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Overwined posted:It's part of show, don't tell. Because I am perverse, this is exactly the kind of rule I like to frequently break. Actually, that's all the rules, but anyway... Example: A: "What the hell is this?" B: "Well, A, I've decided to tie you up, blindfold and rob you. As you can see - well actually you can't due to the blindfold which is why I'm telling you now - I'm using a double hitch knot, which is very useful for securing hostages. After I've finished with that I figure I'll empty your till and then, because I'm an ornery lout who is no respecter of other people's property - as demonstrated by the aforementioned intentions towards robbery - I'm going to urinate all over your shelves and poo in your freezer." A: "No, I mean what's that you were whistling?" B: "Oh. Theme to Bonanza." A: "Ohhhhhhh! Thanks, that was bugging the hell out of me. All right, carry on." ...and so on.
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May 21, 2013 16:08
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 03:15 |
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Also you don't need to ever write anything in your life to know whether something you're reading is a thing you want to keep reading.
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May 31, 2013 13:14
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Weren't you just specifically talking about being both intelligent AND good at physical things, though? Because I put it to you that being intelligent would be helpful in excelling at other, multiple areas.
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Jul 20, 2013 03:03
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Well if you're using point buy, just make her socially awkward or vulnerable to kryptonite or something, I dunno. Seriously though just don't make her perfect and you're probably in the clear.
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Jul 20, 2013 03:12
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Or kick him in the yarbles.
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Jul 23, 2013 10:28
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'Oorah I am a businessman and it has been a successful quarter, harumph we're rich, dollar dollar bills y'all, thank you very much kiss the ring.'
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Sep 1, 2013 21:50
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:
There were a lot of words here that I mostly skipped over because I have a short attention span so I'm just going to address this one sentence. I disagree with this sentence. I don't think there's any one specific intent that anything that's written should have. A lot of stories are written primarily just to entertain. No higher meaning, no moral, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that, and I do think it is unreasonable to say that their stories are worthless just because they don't have a message they're trying to impart. Sulla-Marius 88 posted:that faint ring of 'cult' about it. PS what the hell is that? We're in a cult because we all independently think the idea that a story needs a higher purpose is dumb? Chairchucker fucked around with this message at 09:28 on Sep 14, 2013 |
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Sep 14, 2013 09:24
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:
Your original point appears to be... hang on, scroll scroll scroll... "It seems strange to me to want to write a story without having an overarching point or message to the story." Let me see what else... "You're transmitting a concept to your audience, you're trying to broadcast some profundity that will alter people's worldview." Oh and also "A story, no matter how well it's told, that ends without significance -- that's a slap to the face of the reader." Now you can try and change the message of what you're saying by making references to multi penised werewolves, but when you start off by saying the quotes I've outlined above, it's pretty clear that questioning the value of stories without messages is exactly what you are doing.
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Sep 14, 2013 10:49
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:Actually, I agree with all of those things. I stand by them. Perhaps I should have added "at least one overarching point or message", but I clarified that in a subsequent post. I even explained how mindless erotica follows the same concept of storytelling, which I take to be the transmission of ideas, emotions, experiences etc. It's not cherry picking if the quotes I picked made up the bulk of the first post that people criticised, and you can't dismiss it as cherry picking if you look at those quotes and say yes that's right that's exactly what I think. Like, if you in the same breath say "yes that's it exactly I think you need to have meaning behind your story because just saying 'I want to write a story' is rubbish", and then say "but stop quoting where I said that and disagreeing with it you big nitpicker", I'm really not sure what the acceptable way of engaging you in conversation is. "What I may have understood of your point?" You've wholeheartedly agreed that what I said is what you meant, don't be a pretentious dickhead and act like we just don't get your big ideas if we don't agree with you.
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Sep 14, 2013 13:57
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DukeRustfield posted:We as writers tend to view criticism as something that should be addressed. It is very difficult to shrug it off because we are emotionally invested. Put it this way, if you go up to just about any parent on the planet earth and say with absolute sincerity, "your kid is ugly," you are either going to be in a fight, hear an earful, or be dead. Their kid might indeed be ugly and there is nothing that the parent could have done to change that, but they will still defend their child. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the point you're making here, but it seems like you're suggesting that any review that comes to the conclusion that a piece of writing is bad should be assumed to be false. That's not what you're suggesting, is it? Because that would be a crazy thing to think.
