@Gretchen741
Last seen: Mon 17 May, 2021
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: How can I write this scene? Entering the park, a slight breeze rustles the leaves making them fall to the ground one by one. It was a small park with a jungly gym, a couple of tables and
Entering the park, a slight breeze rustles the leaves making them fall to the ground one by one. It was a small park with a jungly gym, a couple of tables and a few benches for people to sit in every corner and jogging tracks were all around the edges.
Then I saw two tall figures.
She can only see the face of character Nr 1, the other one is hooded. The wind eventually blew the hood away, revealing his face. She gets surprised to see who it is. I don’t know how to describe the scene: how they’re standing, her getting surprised etc
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: Re: Aside from military, how do I write strategy in seemingly ordinary settings (something going on beneath the surface)? The question says it all, but the only results I'm getting are battlefield
Overt vs. Covert:
In the real world, people use strategy and manipulation all the time. I dare say it's so prevalent that we don't USE the word strategy to describe it. However, because it is SO common, it's really just talking about what is going on in the story. Strategy is almost everything.
What I think you might be after is how do we describe strategy in daily life, rather than battle(?). In a war, you see the outcome of a battle immediately. There are almost always clear winners and losers. Not so in life. It gets all messy when your 'enemy' is your friend, or your wife, or your co-workers. So almost all strategy in life is covert.
So writing about strategy IRL is more like a spy novel. While there may be an occasional fight, success is often predicated on the enemy never knowing you played them. Winning a screaming match with someone is rarely a win. If your kids know you tricked them into eating their veggies, they'll deliberately refuse next time. If you're cheating on your wife, you have to keep convincing her over and over that she's imagining things.
I find one of the best writing strategies for showing this is to allude to strategies, but never actually describe the real underlying events. A husband might tell his wife he tricked the kids into eating their veggies, but you need to be a very clever writer to actually accurately describe subtle manipulations. Agatha Christie is a particularly good example of another strategy: using authorities to tell you so-and-so brilliantly manipulated something while never actually telling you HOW the manipulation was done. A detective tells you Mrs. Marple is a brilliant insightful person with insight into the darkness of the human heart, so when she says someone is influencing a witness, you make the assumption she's right and your mind fills in the rest.
If you're extremely clever, you can go into great detail about how the strategies are set up and played out. I can think of several movies like Ocean's 11 where there's a big reveal and you see how the author set up the strategy. But if you like the character - based parts, or the devious strategy isn't the point of your story, then I'd rely on inference and subtle hints. Your reader will be able to feel your strategy moving in the background and cartoon in the parts you may not have the time or deviousness to come up with yourself.
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: Re: Should I use "people" for non-human creatures with humane mannerisms? First off, my question is not this question. I am asking about a creature resembling a human and not a bug. Also, I put
Hey folks:
I believe traditionally faeries were collectively referred to as "folk." Collectively "faerie folk" and you could probably use the gender-neutral "folks" in conversation. They are also called the fey, which can also be used for a strange person. I've even seen "the fey folk."
Otherwise I don't thing people is a bad term, as long as you are equating them as equal beings to humans. There is "little people" or "little folk" but this can have unintended double meanings like you're concerned about with people. There's nothing wrong with just calling them elves. Sidhe is the Irish term. These terms are often applied more specifically to human-like/sized.
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: Writing about the historical relationship between math and physics I'm not sure if this is best suited for Writing SE, or perhaps one of the science SE's. In any case, feel free to move this
I'm not sure if this is best suited for Writing SE, or perhaps one of the science SE's. In any case, feel free to move this if fitting.
I've been tasked with writing a 20-30 page paper on the history of physics from a mathematical perspective. That is, to discuss the way math has influenced physics, and physics has influenced mathematics, throughout history and up to the present day. It must cover the 'technical' aspects as well, discussing (where possible) the actual ideas in a way that can be understood by a general population.
There are no other requirements.
