces (although I've seen these as marking optional input). <S> Make it explicitly clear if the special characters should be included in the input or not. <S> Use a consistent way to reference common user inputs (placeholders) such as "my-user-name", "my-password", "my-email@domain.com", or "". <S> Make sure these are defined with examples at the beginning of your guide. <S> Here's also what the Microsoft Manual of Style says on the subject of formatting for user input: <S> User input <S> Usually lowercase, unless case sensitive. <S> Bold or italic, depending on element. <S> An accessibility consideration : Simple formatting or color won't do for visually impaired users. <S> This calls for the use of good placeholder text to indicate the purpose of the user input, along with some special characters. <S> It also calls for good introductory text before the code block or user interface reference. <S> For example: "On the command line, type the following and replace "my-user-name" with your actual user name." <A> I prefer angular brackets <S> < <S> > and hyphenated text inside. <S> For example: URL format: http://<your-host-name>:<your-port-number>.com/ <S> The text should be something that would make it obvious for user to understand that it needs to be replaced with actual value. <S> This also takes case of any accessibility considerations. <A> As the other anwers show, different practices have been established for various systems . <S> It is important to differentiate between texts that mainly address people who are aware of such technicalities and texts that address people who are not aware of them. <S> People who fit into the first group will usually expect this type of substitution because they are used to it. <S> The methods given in the other answers will suffice: these standards have been established for a reason. <S> Users who are not accustomed to technical writing and the corresponding style of documentation may struggle with such instructions. <S> In addition to optically emphasise the term to be replaced, it may help these users to add <S> remarks for clarification, such as: <S> In the following code snippet, replace partition with the name of the device you want to create the ext4 filesystem on: # mkfs.ext4 /dev/ partition <A> Depending on different operating systems/platform, the user is restricted to use special characters. <S> For example, Windows restricts to use special characters while creating a folder/file but Linux allows to use special characters to use naming a folder/file. <S> Documentation/manual for a software/platform is prepared by keeping all that in mind. <S> While researching to answer this I came across this beautiful software documentation document , it mentions Documentation formats for user-entered commands or codes shall clearly distinguish between literals (to be input exactly as shown) and variables (to be selected by the user). <A> Robert Lauriston is correct. <S> <> is the proper way to document user input in code in Microsoft Documentation. <S> % signs are used as system environment variables in Microsoft.i.e. <S> % <S> SystemRoot% <S> refers to the installation directory of Windows. <S> (usually: C:\Windows) <S> Microsoft explains "Environment Variables" <A> I like the way GitHub documentation handles this by using a different color and style: Just using a different color is not enough, as there are vision-impaired readers. <A> I had issues with getting the correct output for various combinations of monospace, italic, and bold in the ever-changing assortment of outputs I was generating from the single-source system I was using at the time, so I use basic ASCII punctuation: < > : to be provided by the user, for example, MON <application name <S> > <S> { } : choose one from a set of items separated by |, for example, LIST { ROLES | USERS } [ ] : optional, for example, MON [application name>] <S> ( MON can be used by itself or followed by the name of an application) <S> This convention is explained in an "About this documentation" section. <S> If the command is at all complicated, I follow the command syntax with an example. <S> You'd probably want to use a different set of punctuation if documenting something like XML, where the code is full of angle brackets. <S> The Microsoft Manual of Style has a good set of conventions if text formatting works for you (see "Command syntax"). <A> %per cent signs% immediately come to my mind, as in "Welcome, %username%!"

If the user input string contains placeholder text, use italic for that text. Many folks are suggesting using % signs to document user input in documentation, That would be incorrect in Microsoft Documentation.

Terminology question - "if-else" or "if/else"? Are they "if-else statements" or are they "if/else statements"?I'm partial to the latter, but I can see the logic of the former - both "if" and "else" are acting as a unit modifier for the noun "statements" (and so a hyphen is appropriate), whereas a slash (usually) indicates an "or" condition.Thoughts? <Q> In this case I think what you want is if...else. <S> The slash tends to be used to suggest alternatives: <S> yes/no answer. <S> But you are talking about a case where both are present. <S> The hyphen is used to make a phrase into a word you can talk about. <S> Instances have an is-a relationship to their class. <S> But if and else are not consecutive words in these constructions. <S> Ellipses are used to indicate elided text. <S> There is other text between if and else, so if...else. <A> I would approach this be doing the following (in order of preference) <S> If you follow a style guide, consult it. <S> If you are writing about a specific coding language, consult that language's official documentation and see how they refer to that construct. <S> (For example, I just looked in the Lua 5.3 reference and see that it uses repeat–until (with an en dash) to describe that kind of statement, so I would use that format in my own docs about Lua) <S> If neither of the above apply, use " if... <S> else statement" or " if-else statement"—it doesn't matter which, but be consistent with your choice. <S> As you stated in your question a / is generally a stand in for "or". <S> In my opinion, it is very rarely used correctly for that purpose and is often the result of sloppy prose. <A> However, the slash can also show connection between two words. <S> (I might be typing from my home office/guest room.) <S> In practice, I see if-then-else , if/else and if...else . <S> I'd say choose one and be consistent.

Your logic makes sense -- the hyphen seems to join them together (a unit of if-else statements), the slash often means "or".

How to make documentation accessible to vision-impaired audiences? Nowadays, governments and corporations alike are putting an ever-increasing number of accessibility laws in place to ensure that disabled audiences are not put at a disadvantage. How can technical documents best be styled in order to be accessible to low-vision or colour-deficient people while at the same time not causing an inconvenience to the typical reader? <Q> As someone with many friends with varying levels of visual impairment, the most effective tricks are the most obvious. <S> I answer here for printed documentation. <S> Text should be high in contrast, clear dark black ink on white paper. <S> Recently, too many user manuals seem to be printed in a greyish ink on greyish paper. <S> This affects clarity for many forms of impairment. <S> Use a clear font / typeface. <S> Similar glyphs, e.g. 0 and O, 1 and l, should be clearly distinguishable if at all possible. <S> There is significant research on fonts for this purpose. <S> Use colour sparingly. <S> Coloured text can be harder to read, just like the greyish text I mentioned above. <S> Bear in mind that the most common form of colour-blindness is red-green. <S> These two colours can be confused but are the most commonly used. <S> Use shades of the colours that will be distinguishable by their darkness alone. <S> Even those souls with complete black-white colour-blindness can differentiate the intensity of the colour. <S> These simple tricks are effective and don't impair the readability for those with perfect eyesight. <A> I think Sejal and Chenmunka hit a lot of the points that are important when writing for audiences with disabilities. <S> I would add that it's also important to have your content well-tagged semantically. <S> By that, I mean that a screen reading tool needs to know how to interpret the information <S> it's reading. <S> Otherwise it's just a jumble of words <S> and it's difficult to understand the importance of each piece of information or how to navigate through the information to find what you need. <S> Adobe has some tools for tagging content that can help you achieve this in PDF. <S> HTML tends to have more inherent tagging of content (H1, H2, etc.). <S> Another option is to source your content in a more structured format, such as XML/DITA. <S> This adds some structure to your content by default and also provides built-in mechanisms for making your content more accessible, such as adding alternative text to images. <S> Additionally, if you start with structured content, the publishing output is usually separated from the writing process, so <S> once you get your styling right in the publishing plugin, you can ensure that everything you publish will be consistent and accessible. <S> Webaim.org has quite a few free tools that can check your content for accessibility issues. <S> These two are a couple of my favorites: <S> http://wave.webaim.org/ <S> - Check any website for <S> accessibility issues <S> https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/ - Check for color contrast issues <A> Accessibility in writing is a widely discussed issue and there are a number of resources available on this. <S> Vision impaired people generally use screen readers such as JAWs to "read" documentation. <S> So, other than the obvious styling fixes (which may be useful for color blind audience) there are a few more precautions you can take up as a writer, Ensure that you don't refer to colors, shapes, and directions in your documentation content and if you do, have an alternative explanation handy. <S> All images should have an alternative text that is used by screen readers to explain the image. <S> The diagrams shouldn't be the sole way to explain your content, but should be treated more as an added bonus to your text. <S> So you must have relevant textual description explaining everything in the graphic. <S> Tables should have accompanying descriptions. <S> PDFs are usually not accessible, HTML is. <S> Use OAG tool to check your html page accessibility.

So, you want to have your titles, section titles, tables, figures, and everything else really well-tagged so that information can be conveyed to the end-user and they can understand the relevance of each part of the documentation as it's read to them. Fonts designed for dyslexics, like Dyslexie Font are particularly good.

How to Document Systems with Different Versions? Scenario I need to create and maintain a user documentation for a system of which there are different instances in use by different target groups. There are several levels of integration with other systems, several development stages, several regional production deployments. Not all of these instances have the same feature set (e.g. some features are just for tests, some features might be regionally limited et cetera). Additionally the system consists of single services that may or may not be deployed together which affects the feature characteristic of the overall system as well. Challenge Finding a system that helps any user with one documentation with feasible effort. Currently the approach is to always document the latest development iteration in a versioned wiki system and indicate functionalities that are "just" testing functionalities. Is there a better way to document such fluid systems? <Q> What kind of software do you use for content development? <S> I've found that branching is a good way to address version control if you have a need to support multiple versions simultaneously, but you would need a Content Management System (CMS) or authoring tool that has this type of functionality. <S> You also need to consider how the information is delivered and whether that system has the functionality you need. <S> With branching, you can create, edit, and manage different versions of content in parallel. <S> For example, you might edit the current version, let's call it 1.0, in a master branch. <S> Once you've released your content for v 1.0 you would branch that content. <S> This basically involves making an exact copy of the publication. <S> Then, you can edit in the master branch to develop content for v 1.1, while still maintaining v 1.0 separately. <S> You can also publish each version to provide accurate support to your end users for those versions. <S> Additionally, if you have a need to publish different content for different audiences, you might consider using conditional processing. <S> For example, if you need to publish certain content on "testing" features for an internal audience only, you could tag those features "internal" or "testing" and filter the published content accordingly to include or not include that content. <S> Similarly, you could conditionalize content for integrations, specific audiences, etc. <S> I work in a DITA CMS that has all these functionalities, so again, you would need to have a system or systems that can support these functions. <A> I use madcap flare, and using condition tags allows you to produce 2 versions from the same content. <A> Paligo has an integrated DocBook CMS with branching, profiling, and various reuse features that make it relatively easy to create and maintain multiple versions of the same documentation. <S> I branch a publication (collection of topics) after each release (1.1, 1.2, etc.). <S> Then I branch individual topics in the new branch to reflect changes in that release. <S> I can also edit an unbranched topic to make corrections in all the releases that share the topic. <S> I migrated from Confluence using Scroll DocBook Exporter and with help from Paligo tech support (included in the subscription) <S> it was pretty smooth as such things go. <S> Any future customer doing the same would probably benefit from a lot of lessons Paligo learned from my experience. <S> I think it's cost-effective for documentation groups that are too small to justify the cost of building a system around a DITA CMS. <S> You might want to look at Author-it Cloud and MadCap Central as well. <A> The method Splunk uses for their documentation <S> is to use a per-version structure <S> (though oftentimes the doc is the same for two different versions of the tool), and allow the reader to pick which version they want to read. <S> So you might be looking at 7.0.2, or 6.5.1, or 6.2.3, or any other possible version. <S> The URLs look like the following: http://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/7.0.2/Knowledge/Configurecalculatedfieldswithprops.confhttp://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.5.1/Knowledge/Configurecalculatedfieldswithprops.confhttp://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/6.2.3/Knowledge/Configurecalculatedfieldswithprops.conf <S> While I don't know what powers their system under the hood, I do know the doc team publishes docs for new versions when new versions release. <S> And that old versions' docs are kept around more-or-less forever .

You can use the same features to create docs for multiple variations of an individual release.

Should technical writers illustrate their own documents? In my opinion, visual material is of crucial importance in technical documents, especially in procedures, but paradoxically, technical illustrations seem to be a dying art. Is it better for a technical writer to also do technical illustration, or is it better to find and work with an illustrator? What are the pros and cons of each approach? <Q> A technical author should always know what illustration would work best at which point in their document. <S> However, it isn't always necessary to prepare the illustrations yourself. <S> Especially schematic diagrams, charts and similar reasonably simple technical pictures. <S> However, I am not an artist or a graphic designer. <S> Knowing one's limits is important. <S> If you have access to someone who can turn your back-of-an-envelope picture into something beautiful, then stick to what you do best - the words. <A> I have no drawing ability at all. <S> As far as I'm concerned, it's like asking a graphic designer to write the manual: some might have the skills and experience, but most won't. <S> These are experts at conveying a concept graphically far better than I can ever hope to. <S> In the past, I've always been lucky enough to work together with at least one expert in illustration. <S> Their results are ten times better — and faster — than mine. <A> As a technical illustrator as well as technical writer, I most frequently generate my own illustrations, and frequently provide that service for others, however I don't think it a reasonable expectation that technical communicators generally create their own illustrations or more complex diagrams. <S> It's a good practice to derive your own simple diagrammatic figures, but in most cases it's far simpler, more consistent and more efficient to have a technical illustrator complete that work to the organization's in-house standards, moreover, that work can be done in parallel with the rest of the documentation work you are doing, which speeds the process considerably. <A> Define "illustrate". <S> As a successful technical communicator since 1998, I must confess I have the visual-arts sensibilities of a gerbil. <S> But I have done well-received diagrams of complex-system components and their relationshops, dataflow diagrams, and similar sorts of schematic-ey illustrations. <S> (Think Visio or similar connect-the-blocks tools.) <S> But "illustrate" may also mean more visually sophisticated artwork of the sort one sees in marketing brochures. <S> I'm smart enought to know I need to find a graphics specialist for that... <A> "Graphics" skills are nice to have a skill for technical writes. <S> In some cases (but not all) graphical representation of the information is really crucial. <S> But who will do the graphics, images, etc depend on the project scale, budget and so on. <S> To add also to the list of instruments Corel Draw, dia, MS Excel, Photoshop <A> I think it is a critical skill for tech writers to be able to do illustrations. <S> Budgets are always a priority and a company will want a person who has as many skills as possible. <S> I create nearly all of my illustrations mainly using Adobe Illustrator and Visio. <S> Formerly I used SolidWorks, AutoCAD.

For the documents that I write, I prepare most of the illustrations myself.

Where would I specify which user is required to run an administration command? I work with a software product that has over 10 major components. The administration of most of these is done with the root user with one notable exception where they use a less privileged user for such purposes. In most places, the instructions specify the user, and may even include instructions such as: su - lessPrivilegedUserclustercommand --resursive --restart However, yesternight I bumped into a set of commands that stop and start a service where the instructions did not include this information. Neither did the section one level up. So I requested the documentation team to make amends. To my great surprise, they responded with the result list of a search saying that the documentation already has this in 28 different places, asking me to confirm whether I am certain I want it included for the 29th time. Q: Should the user be specified for each administration task in an administration guide? <Q> Yes, always tell the reader which user to use In material like this, there is no way to predict where the reader will start and if they have read any of the preceding material. <S> If they ask themselves "how do I accomplish X" and you have a section named "Doing X", they're going to skip that other stuff. <S> I've seen this described as the every page <S> is page one model. <S> It is very real behavior. <S> Another good reason to always and explicitly tell the reader what user to use is that (if the user is important) there are probably security implications if the reader uses the wrong user account. <S> However, if your content has a lot of code/command snippets, you can also use a code comment. <S> Using your example: # As lessPrivilegedUserclustercommand --resursive --restart <S> As a reader, I know <S> I personally would appreciate that attention to detail. <S> It also helps make your documentation safer. <S> If the user is just going through your doc and copy/pasting and running commands blindly, they'll at least see that important note. <A> My rule of thumb is "the right information at the right time", especially in content that's supposed to be consumed on a topic rather than a chapter/book basis. <S> Sure, this leads to some repetition but with the latest and greatest reuse mechanisms in doc tools it shouldn't be a problem. <S> I would probably place it in the requirements section of the task topic (if it's a task topic), or state it in a comments/requirements section in a reference-style table or list. <A> People do not read the documentation through. <S> They dip into a specific spot in pursuit of one instruction on how to accomplish their task of the moment. <S> As far as the reader is concerned, therefore, Every Page is Page One. <S> There is no rest of the manual. <S> There is only this page. <S> It is all I am looking at, all I am interested in looking at, and all I am going to look at. <S> If the information I need to complete my task successfully is not on that page, then as far as I am concerned it is not in the documentation. <S> The DRY doctrine only applies, if it applies at all, to unit that the reader actually uses. <S> For instance, you would never invoke DRY to justify not including a piece of information because it was already in a manual for a different product that you released 10 years ago. <S> DRY can only be applied to the context of use, and the context of use is the page, not the manual that contains the page, but the individual page the reader is looking at. <S> Because that is all they are going to look at. <S> Every Page is Page One. <A> If you have a few exceptional use cases, they should be indicated as such when they occur. <S> If all other cases relate to a single problem space (user privileges in this example), this should be indicated in an introduction and perhaps reiterated in another major section in case the user skips the intro. <A> If you have to specify it that many times, then it seems to me that I would put the information in an appendix and then for each set of instructions add a marker of some sort (text or an icon) that tells the person what login is needed at that level. <S> For example: Task 1 [User] instructions Task 2 <S> [Superuser] instructions Task 3 [Superuser] <S> instructions <S> etc <S> Appendix: Users <S> This is how a User logs in <S> This is how a Superuser logs in Sometimes the docs team could use a snippet of text that is usable in multiple places while only being editable in one. <S> But when that snippet is being used in so many places, I have to wonder if that's the best way.

If you are writing task-style topics with a prerequisites section, that is a good place to tell the reader which user to use.

Should beta functionality be mentioned in a training manual? I write training manuals for a software product. When that product is next released one of the tools in it will be marked "in beta". i.e. that functionality is is included only as a technical preview. Product documentation will surely include that functionality, but should a training manual? The functionality will vastly improve the user experience, but is obviously liable to change and updates. So is it best practice to train users to use a tool that is still in beta, or just ignore it altogether regardless of how useful it is? <Q> This is dependent upon how likely you are to publish a new training manual when the feature leaves beta. <S> If it is likely that updated manuals won't be made available to your users it's best to keep references to features that are likely to change out of the training literature until they have been finalized. <S> If the feature is extremely beneficial you can always point to it at the end of the manual, along with links to more thorough documentation, as additional reading. <S> If the beta feature is complex enough to require dedicated instruction then it might be a good idea to publish a separate document that is the beta training document for the feature. <S> This will provide instruction and get feedback on how best to instruct users in it's use before incorporating the feature into the regular training. <A> I usually include a clearly marked "Beta Features" section . <S> (either overall bundled together, or in individual sections marked as "BETA only"). <S> This allows non-BETA users to skip it, and eliminates people complaining about the absence of BETA features in PROD version. <S> Then, put less effort into BETA section if you intend to change it early and often (as the product updates fast and documentation updates just as fast), OR, more effort if you anticipate slower rate of changes. <A> I suggest you resist the urge to train customers in beta functionality unless they are specifically participating in your beta. <S> Base your standard training on released versions only. <S> That is not to say you cannot create the training content, just don't include in the final deliverables yet. <S> If you are using a single sourcing solution you can accomplish this various ways. <S> You may want to take advantage of having those trainees around and invite them to test new features but it should be clear to them that this activity is different from the regular training. <S> This assumes onsite training, don't spring this into a webinar or you risk blurring the lines. <A> I'd say look at this from the customer's point of view. <S> If they are likely to run into this functionality while doing the training, they desire that feature, and possibly may get aggravated if they don't see that feature in the training manual, then I would definitely add it. <S> I like @sphenning's idea of having info about the functionality at the end of the training doc. <S> Maybe a one line mention in the main content with a link to the content at the end. <S> This may make it easier to update for you, and also emphasize to the user that it's beta. <A> In a situation like this, my first instinct is to consult with my product manager, to ensure that he or she is OK with pointing out features like this. <S> Because the feature's going to be generally available, I'd choose to add it to all docs. <A> If you add it at all, add it as an appendix. <S> An appendix to the main manual indicates that it is not a full part of the product. <S> Also, if the beta functionality makes it into the main product, you can move the section into the main manual. <S> While if it is removed from the product, you delete the appendix with no effect on the main manual. <A> I'd say you create a draft version of the document with Beta features included but marked with something to indicate that it's a beta feature. <S> Then the doc can be distributed with the beta software. <S> Once a new production release is locked in, you can then easily go through your draft version, searching for each beta feature to: remove the beta symbols for those features that moved to production unchanged update the docs for any features with changes made during beta testing remove any features that failed to make it from beta to production <S> By starting the work while still in beta, you can speed the transition to a new production document version, but you are still highlighting the fact that features are not necessarily going to make it into production by the end. <A> Beta features should be mentioned only in beta docs, which should be clearly labeled as such. <S> Training materials should reflect whatever version is used in the training. <S> If the training is for a release version, you might include a "preview of coming attractions" module to cover things in a beta version, but Google "forward-looking statements" first. <A> I would keep a universal training manual for all types of end users to avoid worrying about a maintaining separate content for beta and non-beta users when your product goes live and no more beta. <S> Beta features, however should be highlighted in other types of user communications, such as what's new or release notes.

If you are regularly updating your training materials, so that any changes to the beta feature come with an updated manual, and your users use the updated manuals, then there is little harm in pointing users towards features that are helpful, provided that it is made extremely clear that the feature is currently in beta.

Is it acceptable to have the theme of a story remain hidden to its characters? I am trying to expand the depth of my writing beyond simple storytelling. Although my previous novel was an action/adventure, I realized it has a deeper point than entertainment. Dean Koontz offers this definition of a theme: “Theme is a statement, or series of related observations, about some aspect of the human condition, interpreted from the unique viewpoint of the author.” I have read others suggesting that themes covey a message about the story's plot. When we refer to the theme of a book, we are talking about a universal idea, lesson, or message that stretches through the entire story https://www.thoughtco.com/common-book-themes-1857647 But I agree with Mark Baker of SE: Theme is not necessarily a message. It is more the thing that you are exploring. If the theme is love, for instance, you don't have to take a position on love, you don't have to have a covert message, like "love hurts" or "love sucks". The theme is love simply because the story is about love, is an exploration of what love it like. Does a story necessarily need a theme? This was touched upon by a recent post from SE: In the Tales of Huckleberry Finn, did you know that what's-his-face didn't care whether the man he'd come to tell his master set him free was freed? Think about it for a second. A boy is told that a runaway slave is set free, and doesn't have to run any more. And instead of telling him, he pretends to help him run further and further away, coming up with ever-increasingly elaborate plans to keep him safe, making himself the hero. But it's never stated. In fact, most people don't ever realize that's what happened (be honest, can you tell me the name of the boy in question here?). So the theme of physical slavery turns into a theme of mental slavery (he thinks he's still a slave, and continues running from it), showing the the very concept of slavery is all in your mind. How do I include a powerful theme in my story without making it blatantly obvious? Nicely stated and it touches upon my question. Can the theme be so hidden that it is easily overlooked by even the casual reader. I think of the 2001: A Space Odyssey “Star Gate” light show in the final segment of the film where even Kubrick left the 'meaning' open to the viewer. https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/69424/meaning-of-the-final-room-in-2001-a-space-odyssey/69438 I want the attentive reader to recognize the irony of my story without being told. So my question is:Do the characters or even the narrator have to understand that there is an underlying theme of the story? <Q> Do the characters or even the narrator have to understand that there is an underlying theme of the story? <S> I think obviously not; neither the characters or narrator need to know the theme. <S> Many books we feel to be "good" do have themes, either statements or topics, and the self-reinforcing nature of the different sub-plots <S> (all variations on the theme) resonate with us readers even if we don't realize it consciously. <S> That is essentially the value of having a theme (message or topic), this resonance between character arcs, sub-plot variations, etc, instead of a stew of different character arcs with different kinds of goals. <S> e.g. It helps if everybody is essentially seeking some aspect of love, instead of the myriad other goals they might have. <A> Theme is a structural aspect of your writing, so it would ordinarily never be explicitly available to your characters <S> --except in a post-modernist novel where they are aware they are fictional. <S> Similarly, as a structural element, it should generally not call undue attention to itself. <S> The reader should be able to enjoy the work perfectly well in complete ignorance of the theme. <S> That being the case, what is the purpose of theme, if not to call attention to itself? <S> Like other structural elements, it is there to help you craft an enjoyable (meaningful, significant, immersive) <S> reading experience that feels satisfying to the reader. <S> Without a theme, a book can feel random, meaningless, self-indulgent, or like a waste of time. <S> A successful theme binds <S> the disparate elements of your book together into a satisfying whole. <S> Your characters and/or narrator don't necessarily need to be entirely forbidden from discussing the topic that composes your theme, but you'll want to be judicious about this. <S> Like other structural elements, when theme is too often foregrounded, it can seem clumsy, strident and forced. <S> A light sprinkling of explicit references can help the reader conceptualize your story without overly damaging their suspension of disbelief. <A> I'm not sure. <S> Is the narrator of "All Quiet on the Western Front" aware of the themes of the story? <S> He is very much aware of the horror and the tragedy of the war, and of how much it has changed him, but is he aware of how senseless and futile parts of it were? <S> Like his own death? <S> Is his awareness of the horror and the tragedy similar to the awareness of the reader? <S> Tevye the Dairyman is very definitely not aware of how his thinking himself smarter than he really is and his inability to notice what's going on around him cause his daughters' misfortunes. <S> Nor is Don Quixote aware of being a parody. <S> On the other hand, Tolkien's characters explicitly talk about various themes in the "Lord of the Rings" (sometimes you cannot really come home, small people are capable of great deeds, etc.) <S> As does Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago. <S> The writer should know what it is they're writing. <S> But the characters and the narrator can be as aware or unaware as serves the writer's goals, I think. <A> Yes, it is fine for the characters to be unaware of theme. <S> Jack London's Call of the Wild had clear themes. <S> The animals were likely not aware of them. <S> Orwell's Animal Farm . <S> It took me, the author, a while to identify the themes of my own story. <S> I found them, with some thought. <S> They rang true to me and I understood better why I wrote the story. <S> The knowledge didn't change the story. <S> The themes were there whether I knew it or not. <S> However, knowing them, I can use the knowledge to sharpen the story if I choose. <S> If I, as an author, am less than clear on my own theme, and if there is a human trait to tell story without prioritizing theme, then it is fine for the characters to be less aware of theme. <S> If you assign a story, say, Lord of the Flies , to a high school class - And ask students to identify theme. <S> You will have many answers. <S> Some require more thought and may in fact fall 'wrong.' <S> But many will be legitimate and backed by evidence and argument and writing. <S> The characters' jobs is to be true to themselves. <S> Don't give them extra work. <S> It will fall flat. <S> Identifying your themes is a good exercise and gives you a tool to improve upon your writing. <A> I think it's acceptable to have the theme hidden from the author. <S> Theme often connotes meaning, which in any form of art is subjective to the viewer. <S> Further, when the theme is obvious to the characters the literary work is often in danger of becoming pedantic. <S> Theme is for critics and book clubs. <S> Write a good story first and worry about what it means only if you're writing with the intent to persuade; and if you do write with the intent to persuade you must be first and foremost entertaining.

