network profile
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| visits | member for | 4 months |
| seen | Feb 12 at 13:43 | |
| stats | profile views | 0 |
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Jan 22 |
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Very simple markup language for writing fiction We're working on a project to create a set of tools for my custom markup. It's coming along quite well and should be ready for public consumption within a week or so. If you're really interested, you can follow on twitter @TomeProject (twitter.com/TomeProject). Will post a final answer with link once the project is ready for release. |
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Jan 21 |
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Do the characters in the following dialogue sound the same? I don't think they sound any more alike than two real people in a similar environment may. They both sound like teenagers to me. |
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Jan 19 |
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Very simple markup language for writing fiction @DerekMannheim: I know, Derek. |
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Jan 19 |
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Parts, books, volumes, etc Understood, and that's a good example, thanks. I am asking specifically about fiction works, though, I think sections (whether above or below chapters) are more likely to be used in non-fiction work. |
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Jan 19 |
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Parts, books, volumes, etc I would say a section comes below a chapter as well, but I think a *** break is usually called a "scene" not a section. I would think a section is more for text books and academic papers, and wouldn't normally appear in fiction. |
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Jan 18 |
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Very simple markup language for writing fiction Thanks, I forgot about creole. I looked into it a while ago for another project and liked it in general, but I think it's still off the mark for what I'm trying to do. |
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Jan 16 |
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Very simple markup language for writing fiction Sure thing. Bear in mind that I've developed it specifically for the way I'm writing. Hopefully it will be useful to others as well. |
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Jan 16 |
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Should you use two spaces after a period, or just a single one? I'm going to good-naturedly nitpick on this old post: "true email" is not necessarily plain text, it's just ASCII coded content; the content-type header specifies how the ASCII characters should be interpreted and displayed (e.g., as plaintext, as HTML, as something else). Also, plaintext in no way mandates that the characters will be monospaced: that may be typical behavior, but there's no reason plaintext can't be displayed in any font you want, including fonts where different characters are different sizes. |
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Jan 9 |
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Very simple markup language for writing fiction @spiceyokooko: But I'm not using a word processing program, I'm using a plain text editor, all it does is store the characters I type to a file. Also, I'm not interested in replicating any printed fiction novel I can pick up, I'm interested in writing my story the way I envision it. I do appreciate your advice, but I think we can agree that not everybody works the same way. |
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Jan 9 |
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Very simple markup language for writing fiction Also, to be clear, I'm not talking about the exact way the final result looks. If that's what you were thinking, then I agree completely that you should wait till the end to fuss over things like margins and layout and chapter-title font face, etc. What I'm referring to is markup related to content and structure. |
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Jan 9 |
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Very simple markup language for writing fiction Thanks for the advice, but that's not how I work. Certain amounts of markup (emphasis, for instance) are as much a part of the writing as the actual words. If you've worked out how you want to word something, you wouldn't save it to the end so you can focus on getting the plot finished, right? For me, the markup is the same thing, and as long as it's a good markup language, it shouldn't get in the way of my writing, it should be a part of it. Of course I'll go back and revise it all---content and markup---at the end, but that doesn't mean I don't want to get it down initially. |
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Jan 8 |
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How about a story as a series of anecdotes? Thanks for the input. Now that everyone has pointed it out, it's apparent to me that many stories are in fact like this, as you said. I think the worst example that comes to mind is one of the books of His Dark Materials (don't remember which one), where the author spends far too much time describing details of a particular alien species with minimal plot. I really liked the books otherwise, but this did a number on my interest level, so I just want to make sure I avoid doing the same. |
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Jan 8 |
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How about a story as a series of anecdotes? @Fortiter Well I don't want to, that's the whole point =). I have a concept that I want to explore in story form, but it's not a concept for a plot. The only way I could think to write it is as a series of anecdotes describing life in this particular society, and that's the part that sounds horrible. The purpose of asking the question was to see if a) other people agreed that it was a horrible idea; and b) how else I might write it so that it's not horrible. |
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Jan 7 |
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How about a story as a series of anecdotes? Great answer, thanks a lot! You're right, it's primarily a world/idea based story, and I think I can use a quest plot as the primary vehicle for moving through the story. Is it too much to name the goal of the quest "Macguffin"? |
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Jan 7 |
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How to name the characters of your story? @Martha So not a fan of Crime and Punishment then... |
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Jan 7 |
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How do I better handle my nameless main character when trying to retain mystery? I do get a certain sense of mystery from it, but in sort of a strange way it also makes the character feel more familiar, almost intimate. Referring to someone by name kind of makes them one character among many in a story, but all this namelessness makes it feel like the narrator is closely shadowing this particular character, and sort of raises him about the mass of lesser, named characters. It's kind of like, he's so central that he doesn't need a name, it's just implicit that he's the one you're referring to. Not sure if that's what you're going for or not. |
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Jan 7 |
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How do I better handle my nameless main character when trying to retain mystery? I don't feel like it's that bad, personally. You might be too closed to the problem: if you hadn't mentioned that you were overusing the word "he", I don't think I would have felt that way. Maybe give an excerpt to somebody without context, and ask for their impression. |
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Jan 7 |
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Use of past vs. present tense in works of fiction In addition to immediacy, I've found that present tense tends to add some suspense and mystery. It always gives me the impressions that the narrator doesn't know what's about to happen either (since it hasn't happened yet), which may be good or bad depending on the story. Also, I've always associated it with old detective bits, Dick Tracy kind of stuff. I've never actually read Dick Tracy or similar stories, but that's the image it brings up in my head. |
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Jan 5 |
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Very long sentences: personal style or just bad writing? Great, thanks for the help. It's targeted towards slightly older readers, probably like 8 to 12 years old or so, so I don't think it will be too challenging for them. |
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Jan 5 |
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Very long sentences: personal style or just bad writing? Thanks for the idea. It's not quite that silly, but I appreciate the help! |
