All Questions
24 questions
22
votes
8
answers
5k
views
How to get readers to care about a dead character?
My story happens as a result of one of the main characters getting murdered. I'm wondering how to get readers to care about someone who's not even in the story (as far as the readers know anyway) or ...
- 321
14
votes
5
answers
40k
views
How to avoid using "he/she/it" repetitively in action
I'm writing a zombie apocalypse genre book (yes, I know it's a heavily used and abused writing genre, but I'm writing it in my way, a way I believe is a good way). Anyway, I caught myself writing &...
- 4,053
14
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Striking the balance between dialogue and narrative
I am participating in National Novel Writing Month this year. I have never in my life written so much of a single story. Although I am supposed to tell my inner editor to shut up this month, she is ...
- 1,995
12
votes
9
answers
2k
views
How do you show, through your narration, a hard and uncaring world?
As I've already mentioned, I'm working on a sci-fi novel.
One of the main feelings that I wanted to represent when I started is the sense of a vast, empty, artificial world, mostly cold and uncaring ...
- 15.9k
11
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Is it advisable to add a location heads-up when a scene changes in a novel?
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 ...
- 2,399
11
votes
6
answers
998
views
Third Person POV: What level of telling is acceptable for character motivation?
The novel I'm writing is third-person limited POV in style. This means that the narration's coverage is limited to what the POV character can observe, think, feel, while others' thoughts, feelings, ...
- 9,134
11
votes
4
answers
2k
views
What are the components of a legend (in the sense of a tale, not a figure legend)?
I'm compiling in-world legends for my built world, and would like them to feel like established legends from our own human experience.
What should I keep in mind while writing these legends? What ...
- 23.8k
9
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Is it necessary to add "had" in past tense narration when it's clear we're talking about the past?
Example:
Standing in front of the sliding glass door, he began to sweat. The
last time he had stepped into a convenience store was a year ago.
This is past tense narration. The bolded part is ...
- 12.4k
8
votes
4
answers
660
views
Tips and tricks to describe more
I'm careful with the phrasing of this question as it is dangerously close to be opinion based. Everyone has their preference regarding the amount of description they expect to find in a work of ...
- 183
5
votes
1
answer
261
views
Will this form of "third person limited" confuse readers?
I've been writing a novel that pushes the bounds on a conventional POV. It's essentially third person limited, but I sometimes leave the perspective of the main protagonist to cover an event that has ...
- 261
4
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Voices of young children, how to write?
I am currently writing a narrative featuring many young children. Some of the children are under the age of five, and I'm wondering what the best way to write dialogue for their age group would be. I ...
- 1,185
4
votes
5
answers
4k
views
Is it acceptable practice to use contractions in a fictional first person narrative for children?
I am writing a children's story in first person, present tense. Aside from the quotes from characters, all of the text is meant to represent the narrator's own thoughts, and either describes what they ...
- 393
4
votes
3
answers
590
views
Switching Between First and Third Person
So I've started writing a book. It's set in present time, but is going to be interwoven with flashbacks to a few years ago to explain how the character(s) got to this scenario in present time. I was ...
- 51
3
votes
4
answers
544
views
Is it possible to write a serious story without any humour?
I'm planning out and (will hopefully be writing) a trilogy takes that takes itself pretty seriously and very dark while having a distinct absence of comedy. The reason is behind this choice that I ...
- 505
2
votes
3
answers
282
views
How to find the balance between research and the obvious
I'm embarking on writing my first popular science book on a controversial subject. For sure the writing must be rational, coherent with a clear train of thought and littered with references to be ...
- 123
2
votes
1
answer
176
views
Portraying synesthesia in prose
How can an author effectively portray a character with synesthesia, where their sensory perceptions are intertwined, without confusing the reader or disrupting the narrative flow? What techniques and ...
- 253
2
votes
2
answers
260
views
How to write in a clear narrative voice
I am writing a Narrated novel.
Here is my 1st Person Narration followed by 3rd Person Account of Same Incident
Grandmother was an old woman left to fend for herself.
Ranjho's Mother walked ...
- 627
2
votes
4
answers
297
views
Writing a non-lucid dream
In a third-person novel I am writing, one of the characters has a very significant dream that I would like to transcribe. The problem is, I would like to focus on the character's reaction to the ...
- 1,185
1
vote
5
answers
340
views
How to work in a piece of information that no MC knows, when writing in 3PLtd?
In my story, there is a group of four characters that are called upon a classic macguffin hunt. The characters know that the macguffin is important, but they do not know all the details as why it is ...
- 145
1
vote
3
answers
590
views
What kind of writing style works for a game?
Background:
I'm creating a story for a video game--it's set in a cyberpunk, futuristic setting, and it has many flows, one of its flows is that the story is so complicated and novelized, that it ...
- 23
1
vote
3
answers
255
views
How to give written advice in a way that is encouraging, not overbearing
How do we write something to inspire a person which corrects the mistakes they've made until now, but without making them feel like they're getting mocked from the recipient's perspective?
I was ...
- 147
1
vote
3
answers
543
views
Is my method of Narration switching from objective to subjective too complicated?
I'm having trouble deciding if the manner I have decided to narrate my story is too complicated or not.
I have a story set in a completely foreign and alien world (fiction story). I then uproot my ...
- 300
0
votes
3
answers
568
views
Is it bad for the narrative to lie?
What I want to know is if it is bad for the narrative to lie to the reader.
I get that using it in first person can be a good use for misdirection and such, but it does that by making the character ...
- 398
0
votes
2
answers
212
views
Fault in writers logic and how avoid?
So yeah I have seen a situation where what the writer has put makes sense, but after thinking it through there are clear faults in the logic they used.
Here's my example
A small team is advancing ...
- 398