Questions tagged [non-fiction]
Non-fiction is a form of prose writing that factually describes real events and people, sometimes offering additional commentary. This tag should be used for any questions relating to non-fiction, including non-fiction formatting and technique, non-fiction critiques, and the publishing of non-fiction.
266 questions
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I own an unpublished, bound manuscript (non-fiction/historical). Author is pseudonym, no citations. Can I cite/edit and assume some rights?
I have recently acquired a bound, typed, hand-finished (maps, ancient symbols) manuscript. The author has elected to use a pseudonym and I have exhausted hours of effort trying to find evidence to the ...
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Do I have legal grounds against a book by an ex which depicts private details of my life, including some false events, without permission?
I recently found out an ex from 6 years ago recently published a book detailing all their past relationships leading up to their present wife. My friend read it and instantly knew when they were ...
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My chapter is 20000 words, am I allowed to put an epigraph for each subsection? How would I format it
Each sub-section of my chapter has its own topic, I thought it would benefit from having its own epigraphs, should I instead put many epigraphs at the start of my chapter?
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Is the word count of my non-fiction book too large?
I have written a non-fiction book. The title is A Meaningful Life. It discusses the current trend of substance use, the insatiable appetite for drugs, the current death rate from overdoses, and the ...
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Possible negative connotations of "Messy Kitchen" for a blog and social media project name
As a non-native speaker of English, I'm not sure if naming my upcoming blog and social channels "Messy Kitchen" would be a terrible idea.
To me it sounds fun, kind of hands-on, an ode to ...
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Any tips on how to gain a following online in order to publish books?
I am new to the popular writing, publishing world. My background is a teacher and a writer in the academic sense. That no longer is my main interest. Evidently, I need to gain a following. My subjects ...
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Independently publishing a non-fiction, self-help book and would like to include anonymous case studies
I will interview and receive verbal acknowledgement of the recording. All of the people who are interviewed will be anonymous. Do I need them to sign any type of consent? I will send them a copy of ...
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Is sacrificing "clarity" for sounding smarter on a college continued interest letter a good idea?
I put "clarity" in quotes because I know it is not the right word but I cannot think of what the correct word should be.
I am writing a continued interest letter for my top college. I have ...
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First name or last name(s) in a biography?
I'm deep into a biography of a well-known person. He was born with a last name, took his mother's last name following her divorce, took his stepfather's last name following her remarriage, then took ...
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How do I quote a line from a comic book?
I am writing a book report and part of it says 'Copy a line or short part from your book you found interesting AND explain why you chose it. Use quotation marks around the part you chose.' My problem ...
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Abreviating "Emphasis mine" within author citations
I am using author citations along with a List of Abbreviations in order to cite the same works by the same author repeatedly throughout a book-length text. Often I add italics to point out specific ...
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Writing from the First Person Singular vs. Plural
I encounter non-fiction books written by a single author who uses the first person plural to disclose findings:
"we found that this and that happened"
or
"we already discussed such and ...
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Using indefinite article in repetitive chapter names
I'm writing a technical book (for programmers) on functional programming in TypeScript
In my book I go over a relatively big list of all sorts of data types, where each chapter is dedicated to its own ...
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Rights Clearance for Self-Publishers
Asking a lawyer to vet a book would be very expensive. Someone told me a better option is to hire a firm that specializes in reviewing books for intellectual problems, publicity rights, defamation, ...
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How to Concisely Explain What Desmos is
I am writing my personal statement for my college applications centered around Desmos, the online graphing calculator. However, when I was getting feedback on my first draft, it seemed to me that my ...
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Historical vs. present self-classifications when writing about LGBTQ+ history
I'm writing a short summary of LGBTQ+ history focusing on the lead up to the Stonewall Uprising, the event itself, and the first Pride march. I understand how to respectfully discuss LGBTQ+ people ...
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Is there a standard style for writing chapter notes in a non-fiction book manuscript?
I am trying to find a standard style for writing chapter notes in a non-academic non-fiction book as per the image below. Is there an online resource where I can find an appropriate style guide for ...
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What determines the value or worthiness of an autobiography?
To make an otherwise long winded story short, I have an uncommon tale of survivorship.
Context: From child runaway, to kidnapping victim, to an escape ten years, ten months, and 23 days later.
For the ...
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How can I organize a book where the primary audience is sometimes one group, sometimes another and other times both?
I am writing a non-fiction book, where [for instance] I am talking about the Teacher-Student relationship - and many aspects.
Sometimes the writing is addressing the Teacher and sometimes the Student ...
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Writing About A Personal Experience, Without Any
I don't want to get into the details of everything for the sake of time. An upcoming personal essay requires me to talk about how I feel about nature and how I feel as if it has defined me. This would ...
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Is it good practice to submit an update on my work while publisher is reviewing it for consideration?
I sent a publisher my manuscript for a secondary textbook five months ago. They've sent me occasional updates saying they're still reviewing it. The last update I received was two months ago.
At the ...
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Would the plot for my short story, "Bread earner in the family," be suitable for a play?
I have a plot ready for the title "Bread earner in the family".
Genre: Family emotional drama.
It's a short story based on facts a non-fiction genre.
Summary:
How the bread earner in the ...
