Hot answers tagged non-fiction
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Writing biographies like these for a mass audience will require that the reader understand the subject's work. This can be handled by long expository passages, or, as is more frequently done, concepts can be broken up into small, easily digestible pieces. These can alternate with the story of the subject's life, information provided to the reader only as is ...
6
After about fifteen minutes research, I couldn't find an authoritative answer for this. I suspect there's a good reason for this, however: At counts in the tens of thousands, the answer doesn't make much difference.
For example, you have a 50,000 word book (by raw body text count). Let's say the work has 100 headings, averaging 6 words each. Even ...
5
In general, there are no copyright issues that you need to worry about as long as you're truthfully reporting your own experiences. In particular, there is nothing that prevents you from mentioning companies, products, locations, or people by name, so long as you are not lying or attempting to present yourself as having some official affiliation with those ...
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The other option - additional option, as you should definately write under a pseudonym - is to write something that is clearly fictional, but tells the true story. Then you are not being libelous, as you are not making any claims to truth, but you are getting the story out there. You could write another piece for publication once resolved, indicating the ...
4
Using in a pen name will work just fine in this situation. True, the publisher will know who you really are and you will be paid using your real name, but if they have any level of ethics they aren't going to go around saying who it really is. There have been a few popular Roman à clef style novels with anonymous authors, Primary Colors comes to mind.
That ...
4
In order to make scientific work accessible to the non-scientist, you need to connect it to something within the experience of your audience. The personal life of the researcher is a very popular vehicle for this but not the only one available.
Look to the events of the world in which he worked to provide the thread that might otherwise come from his ...
4
I'm not a lawyer. Any questions about specific rights, etc. should be directed to someone knowledgeable about the rules in your jurisdiction.
That being said, there are a number of things that could complicate this question. For example, you say 'your children' and refer to your 'ex-husband'. Is he the father? If so, do the custody arrangements allow him ...
4
This is a very interesting question that touches on the nature of fiction and non-fiction and the many ways in which they intersect. Two approaches come to mind, both encapsulated in books I've read.
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (2003). The author describes the true and somewhat dangerous circumstance of secretly meeting with female English ...
3
I'm willing to bet Scrivener can handle a lot of what you're looking for. I will cheerfully admit I haven't even read the documentation (I'm a Mac user... we don'need no steenken manuals) so it's got powerful tools I don't even know much about.
You can separate your work into individual documents (section, subsection) which can then be put into folders and ...
3
They are all non-fiction, but what are the topics they are covering? If they are all something like, history books or biographies, there is no harm in using the same name for all three.
Non-fiction doesn't seem to have the same issues with crossing genera or age ranges that fiction does. So unless there is a pressing reason to try and keep them ...
2
I have a technical background myself, but I've worked with some first-rate tech writers who wandered into the field from the humanities or social sciences. In my opinion, the best technical writing teams have a mixture of techies (to provide technical insight) and non-techies (to ask useful "stupid" questions).
That said, good technical writing is based on ...
2
I am not a lawyer. That said:
Whether anything this woman wrote violates the law or gives you grounds for a lawsuit is probably a subject better discussed with a lawyer than with a group of amateur writers on a forum. If you're an American, this would be a matter of state law, so even if I knew all there was to know about the subject in my home state, it ...
2
Ask a lawyer, really, do it. Here are none.
The "right" answer depends on so many details. For example a verbal contract is binding in Germany. You have not mention where you are from, where your interviewee lives and so on.
Having the permission is one thing. The other is compensation. Have you paid him something? Are you going to do it? Just because you ...
2
As much as I adore Scrivener for writing, I wouldn't expect it to output in pristine, publishable format. It's a writing tool, not a layout program or even a word processor. I would necessarily expect to run my final content through a second program to format it for publishing.
If you have access to any kind of desktop layout program (like InDesign or ...
2
Our Scrivener guru hasn't answered yet, so let me give you general advice (I do not know where to set these things in Scrivener).