So if the author doesn't know what the theme is, there's no need for the characters to know. A good story will have theme.

Words we may believe are neutral yet have restricted connotations Edit: Perhaps a list of words prone to mis-use would serve the need, here. Is anyone aware of a resource that lists words with emotional baggage? Example: I use the expression 'enormity of x' (as in, the enormity of time since the big bang.) Someone mentioned to me that the word 'enormity' is associated with negative actions, like crimes. And indeed, Merriam Webster agrees. This is the first awareness I've had of that connotation. Enormousness seems like an awkward alternative word. To many 's's' not crisp enough. Is 'immensity' laden with baggage? Is there a resource of such words that may have pigeonholed usage? This is a hard question because every word has a flavor. I have to wonder if the sciences use 'enormity' in a neutral way and if that may be how I learned the word. <Q> I'm not sure that the issue with enormity is that it has emotional baggage. <S> The issue is that it has restricted usage -- it is only use in certain constructions such as "enormity of the crime". <S> This is not a matter of emotional baggage so much as simply an accident of the development of standard usage. <S> Other words with similarly restricted usage include: nether, bated, riddance, and petard. <S> There is a list of some such words in the Wikipedia entry on Fossil words: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_word . <S> These fossil words are perhaps a more restricted case than "enormity" since most of them occur only in a single idiom. <S> But I think the same general idea applies: they are words that continue to be used only in restricted cases and limited constructions. <S> As for emotional baggage, many words can have emotional baggage, but mostly it depends on the context in which they are used. <S> There are, of course, some trigger words that set off an instant response no matter how they are used. <S> Some of these are durable. <S> Some lose their trigger status after the events they are associated with fade from consciousness. <S> In any case, while individual words can have emotional overtones, to really evoke emotions you need to tell a story. <S> This can be a very brief story, using only a few words, but it is stories, not words, that pack real emotional punch. <S> Indeed, to the extent that words have emotional overtones it is because they trigger a memory of stories. <S> The other thing about using a story to evoke emotion rather than a word is that a story is a much more accurate instrument for the job. <S> The emotional overtones of words can be all over the map, because they can suggest different stories to different people. <S> By telling a story, you control which story the reader receives and therefore control the emotional response much more. <A> Many, if not all, words can have emotional baggage. <S> Words can have many different, and sometimes opposite connotations, and different situtations, places, countries, etc. can give different connotations to the same words. <S> Colours are the simplest example. <S> Red can mean 'passion', 'danger', 'love', 'blood', and 'special'. <S> White is used for weddings in some cultures; for funerals in others. <S> Words don't 'pigeonholded usage'; they have culturally defined meanings. <S> These meanings are, in post-modernist parlance, infinitely deferred. <A> As a practical matter google's "define: [word]" will usually give you a sense of the emotional baggage heavy enough to affect the meanings. <S> Not sure of an easy way to check if the connotations match without having a beta reader point it out or looking it up, though, sorry. <S> You could limit your writing to words with connotations you feel rock solid about (the highlight of Munroe's Thing Explainer is certainly its limited vocabulary) and many people do prefer lucid over complex prose anyway, but that can be less fun ;) <S> (To me time is more 2D than 3D, so I'd say something like "extensive time" (or interminable to be more humorous) instead of immensity or enormity. <S> Enormous doesn't have the same bad connotations as enormity which may be why enormity escaped your notice)

If you Google for "trigger words" you will find lots of lists, though they seem to focus on the ones to use rather than the ones to avoid.

Is there a tool for determining the number of on in a word for the purpose of writing haiku? In America at least, Haiku are commonly taught to students as poems having 5, 7, then 5 syllables , when in actuality, they have a structure of 5, 7, then 5 on . The NaHaiWriMo site explains what an on is, but I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around it. I thought I could look for a tool online to determine the number of on in a given input, much like this syllable counter ; however, I'm having further trouble, since "on" is a common word in the English language. Does such a tool exist? Or would it even be possible to create a tool to consistently determine the number of on in a language other than Japanese? <Q> *transliterate them into Hiragana, which you can hear spoken (lower right hand option). <S> This means it will show you the Hirigana spelling that most closely approximates the sounds of the English word. <S> You can decide how good it is by listening to the Japanese speaker pronounce the Hiragana. <S> For me, most are close but definitely not sounding like English. <S> As your article says, there is no definition of on in English, the number of on <S> can only be computed by converting the sound to Hiragana, and then recognizing (from the Hiragana site ) how many on are represented in the Hiragana spelling. <S> In Hiragana, either one or two glyphs represent a single syllable to be uttered in the Japanese language. <S> Scroll down in the site to get a complete list. <S> Because it refers to sounds, you might be able to portray the sound of an English word in Hiragana, but not every English sound can be represented in Hiragana. <S> For example, the words "chick" or "bat" both turn into two syllable words in Hiragana, sounding like "chi-ku" and "ba-ta", because all Hiragana syllables end in a vowel sound. <S> I would also say, whatever you write in English trying to adhere to this strict definition of on will likely be rejected as not real Haiku; readers and critics won't care about such technicalities and will count English syllables, which is apparently what the inventors of Haiku were aiming to do in their own language, capture syllables of the Japanese language. <A> An on is a feature of the Japanese language that does not exist in English. <S> Counting something that does not exist makes no sense. <S> For the same reason, whatever is written in English and called a "haiku" is not a haiku in the Japanese sense of the word. <S> American haiku poet Cor van den Heuvel writes : <S> A haiku is not just a pretty picture in three lines of 5-7-5 syllables each. <S> In fact, most haiku in English are not writtten in 5-7-5 syllables at all -- many are not even written in three lines. <S> What distinguishes a haiku is concision, perception and awareness -- not a set number of syllables. <S> A haiku is a short poem recording the essence of a moment keenly perceived in which Nature is linked to human nature. <S> As Roland Barthes has pointed out, this record neither describes nor defines, but "diminishes to the point of pure and sole designation. <S> " The poem is refined into a touchstone of suggestiveness. <S> In the mind of an aware reader it opens again into an image that is immediate and palpable, and pulsing with that delight of the senses that carries a conviction of one's unity with all of existence. <S> A haiku can be anywhere from a few to 17 syllables, rarely more. <S> It is now known that about 12 -- not 17 -- syllables in English are equivalent in length to the 17 onji (sound-symbols) of the Japanese haiku. <S> A number of poets are writing them shorter than that. <S> The results almost literally fit Alan Watt's description of haiku as "wordless" poems. <S> Such poems may seem flat and empty to the uninitiated. <S> But despite their simplicity, haiku can be very demanding of both writer and reader, being at the same time one of the most accessible and inaccessible kinds of poetry. <S> R. H. Blyth, the great translator of Japanese haiku, wrote that a haiku is "an open door which looks shut. <S> " To see what is suggested by a haiku, the reader must share in the creative process, being willing to associate and pick up on the echoes implicit in the words. <S> A wrong focus, or lack of awareness, and he will see only a closed door. <S> In English, a haiku is not defined by a specific number of on , syllables, linesk, words, sounds, or whatever, but by its content . <S> Forget about the on . <A> Or would it even be possible to create a tool to consistently determine the number of on in a language other than Japanese? <S> No, it isn't. <S> Or rather, it is possible to count something consistently, but if you're looking at a language like English, there is no agreement about what "on" would correspond to. <S> As the Wikipedia article you linked to mentioned, the equivalent general linguistic concept is the " mora " (from Latin, plural "morae"). <S> As far as I know, there is no general agreement about how to count morae in modern English. <S> See the Linguistics SE question <S> How would a haiku look in English using morae? <S> There are specific theories that use the term "mora", or similar concepts, to describe certain rules in English that seem to be related to syllable "weight", but because of the differences in how English and Japanese use consonant sounds, it's not really directly comparable to the Japanese concept.

You can try Japanese Transliteration which will take English words and

How to evoke wonder in the reader, when there isn't an incredulous character? A "fish out of water" character can serve as a reader proxy: whether it is a wondrous view, an unusual custom, or what have you, the character experiences and responds to them, and through him - the reader. But what do I do if there's no "fish out of water character" for whom the situation is novel? How do I evoke wonder at the grandeur of an Alhambra-like palace, for example, if my POV characters have been born there, and all the astounding beauty is their day-to-day? How do I draw attention to a custom that is strange to the reader, but is as common to the characters, as seating on a chair is to us? <Q> Make the circumstances special Sitting on a chair is normal. <S> Sitting on a chair because there is a bomb under it that will detonate the moment you stand up is not. <S> Your character simply has to see the palace in another light. <S> Maybe they have always been at daytime when some kind of ceremony took place and visitors were allowed. <S> But now for story reasons your character has to hide in the palace at night. <S> Suddenly everything feels different. <S> The normally sunlit passages are completely dark. <S> You can't even see your own hand, let alone the rows of beautiful portrays of past kings and queens lining the walls. <S> You know they are there, but apart from the contures you can't see the details of their prestigious robes and their golden crown with the small ruby that symbolises the royal blood. <S> As you progress further you notice that for the first time in your life you are straying from the golden path - the floor tiles that are lined with gold and supposed to be the only ones visitors should step on. <S> Finally you made it to the big dining hall. <S> The impressive size has always filled you with awe when you were a kid, but now that you can't even see the ceiling in this darkness it feels incredibly dangerous. <S> You know that there are paintings of angels, looking down upon the little sheep that are humans and caring for them - but now their invisible stares feel like they are judging you, waiting for the slightes mistake to use their heavenly spears not against the demons that are waiting outside, but against you. <S> Or make the character aware of how impressive it is for others Introduce a new character. <S> I remember the day <S> I first visited the palace. <S> The grand hall with all its glory. <S> The beautiful mosaics on all sides... <S> It all feels so dull now. <S> The magic is gone. <A> A novel has many elements - this is one of the things that makes it both challenging and fun. <S> Dialog is an element. <S> Exposition is an element. <S> Character arcs, subtext, etc etc. <S> Description. <S> I think what you are looking for is description. <S> Or more precisely - Evocation. <S> I went to google to find a relevant passage showing the evoking of awe. <S> I expected to find a passage from some well known work. <S> Instead I found this which coincidentally chose Mark Baker's answer to a similar question. <S> There are portions of my story where I attempt to describe the sweep and grandeur of a place, and I do not claim to do it well, but several have remarked that those descriptions transport them. <S> Not dialogue. <S> Description <S> that evokes the reader's memory of being in an awesome place. <S> Look at the Writing SE <S> Q&A here . <A> For third person narration, the narrator can be used as a proxy for the reader - remarking on the remarkable as if it was the reader who was experiencing it. <S> Secespitus makes a good point that these perspectives can change over time and with context, and contrast with memories of when things were new and surprising would be a nice way to illustrate the difference. <S> I've been trying to think of an example and keep coming back to the communicators in the original series of Star Trek . <S> In early episodes Kirk would take out his communicator, turn a dial as if tuning it, then speak carefully into it. <S> By the later series he was opening it with a flick of his wrist and talking as if he knew someone would be listening - while to the viewer in the Sixties and Seventies <S> the idea of a personal communication device that people could carry around with them was nothing short of sorcery. <S> It's true that invoking wonder in the reader is a good place to start, but the experience a reader will value most is when they start to accept things the characters find unremarkable - when the reader becomes, for want of a better expression, one of the gang.

For first person narration by one of the characters, the idea that they find nothing special in what they're seeing or doing can be used as effectively as specifically mentioning it to give the reader the impression they are in a different place to the world they know. Or just let your character watch a little child that is seeing the palace for the first time.

Should I capitalise the first letter of a title that an unnamed character has? I'm writing from a third person viewpoint. I have a character who does not have a name. He is simply known as "The Sentinel". In fact, that is the only introduction he gives for himself. So when I'm writing a scene where he interacts with other characters, I don't know whether to capitalise the first letter of his title or not. e.g. sentences - Adam stared at the Sentinel for a long hard second. (OR) Adam stared at the sentinel for a long hard second. The Sentinel stood quietly, surveying the whole thing. (OR) The sentinel stood quietly, surveying the whole thing. Surprise leapt on the Sentinel's face but he covered it well. (OR) Surprise leapt on the sentinel's face but he covered it well. Also, extending the question, should the "the" before the title be also capitalised? <Q> If he is one sentinel of many — so it's a kind of descriptor, like "the soldier" or "the doctor" — <S> and he's somewhat anonymous, then keep it lowercase. <S> If he is the only one, then it's a proper designation: the Sentinel, the Winter Soldier, the Doctor. <A> I misunderstood, rewriting. <S> Yes, capitalize it; it is essentially their name if that is how people refer to the character. <A> A descriptor, or anything else being used in place of a proper noun is capitalized as if it were a proper noun, because it essentially is one. <S> You would typically not capitalize <S> the unless it is an intrinsic part of the character's "name," which it might be. <S> He took a personal meeting with The Donald, which he would later regret. <S> This would be rare, even in the case where people never use the name without the definite article. <S> You would typically reserve it for cases where (for example) <S> "The Sentinel" refers to a specific unique person who needs to be distinguished from a host of other sentinels. <S> No, he's not just a sentinel. <S> He's " The Sentinel."

This depends on how the character sees himself (or if it's close third-person from someone else's POV, how that character sees him).

How to write a character who recently gained emotions I have an android character who, ever since the near-death experience of his very young childhood, he has lacked emotions of any kind. But recently, another one of my characters has put forth a very large effort to help my android character gain emotions. If she were to be successful in this, how should I go about writing my android character now that he has gained emotions for the first time in his memory? <Q> Initially he would be confused and overwhelmed. <S> He's experiencing things he's never had to deal with before and has no real base to understand it. <S> If you've ever seen someone on hormone therapy or a pregnant woman, you'll see how they experience rapid mood swings and can overreact at the littlest things. <S> That would be your character for a little while. <S> If you want to keep it from being over the top, have the initial emotions muted. <S> That will allow the sense of wonder in the android, and still show how strange and intoxicating happiness or anger can be without overwhelming the rest of the plot. <A> In such a situation, as you craft the pages which precede the character's emotional awakening, you can restrain your natural descriptive and emotive writing style. <S> You can make the writing factual, sterile and subtly gray. <S> Whenever your pre-emotive character takes on the POV, your writing should reflect his limited understanding of the world, omitting all that he cannot perceive not only through the content of what you write, but also in the very style with which you write his character's view. <S> Then, once his emotions have been set free, unfetter your own gifts and let the colors, textures and harmonies of life pour out onto the page. <S> Don't tell us that he can suddenly "feel happy". <S> Show us how spectacular the world suddenly appears to his long-shaded eyes. <S> The best example of this kind of transition comes from film rather than literature. <S> Go watch "The Wizard of Oz" from the beginning and pay attention to the "not-so-subtle" difference between Kansas and Oz. <S> Then go do the same thing within your story. <S> Keep Writing! <A> Maybe the emotions would be present but muted---difficult for the robot to interpret. <S> You could have him act on these emotions without understanding what they are or what they mean. <S> Many people do this anyway. <S> This way, you might have an easier time staying focused on these characters' actions rather than getting lost in the mechanics of the robot exploring and understanding emotion for the first time.

Emerging emotions can be a wonderful opportunity for a writer, especially if you plot out that it is going to happen before you actually start putting words down on paper.

Problem writing on a keyboard properly I have a problem. For many years of playing games, I've developed a strange habit; I write with all the fingers on my left hand, which is very nice. however, I only write with two fingers on my right hand. All this is from playing games where I constantly had to move my right hand from the mouse and back to the keyboard. I've previously tried to get rid of this behaviour, but it is proving difficult, even with following various Touch-Typing exercises. I write okay fast, but I would still like to use a prober system. Do any of you have a technique to get rid of this behaviour and or train it in a certain way? Or should I just keep at it and train it with normal touch-typing training. <Q> Just keep on writing! <S> The more you write, the more used to it <S> you'll get :) <S> I'm also a gamer, and English isn't my first language, so writing in English was a big struggle for me a few years back. <S> I was generally slow to type, even in my first language. <S> But as they say, practice makes perfect. <S> If you're writing a relatively large story, you'll notice that, once approaching its end, you'll be typing a lot more quickly - and effectively/efficiently - than when you started. <S> Also, if it serves any consolation, I just noticed that I too type with only two fingers on my right hand. <S> While not the most optimal way of typing - and I did take some dactylography classes <S> - it is the quickest I found. <S> To be completely fair, had I kept on practicing typing after those classes, I would be using all of my fingers from both hands without raising them or looking at the keyboard every now and again, but even still, it's quick enough where it's not really a problem. <S> If you still want to get the best practices (or as they say, the "correct" way of typing), I definitely recommend taking some typing classes. <S> They're massively boring and repetitive, but ultimately helpful! <A> I'm going to suggest a writing exercise! <S> and I would encourage you to research alternative keyboards or keyboard layouts (strange breaks habit: learn to type in Dvorak so that you no longer know where the keys are). <S> The others are right: otherwise you need to type a lot. <S> But writing a lot can be hard, so make it beneficial. <S> There's an exercise used to learn style and voice and it is that you literally transcribe whole works of fiction. <S> Set a schedule and do this long enough <S> and you will hopefully learn a thing about the author you admire and at least get more used to typing normally. <S> Also, Set up a training regimen the way some people learn to run. <S> Type the right way for a set amount of time. <S> Then as an interval you can switch back. <S> But every day lengthen the time you type normally. <S> Shorten the time you type gamer style. <S> Look up: interval training. <S> This will be absolutely difficult, but it will be better for your hands. <A> Brains Do What Is Easiest <S> The challenge is that our brains tend to want to do what is easy. <S> Over the years, you've built neural pathways which fire very easily. <S> Now those pathways fire much more quickly and cause you to continue the old behavior/habit. <S> What you need to do is figure out some way to not allow yourself to cheat. <S> Since it is likely you are not truly touch-typing but looking at your keyboard the most direct way to retrain yourself is to not allow yourself to look at your keyboard. <S> Distraction <S> What you really need is a distraction. <S> If you do this, it will feel terrible at first as your brain thinks it is ridiculous to make something difficult which is apparently so easy with your two fingers. <S> If you'll commit to looking only at the screen and learning to find the keys by distances using only appropriate fingers you will find that after a couple of days your typing speed will grow at amazing rates.

The best way to do that is to start a touch typing tutorial / software of some type which forces you to type while you look at the screen. You do need to practice a new habit You may find it necessary to hide your hands and keyboard underneath something so you absolutely cannot cheat. You need to distract or disallow your current behavior.

How do you write an attack scene for a story using the technique "Show, don't tell"? I'm writing a story and I need to describe a hidden young girl watching an attack on her village. How can I best show this instead of just telling it? <Q> This is easy to do. <S> Since she's a young girl, only able to see a portion of the battle, likely with no military skills, she won't be thinking of pincer movements, redoubts, or what style of fighting the people are using, which would require some explanation, she'll focus on simpler things. <S> A fight just feet away from her hiding place <S> will let her see the smith, always a gentle giant unless he's had too much to drink, cave in a mans skull and helmet with a hammer only to be hamstrung from behind and pierced by spears. <S> Her eyes will be drawn to the town hall/temple/feast hall, which is on fire with screaming women and children in it. <S> The ones who flee are cut down like dogs or stripped and placed in chains, the rest burn. <S> Depending on how hard and brutal <S> your book is decides the detail. <S> Maybe she'll see a bit of this and then hide her face in the ground, covering her ears so she can only hear the muffled screams, tears and the roaring of fires. <A> I think that a young person's view is the best for this sort of thing. <S> I would use her inner dialog to describe the attack scene the way she sees it. <S> By that, I don't mean accurately all the time, because from her hidden location she won't see the entire attack. <S> She might not even be able to see <S> any of it, if she is hidden in a locked cabinet or something. <S> But she would have some sort of sensory input and could imagine the rest. <S> She can't talk to anybody about this because she is almost certainly afraid to make noise. <S> I'm also assuming that she is alone. <S> And keeping the baby from crying is very important because the noise could draw the attackers to them. <S> Mainly i'm thinking that the dichotomy between what she is saying to the infant and what she is thinking internally. <S> Inner dialog can show as well as outer actions. <S> And don't forget the physical manifestations of fear, such as nausea, shaking, and sweating. <A> I like the two answers already given. <S> But there are options not yet on the table. <S> But for my answer to make sense, you need to know what is going on. <S> It's an attack on her village, but is this just bandits (then I imagine they won't be organized). <S> Is there an invading army? <S> (there might be some kind of show of force before they demand the village's unconditional surrender, and perhaps their food to feed the army). <S> You may also wish to consider defences (protective wall, moat, a safe place for the non-combatants to retreat to?) <S> Having said that, let's get into options. <S> The little girl is hidden away with the other women and children. <S> There might be a window of some sort, and maybe she finds her little brother trying to sneak a peak for whatever reason. <S> Maybe she sees the people, small as ants, running around. <S> Maybe she seems some of those ants stop moving. <S> Maybe she's in a closet, maybe a trap door hidden under a carpet in the living room. <S> Maybe she can't see anything, or maybe there's just this little crack between the planks of wood that lets in some light. <S> Maybe she hears the clashing of things hitting against each other. <S> Maybe there's a warmth in the air that should be there, or the scent of smoke and firewood burning, when she knows there shouldn't be. <S> The little girl is captured, and tied to a post for her captor to claim later. <S> She'd be out in the open this time. <S> She could see people fighting, see their shirts grow red. <S> She closes her eyes, not wanting to look any more. <S> But she hears the fighting, the wailing of familiar voices morphed by anger and terror. <S> She could smell the houses burning. <S> She can feel other women and girls being tied to the same post, each grunting from exertion as they try to free themselves or others, knowing that if these men take them... <S> Really. <S> It all depends on how you want this to play out.

If you want to add more drama, give her a baby brother/sister to talk to and try to sooth while having all these imaginings which might be worse than the actual attack. Just imagine yourself in her position, seeing and hearing what she is, and then write her inner dialog. The little girl is hidden away in her house. She'll watch as a cloud of arrows come over a wall or barricade sending the unarmoured defenders to the ground screaming in agony as their clothes turn red from blood.