My issue is, I'm not quite sure where to start or how to structure this work. Obviously, I cannot provide a comprehensive history in a mere 20-30 pages, so maybe I should cover 3-5 'big ideas'? Also, since no strict timeline was given (except that it should reach up to the modern day), I'm not sure if I should go all the way back to the time of Newton (or earlier), or stay more modern (say, going back to Einstein).
Since it's such a long paper, I'd like to decide on a structure now instead of jumping in (as I usually would) and finding it doesn't work well halfway through.
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: Re: Any tips for young writers? I am a 15 years old boy who likes to read/watch/play anything that has a good story in it - especially fantasy. Everytime I finished one, I always feel like that
I will not say my exact age, but I am a young writer too. Under sixteen, so I understand perfectly. In fact, I started writing my novel this summer. I plan to get it published by next summer, as I am almost done with the first draft.
You don’t need fancy skills or a specific level of education to be a writer, you are a writer simply for writing.
My biggest piece of advice for you is this:
Don’t think your writing is worse just because you’re young.
Think about. A thirty-year-old’s published writing is probably better than a fifty-year-old’s writing who doesn’t write, because they do it more. Because they love it. Because they practice and have experience. Writing has absolutely nothing to do with age.(unless you’re a baby) As long as you know your grammar and language well enough, you can write anything.
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: Your character has something wrong with them, they are supposed to be strong I am a young author writing a fantasy series. In my story, my MC is strong, resilient, and always needs to look
I am a young author writing a fantasy series. In my story, my MC is strong, resilient, and always needs to look perfect on the outside. This is her biggest flaw, not telling the other characters about her feelings, injuries, illnesses, fears, weakness, etc. because she feels the need to look like a leader. She hates feeling helpless and weak.
This character does in fact have something wrong with her. She is plagued by dreams/visions of the past. At first she has no idea why they are happening but soon discovers that someone else is trying to show her something. Unfortunately, this someone else doesn’t understand humans very well. They planted these visions in her brain to let her know important information that only the antagonist knows. The dreams and visions become more vivid, terrifying, and out of control to the point where she sometimes just collapses.
My MC learns that people have had these dreams before, and they always ended up going insane and dying. The MC, terrified of this, also learns that she has to learn to control the visions or the same will happen to her. The best way to do this is to tell others about the dreams.
But.
The MC refuses to do this as she insists she doesn’t need help and can do it by herself and she slowly goes insane. Right before she completely loses it she realizes she can’t always do everything by herself and she does need help.
This is the only way I can ovoid my MC dying in the first book, but giving in just isn’t her character. She is unusually stubborn.
What are some tips to write a character like this in a believable way? This has nothing to do with the dream part of it, so no it’s not world building. I just need to know how to properly write this kind of character.
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: How would you torture one of your MC without having a permanent injury? I am a young author writing a fantasy series. I have been thinking about this for a while. In my fourth book, one
I am a young author writing a fantasy series. I have been thinking about this for a while. In my fourth book, one of my MC’s gets captured by the antagonist. Th MC that was captured is the closest person to the MC ( the first person narrator). The antagonist knows this and instead of killing him, tries to get information about the MC out of him with torture.
I’m pretty sure it’s not possible to go through something like that(MC rescues him) and be perfectly fine in say, a year or so. He would still have mental and physical damage for the rest of his life.
The problem is, he can’t be injured or crippled. I need him to be fine for the rest of the series. So how do I do that in a logical way? Maybe he wouldn’t be completely fine, but still well enough to stay sane and fight with the rest of the characters. But he can’t just have a few bruises, cuts, and minor burns. That’s not really torture, and that would be super nice of my antagonist who is a horrible horrible person. He’s gonna have missing limbs or something like that.
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: Re: Can the Hero's Journey be detrimental to the process of storywriting? When it comes to common writing advice, the Hero's Journey and Show, don't Tell, are the most common ones. The second one
They need to start out vulnerable. They need to have some sort of humongous flaw that makes them stop in they’re tracks when mentioned. For example, my MC struggles with enormous amounts of guilt. Whenever the antagonist reminds her of what she did, and how she is a horrible person (she isn’t) my MC freezes and gets stuck in horribly vivid flash backs of her family’s death, and how she thinks it’s her fault.
