All Questions
11
votes
6answers
179 views
Avoiding foot¬e disease
In his answer to Our note in footnote of a book, Malvolio writes:
I hate numbered foot-notes personally, they're very distracting
Which I agree with, but his recommendation, to use endnotes, I ...
5
votes
1answer
209 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 ...
5
votes
2answers
253 views
What can I earn as a technical writer or technical editor?
I've been a computer programmer for thirty years and an expert in some niches. I was a technical editor before that.
I'd like to be a free-lance editor again if the pay is right.
How does a ...
7
votes
2answers
307 views
Has this dialogue enough suspense to engage the reader?
I still have to make some grammar and writing corrections but I would like to know if this dialogue Has this has enough suspense to engage the reader (so that he or she wants to read more)?
“Excuse ...
8
votes
1answer
515 views
How do I find an affordable editor?
I wrote a few chapters of a book several years ago. How do I find an affordable editor?
3
votes
3answers
156 views
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 - ...
0
votes
4answers
182 views
“In the” vs “At the” [closed]
I am not sure which one is correct:
In the beginning of the book
or
At the beginning of the book
As in the sentence:
In the beginning of the book Marco describes his early life.
4
votes
5answers
425 views
How to refer to character of focus in a story
I find that when I write, I'm not always sure how to refer to the character of focus. You can only say "he/she" so many times before it feels choppy and repetitive. Constantly referring to character ...
1
vote
4answers
108 views
How to convey the fact that the person that I'm talking to, is “she” but from the past?
I wrote the following:
I think about cheating on you...with a
girl who I used to have random
romantic moments with, a girl who no
longer exist, a girl which was you,
the first days we met.
...
5
votes
2answers
124 views
What's the proper way of formatting writing from a character in a novel?
I'm writing a story that constantly shows what the characters are writing.
I would like to know how to format that. Right now I'm doing it like this
(please ignore the grammar, it is a rough draft):
...
4
votes
2answers
113 views
Help write a book review, please
Edited to incorporate @Craig Sefton's suggestions.
About a book that I admire, I wrote in an SE computer-programming group:
The material seems old -- well, it is old -- because it's been around ...
8
votes
5answers
302 views
Our note in footnote of a book
How do I designate the footnotes that are mine inside a quote?
I tried "our note", "note ours" and "remark is ours". Which one is the correct one and most commonly used?
Or is there some other way?
...
2
votes
2answers
195 views
Indirect Narration Style
Does the indirect narration style (as in: 'Surely she was going to ask him out tomorrow.') directly fall into the classification of Narration?
4
votes
2answers
87 views
What are some ways to denote presentation style outside of written text.
I would like my document as I am writing it to be independent of software layouts as I think it would be a better decision to make at the end of the process. What would be good ways to denote ...
1
vote
2answers
247 views
Is my essay on group learning clear and well-organized?
I'm looking for all-around advice on this essay (I'm a foreign student, and learning English), but primarily, I wanted to ask is whether my essay is well-organized and clear enough. I mean, the first ...
8
votes
7answers
373 views
Potential confusion: referring to home planet as “Earth”
I'm writing a science fiction story and it's based in another galaxy, colonised by humans originally on a geographically equivalent "Earth".
My current usage refers to it as "Earth" and provides a ...
9
votes
10answers
275 views
An alternative to saying 'users' when describing features
I'm creating some copy describing new web-app features for a number of different audiences (users, managers of sections of the site, owners of sub-sites which use our platform etc.).
I'm finding ...
0
votes
0answers
358 views
Why Haruki Murakami's novels are so addictive and popular all over the world (cross cultural popularity)? [closed]
I've read two books by Haruki Murakami so far. I felt attracted all the time while I was reading, and the weird thing is that I don't know why. I was surprised to know that my writing teacher (an ...
3
votes
2answers
604 views
How could I share my lyrics?
I've been writing lyrics for quite sometime now (at-least five years). Although there have been several of those moments when I've thought I'd have an act for music making.. I'm just not sure I'll ...
5
votes
4answers
187 views
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 ...
5
votes
4answers
348 views
What makes a good action scene?
Action, in any storytelling medium, is the relationship between build up and pay off. While cinema may emphasize the payoff (pyrotechnics play well to theater-going crowds) it seems that the written ...
0
votes
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 ...
1
vote
7answers
2k views
Write a resume objective that expresses my desire to hone and sharpen my skills
I wish to convey to prospective employers that I not only want to use my skills, but hone and sharpen them as well.
Does the below paragraph do justice to it?
Do you have any suggestions?
Does the ...
8
votes
2answers
272 views
How do critics review an author's first and second and maybe third novel differently?
Do critics review first, second, and third novels differently? And if so, how?
What do critics think is the significance of the birth order of novels?
12
votes
7answers
1k views
Why does using this “-ing” verb construction make my writing weaker?
I had to write a scholarship essay, wherein I wrote this sentence:
Over the ensuing years I read as much as I could, trying to increase my knowledge and understanding of my own language.
I sent ...
