Questions tagged [story]
The story tag has no usage guidance.
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How do I relate crying to SOMETHING else that could instantly be understood as crying/tears?
This is just for my journal, but oftentimes I get stuck trying to find cool and unique ways of describing things/ situations. In this instance, I was in a heated argument with my parents yesterday, ...
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Are there any quirks of French dialogue that may make it obvious that someone is lying, but only to a native French speaker?
This is a very specific question.I don't even know if it is even possible to answer.
I have a French character in my story that speaks mostly English, but his dialogue is written with a French twang, ...
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How to make a story not just constant action?
How do I write it so that the MC isn’t just facing conflict after conflict, but make it not seem like filler. I get that there needs to be SOMETHING going on, but at the same time they can’t just be ...
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How do I determine if the premise of my story is believable?
This post is part advice and part discussion.
How do you determine if a story's premise is believable?
Is the believability of a story's premise more of a demographic thing? Do people determine how ...
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How should I begin writing a story for a comic strip? [closed]
I would like to draw a comic strip, but I need a story. I would prefer a realistic one (historic or not).
I was wondering if you have any advice for how to approach the writing of a story for comic ...
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Writing a short story set in a real museum - how much can I include?
I have written a short story set in a museum in Ireland. It is a private museum that contains various displays and sculptures. I am happy with the story and would like to submit it to a few journals/...
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What are some famous writing advice such as "How to write novels/plays/screenplay" books published in the 1960's-1980's?
So the background is that I've been doing this mini project trying to track down a plot diagram origin for Antigone which was made in the 20th century and after exhausting JSTOR, NYPL, and my Local ...
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How to make an interesting story about a cat?
I never had the experience of writing a proper story, so I am confused about how to start and end the story. Also, please provide some some tips to make the story interesting.
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Character vs story [closed]
How much should I allow my characters to influence my plotting, and how much should the plot influence how I create my characters? Should I begin with a plot and then devise my characters to be "...
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Can I say the word LEGO in my book [duplicate]
Can I say the lego set was destroyed on perpouse by someone?
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No one left to write for [closed]
What to do if there are no more people left on Earth to write for?
Let's take an extreme case to illustrate this point. Say, there's a small evil group of people who lobotomized everyone's brains on ...
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When does a story benefit from or is made better by not having a central theme?
On online forums, I often see the argument that not every story needs a theme. This is the flip side version of the question of when a story needs a theme. I felt that those arguing that some stories ...
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How can I make my character slowly fall in love with someone that already likes them?
I want to have one of my characters slowly fall in love with a boy who has liked her from the start, but I'm not sure how to
Show that he likes her but not make it too obvious
and
make her slowly ...
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How do I know who to trust as I start producing a book?
I am writing a book at age 10-11, by myself. I have some people like my teacher and parents helping to edit, but I don't have anyone I can trust to help me (without screwing it up). I also don't know ...
user59727
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How do you plan for a story with multiple overlapping arcs?
How do you plan for a story with multiple overlapping arcs? In One Piece, you have one big story arc, and then multiple arcs within it (2 layers), but I am wondering if it's possible to have a story ...
user36239
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Why is it generally important to be consistent with the tone and style of writing?
I was thinking of writing a story that starts out as a serious drama, but suddenly shifts to a comedic tone without any clear reason or transition. I thought it would subvert expectation and make the ...
user36239
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I want to write a short story without naming the places the characters visit
How can I write a short story without naming the places characters visit?
Example: If the main character visits a restaurant then I want to show it to the the reader without naming the restaurant.
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I'm afraid of being accused that I copied, even when I'm the one writing earlier
My apologies for potential errors, I'm not a native English speaker
Hello. I don't really know, who else I could ask, so I'm putting it here.
First of all, I know, that my writing isn't something ...
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How do you work with a story with an ending that's obvious from the very start?
How do you work with a story with an ending that's obvious from the very start?
Let's say you have a story of a kid who wants to become a F1 champion. You know the ending from the very start.
Is that ...
user36239
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How do you properly plan for a very long story?
How do you properly plan for a very long story? I was thinking about One Piece and the fact it's still ongoing, and I am wondering how the author was able to plan for such a long story. Writing a ...
user36239
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Types of stories across cultures?
After watching some of Dan Brown's masterclass on thriller storytelling, it paints a narrow view on what generally a good story is to be. It must have a singular sentence to describe the plot, and ...
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What are the things you need to consider when portraying a complex web of alliances and betrayals?
When you write a story with a lot of political intrigues, you need to plan out how the complex web of alliances and betrayals will shape out. Sometimes, though, you happen to have a character who ...
user36239
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After writing the beat sheet, is there any preparatory document you can write before starting to write your story?
After writing the beat sheet, is there any preparatory document you can write before starting to write your story? I just finished writing the beat sheet for a story I wanted to write, but I would ...
user36239
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Do you have to have shown people your characters are talking about when discussing politics?
Do you have to have shown people your characters are talking about when discussing politics? Let's say there's a political intrigue, and there's this character who mentions a far away nation who might ...
user36239
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How do you know if you started too late in the story and failed to do important exposition?
I wrote a story that takes place in the middle of the action, and I am not sure if I started the story too late, because the world is completely different from ours and it would be hard to understand ...
user36239
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How do you balance action and introspection in a story?
