New answers tagged fiction
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Is it necessary to describe a character's physical appearance in a novel
No, it is not necessary to give a physical description of your characters.
Frankly I find that many authors rely way too much on physical descriptions of their characters. Those descriptions are ...
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Can I switch the POV of a main character?
Why yes, of course it's possible.
It is also perfectly allowed by the laws of all countries and tenets of all religions I can think of.
Really, there's no rule about how you have to or mustn't write ...
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Can I switch the POV of a main character?
There are a few ways you can narrate what happens when your POV character passes out:
Narrate the whole story in third person perspective.
a. Narrate the whole story in third person omniscient.
b. ...
- 2,706
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Can I switch the POV of a main character?
Unless your plan is to consistenly have this new POV alternate between your original one from the halway point of the story, or from the very beginning, I wouldn't suggest it. If there's suddenly a ...
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How do I make a situation that looks like a planet will be destroyed, but without actually destroying it?
Maybe you should watch or read stories where a planet is in danger of being destroyed but isn't.
Like Star Wars, for example.
Or the Star Trek episode "The Alternative Factor", where two ...
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Describing exclaimations from a group
This isn't all in one sentence, and is probably not the answer you're looking for, but when I write exclamations from strangers in a large group, it looks something like this:
"Oh my gosh!"
&...
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Describing exclaimations from a group
Your viewpoint character will perceive very little of all the crowd's reactions. Think of what the character will see and hear and describe it. The gabble of indecipherable talk, the exclamations of ...
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Accepted
Describing exclaimations from a group
First, think about all the different ways people might exclaim in such a situation. There will be some screaming in terror, others will laugh with unbelief because they didn't completely see what ...
- 2,706
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Blending First and Third Person: A Wording Question
You are writing in a viewpoint that is similar to first person omniscient in pronouns, tenses, etc. The only difference is that the omniscience is limited. We can imagine that the first person ...
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Is there a format to write a good treasure hunt story?
General Plot
plot = characters + problem + plot twist + conclusion
Treasure Hunt Plot
For treasure hunt stories you would swap the problem with the prize:
plot = characters + treasure + plot twist + ...
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How to refer to different versions of a character?
Two examples from literature come to mind. One is from Champions of the Force by Timothy Zahn (Star Wars legends) where
If you don't want the story spoiled (if so, don't read the above text), let it ...
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Should I flesh out the start of my fictional story?
This is not foreshadowing.
Unfortunately, for American audiences, calling out "Marco" is comical; it is reminiscent of the childhood game "Marco Polo", a call and response game ...
- 100k
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Should I flesh out the start of my fictional story?
If I understand it right, you've written the first scene that's supposed to foreshadow later events, but not yet the later events themselves.
You're best equiped to write a good foreshadowing if you ...
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Can I use a place from another book in my own?
There are ways in which it's OK to use things from other people's books. Take Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair, in which the main character, Thursday Next, visits all sorts of fictional places from ...
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Can I use a place from another book in my own?
I am not a lawyer, but perhaps you could have one of your characters acknowledge Riordan. Maybe one of the gods read his book, and says "actually that isn't a bad idea" (But why the Empire ...
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Can I use a place from another book in my own?
The chance of legal action in the situation you describe may be unlikely, but you should look into the topics of derivative works and fair use if you want to learn more about the possible legal ...
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Can I use a place from another book in my own?
Mount Olympus is mythological, and thus public domain. You can definitely use that.
For other works still under copyright, technically Names and Titles are not protected under copyright law, but they ...
- 100k
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Can I use a place from another book in my own?
Locating Olympus, the home of the Greek gods, in the Empire State Building like Riordan does would make it clear to anyone that you have stolen this idea from Percy Jackson.
What that means legally I ...
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