Writing Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for the craft of professional writing, including fiction, non-fiction, technical, scholarly, and commercial writing. It only takes a minute to sign up.

Sign up to join this community
Anybody can ask a question
Anybody can answer
The best answers are voted up and rise to the top

Top Questions

9 votes
2 answers
2k views

Issues to avoid when writing military sci-fi?

17 votes
13 answers
10k views

For a fantasy world, what word can I use instead of "human" in order to include elves, dwarves, etc.?

1 vote
3 answers
59 views

How do you work with a story with an ending that's obvious from the very start?

1 vote
2 answers
41 views

I want to write a short story without naming the places the characters visit

-1 votes
1 answer
33 views

How do you solve the issue of emotional detachment when using unreliable narration?

1 vote
1 answer
41 views

Is it possible to make characters who are neurotic, who have low agreableness, low conscientiousness, low extraversion likeable?

3 votes
1 answer
53 views

I'm afraid of being accused that I copied, even when I'm the one writing earlier

3 votes
3 answers
62 views

Why is it bad to use a side character merely as a plot device?

4 votes
1 answer
166 views

Handling alternate spellings of a personal name

7 votes
3 answers
480 views

How to make a cat's perspective exciting?

2 votes
1 answer
70 views

How do you write a submission for a previously published book (taken off the market by the author) and introducing a 2nd book in the original series

-1 votes
0 answers
32 views

Help me justify the plot twist of my detective novel

1 vote
0 answers
52 views

Can ibid. follow op. cit. instead of loc. cit. to convey "exactly as in the op. cit. above"?

2 votes
1 answer
54 views

Is it a form of "tell and not show" when characters talk to themselves?

0 votes
1 answer
32 views

Does it make sense to kill a character in the middle of a character arc, or in order to not finish the character arc?

15 votes
11 answers
9k views

When your main character is a misogynist or a racist, how do you tell your readers that you don't subscribe to his racist views by merely showing?

1 vote
4 answers
89 views

Are indoctrinated characters villains or victims?

7 votes
9 answers
4k views

How do you prevent yourself from neglecting scientific accuracy in a sci-fi-fantasy story without telling?

4 votes
1 answer
70 views

Is it good practice to submit an update on my work while publisher is reviewing it for consideration?

0 votes
3 answers
70 views

Is it a copyright infringement if I tell the meaning of a name in a book?

0 votes
1 answer
37 views

Forming Conceptual Chiasms Without First Creating an Outline

0 votes
2 answers
62 views

Can you shift tone without alienating your readers? How?

8 votes
10 answers
4k views

How do you use unreliable narration when using an omniscient narrator?

1 vote
2 answers
78 views

How do you properly plan for a very long story?

1 vote
1 answer
48 views

What are the things you need to consider when portraying a complex web of alliances and betrayals?

2 votes
3 answers
111 views

How to write from the perspective of a neurodivergent character?

1 vote
1 answer
86 views

Types of stories across cultures?

5 votes
3 answers
3k views

How should tv broadcast dialogue be formatted in a story?

12 votes
6 answers
5k views

How to handle translation of a language in a comic, while preserving a sense that the language is significant?

1 vote
2 answers
127 views

When to add sound effects in comics?

1 vote
1 answer
72 views

How do I list a married couple when one of them is deceased?

0 votes
0 answers
26 views

How do you change from omniscient narration to unreliable narration and vice versa in a comic book without speech balloons?

7 votes
2 answers
3k views

Can you legally write a book based on technical concepts that someone else’s coined?

36 votes
10 answers
13k views

How to write female characters with agency?

1 vote
1 answer
55 views

Portraying recovery from trauma in the right way

27 votes
8 answers
8k views

Is an easily guessed plot twist a good plot twist?

1 vote
3 answers
59 views

Is it possible to create unique voices in your story if all your characters use simple words and sentences in their dialogues?

10 votes
4 answers
2k views

When should you reveal the motivations of a villain?

4 votes
4 answers
5k views

What makes a personified force of nature?

0 votes
2 answers
85 views

How do you inject new life into symbols that have become too cliched or lack originality?

1 vote
1 answer
1k views

How to make my roleplay responses more lengthy/detailed?

1 vote
0 answers
34 views

How do successful series decide to break their singular concept into multiple books?

0 votes
1 answer
35 views

What do you call a scene where you hear a phrase in a character's mind resonate in his mind just after he heard it and how do you do it in a comic?

0 votes
1 answer
61 views

How do I write a story about forbidden love? [closed]

1 vote
2 answers
73 views

How do you transcribe a quote with errors?

1 vote
1 answer
82 views

Corve/Corven/Carven = Carved?

0 votes
1 answer
35 views

How do you cite a Stack Overflow answer?

12 votes
4 answers
936 views

How can I strike a balance between setting and plot?


Looking for more? Browse the complete list of questions, or popular tags. Help us answer unanswered questions.