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At times in conversations, there are pauses for various reasons; in videos, the contexts of these pauses are clear because of the characters facial expression. But while writing, at first you can use ...
The cliché scene where a man dies on the hospital bed and ECG goes "beep beep beep" is seen by everyone in movies. The problem is that someone told me that I go too sentimental in scenes ...
I'm writing a YA sci-fi/post apocalyptic type novel with two view point characters. The book is all written in third person and so far every time I switch between view point characters use a chapter ...
Often when I write, I fast forward to a different time and place. When I do this, it sounds very unnatural and the pacing of the story feels too rushed.
For example(by the way, this was not actually a ...
Entering the park, a slight breeze rustles the leaves making them fall to the ground one by one. It was a small park with a jungly gym, a couple of tables and a few benches for people to sit in every ...
I'd like to make one of the action scenes in my planned novel to involve a choreography to a medley of various real world songs, similar to the Ocean's Twelve Laser Dance scene(video below), obviously ...
First of all, hello!
I really, really, really do want to have an answer for my question. I’ve been writing a novel about dragons, but I can’t finish it. I’m just at loss of words (and ideas).
To ...
There is a specific kind of scene that I want to write, where the protagonist has just killed his brother and he starts to cry. But I don't want to explicitly state that he's crying, either by stating ...
I am going over my writing and found that all of my scenes where my main character is in physical pain are dull. There is one scene in particular, when she drinks a power-awakening potion. It's ...
Background
I've been working on doing nitty-gritty editor revisions of my detective novel in preparation for publishing, going over sentences and picking through details. In the course of the story, ...
I'm having trouble writing a scene in my book where the main character is about to be pulled into an enchantment before her friend saves her.
A bit of backstory- the item that is about to enchant her ...
There is a scene in which my main character is hiding from the villain while they are both in the same room. I want this to be a suspenseful and agonizing stretch of time, but I’m not sure how to show ...
I am aiming to change POV in the middle of my book, based on my previous question and I have yet to decide where to start the second POV. The first POV and the second meet during one event - a ...
I write a lot of horror, and I notice that my characters use "Oh my God!" when they're frightened in my scenes by a demon, ghost or murderer. How can I make them seem terrified without being so cliche ...
A sub-plot of my story, is that the protagonist is struggling with addiction to alcohol due to past events (which happen in the book). I'm worried that all the scenes will come off the same because he ...
I have some scenes in my novel that have nothing to do with the main plot, it's just to show the character development and the development of the relationship between two characters. Is this okay ...
I have read many books where the character is in one place at a certain time and, without a scene break being utilised, they are all of a sudden in a different place at a different time, but it works ...
I was wondering if there is a list of ideas on how to add beats to dialog. For example:
"Listen to me!", John said excitedly. "We can sell all these coins now
and get rich today." He got closer ...
I wish to write an intercut scene for a novel, where two very contrasting things are happening at the same time. The technique works really well on the screen, but I think we can use the same ...
In my current project my goal is to go for the following narrative style within scenes:
Show only what the POV-Char can see, hear,... sense.
Show their emotional reaction (through body-feelings, ...
This question is about hiding from the reader the fact that I am skipping some steps. Worse, perhaps, I don't want to show them, and I may have no clue or intention of figuring out how these steps ...
In the ever swinging tone of a novel, one may wish to show a moment of peace amidst all the chaos. In my novel it happens a few times, most notably when characters are travelling across vast natural ...
I’m having issues because while I’m in the process of writing I think my style has enough length to it, but when I go back and read my work it feels extremely fast. A scene I expected to take me ...
In an omniscient third person, I have 8 (practically unrelated) events going simultaneously in different parts of a large mansion. I want to present these events as they happen, but I feel jumping ...
Not sure if this is off-topic, sorry.
I'm writing a cult ritual to summon a powerful entity.
The ritual must include:
1. A willing sacrifice
2. Them being stabbed in the heart
3. Their death taking ...
In my novel, I have a scene at home which changes to scene at the office which is completely different. I have written it in a way that in a line or two the reader will understand the scene is changed ...
I'm currently working on a script for a college project and there's one part of the script that sorta goes like this:
A character heard a scream from outside of the room they're in and decided to ...
I wrote a scene that I put my heart and soul into. It was received well by most of my readers, but I'm struggling with crafting a new scene for a book I'm currently writing. Here's some comments from ...
Consider the following text:
Tania is in her living room, in the summer.
She looks to the window and the street in front of her house, then she realized how dry and parched they are, this makes ...
Question : How many blank lines should be before scene headings and secondary scene headings in a screenplay? Note that I am using Amazon Storywriter.
Detail : I am writing a screenplay with Amazon ...
In my case, my character is literally a spectator. They're at a sporting event. There will be a major event which ramps up their plotline that occurs at this event, but I'm finding the event itself (...
I am writing a movie where a character has an interview with a news reporter. The scenes segues into a character profile of the interviewee that features a voice over from the interviewer. How would I ...
So, the story is about the heroine of the book, but the whole thing is narrated by her pet. Initially the plot is light and easy, but later into the story, it gets a little serious. There's stuff ...
If I were to describe Waterloo from Napoleon's point of view, it would be very different from that same battle from the point of view of a soldier, or even a cavalry lieutenant in the front ranks. ...
This may seem like a silly question (it definitely feels like it has one of those answers that I already know, but just can't dig up). And maybe this isn't the right place for it, but I am asking for ...
I structured my plot, designed the path to the climax, listed my characters and even outlined some scenes. Then halfway through I got stuck: one minor transition scene just did not make sense. The ...
I read some of my old novels and realized that I often filled them with unnecessary info and pseudojokes so I could quickly rejoin my favourite moments in the planned plot. I found those moments more ...
I was working on a story for practice; I have been putting it off for some time. I am extremely new to writing and honestly need to read more. I personally tend to think more like a movie camera, so I ...
Writing a crying scene makes me accidentally do repetitions like "the tears which were on her face broke down into a slithering stream..." and then putting the word tears again and again.
What ...
So I'm facing an issue after many years of writing, and several unsuccessful novels. In my own estimation, all my books contain a "handful of gems" --wonderful scenes that really come to life. But ...
I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with the opening scene for a fantasy story I'm writing, about a mousy but passionate girl from a family of entertainers who inherits the entertainer's blood. She ...
I am writing a playscript these days which includes various characters that are frequently related throughout the story. They all hold special orbs/keys that help the main protagonist progress further ...
I've just read a tutorial about scenic techniques in novel-writing that recommends that a story should have a rhythm of static scenes and dramatic scenes. Here's an excerpt:
Dramatic scenes are ...
I'm reading The Book of Human Emotions by Tiffany Watt Smith (good stuff if you want to inform the use of emotion in your writing), and I've just come across Overwhelmed (feeling). It talks about the ...
So I am writing a story that is in my head for millions of years already and it is finally progressing. I like how things going for a first draft and I am pretty happy to get things going.
But lately ...
I’m writing a story where a vampire pulls a girl into a room so he can feed off her without anyone knowing.
What are the things I should consider when I describe her being pulled into a room by him, ...
Authors need to understand which scenes in their stories to cut in order to help the reader enjoy the story best.
Knowing what works for the reader and what does not is a key skill for authors. ...
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