Questions tagged [style]
This tag should be used for questions that deal with a consistent style in your writing, such as when asking about typical ways to introduce a certain aspect to your reader by showing-telling or if you are concerned that your readers might feel that a change in the point of view might be perceived as inconcsistency.
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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 ...
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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 to externalise internal thoughts better?
I've been watching a lot of Krzysztof Kieślowski movies lately, especially Decalogue, and I've noticed how adept he is at using visuals to externalise the inner ideas of his characters.
How can I ...
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Writing in present tense
I am currently writing a story in first person and present tense. I've read a lot about what various people think of this perspective and I've heard many people say they enjoy it when it's done well, ...
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Are runon sentences more permissible in legal writing?
In a legal filing, as long as the meaning is not at all ambiguous which seems to be the cardinal objective of legal writing, are runon sentences which may be more cumbersome to read less undesirable ...
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How to write that someone is writing?
I'm writing about a person who writes in their journal like this:
She wrote, "I went to the store today."
But I have a feeling it's not correct. Should I use a colon?
She wrote: "I went ...
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When quoting issuing commands to multiple individuals, should each new person be a new paragraph?
If a person is giving instructions to separate individuals and it's all spoken in quotes, should the spoken words for each new person start a new paragraph or if the commands are connected to a single ...
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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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How should I write a nonlinear book where chapters are dedicated to characters as they are introduced to the main character?
I'm writing a book called People are Strange, and the new direction I've taken with it is non-linear. I'm going to focus on a character (Sonya) who comes to a town in the middle of a string of ...
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What kind of character is Mister Blonde from Reservoir Dogs?
I've been thinking about the movie a lot, and I'm wondering what category Mister Blonde would fall into. All of the characters are anti-heroes, because they're all criminals.
The other heisters, ...
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What is the origin of shorthand for "with" -> "w/"?
In many places, I've seen "w/" written where "with" should be. At least, I think that one replaces the other :) I couldn't find anywhere what is the origin of "w/". Is ...
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What makes a paragraph?
Some say that a paragraph should have (only) one idea (or subject or topic). In that case, what constitutes an idea (or subject or topic)? And how might one verify that a putative paragraph possesses ...
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"morally dialectical" is this phrase usable?
I'm wondering if this phrase can be used to characterize two characters, one who is morally good and one who is bad. Specifically I am trying to say that "I want to examine character A and ...
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Writing a third person limited protagonist without any inner dialogue
I want to write a protagonist that thinks as I do; that is to say, without any inner monologue. I don't even think in images either. It's just abstract thoughts for me. If a place reminds me of my ...
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You have purple prose, and you have basic writing- What's the median called?
To start with, you have a form of description and furtherance of the intended narrative composed almost wholly of a horribly verbose and impenetrably confusing style known disaffectionately as "...
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Need help in figuring out how to write dialogue as if my mouth was full (+18)
I saw a similar question, but it didn't really have the answer I was seeking and it wasn't concerned with the same thing — sucking someone, thus the full mouth. I saw an answer there that suggests ...
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Writing a specific atmosphere with a limited ability to
For context, the world I'm writing is where woodland animals (think raccoons, badgers, foxes, etc.) exist on an island without humans and developed their own 'civilizations' (think wolf pack but more ...
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Numbers in a name in dialogue
If someone is speaking the name of something that includes a number, should the number be spelled out or not? For example...
"I just bought a Mustang Boss 302."
Or
"I just bought a ...
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How to read in order to improve my writing skills?
It's fairly common wisdom to say that one must read to improve their writing style.
I am looking for techniques or activities to do while reading books. I mean, should I analyze the sentences' ...
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Should I use "***" 3 asterisks or extra blank lines or whatever to indicate the breaks between parallel plot scenes, in a Kindle Vella fiction story?
That is, for example, suppose I have two plots going on, and I've sandwiched (ie. interleaved) them; a few paragraphs of one plot scene alternating with a few paragraphs of a 2nd plot scene.
To ...
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Properly writing satire/parodies
For a while, there were many good satires/parodies, such as Naked Gun, Hot Shots, and the early Scary movie films. However, we see them beginning more in decline, and also the rise of so many terrible ...
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How to cite Terms of Use in APA 7?
I'm trying to find out how to cite the Terms of Use of an app (BeReal) - I found this answer to a similar question, but I wasn't sure if this was still accurate to APA 7. I apologize if this has been ...
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Usage of word "cull" - what would be good alternative
I came across this article today - https://www.axios.com/2022/11/13/elon-musk-twitter-contractor-layoffs. The title reads "Elon Musk culls Twitter contractors after mass employee layoffs". I'...
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Is there a style convention for how to "format" a book title in plain text (no formatting)?
Typically book titles are ideally italicized or otherwise underlined. For example:
In his book Some Book Title, John Doe describes...
Is there any style convention for what to do if you are limited ...
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Must every sentence be 25 words or less?
Many books that are read today frequently use long sentences, far surpassing the 25 word limit. There is pleasure in reading such sentences, and there is pleasure in comprehending them. But oftentimes ...
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What is a word that would best fit in this sentence?
The Harlem Renaissance has changed America in a ________ way.
