Questions tagged [book]
Questions to do with fiction or nonfiction tomes, print or digital, either professionally or self-published.
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How and where can I submit a finished novel?
I wrote a novel. It took me 15 years to write it.
How do I submit it to a publishing agent? How do I choose one? Will they be good? Will they take care of everything? When will I see the book in print ...
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How to come up with a good scenario of events between the characters of my book?
I can't figure out the middle of my book! I've figured out the beginning and the end, but I don't know what should happen between my characters so that everything ends well and happily? Could someone ...
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Series or standalone
I’ve been planning a book for a while and I always planned on it being a series but now I’ve been thinking that maybe I should make it a stand alone. It’s basically this big competition that had three ...
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I need ideas for what to refer to animal characters as. For humans, we have the word "people." I'm looking for a similar one for animals
The main characters in my book are all animals, and I'm writing the first scene that takes place in a large group. Recently I've come across several instances where I need to use a word similar to &...
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Spacing around (and types of) dashes in American English
I'm not a native English speaker, and the way American English texts typically use em-dashes without spaces to separate sentence parts seems very strange and even disruptive for me. For example:
&...
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self publishing - what are the steps from end of writing to publication?
I have written a book on affirmations and now am looking for the steps that will take me from here to self-published. Is it a 1. line editor, 2. development editor, layout editor, book cover design? ...
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How to help a postgraduate student to write a book?
What is the best way to help a weak student who has already completed her post-graduation but has also secured a result much worser than her expected result during the completion of graduation, to ...
user60486
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How to fill Major Gaps in a Plot
As stated in previous questions, I am still in the Skeleton Stage of planning. I have a fairly developed first few chapter as well as a few key scenes much further along in the book (not that I'm ...
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Where to split a 225,000 word story into a duology
I've written a 225,000 word manuscript for a historical novel adapted from a reliably good story, shifted by me into a more modern, popular setting that I love and know a lot about (England during the ...
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How can I write better fight scenes? [duplicate]
I have a science-fiction story I'm writing and it has a ton of fight scenes in it. However, I'm really bad at writing them. How could I improve?
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How do successful series decide to break their singular concept into multiple books?
I saw these, which were partly helpful:
How to plan for splitting a novel into a series?
What changes should be made to the story if a single book becomes a series?
I have an idea for a fantasy book ...
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How do you write a book in which the main character has amnesia?
I was thinking about writing my first book (Blood on Her Hands.) There will be a main character who has amnesia. That's a problem for the book because she can't remember her past and anyone in it (...
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When you write a book that seeks to inform people about some issue or some event, how do you structure your book?
Let's say I am writing a book about environment policy in China and how China managed to clean the air in its biggest cities drastically by going green, how would you structure a book like that? I ...
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How do I get my detective to find out that one of the characters sent a threat to someone?
I'm writing a whodunnit.
At a certain point in the story, the detective finds a letter from one of the suspects (who is the director of a play,) which is intended to intimidate one of the other ...
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Is it possible for an author to publish an online course based on their published book?
I know that a publisher usually demands exclusive publishing rights for a period of time. However, if that author creates an online course based on the book, would that typically be restricted by the ...
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Can I use something from another series in my own?
I’ve been working on my series for two and a half years now, and this is just now coming to my attention. My series has to do with vampires and other supernatural entities, and I’ve been using the ...
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Writing fantasy novel and reintroducing a character
When writing a book, when I introduce a character to the audience do I have to reintroduce them again if it's in a different character's point of view?
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170k debut fantasy story. Is it possible?
This has been a very contradictory topic for me. I've been told that publishers expect fantasy books to be that long but others would tell me that 170k is too long. So far I've been cutting things ...
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How can I recover from negative comments after releasing my book?
My first book is finally out. While it is getting mostly favorable feedback, there are a few readers who gave it very negative reviews. I understand that my book is not an apple pie, and it couldn't ...
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how do I describe magic in a fictional story? [closed]
In my writing I need to describe a character being enchanted by a spell and pulled towards a house.
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How to write a novel with a mixture of horror and crime (detective) thriller? [closed]
I just had a idea where what if A Detective and his buddy have to face supernatural creatures, cases full of mystery... Like two stories : Sherlock Holmes + Goosebumps ( orIT) smashed together into ...
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ways to express joy, or basic humor in a situation (for a story)
not exactly sure how to solve this, and haven't used the app before. Just started story writing. So ya, I don't know what else to say
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This, that, these, those [closed]
English is not my first language. I am writing a more or less formal text (nonfiction).
When I am talking about something that I introduced in a previous paragraph or sentence, is it correct to always ...
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How does republishing a chapter of a book benefit its publisher?
I want to publish a chapter or a portion of a book (which is written by someone else, and translated to my language) in my non-profit website, and I want to ask its publisher for permission. I wonder ...
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What are the copyright laws on writing books about living artists?
I was wondering if I wanted to write, illustrate, and publish children's books that is about an artist and their life (their journey as a child to an adult but in a simple whimsical childlike story), ...