Later in the story, the protagonist/MC must learn to deal with their flaw and weakness. The flaw your character has can be many many things, but it often involves their backstory. Sometimes not, however. In the Percy Jackson And The Olympians series, Percy’s weakness is that he is to loyal to his friends, he would chose saving them over saving the world. That makes for a very interesting flaw, as most of the time flaws are BAD things. Not good things. This is another approach to choosing your MC’s weakness.
During the story, the heroes flaw must be provoked many times. It also is a good idea to make your antagonist and protagonist have a similar flaw. In my story, the antagonist kills out of revenge for the loved ones she lost. While my MC still is struggling with coming to terms for her loved ones. My MC can easily see how she could have been the antagonist.
Another fun way to go about this is making your protagonist and antagonist opposites. Another example from Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Percy is to loyal to his friends, and Lord Kronos doesn’t care at all about his allies.
Your character needs to go from being vulnerable, to being invincible (personality wise)
The second thing you want to tackle in a hero’s journey is their friends, love interests, mentors, enemies, frenemies, allies, family members, and any other side characters you can think of. Without interacting with other characters, your MC will never change. They don’t have a reason to.
They may change to save their friends. They may change to land a date. They may change because their friends helped them through it. Many many options.
I hope this helps you!
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: How many MCs should you have in your story? I’m wondering how many main characters should be in a first person POV series. My idea of a good MC cast is this: First Person Narrator. Narrator’s
I’m wondering how many main characters should be in a first person POV series.
My idea of a good MC cast is this:
First Person Narrator.
Narrator’s love interest.
Narrator’s best friend.
Narrator’s Mentor.
Narrator’s Very Good friend, Love interest’s best friend, and comic relief.
I think this is a good amount of main characters for a story but I’m really not sure. What is the right amount? Is there a right amount?
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: Re: Is it poor technique to use a different characters POV for only a short scene in a novel length piece of work? Basically what I'm wondering here is if it's distracting or poor technique to
I read a lot. It’s just part of who I am. Whenever I read a book that uses this technique though, I literally get so frustrated that even if the plot is good I put it down. Eventually I finish the book, but it takes me about a month because I didn’t enjoy it, instead of about a week.
I don’t think this technique is necessarily bad, some people might really enjoy it, and these kinds of works have been published in the past. Most people however, think it is a horrible way to write a book and will simply stop reading.
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: Re: Is it okay to kill a main character? I am a young author writing a fantasy series. I started this book with a light bulb idea late one night while reading Peter Pan. I didn’t know anything
And they never recovered the body...
I'm a big fan of the 'mysterious death' scenario. I've even seen games that integrate this into the rules. In this case, as the MC defeats the hero, he/they go plummeting downward into the clouds over the sea. The body(ies) is/are never recovered. This way, readers who also love the MC can hope he's really NOT dead, and hints that he IS alive can crop up as a subplot in your series. You can even have someone people think is the MC, or someone who believes themselves (mistakenly) to be the MC. I personally wouldn't ACTUALLY let him live, but the option is left open. Bringing him back from the dead violates story causality (usually), but can be pulled off with the right justification.
It also means that as your plot progresses across multiple books, you can reserve the right to change your mind. Once you say definitively "He's dead and splattered across the pavement," there's no going back. If his soul and body may be imprisoned by a sea ghost, this can be an object of quests, character angst, and all sorts of great literary stuff.
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: Re: Can there be too many obstacles in a character’s path? My current WIP involves a deliberate miscarriage of justice. I started out with three main characters: J - a young girl who is effected
Problems make Great Drama:
As a person who's life has been affected closely by murder of/by family, I want/need stories that show redemption of wrongful people, but also wrongful people being found responsible for the actions/choices they have made.
It sounds complicated, but that can be good and bad. Is there such a thing as too many challenges? A story doesn't need to resolve all problems, only one at a time, and make progress.
