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Well, let's start...
Specifically, this post
You just lost us. "This post" often means "an external piece to which I am linking" or "some text which is going to follow shortly," rather than "this question you're reading."
is a piece of text submitted for critique and, in addition, explains what I am trying to achieve.
Redundant, but okay in ...
6
For a first draft, you can use placeholders. XXX, TK (publication shorthand for "to come"), TECH, literally the word [placeholder] in square brackets — anything to indicate that you'll fill in the mathguffin details later. Also, feel free to gloss or summarize. The point of the scene is not going to be the math anyway, right?
The professor pointed to ...
5
Yes, research is worthwhile - to a point.
This is difficult to answer because you're asking people to make a value judgment about how worthwhile research is. My opinion is that if your story is based on a concept, it behooves you to know about that concept.
If you want to base a story on a particular concept, then you need to decide how well you want to ...
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Absolutely. I've read lots of books as research for writing stories, and I'm not even a compulsive researcher the way that some writers are.
However, there's an obvious limit on how much effort you can put into a short story. Perhaps reading a 300-page book is too much effort, or perhaps only a portion of the book would be relevant to you. In that case, I ...
5
I suggest that you focus instead on critiquing your own writing with the question, "Could I say this more simply? More precisely? Can I potentially cut out any words?" You could also ask someone else, whose clear and simple style you admire, to look through your writing with these questions in mind.
Sometimes the "big" words are actually better, if they ...
5
(Note: The current edit of this post fixes some of these issues.)
Clarity of objectives
It's unclear, exactly, what you want people to critique; the way the post is written implies that there will be text other than the question and the question's title, and that this text is what you want people to critique. The body of your question is laying the ...
4
Read a lot of old books, prereferentially related to the topic of your own story. Get a sense of the idiom, like a sailor referring to himself as an old salt. Get it under your skin. If you constantly need to consult a phrase book, a grammar or a style manual, I'm afeared ye can nae pull it off.
In other words, if you don't feel you can write the original ...
4
The language is a tool to convey more than meaning. By choosing specific words you create atmosphere, impression, differ between formal and informal, elegant versus pretentious, frank versus rude. By removing a set of words you cripple your means of expression.
And there are words that function in specific expressions and fit specific situations where ...
3
It would have been incredibly off-topic to ask this on Math.SE -- you're in the write place.
So here's the most important thing:
Your readers, on the whole, know little to nothing about technical subjects, and will not catch fabrications or errors. The portion of readers who do know will respect you for trying if you do it well enough, and respect you even ...
3
When you say Old English, be aware that another term for that is Anglo-Saxon, which is English from before the Norman Conquest. Here's an example:
Ic eom weorð werum, wide funden
brungen of bearwum ond of burghleoþum
of denum ond of durum. Dæges mec wægun
feþre on lifte feredon mid liste
under hrofes hleo. Hæleð mec siþþan
baþedan in bydene. Nu ...
3
I'll offer some blunt advice that I've given my own grad students over the years.
Be direct. Make it easy for readers to see the main points you're trying to convey. (I think the main parts of your question are that you're a Ph.D. student whose advisor thinks your writing needs improvement, and you're asking for comments about style and understandability.)
...
3
There are a few tech writing blogs and forums that I like. Joining STC is useful, though it costs $195 a year ($160 if you graduated within the last three years). Membership includes access to both their publications. Intercom has a lot of best practices articles and information about new tools, while Technical Communications is their academic journal.
I'd ...
2
After a considerable bit of research, I came across this on the Polish language Wikipedia page on proofreading (Korekta tekstu).
From the Google-provided broken English translation:
Style guides
These guides are usually created by employees internally or supplied by the customer and should distinguish them from professional sources for formatting ...
2
Generators, I've found, tend to produce bland characters. There are few, if any, substitutes for spending time with your characters. Obviously you can't meet your characters in-person. What you can do is use writing prompts to put characters in everyday situations and see how they handle themselves.
A useful tool is stereotyping your character. Think about ...
2
Ultimately, you have to let your experience guide you when it comes to accepting or rejecting criticism of your writing. Which means you have to gain experience...which is exactly what it sounds like you are doing.
Criticism is wildly inconsistent because writing is wildly inconsistent. Browse through almost any collection of different authors--whether a ...
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You can't, really, other than to get familiar with critiques in general and compare them to one another so you get a feel for what issues in your writing are being fixed. If five different readers love your phrasing and one doesn't, chances are your phrases is fine. If three people complain about your use of the passive voice and three don't, think about it ...
2
Writing a story in which math plays a pivotal role when you know little about mathematics would probably be a mistake. There is, unfortunately, no way to fake knowing something. You either have to do the research, or write the story anyway, hoping your guesses are right. Guessing wrong will make you look foolish.
Of course, the question of how much ...
1
If you want the outside layout and a small glimpse of the inside of Chernobyl NPP, follow John Smithers' advice: grab a copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl, read a game guide on how to get the "Good Ending" and play it through. The authors took only minimal amounts of artistic liberties while re-creating the outside layout of the NPP, and while the ...
1
Take ownership of your work. The more you hand it around to editors, proofreaders, and critics, the more you try to process conflicting remarks, the more it loses its connection to you, especially in the early stages. Share your early draft with someone you trust to be honest, but don't share it with another writer; the writer will try to re-write it first ...
1
Through Tannalein's link to TVTropes I found just the right resource I think I need.
Life in Elizabethan England
This will allow some basic expressions, help avoid common blunders and show pretty much where not to go at all, for risk of making utter mess.
Another resource clarifying it a little:
Speaking Ye Olde Butchered English
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I would use commas between each component, and use "and" only if the last component is seconds. I learned way back in intermediate school that "and" is only used before fractions (so 10,247 is said "ten thousand, two hundred forty-seven" but 10 7/8 is said "ten and seven-eighths"). I would call seconds the smallest "lay person" time interval — if ...
1
should be a short since I haven't written a lot of stories
Forget about that. Making stuff up about word count has no use, except someone pays you for a 1000 word article or a 60.000 words novel. Then you have to meet their criteria. Otherwise just write and count the words after you've finished your story.
I have no clue what your second question is ...
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I have a small contribution to the excellent advice already offered....
When possible, read your work aloud. If you stumble over a phrase or sentence, so will your readers. Reading aloud reinforces where the pauses should be, for clarity and emphasis, because you'll need to take a breath occasionally, unlike when you read silently. Best of luck!
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Although not British English, this website is great:
http://thewritepractice.com/
You can check 14 prompts under Resources. They often publish blog posts with a certain theme and ask the readers to write about a theme for 15 minutes and then post it in the comments. They even have a monthly contest for a short story and the winner gets to be printed.
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Two resources that sound appropriate are:
http://wordassociations.net/
http://www.wordassociation.org/search/
Though I can't rule it out, I kind of doubt you'll find existed dedicated communities - I expect very few people are interested in regularly checking into a site for the sole purpose of answering word association requests. On writing forums, you ...
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In addition to reading voraciously as has already been suggested (especially, but not only, in the genre/field you want to write) you might want to check out Stein on Writing by Sol Stein. It's the best book I've seen that discusses the writing craft, and contains sections on both fiction and non-fiction.
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