@Shelton455
Last seen: Mon 17 May, 2021
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: Re: Stuck with writer's block I'm writing a short story in which my protagonist is a little boy. An unexpected event happens and makes his life upside down which is blindness. This latter causes
I will try to answer the two aspects of your question.
Particular situation in your plot is probably to benefit from doing some research on what depression is, and how people get out of it. Maybe you can find online or better find a person in your surrounding who had similar or even same issue.
Generally, people get out of depression by accepting their current state and not struggling by wishing it was different or having sorrow for what they have lost. That is a deep transformation which needs to happen within a person to start looking on things from different perspective.
On the writer's block: I guess research, putting things off a bit to cool off, trusting your character and letting it tell you instead of you finding a solution for it, letting things be the way they want instead of finding the "right" thing. Once you free your mind from the concept of doing it "right", you can do it however it works for you as long as it is real in the context provided, and you are the owner of the whole context and the plot within.
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: Should I be concerned about covering the same stuff in multiple self-help books? I currently don't work with a writing mentor, and was wondering if I should worry about covering the same things
I currently don't work with a writing mentor, and was wondering if I should worry about covering the same things in multiple books on the same subject for self help. I'm basically going through the Catechism writing on a subject.
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: Re: Did I set up my book series titles and ISBNs wrong? I currently have 4 books all under one series that are self published. The way I have been setting up the titles through Ingramspark and
You first would want to name the series (example below), then following along that as a base line make the tiles of the book relate to the series' name.
Series name: Tales of the Twisted
Book names: Valley of balloons, The Darkest Corner, and The Wandering
(These titles are all copyrighted)
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: Re: How do characters push the ones they love away in a believable manner over the course of a novel? (not sure if this question belongs here, let me know if there's a better stack exchange category
When writing a romance novel, A way you might think of a character who is developing feelings for another, one might think of it in a way that it is your first crush, This may sound odd, but it is a way of thinking in denial. Also one might think this is just a phase, if you need more help let me know!
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: Re: As a young author, how do you make people listen? I am an extremely young author. I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging, but I think I am very good. They say the best readers are
I've written a couple of books that have been published (although they were in a specific and rather technical field -- not novels). I wrote the first one when I was 18, and my coauthor for it was 15. The chances of a good book being written by a young author are smaller, but it definitely can happen.
I'd recommend trying to demonstrate expertise to potential publishers. Contact them by email (instead of over the phone) and send an excerpt of your book. If you happen to have any writing qualifications, such as awards or published articles, mention those too. You could also try getting something small published first (like in a newspaper or magazine) in order to build up your credentials. In addition, no need to mention your age. Do you want their first impression of you to be that you're young, or that you write very well (assuming you do)?
For my first book, when we contacted our published we didn't mention our age. We mentioned some credentials we had for the specific field we'd be writing about, and asked if they'd like to do a book with us. They replied asking for some sample work, and after we sent it they were happy and started the project. A little later we told them how old we were as it was necessary (they might have already known by looking us up though), but by this point it wasn't an issue.
Another option is self-publishing your book (I don't have experience with this though) -- your parents might be able to help, and I think there are services that can print your book in physical form. This kind of goes back to the tip about getting published a bit before trying to go to the next step with a novel accepted by a big publisher.
Finally, you might be a very good writer, but many people who think they're good aren't viewed this way by everyone else (i.e., people who might buy your book). So it's important to get feedback from other people. I don't want to say this due to you being young -- e.g., for myself, multiple people online have been skeptical of my books' quality just due to my age. However, by this point I know that I actually am a decent author, since my publisher has been extremely happy with my writing and the books are received quite well by people who bought and read them. But without this feedback, how would I know if it was just me assuming my books were good due to a subjective perspective?
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: Re: How to get a character that knows he's the main character to follow the authors agenda? I'm writing a story where at some point the main character is going to realize he is the main character
The problem is more existential than motivational. I mean, the main character already is motivated to do what he is doing (save the girl, make money, get famous, ...). That won't change by his realization - so why should he stop trying to do what he is trying to do? Maybe to the narrator, the girl is just letters on a page, but to the hero, she is still his true love.
What would ensue is an episode of existential crisis. The hero might get drunk at the nearest tavern and wonder what the point in anything is. After that he could pull himself together and realize that he has always been relatively happy with his life and is looking forward to marrying Gwendoline, so he might as well continue.