It looks like D needs to somehow come back in and do something with the story to resolve some of the issues. D has seriously compromised ethical standards and put N's life at risk. What, exactly, I can't say.
Should the deer cross the road? Of course it should! N has to make a moral choice that looks like the wrong thing to do, but somehow proves that right action ultimately results in good outcomes - even if the good outcome is self-redemption. Or even if N goes to prison, his GF hears about his right action and follows her heart. Don't know exactly what, but it seems to be the correct way to go. You may have a different end-game in mind.
Good luck!
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: Re: Not sure how to continue my story I'm writing a story (I think a bit long to post here, but I could if someone would like), which is a metaphor for depression. In the story (from a 3rd
What to do with infinite time:
You could reverse it - time passes in the room, but not the outside world. The character is stuck in their thoughts and can't make an impact on the world around them. The person from outside wouldn't age - the character would. For what to write about, think "Groundhog Day." (for that matter, you could have the same outside events seemingly repeat over and over for the character if you wanted). That movie is already about people overcoming their own emotional traps that bind them to repeat the same wrong actions over and over. This also makes time in the room like a prison cell. What does a prisoner in a cell do with endless time? Depression is kind of like that.
Or instead of a prisoner, how about a monk? What do monks do with endless time forced into meditation? This leaves you with the internal reality of the main character to examine in depth. Maybe meditation is part of the character's goal in going to the room. It can also be part of the process of realization to eventually leave.
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: Re: I found a story I wrote as a little kid. Should I finish it? There was this story I was writing, when I was a little kid, that I found. I called it "Rage." I liked the story,
Found Gold:
Of COURSE you should finish it! Is the young version of you going to do it? Is the young version of you going to come along and complain that you aren't getting it right? NO.
You wrote it, it's yours. If you like the story and plot, even better. You can do honor to your younger self by finishing it. So, you may not do it exactly like you would have. Obviously your younger self lost interest, drive, or inspiration to do it. Well, now you've found those things.
Even if you only write it for you, and for peace of mind, it's a good idea. Rewrite it (on the computer if the original was paper) and save the original if you want the original preserved.
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: Re: A phrase similar to murmurs of laughter I am writing an essay and one thing I am talking about is that I hear small laughs among the crowd while I nervously give a speech. I used the phrase
Murmured low Appreciation [it's a kinda funny question...] :)
"Murmured laughter" is the same as what you said, but less awkward. Laughter is okay by itself, but to make it smaller, small laughs are giggles or chuckles, or perhaps a snort. To make it even smaller, describe them as "low" or "tiny," so "low laughter" is more than a chuckle, "tiny giggles" are barely heard. Even smaller still would be "appreciative noises" which isn't even laughing, really, but shows someone understands and appreciates a joke.
You can also try other synonyms for laughter, and see what sound right to you.
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: Re: What are some signs of a chosen one nebulous enough that they can be mistaken? The setup: We have a fantasy world. A while back (like, 30-100 years; not really sure yet) a prophecy was given
A Few Ideas:
Letter of crucifixion: The character's name starts with a T, but no one names their kids with a T, because children with T names are killed by some power trying to prevent the prophecy from being fulfilled. The reincarnation is supposed to have a name starting with "the letter of crucifiction". In reality, the crucifixion under discussion was on an X-shaped crucifix, OR "the letter of crucifiction" really means C. Tradition has "the letter of crucifiction" as a T. This is just part of the prophecy. A painting made by the prophet comes to light, showing the prophet's true meaning.
Blue eyes are exceedingly rare. The prophet's native language had no word for blue (this is a real phenomenon). The chosen one is to have "eyes the color of the sea," but the prophet saw the sea as being green. This is revealed to the character by a linguist.
The character's mother wanted him to be the fulfillment of the prophecy (or seen as one). Despite the fact that no children other than the true chosen one were EVER born fulfilling the right astrological and birth conditions, his mother lied and claimed he was born (fill in the blank - to a priest father on a Sunday at midnight in the ruins of an abandoned castle). She wanted her son to be important, but she gives a deathbed confession revealing the truth.
