Questions tagged [process]
This tag should be used for questions about the process of writing a certain work.
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How exactly are you supposed to write a paragraph that contains a consistent theme throughout?
I have noticed as a writer that one of my greatest weaknesses is writing paragraphs. I never really learned exactly how a paragraph is supposed to support one single theme. For instance, this is a ...
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How Do I Overcome Writing "Scrupulosity" When Editing?
When writing, I notice that I have this tendency where everything has to be 100% perfect. At first, I thought that this was no big deal and just a desire for perfection. However, today, while writing, ...
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How to pad the pages in a murder mystery
I have arrived at a plot point that I would rather be later. If one were to say that a page is 250 words, then the murderer has scapegoated someone else at page 8. As far as I can recall, Agatha ...
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Can an "openly developed" book model work?
I keep coming back to this idea that I would like to make my book a website, which is progressively and openly developed. As I write more, the rough draft and notes get published. Eventually after a ...
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How can I write GOOD work consistently?
For the first time in a while, I have made quite a bit of progress in writing my book. For the last two weeks or so, I have forced myself to try and write at least 2,000 words a day, regardless of how ...
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How to write a character that has a speech disorder (stuttering)?
A friend and I are writing a manga, and there is this mc(main character) that is having the speech disorder - she stutters.
Writing the question directly to avoid confusion.
Afterwards providing some ...
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Is it realistically viable to create a collaborative writing project?
Related: Software for collaborative writing for a small team
I know there a few notable examples of open collaborative writing, but they haven't really taken off. On the other hand, collaborative ...
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How to push through your inner critic
I'm a real perfectionist and the cringe I often feel at what I write is quite strong and distracting. It's taking the enjoyment out of writing and I'm finding it hard to avoid focusing on how bad my ...
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Tips for brainstorming solutions to plot holes & worldbuilding
Coming up with ideas for where I want a plot to go & what I want to happen to my characters is easy, but then I find myself asking all kinds of things, like ‘Why’ or ‘How;’ and as a result, I get ...
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How do I accurately write a prologue, which also works as a character introduction chapter?
I'm in the process of writing my prologue for my book, but it's going to also introduce the main characters. Long story short, the main Character, Devoss, goes into a magical forest to prove himself, ...
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Is it a good idea to make the actions of my antagonist reasonable?
I'm a good way through writing my fantasy story, and up until now, my antagonist has been portrayed as being a megalomaniac, and my protagonist (and myself) have believed this to be true.
However, I ...
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Step in the Process of Revising Sentences
Lately, I've been having great trouble revising my work for rhythm, because it is hard, not only to think of different word orders and sentence structures, but also to think of other words and phrases ...
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How to decide between two books - or not?
I have two stories I have been working on for a while - one is a two year monster of a book with plans, and a lot of material that I have to draw on about the world. The other is a small thing that I ...
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Two Methods of Prewriting
It is taught that before beginning a draft, you need to form an outline, this according to what is called the writing process. But it seems that to formulate many thoughts and to put them in order ...
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Skipping chapters due to lack of resources
I am writing a historical fiction book. I do not have access to historical records/documents/historians so I tend to skip chapters saying I will write them later because I do not have the resources to ...
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The right way to write
When debating with someone about how to write eloquently, I argued that one needs to learn grammatical structures so that grammar comes easily when writing, but he said that one should focus on ...
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Where to go next in the writing process?
I'm a new writer, have been working on a novel length piece of work for the past couple of years, and I have always been the kind of person to just "wing it" and see what happens. After ...
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Not wanting to "spoil" a story due to lack of skill
I have a story that is dear to me and that I would very much want to write about. However, I don't have lots of experience in writing so I'm afraid if I do try to write it, it won't be as good "...
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How do you get feedback when sharing your ideas makes you not want to write?
I have a problem in that if I ever tell people about my story ideas, I lose motivation and eventually stop working on them. If I do not tell them I feel like I have pressure to get the story "out ...
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Enjoying my writing vs. maintaining writing habit
How do I resolve the conflict between:
Being interested in what I write about
Ignoring my inner critic, pushing past writer's block, starting writing, maintaining a writing habit, etc.
When I find ...
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How to arrange scattered ideas in a coherent manner to write an essay?
I'm trying to write something like an essay for a blog. I'm clear about what central topic I want to write about. The problem is I have a lot of scattered notes about that subject-matter which I have ...
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How to organize ideas to start writing a novel?
Beginner here. So, I have tons of ideas for a novel, and in fact I want to write one (even a series), but I'm struggling a lot in actually starting writing the story. I have ideas for characters and ...
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Are there advantages in writing by hand over typing out a story?
I'm a member of a Discord server for people interested in completing an entire novel during NaNoWriMo (and Camp sessions). At one point, a discussion arose around writing by hand vs. typing out your ...
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How can I write a panicked scene without it feeling like it was written in haste?
I normally try to place myself in my character's shoes and I think to myself, "how would I react if I were in this situation?" Well one of my beta-readers commented on my work, and he said the chapter ...
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Motivation - or how can I get myself to do the work I know I need to?