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Dealing with archaic spellings in a direct quote
I just wanted to make sure I am approaching this correctly: I am working on a nonfiction historical biography about a missionary. When quoting sources which use archaic spellings of places/words, do I ...
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What do I call an introductory section written by myself (not the author)
I am putting together an electronic version of a book written by my grandfather about his service in the middle east in WW1. The other grandchildren and I have transcribed the text from scanned ...
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What does working after under contract look like?
I worked on a manuscript for many years. During that time, I was independent, so I could make changes and decisions, without documenting or informing or getting permission.
I may soon be working to ...
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Tips on how to describe my character using his power
My secondary main character has the power ashes to ashes where he can make his enemy basically start to turn to ash and fade away (think Sandman when he fades away)
I write in 3rd person
Every ...
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How to properly write a good history article?
I would like to paint a picture of how finance evolved from ancient history (or even prehistory) to today, in as short of a way as possible (a 15 minute read). How can I do that? What techniques are ...
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Does Simple Writing Lead to Passive Reading? [closed]
a quick question here about non-fiction writing styles:
It is said that the German philosopher Immanuel Kant intentionally wrote in a difficult and opaque style so as to force his readers to pay ...
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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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Montage story/essay structure ideas?
I’m trying to come up with unconventional essay structures that are like a montage.
For example, explaining your role in a band by sharing important dates in the band's history as in a single ...
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How much of my book should I finish before sending manuscript to publisher?
I am writing a secondary school textbook.
The book fills a niche subject area, and I'm replacing a book that went out-of-print and is wildly out-of-date.
My question is, how much of the textbook ...
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Citing the Same Source Multiple Times in a Book
I am currently writing a non-fiction book which I intend to self publish. Regarding the citations and references, I intend to list them at the end of the book as endnotes and have decided to organise ...
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Best way to explain references to historic currency
What is the best way to explain the pre-decimal British Pound in a text that has multiple references to it.
I already have something written to explain how to convert from pre-decimal to post-decimal ...
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A Medium publication contacted me at my Medium blog and asked for one of my published articles for free. Might they pay if I negotiated for that?
A nonprofit magazine called NFT (Nerd For Tech) with a Medium account (https://editorialteamnft.medium.com/) and its own website (https://www.nerdfortech.org/) contacted me out of the blue at my ...
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Can you use the landscape and personification to imply what a person is thinking?
Can you use the landscape and personification to imply what a person is thinking?
Example:
The forest thought that these branches could be good for hanging myself (suicide).
Is this a valid figure ...
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How to determine essay scope
I'm trying to write an essay but find myself tempted to spin off in too many directions. Once I do, it's difficult to weave all of the threads back together.
Any tips/resources for selecting the ...
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Mapping relationships between topics in a non-fiction series
I am working on a series of episodes that will be made into individual videos to explain different technologies and how they interrelate at different levels within a specific application domain (the ...
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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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Can I grant non-exclusive rights on a non-fiction book?
I've written a short historical account on a local 17th Century shipwreck which I have been serialising on a Facebook group.
Given the very positive response I would like to publish as a small book ...
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Is it acceptable to use hyphens to create a literary effect?
I am writing a personal statement for my college application, and I wanted to use particular words in the beginning of each paragraph that resonate with the main content of the paragraph.
Excerpt:
...
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How to effectively demonstrate the incorrectness of a factual-yet-biased work?
Yesterday SpaceX successfully tested their Starship prototype. The Sun ran a fine article with factually-correct headline:
SpaceX Starship explosion: $216million Mars rocket EXPLODES as it misses ...
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When is it appropriate to include citations in a guidebook?
I'm working on a series of self-published guidebooks aimed at teaching tech skills for people who aren't tech literate. My only prior experiences writing nonfiction have been research papers for ...
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Illegal activities in autobiography [closed]
So I want to write a self-help book on how I became Rich from being poor I want to write about my struggles from when I was poor which is including stealing for groceries and other things that I ...
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How should I structure a small non-fiction book/paper about a groundbreaking product/invention?
I want to write a book/paper about an invention I have thought and developed conceptually.
But I'm really struggling on what I should include in it and how to structure the information.
Any ...
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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 life, I'm finding a dearth of information to support the 2-3 pages I'm ...
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In a book with multiple co-authors, how do you clarify who is "talking" when?
This is in the non-fiction space. I'm writing a book with a colleague. Throughout the book, there are times when we refer to individual experiences; for example, in one place I talk about a class that ...
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Are there better chances of being more credible by a grantor if you write about yourself in the third person?
I was told that because I have a good eye for detail, I could do reasonably well as a grantwriter for several nonprofit organisations.
I have previously applied for personal grants by writing about ...
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How do you refer to someone in a formal essay?
I'm writing a formal essay on a book. The book is about a real person, but they are referred to by their first name throughout the entire book. When writing the essay, do I stay consistent with the ...
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Do the references need to be in sequential order with the chapters?
I am writing a non-fiction book. I am not writing the chapters sequentially e.g. the first chapter first and then second etc. I have started with the sixth chapter and now writing the second chapter. ...
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Do publishers check manuscripts using anti-plagiarism softwares?
I am writing a non-fiction book. Although I am very keen on giving references where ever there is a need, there are small parts of my book, like a line here and a line there which I have paraphrased ...
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