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1500 questions
18
votes
9 answers
Writing a character who is an expert in something that I can't know
I'm writing a story where the main character comes back from the dead. The character is fully lucid, knowledgeable and articulate about what has happened.
I want to depict the character as an expert, but I don't have any knowledge/experience of what…
robertcday
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18
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7 answers
Fantasy novel with obvious - but never defined - sci-fi elements?
I'm considering writing a fantasy novel. While I'm striving to make the world as original as I can, and not rely on many of the popular fantasy tropes, for the purposes of this question you can assume the world is your traditional fantasy setup:…
Thomas Reinstate Monica Myron
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18
votes
7 answers
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.…
A. Kvåle
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18
votes
8 answers
How to open a novel?
Looking at the function of the beginning of a novel, it is clear that it should hook the reader and draw him or her into the story. Different techniques for achieving the hook have been described, such as an ironic turn, naming extreme stakes,…
user29032
18
votes
9 answers
Referencing modern pop culture in science fiction
A geek today is quite likely to reference the pop culture of 30 years ago: "Do or do not, there is no try", "Beam me up, Scotty" and "Ground control to Major Tom" are easily and commonly recognisable. (The first is Star Wars, the second is…
Galastel supports GoFundMonica
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18
votes
7 answers
What are the signs of accidental self insertion?
I am currently writing a novel where the main character will be far more powerful than most of the people in the world and I am worried that I will end up losing sight of what I am writing and start writing a power fantasy where the main character…
Maiko Chikyu
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18
votes
6 answers
Why is young adult romance now being written primarily in the first person?
My recollection is that when I started reading romance novels in the 1980s, the majority (perhaps 60%) were written in the third person. This included some "young adult" romances with characters in their early 20s.
I stopped reading them until…
Tom Au
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18
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4 answers
Can religions like Islam or Hinduism be represented respectfully in a fictionalized/fantastical Earth?
I asked this question in World-Building but it seems better fit for Writing.
I ask for a few reasons. Despite the specific arguments against speculative fiction within Quranic tradition and protests by other Abrahamic traditions and Hindus against…
Mirzka
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18
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2 answers
Citing parts of a thesis or dissertation using IEEE referencing
I've found myself extensively referencing parts of theses and dissertations for my own research paper. The IEEE editorial style manual suggests that they should be referenced in the following form:
[1] J. K. Author, “Title of thesis,” M.S. thesis,…
Filip Dupanović
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18
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11 answers
Does my protagonist *have* to succeed?
I'm thinking about a YA dystopian novel and have planned it quite thoroughly. However, when I look back, the antagonists tend to always be a few steps ahead of my protagonist, and my protagonist is always just too late to stop the antagonist. This…
Adi219
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18
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9 answers
How to balance respecting diversity and avoiding tokenism at the same time
My project has an environmental theme.
My characters eat meals, and because of the setting, this includes meat and eggs. Some environmentally - friendly friends find those scenes very distasteful and opposed to the environmental intent of the…
SFWriter
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18
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9 answers
At what point does a POV character noting their surroundings go from showing/telling to an infodump?
In a story I'm working on, at one point one of the main characters (also the POV character in this case) arrives at a new location which he has never been in before. This is the first mention of this location within this story, so the reader can…
user
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18
votes
6 answers
How to express martial arts action in fiction?
In the context of an actual as opposed to training fight scene in a fictional narrative, how would one express martial arts action?
Generally, martial arts has a distinctive disciplined but powerful visual style as it uses specific moves and poses…
Fabjaja
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18
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8 answers
Classic fantasy races lazy or boring?
In my fantasy world there are other other sentient races besides humans. Some of them are "original", or at least not as common in mainstream stories. On the other hand, I have also included more traditional races like elves. I'm going to continue…
Mikailo
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18
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6 answers
Two protagonists where one is dark - a mistake?
I'm currently writing a tale with two protagonists. One of them is a dark protagonist - that is, technically evil. The other protagonist is not evil. I'm wondering if this will cause the reader to gravitate toward the good protagonist.
I have a way…
Thomas Reinstate Monica Myron
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