Is shaking of the head positive or negative? When you say a character shook their head, does that mean they nodded, as in "yes", or they shook it sideways, signifying the answer is "no?" <Q> But looking through English. <S> SE: <S> When moving one's head to answer a question does “nod” mean <S> yes and “shake” mean no? <S> : <S> In general, in countries where English is the native language, a "nod" (not a "node") is an up and down movement of the head meaning "yes. <S> " <S> A head shake is a side to side movement meaning "no. <S> " At least for most English speakers in Britain and America, a nod never means no, and a shake never means yes. <S> This is somewhat oversimplified and variations exist, but for the most part, the basic pattern is as I have stated it. <S> As a writer you should make sure that there are other clues for the reader to show what the intention is. <S> For example you could add that the character is "shaking their head in disagreement" or "nodding enthusiastically". <A> As stated, a "shake" of the head is the side to side movement, a nod is up and down, and a bob of the head is down then up. <S> Generally speaking a nod means <S> yes and a shake means no. <S> But then it gets complicated. <S> Because a shake doesn't always indicate a negative emotion or a negative reaction. <S> A small shake of the head with a small smile can indicate humour, or self depreciation, or a reaction to a bad joke. <S> Fast movement side to side can be used to "refresh" someone, wake them up. <S> It can mean disagreement with the speaker, or it can be used in support of a statement made by the speaker. <S> It can indicate denial, rejection, refutation, disdain, anger, support and myriad other emotions and actions. <S> With a shake of the head, body language, context and environment matter before we even begin to get into cultural/geographic variances. <S> Especially in places like Australia where phrases like "Yeah, nah" and "Yeah, nah, <S> yeah <S> " are proudly uttered and confuse non-Australians endlessly. <S> Where depending on the position in the sentence, expletives can either be negative and abusive, or a term of endearment. <A> For me it works like this. <S> A nod is primarily a signal of positive empathy. <S> If someone says something good and you want to confirm that, you nod. <S> If someone says something good and you want to deny that that, you shake your head. <S> If someone says something bad/horrible and you want to confirm that you shake your head. <S> If someone says something bad/horrible and you want to deny that, you distance your self by not giving any feedback. <A> Also a popular acronym: Urban Dictionary: smh Acronym for 'shake my head' or 'shaking my head.' <S> Usually used when someone finds something so stupid, no words can do it justice. <S> Sometimes it's modified to 'smfh' or 'smmfh' by those that prefer profanity in their internet acronyms. <S> trick1: i got a headache... <S> i hit myself in the head with my knee while trying to do situps. <S> trick2: <S> smh <S> Basically shaking ones head at a loss for words or in utter disbelief. <S> Hardly likely to mean yes .

From personal experience (central Europe) I would say that shaking your head is normally a "No" and nodding your head is normally a "Yes". A shake is primarily a signal of negative empathy. Head movements vary in their meaning depending on the culture in question.

What are the advantages and disadvantages to changing the POV in the second and third books of a trilogy? Consider placing the second book of a SF/F trilogy into the point of view of a secondary character from the first book. Good? Bad? This seems like a workable idea to me, interesting, expand the world, fresh new ideas, insights into other characters. It allows the time to be run out further, the 'trilogy' could take ten or twenty years to resolve and the protagonist of any particular book could be any age. But maybe it's a really, really bad idea. Is this sort of POV shift workable in trilogies? Are there significant disadvantages to changing POV in a second and third book? Perhaps I should conceptualize the story as a series rather than a trilogy to start with. Thanks in advance if you have thoughts about this. <Q> It depends on your character arcs Switching POVs to a secondary character is actually incredibly common in romance series. <S> Each book completes the romantic arc of a single couple, and then the sequels pick up secondary characters from the earlier novels and give them romantic arcs as well. <S> There are, of course, plenty of romance series with multi-book character arcs as well. <S> But the "new POV for each book" model is alive and well. <S> Watching character arcs from third person is a well established technique (eg. <S> The Great Gatsby, Sherlock Holmes, Trinity, The Master of Whitestorm, etc), but switching to it part way through a series is likely to disorient your readers. <A> It's not a bad idea, especially across books. <S> Consider a story like Roots , incredibly successful, but it has to cover a few centuries! <S> Obviously that story has to change POV characters all the damn time, but it is done successfully, and the "thread" used is: Follow a child/teen until they have a child, then skip forward ten or fifteen years. <S> Rinse, Wash, Repeat. <S> Your thread does not have to be genealogy, of course, but it would help if you had some kind of thread and plausible reason WHY this next character carries the new flag. <S> For Roots and following an ancestral line, the reason is obvious, but absent that you need a different good reason. <S> In the first book, you need to make her stand out somehow and be memorable. <S> Super competent, courageous, self-sacrificing, funny. <S> Perhaps she does complete a partial character arc that puts her in a new position, of wealth, power, ability, fame or responsibility, one that is an interesting start to a new character arc. <S> You may have done that already and not have to change a thing, but my point is I don't want to pick up the second book and say, " <S> Allison? <S> Who the hell was Allison? <S> " You want the reader that bought your last book to say, "Allison! <S> Awesome, I love her!" <A> My understanding is that this is the staple of how romance series execute. <S> You create a group of people and your meet cute couple hours it off in book one. <S> The you pick a new mc from that group for the romance thread, but continue to evolve the world and events that surround everyone. <S> Romance authors use this to explore different personas and plot threads within similar contexts; but it also let's them foreshadow and set up interesting hook-ups, for want of a better term, that you wouldn't believe until it happens. <S> What this comes down to is that romance is usually the story of how people get together. <S> Also, you standardly take a character through a development arc. <S> Often times you'll see authors play Lucy and yank the football to reset their characters, sometimes unfairly. <S> Just think of serial TV, where every season feels the same. <S> Romance has a harder time pulling this if, so they learned that the reset often paid off less than shifting to a new POV. <S> What you get by shifting is largely a new character to develop while your former characters tend to be background characters, or their new responsibility drags them away from pro-activity <S> so you don't want to spend all your time with them. <S> Of course, many trilogies in the fantasy/sci-fi genres choose to take a character along the arc in the space of three books, so a reset is not needed. <S> But it does happen, and the books that do it don't feel stale the way some others do. <S> And if you do switch mcs it should go without saying that the new needs to be at least as interesting as the old.

If your POV's character arc is completed, it makes sense for them to pass the torch onto another character, so the readers can follow this new character and watch as they develop. On the other hand, if your POV's arc is not completed, then switching over to watch it be completed in third person will probably not win you favors among your readers. It's neither good not bad on it's own, but either way requires skill and success.

Is it a deus ex machina if the alternative is illogical? Background: I know to avoid Deus Ex Machinas - meaning to me a sudden and unexpected solution arriving out of nowhere to save an otherwise unsolvable problem. They are often indicative of a writer who has written himself into a corner, and has to rely on a DXM to get him out of the pickle he's in. There are two answers to dealing with a DXM. The first is obviously to rework the plot, and the main conflict, so that there is a way to solve it. If that's not an option, and you have to use the DXM, you have to spread clues throughout the book as to its existence, so that when it is revealed it is a great twist rather than a DXM. I recently ran into a DXM situation in my current tale. In trying to solve the problem, I arrived at an interesting form of DXM, and was curious if it would still be considered a DXM, or if it would instead be a good twist. The good guy and his band of faithful followers (at least what's left of them) has hit rock bottom. All options have been closed off in their attempts to get the plot device. In a hail Mary attempt, they've struck at the heart of the enemy's defenses, where he holds all fifteen of the plot devices. If they can get even just one, they'll have enough bargaining power to achieve their goals. Unfortunately, they are captured. At this point, the bad guy could easily execute them. And this is where the DXM comes in. Lo! The villain doesn't want to kill them. The villain has recently conquered all of the land, and executing his enemies would only inspire fear in his new subjects. He wishes to rule through peace, not fear. He therefore decides instead to pardon them, and use the fifteen plot devices to fulfill their goals. Reasoning: Now that sounds really bad, but here's the thing: killing the good guy makes no sense whatsoever. The good guy and his companions were never much of a threat to the antagonist. He might have been forced to kill them while they were free and active, but now that they are captured and right in front of him, there's no point. This antagonist is not an inherently bad person. He's driven and very focused on keeping all fifteen plot devices, but now that he has them, he is intent on using them to rule his new land with peace, not fear. He is no tyrant, and doesn't want to be seen as one. He knows that executing his enemies will spread fear and dissent amongst those he now rules, while pardoning them will turn him into a generous benefactor among his new subjects. One final point is that granting the goals of the good guy and his companions also conveniently gets rid of them: they in fact desire to leave the land altogether, and the fifteen plot devices are the way home. Question: Based on all this, it makes no sense to kill them. Because of this, is the sudden reversal of attitude on the villain's part simply a twist? Or is it still going to seem like a DXM, and perhaps turn off readers? What this question is not: This is not a 'how to write' question, where I'm asking for alternative solutions to solving the main conflict. Similarly, I'm not asking for advice on how to work the plot so that seems like less of a DXM. This question is asking if this twist, as it is and with what I have provided (so assuming there's no other hints about it), would still be considered a DXM even after it is explained. (I'm assuming it will seem like one at first no matter what I do. It comes down to how the reader sees it once he understands how illogical the alternative [killing the good guys] is.) Also note that this question can easily help other writers with a DXM where the alternative is illogical. I am using my own writing purely as an example. <Q> I think you have to look at DXM this way: the resolution of the hero's arc has to be merited. <S> The hero can merit their solution by achieving it by their own actions. <S> But they can also merit it by deserving the help that has been provided to them. <S> A classic case is Androcles and the Lion. <S> Androcles is an escaped slave who is captured and thrown to a lion. <S> But lo! <S> the lion does not eat Androcles! <S> Why not, because earlier in the story Androcles had removed a thorn from the lion's paw (as considerable risk to himself). <S> Androcles does not survive being thrown to the lion by his might or guile. <S> But the ending is merited because of his previously demonstrated virtue. <S> If a character is to be saved by the intervention of a god, literally or figuratively, then they must previously have done something (selflessly) which merits their being saved. <S> The virtue displayed must be commensurate with the intervention provided. <S> In how many cop shows does our hero cop, with the bad guy's boot on his throat, get saved by the intervention of his partner or some bystander whose help he has merited by his earlier actions in the show? <S> So the question you should be asking is, will the reader feel that this unexpected and unlikely ending is merited. <S> If it is merited, it can be as unexpected and unlikely as you please. <S> If it is unmerited it can be a ordinary and commonplace as you like <S> and it still will not feel right. <S> Stories are moral. <A> I'd say for this to work, there should be sufficient information before this point for the readers not to see the antagonist as a bad guy. <S> Machiavellian perhaps, but not evil. <S> Then, for the antagonist, it should indeed be the logical solution to let your protagonists go. <S> I mean, they fought against him. <S> It isn't logical to send a message that "fight me, and you will be generously rewarded". <S> It also makes sense that if the antagonist chooses to let them go, he would make sure to render them powerless to ever oppose him again. <S> And finally, you would need to address how your protagonists feel about getting what they wanted handed to them on a silver platter by the antagonist. <S> Are they suspicious, expecting some treachery? <S> Remorseful for having fought a guy who turned out not to be so bad after all? <S> Angry at getting "pity", rather than having won their rewards? <S> It wouldn't feel so much as an ugly Deus Ex Machina if all the implications are addressed, I think. <A> Pushing the story in a new direction (by creating another crisis that would need to be resolved) is all right. <S> As far as I can see, your twist can mean two things - either the villain is not that bad, or he's actually worse - and freed protagonists are farther away from reaching their goal. <S> If it is the former, you'll need to show motivation for the protagonists to continue their fight, and for readers to keep rooting for them. <S> If it is the latter, you need to be careful to show the end of Act II as an actual loss for protagonists, and why would the villain be so convinced of his victory. <A> Yes, I would consider this a DxM. <S> To me, a DxM is any logically unjustified outcome, and this twist is not logical. <S> I won't talk about how to fix it or how to write <S> , just what makes me think so: ... <S> (what's left of them)... <S> So I presume the heroes are dying in their quest already... <S> The villain has recently conquered all of the land, and executing his enemies would only inspire fear in his new subjects. <S> He wishes to rule through peace, not fear. <S> I presume in the story that not just members of the heroic band but many others are dying in an attempt to prevent this "conquering of all the land", because it makes little sense to me such an enterprise is not met by massive resistance, and is not lethal on both sides. <S> Since this happened "recently", all the land is probably uncertain if the conquering is completed. <S> Thus the villain's motivation for NOT killing the heroes makes no sense, the people of the world are already frightened by the war, and they know people are dying trying to stop the villain. <S> From their POV the villain is already a wanton killer bent on dominance and rule at any cost, so what's a few more dead? <S> It won't inspire any more fear than the hundreds or thousands killed before them. <S> Especially since the heroes intend to leave this world as soon as they get their magic device. <S> So to the outside world, their disappearance looks no different than if they were killed and their bodies disappeared, cremated. <S> And especially since the villain WAS willing to kill them before this moment in order to rule. <S> As promised I won't talk about how to fix it, I just think this change of heart would not make sense to me as a reader, and would not be satisfying. <S> The villain's sudden conversion to pacifism and magnanimity does not sound in character, his motivation (not inspiring fear) does not make sense, and it definitely does not sound like the heroes <S> earned their reward at the end, it feels like a "participation" ribbon for the losing team.

Endings do not have to be logical or probable, but they do have to be merited. Complete resolution of a crisis would be a DXM.

Is it a good idea to make the protagonist unlikable while making the supporting characters more likable? My protagonist is a very shitty person that makes bad decisions for the wrong reasons. They do eventually redeem themselves, not because of their own decisions, but because the supporting characters push the protagonist in the right direction. Will a protagonist like that alienate the reader? <Q> It is not and never has been about making the protagonist likable. <S> It has always been about making them recognizable. <S> If you want a great example of an unlikable protagonist, try Graham Greene's Brighton Rock . <S> Pinky is in no way likable and in no way moral. <S> He is, however, recognizably human. <S> When people ask for a character to be likable, what the really mean is a character that they approve of, that exemplifies their ideology or embodies their life lie. <S> These reader's don't want real humanity. <S> They want a plaster saint. <S> For all other readers, though, it is all about making a character who is recognizably human and whose frailties we can sympathize with and whose career we can follow with interest (even if with horror). <A> It doesn't have to. <S> Even if the guy is a unlikeable and a jerk, make him human. <S> Give him reasons for his flaws. <S> The reader will be connected to the character at least on this level. <S> I recently read a detective story where the main character wasn't very likeable. <S> Yet, the author had reasons for all of the character's flaws. <S> The character was interesting and deep. <S> As the story progressed, the character became more likeable as you realized why he had his flaws. <S> However, if you are going to take this approach realize that your readers likely won't be there for the characters. <S> There are some stories that focus around character more than the plot. <S> If you have an unlikeable character, I would caution against focusing on the characters too much. <S> I think this approach (unlikeable character who eventually redeems himself) can create a much more memorable story than if your followed the common pattern of a likeable protagonist. <A> You want a character to be engaging, not necessarily likable. <S> Breaking Bad doesn't have a likable or even sympathetic protagonist; it has a competent one and an engaging mystery. <S> An unlikable character is a handicap, so everything else you write will have to carry the dead weight; but it is possible to turn that dead weight, that liability, into an asset. <S> The seven deadly words of a book are: "I do not care about these people." <S> Note, it's not "this person", but if a reader doesn't care about anyone in the story, they are likely to put it down and often correct to. <S> Engagement/Caring doesn't mean like; but you should be answering the question "Why does the reader care?" <S> often and strongly. <S> Books that undersell often have this problem. <A> Give the reader something to connect to early on, and the protagonist doesn't even need to redeem themselves. <S> (No reason why they shouldn't, it's just that it isn't necessary for not alienating the reader. <S> My favourite example is Humbert Humbert from "Lolita". <S> The man is a paedophile. <S> He's despicable. <S> Yet he's so intelligent, so sharp, so engaging, you keep reading. <S> Another example: Satan in "Paradise Lost". <S> His pride, his independence, his leadership, even his language, evoke not only empathy, but admiration. <S> " The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n. " or " Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven " - it's beautiful, and easy to identify with. <S> Nonetheless, I find your description troubling. <S> a very shitty person that makes bad decisions for the wrong reasons <S> If your character is petty, cruel, stupid, and doesn't have any desire to change, what engaging quality does he have that I can connect to? <S> He might have one, but if so, you haven't mentioned it. <S> You've got to give a reader something .

In summary, I think it can definitely work, but give the character reasons for his flaws and try to have an captivating story to make up for the lack of a likeable character.

Intentionally lying to the reader Similar to this question, but more specifically about outright lies. I am thinking of having a title that misleads or lies about the end of the novel. Something along the lines of “They Don’t Get Together in The End” so that the reader knows not to expect a typical boy meets girl story. The lie is that they DO get together, but just not in the way you’d expect (they are both asexual and end up in a vaguely romantic, nonsexual sort of partnership). I don’t have any examples from books at hand, but in the film adaptation of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl the narrator Greg directly assures the reader that Rachel is NOT going to die. As far as I remember he says it a couple of times. But then she does. I figure that the purpose of this was to recreate in the reader Greg’s disbelief that Rachel was ever really going to die. It’s also possibly making the point that our deceased love ones live on in our memories, or something to that effect. I’m not sure the above example does it well, but needless to say this is difficult to pull off without pissing off your audience. So what could you do in order to make the lie easier to accept by the audience? <Q> What you are aiming for here is a form of meta humor. <S> Humor that is interesting because the work is self-referential. <S> It is totally OK to do this, and if done correctly, it can be very clever. <S> I honestly went into "There Will Be Blood" thinking they were going to do something like that and found the reality to be kind of disappointing. <S> It would have been better if they had reversed it in my opinion, since there really wasn't much blood in that movie. <S> The tone is important with meta-humor. <S> If done properly, the self-referential nature can be refreshing and can elevate a work, just don't over use it. <A> This has been done before very successfully by a famous author! <S> In Anthony Horowitz's Moriarty , the book is started by something along the lines of 'Let me tell you that my name is Frederick Chase...' . <S> The 'protagonist' (the narrator) then goes on an adventure with another Detective to find and arrest Moriarty, a criminal mastermind. <S> At the end, the Detective is held at gunpoint by an antagonist and looks to the narrator for help. <S> The narrator then goes on to promptly shoot the Detective and flees with the antagonist. <S> It is at this point that the narrator reveals that they initially lied, and that they're actually Moriarty! <S> Genius! <S> (By the way, Moriarty doesn't appear (in the third person) throughout the whole story until this point.) <S> The reader isn't left feeling betrayed; on the contrary, the readeractually feels quite awestruck. <S> Anyway, my point is that you can get away with doing anything in your book (such as lying) as long as it interests your reader. <A> The best way to do this is via the untrustworthy narrator or a character (Fight Club); because they totally lie all of the time. <S> And it's perfectly fine to introduce false information in a story. <S> The reason its best to do it this way is it doesn't feel like a trick; it feels like an affect of personality, which goes a long way to smoothing the reader over. <S> A good story likely does not need a lie on the title page, but I can envision it being a good way to frame a story or reversal in some narrative out there; I just also think you can't outright get away with it unless you already have a winning story, and then at that point everyone in the business will call you on it unless it somehow extremely fits the book. <S> It's also not likely to be a secret you keep very long if it's on the front cover of the book. <S> People always introduce books to friends verbally7 and a big lie like that will probably invoke " <S> So, ignore the title page, but this is a really good story," if you actually do manage to win over an audience in spite of yourself. <S> Think about it this way <S> : You as an author are trying to create a brand. <S> That brand is yourself. <S> If you devalue that brand, it has ramifications for that brand in the future. <S> While it may be technically possible to write an effective and even loved book that openly lies to the reader. <S> If you put all the blame, justifiably on your characters, you don't risk your brand. <S> From a purely economical standpoint, you almost should never lie as the author. <S> There is always an exception, but are the risks really worth finding out if you're the one who's going to win the lottery?

You have to frame things such that the reader feels in on the joke.

A question on the ambiguity of the Alternate History genre Say I am writing a (mostly) realistic fiction book. The entirety of said work is mostly what a person would expect from realistic fiction with the world being almost entirely similar to our own, politically and what-not. But then say I interjected a few minute details that are considered unhistorical, for example: one of the characters visit their relative who was a hoarder that was raised in the great depression, and they stumble upon a newspaper that had a headline detailing Germany bombing the eastern coast of the United States during the first Great War. Would it still be considered realistic fiction if nothing else was out of the ordinary except that little footnote of a detail? <Q> Everything in a story has to matter. <S> If you write alternate history, the alternate has to matter to the story. <S> And if it is alternate history in which the alternate history does not matter, it is just plain weird. <A> The definition of the whole genre "Alternate History" is that you are mostly trying to be as realistic as possible, except for one or more historical events. <S> If you want a newspaper to talk about Germany attacking the United Stated then go ahead and do that - just be aware that your readers will likely have some knowledge about the real events and might pick up on these differences, which means that you should either talk about them in greater detail later in the book or treat them as a sort of "Easter-Egg", a little detail that some people might pick up, but that is irrelevant to the overall story. <S> The reason for placing Easter-Eggs in your story would be to give the readers that look for them a few things to talk about - it should be a few things, not just one - and you should make it obvious that this is an Easter-Egg. <S> Most of the time you wouldn't do something like this in a book. <S> You could of course just state that the newspaper article said that there was such an attack and later you explore how this specific newspaper was often accused of false or not-completely-true news. <S> This has to fit in the story however. <S> All in all it's completely fine to change little details in this genre, but if you don't want to do something with it you should leave it out. <S> Either it plays a role and is an intended difference, or it's explored to be at least not-completely-true <S> or it's treated as a part of multiple little Easter-Eggs that you want your readers to find so that they may find out some hidden information for example - <S> but you should not just put in a little difference, just for the sake of having a little difference in your book. <A> What is your purpose in wanting to do this? <S> If the story is 99% set in the real world, and then you throw in this one paragraph of alternate history, and then the story goes back to the real world and the alternate history is never mentioned again ... <S> I don't see the point. <S> The reader will either think you are very confused about history, or they will expect this incident to make a difference. <S> They will expect it to have some relevance or purpose. <S> Readers who are not interested in an alternate history story will be annoyed that you dragged it in, and readers who want to read an alternate history story will be annoyed that you dropped it. <S> There's nothing wrong with mixing genres. <S> You can include a romance subplot in a science fiction story, or have a horror story set in the Old West. <S> But there is something very, very wrong with dragging in another genre for one paragraph and then apparently forgetting that you did it.

If you put in a detail that is obviously and deliberately contrary to history (as opposed to an accidental anachronism, which you will find in many books if you look hard enough) then it is alternate history. It's completely up to you what those details are and to what extent you exactly want to change reality.

Is it okay if I wrote a story based on true historical events? I had a story in mind that basically came from a true historical event in the 1930's. I won't be using real people for the characters but the main storyline is somewhat based on what actually happened. I'll try making it a little different, a little modern, but I think it'll be obvious where the idea about my storyline came from. Will that be considered rude or insensitive of me since actual people did die during those times in the past? <Q> In fact, the taste today seems to be for stories that are as close to historical events as possible, with authors often basing their stories on one particular character (famous or otherwise) and often including notes almost apologizing when they rearrange actual events to make the story work more neatly. <S> Historical fiction, in other words, is increasingly becoming documentary fiction. <A> I may be interpreting OPs intent incorrectly, but I think the other answers are a little off, as I don't think this is historical fiction but rather a modern retelling based on a historical event. <S> As an example, I see it as perhaps -- what if I had two characters like Bonnie and Clyde, but it is set in the 2000's. <S> They are still a couple and go on a crime spree with similar events as to what actually happened and though their names are different, people who are familiar with Bonnie and Clyde would see the link. <S> Another way of viewing it, would be that if "Romeo and Juliet" had actually happened (as opposed to being a work of fiction itself), then OPs story would be "West Side Story". <S> And, yes this type of writing is quite common. <A> What you describe, if I understand it correctly, is historical fiction. <S> That's a genre with a long and proud tradition. <S> It includes works as diverse as Ivanhoe, War and Peace, The Three Musketeers, and All Quiet on the Western Front . <S> It can be close to historical events, which, as Mark Baker points out, is the modern trend, or it can be as imaginative as Dumas' works. <S> How true you stay to historic events is entirely up to you. <S> I would draw your attention in particular to Catch 22 . <S> It's hilarious (in parts). <S> It's a satire. <S> And it's about the soldiers in WW2. <S> People died during those times. <S> Quite a few of them, in fact. <S> The tragedy doesn't mean you have to treat the time period <S> like it's somehow sacred. <S> You can write about it, people should write about it (otherwise, it would just be forgotten), you needn't be afraid to find the beautiful, and the funny, and the grotesque, in a hard situation. <S> Otherwise, have fun. <A> Yes, this is commonly called "Alternate History" To cite from Wikipedia : <S> Alternate history or alternative history (Commonwealth English), sometimes abbreviated as AH, is a genre of fiction consisting of stories in which one or more historical events occur differently. <S> These stories usually contain "what if" scenarios at crucial points in history and present outcomes other than those in the historical record. <S> The stories are conjectural, but are sometimes based on fact. <S> Alternate history has been seen as a subgenre of literary fiction, science fiction, or historical fiction; alternate history works may use tropes from any or all of these genres. <S> What you want to do is perfectly normal. <S> As long as you are not trying to make it a comedy and thereby being insensitive towards the groups of people that have died in that time you are free to write whatever comes to your mind. <A> Yes, there are people who get offended when a work of fiction discusses some brutal reality of life, like murder or kidnapping or torture or rape. <S> But if we're going to banish all things bad from fiction, what would we have left? <S> Children's stories about Sally's first visit to the zoo, I guess. <S> Even that some people would complain about the mistreatment of animals in zoos. <A> A good historical novel is well grounded in history, including "true historical events. <S> " The part that should be fictitious is that "your" characters are doing the heavy lifting. <S> You might have a major character that was a bodyguard to General George Washington. <S> You should not have your character "lose" George Washington to the enemy (that would be historically inaccurate; a "near miss" is ok). <S> Instead, the bodyguard character then uses his access to Washington for his own personal and professional development. <S> In most historical fiction, major characters in history should be minor characters in your novel, and major characters in your novel should be minor characters in history (as in the case of Washington and his bodyguard). <S> The exception would be if your main character was a historical figure; George, or at least Martha Washington.