There is always a chosen one. At the moment of death, a new chosen one is designated. Forces trying to kill the chosen one succeed, but the old chosen one actually died three days later at the bottom of the ravine he was thrown into. The old chosen one left a message carved into the cave wall where he took refuge. The character goes to find an artifact carried by the chosen one, and in discovering the body, finds the note indicating the character isn't the chosen one.
The guardians of the true chosen one have lied. There is a secret condition to the prophecy, and they know it, but no one else does. The main character has been told all his life he was the chosen one to set him up for death in case the god's enemies came to kill him.
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: Re: Ways to write a person crying without using words like "sniff", "boohoo" etc There is a specific kind of scene that I want to write, where the protagonist has just killed his brother and he
Don't say it - describe it:
You want to indicate the character is crying, while THEY don't understand they're crying, and you don't want to SAY they're crying.
So don't say they are crying. But deep sorrow is a full body experience. Every part of a person and every action they take will be overwhelmed with the reaction.
Their throat will feel constricted, their breath will be short, breathing will be in labored gasps, and their nose starts running. Their heart races while feeling like it's being crushed. The feeling of nausea in their stomach twists into a tighter and tighter knot as uncontrolled contractions jerk through their diaphragm. Their legs go weak and they need to hold themselves up against the wall. The rush of blood to the head makes them dizzy, and the muscles throughout the body ache from tension. A general feeling of dread and panic will be mixed with memories of every warm moment they had with the person (maybe describing the person sobbing uncontrollably as a child while their brother tended a scraped knee). PERHAPS runny droplets of blood drip off the person's face. Incoherent noises come raggedly from them, interrupted by choking sounds, followed by a keening wail they finally realize is coming from themselves. The eyes burn as they blink uncontrollably. They try to swallow but can't.
But don't say they are crying.
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: Ways to write a biographical introduction without using "___ was an..." I'm writing a short biography on a relatively obscure ancient Greek figure. Since so little is known about this individual's
I'm writing a short biography on a relatively obscure ancient Greek figure. Since so little is known about this individual's life, I'm finding a dearth of information to support the 2-3 pages I'm expected to produce. As of now, my biography starts like this:
"____ was an ancient Greek geometer, astronomer, and mathematician..."
This tends to be the way I start any such paper, and is effectively the same "sentence starter" everyone else uses. To me, it's sort of bland and lacking that "drawing in" factor (of course, to some extent anything of this nature is bound to be a bit dry, but I think you get my point). I'm wondering if there's a 'nicer' way to introduce the biography?
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: Re: Is my novel Fantasy or Sci-Fi? I have a Wattpad account and I've been entering contests... I've been using the fantasy genre to describe my novel, but I just saw descriptions of fantasy and
Science Fantasy:
I think your genre falls into a rather mushy category know as science fantasy. Sometimes this is called "soft" sci fi. While this relies on a scientific basis for the story, elements either do not conform to conventional science or have additional fantastic elements not reflective of science.
A publisher might have a different definition of it, but much of comic book action is based on handwavium to give characters pseudo-magical abilities explained by technical AND magical origins. I think this is the spot your story is landing in.
As a biologist, I can tell you up front the explanation for the babies developing radiation resistance doesn't fit biology and how it works. Change the causation of the altered babies to something else like (fill in the blank, aliens intervening to protect the babies, exotic non-standard radiation, etc) and you may have a cause that sounds scientific, and while not based in science, it has the ring of science to it because it relies on unproven but non-magical assumptions.
Most fantasy relies on some fantastical element to allow things not possible in the normal world, usually magic. Most science fiction relies on some derivation of technology as a substantial worldbuilding or story element to carry it along, and tries to be based on what is theoretically possible. In between is science fantasy. So called "soft" sci fi is sometimes lumped in this category, where it is in a sci fi setting, but science doesn't really matter except as a poorly detailed tool to carry the story along (I'm not judging, "hard" sci fi can be tough to read sometimes). There are frequently a blend of fantasy elements and magic along with rational explanations (spells become psychic abilities, etc, with guns vs magic swords, starships, genetics labs, and so on).
