New answers tagged

0 votes

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 ...
Stef's user avatar
  • 356
0 votes

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 ...
Divizna's user avatar
  • 2,501
0 votes
Accepted

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. ...
Ben's user avatar
  • 2,706
1 vote

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 ...
Izzy E. Stewart's user avatar
1 vote

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 ...
M. A. Golding's user avatar
0 votes

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!" &...
Izzy E. Stewart's user avatar
0 votes

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 ...
Mary's user avatar
  • 8,762
-1 votes
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 ...
Ben's user avatar
  • 2,706
6 votes
Accepted

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 ...
Ben's user avatar
  • 2,706
1 vote

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 + ...
Virginia Coleman's user avatar
0 votes

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 ...
Wyvern123's user avatar
  • 1,285
1 vote

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 ...
Amadeus's user avatar
  • 100k
1 vote

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 ...
Divizna's user avatar
  • 2,501
2 votes

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 ...
OutstandingBill's user avatar
1 vote

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 ...
Simon Crase's user avatar
1 vote

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 ...
aer's user avatar
  • 223
6 votes

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 ...
Amadeus's user avatar
  • 100k
10 votes

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 ...
Ben's user avatar
  • 2,706

Top 50 recent answers are included