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: Re: Submitting a novel for publication: do editors still expect Courier font? About ten years ago an agent told me not to submit manuscripts in fonts other than Courier (or Courier New) and to
Courier Prime comes with a nice-looking italics character set. Italics are also monospace and look a lot like the old cursive typeface came with many typewriters back in the day. Thus, unlike most other versions of Courier, the italics are not just a slanted version of the regular font. It was written specifically for screenwriters and is available here, among other places. quoteunquoteapps.com/courierprime/
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: Re: How do I write "fantasy counterpart cultures" without being accused of cultural appropriation? In my book series, the various planets of the galaxy are inhabited by different cultures, most of
I really liked what a user called Antiteilchen said in this tvtropes discussion:
Don't mystify or vilify them and make the people diverse and not all the same. Don't define them solely by what makes them different from the main culture but define them on their own. That advice applies to every culture or group actually.
I would add "which main culture?".
Being anti-stereotypical like that is probably at the core of being anti-racist: Stereotypes are necessary for racism. Without stereotypes racism simply implodes: There's nothing left to be against.
That's also true for the lesser sin of "appropriation": Putting people in the center, not cultures, already goes a long way in preventing stereotyping. Once we acknowledge that it is always about the interaction of specific persons with the specific parts and implementations of the culture they are embedded in (which is never monolithic or "pure"!) we have a perspective and approach which will hopefully be the opposite of "appropriation". It will also require more research and original thinking, and perhaps outside expertise.
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: Re: Is it true that the need for marketing/promoting one's books is a "myth"? For indie fiction authors, is it true that if one simply writes and publishes regularly, one will begin to see sales
No, marketing is not unnecessary. However frequent publishing can have a huge positive effect and for a writer it pays off to invest energy primarily in writing.
Before I start, I want to mention that the blog article, you have linked, is quite old. Things have changed a bit - think of influencer marketing.
Another problem, I have with the article, is that a few examples of successful people shall prove the theory of writing a lot will lead to success. No, a few examples is not nearly enough to justify such a claim. Maybe they were just lucky, or some other factor played a role.
Several failed attempts to market a book won't prove that marketing doesn't work. There is a lot you can do wrong, especially if you as a writer do all work by yourself, meaning the writing, publishing, accounting, marketing. It takes a lot of time to develop the skills for every job. Hence, I argue, the reason why marketing seems futile is simply that people do it wrongly. In the end a writer is primarily a writer and not a marketing expert. Also in the examples discussed in the blog article, it is actually proven that marketing works. One author changed the price of e-books to attract more readers and subsequently sales increased. The price is a critical aspect of marketing.
When you write frequently you practise a lot and will improve - a process that can be boosted by detailed feedback from readers. I have made this experience with publishing short stories on forums, the more I wrote, the better I got. I hear this all the time from all kinds of artists, be it musicians, photographers, movie makers, and of course writers. The more you practise, the better you usually get, and better works have a greater potential to be well received by the audience.
It is plausible that a person who choses to write with the aim to earn an income has also a certain passion about writing. Investing time for something you have passion for pays well. This needs naturally to the observation, that publishing frequently and thereby improving on quality, can increase sales. On the other hand, if you see marketing as a burden, you won't get a good return of investment here.
This means the writer should write and let somebody else do the marketing which is still needed. Today there are so many books or other media content out there - with no marketing it will be a game of luck for people to discover your work. And of course for some authors neglecting the marketing strategy works, that's almost a statistical certainty. And those lucky few sell their grand success story and advise everybody to follow their example, completely forgetting that this strategy will fail for most people.
The problem is finding a good marketing expert to hire. Publishers think often too old-school and aren't a great help either. However, if you find a publisher that suggests to send your book to YouTubers or podcast makers, so they might review it, you could give it a try as they embrace modern media. In the end, it's a bit of a dilemma, when you don't have the skill to do it yourself nor have the money to hire somebody. I don't have a good recipe for success either, and I think there is no universal one. In the end, not everybody can get to the very top.
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: Re: Should I merge my series into a single volume? I have written the initial drafts for the first two novels in my series. Originally, I split the story into two parts because the entire manuscript
That is mainly a question for your publisher. They have better insights what is the best way to sell in what market. In some countries they might prefer a single volume, while they go for a two volume print elsewhere.
But if you target young adults you should focus on e-book publishing. There are hardly any good reasons to split it then. As a reader I see no benefits at all. You might achieve slightly higher sales because people easily buy two cheaper items instead of one item that is more expensive.