With "spaces" I guess you mean new lines. A new line is generally not a good method to format your manuscript, no matter if it is an ebook or a paper book.
Normally your word processor (in your case Scrivener) has options to ...
2
This is a legal question more than a writing question. You probably should find a lawyer or law-related site to ask.
What country are you planning to publish in? Laws vary by country.
But just based on my general knowledge of United States law: A judge might possibly issue an injunction based on preliminary findings. You should then have an opportunity to ...
1
Various grammatical issues, with suggestions below ...
he realised that Ariett was no more following
"he realised that Ariett was no longer following" or "he realised that Ariett was not following"
"Are you really sure he's trapped in the boneyard?" the voice would say.
""Are you really sure he's trapped in the boneyard?" the voice said."
...
1
You are very concise, precise, sterile in your writing, and I see you are asking the correct question to make this text better. If your text was a dish, it would be well cooked but rather dry and in need of a good sauce.
What is missing here are more emotions. You are reporting events in a very soldier-like manner. The sentence you asked about is a good ...
1
Peter looked where Ariett was pointing and saw the little crowd near the treehouse.
If we're in Peter's head in this scene, we can also do this:
Ariett was pointing at the little crowd near the treehouse.
If we're in Peter's head, we know that these are his observations. So we know he's looking at Ariett and then at where she's pointing.
1
A typical essay uses a few of the many available patterns or modes of exposition. These include narration, description, process, definition, division and classification, comparison and contrast, example and illustration, cause and effect, analogy, and argument (according to a list in Seventy-Five Readings, Emily G. Barrosse, ed.). Your paragraphs are ...
1
[The application] is designed with [business function A], [business function B], [business function C], and [business function D] in mind, with the specific purpose of ensuring accuracy of [analytic metric] generated by your implementation of the [Specific Analytic Software].
As I understood, some unfortunate code monkey gets tasked with debugging a ...
1
Try something like this:
This application is for users of (ESP) who need to understand its results quickly and easily. (Product) takes the metrics compiled by (ESP) and presents them in a way that makes troubleshooting and documentation easier. (Product) produces reports for (business function A), (business function B), ... .
Rationale:
First, ...
1
There are many different formats depending on the type of work being cited, and the standard being used. Common standards are the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the American Psychological Association (APA). MLA style is widely used when writing about history and literature. APA is widely used when writing about science and technical subjects (not just ...
1
I just looked through my non-fiction book contract from an academic publisher, and it says "approximately 70,000 words in length" and then says in parentheses that this would make for a 280 page book. The only other relevant detail was that the publisher would handle the index (they did the table of contents as well), which means that AncientToaster's answer ...
1
I have no direct experience in getting professional reviews, but I've been reading about the topic lately. Here's my understanding:
Some major newspapers and magazines do book reviews; most have public submission guidelines. Typically, as described on this page for the New York Times, the submission is expected to be from a publisher a few months before the ...
1
Monograph lengths are generally not about number of pages, but about word counts. In the humanities you will find monographs ranging from 5000-100,000 (and even longer) in length. There is no standard length for monographs unless you are writing for a specific publisher/publication which specifies length.
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Again, not a lawyer, but do you really need permission if you are writing a book about someone?
So if I write a book about Obama, and interview his friends, do I need their and Obama's permission? As long as you don't claim to be the "Official version", I'm not sure why you would need permission. Journalists routinely interview people, and even publish ...
1
I'm about to turn down a pretty good contract role as a technical author (TA) writing API for a company based in Gibraltar - sun, sand and senoritas! Why? Because I was able to get through the interview based solely on my personality rather than my aptitude for the subject. I'm a good enough TA to know my limitations and I have previous experience writing ...
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Remember that grammatical nuances of a particular discipline can sometimes confuse readers more than the technical terms (which should already have been well explained)
Over on the English exchange, there was a question only today about "Significant fraction of reactor core inventory"
This is a case of seemingly innocuous technical speak befuddling the ...
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