All Questions
5
votes
3answers
161 views
How to minimize language mistakes while writing
While it's true that:
Editors do proof reading for you, and
word processors have spell checking and grammar checking
you do not always have an editor available, and software tools aren't perfect ...
2
votes
1answer
123 views
What's a good market for experimental novellas?
A short story of mine has grown until it's become a bit of a monster - about 15K. I don't know if that makes it a novelette or a novella, but it's certainly too long for most of the journals I would ...
2
votes
2answers
95 views
How to Create Barcode from ISBN Number
I have published some story books for kids and I have already bought the ISBN numbers for the same. But I am confused on how to get those ISBN numbers as barcodes on covers of books. What is the ...
7
votes
5answers
162 views
Writing from the middle
My biggest problem as a writer is that I always get inspired and then start writing from the middle, in particular scenes or moments which I think will be crucial. Climaxes. These scenes turn out ...
0
votes
4answers
51 views
Do I include the method of my research in the title?
For my Masters Thesis, I am trying to find an appropriate title. The field of the research is in Forestry and Geographic Information Science (GIS).
Currently my title is the following:
...
1
vote
3answers
96 views
Punctuation and capitalisation in poetry [duplicate]
I'm writing a poem entirely without commas, periods, colons, dashes, emdashes, etc.
However, near the end of the poem I name a city and I want to capitalise it.
On one hand, I think it would be ...
6
votes
2answers
131 views
Does this riddle abuse language to make it fit into verse?
Not being a native speaker I'm unable to tell if my poetry sounds fine or just awkward - I know I'm abusing grammar to fit rhymes and rhythm, but the question is: am I abusing it too much? Does that ...
0
votes
2answers
57 views
Should I state my intentions/outline my structure at the beginning of an academic essay?
When writing an essay or short paper for school, should I state my intentions and outline the essay's structure in the introduction? Or should I let the essay speak for itself?
2
votes
2answers
54 views
Do different formats of the same book need to be registered separately?
We're self-publishing a book in both paperback and e-book format. The content between the versions will be identical except for some formatting corrections (mainly white-space) made for the digital ...
0
votes
1answer
46 views
Good book on writing for children?
I've dabbled with the thought of writing a childrens book. It allows my mind to go all out weird, and I believe they are ususally short enough for me to see the project through.
But, as usual, I like ...
2
votes
1answer
41 views
How do I cite well known historical works?
If I'm writing a paper that uses well known historical sources, how would I cite them? Specifically, I'm referring to the United States Constitution and a speech delivered by Frederick Douglass.
...
2
votes
2answers
65 views
Does inclusion of significant quotations from literature make a novel harder to publish?
I'm considering using quotations (a sentence to a paragraph) from various pieces of literature at the beginning of each chapter of my novel. The quotations connect thematically to the events of the ...
3
votes
1answer
73 views
Flashback or dream as a means of hinting at more going on than meets the eye
I plan to use a dream or flashback as a way to show the reader the story has more going on behind the scenes. As well to sprinkle in a little of my main characters back-story.
I haven't written it ...
5
votes
4answers
153 views
Does using version control system make backups unnecessary?
Suppose I use Git, Subversion or any other version control system for managing my writing. So my texts are preserved together with change history and if I accidentally delete something I can use ...
6
votes
1answer
172 views
how should a writer use version control to track drafts, rewrites, and revisions?
I'm a writer, not a programmer. I'm just now for the first time learning about version control and how it works, and I am wondering how version control could streamline my workflow.
In a previous ...
1
vote
2answers
104 views
Am i using “he/she” too often during action scenes?
I'm not sure if I am being too overly critical of what I write or if I am actually falling into that "He/She" echo. By that I mean, using "he" or "she" over and over during the action, or combat in ...
2
votes
1answer
152 views
Software to change American punctuation to British
My apologies if this is off topic.
American and British writing have different punctuation styles. Is there any software that can change American style punctuation to British? I am referring to ...