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: Re: Does first-person have to be "recounted" after the fact? I'm writing a horror short-story, and at the end the main character dies and his partner is whisked away forever. I had intended to
I don't know if this fits your story, but you could send your main character's soul to some form of afterlife place. Assuming there is some way the souls can watch earth, he could observe what happened after his death. He could be telling the story to some fellow soul whom he met in afterlife.
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: Re: Is it plagiarism to use Google Translate? This may be a very very stupid question but I need to ask it. I have written my dissertation in my mother tongue first, then began to translate it
I think plagiarism is not the real issue here. It's ultimately about the second part of your question -- what it means for the quality of the end result.
I don't know about dissertations but I was recently talking to someone who knows multiple languages and asked him about whether tools like Google Translate can ever really substitute for human translation. Perhaps not surprisingly, his answer was no, in part because of the many nuances and complexity of languages. If you're going to be submitting a dissertation, you want to have something that looks and reads as professionally as possible.
More details on the technical nature of this debate are in this article.
Depending on how often you're going to be referencing material in another language, I'd even think about learning it, or at least the basics. There proliferation of ESL classes and
French classes has prompted a lot of other organizations to provide classes where you can become fluent relatively quickly.
Good luck with your dissertation!
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: Should I call my book a memoir if it also has some autobiographical elements? I asked a similar question on here and am updating a manuscript I initially wrote for a friend six years ago.
I asked a similar question on here and am updating a manuscript I initially wrote for a friend six years ago.
I learnt that an autobiography is more like a journal which details accounts in chronological order made up of facts and little intimacy with the writer's own memory, which is what a memoir is. A memoir also focuses on a specific set of memories and may include references to other sources of historical information.
I am calling my book, Finding My Voice, a Memoir, though I don't know if this is accurate, because it combines both elements of an autobiography and a memoir.
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: Re: How do I write romance if I've never been in love? I've been trying to write a good romance but it's falling a little flat. I think it might be because I've never been in love before. My
You ask an interesting question. However, you should consider the validity of the premise. Apply the same logic to other scenarios.
How can I write a fight scene if I've never had a fight?
How can a write a male character's POV if I've never been a man?
How can a write a space opera if I've never been up in space?
If we get into the mechanics and technical aspects of story-telling, your lack of confidence means you cannot write romance from a first-person POV. Third-person shouldn't be a problem because I'm sure you have observed people in love. In accordance with mantra 'show don't tell' all you are required to do is show the actions of people who you believe are in love. Not describing their feelings will probably make for a better piece of writing.
The truth is 'love' is not a 'standard' feeling. It is personal to the individual. You can't get the behaviour wrong. On the one hand you can go with Shakespeare's well used trope. "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
You should also consider that the answers aren't necessarily in a book or real life. Millions have committed their feeling to song. Joe: "I'm in love. Round and round I go, out of control - I'm in love."
Betty Hutton and Bjork couldn't control themselves.
Whitney Houston got all desperate:
Meatloaf had his say:
The Proclaimers went big:
Over the centuries so many artists have written about their particular version of love - you don't actually need to redefine it.
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: Re: Usage of archaic words I am a non-native speaker trying to write in English. Due to my reading of chiefly dated English literature, my vocabulary consists of many terms that are regarded as
I think this is where the teaching of literature becomes confusing and many have been set on the wrong path. Generally speaking, articles, essays, newspapers require very neutral distinct style. If you read a newspaper article or a work of non fiction you'll simply get the information.
Novels are totally different, on reading a novel you'll hear the narrative voice. A distinct narrative voice is essential. Personally, I couldn't read a 300 page newspaper article. The lack of voice is why so many journalists fail when attempting to write a novel.
Read John Grisham and you'll notice that he 'sounds' like himself. You 'hear' the Mississippi in his 'voice'.
Even a third-person narrator has an active component. 'Who is telling the story?" An archaic narrative would appear sympathetic if used in Historical Fiction. But with correct framing the style can be applied to most genre. The opening will set the tone. Maybe the story through the eyes if Grandpa.
e.g. "Millennials lack decorum and sensibility, particularly the girls. That turgid abomination: Hippety-Hop music is the root cause of their wanton promiscuity. They would be better to a more demure disposition, and they should wear frocks of a decent length."
Or maybe just watch this?
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: Re: Is it better to go verb-then-name or name-then-verb when writing sentences with quotes? Which of these is correct? The first? The second? Both? verb then name: "She's late again," said Jason.
The answer to your question is that both formats are in popular use. Neither is correct or incorrect. It is simply a matter of style.
The author will consider meter, tempo, flow and consistency when applying their chosen / preferred method.