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: Re: Can you write about a taboo topic without creating a poor image of yourself as a writer? I am thinking of writing a character that possesses the psychological phenomenon of erotophonophilia (or
Respectfully, yes:
You aren't writing for Hallmark or the Lifetime Channel, are you?
I don't think anything is off the table if you do it right, but consider your audience. People aren't going to respond well to anything that glorifies evil, graphically portrays something deeply disrespectful in a way that doesn't emphasize humanity, and doesn't reach a conclusion that is either thoughtful or satisfying.
The storyline of The Messiah Stone ends with the amoral main character, after committing numerous murders, coming to a bad end. Most people who would want to read about graphic depictions of torture and rape are not people I would personally want as readers. I have a main character in a book who is a cannibal, a war criminal, and a child killer - and that is just the first three chapters. But you either get an explanation of why her behavior is culturally relevant, or she atones for it eventually when she realizes her mistakes.
People have complex demons driving them. Pretending they aren't there is not going to make them go away, and we need to be able to stare them in the face. But if we tell everyone what great guys the demons are, we risk being them.
Now I know people will disagree, but Dexter wouldn't exist if it were up to me. Even there, he's portrayed in a forgiving light - he kills only other serial killers. If you do glorify evil, make it clear there are trade-offs. Mad men suffer for their madness, and killers are themselves killed.
Doing your research is a good first step. Anything less leaves you open to legitimate criticisms. I'm not guaranteeing that you won't open yourself to criticism and condemnation, but I can't think that a writer who is afraid to write and risk is going to do anything terribly exciting or thought provoking.
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: Re: How can I handle a powerful mentor character without killing them off? I'm writing a book series that involves people with various superpowers. One of these characters and is more or less the
Your Mentor is disabled, or Aging, or suffering an identity crisis, or...
You can continue to keep your superhero mentor "in the game," so to speak, but reduce his capacities through whatever means you choose. Professor Xavier has OP abilities, but has suffered disabilities that mean he's not up to being the front-line slugger he otherwise could be. Perhaps in that last battle with Dr. E. Ville he (fill in the blank - picked up an alien virus that renders him emotionally erratic) suffered permanent injury that can't be healed conventionally or unconventionally. He's still alive, like a grandfather, but isn't up to going out and doing the work that must be done. If he tried to, he would risk death in a very real way.
Alzheimer's or a related senility problem adds a risky dimension, as the mentor begins to mistake heroes or even villains for long-dead colleagues. He may reveal things to the hero (thinking the hero is really long-dead Mr. Amazing) that would otherwise be kept hidden. The mentor's team loves and respects him, yet shelters him from the painful realities of his decline.
People have undergone radical personality changes as a result of serious injury, and your mentor may retain the memories of his former self but the meteor that hit him in the head caused him to pathologically steal, or have uncontrollable fits of rage. The superhero team may spend as much time keeping the mentor out of trouble as getting any help from him. If you absolutely need the mentor, he's there. But think of how much of Spider Man's story is tied up with school, work, and Aunt Mae. The storyline of a superhero is BORING if all he does is battle invincible villains.
So the infirmities of you mentor are a golden opportunity to make your characters really three-dimensional in very personal ways people can relate to. Everyone has a grandparent who doesn't want to go the the nursing home, or the cousin with schizophrenia, and that family member that always needs help with something (sometimes because of bad choices, other times just by dumb bad luck).
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: Re: How do I write someone in an enchantment? I'm having trouble writing a scene in my book where the main character is about to be pulled into an enchantment before her friend saves her. A bit
Enchant with words:
Normally, flowery words are over the top used often, but in this case I'd bunch them up. Don't just describe enchantment, try to enchant the reader, make them feel compelled to pick it up and caress it. Engage all senses, and make something up if there isn't the actual detail.