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Should you publish your book online for feedback?
This is a question I've had in my mind and have been a bit curious about. Let's say I finish writing a novel but before publishing it, I want to get feedback on it. Should I publish it online ...
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Are Certain Religious Terms Capitalized?
Is the term, "the great falling away" directly from the Bible, capitalized when used in a sentence to emphasize its importance? Also, the term "last days" is in question.
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I gave my main character the same first and last name as in another book - is this fine?
I am writing a book and had nearly finished half of it and gave it to my friend to read, but she told me there is already a character in a book with the same first and last name. Would it be okay if I ...
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Learning from Books [duplicate]
When people aspire to become writers, asking people questions, often they get answers telling them this, to keep on practicing with no technique, and they are given upvotes. And even I too upvote ...
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How to convert indirect thought to film voiceover without it sounding contrived?
I am trying to convert a fiction book into a film script. The book uses third-person past tense narration that switches between several characters from chapter to chapter and thus is always from a ...
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Is there a style guide for non-fiction? [closed]
So, I'm writing a nonfiction book. But I'm confused about style, format, and citations.
Is there a specific sources section that I have to do? Such as, "References," "Sources Cited,&...
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What to do when you don't know what to write anymore? [duplicate]
About 10,000 words written in the book, I'm out of creativity to write the rest.
If I were to write the last chapters, I would write without concern, but the medium is "cloudy"
What to do?
...
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My Middle Name Is Amara And I Want To Add It To My Book [duplicate]
I'm writing a series that has to do with vampires. My middle name is Amara, and I personally find that name really, really pretty. I wanted to add it to my book as the name of the main character but I ...
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My friend says that the story of my novel sounds too similar to Harry Potter
I always wanted to write a book, and finally after so many years, I started writing one. But when I told my friend about the idea of my story... he said that it sounds too similar to Harry Potter. I ...
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Can I use the name of a character if they have totally different traits? [duplicate]
I'm writing a 7 book series and I wanted to use the name Roth in my series. However, I've seen this name used before in The Dark Elements series by Jennifer Armentrout.
If my Roth is a totally ...
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How to I get motivated to start writing my book?
How do I stay focused and start with my outline and manuscript? I have a plot in my mind since 5 years and haven't even started my first word on it yet!
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If I can't smoothly fit something into my writing, can I use parenthesis instead?
Ok, so I'm writing a book set around 10 years in the future. Obviously, them being in the future, there are more high-tech gadgets that we don't have here. Normal things that they use in their every ...
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Would a second publisher ever want a book that didn't do well with the first publisher?
I have a nonfiction book out which isn't selling well at all. :( And yet, it's gotten rave reviews
from every industry professional who's read it. I'm looking ahead to when it's discontinued and the
...
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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 the best writers, in a single day I once read a 700 page book. I read ...
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Using real names in fiction
I'm thinking of writing a fiction novel. The plot I've outlined so far centers largely around one possible path the future of our world could take over the next several decades. In doing so, the story ...
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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, and also liked a lot of the plot points. I want to continue it.
However, ...
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Should I end my book on a major cliffhanger?
I am writing a YA fantasy series, and I'm wondering if the first book should end in a major cliffhanger. Right as the book ends, the main characters get trapped by the enemy. I'm wondering if this is ...
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In a book manuscript, what are the spacing guidelines?
What is the spacing distance between the chapter title and the first paragraph?
If I am using double spacing between sentences, is it the same for between a title and a paragraph?
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How exactly does a book go from typewritten pages into an actual mass-produced unit ready for the consumer, and do authors have any control?
I want to be clear that I'm asking about this both for the present time, where nearly everyone does everything digitally, and for "back in the day", such as the 1970s or 1950s or 1920s or ...
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Is there a way I can print a book only for myself?
As selfish as this sounds, I’m really interested in having my own book printed for myself as the title entails. I don’t intend to sell it or distribute it or anything of that sort, but just something ...
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Problem with size image?
I planning to publish a children book "As a book & ebook" with images. I choose Landscape 9x7 for it. Now, I got some bad news that this will not fit ebook style. My image size is 2700*...
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Should I save some plot for the sequel of my novel or make the first book (too) long but complete?
I wrote a sci-fi novel. It's around 120k words long with a neat 'ending' that wraps up the main plot. The story is not complete: Although the main goal has been accomplished, a lot of smaller issues ...
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How do I write religious conflict?
In this book I'm making, there is a religious conflict that happens. Here's the base of my plot so far:
Adrian lives in the dragon tribe Sa'fwan. Foreigners came to his land, coming across his tribe ...
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My characters parents are dead, what now? [closed]
In my book, my main character has unfortunately lost her parents. But before the plot, I have nothing. I don't want to do an orphanage, foster homes, or give her a family at all. The idea of her ...
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How do I properly write in facts without harming anyone?
I'm currently writing, or starting to write, a book that discusses misandry and the such. I'm going to try to use as much evidence as I can without it seeming harmful.
For example, I want to add in a ...
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