16
votes
9answers
5k views
What tools are available for world building?
I tend to lean towards science-fiction and fantasy, so world building matters a lot to me. A while ago, there was a question which asked how to go about organizing your universe, which was ...
2
votes
1answer
111 views
Translation as the starting point of a new work of fiction
In the past, there has been famous cases of translations becoming works on their own. Many dramatic plots were copied from country to country (Elisabethan dramatists used to translate spanish plays ...
8
votes
3answers
722 views
What's the best practice for displaying a personal website url in a resume?
Like most veteran coders in the IT industry, I have an out-of-date website that I use to link to different activities I'm involved with online, like Twitter and Stack Overflow. Up until now, I haven't ...
7
votes
4answers
212 views
What's a clear way to simulate web text in a story?
My novel includes excerpts of things like text from websites, tweets, and internet chats. I'm using Courier for the main novel font. Does switching to a san serif font make sense to represent the web ...
5
votes
2answers
660 views
When should I use punctuation with bullets?
When writing bulleted items, what are the rules for placing periods?
Presumably bulleted items that aren't sentences wouldn't require punctuation:
Orange
Apple
Banana
But how about sentence ...
9
votes
1answer
243 views
Royalties - how to calculate author's take from the end-price?
Supposedly I'm offered 16% royalty rate and the book store-price is 15$. How much would that be in royalty amount per sold copy?
Would that be just 16% out of 15$, or is 16% out of (15$ - reseller ...
3
votes
2answers
231 views
Does this sign-up email announcement sound friendly and conversational?
This is version 2 of this post
The intended audience is from 16-45 m/f, they have given me their email address and will recieve this email because they signed up for a mystery service I'm creating.
...
5
votes
2answers
275 views
Third person POV
Can writing in the third-person limited omniscient POV include internal monologue and character thoughts?
5
votes
1answer
135 views
What are tips / techniques to manage the consistency of a plot encompassing several subplots ?
When I lay out a plot consisting of interwoven threads, one of the most annoying things is to manage effectively the factual, logical consistency of the whole.
In order to be more effective and ...
2
votes
3answers
317 views
How credible is wikipedia?
I understand that this question relates more to wikipedia than it does writing but...
If I was going to use wikipedia for a source for a research project (for example) would the information be ...
2
votes
3answers
199 views
Feedback on sign-up email announcement
This post is continued at How can I make this sound better? ( part 2 )
Thanks for signing up for the Tip for
Tip beta.
We’re really excited about the launch
and we wanted to let you know ...
6
votes
1answer
128 views
Do you use a pop-up dictionary/thesaurus on Windows? What are your criteria?
I used to use WordWeb as a pop-up dictionary/thesaurus while I wrote, but I found it lacking, particularly in its inability to let me define my own terms per context (for example, when writing about ...
4
votes
7answers
1k views
Books to improve writing skills
Could you Please recommend me interesting non-technical books i could read which will help me improve my writing skills?
8
votes
4answers
4k views
How do you calculate the length of your manuscript?
Say I have a 100 page manuscript in Courier, 11pt, double-spaced. How many paperback pages is this roughly equivalent to? Is there a better font/spacing to use?
2
votes
5answers
1k views
Should I write an abstract for a formal essay?
Should I write an abstract for a formal essay? I've heard from different sources that I should, although my instructor didn't specify.
And if I should, where are some resources that I could use to ...
7
votes
3answers
284 views
How to practice location descriptions
When trying to strengthen my writing on how to correctly describe a location I try to write a small text on each location I am. (These are then saved in Evernote so that I can search for them) I found ...
5
votes
5answers
654 views
Where can I find paying markets for flash fiction?
I've written a great deal of flash fiction, < 1000 word stories. I know I can send them out to literary journals and online literary journals, but are there paying markets for this sort of thing?
6
votes
2answers
242 views
How to obtain a thoughtful critique of a job application cover letter?
Sometimes, not always, when searching for my next position or project, I make an effort to write an interesting cover letter, one intended to convey images and passion, a story. I want it to be a ...
1
vote
0answers
79 views
Looking for story that deliberately overused “get” [closed]
It was in Writer's Digest, probably the early 1980s, when I saw this. One of the regular columnists (or was it an irregular columnist?) went on a brief rant about careless writers overusing the word ...
13
votes
5answers
571 views
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 ...
4
votes
3answers
113 views
requesting a review/critique of an outro narrative
Here's an outro narrative I wrote for our movie we're working on and I was wondering whether someone could provide a critique. Anything what would help improve it before we pass it to the recording ...
8
votes
3answers
366 views
12
votes
4answers
496 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?
4
votes
9answers
238 views
Trying to indicate that the frequency is annoying
I am trying to state that a particular question is not annoying, but its frequency is. I have come up with the below sentence, but I feel like it could be worded better.
It is an annoying question ...
9
votes
5answers
6k views
How many words/hour should you aim for when writing your first draft?
A couple of axioms here. Firstly, most people agree that you should write your first draft quickly, without too much care on quality, and get something down on paper first. The real writing begins ...
