Questions tagged [rules]
This tag should be used for questions about rules that relate to your writing, such as when to use a comma or which tenses to use. Questions in this category can also ask about rules in certain genres, such as whether particular actions are acceptable in fiction that is aimed at young-adults.
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When to use adjective forms of anatomical nouns in scientific writing?
Consider the following anatomical parts of crustacean: carapace, abdomen, and areola.
In much of published literature, you'll see the phrases "carapace length", "abdomen length," ...
0
votes
1answer
53 views
Saying letters? [duplicate]
How do you write dialogue in which the character is saying a letter?
Ex: “They speak a language pretty similar to english, just the letter y is replaced with double es.”
Bolded letters are where the ...
0
votes
2answers
59 views
Is an “ampersand” prohibited in formal writings?
I was taught in my childhood that an ampersand is not supposed to be used in a formal context and it is best suitable between abbreviations.
Do experts agree with this?
Looking forward to getting a ...
0
votes
2answers
86 views
According to CMOS, can I change plural words in a quotation to singular, and vice versa?
Consider, for example, that the following sentence is from an external source and that I desire to quote it in my own work (please pay attention to the structure of the sentence, not its ambiguous or ...
3
votes
3answers
82 views
What does it mean to overuse the word 'that'?
I've never been sure what the problem with 'overusing' the word 'that' is. It seems to me [that] someone made the rule one day and everyone else followed it. The online source I was reading equates ...
4
votes
4answers
142 views
Breaking the Rules
There are many style guides that urge writers to use the active voice and to avoid nominalizations. But many good books I've read often violate these rules.
So when should we break the rules that we ...
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3answers
161 views
Engineer who wants to improve their writing from scratch
To expand on the title, I am about to finish my engineering degree. However, I haven't really written an essay for the past ten years. The main reason was that I focused all my attention on maths-...
0
votes
1answer
196 views
Formal letter: capitalization after salutation?
In many formal letters, the first word after the salutation (e.g. "Dear Sir or Madam,") is the pronoun I, which is always capitalized.
However, I recently wrote a letter for which this is ...
1
vote
2answers
100 views
How do you transcribe a person's tone (i.e. someone whose speech is rude and/or attacking)?
I've been having great difficulty with transcribing an individuals "tone" in my meeting notes!!
For context: Recently I've been charged with transcribing an incredibly tense litigious meeting. My ...
2
votes
3answers
127 views
Using a prominent phrase from the title of a film in the body of an article, essay or paper, without referencing the title
I'll start with a clear example. You are writing an essay about the film The Wizard of Oz. Following the rules of titles, you put the film title in italics whenever you use it.
But then you use the ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
Is this kind of description not recommended?
I think I read somewhere that when writing, you shouldn't describe characters by their characteristics
i.e.
The tall man walked across the room
Is this true? Maybe I'm misremembering
8
votes
4answers
345 views
How to help the reader wrestle through historical atrocities which would be considered normal to the POV character
I'm writing historical fiction which is set in ancient China. My MC is a historical figure who really did go into battle as a woman.
Women in the ancient world were abused and mistreated. Males ...
8
votes
8answers
1k views
Writing rule which states that two causes for the same superpower is bad writing
I've read somewhere that there is this writing rule stating that, for some superpower, it would be less believable if two completely different settings are present in order to obtain the same ...
13
votes
4answers
3k views
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.
...
15
votes
6answers
2k views
Is using first person in academic/technical essays always bad?
For as long as I can remember, my teachers have taught me never to use first person in an essay. Yet, some of the examples we read in classes, or older writings we have to annotate, are written in ...
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votes
3answers
155 views
Are creative writers all granted implicit immunity from grammar rules?
That'd sure come in handy for me.
7
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2answers
207 views
Writing a poem in secondary language that has rules for primary language
Haiku is a very short Japanese poem with seventeen syllables and three verses each being of 5,7 and 5 syllables respectively. The Haiku was written primarily in Japanese language and the rules applied ...
4
votes
2answers
138 views
Rewriting User Guides as Stories
I'm increasingly having to write User Guides as part of my job and I need routes to make this into a more interesting exercise.
Hence, I was actually looking for something completely different when I ...
5
votes
1answer
135 views
Who has laid down the English poetry rules?
I am doing a research, I want to know who has invented the English poetry rules like meters (Iambic, Torchee, ...) and feets; who has discovered that some feet are (Stressed, Unstressed) and others ...
0
votes
2answers
157 views
What is the rule for commas?
How many commas is too many commas?
For example:
By looking at our data we can see a clear pattern, or trend, in our data that, as the steepness of the inclined plane increases, the effort force ...
