Fiction is a form of prose writing that deals with at least partly artificial or imagined events and characters. This tag should be used for any questions relating to fiction, including fiction formatting and technique, fiction critiques, and the publishing of fiction.
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Can I shop an unfinished novel?
I've been writing a novel that addresses some very current themes. My belief is that if I can get it out there quickly, it will succeed well. I'm working on it frantically, but will agents consider ...
6
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1answer
263 views
Is it plausible to get a contract with an US/UK publisher as a foreigner?
Looking for some insight in the publishing industry.
Is it even remotely plausible to get published in with an English-language publishing house (UK/US), when you're not a national nor a resident of ...
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5answers
318 views
How do I balance work with my love of writing?
I'm a programmer and an aspiring writer. I love writing. Over the past year, I had been working on my first novel. Making the plot, dimensioning the characters, integrating conflicts etc. And when I ...
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4answers
745 views
What are examples of fiction books picked up by publishers after being self-published?
I've seen some references to commercial publishers picking up a self-published novel if it's been selling well.
Can you point me to a few specific examples of this happening?
Fiction only, please. ...
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1answer
192 views
Magazines taking submissions for short stories?
Does anyone have or know of a list of magazines (print or online) accepting submissions for short stories? It would be nice if it could be broken out by genre and payment rates (if applicable).
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3answers
1k views
Adding breaks in a novel—spaces, asterisks, or a chapter break?
I am editing my first novel and wherever I find a natural break in the story, I add a few spaces. I want to go back and adjust what types of breaks those are, but how best to represent those spaces in ...
11
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7answers
318 views
Do books have to be written in sequence?
So can we write the interesting action bits first, then add in the in between stuff, that maybe needed to understand the story or characters, but isnt so exciting by itself?
For example the ...
3
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2answers
112 views
How do you reference pop culture in a dialogue without proper attribution?
I'm not sure exactly how to ask this question in a vacuum so I'll give an example first:
Many people are familiar with the Mitch Hedberg joke about an escalator being "temporarily stairs" rather than ...
7
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2answers
273 views
How can I create drama in a story that is mostly political and procedural?
I'm writing a fantasy story about whether a teacher should be fired or not over teaching competency; most of the story revolves around the politics and the procedural process of the decision.
So much ...
7
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7answers
193 views
Jumping on the Zombie bandwagon
Is it too late to jump on the zombie bandwagon? There are loads of stories about the possible popular outcome of an apocalypse, is it possible to squeeze anything more out of it?
Or, maybe it would ...
10
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5answers
232 views
What can one do to get the most from limited writing time?
I do make an effort to write every day, and usually succeed, but I just have too much going on in my life right now to give my writing the time it would like to have. When I do have time, blog posts, ...
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2answers
156 views
Using a town to symbolize/represent a character within a story (fiction)?
I'm not sure if this has been done before. In my story, the main character's wife takes the form of a town. The town represents how he feels towards his wife (mostly sad feelings and repulsion).
It ...
5
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1answer
206 views
How to avoid getting confused while adding symbols within symbols (novel writing)?
For instance, I'm writing a novel where the main character is wandering in a city which represents his wife (symbol number one), but then the places he visits within the city also represent the bad ...
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4answers
893 views
How often do writers develop characters before plot, and why?
As someone who writes a little as a hobby, this is something that I haven't really thought about until just recently, but...
Is it common for a writer to develop characters before actually coming up ...
9
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8answers
316 views
What is Literary Fiction?
I keep hearing about literary fiction, and how it is so much better than genre fiction. What exactly is literary fiction?
7
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3answers
2k views
Use of past vs. present tense in works of fiction
I have recently picked up several works of fiction and begun to read them. I have found that some are written using past tense while others use the present tense.
What is the significance of using ...
4
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2answers
155 views
Style of writing as told from the point of view of the main character
What would be a good style for writing a story from one point of view while keeping the narration interesting? I mean you can't go into too much detail as what a person does during the day is fine for ...
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8answers
349 views
Is it so bad to end up with a “done before” plot?
I'm not delusional about the nature of the science fiction novel I'm (very) slowly working on. A brief run down might be as follows:
Set 10's of millennia in Human's future but in a neighbouring ...
2
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3answers
894 views
Write a 1st person story with a 3rd person narrator
I am writing a story in the 3rd person and i would like to switch the narrator for one of the main characters half way through so that the reader can read how he perceives the story. does anybody have ...
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5answers
667 views
Writing about drug induced hallucinations and paranoia
Not long ago I wrote a short story about a mathematics graduate student on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The young student is innocent and working to finish a difficult mathematical derivation ...
4
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2answers
726 views
Pros ans cons of writing a plot based on the present and past tense (character's point of view)?
I'm not sure if I should write my first book in the present or past tense.
The book is about a doctor in a clinic who is analysing his patients.
e.g.
I said, VS I say.
I thought for a while ...
4
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4answers
298 views
Writing about extreme trauma
I've just written a chapter in which one of my protags witnesses her entire family massacred during an invasion of her home city. This is obviously an extremely traumatic and horrifying event, and in ...
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8answers
1k views
What breaks suspension of disbelief?
So much of Sci-Fi and Fantasy requires the viewer (or reader) to suspend their disbelief: The speed of light can be circumvented, magic works, vampires are real (and may or may not sparkle), etc.
...
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2answers
202 views
Why is this ‘loved’ italicized?
I’m interested in italics in novels. Italic writings in novels have a wide variety of feelings, for example surprise, delight, anger, irony, humor, etc. However, consulting reference books, I only ...