I'm trying to make the sentence sound professional. Here is what I had at first: The Harlem Renaissance has changed America in a great way....
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Which English writer community website to give the free feedback on a writing content?
I'm interested in becoming an associate ghostwriter/semi-writer as part of freelance work. So, I want to find a group of English writers (online community) to review a writing content and give me the ...
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How to have emotional range whilst maintaining a consistent tone/mood/atmosphere?
I know that a good way of enriching your writing is to include a range of emotions, obviously following a flow, and making sure it makes sense overall, not just cycling through them just to check them ...
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Can you include action or non-dialogue in a paragraph that begins with dialogue?
Example:
“An isotope is determined by an atom’s number of neutrons,” she read to herself. “How many neutrons does uranium-235?” She looked down at her periodic table, searching for uranium. She ...
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Can I tell after already showing?
When writing fiction, I try to adhere to the rule of showing rather than telling. That said, is it ok to tell after already showing?
For example, I have a character already shown to be insecure. Is it ...
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How do I find the right audience for my book?
I wrote a book about two years ago with almost no prior planning or outlining done before the writing. I've since matured more and figured out that the audience for my book changes from chapter to ...
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How to describe types of hum a character uses to convey their thoughts and opinions
I have a character who struggles to put his thoughts, feelings and opinions into words - he finds words somewhat too contained and specifically defined to adequately convey what he wants to say. He ...
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How to describe someone whose eyes sparkle mischievously?
I've been told that I'm telling instead of showing when I say my characters' eyes sparkle 'mischievously.' How do you describe something like that? I've been looking it up and trying different tricks ...
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What is good introductory book to learn scientific academic writing and publishing process?
I would like some help to find a good reference or textbook that covers the following points regarding scientific academic writing :
What are the types of different publications and explaining their ...
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Best Order of Semantic Parts in a Clause for Clarity
It is not that I want all my writing to be so easily understood, but in some writing of mine, perhaps, I want to be as easily understood as possible, such as in certain kinds of fiction, which I plan ...
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Is there a balance on being subtle?
I love literature that leaves clues that readers can connect or makes them discuss their own theorys/interpretations.
I'm making my own, but how do I make one. Like, looking deeper in the words per se ...
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Would it be too presumptuous of any established author to write a novel in the hope that it be made into a film?
Before I start, let me clarify that this is not a dilemma I am facing currently. It's just a question I had in mind for many established and aspiring authors.
Many best selling novels get made into ...
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Using "etc." at the end of list introduced by "e.g."
According to the Strunk & White's The Elements of Style (p. 46)
at the end of a list introduced by such as, for example, or any similar expression, etc. is incorrect.
However, I have seen "...
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How to include deliberate inconsistencies without it seeming like lazy or bad writing?
I'm writing a thriller (scifi/supernatural) and have a race of characters who can bend reality. They've come to earth with the intent of purging humanity. They can do it, but they have limitations. ...
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Does writing well in one language translate to writing well in other languages?
I have been trying to improve my writing skills. Most of what I write is in English. To what extent do you think that writing skills are cross-language? I am concerned about my time investment into ...
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Alternatives to raising eyebrows to show surprise
I’m trying to reduce the number of clichés in my manuscript, and I’ve found 11 instances of characters raising their eyebrows. A couple I don’t mind, but it feels like too many.
What other actions can ...
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Would using poetry to represent a character's dreams be viable?
In a couple of my writing projects I have used poetry to represent the dreams of the POV character. That way some of the content of the dreams and hopefully some of the emotion/feeling of the dreams ...
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What is it called when a sentence is seemingly contradictory, but has meaning?
What is it called when a sentence is seemingly contradictory, but has meaning that is understood?
For example, I saw a coffee truck with free coffee, but it sucks, so I say: “I was too cheap and I got ...
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How do you make a place/situation seem brutal?
Up until around the early-through-mid 1800's (of the real world, for clarification), the rights of criminals, disabled people, and the poor were commonly ignored. As a result, the justice system was ...
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Font sizes for bullet points
Is it necessary that in a bullet point list, the font size of the bullet points should be the same as the fonts in the introductory sentence of the bullet list?
For example, in the following bullet ...
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Style to convey strong statement
I just want to make a bold statement implying Design can be used to direct people's behavior. What is the best way to put it - 'Design can use to direct people.' or 'Design can be used to direct ...
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How to write a character that lost his passion , his purpose that he had for his goal after he achives it and how to revive his passion?
So that character is like any typical sports anime character who loved to play cricket a lot and fortunately was gifted and lucky enough to become a big name in world of cricket but with time during ...
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Should ending punctuation be put before or after an ellipsis? Compare ?..., ...?, !... and ...!
Through reading some self-published novels, I have noticed some writers in their character dialogue put an exclamation mark or question mark before an ellipsis and sometimes after. However I am not ...
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Is it more difficult to unify the narrator after the story is written, than to juggle POVs into the narrator's world during writing?
A lot of my procrastination in writing my story is coming from anxiety over making the finished product come from one "head." I have perspectives from a couple first persons, and some 3P ...
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Can some please clarify the rules of stress for me?
I was having trouble determining which words are stresed.
How do you tell the words that are stressed from the words that are unstressed?
Thank you.
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