Historical fiction based on real events is a huge part of the genre of historical fiction. If you go and imply that nobody in fact died in the ugly period you base your story on, or if you go "it's great that they died", people might get upset. Yes, people do this all the time. In science fiction, especially I think, there are lots of stories where someone took the fall of the Roman Empire and reworked it to be the fall of the Galactic Empire, or someone took Columbus discovery of America and reworked it into Earth's discovery of an alien planet, etc etc.

How to get started as a freelancer? I'm a fairly prolific writer and have been published by several free publications and journals, and I want to try my hand at freelancing. The only problem is that none of the freelance platforms I have tried seem to be anything but "Facebook for con artists." Up-work, freelancer.com, Guru etc etc all only net me a ton of guys from India either promising me pennies on the dollar for my work, or just outright phishing for bank data. Whats worse, on freelancer I was finally contracted for a $500 short story project. When it was completed the person simply accepted the submission and deleted their account. I never got paid. This didn't stop Freelancer.com from forcing me to pay them the 10% commission I "owed" them even though I wasn't actually paid anything by the client. So, where does a person actually get started as a freelance writer nowadays? I cannot find anywhere at all that isn't complete trash or a scam. <Q> Anybody who tells you otherwise is blowing smoke. <S> That can be expertise in addressing a particular audience for a particular purpose, such as an advertising copywriter or a PR disaster recovery specialist. <S> It can be expertise in a particular subject area, such as a science writer or a medical writer. <S> It can be a combination of the above, such as a technical writer who knows how to write instructions for software or machinery. <S> It can be expertise in researching particular topics, such as a journalist who knows how to find and maintain sources. <S> It can be expertise in any field that the public is interested in, such as politics or acting or science, which gives you a public reputation (celebrity) which you can then parlay into commenting both on your field and things outside of your field. <S> (Actors commenting on politics, for instance.) <S> Any of these combinations of writing skill and expertise will get you freelance work that pays more than a pittance. <S> Writing skill alone will not. <S> If you have such expertise, always lead with your expertise when marketing yourself. <S> Companies can always find writers (on those online services, if nowhere else). <S> What they struggle with is finding writers with the appropriate expertise. <S> If you don't have any expertise, go get some. <A> It's simple really. <S> Write about anything that interests you Write something, proof, rewrite repeat. <S> Submit wait, wait, wait, deal with rejection. <S> Start over if you repeat this process while writing something that matters to you. <S> It will eventually pay off. <S> At this point you can go back through all your rejected, non-time-sensitive material. <S> Proofread, reflect on how different your past self was to present. <S> Heck if you passed by on the street. <S> You might even feel like slapping your former self. <S> Then rewrite, submit, repeat. <S> Keep in mind however, This could happen later rather than sooner, and most published writers have a day job. <S> Good luck. <S> I'm now editing myself. <S> I didn't include original statement. <S> There's a reason why it's called freelance ha ha. <S> Seriously I can't overstate importance of proof-reads! <A> Everyone starts as a newbie, and there's no requirement of a writing degree to be a professional writer. <S> However, you'll likely need to start at the bottom and work your way up, like the majority of other people. <S> Phase <S> I : <S> Write articles for free (or little compensation) for local news outlets, guest posts on blogs and content aggregators like Medium . <S> Phase II : Once your skills have matured a little, and you have a few writing credits under your belt, you can start submitting to larger outlets and publications, both print and online. <S> Once you make this transition, you'll probably want to stop doing work for free. <S> Note: <S> A lot of the better paying freelance writing jobs are non-glamorous, functional content for niche publications and trade journals, that may have a low profile, but still have large audiences. <S> You can also potentially do content work for corporations, advertising firms and textbooks. <S> Phase III: <S> Once you've been in the trenches long enough, you can gradually work your way up to the prestige outlets --big blogs and name-brand magazines. <S> The one place you're not likely to get to without a journalism degree is print newspapers. <S> Given how badly that industry has been damaged by online competition, there's few enough paying jobs left in newsprint, even for the best educated columnists with the best resumes. <A> Your best bet is to build from your previous experience working for magazines and journals by submitting to ones that pay. <S> In addition to the big, general interest publications, there are a lot of niche publications, some of which have healthy budgets. <S> If you're a good researcher, you might be able to make yourself a quasi-expert in a niche area, or at least become well informed enough to write cogently about it. <S> Fiction is a tougher market, but if you can write genre fiction (science fiction, mysteries, romance, etcetera) you'll be able to find publications that pay for good freelance stories. <S> You should also get a copy of Writer's Market --you'll find legitimate freelance writing opportunities listed there (as well as magazines, publishers and contests).

To make money as a freelance writer you have to have expertise in something other than writing.

How to describe a character with changing features? I’m writing the pilot for a Crime/Mystery/Thriller. When we first meet the lead detective character - he is depressed about not being able to work. Not at his best, but that is about to change for him - sort of. I want to describe that (normally) he’s a calm/confident/wise etc... So that the person reading my script will know how the detective is supposed to act when the time comes for him to shine. Or should I not describe how he normally is until he is normal? Thanks! <Q> In a novel, you can mention that the protagonist's current behaviour is out of character in an aside. <S> In a screenplay, you have to show it (e.g. in a flashback), let the narrator tell it to the viewer (e.g. in voiceover), or have another character mention it (e.g. in dialogue). <S> A flashback is usually too much of a break in the narrative for a commentary on the protagonist, unless you want to show other aspects of the characters backstory as well <S> (e.g. how witnessing the murder of his child broke him). <S> John, usually you are such a calm and confident person. <S> What happened to you? <S> That is both brief and easy to accomplish in any type of movie or tv show. <A> I think you should give him a small win too show off his best. <S> Maybe the detective is too depressed to do well at solving crimes, but he can still manage something small day to day. <S> Let him solve who is stole his newspaper. <S> Let him be so confident that when confronting his neighbor, the neighbor tries to deny it, but then confesses under the sheer evidence, and the confidence at whit it's delivered. <S> Show him in his best doing this trivial task and then go back to moping about not having a case. <A> Characters have multiple facets: <S> how they perceived themselves, how others perceive them, what they do, what they won't do, and expectations. <S> No character is a thing at all times. <S> Tell your story with the character as he is, reveal that he's more through interactions and decision. <S> In almost all cases it is better to characterize through interactions than to tell a reader how someone is. <S> When you tell, do so through another characters' perception (work compression). <S> The reason why is because your reader will trust what they observe, not what you explicitly tell them. <S> So the answer is show, don't tell. <S> Look up that Maxim, as it is almost always the right answer for novice writers. <A> I believe in The Mentalist, Patrick Jane's origin was dissheveled, unshaven, suicidally depressed and <S> he came wanting to help capture Red John, the serial killer that, because Patrick Jane mocked Red John on TV, killed his wife and young daughter, and left them dead in the bedroom for him to find when he got home. <S> He was a mess. <S> Even so, through his unique skills (cold reading), he helped solve a case right away. <S> Don't dilute the impact of the depression, embrace it. <S> This is what motivates him to work, he cannot stand to not work. <S> Show him watching TV detective shows or something, bored and nailing the outcomes, but depressed doing it. <S> Still it is the closest he can get to working. <S> Your longer (series) <S> backstory is "Why is he this way? <S> Why is Jack all work and no play?" <S> When he gets a job, he is transformed, and professional. <S> Then the audience sees this side of him, but they should keep that original "mystery" depressed guy in mind, that is what lies beneath that professional. <S> The depression gives him depth of character; don't dilute it by saying "this isn't the real Jack. <S> " It is a side of the real Jack, it happened, and it hurt him. <S> Hopefully you will let us know how and why someday.

A narrator can briefly mention a change in character, just as the narrator in a novel would, if you want to have a voiceover narrator, but if you don't, the easiest method would be to have another character say something like: Do not describe his general demeanor.

Explain something being written out I am working on a story where a character is witnessing something being written out but I don't know the correct way to write that. It will write out death I wrote out I witnessed something being scratched into the floor, There was a D then an E, then an A then a T and H But I can tell this is very wrong and doesn't flow at all but I am trying to show how it's not written out as D E A T H I want the reader to know it was being scratched right infront of them letter by letter not just reading the word Death on the floor I also want it to inflict a sort of fear since it is something abnormal and they are not just reading something they found and are witnessing it. <Q> One common piece of advice for this sort of scenario, is to focus more on the character's response. <S> And, try to raise the tension progressively, during the experience. <S> If we are in the POV of the person watching DEATH being written out, we may suspect what the word is at DE or DEA. <S> But, maybe the character hopes against hope that the word will be DEAR or DEAL or something. <S> So add in the response to your POV character, and raise the tension wth each letter written. <S> Add in dread, racing heart, the character breaking into a sweat as he/ <S> she watches that "T" form, maybe the character whimpers, knowing that DEAT only leads to one possible word ..... <S> You could draw this out into a paragraph. <S> And when the 'H' falls, the character may have some precipitous response, hurling themselves backwards agains a wall, panicked look around the room, something. <S> This idea has some analogies to the idea of a ticking timer, and how that device is useful for building tension. <S> You have a possible opportunity here... <A> First, this question seems to be in a vacuum. <S> We know nothing about WHO or what is scratching out the message/letters. <S> That's more important than anything. <S> Let's say it's being done by an invisible hand and maybe someone else is nearby-- <S> At my feet a straight line appeared, as though an invisible hand were scratching the groove into the floor. <S> But it wasn't just a line, now it was a letter--D. <S> I looked on in fascinated horror as more grooves appeared next to the first, and after an agonizingly long time, it too became a letter. <S> F. <S> No. <S> E. "Mary," I called out through the doorway "come see." <S> But Mary didn't answer. <S> Looking back at the floor again, I saw an A had appeared next to the first two letters. <S> How had it happened so quickly when the other letters had taken so long? <S> That description might be nothing like what you want, but it gives context to the letters. <S> And that's what your description needs. <S> If it's a person scratching out the letters in front of your POV character, that will be important too. <S> Describing the actual formation of the letters, what it's in answer to, what they hope the letters might form, all that, it's part of this description and the reaction to it. <S> If you're building suspense, just get inside the head of the person seeing the letters happen, what their reaction is, what they believe that the letters might spell out as @DPT says. <A> The convention is to represent text written on objects in italics : <S> Come quickly, the note read. <S> The graffiti said: ACAB . <S> John read that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution says that: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ... <S> Note that in fiction you do not cite written text in quotations marks! <S> Quotation marks always signify spoken language: Peter quoted the First Amendment to John smugly: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof!"

If you're describing letters being scratched out on the floor, you need to actually describe the process of them being scratched out, and reactions as it occurs.

Is it acceptable to break the story up into POVs to show how the characters' stories all tie together? I'm writing a novel. At 56k words, I've become a little nervous about how I've been building the story. BACKGROUND: I started this book with the introduction of the main character, Jules and a brief introduction to the major character Derek. The second chapter introduces a major character, Loren. The third chapter introduces a major character, Kale. From then on, I cycle through all four until I reach a point where they all finally come together. They do actually cross paths. I wanted them to have a very close and connected story line. It's just a fun sort of thing for the reader. Jules meets Loren by chapter 5. Derek finds Kale by chapter 8. All four of them are brought together by chapter 10. They stay together until chapter 13, where they split up in pairs to accomplish two tasks. This is when the major plot comes calling and chaos (so to speak) is unleashed. When split up, I've focused mostly on Jules as he faces the antagonist and ultimately stops them. This is worded poorly. Most of the resolution of the conflict occurs in Jules' scenes (with Loren and a minor character). The others are not forgotten or abandoned. One is injured, but they have a chapter of what happens during the same time that Jules is working to end the chaos. Please don't worry about my plot so much as the question below. This is only the first draft. ACTUAL QUESTION: From a publisher's standpoint and a reader's standpoint, assuming that the story is compelling and the ideas are interesting: Is it acceptable to break the story up into POVs to show how their stories all tie together? In other words, will a publisher want to publish the novel and will the reader want to read it? <Q> It is fine to do that, many authors do that. <S> However, the question the reader will have is what happened to the other two characters? <S> You made them prominent in the beginning, getting equal time for all, now they are sidelined while one guy finishes the story ... <S> You have wasted my time talking about those two. <S> At least that is how it sounds from your description. <S> Don't they have a job to do? <S> Why aren't they involved in this to the end? <S> Your story would have more suspense if you still gave them equal time, and a job to do that at least contributes to Jules finally winning, instead of making it all a one-man show. <S> The publisher only cares if the reader's will be satisfied enough to recommend the book to others, she wants to make sales to pay her rent. <S> So they will not be interested if you don't keep your "promise" to the reader. <S> The beginning of the book "promises" (indirectly) to the reader that all four characters are equally involved or responsible for the outcome, (be they heroes or villains), and it sounds to me like you break that promise after the split up. <S> Perhaps you fell in love with Jules and decided to give him all the responsibility. <S> Fall out of love and make him need the help of his friends, even if it is Jules that delivers the final blow. <A> G.R.R. Martin uses this method in "Song of Ice and Fire", with many many more characters: each chapter follows a different POV character, with 7+ POV characters per book. <S> Another example would be Diana Wynne Jones's "The Merlin Conspiracy", alternating between two POV characters, or Michael Ende's "Neverending Story", again alternating between two POVs, in many publications also using different text colours for the two. <A> Of course. <S> Yes. <S> All the time. <S> One advantage of this approach is that the reader can (almost) always know more that the point of view character. <S> Another advantage is the ability to explore a complex issue from multiple sides. <S> Imagine your POV alternating with that of whomever <S> you imagine to be your worst nightmare.

What you are describing is quite acceptable.

Is it okay to switch protagonists between books, if the main protagonist is a hidden "actor"? On my research I stumbled upon this question and it matches somehow with my question, that lingers in my head for a long time. In the mentioned question I read the common thinking is: Switching protagonists between books can be annoying, frustrating or discouraging to read about new characters in every new book. Now I come to my question. In my novel I developed a very complex background story. Part of the background story is a being with a simple mission. But the difficult part is: This being is not the main character of my novels. The novels center around people, who are "used" by this being for the success of her mission. The person has small appearances in the books and remains mysterious and acts behind the curtains, until the final act/novel. My question is: Is it okay to switch between multiple protagonists between books, if the true main character stays hidden behind the curtains? <Q> I wouldn't say that the premise that you shouldn't switch protagonists between novels is an absolute truth in the first place. <S> What's so frustrating about reading about new characters? <S> Doesn't one do that every time one picks a new book? <S> Isn't that what one picks a new book for? <S> So two books happen to be in the same setting. <S> Why should they necessarily also follow the same characters? <S> Sometimes the old protagonists later have another book all their own, sometimes they appear in the background, sometimes they walk out of the story entirely. <S> I wouldn't want to read 40 books all about the same protagonist - that would be extremely tiresome. <S> But I greatly enjoyed reading 40 books set in the same world, following different characters in different situations. <S> Ged is not the protagonist of all Earthsea books. <S> Cat is not the protagonist of all Chrestomancy books. <S> Old Man's War switches protagonists between books. <S> Foundation gives you a new protagonist for every period - more than once in the same book. <S> Different protagonists allow for different stories to be told, different POVs, different understandings. <S> So it seems to me that if your overarching story demands a switch of protagonist, then it would be served best by a switch of protagonist. <A> Once we love a world we want to explore it and its people. <S> But we need to love the world first, and the pacing needs to be right. <S> I'm currently reading a book by an author I've read since i was small. <S> This series is set on a world that's easy enough to fall in love with, and we've seen different parts of this world (different classes, characters, etc.) <S> Usually there's a trilogy following each class on the planet. <S> All good. <S> The protagonist sometimes switches between books but major characters are brought along. <S> That's all fine, because what is constant is the world and the struggles in the world. <S> Most importantly, enough threads are brought through, characters are still maintained, just not as PoV, and new information is brought in at an appropriate pace . <S> But, in this new book, the author goes way too far, for me as a reader. <S> There is serious head hopping between characters, and every few pages is set in a new part of the world with different characters. <S> I suspect the author is showing a global dynamic in play - a global crisis - <S> In the streets of the city, in the countryside, in the palace, in the craft halls, in the farm fields, on the seas, in the universities ... <S> It's so annoying. <S> I invest in a farm scene and read for three pages and begin to root for the characters and then boom I'm on a boat in the middle of the ocean. <S> OK, I can handle the switch, we'll get back to the farm boy, right? <S> No <S> not yet, we have to go to the opera hall next. <S> Or the gas station. <S> So, pace your stories and make me love your world, and I'm happy to explore more of it. <S> And keep some characters riding through, because we probably fell in love with them as well. <S> Don't push it too hard or too fast. <S> Don't yank me around. <S> Think of your storytelling like a courtship with the readers. <S> Think about pleasing and enticing and satisfying, while introducing the new angle, and the readers will be happy to come along for the ride. <A> I disagree that the protagonist can be a true man-behind-the-curtain, only giving orders to other characters. <S> Yes, this character knows more than the the other characters, but is this character undergoing tension and growth? <S> It seems that the characters that are being given the orders are the real protagonists. <S> An example from fiction is James Bond. <S> M gives him orders, but James is the protagonist. <S> In the Laundry Files books, especially the early ones, Bob Howard (the protagonist) is constantly being given orders and mentoring by people/beings that work behind the scenes, but he is still the protagonists. <S> The protagonist is a fictional creation. <S> He isn't necessarily the hero, nor is he necessarily the character giving the orders. <S> He is the character that is undergoing dramatic tension and (hopefully) growth. <S> He is the character that the reader (again, hopefully) cares about. <S> By this definition, he must be visible to the reader. <S> Even giving hints, it is rare that a character working behind the scenes will be developed enough for me to care about. <S> The only one that I can think about is Mike from Robert Heinlein's <S> "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress." <S> As for changing protagonists, there are many ways to do this. <S> Some writers do this every book, some do this when the original protagonist has become too powerful (in some way) to fit the role the author wants. <S> One of the later Miles Vorkosigan stories jumps to Miles' mother as a character and you learn more about her marriage to her father than you ever expected. <S> By doing this it explores things that could not be explored if the writer had still used Miles or his brother as protagonists.

Terry Pratchett, in his Discworld series, switches protagonists between books a lot. Some do this when they want to explore a new part of a world.

How long should a memoir be? I am writing my first memoir about my life as a christian and how affected I was by it as an empath and how I came to desire leaving it. Is there a minimum length for memoirs? I cannot estimate at his point how long it will turn out but I have a feeling it's going to be much less than 65000 words. Is that okay? <Q> For an unknown author wanting to be published by a publishing house, word count is essential. <S> There are countless websites where agents explain where the "sweet spot" lies for a certain genre. <S> For memoirs, as White Eagle has already stated, it lies around 65,000 words. <S> Does a memoir have to have 65,000 words? <S> No, of course not. <S> The better your book is, the more famous you are, and the more books have previously sold, the more you can deviate from the sweet spot. <S> The reason for this is twofold. <S> The first aspect is price. <S> Thicker and heavier books are more costly to produce, transport, and store and therefore have a higher cover price. <S> But readers are more willing to buy a book from an unknown author, if its price is at the lower end of the price spectrum. <S> Think of a product you are unsure about. <S> If it's cheap, you may try it, but if it's expensive, you'll rather buy something you are sure won't disappoint you. <S> The other aspect is reader expectation. <S> Certain kinds of stories usually take a certain "time" or word count to narrate. <S> A book that appears too short looks like it won't satisfy, while a book that appears too long looks like it will bore you. <S> You can check this yourself. <S> If you think of a certain kind of novel, you will probably not only imagine a certain kind of story, but also how slim or hefty the book will feel in your hand. <S> You don't expect a Young Adult contemporary novel to look and feel like a fantasy epic, and if it does, most readers will hesitate because they think the book won't deliver. <S> So do make sure your book falls within <S> +/- <S> 10% of the ideal length, if you can. <S> If you cannot, see what your beta readers have to say. <A> F1Krazy had a great point here relating to not being restricted to word count. <S> However, the article does mention that some people have short memoirs. <S> Don't let word count kill your book. <S> It only needs to be as long as needed. <A> Don't judge your writing by some arbitrary word count. <S> The only issue is whether the reader insists on reading all the way to the end. <S> Leave out the parts that people skip. <A> How long should a memoir be? <S> No more, no less. <S> Don't feel like you have to omit any important details to avoid your memoir being too long, and don't feel like you have to pad it out with unnecessary information to avoid it being too short.

If you are looking for something more numeric, this article recommends 65,000 on the low side and 90,000 on the high side. The same length as any other piece of prose: exactly as long as it needs to be to tell the story you want to tell .

Should I defer introducing the name of the eponymous character/object? In my short-story/novella, the title was "Hypnos Wakes" where "Hypnos" is the name of an alien/monster thing that possesses the protagonist. The possession, as well as the protagonist's reference to Hypnos as a semi-sapient entity begins immediately, but the protagonist only gave Hypnos its name after about 4700 words. Is this a good idea? (In case needed, the P.O.V. is first person, the genre is Y.A., mild horror and somewhat decadent, focusing mostly on how the protagonist deals with the alien possessor and his thoughts/feelings.) <Q> There is nothing wrong with an unnamed entity receiving a name after there has been some interaction with it. <S> Let's think of an analogy. <S> A person lives in a house in the woods. <S> One day, some noises begin in the forest at night. <S> At first, the person thinks the noises are from the wind. <S> As the noises are regular and do not sound like wind, the person understands that they must be caused by some animal. <S> As the noises persist over many days and weeks, the person understands that the animal did not just pass by once, but is living close by. <S> He decides to give it a name. <S> What we see here, is that first there must be some understanding that the experience of your protagonist is not causes by something natural or within himself, but by some kind of being. <S> And then he must realize that the being is not just visiting upon him once or twice, but has "moved in" with him and is there to stay. <S> And finally, he has to accept the presence of the being and conceptualize some kind of relationship to it. <S> Only then will he give it a name. <S> Your protagonist has first to understand that the changes overcoming him are not a shift in his mood or caused by his physiology (malnutrition, tiredness, stress). <S> Then he has to understand that he does not suffer from some mental disorder (hallucination, delusion) but that what he experiences has some "outside" cause. <S> Then he has to understand that that cause is not natural or random but a being with intent. <S> And finally he has to understand that that being is there to stay with him and relate to it somehow <S> (he will struggle against it, communicate with it, or whatever, instead of just waiting for it to pass). <S> And finally this relationship has to lead to some form of acceptance of the entity's presence (even if it is the acceptance that he has to fight it). <S> Only then will he give it a name. <A> I don't think there is a specific time that you need to introduce the name. <S> If it's later, that's fine. <S> I'd caution against a bait and switch though. <S> However, it doesn't seem like you are doing that. <S> When you reference someone you spend a ton of time with in real life, you often don't refer to them by name. <S> It's only when you're talking about them to an external source that isn't familiar with them that you name them. <S> If "John" is your roommate, you might say "Hey John" when they come back from work, but you aren't going to do that if they've been around the whole time. <S> So when you are watching TV on the couch and you've been hanging out for five hours, you aren't nearly as likely to say: "Hey John, pass me the remote. <S> " you'll say something like "Pass me the remote." and if that isn't noticed "Hey, pass me the remote. <S> " People won't generally address each other by name. <S> For your story, since Hypnos is in the main characters head, they are always with the character. <S> Even if they converse, they aren't all that likely to use the others name. <S> Now, if they are trying to get the others attention, that might be a situation, but if both of them are active, it's unlikely that the main character will use Hypnos name. <A> The 'reveal' of the name may seem obvious, but the reader will be waiting for it. <S> We will want to know if it's created by the main character, if it's an ancient title, its own taken name or whatever. <S> I do not believe it will be much of a shock to find out this entity <S> is the "Hypnos" mentioned on the front cover, but it will satisfy some curiosity. <S> If anything, the name of the book "Hypnos Wakes" offers the questions: <S> What is Hypnos? <S> What happens when it wakes up? <S> As such, the reveal of the name will be a highlight of the story, no matter how it is written, because it answers the first question the story offered the reader. <S> That being said, it would probably be spoiled on the back anyway. <S> I believe spoiling the name - unless the name is supposed to be some well guarded secret - would not be a bad thing and would actually be satisfying for a reader to get to the point where the name has been "created" in the story. <A> If the name is known to the main character in the beginning just tell it to the readers in the beginning. <S> If he does not, tell the story of him finding or giving the name, so the readers finds out when the character does.