6
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2answers
203 views
Should the Voice of the Author change with the Point-Of-View Character in a Non-Literary Fiction?
I have been writing an action/adventure novel and am having a tough time deciding whether the voice of the writer should undergo a slight/moderate but not a complete change with the point of view ...
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5answers
1k views
In what order should I describe a setting?
For instance I'm describing the park of an art museum in a foggy day. I'm not sure if I should start with the fog, wind, grass, threes, walking paths, buildings, stairs or something else. Is there a ...
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3answers
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Do writers use highlighting to clarify ideas in their work in progress?
In programming we often use syntax highlight in order to have a better picture of what the role of particular bits of code is (using different colours).
I wonder if writers do something similar - ...
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4answers
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What is the Priority in an Action/Adventure Novel: Dialogues or Conflict?
I am currently working on a novel and I was having some trouble finding the best solution for this question. I understand that both dialogues and conflicts are needed in a good proportion to cook a ...
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1answer
86 views
Where to look for ESL writers and copyeditors? [closed]
I often work on lessons for ESL students - texts, dialogues, etc. I'm not a native speaker and I don't have any friends abroad. I often need copyeditors for my lessons, but I seem to have trouble ...
12
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4answers
490 views
How do you make a story succeed in spite of an unsympathetic main character?
I'm looking for techniques specific to a story with an unsympathetic main character. Confederacy of Dunces, for example. Why does that work, and why wouldn't that work with a likable hero?
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8answers
589 views
How to handle foreign military ranks?
Suppose you have a character who has a rank in a foreign military - say, Feldwebel Hans. That's the equivalent of a Sergeant.
On one hand, having people call him "Herr Feldwebel" gives some flavor ...
7
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5answers
486 views
“multiple personalities” for character development in writing?
How can I train myself to think in "multiple personalities" so I can use these personalities for character development in writing?
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3answers
688 views
Character details of male archetypes
In this link about character development, the author describes basic male archetypes that are found in a romance novel.
http://www.likesbooks.com/eight.html
My question is: although this is very ...
12
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7answers
286 views
Should you read your own genre?
In terms of novel writing, I tend to avoid my own genre, at least for the most part. Some of the reasons why:
Genre Blindness / Genre Trap:
Too much reading of your own genre blinds you to the ...
4
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3answers
228 views
How to achieve a dark and nostalgic feeling/setting in a novel?
I don't want to scare the reader, but I would like to produce a dark and nostalgic feeling.
Pretty much the feeling that gives you this video (both image and music).
The setting of my novel is a ...
4
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3answers
207 views
Simplicity is fundamental in design. How about in writing a novel?
I'm a web designer. The first rule in design is KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).
How about writing a novel? Is simplicity fundamental or just an option?
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4answers
214 views
What to do if I end up confused by my own plot because of 'trying to be original' or 'trying to make the story more deep'?
Sometimes, I find myself in the dilemma that I come out with a plot that tells exactly what I want to say. But then, I try to modify it in order to make it more original (at least, less similar than ...
9
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2answers
176 views
What exactly do I do to get published?
I'm interested to know what the publishing process exactly entails for future reference. I'm in my last year of school and I recently finished my first substantial piece of creative writing (a subject ...
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5answers
1k views
Signs of Bad Character Development
When creating a character, what red flags would show me that I'm creating an unbelievable or unsympathetic character? I know that to be believable and sympathetic a character must not lean too much ...
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Are there good tips on being a better *creative* writer?
I'm a student at Case, and while we of course have an English department, it seems the only kind of writing classes/courses available are for learning to be either a "literary" writer, or a ...
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What is flash fiction?
Is it simply defined by its short word count? Or are there other accepted conventions in flash fiction? If it's just the word count, how short is too short? How long is too long?
12
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3answers
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How to avoid hearing “that's me!” from your friends when they read your characters?
I recently asked about getting inside of someone else's head for writing good characters who are noticeably different from myself and received some great answers. One answer suggested that you should ...
2
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3answers
156 views
What genre is this?
I'm trying to figure out what genre the following is, if any. (I asked a similar question, but this is different now, and more detailed.)
The story takes place in an imaginary world. It's more or ...
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6answers
902 views
Getting Inside Someone Else's Head
A common problem for novice fiction writers, and one that I feel that I myself haven't quite graduated from, is always writing characters who are like the author. Each character is merely some facet ...
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1answer
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Is translation work likely to help me develop my own writing abilities?
I've been offered work translating/interpreting some creative works into English. Is this kind of work likely to push my creative boundaries, and teach me how to be a better write of original creative ...
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3answers
759 views
How do you make a character quintessential, but not cliched or cartoony?
I think it's hard to make a character standout and embody their traits without becoming cliched or cartoons. How do you do this? What are some tips to enlivening a character and making them memorable?
...
9
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10answers
1k views
Fictional diary for a novel
When it is appropriate to use the diary form for a novel?
Which are the most effective published examples? (I mean fictional diaries, so not Anne Frank's diary).
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2answers
265 views
How to identify a scene type?
What are the main types in which a scene can be classified, and what are the key concepts for each type?
I am thinking something along the following (guessing the descriptions):
suspense - scene ...
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3answers
96 views
How can you submit your writings internationally?
I live in Argentina, and I've always wondered if (given the case of having something worthy) I'd be able to submit it to publishers in, for example, the USA. Of course the writing would be in English.
...
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Is there any hope of a fictional short story being published?
I mean under 100k, probably less than 50k because it's a short story. Actually, I'm not sure how many words a short story has so I have two questions. How short is a short story and is it worth the ...
