53
votes
Why write a book when there's a movie in my head?
Screenplays are collaborative, whether you like it or not.
Actors will say the lines. Directors will alter the tone. The photographer will create their own vision. And the producers will hire other ...
- 27.4k
33
votes
What is the difference between character-driven stories and plot-driven stories?
Character driven is typically about life changes (or life ending) for a character, basically the character(s) undergo some kind of deep emotional transformation that is life-changing. Becoming a ...
- 103k
32
votes
Stories with multiple possible interpretations: do you plan for it?
There is a joke that we always told each other in my school when we had to analyze texts or poetry that goes something like this:
Teacher: What did the author mean when he said that the curtains are ...
- 5,686
30
votes
Accepted
How to prevent "they're falling in love" trope
You cannot prevent that suspicion altogether; especially because that is your plan. Which means your two characters are heterosexual; so you can't really use homosexuality as a show-stopper.
I would ...
- 103k
28
votes
Accepted
Why write a book when there's a movie in my head?
Screenplays are also very difficult to sell, for a first-timer. Books are quite a bit easier. Unlike a screenplay, a book is in its final form, and relatively easy to produce, big publishers can do it ...
- 103k
27
votes
Is it a good idea to make the actions of my antagonist reasonable?
This is a great idea, but keep one important thing in mind.
First of all, there's absolutely nothing wrong with making an antagonist sympathetic, reasonable and likable. If anything, it's good writing!...
- 8,772
25
votes
Is there any way to get around having everyone in the world speak the same language?
There are several ways to have more than one language in your world. Here are some ideas:
Your characters might be conversant in more than one language. If your characters are high-born or a ...
25
votes
Accepted
Can we "borrow" our answers to populate our own websites?
You have the legal right to reuse elsewhere what you post on Stack Exchange.
It's your content. When posting to SE, you give SE a nonexclusive license to use it, and doing so requires that it's your ...
- 3,754
23
votes
Can You Hide A Character's Name?
A screenplay is written primarily for the production crew, not for the audience. So you don't have to be afraid of spoiling any plot points by using the real name of the character even though the ...
- 6,265
20
votes
How do you make a super villain's plan smart enough to outwit genuinely intelligent heroes but still have the heroes win?
So first of all, as the writer, you have the advantage of crafting a story in any direction and you should focus on the villain's plan from the end and develop it towards the beginning. Figure out ...
- 13.5k
19
votes
Accepted
Is there a method to estimating the length of a work before writing it?
The main problem with trying to estimate something like this is that, even if two writers used the same very detailed plot summary to write a novel, they might produce works that aren't close to being ...
- 9,567
18
votes
Accepted
What is an arena-driven story?
Arena driven story: A man crashes his airplane in the desert, breaking his leg. His radio doesn't work. If he stays there he will die. He splints his leg, takes all the water he can carry, and tries ...
- 103k
16
votes
When do I successfully kill off an important secondary main character... in a series of five books?
1) Might one ask why the character destined to die is named... Cancer? I'm just calling him "Charlie" for the rest of this discussion.
2) Does Charlie have any agency, life, personality, or ...
16
votes
Is there any way to get around having everyone in the world speak the same language?
You can work around the language barrier the same way we do in real life: have someone act as a translator. There are three ways of introducing such a character:
Option 1: The moment the need for a ...
- 10.9k
15
votes
Stories with multiple possible interpretations: do you plan for it?
Interpretation arises from uncertainty, so to some degree, you can control whether there will be multiple interpretations or not. Interpretation is what happens when you ask the reader to "fill in the ...
- 705
15
votes
How to prevent "they're falling in love" trope
It is possible that this reader is one of thse who likes to pair characters in relationships that need not even be telegraphed.
There are several ways to do this. Introduce other potential love ...
- 12.3k
13
votes
Why is character lifetime proportional to character development so often?
Because maintaining suspense over who will live and who will die is only one of a story's many goals. And in most stories, it's not even a very important one.
The fact that The Protagonist Survives ...
- 28.3k
13
votes
Accepted
How best to recover from catastrophic text loss?
Forget your story for a moment and revel in how this loss makes you feel. A loss of treasured words is a pain which every writer eventually encounters. It is agony, but it is also an opportunity. ...
- 10.8k
13
votes
How do you make a super villain's plan smart enough to outwit genuinely intelligent heroes but still have the heroes win?
I see a few options that can work.
1. Specialized information
Have the flaws in the plan rely on specialized information/knowledge/skills that are rather rare. Make sure that this specialized ...
- 1,141
13
votes
How do you make a super villain's plan smart enough to outwit genuinely intelligent heroes but still have the heroes win?
The heroes are persistent.
When constructing an evil scheme, no matter how good, you have to stop at some point. Sure, you've compromised or subsumed all world governments, but are you going to get ...
- 273
12
votes
What is the difference between character-driven stories and plot-driven stories?
Plot-driven vs character-driven is a spectrum rather than a dichotomy. But generally speaking, character-driven means that the plot is primarily guided by characters reacting to other characters, ...
- 11.4k
12
votes
How to derive a storyline from a beginning?
Every writer has their own way. In a very general sense you either write as a discovery or write with a plan. It seems like you have a good idea. Write it. Since you haven't discovered your next step ...
- 1,793
12
votes
How long should it take to Revise/Edit to get to Good Enough?
Writer opinions on the importance of the revision process vary dramatically. Professionally trained journalists tend to "try to get it right during the first draft" by following rules which organize ...
- 10.8k
12
votes
How to introduce a world previously unknown to the reader AND the protagonist?
If the protagonist doesn't know the world just as much as the reader, then you're in an enviable spot; it means that practically every revelation about this 'new world' is going to be shown to the ...
- 9,134
12
votes
Identifying and managing weak scenes during planning
The characters in it couldn't possibly behave like I initially thought.
This was due to some nuances of the story that I developed while writing.
I think this is a natural and positive aspect of ...
- 27.4k
12
votes
How to prevent "they're falling in love" trope
If your genre or subgenre is "Romance", then it's ALMOST impossible to do so.
What you're presenting is a request for something that romance authors are always trying to do. The only ways to really ...
- 2,522
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