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: Re: Can I start a sentence with while? Can I say: While for theorist A, this is perceived differently. Ultimately, I'm asking if I can start my sentence with 'while' in this fashion. Thanks!
I don't see why not. Personally I'd go with 'whilst'. You are using the term as a conjunction so we probably need to see the preceding sentence.
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: Re: What is the literary device/technique called where something familiar is presented so it seems foreign? The device or technique I'm looking for is used to describe something mundane or ordinary
I don't think it has a name. It's simply a minority or objective POV. It's a skill often used by comedians.
You get yourself into hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt to get a good college education so you can get a good job. In that job you work every hour God sends to buy a home make it beautiful. The moment you are given some respite from the grindstone to spend with your family, you abandon your million dollar home and everything you've sacrificed and slaved for to go live in the woods under a sheet.
Why do white people go camping?
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: Re: Are using the adverbs gradually and greedily to describe the same verb contradicting? For example, the man eats greedily, gradually, with no hesitation
The sentence is an awful use of the English language. However, one adverb does not contradict the other. One verb refers to speed whilst the other refers to volume (excess).
"Gradually, the politicians greedily increased their pay and benefits."
That's not great either.
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: Are using the adverbs gradually and greedily to describe the same verb contradicting? For example, the man eats greedily, gradually, with no hesitation
For example, the man eats greedily, gradually, with no hesitation
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: How can a writer point out the merits of his or her own work? It is generally taken that if I tell you a joke, then have it explain why it's funny - it's not probably not funny. I continually
It is generally taken that if I tell you a joke, then have it explain why it's funny - it's not probably not funny.
I continually return to one of my own short pieces. If I submit it I believe it will be viewed as a 'nice' , 'pretty' piece of literary fiction. But I also believe it is extremely clever. But if I have to explain it . . . maybe not so much?
I've had to edit this because I sent you guys way off base. I'm only talking about flash fiction. It's rooted into the culture of story-telling (verbal vs written). A deal of comedy is rooted in misunderstandings, particularly the audio aspect of dialogue. Ergo, it doesn't matter how it's spelt the recipient hears the same word.
e.g. A woman goes for a job interview.
"Wait," says the receptionist, busy filling a form.
"You can't ask me that!" objects the woman. "Okay . . . so I put on a few pounds over Christmas but . . ."
Expanding this theme, I wrote a short piece in which the true meaning only becomes apparent when it is read aloud.
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: Re: Is Duotrope worth using? I am a new writer trying to simplify the publishing process. It seems to overwhelming. What are your experiences of Duotrope? Is it worthwhile?
Yes.
I have used Duotrope extensively for about 4 or 5 years. Most of my publications (poetry) have come through journals and small press publishers that I found using Duotrope.
While you can do some searching (I think) without paying, one of the things that membership gets you is a look at the statistics for the market. If I see a site that doesn't respond 40% of the time, I'm not going to waste my energy with them.
You also have interviews with editors for some of the publications.
Personally, I put together searches based on my needs, save the searches, favorite journals that I intend to send to, etc. It also allows me to track where my submissions have gone, how long before I should expect a response, etc. For a month (I think less if you pay by the year), I find it worth it.
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: You must make the rules of your world clear As your antagonist is disguising his identity through the use of these magic masks the first step should be showing the reader that such magic
You must make the rules of your world clear
As your antagonist is disguising his identity through the use of these magic masks the first step should be showing the reader that such magic is possible. Once a reader knows that it is possible for such masterful illusions to be created they will try to link less obvious clues, such as speech patterns (if a character has a lisp or habitually uses certain phrases), movement patterns (if a character has a limp or surprising strength) and thought patterns (if a character has a specific goal).
For example in your question you give a couple examples of the masks Loki will wear, those masks seem to have a shared disdain for humans, from trying to break a person's sanity or convincing followers to kidnap, if all Loki's masks have a similar underlying disdain for humans a careful reader may start to link these characters together and begin to suspect an illusion.
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: Re: Does my protagonist need to be the most important character? In my fantasy story that I'm slowly getting into, my MC Sirena is an apprentice witch. Her two fellow apprentices, Aster and Keeva,
Indiana Jones was the obvious protagonist and main character in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
But as to being "the most important character", if that quality is measured by contribution to the plot, it definitely wasn't Jones.
The Indiana Jones character could have been trimmed back to a few scenes at the beginning (an expert providing background information), or even completely dropped from the story, and just about everything that happened would still have happened.