3
votes
3answers
95 views
Proper use of the “historical present tense”
I am thinking of employing the historical present tense in a first-person narrative (to achieve a greater level of immediacy). The problem is that I am telling the story in a non-linear manner, i.e. ...
-1
votes
2answers
111 views
What makes good writing software? [closed]
I'm developing a writing app and I'm interested to know what features would be most appreciated for such a thing.
I am most interested in writing versus editing, tooling versus immersion, organizing, ...
3
votes
1answer
67 views
Self/vanity publishing a game manual
I'm writing a player's handbook for a game I'm producing. The game is fully open source, and the manual itself will be online. However, I would like to offer a hardcopy version of the manual for those ...
4
votes
3answers
116 views
How can I express this fragment more clearly and concisely?
For the 'who is this application for' section of an application user guide, I have the following alternatives, I'm not happy with either one. How can I convey both elements more clearly and ...
3
votes
4answers
300 views
Is it true that men (in general) can't write female first-person?
I think I first saw that statement in an answer to this question.
Men cannot, in general, write female first-person.
I gave it a thought, and realized there was some truth in it; I've read ...
4
votes
2answers
158 views
How to have a character be nameless for the first few paragraphs of a book?
Let me first explain what is going in in the beginning of the story: My main character belongs to a tribal culture that requires their children pass a rite of passage to earn their name.
So I'm kind ...
2
votes
2answers
539 views
Multiple authors in MLA header
I'm writing a group paper and I was wondering whether there's a correct way to list multiple authors at the top of the first page in MLA format. Normally the header would look something like:
My Name
...
1
vote
1answer
29 views
Page numbers on colour plates
I need to insert a full-page colour plate into a document I am writing. The plate has been prepared in a different program. As colour plates, which I have seen in books, do not carry page numbers, my ...
9
votes
2answers
208 views
What's the best version control system for a book writer?
I'm a writer—no programming, only prose in text files, mostly in Emacs org-mode, some in markdown-mode.
I want to implement a version control system for my writing projects.
I work with two types of ...
4
votes
2answers
89 views
What is the role of editors in news media today?
Back when rocks were soft and the world wide web hadn't yet been invented, I worked on a college newspaper that, I was told, followed the same patterns as professional papers. (That is, the skills we ...
5
votes
3answers
126 views
Tracing dependencies and emergent plotholes during edits
The fiction I write currently hit a major snag and needs a big overhaul of a major part of the story. A whole, large thread is being injected, a second conflict running in parallel with the main one ...
1
vote
1answer
42 views
Describe all corrections as clearly and unambiguously as possible
I have a paper that will be published. The editor sent me an email to return corrections.
The requirement:
Please follow one of the following two options for returning proof corrections:
1) ...
5
votes
2answers
173 views
Do script readers start at the beginning?
Script readers-- the people who sift and sort the vast piles of scripts submitted to Hollywood -- do they start at the beginning?
The reason I ask is that I know 99% of scripts are awful and just get ...
7
votes
6answers
293 views
Killing off a character: deciding if, when and how
Killing off a character is a serious issue. Secondary characters or even extras can pass away without too much negative response from the readers but main characters are a whole different matter.
It ...
3
votes
3answers
89 views
Putting a dialogue a tag before a quote
Sometimes I see stuff like this:
X said, "..."
"..." X did this, and then said, "..."
Is it used to just vary sentence structure? Or to make dialogue more readable or smoother in certain ...
0
votes
1answer
73 views
Should paragraphs split over pages in thesis?
I am writing a technical thesis with quite a few figures, tables and equations. These items break up the "flow" of the document. To mitigate this some journals suggest placing such items at the top or ...
2
votes
1answer
124 views
How to quote something twice
If I use a quote and then want to explicitly refer to a small part of that quote again, within the same paragraph, do I need to use quotation marks again? Can I use italics instead? I am writing in ...