For example, it could be smooth and vibrate on fingers, shine from the gold and the stone can glisten in the light, it can evoke the scent of lavender from no where, and evoke the memory of music. Make the effect feel out of place, and the character should need distraction to stop admiring the thing. The character could find their thoughts going back to it or having a dream where they are someone else wearing it.
If it is evil, though, give some warning. The dream is of something bad happening to the person wearing it, or there is a sharp point on it that cuts the character so they bleed (although the blood can be sweet as they kiss the drop away).
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: Re: Managing alien languages in Sci-Fi creatively I’m writing a story where alien races are in constant communication with humans, but I don’t want it to be awkward or have to use language tags
Set apart the text:
If I felt the need to indicate an alien language was being spoken, and that everyone was speaking it or at least understood, I'd set the alien languages apart in the print. I'm not an English major or an editor, so it's how I would do it:
Psychic: She opened her mind to him, thinking, "I know we can't be physically together, but that doesn't mean we can't be intimate."
Grey Alien: Sussuzien's membranes shook. {Now look what you've made me do. I can't replace dead humans. They're expensive.}
If there is constant code switching, then maybe separation is important, like:
Bill looked scornfully at the alien. "Don't you speak English? I thought your people trained their ambassadors."
"Of course we do," it said. [Do humans bother to do the same?]
[Naturally,] replied Bill.
Otherwise, don't parse it out. If everyone is speaking a common language, just have them speaking it. Don't put up the extra wall, but just have it be a conversation that just happens to be in Reptoid. If your book is about people speaking French, you wouldn't feel the need to specify they are speaking French unless it was germain to the plot.
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: Re: How should I write two huge evil reveals in one climax? I am only plotting my story as of right now, and I'm trying to put together a good climax. So far, A's parents were murdered by C.
Very subjective answer:
This is pretty much an opinion. If we are breaking any character loyalty to B, then it doesn't matter if he is revealed as a traitor AND betrays A again with attempted murder. If you want people to sympathize with B afterwards, two betrayals at once pretty much kills that (pun intended). B better have a good plan B (again, pun intended) if B is going to betray BOTH faction A and C at the same time. B is pretty much set up as the villain in the sequel (?) because no one likes someone who betrays everyone (unless they are wildly successful; people will forgive almost anything if a person succeeds. Does A die? Guessing not).
If you want people to care about B, then betray C, but don't actively betray A unless A is trying to STOP B from betraying/killing C.
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: Re: How to make "new apprentice" type info-dump less boring I'm writing a story wherein a teenager X gets suddenly and involuntarily enlisted in an sci-fi army. I need to explain certain technology
Show, don't tell:
These are all good answers, so this is really just my take on the same theme.
If you are writing a sci fi story, I'm often surprised how many stock details outsiders don't get. Someone in the field will understand the difference between a light year and a parsec, and has a basic understanding of what a stunner or plasma gun does. So consider your target audience. If you're trying to get a sci fi audience, they know sci fi. cross-genre stuff may be harder.
Integrate anything you do feel the need to explain. DON'T INFODUMP. As long as a fact is covered before the critical point in the story, it's good. Sci fi/fantasy is more tolerant of separate sections explaining minute details than other genres
i've seen, so if the technical stuff adds a lot to the story, split it out into a guide at the beginning or end (avoid it unless it really does add quality).
The character is frustrated at getting the comm working, so you can have someone angrily explain it to them while berating them. Or you can have the helpful person on the other end who will be a major character quietly explain to calm the panicked main character. Facets of the device that will affect the story need to be explained somewhere, but anything else can be ignored once the character has the obligatory moviesque training montage - they just know how to flip the knobs.