Basically, if you have an interesting story about the discovery of the name tell it and reveal the name at its end, if you don't just let the character and by extension readers have the name from the beginning. It would be hard to give a blurb on the story that doesn't involve the possession-based-story, and your readers could probably guess that the possession would be because of this "Hypnos".

What editor can I use for world building that has a tree-like structure for my files? I'm looking for a simple editor to start getting into world building and story writing which is working out fine in Microsoft Word. However, I'm finding it difficult to continue without any structure. So after some looking on Reddit and other world building fora for better editors. I like the structure which editors like cherrytree and OneNote provides with the nested notes (tree like strucure). However I dislike the text editor part. What I want: rich text support (custom fonts, fonts sizes, ...) Word, Notepad, ...-like simple text editor Things I would like: non-browser based single save file collaboration support Things I don't want: required account Are there any editors like this? Software I tried: most wiki editors (like wikipad) Microsoft Word OneNote Google Keep Evernote Cherrytree Extra explanation for tree like structure (by example): empire 1.txt place in empire 1.txt ... magic.txt spells.txt freezespell.txt <Q> Give Scrivener a try. <S> It’s designed for long-form writing, such as novels, screenplays and dissertations. <S> Each Scrivener file contains multiple documents: the stuff you write and other files you add (like PDFs or JPEGs) for research material. <S> The Scrivener file uses a hierarchal structure and to organise material stored in it - both folders and files can have sub-folders and files stored under them. <S> It’s also relatively cheap for specialised software, and has Windows, Mac OS and iOS versions. <S> There are also trial versions available. <S> While Scrivener doesn’t have collaboration support, it has Dropbox support, so you can save the file in a shared Dropbox folder to allow other people with Scrivener access to it. <S> That should do the trick, so long as two people don’t open the file at the same time, and use the revisions option to show when someone has changed something. <S> EDIT: <S> There’s a link to it in this article , which is part review of Scrivener and part guide to using it for developing an RPG campaign. <S> EDIT 2: <S> Scrivener’s developer also does a mind-mapping tool called Scapple. <S> So far it doesn’t integrate directly with Scrivener. <S> (Which would be awesome.) <A> Based on the answers, specifically this answer to the question What software is available for keeping and organising notes about your world? <S> on our sister site WorldBuilding. <S> SE <S> Realm Works is designed to be used for WorldBuilding in the context of an RPG. <S> You can check out most of the functionality in this video on YouTube that is also linked on their main site. <S> You can see more videos here . <S> Realm Works allows you to create maps, characters, relationships, add pictures, videos, ... and arrange everything in easy-to-manage chunks that could be used to reveal stuff to players. <S> It allows you to jump between the different aspects of the world you are building. <S> Biggest downside <S> : there is no testversion and it costs 50$. <S> Players could purchase a version for 10$ or less (depending on the amount of people) to have a look-at-my-GM's-world-only version. <A> Sorry for not being as in-depth with my answer as the others are, but X-Mind is designed for this stuff. <S> Just click X-Mind <S> 8 <S> Pro at the top and click download - again, at the top - to get the free version, and <S> no, it's not a trial, they just want you to think you need to pay for it.

I remembered there was an Scrivener template for RPGs. I would recommend checking out Realm Works as you say you have already tried different wiki solutions.

Where can I find resources about writing a litRPG book? Where can I find (preferably free) online resources, such as How-To-Write or styleguide articles and blogs, about writing a litRPG book? LitRPG , or Literary Role Playing Game , books combine elements that you would find in RPGs with science-fiction or fantasy. This means that the reader is made aware of what the character in the book sees, such as tables with the different stats or messages by the system that show who attacked what with how much damage. An important aspect is also that these books often describe the player and the character alike and therefore switch between different points of view to explore the role of RPGs in our society, while at the same time depicting the fantasy or sci-fi elements that the in-game character experiences. This puts the writer in a situation where they have to think about designing the most important aspects of a game and especially how these mundane things are presented to the reader of the book in an interesting way. The combination of a critical real-person plot with a less-serious fantasy-character-plot is another aspect that the author has to keep in mind. <Q> I think that the best How-To-Write guide you could follow is the one you created yourself. <S> Most advice found on online blogs and articles are the result of analysis. <S> They pick a work they like, is currently popular or that they themselves have written and pick it apart. <S> Why do they like it or why is it popular? <S> But that's also something that you can do yourself. <S> My suggestion is that rather to look for a guide that someone made for you it's better to just start reading. <S> LameZeldaPun mentioned a few anime (Log Horizon, Overlord and Sword Art Online), but <S> all of these animations are based on light novel series of the same name. <S> I personally do not think they are very well written, but all three of them are massively popular in Japan (Sword Art Online in particular sold over 20 million copies worldwide according to the AnimeNewsNetwork ), so there's probably some reason for that. <S> I'm sure there are also other works that you yourself know or maybe inspired you to create your own story in the genre. <S> Pick them up, (re)read them, and whenever you encounter a passage that makes you think <S> "Wow, that was really good", stop reading and write down <S> why you think it works like it does. <S> That also goes for the opposite, if you think something was badly handled write down why. <S> After reading a few stories, compile all your findings and apply them to your own work. <S> The trick to this is to keep your 'examples' varied so not to accidentally create something unoriginal or copy someones writing style. <S> I'm not entirely sure if this was an answer you were looking for, but I honestly believe that there is not much to online how-to guides on making art. <S> Even if it doesn't work it's better to fail on your own advice than that of a random stranger on the internet who convinced you <S> he knew what he was talking about. <S> I suppose that also includes me. <S> Ehhh, wait... <A> Disclaimer: I don't know much about litRPG, but I may be able to help some. <S> First, a quick internet search for "how to write litRPG books" brings up articles such as this and this . <S> Of course, those are just random posts I found on the internet. <S> They seem helpful and like they know what they are talking about, but maybe they don't. <S> That way you are prepared to write your own. <S> I do the same thing with science fiction. <S> In my opinion this is probably the best approach to writing any new genre. <S> That didn't exactly answer your question, but hopefully it helped some. <A> Webnovel.com has a writing guide, and many of their works have exactly the rpg-based genre you speak of. <S> The genre and trope is very popular in Asia.

The best advice is probably to read a lot of LitRPG and understand what works in the genre and why.

What are some tropes associated with social acceptance or rejection of infants with supernatural abilities? Are there any tropes regarding how societies react to children with supernatural abilities, besides abandoning in the woods or, for the complete opposite, considering them gods? Is there anything between those two extremes? I'm working on a story where 2% to 4% of children are born with supernatural abilities, present at birth. Obviously, stories about overpowered babies are as old as dirt, and tropes about such children are equally common. But while TV Tropes has "Goo Goo Godlike," "Enfant Terrible," and even "Fetus Terrible," it's harder to find any tropes regarding how societies react to such children beyond either abandoning them, Romulus and Remus style, or worshipping them as little demi-gods (or both, having started with the former and then being adopted by a local king). Are there any alternative tropes out there, or am I really restricted to working with, subverting, or deconstructing just these two? <Q> Though I consider this more of a worldbuilding thing, I do find it too fascinating to pass up. <S> You see, you highlight the two potential camps where people might fall into: abandoning in the woods considering them gods <S> But these are views on them. <S> There might be a more nuanced look. <S> If you consider 'supers' in The Incredibles, for example. <S> (above is a picture of Mr Incredible, Frozone, and Syndrone, from The Incredibles) <S> You are basically put in the same black and white picture: good versus evil, us versus them. <S> This is, in itself, a trope you can subvert if you get creative (or follow George RR Martin in offering more nuance). <S> Like showing more about a culture surrounding it . <S> With The Tyke Bomb (also TVtropes, be warned). <S> In which you have a group, though typically an 'evil' group, raising these children and indoctrinating them from youth into their organization. <S> You can toy with that quite a bit (religion's pros and cons, army and patriotism) Or maybe toying with more common tropes like <S> The Fetus Terrible (also TVtropes). <S> You can toy with the 'devil's baby' , or demonic offspring expectation. <S> But this has been done. <S> I mean, I've read a lot about 'the son of the devil' stories, who both follow ( Constantine ) and reject ( Blue Exorcist ) their biological father. <S> Or they might well be the Goo Goo Godlike you mentioned. <S> So there are plenty of tropes to consider, but more importantly, you just need to consider what people might well believe in their 'natural' surroundings. <S> So it really boils down into what you want to consider. <A> While it doesn't necessarily pertain to supernatural abilities possessed by the child in question, old Slavic naming conventions often involved giving a child a substitute name, an undesirable descriptor to ward off evil or negative effects until they reach a certain age. <S> You could do some form of this so that in this world, children are given substitute names or numbers until they reach a certain age, at which time they usually manifest their power and receive a true name. <S> Just a thought. <A> What is the purpose of your question in the context of writing? <S> Usually writers don't look at lists of existing tropes and then write a story working with those. <S> Tropes are what readers or scholars find in literature and film, not blueprints for writers. <S> As a writer, you are completely free to create your own "trope". <A> I think you now know as much as there exists in terms of tropes derived from ancient cultures around this; TVTropes is usually pretty good with this. <S> But I agree with @Cloudchaser; while it's definitely important to research this, don't be limited in worrying about what's a common trope <S> and what's not. <S> Instead, think of all the many possible reactions to a child with special abilities that people might have, especially the parents. <S> Then, once you extrapolate that to society, you'll have a world like our own in how we treat different races, family pedigrees, intellect, sexual orientations, and gender identities, one that truly feels organic. <S> For starters, I'm thinking of the following reactions to children with superpowers and the ways they might grow up or respond to these: <S> Fear for their physical safety, for society bending over to accommodate for them, for their potential rise to power and corruption Confusion, either talking down to them or doing their best to ignore them; bullying, difficulty in making or keeping friends Exile or abandonment; often out of fear and/or confusion Envy, leading to mistreatment, extortion, bribery for special services, toward both the child and the parents; fair-weather friends, like when a family member wins the lottery Curiosity, obsessed with learning more about them; scientist Awe and amazement, the "god" status; the celebrity treatment Ridicule; also the celebrity treatment <S> ; ex: "TMZ" Pity; the "special" kid that all the adults feel sorry for and bend over backward to "help" them High expectations, especially from parents; people wanting to live vicariously through them; huge burdens on their shoulders etc. <S> When you think about how our own world lives with people who are "different", the more you read and listen to people even just within the U.S., <S> the more you see that it's not just "love" or "hate", but everything in between and more. <S> The more you make the reactions relatable, even the trope answers will be engaging, because it's no longer mythologized; these will be real people with real opinions.

People might (rightly) be fearful of the children (or even fetuses) and consider them to have the Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon .

What can motivate people to write and share their personal stories? I want to motivate people, who do not already write, to write about their lives and publish their stories on my new web site. What would motivate someone to write and share their personal stories? <Q> A pitch An editor of the resource writes an article on some topic, a topic that resonates well with the readers, so everybody is eager to share his/her own experience. <S> This approach is good for very short stories, but not as good if you want your contributors to write multiple pages. <A> The biggest motivator is going to be example. <S> You could also try creating a prompt to encourage people to write the sort of stories you're looking for. <S> Look at the way other websites do this (including the writing challenge on the Meta of this SE). <S> It's going to be difficult - near impossible - to motivate people to be the first or second contributor on a new website, particularly one involving personal stories. <S> But if there's already a "gang", new people are going to be more inclined to join. <A> I want to motivate people, who do not already write, to write about their lives and publish their stories on my new web site. <S> What would motivate someone to write and share their personal stories? <S> Money. <S> Publicity. <S> Connections. <S> A platform. <S> If you are promoting yourself, you will have a bit of trouble with your stated goal. <S> If you are hoping to promote others, they will write for you. <A> "What do people care about? <S> " People will always share stories about what they love, care about, or have strong feelings toward/against. <S> "Can they relate?" <S> Sad and/or very personal stories have a weird way of drawing out stories from others. <S> Some people want to show you that you're not alone, and others feel safe enough to release a burden of their own by confessing their own story. <S> "Does your experience confirm/reject a bias that people tend to have? <S> " People will always want to jump in and tell an opposite story or a confirming story that they've experienced, either to support or correct.

If you have stories of your own, or stories other people have told you (and are willing for you to circulate), others are more likely to participate.

How can you make "evil vs evil" interesting? Let's say you have two sides who are basically no better than the other. Both are criminals with no redeeming qualities, and both are at war. Think COBRA and HYDRA going to war. They both have plans for world domination and are ruthless in their pursuit of it, willing to kill or corrupt anyone in their way. With both sides being evil, it would be hard to root for one over the other. The audience may get bored with this since there are no good guys, and the world will suffer regardless of who wins. How can you make a setting like this interesting and keep your audience engaged? <Q> I would think that the main thing that keeps the readers interested are the characters. <S> Even though these characters might belong to an evil organization, they might be redeemable themselves. <S> Or even if they aren't, they might be interesting. <S> Also, what appears to us as an evil organization, may appear to those inside as an organization that has good goals. <S> Perhaps they believe that by taking over the world they can save us from ourselves. <S> For example, by forcing through a world government, they might believe that they would be able to reverse global warming and prevent war and terrorism. <S> Why is the protagonist a member of this organization? <S> He might have different reasons that the organization itself. <S> Perhaps the organization started out with good goals but became corrupted. <S> The protagonist might start out trying to clean up the corruption, but become corrupted himself. <A> Both are criminals with no redeeming qualities <S> There's your problem. <S> You have a pair of one-dimensional cartoon supervillains who are evil just because . <S> Those kinds of villains are unrealistic and, these days, tend to be less well-received than more nuanced villains. <S> And in describing them, you've focused only on their similarities. <S> Give them different motivations, and different personalities. <S> Make them stand out from one another. <S> You readers certainly aren't going to root for one side over the other if they can't even tell which side is which. <S> A good example, off the top of my head, is Pokémon Emerald , where you have two opposing groups of villains: one wants to create more landmass, the other wants to create more ocean. <S> It's not their intentions that make them evil, but their actions (stealing Pokemon and equipment, battling anyone who gets in their way, unleashing ancient kaiju , etc.). <S> They have distinct uniforms and personalities, and the conflict between them stems from the fact that their goals are diametrically-opposed. <S> You already have a reason for your groups to oppose each other: they both want to take over the world. <S> Give them different reasons for wanting to do so: maybe one believes they're freeing the masses from tyranny and oppression, while the other believes people are too stupid to be relied upon to govern themselves properly. <S> Give the mooks different reasons for wanting to be part of these groups - they aren't going to be hiveminds, after all. <S> A final note suggestion would be to focus on the conflict itself, and not the potential consequences if/when either one wins. <A> You can have fun with it. <S> For example, "Invader Zim" is, most of the time, evil vs. evil, but it's all humorous, so although you recognize Zim winning is bad, you don't mind so much. <S> Hydra bad guy, for example, could kill one of his minions every meeting, just to prove how bad he is. <S> The minions have figured it out. <S> To keep themselves alive, they scheme to get one of their group "selected" as the likely target next time they meet with the boss. <S> The minions might have discovered Hydra commander prefers to whack people wearing a red shirt, who work in security, or who haven't figured out how to insert their names into the conversation (thus providing themselves character immunity). <S> You can make indirect commentary about the stereotypes of villains that the reader gets, but goes over the heads of the characters.

Also, you can take advantage of tropes to be a little more serious, but keep enough humor to distract the reader from dwelling too much on the thought of how bad they are. Focus on what makes them different. If the conflict is compelling enough, readers will be enjoying it enough that they won't worry about what might happen afterwards.

No time to deal with emotional trauma In my story, one of the main characters finds out that a loved one (parent, lover, friend, doesn't matter) died. Worse still: they find out about it when they find the severed head of that person. Obviously that would mess up that character pretty badly (to put it mildly), and it would take a looooooong time to cope with the harsh reality of a loved one suddenly being gone. However, this same character hears a little kid scream in the other room, one who is presumably about to suffer the same fate. I planned for him to go and save that child right after. He would look after the child for most of the story. Should I give my character more time to deal with the trauma somehow? The problem is that he's in a hostile environment fighting for his survival and the story takes place over the course of only a month, so there's not much time for him, and he doesn't have anyone to really talk to - obviously he won't talk to the innocent little child about it and will do his best to hide it from the child. <Q> If your story takes place over the course of a month, your character is still going to be very much dealing with trauma by the end of it. <S> Take the RL case of the Itamar Massacre : 12-years-old Tamar Fogel came home from a youth outing to find her parents murdered, her baby sister's severed head in the living room, and her 4-years-old brother bleeding out. <S> Years <S> later, she is still very much dealing with the trauma. <S> At the same time, "dealing" does not mean being catatonic. <S> And having someone to care for, someone to protect, is very helpful in dealing. <S> You can't wallow in the horror of what happened, if you need to be doing things. <S> Here <S> and here <S> are two follow-up articles about the above-mentioned massacre. <S> Basically, because your story takes place over the course of only one month, dealing with the trauma would be an aspect of everything that your MC does after the traumatic event. <S> Whatever he does, it would be informed by what <S> he's jest been through. <S> How you choose to incorporate that element is up to you as a writer. <A> Two thoughts. <S> Literature is not about the character's emotions. <S> It is about the reader's emotions. <S> In real life, every single TV cop and mystery series detective would be invalided out with PTSD by the traumas they endure. <S> Most fictional heros are far more emotionally resilient that real people (not to mention far more physically durable -- they go through knock-down drag out fights on a weekly basis without ever a cut or a bruise or a lock of hair out of place). <S> If the reader feels the measured amount of thrill or terror or sanctimonious disdain that they came for, that is what matters. <S> As noted above, fictional people are commonly more durable than real people. <S> But art is also a lens, a device for focussing attention on one particular aspect of life. <S> All the emotional lines in a good story point towards a single pole, like iron filings aligning around a magnet. <S> This is in some sense a distortion, because real life if much messier. <S> But it is in another sense a profound truth because our attraction to stories is precisely that they seem to make the world more orderly, and, especially in the face of tragedy, we turn to stories to try to make sense of things, aligning the random tragedies of life into a more coherent tragedy that we can make more sense of. <S> But more to the point, it is what you reader will want your story to do. <A> Stephen King in On Writing (which, personally, I believe is one of the better 'how to' books on writing, if not one of the best) says that good writers understand that you don't need to do things all at once. <S> All you need in that scene is for the character to show (and emphasis on the word show) the shock and devastation of finding the head. <S> Just a split-second beat in the scene, before moving onto the action of having to prevent it happening again. <S> But as Cloudchaser says, don't be lazy. <S> Make sure this single beat has all the emphasis it needs. <S> SEVEN could help you get a feel for it. <S> It can come out over the following scenes and chapters. <S> But that's a good thing, because the trauma is always going to be fresh <S> and it can burst out, intensely, now and then. <S> The fact that he has nobody to talk to (or only a child who wouldn't understand) gives you a really exciting opportunity (although difficult, I won't deny) to actually SHOW this devastation rather than tell it. <S> And how he shows it will depend on the character you have written. <S> Is he emotional or stoic? <S> In short, rather than thinking in terms of giving your character time, do the opposite. <S> Take the time away from him and force the trauma to burst out in brief moments of lost control. <S> Good luck!

And as you have rightly pointed out, if the story takes place over a month, he isn't going to come to terms with it through the period of your story. It is, therefore, psychologically reasonable for your hero to do this. You should stay true to the situation and to the character and have it play out the way your initial instincts have told you to do. I don't think you need to give your character more time to deal with the trauma. The looooong time it would take to deal with the devastation doesn't need to come out all at once. Emotional truth in fiction has little to do with the actual psychology.

How are descriptions and character thoughts handled in a screenplay (versus a novel) I wonder if you write descriptions in a screenplay the same way you write in a novel. For example, I see writers describe the physical effects of the emotion of anger rather than just saying 'angry', do we do the same thing in a screenplay? Or do we just say the emotion and let the actor act it out in his way? What exactly should we do? Another example is when we write character thoughts in a novel, can we do the same in a screenplay? Again what should we do in this situation? Basically what are the differences and similarities between writing these kinds of things for a screenplay and for a novel? <Q> Expressions: <S> You can say something besides "angry", there are many flavors of anger, but no, do not describe the facial features. <S> That is directing; do not try to do the director's job in your screenplay. <S> You might say "coldly furious" if it is important to convey the demeanor of Jack and what he does next or says next. <S> You might say "Jack ROARS in fury and slams the iphone on the table, breaking the screen, then throws it across the room, accidentally breaking three of Mary's antique ceramic figurines." <S> (Because the audience knows that Mary will notice this, due to the pride in her collection we saw earlier.) <S> Even that might not make the final cut, the director can change this to something else. <S> Character Thoughts: NEVER. <S> A screenplay consists ONLY of things the audience can SEE and HEAR. <S> NOTHING ELSE. <S> If they can't see it, you don't write it. <S> If anything, "Jack appears ashamed and turns to hide it. <S> " <S> The audience can see that (and exactly how Jack shows shame is up to the actor and director; not you). <S> Absolutely nothing the audience (or director) cannot see or hear. <S> For example, even in a setting, you will be marked an amateur for "a sense of forboding hung over the city, the air seemed thick with it. <S> " How do you film "forboding" and "air thick with it"? <S> Do you mean it is overcast? <S> Foggy? <S> Then say that. <S> Don't say "the tension was thick. <S> " I can't film that. <S> Stay specific, stay visual/auditory. <A> It seems to me that you ask this question because you haven't yet read a screenplay. <S> You are familiar with novels because you have been reading them for years, so you have internalized the conventions for novels. <S> But you have not exposed yourself to screenplays in the same way, and therefore you are unfamiliar with the conventions for screenplays. <S> What you need to do is find a couple of screenplays and read them. <S> Your question will be answered on the first few pages that you read. <S> You can find scripts to many popular movies on Scriptologist . <A> A screenplay is primarily a set of instructions for the actors and the director to create a movie with. <S> Keep in mind that they typically don't want to be micromanaged. <S> So generally descriptions in screenplays are short, functional, and to the point. <S> Similarly, character thoughts would only be included if they are to actually appear in the movie (probably as a voice over). <S> The dictum, "show, don't tell," often misapplied to novels, was made for movies. <S> If you want to convey something, do it through actions or visuals. <S> With all that said, really good screenwriters keep in mind that their screenplays also have to do double duty <S> --in addition to guiding people through making a movie, it should also create a movie in their minds when they read it. <S> So, minimal elaboration can been layered on top of the basic script in order to help it read better, and understand how to stage or how to play out action that might otherwise be confusing. <S> It's a balancing act. <S> To many novelistic touches will make your screenplay seem amateurish and be a turn off to actors and directors. <S> But without any of them, the screenplay may fail to compel people when they read it. <S> Your guideline should be "less is more" in this regard, however.

A screenplay is told ONLY through dialogue, setting, and action.

I am searching for a word/name that fits a person that has the ability to swap bodies with another human Not to be confused with a person who can morph themselves into someone else or a creature by will, but someone who has an ability to body swap - without necessarily having control over it. I am writing a short fiction story and I am looking for acceptable sounding names/words to describe this action and the scientific name for body swapping. I have come across Changeling, Morphling, and Automorphic but all of these suggest a way of having control over of changing one's own physical appearance. I am looking for something more specific to the actual switching of bodies. <Q> I don't think that there is a real word for this. <S> I would use "swapper." <S> The closest one, to me, is "jumper." <S> However, a swapper, to me, jumps to a new body and that body's mind jumps to the former body. <S> Notice that the normal person's mind is now stuck in this body forever, unless he can find and force the swapper to put him back. <S> A jumper, on the other hand, feels like it would jump to another body and one of two things would happen: the old body would just drop dead because it has no consciousness, or the original consciousness would "wake up" (maybe not immediately) and take over it's original body again. <S> It would depend of if the jumper destroys the consciousness or suppresses it. <S> I am trying to remember the book in which a group of swappers existed. <S> I believe it was in the Wild Cards series. <S> These swappers were eventually captured and forced to put people right again. <S> Then they were put into old/sickly bodies and put in a prison farther away from people than the range of their power. <A> But you can make one up. <S> In Latin, "to exchange, to swap" is permutare and <S> "body" is corpus , so the scientific term for a "body-changer" could be a corpopermutant or corpo-permutant or briefly a permutant , while the common folk would probably call them swappers, as NomadMaker has suggested.. <A> Although the Latin name is ugly, perhaps "body thief" would catch up. <A> Thanks so much to everyone for their suggestions. <S> I went with a different direction. <S> I did some research and made up a name and origin to fit my needs for this story. <S> I can't post what I went with because I made it up myself and this story is not finished. <S> But this is the research I <S> used----Name origin: Latin - Vicarius; substitute, proxy, to live through another. <S> Origin: <S> Nordic/Gaelic folklore. <S> Derived from Scandinavian Changelings and the Seilie Court (Scottish Faries). <S> I would like to close this post as I have found my answer <S> but I can't figure out how.