5
votes
2answers
467 views
Bending the rules of the english language for effect; sentence fragments and run-ons
I believe it is a time-honored tradition, in fiction, to bend rules for a literary effect. I'm printing a short story for my critique group tonight. One critique-er is a very by-the-book kind of ...
7
votes
3answers
202 views
How does one gauge the strength of any particular adverb?
I am now editing for adverbs, as silly as that may sound to some people. :-) I have learned, 'by ear', that the advice to 'avoid adverbs' is actually not bad advice. But I am also learning that ...
0
votes
4answers
470 views
What if the hero doesn't win? [duplicate]
I'm just an amateur writer. One thing that's strange to me is that there seem to be "rules" about writing. The story should consist of five parts, etc. To my untrained writing brain this seems to ...
4
votes
5answers
668 views
Am I Breaking Too Many Rules?
I've finally committed to writing my first novel. I've been listening to things like Writing Excuses which encourages first time writers to finish their works, but I'm definitely writing an old ...
5
votes
5answers
409 views
How far can insults go in a “Young Adult” novel?
In a Young Adult (>12 y. old) novel, once the obviously bad words (F-word, C-word, N-word, etc.) taken away, how far can rude language go ?
For example, can I use insults like : "Go sit on a rusty ...
9
votes
3answers
4k views
How to describe a diverse set of characters without falling into purple prose or exoticism?
In my setting, a city was founded by people from all over the world, and developed in almost complete isolation (long version here). The story in itself starts several generations after the foundation....
3
votes
2answers
290 views
Bachelor thesis indentation
Are there any rules for proper indentation in thesis?
I am physicist so my thesis includes number of images and equations.
Now I think you should not indent first paragraph after:
Title of chapter,...
0
votes
4answers
177 views
What do you think about having very different tones in a single story?
What if a chapter is incredibly depressive, dark, with intense language. And the next reads almost like a dialogue from a Seth MacFarlane comedy. Or even better, what if the tone switches occur ...
3
votes
1answer
221 views
Do publisher ever automatically reject unread stories
I understand that publishers get a lot of manuscripts to read, so I am wondering, are publishers known to reject a story from an unknown author the moment that realize he is using a so called ...
3
votes
7answers
486 views
Beginners can break rules too?
I came across several disciplines of writing which one must know while writing (especially beginners), concerning narrative conventions and the rules of story logic.
Some of the sources for this ...
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votes
1answer
829 views
Examples of Successful Rule-Breaking in Novels [closed]
I just finished "The House of the Seven Gables" by Hawthorne. I was struck by how often he switched tenses. Mostly the narration was in past tense, but then he would switch to present or even future ...
4
votes
2answers
809 views
Should a piece of fiction be made of 100% concise writing?
I recently finished reading William Strunk's Elements of Style. The book mostly teaches how to write concise paragraphs (e.g. by removing, changing, and rearranging words).
So I decided to apply that ...
1
vote
5answers
7k views
Are there rules for, or guidelines on, time gaps between a plot's scenes/chapters?
I've been reading a host of old favourites, classics and authors outside of my usual reading pool, in an effort to dissect the writing (from plot, characters and environment to voice, pacing and ...
4
votes
1answer
417 views
Is an anthology a valid NaNoWriMo entry?
I'm considering taking my first run at NaNoWriMo. 50,000 connected words of beginning-to-end narrative is a little more than I'm used to, so I was considering writing a series of novella-length pieces ...
1
vote
2answers
684 views
Are there any specific rules to write Prequels and Sequels so that we don't end up with conflicting situations?
Whenever I watch 'Smallville', I wonder how the writers take us back and forth the timeline without getting into a conflicting situation. Another example would be 'Back to the Future' trilogy. Also, ...
8
votes
3answers
172 views
Should DOIs ever be preferred to ISBNs?
Any ISBN yields a DOI. For example, the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed. has ISBN 978-0-226-10420-1, which maps to doi:10.978.226/104201, allowing any book to be digitally identified in a reference ...
3
votes
2answers
184 views
Which amount of side-story is acceptable?
If you grow your writing from short-stories, to longer stories and novels you will have to create more content. Most of it will be more detailed description of settings, people and plot. Also you will ...
210
votes
26answers
28k views
The “Rules” of Writing
There are a lot of axioms that get tossed around in creative writing courses, books on writing, and of course, the Internet. Often, these little gems are explained to new writers as though they were ...
6
votes
1answer
282 views
Good sites for descriptions/rules of different genres?
I just listenend to an episode of Writing Excuses where they discussed genre blending. I found the topic very inspirational, but as one tend to only read books of certain genres, I was wondering if ...