There is worldbuilding and/or writing that I know I need to do, and even want to do on some level, but I keep not doing it. I don't have what I think of as traditional writers block, because I'm not ...
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How to create a plot given theme and settings?
I often find myself coming up with seemingly compelling premises and world settings, but unable to come up with equally compelling character or plot.
For example, I am currently thinking about a ...
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Picking a theme as a discovery writer
When I write I often don't have any great meaningful moral to share. I don't have a message that I want to convey to the reader. I often don't write about the nature of the battle between good and ...
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Writing about oneself objectively
I was recently updating some of my Stack Exchange profiles and I remembered how much I hate writing about myself. It isn't just Stack Exchange profiles either. It's resume cover letters. It's college ...
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Is it important to consider tone, melody, and musical form while writing a song?
Be it Mowgli and balu singing Bare Necessities or Enrique singing Somebody's Me, each song (or poem) has their way of being sung. Were such songs written after selection of musical note, tone, and ...
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Changing the meaning of well-established symbols
Can we change the meaning of a well established symbol and use the newly defined symbol in our writing? If so how do we go about doing so?
It am not talking about using a symbol in the context of its ...
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Should authors write books anticipating audiobook narrations?
With the surge of audiobooks popularity and the dramatization of fiction and non-fiction recitations, do authors plan for their books to publish their work as audiobooks too?
Additionally, if an ...
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Why do professional authors make "consistency" mistakes? And how to avoid them?
I'm currently reading a sci-fi book that has over a dozen characters. The author had written dialog for two different characters using the same odd idiom in two separate chapters so far. I cannot see ...
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How do I go from 300 unfinished/half written blog posts, to published posts?
Goal: To publish a blogpost 2 times/month (from once in 4 months)
Currently: 300 blog posts in drafts/unfinished. I even have three 20k word unfinished novellas gathering dust. (Over 5 years of ...
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Delivering sarcasm
Most of us who have spent more than a few days reading things and interacting with people on the internet know how difficult it is to convey sarcasm. There is no tone there is only the words on our ...
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Does success imply validation and agreement?
When I write I always want to deliver a message. Not matter what I'm writing I ultimately have something important (to me,) to say. For that reason I try to be very careful about how I deliver certain ...
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When must a character grow beyond their archetype?
A good well-written three dimensional character requires a lot of work. You need to really show them through their ups and their downs. You have to flesh out their strengths and weaknesses. You have ...
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How to collect scattered ideas on various topics in to a blog post/ writing article?
I try to write on various Q&A sites, but now I am thinking about having my own blog website. The main thing is that I don't know exactly what my niche topics would be for blogs. I write on various ...
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Rules about breaking the rules. How do I do it well?
There are rules to writing and we often talk about them here. But sometimes a good writer will break the rules. And to be honest some of my favorite pieces of writing are from when this is done well.
...
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Avoiding burnout
As a writer, I sometimes have trouble seeing a project to the end. Sometimes it is because I reach an impasse. Sometimes it is because I choose to scrap it for whatever personal reason. And sometimes ...
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Documenting story in a videogame
How does one write a story for a story-based videogame. Is it done in the form of a screenplay? Is it written as any normal prose? Is it written as documentation that goes with the other early design ...
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Writing effectively under very brief constraints
I recently noticed a trend to a few of my questions. I am attracted to writing in places with extreme brevity. This makes sense to me on a personal level. I've always been attracted to one-liners and ...
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What are some techniques to avoid digital distraction?
I'm a modern day writer. I learned to type on a word processor when I was eight or nine. If you gave me a typewriter (which would be super cool of you,) I wouldn't really know how to use it well. I ...
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How to write a Stack Exchange Question?
There are a couple questions out there on How to ask a smart question and the FAQ has its own tips, but lets assume you know how to ask what you want. From a purely writing perspective, most of the ...
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Injecting creativity into a cookbook
I'm a chef. I'm also a writer. It's inevitable that I would want to write a cookbook. In fact I've probably started a dozen that I just never got around to finishing. Partly because I'm not sure how ...
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Write for an audience or find an audience for your writing?
I've never written for anything other than personal enjoyment or for a predefined context before. I have ideas and partial drafts for several books and
want to finish at least one this year. My ...
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How to write a Stack Exchange comment?
We all do it. We do it quite often. Some of us too often, to the chagrin of the mods who have to clean up after us. Many people out there have autocomments but I try not to. I find them impersonal and ...
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Writing a Story From The End
There is a writing technique where a writer would imagine in her mind's eye where her story should end and will write it 'backwards'. Writing the end and then writing the chapters leading to end, so ...
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Re-reading and making changes to current work that makes everything worse?
I constantly re-read my work before writing again. It helps me get in the proper mind set. But my biggest problem is that I make more changes on what's already there that I don't get further along in ...
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Keeping up with multiple projects at the same time
I love writing and write almost every day, and I have multiple pieces that I am working on currently: two books, multiple original characters' background and development, and academic analysis pieces ...
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How to avoid becoming frustrated while writing
Very often when I start writing something, mainly notes for my work (I'm a researcher) but other times personal thoughts, I feel that my writing speed can't keep up with my stream of consciousness.
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