Body swapping does not (yet) exist, so there cannot be, as you ask for, a scientific term for it. I chose swapper over a number of alternatives. There is one Latin book from 1670s, Speculum carmelitanum, that calls this "corporislatro", thief-of-the-body.

Help with my story - elements of a scene I’m writing a story where a vampire pulls a girl into a room so he can feed off her without anyone knowing. What are the things I should consider when I describe her being pulled into a room by him, and she tries to escape but he’s too strong for her? <Q> I had to write a fairly graphic rape scene where my protagonist is pinned to the kitchen floor and needs to free one of her hands if she has any chance of fighting back. <S> It was a challenge as I've (fortunately) never come close to anything like that horrific experience. <S> I got my husband to pin me down on the kitchen floor <S> so I could see what it felt like, how hard it would be to free a hand and what things I might have to do when strength wasn't on my side. <S> Men, even slim men the same height as you, are surprisingly strong. <S> It was much harder to fight back than I even imagined <S> and I knew my character would have to use her 'smarts' to get out of it. <S> You could get a tall, strong male friend to help you with this scene. <S> Think about where she is in relation to the door, where he's standing, how and where does he grab her. <S> And when your friend grabs you like that, what does it feel like? <S> Play the scene out with him. <S> If he grabs you by the arm, what would you do with your free arm, and how would he counter that? <S> Does your protagonist have any strengths she can use, or weaknesses that he might exploit? <S> Have some fun with it. <S> Scenes come out better for me when I can really dive into them, feel and experience them. <S> Good luck! <A> Consider first the point of view of narration - is this a third person narrator, looking down on the character or characters from above? <S> Or are things told from the perspective of the MC? <S> Short, choppy sentences and limited dialog tags are often used in action scenes so as not to drag the pace. <S> Consider what sensory details the characters would feel (again, depending on the POV of narration) and choose some striking ones to include in your description. <S> Consider light and shadow in the room(s) and senses other than sight for your description <S> too - i.e. smell of clothing, lactic acid burn in the muscles from exertion, sense of balance, etc. <S> It might be helpful to choreograph the scene before writing it out in paragraph form. <S> Make decisions on the sequence of movements of her being pulled into the room and trying to escape and how long the actions will take. <S> Overall the description of something like this is very subjective and will depend on your writing style and the context of the story. <A> A girl being pulled into a room by a man against her will is going to assume she is about to be raped, and possibly murdered in the bargain. <S> She will scream for that, and fight that, even if she is being overpowered. <S> Do not forget she has a voice, she has teeth, she has arms and legs and feet to kick with and fight with. <S> Do not let her surrender to her fate, she can stomp, kick, knee, swing, elbow, bite, scream repeatedly, and even use her head to butt him in the face. <S> A girl fighting for her life is not passive and should not just give in. <A> There are three main elements to the scene described here, and they can be written using cues like these : <S> The character of the vampire. <S> What is he thinking when he pulls her into the room? <S> What does he look like? <S> How does he show he's too strong for her? <S> Does he say anything? <S> The character of the girl. <S> What does she think? <S> What was she thinking before the vampire found her? <S> How does she react? <S> The room. <S> What does it look like? <S> Is there anything else in the room? <S> Is there a door? <S> If so, describe it. <S> Can the girl hear sounds from other people outside the room? <S> These are just some basic ideas to nudge the story along. <S> Many of them will have been defined by what the vampire and the girl have done up to now, but there could be events during this scene that affect character development and where the story goes from here. <A> Do you want the scene to have sexual overtones? <S> Do you want the girl to appear weak, a passive sheep, (making the reader identify, at least partially, with the hunter-vampire), or do you want her an active heroine fighting off a monster, or something else? <S> Or something else entirely? <S> Do you want the vampire to be attractive in any way, to the girl or to the reader? <S> Do you want him to have any redeeming qualities? <S> Who is the girl? <S> What is her background? <S> What kind of person is she? <S> What's her response to the existence of vampires? <S> What's her response to being attacked? <S> Does the vampire actively violently try to pull her into a room, or is he somehow persuading her to come with him - some predatory conversation that would make the reader fear for the girl? <S> You can use the setting to convey the mood: barred windows suggest being trapped, distant sound of whatever suggests there's no help close by, etc. <S> You wouldn't be describing everything in the room, so focus on things that would set the atmosphere you're looking for, and use the language that would enhance that atmosphere. <S> Any metaphors you use, if you use them, should also work with the setting. <S> If you want the scene to be scary, anything red, for instance, should be the colour of blood rather than the colour of ripe strawberries. <S> (Blood is actually rather overdone, but you see what I'm getting at with this example.)

One thing you want to consider is how you want the scene to read: She should fight to the end. If possible, make it cost your vampire some pain. In a situation like this I'm presuming the girl would be afraid, and things would happen very fast for her, so I would consider those emotions when laying out your sentences.

Do I have to show my characters making up after an argument, or can it be implied when we see them on good terms again? Is it okay to have two characters who had an argument to patch things up offscreen, or do readers explicitly need to see how they made up? None of the two characters in question are the protagonist, and the argument itself has little to no bearing on the plot. It basically served as a means for one of the characters to reveal how they felt about themselves. It wasn't even so much an argument as the two characters discussing something and one of the speaking out of turn because they touched upon a topic very sensitive for that character. I personally don't think this is something that needs too much attention, as all it takes to resolve the issue is for one character to apologize, and therefore readers can just assume after a while that the characters made amends, but I wanted to hear other people's thoughts on the matter. <Q> It depends. <S> In these matters, it always depends. <S> It it advances or enriches the story, leave it in; if not, leave it out. <S> It is always about the role it plays in the context of a specific story. <S> I'd frankly be more worried about whether the argument itself will feel contrived or boring if it is being used to tell us something about a secondary character that does not matter much to the main story. <S> If you don't feel the need to finish a story arc, you should seriously question whether you needed to start the story arc. <S> If the argument matters enough to be in the story, then presumably the resolution of the argument matters enough to at least be mentioned in the story. <S> You could, of course, accomplish this simply by saying "Tom and Mary made up later after he apologized and she made his favorite dessert for supper." <S> But if you are working in a narrative mode that allows you to say things like that (horrors! <S> telling!) <S> then you could reveal the information you want to reveal about Mary in the same way. " <S> Mary never felt confident in public speaking after an unfortunate incident in the grade two play that involved three lines of poetry and a desperate need to pee." <A> If the argument is a minor one, and the characters are people you'd expect to generally get along (good friends, parent/child etc.), you can safely skip the making up. <S> In long-term relationships of any sort, it is natural that minor arguments occur, and then get resolved. <S> If resolving the argument adds nothing to the story, it definitely should be resolved off-screen. <S> A reader would assume that they argued, someone apologised, or just forgave, no big deal. <S> If, on the other hand, the argument was over a major issue, or one of the people arguing crossed a line with what he said or did, the apology cannot be just assumed. <S> For example, a very disappointing instance in Star <S> Trek - Deep Space 9 was in season 6: at the start of the season, one of the main characters cheats on his girlfriend, abandoned his duties, and allowed the Bad Guys to do a series of Bad Things. <S> Eventually he remembers what he should be doing and saves the day, but then the reconciliation happens off-screen. <S> Literally: the character and his girlfriend go into a closed room, and next time we see them, they emerge reconciled. <S> The viewers hated it, the actors hated it. <S> It only happened because the writers first wrote the character's temporary betrayal, and then couldn't figure out what to do next. <S> Since you're not writing a TV show, you can do better. <A> In reality, we rarely understand everything that goes on around us. <S> The people we meet do not always explain to us why they behave the way they do. <S> We often don't learn why friends have separated or reconciled. <S> I feel that a certain amount of unexplained detail makes a novel more "rich" and satisfying to me. <S> When everything is resolved completely, I am quickly bored. <S> Also, as I have said before , trust your instinct. <S> When I read your question I get the impression that on a subconscious level you already know how you want to narrate this, but you are unsure because you have read all this advice on how to write <S> and now you are overthinking it. <S> My advice is that you don't write with your head. <S> Turn off your inner editor and trust your feeling. <A> Provide resolution, but it's often not necessary to play it out. <S> Do not simply ignore the argument and continue the story like it never happened. <S> If you want to ignore it, use a one-liner that tells the reader it has been resolved <S> and, if relevant, how it has been resolved. <A> Perhaps you could do the apology as more needed for one character than the other. <S> For example, in Firefly, after the captain and the rest of the ship come to Simon's rescue, Simon goes to Captain Mal and asks him why he did it. <S> Mal says because Simon is part of his crew. <S> Simon responds by pointing out he and Mal almost never get along, to which Mal responds "You're part of my crew. <S> Why are we still talking about this?" <S> This goes in hand with Mal's morality. <S> He may be the leader of a ship of smugglers and (petty) thieves, and he isn't hiding that he doesn't care for Simon as a person all that much, but Simon is a part of the crew and he does not leave his crew behind for any reason (We later see this philosophy play out when he threatens to kill another member of his crew who put their entire operation in jeopardy for his own personal greed). <S> This "apology" could be awkward not because it has to be, but because character A feels it's necessary, while character B (the one who is receiving the apology) never even thought character A had done anything worth apologizing about, but merely spoken his mind... <S> which B sees as a good thing. <S> This is especially relevant as even if two people see the same information, they can still interpret the facts into two very different opinions and there is nothing wrong with that. <S> I'd give a real world example of an evaluation of facts that can be taken by two separate and logical people and be interpreted in two separate ways, but every example I can think of is likely to start conversations I would rather not have on this SE.

It's not a big issue, it might as well get resolved off-screen. There is no general rule that says such and such a thing always advances the story or such and such a thing never advances the story.

Is it possible for "weakness" to be a "virtue" in context? I'm working on a teen romance. The event is the high school play, the "Sound of Music," in which there are two main contestants for the role of Liesl. They are designated "A" and "B," because those are the grades they received in drama class. A, a very worldly, boy-chasing girl, is initially elected by her fellow students for the part (by a margin of one vote). After a week, she is shifted to playing the worldly and seductive Baroness von Schroeder, (who loses the Captain to Maria), because in A's own words, "As Britney Spears would say, "Oops I did it again, because I'm not that innocent.'" B, who has dated only one boy in her life, is awarded the role of Liesl, and plays "herself'. "I am sixteen, going on seventeen, I know that I'm naive." Is it plausible that B's weaker overall acting abilities and lesser life experience is actually a "virtue" or at least not a fault when it comes to her playing Liesl? That is, B, a shy, reserved girl plays a better Liesl, than the other girl who is too slick? Especially when she "compensates" by being "Rolf's" everyday girlfriend? <Q> From the part of the plot you've given us, it sounds like the person or people making the casting decisions don't think either of the two are accomplished enough actors to play against their own character (ie. <S> both would play a version of themselves), so the more demure B would be the best fit to play that particular character. <S> The plot as you've described it sounds both logical and plausible. <A> Do you recall the horrific murder in Amish country about ten years ago, when after the murder the amish community invited the murderer to pray with them ? <S> (It may have been his family - I don't recall, but it was striking.) <S> They took the assailant (or his family?) <S> in briefly, because they held to the belief that he, as a murderer, suffered as much, or more, than they did, as victims. <S> It seemed like an atypical, 'weak' response on their part. <S> I think there is a profound truth in the community response. <S> I think the 'weakness' in the Amish response in this true story is their great strength. <S> Naivety, innocence, weakness, inexperience ... lack of ego ... there is something 'in this ballpark' that is both a strength and a 'hole in the market.' <S> (At least IMO). <S> Write the character. <S> I want to read it. <S> I think you could develop an amazing character who is inexperienced and placed in the position of 'center stage' in the production and the novel. <S> She would hold certain beliefs held from childhood, which are truths. <S> Hold hands. <S> Help one another. <S> Look both ways before crossing the street. <S> Eat cookies several times a week, at least. <S> This creates a nice contrast with the common crop of superheroes and teen role models. <S> I think it's a great idea if you can develop the plot satisfactorily. <S> My answer: <S> Yes. <S> Weakness, as you define it, can be a strength. <A> I don't understand how the answer to this question is even relevant to your writing. <S> (a) Are you writing a nineteenth century educative novel that you think in terms of "virtue"? <S> Virtue is no longer a concept relevant to the education of the youth of today. <S> We don't teach them to abstain from masturbation, we have sex ed and help them understand their bodies better. <S> We don't tell our young women to be meek and servile, we hope they will voice their opinions, say "no", and send them to self-defense class. <S> (b) <S> Your protagonist is B. <S> What does it matter whether she is "better" than A? <S> B needs to find her own path in life, and A's path may simply be wrong to her. <S> No judgment needs to be passed on A or <S> B. Today's novels for teens generally aren't morality plays but have realistic characters that are neither good nor bad.

Strength and weakness will often (possibly always) need to be judged in context, so something that appears weak out of context may be a strength and vice versa - the person who uses a sledgehammer to crack a nut will not eat many nuts.

Any software for video game non-linear story design? Is there any software for making non-linear story or dialogues?I tried MS Word/Google Docs but that's not good for dialogues.In one complicated dialogue I wrote in Google Drawings, it looks like this (Ignore those ticks; I think it's not final version - I see some problems here)As you can see, all ways lead to the bottom node (except red arrows - which lead to game over)It was pretty hard to make it, especially those long arrows - even now when I opened it, Chrome barely could do it - it was lagging as hell What software are you using? Or maybe there's a software dedicated to make non-linear story? <Q> Another non-free alternative to articy: <S> draft is Chat Mapper From the forum posts and reviews I read, most that tried to find a free alternative to articy:draft, ended up paying for that software, because apparently it is superior in functionality to the free alternatives. <S> But you'll have to try different software and the free demos yourself, to find what works best for you. <A> articy:draft from Nevigo <S> The software is specifically designed for writing in a software development environment. <S> It has things like asset management so that you can manage all your characters with everything important you want to keep in mind about them in one place, the ability to write branching dialogue, an export to Word and Excel, ... <S> It even has an integration into Unity . <S> There is a 14 day trial version . <S> Biggest problem: the price of ~85$ for a lifetime one-user license <S> It's more designed for bigger projects with multiple people. <S> Flowchart software like yEd <S> (the idea is from Memor-X in an answer to my more general question about <S> Are there tools that can aid an author in writing a branching storyline? ) <S> With flowchart software like yEd you can easily manage branches and re-arrange <S> it however you see fit at a later point in your development. <S> The downside is that it's not really made for writing lots of text, but you could make subgraphs to assist you. <S> yEd is free and can be downloaded here . <S> There is even an online version if you don't want to download anything. <A> I am using Ink by Inkle Studios . <S> It's writer-oriented and open source. <S> They have a free editor/compiler that exports an elegant web version, and they have a Unity plugin. <S> The syntax feels more sophisticated than other tools I've tried. <S> Ink has evolved over a few versions, and was used on the game 80 Days which is the best branching narrative game I've seen. <S> Rather than a flowchart or mindmap, Ink is more like coding in HTML – it uses markup syntax to handle the interactivity. <S> Story sections are defined by index names, and typically end with several choices which redirect the reader to other index points in the text. <S> At it's basic level, Ink is similar to the CYOA books except you don't "turn to page 23 <S> " you jump to an index point by name. <S> This makes writing more intuitive for non-programmers. <S> Ink is also designed to exhaust the choices, so the next time the reader returns to a section the option he picked last time is removed. <S> This works within the text as well, for instance changing the dialog or descriptions the second and third times through. <S> The options can also be randomized, or only appear once conditional variables have been satisfied. <A> A bit late to the party, but Celtx ( www.celtx.com ), the company behind the fairly popular Film and TV editor now has a narrative editor for Games, VR, and interactive writing, which seems to be updated fairly often. <S> It has a limited free version for up to 20 sequences, or $20/30 a month for full access. <A> This just recently launched on Steam :). <S> It is currently a bit ugly though. <S> Slow, exported JSON is messy and some vital UI functions lack shortcuts. <S> Zooming options are also poor, not supporting intuitive gestures. <S> But it's quite cheap. <S> Hopefully they will improve it. <S> https://store.steampowered.com/app/1273620/Dialogue_Designer/

A free open-source tool for telling non-linear / interactive storylines is Twine

When is 'enough', enough? So, I've been going through advice for aspiring writers, and naturally, that includes quotes from famous authors, interviews, their top tips etc. One thing I've noticed is that a lot of them say things along the line of 'Good writing is essentially rewriting' (quoted roughly from Roald Dahl), i.e. good writing is essentially writing that has been improved by countless edits and revisions. My question: How (and possibly when) do you know that your book is good enough to be published? When do you know that you've edited your text enough times and that you might as well publish it now rather than after some more editing? Note: Ideally, answers will be about fictional writing but answers covering other types of writing will also be appreciated. I'm more interested in how to know when you're ready rather than an exact time (such as 'a year') as the time will naturally vary between writers (for example, J.K.Rowling published the first Harry Potter book after 5 years of revisions). <Q> It depends what you want it to be good enough to accomplish. <S> But if you want a certain number of sales, then you might need it to go through a few more iterations. <S> If you want to traditionally publish with a big publishing house, then it might need more than that. <S> In this case, I believe the process is is not black and white. <S> (1) You may think it's good enough, and (2) you may have beta readers that say it's good too. <S> but (3) an agent may read it and say that it isn't and ask for more revision. <S> Or they may think it is good enough and then look for a home for it, and (4) the publisher might want you to change things. <S> Or you might be flatly rejected at these stages and need to figure out for yourself what the problem is. <S> It's also possible that a story could always be better - and in that case you need to at some point walk away because you've hit diminishing returns. <S> But in brief, there are certain questions you should be able to say yes to. ' <S> Am I satisfied?' ' <S> Are other readers satisfied?' 'Does the storyline follow accepted guidelines for structure, pacing, and so on?' When you feel like it's at that point, then your opinion takes a back seat and the opinion of other people matter more., particularly agents and publishers if you want to go that route. <S> To complicate this further, any rejection on their part may be down to your story being a bad fit, not bad writing. <A> It could be that "to edit" has acquired too many meanings. <S> It's applied not just to the necessary passes of story improvement i.e. revisions, but also to line editing, fixes to formatting, proofreading, incorporating "suggestions" (demands) made by editors, etc. <S> One might assume that agents and editors are concerned with 1) the initial and sustained marketability and profitability of an author and her works, to the end of 2) gaining and maintaining their own standing in the industry. <S> My principal criterion for a work's "doneness" is that it end up page-turner immersive and satisfying/fulfilling to a reasonable sampling of the target demographic. <S> It then becomes a matter of attending to any- <S> and everything that interferes therewith. <A> There are two indicators for finishness: <S> When your test readers tell you. <S> Usually professional writers have alpha and beta readers. <S> The alpha readers (often the husband/wife and agent or editor) give the first and most fundamental feedback. <S> After the first revision the novel goes out to the beta readers, who ideally represent the target audience. <S> Once their feedback has been worked into the novel as well, it goes to the publisher. <S> Sometimes the publisher requests some final revisions. <S> The extent of revision decreases drastically from alpha to beta to publisher feedback. <S> After some years in the business, you will develop a feeling for when your story is done. <S> You will make less mistakes, need less feedback, and need to revise less.

If you plan to self publish, it is good enough when you are happy with it. When your experience tells you.

Do I need to repeat character descriptions of main characters from one book to the next? In the second book of my trilogy, do I need to repeat everything about the main characters' appearance from the last book, or can I just mention a few key things? <Q> You don't need to describe your main characters in detail as you would have done in your first book. <S> However, you do need to briefly describe their key/relevant features so that someone, who is reading your sequel without having read your first book (which is pretty common), can quickly get an idea of who your character is and get straight into the story (which is what <S> the reader's interested in). <S> Otherwise, they'll have to buy your first book and refer to it specifically for your characters' descriptions, which would inevitably ruin the reader's experience and discourage them from reading your books (not what you want!) . <S> Think of it this way. <S> Every story should be able to be enjoyed by itself, to a satisfactorial extent. <S> Even in a series, there shouldn't be reliance on the reader having read the previous books as this simply isn't always the case. <S> If you don't describe your main characters (briefly) in sequels, then you'll undoubtedly discourage them from reading on (as they'll feel a need to have read your previous books (this effect would be worse if you don't describe your character in book 5 as opposed to not describing in book 2) ). <S> Note (Spoiler Alert): <S> Beware of describing your character's key details too often in series, especially if the details are relevant to plot twists. <S> For example, in the Skullduggery Pleasant series (by Derek Landy), Erskine Ravel (a good friend of the main character), is described as having golden eyes. <S> This description is repeated in the second and third books, but isn't mentioned again after that. <S> In book 5, the mastermind of a plan that will destroy the world is revealed to be 'The Man with the Golden Eyes'. <S> In book 8 (out of 9 in the first series), this mysterious man is revealed, in a major plot twist, to be Erskine Ravel. <S> This was completely unexpected as after the third book, Erskine's golden eyes are never referenced again. <A> In a tight long story, as in The Hobbit dovetailing into The Lord of the Rings , character expo occurs only as-needed. <S> By Return of the King , every reader with normal perception is long familiar with a hobbit's baseline appearance. <S> Only distinguishing and changed bits are mentioned, e.g. especially curly hair on the feet, or Merry & Pippin's altered appearance thanks to drinking Ent-draughts. <S> Aside from their being a sign of poor writing, I find rehashed character expo-dumps to be a boring irritant: boring because they are unnecessary, irritating because the writer seems to be expressing not just a lack of confidence in her storytelling but also a low opinion of the reader. <A> Whether or not your sequel can be read as a standalone novel, in the years that pass between the publication of one book and the next, it is quite likely that your readers would have forgotten some things. <S> You should offer them a reminder. <S> That said, if you repeat everything, it might be boring for a reader who reads the whole series in sequel. <S> (When J.K. Rowling was still writing Harry Potter , years would pass between books. <S> Nowadays, they are all available to the reader.) <S> A few key things seem to me like a good balance between repeating everything, and repeating nothing. <S> Something you can do is weave some of the "reminders" into the dialogue, for example - remember how everyone comments on Harry Potter's green eyes? <S> Or it can be woven into the action: Harry might see Ron's red hair from afar. <S> Such reminders feel more organic than a repeat of a description we're already familiar with, serving both those who remember, and those who might have forgotten, and giving enough information to those who have never read the previous book(s). <A> There are different conventions: <S> Some sequels take into account the long time that may have passed between its publication and that of its predecessor and remind the reader of what has happened before and who the important characters are. <S> Some sequels begin as if they weren't separate volumes at all but continue as if the reader had just turned a page to the next chapter. <S> What you do will depend on: your personal preference your publisher's preference <S> the publication schedule your reader's memory the genre

Yes, sequels will generally be related to the plot of the previous book, but they shouldn't be heavily dependent; they should be able to be enjoyed, to a satisfactory extent, by themselves.

Should I copyright my material before sending to my publisher? Should I copyright my material before sending to my publisher? Can they steal my content? <Q> By law, everything you write is copyrighted the instant you write it. <S> This registration can be used as evidence that you did indeed write it, and gives you certain additional legal rights. <S> But more to the point, the answer is no, don't register the copyright before sending to a publisher. <S> This jumps the gun in a number of ways. <S> Almost every publisher will want to make editorial changes to your work, so a new copyright on the updated work would have to be registered anyway. <S> And getting published means that you are selling certain rights. <S> Part of the deal may be that you are selling all your rights. <S> (Which you may be willing to agree to or not.) <S> So any registration may have to be amended. <S> And even more to the point, publishers are not in the business of stealing the work of aspiring writers. <S> As @cloudchaser says, if a publisher did this regularly the word would surely get out soon enough, and then no one would want to send them any submissions and they'd be ruined. <S> New writers are always asking, "how can I protect myself from my work being stolen?" <S> Seriously, just don't worry about it. <S> As a new writer, your problem is to get people to think that your work is valuable. <S> Spend your efforts trying to write something good enough that someone would want to steal it. <S> (I once found that one of those services that sell pre-written term papers to cheating college students was selling an article that I wrote without my permission. <S> My first thought was that it was great that people were actually willing to pay for copies of my article. <S> I never bothered to do anything about it.) <A> They can, but they won't. <S> A publisher who steals submissions will soon be out of work, because no one will want to work with them. <S> Also, once your text has gone through your beta readers you will have enough witnesses and several versions of your text, and proving that you have written it will be totally easy. <A> As mentioned, copyright is automatic. <S> This preserves the only digital copy on files you're able to access. <S> Make sure you have a change log of your main digital copy, or attach to e-mails to yourself An even dumber poor man's protection is to send yourself a self-addressed sealed envelope with a postmark <S> (it doesn't hurt to send multiple of these, in case the package gets destroyed in one storage location or multiple cases occur). <S> Wait until the next day and then send your manuscript to the publishers with postmarks. <S> When you receive the sealed self-addressed envelope, do not open it, but store the unopened package in a place where you would secure files or if need be a safe deposit box. <S> This will create an official government date (the postmark always contains the date it was recieved for delivery by the post office) and can be opened to reveal the manuscript at trial. <S> Important to note is that these need to happen before you send your documents so you can show records that you possessed them prior to the publisher's records (the publisher would likely discard the envelop) and that there are two viable records of your prior ownership. <S> It's perfectly viable to only need one sealed envelop, as any records of proceedings where it was opened will suffice as evidence just as well as the initial record, since it acknowledges the initial record's existence. <S> It's a poor man's copyright protection, but it shows original creation would belong to the person who has held the document the longest.