In my opinion, a story needs both action and introspection to be engaging, but finding the right balance can be tricky. Too much action can make a story feel really shallow, while too much ...
user36239
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When would it make sense to have several beat sheets for several stories happening in parallel?
When would it make sense to have several beat sheets for several stories happening in parallel? I was thinking of writing a story where there are several stories happening at the same time, and three ...
user36239
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When writing a story with a fragmented narrative, do you need story beats?
When writing a story with a fragmented narrative, do you need story beats? I was told that writing a story using fragmented narratives is like writing several short stories, so I was wondering if ...
user36239
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Can your character gain crucial knowledge off-screen?
Can your character gain crucial knowledge off-screen? Let's say your character is a young adult and doesn't know anything about geopolitics, and then there's a 2 year time skip and he's a ruler with a ...
user36239
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What are the things you need to carefully consider when you want to make a Hitler-like figure win in the end (spoilers)?
What are the things you need to carefully consider when you want to make a Hitler-like figure win in the end?
I was thinking of the ending for "Attack On Titan" and I was wondering what kind ...
user36239
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Is there a way to write an endless story with the same protagonists without the story feeling like it has overstayed its welcome?
Is there a way to write an endless story with the same protagonists without the story feeling like it has overstayed its welcome? I think this isn't possible, especially if you already wrote a story ...
user36239
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Can you ignore your own death flags and spare a character if you changed your mind?
Can you ignore your own death flags and spare a character if you changed your mind? I am wondering if ignoring a bunch of death flags you set up for killing a character can backfire if you change your ...
user36239
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How can we use ChatGPT to write stories? [closed]
If I have an idea for the plot of the story, what is the best way that I can use ChatGPT to make it write stories for me?
Edit. To everyone who has spent time answering with few assumptions (including ...
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How do you make an unhappy ending satisfying for the readers?
How do you make a "bad" ending satisfying for the readers? I want to write a story where the protagonist dies without achieving his goals, but I am not sure if it's possible to write such an ...
user36239
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How do you introduce new characters if you try to cut all the non-events?
it states that every scene should (must) change something in your characters' lives. Otherwise, it's a "nonevent" and should be cut.
I got this advice in the past. One of the things I like ...
user36239
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Should you always write a strong antagonist?
I've heard that a mistake that people often make is that they put 100% of their effort in building a character that they like and based on their own world views and philosophies and then end up ...
user36239
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Looking for the name of a certain way of structuring a story
I’m looking for the name of a certain way of structuring a story. It often takes the form of “prologue – story – epilogue” where the prologue is a conversation which sets up the story and sometimes ...
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How do you write alternative endings to a novel, comics or movies?
How do you write alternative endings to a novel, comics or movies? Video games do this, because they allow players to take decisions, but movies, comics and novels don't really allow for that, so ...
user36239
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How do you use humor without detracting from the seriousness of a story?
How do you use humor without detracting from the seriousness of a story?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgAK-4kPTb8
Parasite uses a lot of comedic relief throughout the movie without ultimately ...
user36239
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Can you use story beats when writing a game quest?
Can you use story beats when writing a game quest? I am trying to fit a quest into a story beat, but I have a hard time doing so, because the quest is short.
Basically, I need to write a fetch quest, ...
user36239
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Why is it wrong to have your LGBT character find a love interest as soon as possible in your story if, in your setting, people are not LGBT-friendly?
I was watching some video about how to write LGBT characters and I was told that it's wrong to have your LGBT character magically find a LGBT love interest. However, my particular problem is that the ...
user36239
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How do you make a story as sad as possible?
When I think of sad story, I think of Greek tragedies, so naturally they should have a sad ending, and the characters should not deserve what happens to them. So I was thinking that I simply need to ...
user36239
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Is it ok if you subvert expectation by completely resetting the story beat?
Let's say that character beats follow a certain narrative like marry the girl of his dreams, then the girl of his dreams dies mid-way in the story beats series, and you do a 180 turn and start a new ...
user36239
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How do you write a character with multiple personalities?
I have a character with multiple personalities, but the character is mute and cannot speak. He can only behave. Is there a way to show that this character has multiple personalities and is behaving ...
user36239
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How do you add LGBT characters in your story in an organic fashion without coming off as "pandering"?
A lot of people complain that DC comics book are pandering to the LGBT community by shoving LGBT characters into their faces. What are some tips and advice you have for not coming off as pandering ...
user36239
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What is the primary reason why sequels often suck?
What is the primary reason why sequels often suck?
I was thinking about this for a while, and I thought the reason was because you write a story beat for the first film, book, etc. and then because ...
user36239
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Is it possible to write a novel without a primary character?
Let's say we have 12 primary characters and they all get the same amount of coverage, none of them are good or evil, they in the gray area, all of them have their own goals, and all of them have their ...
user36239
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Can I use nudity (in a non-sexual/erotic context) in a children's story?
Is it possible for a story intended for children to have a scene with several naked children? There is nothing erotic in this, they're just washing in a public bath, this is depicted as a normal ...
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Story Planning Software
Because of the size of the task, I find it hard to start planning a story. I think that software for planning stories would help me, but I couldn't find any free software for this purpose. I need one ...
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Can you make a story compelling enough for a large audience if every character is evil?
Can you make a story compelling enough for a large audience if every character is evil? I thought about this, but most popular stories have some good characters, I am wondering if it's even possible ...
user36239