Jones was an observer, not a participant. He provided a point of view for the telling of the story, his presence tied the various parts together, but, in terms of actual plot, he contributed almost nothing and almost certainly didn't "save the day".
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: How can I make it so that my story isn't resolved so easily? I'm writing a screenplay for a project in my film studies class and I'm close to resolving the conflict, but as I near the end,
I'm writing a screenplay for a project in my film studies class and I'm close to resolving the conflict, but as I near the end, it feels like it's being resolved far too easily. In summary, the storyline is based on a rule we have at our school (we are required to put our phones in a caddy during class); The protagonists all have something bad happen to them because they are without their phones, and they call a lawyer to convince the principal to allow students to keep their phones. In an easy ending to this, the principal just simply agrees to give the phones back, but I want it to be a little more complicated, like the lawyer has to trick the principal or something in order to complete the objective. Does anyone have any ideas to help me out?
Here is the full script so far: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DICOlJ55SxyjhRwmolKpBPG7FwfQuLO5hL6Pb6qBHT4/edit?usp=sharing
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: Is it okay to switch between third-person and first-person perspective? I realised as I was writing my story, I changed my pronoun. In the beginning of my story, I used 'I' but as i continued
I realised as I was writing my story, I changed my pronoun. In the beginning of my story, I used 'I' but as i continued I started using 'him', 'his'. I was thinking of continuing the story until the point where i would reach the present and use 'I'. Is this okay? Any advice?
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: Re: Getting My Rights Back Back in the late 90's I wrote a picture book which eventually was published in 2002 by a big name publishing house. The book was critically acclaimed, won an award,
In some cases you can terminate the transfer of copyright and get your rights back. For works published after 1978, the termination start date would commence 35 years after publication, and you can initiate this process in the decade before this 35 year mark. rightsback.org/
Some contracts are written to have different termination procedures, so ultimately it depends on your initial agreement.
One more thing. You can always buy back your rights -- although it may be costly.
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: Re: A torrent of foreign terms I am writing a short story, about a particular field with multiple specific terms, none of which are in English. (Specifically, I'm writing about bullfighting, but
A lot of us read the Harry Potter books and yet, had only minor stumbles with JK Rowlings' wizarding language. My advice, read a few of her pieces and see how she handled the made up words. NO ONE knew what a muggle was until she wrote it. She even used Hermoine's voice to help readers with pronunciation. If you are writing a novel you have plenty of wiggle room to introduce the bull-fighting vocabulary. Similar to how Rowling introduced the readers to vocabulary through someone never exposed to magic (Harry), I would use the MC to recall his learning of the equipment and tools that are specific to your book. And as much as Brad Thor and Vince Flynn use military jargon in their books, though clunky at times, it helps when the MC is either explaining, recalling, or the main context reveals the use or definition.
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: Re: How do I sound like Thanos when I write? This is really a dumb question but as a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I have watched Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame so many
Eliminate everything irrelevant to your message.
Rough example:
Thanos's statements are like philosophical quotes. His lines seem so powerful in conveying a message, yet they are not even very sophisticated.
"Going to bed hungry? Scrounging for scraps? Your planet was on the brink of collapse"
"Your politics bore me! Your demeanor is that of a pouty child"
Thanos's writer didn't forcibly slap large complicated words into his lines; the lines are carefully crafted and straight to the point.
I am taking an advanced English/writing class where we write a lot of essays. I wish to convey the same powerful messages like Thanos does. Is there a specific style writing that Thanos's screenwriter was using?
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: What exactly makes a story interesting? (philosophical) So I am trying to write a story for a game. I am more of a systems guy so this is uncharted territory. I try not to follow examples
So I am trying to write a story for a game.
I am more of a systems guy so this is uncharted territory.
I try not to follow examples ("make terrible things happen to the characters") but rather the philosophical aspects as that opens up a lot of possibilities in how a game can be made fun.
What makes us as humans interested in reading about the suffering of the characters in the story? Not necessarily suffering but always facing problems or some kind of conflict. (It reminds me of people watching gladiators or boxers)
What keeps you reading? I mean, why do you care of what happens next, if you really just wanted to know only that you could let yourself get spoilered. So there is more then that.
Do you enjoy happy endings? Why exactly or why not? (unfortunate endings might appeal to some because of the realism, but that of course gives the question: What do you read storys for? To learn from them or for the enjoyment?)
I can't really answer these questions myself, because I don't read stories all that much. I think that this is the best forum to ask these questions, because I assume you had to answer some o these questions for yourself before.
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