The best form of defense is to only submit physical copies of your work until a publisher agrees to buy it from you to publish. Technically, your question is meaningless. You can REGISTER your copyright with the Library of Congress.

Is it okay to write a story where the protagonist is a Terrorist? I am writing a side story called, The Afterglow of Jovian , which mainly takes place sometime during the final stages of the main story. Here's a brief gist of the main story to give some context, The main story takes place in the future, 566 E.A.E. By this time mankind has successfully colonized most of the planets and moons in the Solar System. Due to the immense success of colonization and terraforming, from the end of the year 2099 A.D there was an exodus from Earth. Thus 2100 A.D is officially marked as the epoch for the start of E.A.E ( Exodus: After Earth ) era. Eventually, a global government called the Third Planet Alliance is formed as a form of a global government. The main story follows Lisa Roberts who is part of an elite counter-insurgency unit called the Titans , who are tasked with neutralizing the terrorist faction known as Jovian Liberation Army . The Jovian Liberation Army are a military resistance coalition formed between the moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto of the Jovian system . The main story, as mentioned above, mainly focuses on Lisa Roberts and the Titans neutralizing and eliminating the terrorist faction. In my side story, I am thinking about telling the story from the terrorist faction side. While in the process, I am also thinking of exploring more of the backstory and the reason for the uprising of the Jovian Liberation Army . My only worry is: Is it a good idea for the protagonist to be a terrorist? Generally, people don't like the word "terrorist", due to the negative connotation associated with the word. And, it is generally also frowned upon in society. Because of this dilemma, I am also thinking to introduce a secondary main character who at one point, during the very early years of Jovian Liberation moment, was a former Titan member. But, he becomes disillusioned with the Third Planet Alliance government when he is ordered to gun down the severely undermanned and unharmed Jovian resistances soldiers. I am thinking this might help the readers to connect a bit at least. <Q> One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. <S> In other words, your main character probably doesn't see himself as a terrorist, so a first-person or close third-person story focusing on that character can present something more nuanced than "terrorist, ick". <S> I've read stories where <S> I know the main character is reprehensible in some way -- terrorist, serial killer, torturer -- but the story is still interesting. <S> Not all fiction requires that the reader see himself in the main character. <A> Can you? <S> Yes. <S> As @Cloudchaser points out, it is being done, increasingly more commonly. <S> Do I wish such stories did not exist? <S> YES. <S> Terrorist attacks are very much a part of my life. <S> There's a failed attempt every week where I live, on average once a month they do not fail. <S> When I was a child, it was far worse. <S> My mum wouldn't allow me and my brother to take the same bus, because she was terrified of losing both of us. <S> So what is it you're doing when you make your protagonist a terrorist? <S> You're making the reader sympathise with him. <S> Even if particular actions of your protagonist are despicable, they are suddenly understandable, forgivable. <S> From there, it's one step to "sometimes acceptable". <S> Well, NO! <S> Terrorism is not forgivable. <S> There is NOTHING understandable about blowing up a bus full of schoolchildren. <S> I should draw your attention to the distinction between terrorism and guerilla. <S> While sometimes the distinctions are blurred, guerilla is strictly against soldiers. <S> Terror is against civilians. <S> And political assassination isn't terrorism either. <S> Terrorism is against your average Joe, and average Joe's baby daughter - the targets that would instil most terror . <A> One of my favorite books is Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress , about a brave group of freedom fighters on the moon. <S> If you read it closely enough, however, you realize that the protagonists are all terrorists from the point of view of the people on Earth. <S> They aren't looking for peace, they're looking for victory, and they're willing to use any tactics necessary to secure it. <S> (Interestingly enough, it also functions in some ways as a space-aged retelling of the American Revolution. <S> So there's a lot of truth to @MonicaCellio's observation that "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.") <S> There's also a wonderful short story in graphic novel form by Israeli cartoonist Rutu Modan, about a young woman who narrowly escapes a store bombing, and ends up caring for a victim of the bombing in the final minutes of his life. <S> It's only later that she realizes the "victim" <S> was actually the bomber himself. <S> It's a wonderful reversal, because you're forced to reevaluate the sympathies and affections you've built up for the victim, your sense of his injured fragile humanity, in light of his true identity. <S> So there is definitely room to do this story and do it well. <S> But I think you need some caution. <S> I'm assuming you don't want to lionize or excuse away the horrors and moral crimes of terrorism. <S> In that respect, I think your described strategy is a good and a powerful one --to have the protagonist's eyes gradually opened to the unjustifiable ugliness of what his side is willing to do to win. <A> There are quite a few examples of media where the protagonists are terrorists. <S> There are several options, among them: <S> Your protagonists use bad methods (terrorism) for a good goal (freedom). <S> In the course of the story they realize that their methods are wrong and fail at their goal. <S> Your protagonists are the morally superior suppressed slaves of an evil majority and have tried peaceful ways for centuries to no avail, and now they have to resort to violence before being finally wiped out entirely. <S> You write relief escapism that allows your readers to indulge all their bad sides (think games like GTA). <S> Your protagonists are the good guys, but you give equal screen time to the terrorist antagonists and portray them as essentially good people that have taken a wrong turn (see point one above). <S> Here are some lists of movies where the heroes are terrorists, if you want to look at examples: https://www.quora.com/In-which-movies-is-the-terrorist-the-hero <S> https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/2qs0bh/are_there_any_good_movies_from_the_terrorist/ <S> https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/movies/24dargis.html <S> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_about_terrorism (includes movies with terrorist antagonists)

Whether the characters will be acceptable to your readers will depend on what you do with them.

What does the death of a fictional character mean? When should a writer kill their protagonist off? Inspired by a question about character lifetime and another about what makes the death of a character satisfying for the reader, I have begun to wonder whether there are clues inherent to a story I might be writing that would tell me whether my protagonist needs to die – or not. If you consider answering this question, please keep in mind that we are Writing.SE. This question is not about how we might interpret the death of a character in literature, but about guidelines and conventions that might help us decide whether we should let a character die, or whether some other (positive or negative) outcome is more fitting to our stories. <Q> Killing a character and killing the protagonist are two very different things. <S> The death of somebody close to a character is obviously life-changing and can set them on a new course. <S> It is the death of Bruce Wayne's parents that motivates him to become Batman. <S> Or the murder of Luke Skywalker's parents that induces him to follow Obi Wan and become a Jedi hero. <S> The death of a protagonist, on the other hand, is much different. <S> Readers typically identify with the protagonist, so the death of the protagonist is seldom enjoyed by them. <S> But it might be if the setup is that the protagonist is choosing death as the only way to accomplish something they care about more than their own life; saving their family, for example. <S> Or saving the world or universe. <S> Or even saving a single person they love. <S> Or they feel like the protagonist, by choosing death to achieve an objective, redeemed themselves for their past sins. <S> Otherwise, if the reader will not feel the protagonist died with honor and courage, you are writing a tragedy. <S> If that is your goal (it has never been mine) <S> then the death of the protagonist is either literal or Karmic punishment for a mortal sin, because they chose to do something (or many somethings) that harms an innocent, or many innocents. <S> They are not dying heroes, but dying as villains. <S> The story is a warning of what awaits the selfish, those who choose cowardice or comfort or self-reward over the welfare of the innocent and helpless. <S> It is difficult to write a protagonist reader's care about and identify with that fits this bill, but these kinds of "good guy caught up in a slippery slope descent into evil" stories can be written. <S> It will not be considered a "good read" if you just randomly kill the protagonist, killing the protagonist takes a long time for the reader to feel like their own death <S> (since they identify with the protagonist) was morally justified and the "right ending" of both the protagonist and the story. <A> I don’t understand why main protagonists are ever killed in serials or in series… Robin Hood; <S> King Arthur, their tales are done but Sherlock Holmes can always be brought back by adding an earlier adventure… or when “with one bound, our hero was free”. <S> Otherwise, and assuming you’re not thinking of fresh victims in serial killings, isn’t it true that no character needs to die unless the story needs to be made to move on? <S> Whether it’s revenge, justice or something else, “… somebody must die for the death of my wife/father/brother” works only if my wife/father/brother first dies. <S> Any character can by contrast, usually achieve redemption or atonement for some failing, including a main protagonist. <S> Similarly the acquisition of super-powers has come at a very high price since Prometheus and Icarus, Dracula and Frankenstein. <A> In the story Worm, there's a major catastrophic event. <S> The author decided that 1/3 of characters had to die and rolled dice for each. <S> The main protagonist was not exempted. <S> Some of the deaths were surprising and required introduction of new characters to take their place. <S> There was even a plan to replace the main protagonist if she died. <S> I don't remember his reasoning, but here's what I got out of it: <S> Nobody has plot armor. <S> This makes for much more thrilling writing and prevents deus ex machina. <S> The story can't be planned ahead too far. <S> If you've read Worm, a lot of it fits together extremely well for a 1.6M word story. <S> But this was not out of planning ala Tolkien but out of very in depth characters. <S> It's a way out of writer's block and keeps things fresh if you're tired of writing. <S> Note that you don't have to actually kill the protagonist. <S> You just have to have a very real risk of it.

If the reader is identifying with the protagonist, it can still be a happy ending if they feel like the protagonist died a heroic and honorable death to achieve their goal, if the protagonist died to uphold a high moral principle.

Are readers tolerant of unique and bizarre character Names? I'm trying to refine a name for my main character and characters in general but I will be focusing on my MC for the example of this question. My question is: What criteria would make a name hard for readers to read? I'm thinking of using roman and latin, and possibly gaelic names for the book. Here's what I got. I really like the name Nyuna. (Pronounced Nuu-Nah) Her full name (maybe): Nu'nah Lux Nyu to her friends. Little One is her pet name. Others I have... Nyuna Everstar Luxanna Nu'nah Lucia Luinir Lumii Luxann Lu'mii Luxe Reina Celestios Nu'nah Lux Or would that be terrible writing to put an apostrophe in there to easily break the name up into 2 syllables? What would be criteria that make a name difficult for readers? Multiple first names, apostrophes in the middle of the name, amount of syllables, ...? The above are examples of bizarre names I have thought about that I am unsure of. Online sources aren't being helpful with this particular question so I thought I'd post here. A general idea of what my main character looks like and does for a living: Image does not belong to me. It was found on google images after 15 minutes of scrolling through pictures. It's kind of close enough. <Q> The sound is more important than the spelling I think, so I'd ditch the "Y", with "Nuna", or "Nuuna" <S> if you want the first syllable drawn out a bit. <S> That said and following that rule, I do use weird names, often ancient actual names and foreign myth names few people would recognize, or vaguely recognize (e.g. "Heraud" appeared before "Herald" appeared before "Harold"). <S> I do that to constantly emphasize the "foreignness" of my setting, or to bring special attention to my hero, or both. <S> You may be instinctively doing something similar; a distinctive name makes a character special. <S> Everybody with distinctive names makes the setting special. <S> One more general warning on names, however, is to keep yourself a cheat-sheet of names you have used, both for lookup of characters you haven't written about for awhile, and as reference when you need to make a new name: try not to re-use an existing name, and try to make any NEW names not easily confused with a previous name, either by spelling or the sound of the name. <S> (Some readers rely on spelling, some readers hear the words they read as if spoken in their head). <A> This being said, adding an apostrophe in the middle of a short name can actually distract from the name itself and make it more annoying to read (in my opinion.) <S> However, if it is a regular part of the language of the place she came from than it is totally fine. <S> You can also use letters like ç (c cédille) or æ (æsc) or accents to clarify certain pronunciations. <S> (I have a character who's full name used to be Lumineca, but I ended up changing it to Lumineça because the c cédille shows the reader to pronounce her name with an s sound without having to write her name as Luminesa.) <S> You can always add things like that if you want to make her name stand out, or you can do whichever name you prefer. <S> This is all just my personal opinion. <A> First, what would be your reaction if you met someone with that name on a real, 21st-century English-speaking street? <S> Next, how does the world you’re creating for your character differ from my real, 21st-century English-speaking street? <S> Then, how would anyone who accepted your world feel… ? <S> Broadly, readers are tolerant of everything that fits the scenario, and of nothing which doesn't, Please consider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Fairy-Stories

Weird names are fine and tolerated, my personal rule is to ensure there is no ambiguity in how the reader should pronounce them; and "Nyuna" does have that problem, it is not certain whether to try and pronounce the "Y". So, unique names are completely fine in a word so long as everyone has them or if there is a valid reason for their name being as it is (ex - they are a foreigner, they are royalty, etc.)

How Many Tropes Are Allowed In a Short Story? I am trying to add some dramatic ‘zombie-virus’ suspense to a short-story about boy-meets-girl young love, which already has an unlikely (but not the first sort of) antagonist The boy named Ethan is acting out in anger in front of Debbie, the girl, because his father is away fighting in the Middle East (the story is set in the year when The Iraq War started in 2003). Early in the story, Ethan lashes out at a child named Gordie who deems revenge on Ethan for interfering, implied to be a personal and hateful feeling against Ethan Debbie isn’t patient with Ethan after that,but she doesn’t give up on him, they still walk around when he feels better.One day she takes Ethan’s dog out with her, the dog has fleas and Debbie has lots of bug bites the next day.At school Debbie’s bites worsen, later Gordie finds her in a strange state where she is starting to EAT Ethan. Ethan’s internal struggle Gordie’s Grudge (The child who comes between a couple, like in Irwin’s Atonement) Debbie’s Zombie Form (which is a reminiscent transformation for the dog in Stephen King’s Cujo) So far it doesn’t seem to be realistic, a sudden zombie-outbreak in a love story. In any other general story.Could I make the story great with these three elements? <Q> Tropes are Tools <S> Quoting <S> /Paraphrasing the mantra of TVtropes: <S> Tropes are not good, tropes are not bad <S> - Tropes are tools. <S> Some stories have a lot of tropes <S> - TVtropes have a list of them. <S> Some have really few, usually because they are minimalistic in it's style or are trying to do something innovative. <S> Some becomes Ur-examples to new tropes <S> ( Seinfield is an infamous example in that it for some today feels boring, been-there-done-that, even though some (if not most) of the ideas used were innovative at the time). <S> I personally believe that it's good to think about tropes - because even if you don't, your stories will end up having tropes either way. <S> That does not mean that you should shoehorn them in, of course! <S> By the way - what you are basically writing is Warm Bodies in reverse (A zombie apocalypse story that becomes a love story) - which by the way is not necessarily a bad thing, if it gives the reader/watcher a sense of familarity and/or expectation (and prehaps suprise!) <A> I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at. <S> Because there's no rule, no guideline, that can help explain this away. <S> It's about knowing your core audience, and what they want. <S> Let me explain. <S> If you go on YouTube, and you look at "tropes I hate" or "cliches I hate" videos, you'll get some trends. <S> But you need to understand that really, they're talking about tropes/cliches that are either overused, or poorly used. <S> No one has ever read a well-written story and said, "You used too many tropes, mate." <S> Ever. <S> Tropes are nothing more than literary shortcuts, used for saving time or because they resonate with the intended core audience. <S> If, for example, you are writing a romance for women between 28 and 40, you're going to have a boatload of cliches you cannot leave out. <S> It doesn't matter the length of it, simply because the point of a story is to make the core audience happy with it. <S> If you can write it well with no tropes (and I really can't imagine a means of doing just that, given the staggering amounts of tropes out there), then good on you. <S> If you use nothing but tropes every other sentence, that's fine too. <S> What you should instead focus on is who wants to read this (who are you writing for) <S> and what do they expect. <S> Then you decide if you want to consciously go with that, or go against it (within the confines of guidelines from whichever medium you publish with/via). <S> Just go on tvtropes (I refuse to put a link, because I'm not going to take responsibility for anyone who loses a months of their lives going back into that addictive pit of tropes), and you'll see the sheer scope of what constitutes a trope. <S> So you can hardly go more than five words without invoking at least one. <S> (Specifically, you aren't talking about tropes, but about theme and setting. <S> Zombie apocalypse, love, and life versus death. <S> And really, those three things are common for this type of story. <S> What you need to focus on is making it feel real enough to encourage immersion and the suspension of disbelief, because vampires and zombies aren't real, but people enjoy writing about them and reading about them all the same.) <A> You're much too meta. <S> Don't think about "tropes", when you write. <S> If your story is about a zombie virus, then that's the story you need to write. <S> Whether it will be a good story will depend on your mastery of the craft. <S> Anything can be told well. <S> And if what you write turns out to be told badly, then you will have learned something for your next story. <S> Because, a writer is someone who writes the next story .

The number of tropes used does not make a story good nor bad, but it gives the reader something to relate to - and can make a story less innovative. Think about the story you want to tell.

How to execute a change of the POV in a first person novel POV? I am writing a novel and I am about 1/3 into it. It is in first person, past-tense. I am at a scene where the main character (the narrator) goes unconscious. The second main character has only ever been described and integrated through the narrators point of view. However, I want a chapter or two to be about the second character in their first person view. Would this make the story seem choppy or confusing? It’s about the second character finding the first one and it’s important that I can express details about this second character while the other one is unconscious. I was thinking about labeling at the top of a chapter saying it was the second characters point of view, but would that be weird if I only did that once or twice in the entire story? <Q> This is perfectly fine. <S> This is easily done by having the new viewpoint character look at or think of the previous viewpoint character. <S> A sentence like John looks dead. <S> or I wish I knew where John is. <S> makes it unmistakeably clear, that the person narrating is not John. <S> Example: ... <S> The last thing I saw before I fell to the floor unconscious was Sarah's frightened face.   <S> Chapter 7   John hit the floor hard. <S> I rushed to him ... <S> The clarification may come at the beginning of the chapter – or later, if you want to play with reader expectation. <S> In <S> The Kiss of Deception , Mary E. Pearson tells the story from the viewpoints of three characters, a princess, a prince, and an assassin. <S> The princess fled an arranged marriage to the prince and lives anonymously in a village. <S> The prince follows her and stays in the village anonymously, so find out why she spurned him. <S> The assasin is there to kill her, but doesn't immediately fulfill his assignment. <S> The princess doesn't know the true identity of the two men and thinks, they are just travellers. <S> The reader knows the two men are a prince and an assassin, but the parts told from their viewpoints do not identify them. <S> As a reader, you don't notice this at first, identifying one viewpoint with the prince and the other with the assassin, because of their thoughts and behavior. <S> Only after some time do you learn that you were mistaken and that what you thought was the prince is in fact the assassin. <S> I found this very interesting, but also annoying. <S> Nevertheless it is an example of not letting the reader know (immediately), which character the viewpoint has switched to. <A> I have seen this done once before in a professional book. <S> That book is by Seanan McGuire, though I can't recall the exact title. <S> It's in her Incryptid series. <S> What she did was start an entirely new chapter, with a different chapter decoration, and opened the chapter up announcing that her cousin (technically her aunt) was narrating. <S> These other chapters were also written in first person perspective, but it was made clear that the narrator was someone else. <S> An alternative might be to tell that bit as if this second character is explaining what happened to the first, though what you seem to want to do should be fine. <S> P.S. <S> Another alternative is to rewrite the story in third person. <S> The transition from one character's reference frame to another's isn't as troublesome if you aren't using first person, and close third person isn't that much different from first person in my opinion. <S> Rewriting might seem daunting, but I've done this myself. <S> It isn't as bad as it sounds. <S> It isn't fun, but its doable. <S> In my case I was changing tenses which can't be done with simply changing the suffix on a verb. <S> I had to rewrite it at the paragraph level, and in some parts rewrite entire scenes from scratch. <A> The moment you introduce more than one character narrating in the first person, they're no longer the narrator of the book. <S> Instead you have a collection of accounts which is easier the more different accounts you have and which can be done well <S> (I usually throw Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting as an example), but which raises the question in the reader's mind "who is telling me this story?" <S> (In Welsh's case, it was Welsh - effectively an additional narrator for the collection of stories.) <S> Two people is tricky - particularly if one tells much more of the story than the other. <S> The reader is likely to think "How does he know what she did?". <S> This can be jarring when the second person's activities are written in third person, but when they're written in the first person this becomes "How is he seeing through her eyes?". <S> There might be a metaphysical or science fiction answer to this, but if so you'll have to include it and indicate the transition. <S> Alternatively, you could start a new chapter with " <S> This is what she told me happened", but this would probably work more smoothly if the second character was written in the third person. <S> [I'm using gendered pronouns as a convenient way to show two characters - I don't know whether your book works this way.] <S> Otherwise, it will be a case of working with the idea that the main character, while being the narrator of his part of the story, is no longer the narrator of the book.

The only thing you need to do is let the reader know that they have switched viewpoints. A famous novel that is told from three first person viewpoints (and one third person) is William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury , if you need evidence from the literary canon.

How to write a good cover letter? As I am applying for an internship in research labs writing a cover letter is the most important part while applying. I have gone through many websites regarding this, but I can't find the perfect way to write it. Can you explain to me how to write a good cover letter? Is it mandatory to write about the academic results and extra curricular activities in cover letter? Is it necessary to mention about the researches accomplished by the professor? <Q> It would be worth considering whether the extracurricular activities are relevant or demonstrate transferrable skills - they can be omitted if not. <S> If the results are there, including them in the cover letter would be repetition, and if not it wouldn't help - the cover letter is not the place for these. <S> You can mention other work the professor has done, but I would be careful with this. <S> If the work is relevant to the work you'll be doing, certainly mention it. <S> If not, it could look obsequious and an overly flattering cover letter would be worse than no cover letter at all. <S> (Not always the case - some professors might like this, but they're probably not the professors with whom you want to work.) <S> Cover letters are important, but a bad cover letter could adversely affect an applicant with even a perfect resume/CV. <S> Bear in mind that the professor will be reading a lot of these, so while you'll want to stand out from other applicants, a multi-page letter would be a bad idea. <S> As with a lot of writing, the crux of this is to consider the audience. <S> A good professor will want to know who you are and what interests you about the work you're hoping to do. <S> That's all a good cover letter needs to show. <A> It depends on the professor’s subject, show the professor how reliable you are for the internship - in your letter, be precise and relevant. <S> To your own accedmics and activities, they might prove you have experience. <A> Speaking as both a professor and corporate division manager at different points in my life: Your cover letter is not your CV, and (as said by ItWasLikeThat) <S> you should not try to cram your CV into it. <S> The cover letter is more of a polite marketing tool to convince the professor you are the one for the job. <S> So I am interested in a brief summary of your experience and education, your GPA, courses you took specifically related to MY project / business. <S> More importantly, why are you interested in MY project / business? <S> (and incidentally, this will show me if you have done your homework to read anything about me and my project / business). <S> Related, what do you hope to learn working on MY project? <S> I have to reject applicants; and although your CV will play a factor, your cover letter should be telling me why you should be on the short list. <S> I would rather have an intern interested in my project and wanting to help it succeed than an intern that spends every minute alone staring into their phone and typing to their friends. <S> Obviously it must be short, you must mix relevant experience with your motivation to contribute tangible results and learn what the internship is supposed to provide to both of us; practical (i.e. real life) work experience for you, in exchange for relief of some novice-level workload for me. <S> If possible I will choose an intern with actual interest in my field; and that will override some CV hiccups (like your 'C' in art history) and whether you are in a barbershop quartet, on the soccer team, President of the Student Council or volunteer at the soup kitchen.

Academic results and extracurricular activities should be shown in your resume/CV or on an application form if provided.