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: Re: What would happen if a character died of an allergy? Ok, I know this sounds really weird. I just don't know where to ask. Anyway, one of my characters sneaks into the woods and gets bitten
Don't forget the endless details outside of the legal ones:
If you've ever seen the unexpected death of a close relation, there's more to the story there. People are stunned and disoriented. Reality seems broken and it's hard to focus. Some launch themselves into the details of planning the burial and funeral; ordering flowers, arranging meals, paying organists, etc. Often this is to avoid dealing with feelings. Others wander in a fog. Families under the best of conditions are conflicted about things. Aunt X only cares if the funeral is Lutheran, while cousin Y is convinced it's their fault because they didn't go with the person.
If the body is found by strangers, then the identity of the body needs to be established. This may mean the stereotypical viewing or confirmation by some more extensive method like dental records. A person with an injury or whose body was disfigured by what killed them may be problematic (I don't know how much the swelling from anaphylactic shock goes down after death).
From a legal standpoint, the question becomes, "Is there doubt that this was an accident?" If there is any doubt, the body is held by the coroner until a ruling can be made. If questions arise then the body may be held indefinitely until it is no longer evidence. Generally, once an autopsy is done, they try to release the body to the family for burial. If a charge is brought, the body may be held longer because the defence may request a second autopsy by their own experts.
If the body needs to be transferred, this is usually taken care of by undertakers. Interstate burials can be a little more complex, but a good mortician will make a lot of problems melt away.
After the service, if the person has any assets there are endless poorly coordinated appointments even for those who arranged everything carefully. Few unexpected deaths are well orchestrated. These are frequently young people with relatively few assets, but almost no planning. Older folks often have detailed plans with burial sites, churches, music, and carefully written wills. The real awkward folks are those old enough to have jobs and kids, but not old enough to think they'll die.
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: Does registering your book CIP (Cataloging in Publication) assist in the sales of the book? I'm wondering what advantages there are in terms of book sales if I apply for CIP data (either Library
I'm wondering what advantages there are in terms of book sales if I apply for CIP data (either Library of Congress of British Library) for a non-fiction book - genre is Arts/Crafts.
Does anyone have any professional or personal experience of this?
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: Re: I want to write a male character, but I am lost I'm writing a new story. The main character is male. I know how to write from the viewpoint of a male (I am one), but I'm lost on writing
Roll some dice.
Create tables for sexuality, race, possible personality traits, etc. For example:
straight
bisexual, mostly attracted to women
bisexual, no preference
bisexual, mostly attracted to men
gay
aro/ace
Alter probabilities to taste and depending on the cultural context. You can use survey data if you want to do more research.
If you have more than 6 options, or want to tilt the probabilities, there are online dice rollers that will let you determine a random number in any range. Tables of personality traits to roll against also exist, usually in roleplaying game forums.
I'm not actually advocating making your characters completely random, but I use this approach when I'm stuck. Often I end up vehemently disagreeing with the result of the die roll. Sometimes that's a bias I need to overcome and I stick with the dice roll, other times it tells me something essential about the character and I ignore the dice roll entirely. Either way, no longer stuck.
(Note: This works for characters of any gender. Gender is the primary trait I use this technique for.)
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: Is it illegal to use a real person as a character in your story? I'm writing a story where my character meets some of the world's greatest philosophers in a dream. He meets Franz Kafka, Dostoevsky,
I'm writing a story where my character meets some of the world's greatest philosophers in a dream. He meets Franz Kafka, Dostoevsky, and Friedrich Nietzsche in dreams. Kafka only speaks in quotes from his books. Nieztscche and Dostoevsky argue with eachother for several minutes.
I'm wondering now if this is illegal, if I can get sued somehow because I use them in fictional representations.
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: I am trying to write a Shakespearean-style play, but my “ideas†are always something I remember from Hamlet? How does one come up with original ideas? Hamlet was amazing, but every time
How does one come up with original ideas? Hamlet was amazing, but every time I think of a plot point or character, it just is not nearly as good as Hamlet or is a direct copy of the play.
Is there something I could read to help me work this out? If so, what is the source?
I'm aware that Shakespeare used the book Amleth as inspiration for Hamlet; how does one find books that lend themselves well to start as a base when trying to write a play?
Thanks.
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