6
votes
6answers
169 views
Should dull dialogue be removed completely?
The following dialogue is from a novel I'm writing (first draft):
"You're quiet tonight," Erin said to Benjamin, who seemed to be lost
in thoughts.
He looked up and took a sip of his drink. ...
1
vote
1answer
83 views
Setting up for writing
I am a work professional and the writer by choice. I have been writing since a long but basically poems, short stories and my reviews on books that I read so far. But since yet I have been writing via ...
4
votes
3answers
199 views
It is a sign of bad writing to have many scenes that are disconnected with the main plot?
So my novel look like this (I took this diagram idea from this site, but I'm not sure exactly from whom):
The beginning and end focuses on the mystery that the heroine is trying to solve (main ...
0
votes
3answers
63 views
Should I close this quoted paragraph?
I have a paragraph of dialog which technically continues into the next paragraph, but I want to interject a "she continued" almost immediately into the second paragraph. So should I close the quote on ...
2
votes
1answer
79 views
How can I prepare for a career in instruction writing and editing?
To technical background authors (e.g. Isaac Rabinovitch) who would possibly work in teams with non-technically trained writers:
How can I prepare myself to be able to do what you do?
How can I ...
3
votes
1answer
48 views
Is anybody aware of a good way I can determine whether or not something is public domain, or royalty free?
I'm writing a textbook and I'd like to include an old paper from Alan Turing as an appendix. Searches on Google turn up copies of the paper, but I cannot seem to find anything explicitly indicating if ...
2
votes
1answer
110 views
In what narrative mode should you explain a process or task?
I want to explain a psychological and behavioural process to someone via email.
I start off in first-person and speak to them in second-person, but what do I use when I want to explain a process ...
1
vote
2answers
82 views
Chapter names: The various ways of implementing them and why should I care
I see many times, that authors use various name formats for chapters:
"***"
"Twenty Four"
"Chapter 5"
"XIX"
"Last Resort"
"Ad notam" (or something Latin or any foreign, (!not author!) language)
...
5
votes
2answers
265 views
My Ex husband's wife self published a non fiction book naming my kids in the story
My ex husband's wife self published a non fiction book and put my kids in the story as well. She did not change their names. Neither she nor my ex husband told me about this or asked me (or the ...
6
votes
5answers
156 views
Writing about a subject on which you have no expertise?
So I signed up for a novel workshop, and within a month the first chapter will be due. Problem is I that want to use characters who are well-versed in mathematics, especially group theory or model ...
0
votes
1answer
51 views
Is it a good idea to first write the linear plot when writing a segmented screenplay?
I am working on a segmented screen play, involving three major segments cutting in and out frequently. I was planning to write the entire plot in a linear, unsegmented style, then cut it up per the ...
4
votes
4answers
200 views
What are some disadvantages of writing fiction in a diary format?
I find writing in a diary-style is the easiest way to write fiction. The format is the same as a diary, with each entry beginning with the date, then describing the feelings or events of the character ...
3
votes
1answer
71 views
How do I change a novel from first person to limited third person?
For various reasons (increased clarity, and an interested agent), I'm rewriting what was once two first-person POVs into a third person limited POV.
Other answers have previously established the ...
1
vote
2answers
154 views
How to write to a famous author?
I once knew a famous author, but for complex reasons I lost the privilege of his acquaintance. In trying to begin a writing career concerned with many of the same subjects as his work, it occurs to me ...
-1
votes
1answer
75 views
What are my chances of getting advance funding on a non-fiction book? [closed]
I'm toying with the idea of writing a (somewhat unconventional) popular science book. How easy would it be to get a publisher to fund the writing of it based on a sample chapter or two and an outline?
...
0
votes
1answer
34 views
How to put on a book launch?
I have written a book (google 'Weave of the Ride') and I have built a community of followers of the past few years. I would like to put on a book launch. Does anyone have any tips and advice? I live ...