What is the "Proposal" Part of a Query Letter? I'm trying to follow query guidelines that include a query letter, proposal, outline, author bio, and sample chapters. What is the 'proposal' part of the query letter? I have not been able to find an answer in the references I've examined so far. <Q> Query letters and book proposals are two related, but distinctly different tools for selling your book. <S> A query letter is a brief "hooky" one-page document that is often sent as a "cold-call," meaning as your first contact with an agent or publisher you have no previous relationship with. <S> Its purpose is to separate you from the crowd, and to get you a request either for a proposal, an excerpt or a full manuscript. <S> A proposal is a longer document that usually contains a complete synopsis, typically broken down into chapters. <S> Other sections vary, but typically include author bio/credentials, comparison works, sample chapters, marketing plan/platform and target audience. <S> It is usually sent only on request (unless the agent or publisher specifies sending it cold). <S> Some agents or publishers want you to send the proposal and the query together, others want the query letter first, and the proposal only if they ask. <S> (In fiction, the proposal is often skipped entirely, in favor of a request for the finished manuscript.) <S> There are plenty of general resources available on writing good proposals and many publishers or agents will give their own guidelines. <S> Proposals are more associated with the non-fiction market, where books are often sold even before they have been written (if the writer already has a good reputation). <S> But they can also be created for fiction <S> –it's a good exercise to write a proposal for your book because it will help you understand how it will be sold. <S> My general rule is that you can always send just a query first, but that you should also have a proposal all ready in the case it is asked for. <S> (If you are doing fiction, neither the query nor the proposal should be sent until after the manuscript is finished, although, of course, you can write them earlier for your own benefit.) <A> A book proposal and a query letter are two distinct kinds of submissions. <S> You write a query letter when you have finished writing your book and query whether the publisher is interested in it. <S> Book proposals are more typical for non-fiction. <S> For fiction, they are usually only written by authors who have already published with that publisher and they both brainstorm together which works would be good to publish next. <S> For fiction, you commonly write a query letter which should show that you have a great story <S> know the market have angled the story for that market (have successfully published) (have a platform) <S> (are willing to undertake certain marketing stints) <A> This is my understanding, I don't have a reference for you to look at it. <S> The "proposal" is either a description of the work you propose to write, or (almost always) a short description of the work (or story) you have written. <S> I believe actual proposals to represent unfinished work tend to be from either well-known authors that have been previously published, or well qualified writers for non-fiction science, textbooks, etc. <S> For first-time writers, work almost certainly be done in its entirety, so the "proposal" is generally the description of the story and plot, and no "outline" is included. <S> If I were proposing to write a textbook (to a publisher familiar with the subject and other textbooks) or other non-fiction work for which I am qualified, I would include an outline of chapters.

You write a book proposal when you intend to write a book and propose that book to the publisher.

Can I change tenses in my first person YA novel? I'm half way through a YA science fiction novel that is told in 1st person, past tense. Currently there are two chapters in different tenses. One is 2nd person, present tense - the p.o.v. of an AI. The other is 1st person, present tense - a dream sequence. My question is, are tense changes always too jarring to be justified? <Q> This sounds like a good and apt use of person and tense changes–they aren't arbitrary, and they indicate either a change in POV or a change of setting/state of mind. <S> The typical rule against tense and person changes is because they introduce discontinuities into the narrative voice. <S> But in this case, that's a good thing. <S> Of course, it still needs to be done well. <S> Both changing POV and introducing a dream sequence need to be done with caution. <S> I personally dislike a changing POV, and it needs to be really necessary for me to accept it. <S> Similarly, while I happen to like dream sequences, many people are (justly) suspicious of them, so make sure you really need it. <S> The potential problems are from the techniques themselves, however, not from the way you are indicating them. <S> Changing POV breaks into the suspension of disbelief that comes when you start to identify with the book's POV. <S> It's not something that happens in real life, so it's an extra mental adjustment for the reader. <S> Similarly, dream sequences are perceived by many readers as corny and overused. <S> None of this, however, is to say "don't do it. <S> " <S> Both techniques can be very effective if used well (and probably sparingly). <A> So long as it's done in a way that doesn't confuse the reader to much, there is no reason that it can't be done. <S> Chapter changes (especially if it's a different character POV) make perfect sense. <S> And dreams makes sense that the tense/POV etc change because dreams are not reality and feel different as we experience them. <A> A page break indicated by asterisk ( <S> **) let's the reader know that the flow is changing. <S> Once they begin reading the new P. O. V they will understand the change.

With the tenses being through the P. O. V. of other characters it will be fine so long as you use a proper transition.

How do I handle English speaking where the language used isn't English but is translated in it? I'm kind of having trouble with portraying one of my main character's English speaking foreign friend. My character and the country he is in don't really use English as the language they communicate in, but they can speak it. My problem is that their language is translated like how everyone in the Mulan movie spoke "Chinese" but speaks in English to be understood by the non-Chinese audience, with Mushu telling Mulan "Don't you understand Chinese?" when she misheard him. I'm trying to have my character have a conversation with his friend without it looking like the foreign friend was just speaking his language. I'm thinking of italicizing their English conversations, but I'm not that sure about it. I hope someone could help me on this. <Q> Sometimes novels give foreign dialoge in the foreign language: <S> "Guten Tag!" <S> Bob blushed and said: "I'm sorry, I don't speak German." <S> "Oh, I'm sorry," the woman switched to English, "I didn't realize you were American." <S> This works well, if the passages are short. <S> You can paraphrase brief passages for your readers: <S> "Guten Tag!" <S> the woman greeted me. <S> Here "greeted me" explains the general meaning of the spoken phrase, making the exchange comprehensible to the reader. <S> You can be more explicit, if you want: "Guten Tag!" <S> Good day , I understood, but how did one ask for a person's name again? <S> Not, What is your name? <S> ... ah, I remember: What are you called? <S> I asked her: "Wie heißen Sie?" <S> the old lady said in German. <S> Bob looked at me, waiting for me to translate. <S> "She wished you a merry christmas, Bob," I lied to him. <S> Since you give the "foreign speech" in the reader's language, you can easily show how what is said in one language may differ from what is understood by a non-native speaker. <S> Use italics only for foreign words and phrases, not to signify text translated from a foreign language 1 . <S> See this overview on the use of italics in fiction. <S> 1 <S> Contrary to my advice here, this great answer recommends to mark up translated passages in italics. <A> The common solution is to just say in the narration that the characters are speaking in English now. <S> Then say when it goes back to Chinese or whatever language. <S> "We need to tell the ambassador about the invasion plans!" <S> Fred said in English. <S> But Ling Chan was looking at us curiously. <S> I was sure he had overheard. <S> He didn't know any English <S> so he wouldn't know what was said, but I didn't want him to get suspicious. <S> "Yes," I quickly replied in Chinese, loudly enough for Chan and anyone around to hear. <S> " <S> Though I think it might rain tomorrow." <A> One technique for this I remember from James Clavell’s book Shogun is for characters speaking in non-English languages would use words, grammar and sentence structures of that language, in as far as it was possible to be understood by and English reader. <S> For instance, two of the characters - a English man and a Japanese woman - would speak in Latin to each other, because he didn’t speak Japanese and she didn’t speak English. <S> When they spoke Latin, it read like this: <S> “Be thou of Zen. <S> Remember, in tranquillity, that the Absolute, the Tao, is within thee, that no priest or cult or dogma or book or saying or teaching or teacher stands between Thou and It. <S> Know that Good and Evil are irrelevant, <S> I and Thou irrelevant, Inside and Outside <S> irrelevant as are Life and Death. <S> Besides the use of “thee” and “thou” the style of speech was formal, which was shown through the use of different grammar to when they spoke in English or Japanese. <S> Shogun also used the (now cliched) <S> dropping in of Japanese words (like -chan and -san honorifics) when Japanese characters spoke Japanese. <S> Other markers you could use are the use of non-English punctuation , like the << … >> quote marks, to show foreign dialogue; or run that text in italics.

If you want to avoid foreign phrased, for example if there would be too many of them you make clear who says what in what language and who understands it and who doesn't in the narrative: "Good day!"

Can I include Acknowledgement page in a novel? I am a new author and I want to mention names of people who helped during my writing. Can I include Acknowledgement page in a novel? I looked in many novels by famous authors and they don't seem to add Acknowledgement. (I am not talking about dedications.) Additionally, are there any novels that include it? <Q> An acknowledgement page in novels usually appears in the end , rather than the beginning as you would see in scientific writings. <S> There's one in Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel , there's one in Naomi Novik's Uprooted , there's one in Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane , and that's just off the top of my head. <S> They're fairly common, at least nowadays (not sure about older books). <A> Yes, you can, it is done often, and I see nothing wrong with them. <S> Authors often spend years on a book, and it is normal human nature to thank the people that helped you through it. <S> People don't have to read it, of course, and I wouldn't worry about haters that don't like it, some people find fault with kindness <S> and I don't get that. <S> Consider movie credits: They now acknowledge everybody that had anything to do with the film, including accountants, assistants, the janitorial staff. <S> What does it cost them? <S> A few frames of film? <S> Not even that, a few megabytes of memory on disk, that's it. <S> I will agree that you should ask before you name somebody publicly. <S> You can offer to give them a handle, like initials, or an initial for the last name. <S> Leave them off if they don't want it. <S> Others do want it, sometimes agents and editors appreciate their contributions being credited. <S> It doesn't diminish the work to credit other people for the help or insight they provided. <S> Many novels provide a "dedications", either in the front somewhere or as a separate page. <S> This often acknowledges both personal and professional help. <A> Acknowledgments that list about two or three pages of names have become an annoying fad that I would avoid. <S> Sam Sacks argues " Against Acknowledgments " in The New Yorker , because to him they diminish a book. <S> Kate Messner warns in a blog post that you should " Think before you thank ", because some help may have been given in the understanding that it would remain private. <S> Personally, acknowlegments feel like navel-gazing to me. <S> Learning of the personal relationships of the author and the personal problems the author went through when she was writing her novel does satisfy my voyeuristic tendencies, but it also lessens my respect for the author that she cannot keep private matters private. <S> Eight years ago Nathan Bransford asked the readers of his blog how they feel about acknowlegments. <S> If you want you can read through the 154 comments to learn what the consensus was. <S> (Spoiler: Most find them okay.) <A> Yes, you can. <S> They're quite common in self-published novels, so you might want to look there for more examples. <S> They're at the end of the book and usually include supportive friends and family, but also professional help, e.g. scientists who helped the author research topics important to the story. <S> If you only have a short list of people that fits into a single paragraph, you might even get away with putting the Acknowledgements at the front. <S> (The ebook version of Neal Asher's short story collection "The Gabble" does that.) <S> And like others have said before, ask before including somebody by name; some people might prefer to stay anonymous. <A> Here are the caveats: They should not be part of your manuscript. <S> Don't even mention them until after you have been offered a contract. <S> They are considered an optional extra. <S> Publishers don't tend to like them, because they take up room, and don't (in their eyes) add value to the book. <S> The longer they are, the less the publisher will like them, so be prepared to advocate for them if you're thinking of anything more than a line or two. <S> Especially if you're writing fiction, be prepared for the publisher to strongly suggest you just throw a couple of names in your dedication instead. <S> If you aren't sure if someone will want to be acknowledged, ask first. <S> Also, think twice before saying something like "thanks to X, whose entire life story I shamelessly ripped off for the plotline of this book." <S> The typical use of acknowledgments is when people have helped with research, which is more common in non-fiction, but not unheard of in fiction. <S> On the other hand, some fiction writers prefer to hide little tributes to specific people in the text. <S> That might be more gratifying to the recipient anyway. <A> Bear in mind that this is mostly a way to express gratitude to the people who helped you, putting their names in print. <S> Readers other than the people you mention likely won't care. <S> So keep it brief, like, "I'd like to thank my friend Sally Jones for proof-reading the manuscript. <S> She had many helpful suggestions." <S> And leave it at that. <S> No one wants to read the story of How I Overcame All the Obstacles to Getting This Story Published. <S> (Unless you have a really unusual and interesting story, I suppose.) <S> I'd avoid listing more than 3 or 4 people because that would get tedious. <S> Occasionally writers try to make the acknowledgements amusing in some way, because they have a tendency to be pretty dry. <S> On non-fiction, it's common to add a disclaimer like "Any remaining mistakes are, of course, my own responsibility". <S> Probably mostly to avoid making it sound like you're just naming these people to share blame. <S> I don't know if any such disclaimer would be appropriate in a novel.

Acknowledgments, dedications and author's notes are not a part of the main text of a book, and they are entirely up to you (with some caveats). Yes, I've seen acknowledgements in novels, it's not uncommon. You don't need to match any particular standard, or do them the way anyone else does them, and you don't need anyone's permission to do them how you want (with some caveats).

How to write about characters and places you aren't personally familiar with? What do I need to do, as an Indian writer, if I want to make British or Americans the main characters in my book, and make the whole story revolve around them in any other country? In general, is it a good idea for a writer to write about people and places they don't know that much about, and if so, how should they go about it? <Q> Another consideration not yet mentioned is the question of whom you are writing for. <S> If you're an Indian writing about Americans in a book published in India for an Indian audience, the bar is probably much lower than if you're an Indian writing about Americans in a book to be published in America for an American audience. <S> The more familiar the audience is with the culture in question, the more likely they are to catch any small errors. <S> As to how to go about it, you'll need to become familiar with the culture, both in terms of real life and in terms of fiction. <S> In addition to researching any specific topics, read fiction by natives of the culture similar to what you're aiming to write. <S> If you're still unsure of your ability to convincingly convey a native of another culture, one option might be to tell the story from the viewpoint of a native of a culture you are familiar with. <S> For example, you might tell a story about an American couple but your viewpoint character might be an Indian co-worker or an Indian exchange student they are hosting in their home. <S> Any mistakes or cultural misunderstandings might then be attributed to the view-point character rather than the author. <A> You mean, what if you're a resident of country A, writing about a citizen of country B travelling in country C? <S> Go ahead, enjoy yourself. <S> Jules Verne, for example, had never visited the places he wrote about: Africa, Australia, the Pacific etc. <S> The MCs of his Les Enfants du capitaine Grant are Scottish, while he, of course, was French. <S> However, make sure you do your research . <S> Prosper Mérimée, for example, had not done his research when writing Carmen : it is very clear that he hadn't so much as looked at a map of Spain while writing, let alone visited the country <S> (views, travel distances etc. are all wrong). <S> As a result, the book is a storm of clichés about Spain <S> [TV TROPES WARNING]. <S> This makes the book feel stupid and annoying. <S> You don't want that. <A> The Easy Part. <S> You have the Internet! <S> You have travelogues, you have some American comedy and talk shows (to show you what Americans find funny or enjoy talking about), you have American blogs, American twitter, American YouTube, comment areas on Huffington Post and other sites; even sites like this to pick up speech patterns and American slang. <S> The Hard Part. <S> A plausible American / British attitude (For people raised British or American) toward life, risk, sex, romance, work, possessions, their standard of living, what they tolerate in culture you would shun, what they shun that you would find inoffensive. <S> I can think of a few imperfect solutions for this dilemma: 1) <S> Read. <S> Read analytically other fiction with American/British main characters, and pay close attention to cultural portrayals, especially those that seem foreign to you. <S> It may be things they don't care at all about (e.g. homosexuality, atheism) or things they DO care about that seem wrong to you (eg. <S> gun rights for Americans, respect for royalty (or hatred of it) for British.) <S> 2) <S> An American raised in India. <S> The child of an ambassador, for example. <S> They can have a mix of cultures. <S> 3) Sidekick POV. <S> Much like Dr. Watson was necessary to the Sherlock Holmes stories, told through his POV, even though the hero was always Sherlock. <S> As an Indian you can tell the story through an Indian POV about a foreign crew in a foreign land. <S> Then you are "insulated" against some misinterpretation of the foreign culture. <S> None of these are perfect, it can be difficult for anybody to properly portray a culture they did not grow up in. <S> Particularly in regard to sensitive cultural issues: Racism, sexism, homosexuality, religion, women's rights, employment rights (like unionization), what the law allows (business is more highly regulated in the USA than India; e.g. with sexual harassment laws, equal rights laws, etc), including in the USA what people can sue each other over. <A> I would advise caution. <S> In the modern, globalized world, people prize authenticity, and mistakes are easy to catch. <S> At one time it was quite common for people to set satirical or exoticized stories in foreign cultures they knew next to nothing about, and these were often quite popular. <S> Gilbert & Sullivan's Mikado is a good example. <S> It's putatively about Japan, but it's actually a satire on British culture with exotic costumes and made up customs. <S> It was one of their biggest hits, but today people would find it offensive and call it cultural appropriation. <S> My best advice would be either to do some intensive research, ideally including travel to the place you are writing about, or to make up a fictional country which resembles the one you want to write about, but which doesn't need to be accurate. <S> Otherwise, even if you publish only in India, there will be plenty of readers with firsthand experience of Britain and America who will see right through you.

You can research places, slang, and to some extent the culture of Americans, or British, in order to write your story. Add a minor Indian character to the crew, and tell the story through their POV.

Would it confuse my readers to give two siblings nicknames that can be abbreviations of the same name? In my book, there's two brothers, who are named Nick and Cole . Now, I've always thought that Nick and Cole are cool names, so therefore I named the two brothers "Nick and Cole". But then I found out that both Nick and Cole can be short for Nicholas . Sure, Cole can be short for Coleman or Colton , and Nick can be short for Dominick or Nikon (not that those names are very common), but still, I believe confusion can arise. Of course I will clarify that the names are short for different names, but would it even be realistic for parents to name their children as such? Is it normal for parents to do this? <Q> It doesn't really matter what parents would do. <S> Parents have been known to give their children all kinds of weird names. <S> What is important for us as writers is whether character names work in our books. <S> And in books: Your character names work perfectly fine Unless you aim to confuse your readers, character names in books should be distinct. <S> And Nick and Cole are distinct. <S> both begin with a different letter <S> /sound <S> both look clearly distinct <S> they don't rhyme or alliterate <S> So I see no problem with these names at all. <S> Readers don't usually think about what other names a character name might be an abbreviation for. <S> They take the names at face value and unless you tell them otherwise they will believe that these are the names in the birth certificate. <A> First, when I see Nick and Cole, I don't immediately think Nicholas. <S> I didn't realize they could both be abbreviations for Nicholas until you mentioned. <S> Second, if you have a character say something like <S> "This is Nikon, but we call him Nick, and this is Colton but we call him Cole" <S> I doubt the reader will be confused. <S> Third, Nick and Cole can be names and not abbreviations for anything. <S> I know someone named Cole not as an abbreviation, and I believe I have met people who are named Nick. <S> This is also Nicholas, and we call him Cole." <A> I think of the cartoon Ed, Edd, and Eddy with this. <S> They are all named some variation of the name "Ed", but one is Ed, one is Double D, and one is Eddy. <S> It's done deliberately, and can occasionally be called upon to create deliberate confusion. <A> No-one will be confused by two distinct names that MIGHT have the same root. <S> Some readers may detect this fact, and be a little disappointed if the story and the two characters' personalities don't demonstrate that YOU knew it. <S> It's fun to hide these little 'Easter Eggs' in a story. <S> But it's not a big deal. <A> Who says Cole has to be an abbreviation of anything? <S> Cole Porter for example? <S> Not at all confusing. <A> If you introduce them clearly as two different characters, you probably won't encounter any confusion. <S> However, it may be distracting for some readers, and depending on how they are introduced some name-savvy readers may be waiting for the other shoe to drop (waiting for the reveal that they are actually the same person, or that they were both named after the same Nicholas or similar). <S> If it isn't clear that you are aware of the potential common origin of the names, you will likely also irritate some readers. <S> This will depend to some extent on your audience. <S> Parents actually do that kind of thing with names all the time, so it wouldn't be unrealistic. <S> However, absent some narrative explanation for the gaffe, I would scoff at your lack of naming knowledge if I ran across such brothers in your novel, just as I (secretly) roll my eyes at parents who name their kids Liz and Beth. <S> I might even take it as a general sign of carelessness on your part. <S> I see Cole recommended as a nickname for Nicholas pretty regularly (see, e.g., Nameberry , The Bump , <S> BabyNameWizard , WhatToExpect , etc.) <S> , so it's not an obscure connection. <S> I once actually stopped reading a "historical" novel which had a Victorian Irish American family with sisters Margaret and Megan <S> (Megan being a Welsh nickname for Margaret that was virtually unknown as a given name in the US until the 1970s), and that error was part of my scathing anti-recommendation of the book. <S> I know other folks who feel the same way about character names, so if you have reason to believe that a significant part of your target audience might be knowledgeable about names (e.g. if you're aiming your book at women who are in a child-naming age range) <S> you might want to reconsider, or give some explanation for the parents' cluelessness. <A> IN THIS EXAMPLE, I don't see a problem. <S> As others have said, I don't think "Nicholas" when I hear "Cole", and I doubt most people do. <S> And even if they did, "Nick" and "Cole" sound very different and distinct. <S> In real life, people often use nicknames exactly to give distinct sounding names to two people with the same formal name, like you have two friends both name "Frederick" <S> so you call one "Fred" and the other "Baldy". <S> The real problem is if the names you call characters by sound very similar. <S> Like if you have two characters that you call "Burt" and "Bart" or "Sally" and "Sandy". <S> You might do this in a comedy to make a running joke about people getting the names confused. <S> But usually, this is a really, really bad idea. <S> It is almost always a Very Bad Thing if a reader gets to, "And suddenly, Bart burst into the room!", or, "The detective said, 'Bart is the murderer!'", and the reader has to stop and think, "Wait, is Bart the brother or the lawyer? <S> Let me flip back and see ..."

You might do this deliberately if an important plot point is that people regularly get the two confused, or that at one crucial time someone gets the name confused. I don't think this will be a problem for several reasons. I don't think this is a problem unless you say "This is Nicholas and we call him Nick.

Should structuring an academic text with the help of questions be avoided? In an academic writing course some years ago I remember being told that when writing, for instance, a journal article in English, one should usually avoid structuring one's text with the help of explicit questions, something like: In the previous section we saw that the values of X are particularly high when considering Y, suggesting that... Blablaa. Bla. Could this be interpreted as a result of Z? And then I go on and answer my own question. Or something like: X's statement does seem credible in light of Y. This interpretation, however, poses another question: Why is it the case that Z, if ...? And here I start to build the answer Are there actually some stylistic guidelines that would recommend avoiding these kinds of structures? Does anyone know about a resource where something like this would be mentioned? <Q> Rhetorical questions are a technique we use in classrooms to generate interest or debate among students. <S> That is a form of "entertainment" and entertainment is NOT the goal of a paper, it is reporting your research and conclusions, and you should not present any ambiguous or "teaser" lines in the process. <S> The reader cannot answer questions. <S> You are not writing a mystery novel! <S> This may seem "dry" but that is what is expected. <S> To rewrite your text: In the previous section we saw that the values of X are particularly high when considering Y, suggesting [a,b,c]. <S> We will now show this behavior can be interpreted as a result of [d]. <S> Thus X's statement does seem credible in light of Y. To complete the argument, we must show that [e] holds, to justify why [f] holds. <S> In other words, it is fine to tell the reader in a 'summary line' what you are about to more formally prove or argue. <S> Typically you can reword your questions to provide a summary statement of what is to come instead of the question, which is really the point of the question. <S> I certainly would not put a ban on all rhetorical questions in academic papers, but for students <S> I would not allow them at all. <S> Learn to write without them; stick to the facts and presenting your work, keep emotional appeal out of it. <S> That is what is expected; at least in my scientific fields. <S> In other fields where I have read few academic papers (e.g. psychology or history or law) I could be swayed if shown several other highly quoted recently published papers (e.g. in the last 20 years) that make heavy use of rhetorical questions. <S> But still, IMO you can avoid them and make a stronger paper. <S> A rhetorical question is always an introduction to a discussion that can be rewritten to serve better as a summary statement imparting a fact about what comes next, and typically the statement will be shorter anyway. <A> I can't add anything to Amadeus's answer, which is perfect when looking at an academic paper and gives the reasons why the rhetorical approach doesn't work. <S> I notice you've also mentioned a journal article, which could take us into something of a grey area. <S> No journal will have a problem with information presented as an academic paper, and if you're writing for journals in a generic sense this would be the way to go. <S> The exception would be if you were writing for a specific journal that you knew used a less formal style - in this case presenting the information in a way that's closer to entertainment might work better. <S> In this case, the stylistic guidelines would be based on previous articles in that particular journal - you could also ask whether they have a specific house style. <A> It also depends who the audience is -- if by "academic text" <S> you mean textbook or supplement to educational materials, then questions may be great! <S> Often in PlainLanguage, they advice question-headings in first person (as the reader has a question in mind), and then answer using 2nd person to mean the reader. <S> https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/organize/add-useful-headings/ <S> In the PlainLanguage. <S> Gov Training area, they have a PPTX that I adapted and used when I taught technical writing, as I found them to be great guidelines for addressing non-expert users without talking down to them.

Speaking as a professor and author of several academic papers; I would avoid it.