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Oct 31, 2013 13:21
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lunatikfringe posted:1. Are there recommendations for/against the use of foul language in character dialogue? Such as it is OK to use occasionally, but too much cheapens the quality of the narrative? Or does its use in certain situations enhance realism? (Many people swear/curse/etc during those "Oh poo poo!" moments) Personally, I never use swear words ever ever. A couple of reasons. One is that I want my writing to appeal to a wider audience and cussin' automatically cuts out a bunch of potential readers. The other that I pretend is the 'primary' reason is that honestly I think cussin' is used too often as a shortcut for lazy writing. It becomes the one size fits all of dialogue. "Hmmm, I want to convey that my character is angry. I'll make him swear! Hmmm, he's hurt himself. React by swearing! OK, now I need to insult someone; I'll cuss him out!" Most of these things, I reckon, could be improved if you find ways to do this that don't involve cussing, because honestly swearing is not that interesting, in terms of dialogue. Some people like it though, whatevs.
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Jan 25, 2014 01:03
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ravenkult posted:On the other hand, actual real people swear all the time. Actual real people do and say a lot of things, but not all of them make particularly good reading.
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Jan 25, 2014 01:59
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ravenkult posted:It really depends on what you're writing about, but yeah, you'll be wanting to write about real people. Meth heads from Kentucky don't say ''frak.'' Meth heads from Kentucky can say whatever I want them to say if I'm writing the story. If I wrote a story containing Kentuckish... Kentucken? Kentuckesque? Anyway, if I had them in a story they would not cuss. I'd find ways for them to make their point without doing so. They probably wouldn't say frak either because it's not just meth heads who don't say that. neongrey posted:Really any word is bad if you overuse it needlessly. Didactically refusing to use swears under any circumstances is not going to do anyone's writing any good*. There are times when the word you need is 'gently caress'. That's not a scene I would write so I wouldn't need to use the same language. I wasn't saying no one should ever cuss in their writing, just that I pretty much never will, and some of the reasoning behind that. There will never be a time when that is 'the word' I need to use. I don't even believe there is any such thing as there being a certain word one needs to use in a certain situation. neongrey posted:That's a bit clinical for most times you're going to want to reach for the word, but it makes the point clear enough. Sometimes someone steps in poo poo, not poop, or doodoo, or feces, or excrement. Or sometimes they just wipe their foot off and turn their noses up and the reader figures out what happened. That's the way I'd do it.
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Jan 25, 2014 16:23
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You can be impolite without cussin'.
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Jan 25, 2014 17:17
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neongrey posted:Somehow I suspect your problem with overuse of a limited few incongruous words isn't really related to cursing. Sorry, I'm not really sure what you're saying. Are you mocking my repeated use of the word 'cuss' or variations thereof in a conversation about cussing? Is it because I'm saying cuss rather than curse? Should I mix it up, would you prefer that? Is it the dropped 'g'? No idea really what point you're trying to make here. Are you conflating posts on a messageboard with writing in a story?
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Jan 25, 2014 18:08
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Hmmm, don't agree at all. While it is certainly true that I enjoy the word cuss (it is a fun word) I also think it is true that if you are actually talking about the same thing, it's not particularly necessary to pull out your thesaurus and use a different word to refer to the thing every time. The problem that I think there is with
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Jan 25, 2014 18:26
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systran posted:If you have two characters in a fantasy novel named Zarthen and Al'an'ira who kiss each other, most readers are going to assume one of them is female unless you show otherwise. Also, if you have a person named Al'an'ira in a fantasy novel, the apostrophe police should arrest you.
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Mar 12, 2014 20:52
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Don't introduce your people that I've forgotten the word for now, just have them do stuff and it will be apparent eventually.
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Mar 13, 2014 14:31
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Soulcleaver posted:The comics are indeed well done but anyone who answers with anything but Dante's Inferno is a scrub. Well that's one perspective but I'm gonna go with 'The Bible'.
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Mar 14, 2014 07:13
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Opposing Farce posted:Actually dude's barely in that one. It's not so much about time on stage as what he does with his time there.
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Mar 14, 2014 13:58
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The first thing I would do is chuck a comma in after 'everywhere'. Then I'd think about maybe 'chopped down' or something like that instead of 'cut off'. Then I'd think about whose head that sentence seems to imply.
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Mar 18, 2014 12:47
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CB_Tube_Knight posted:This is a really simplistic question that I know has been asked before, but: Usually last. Unless I get STRUCK BY INSPIRATION part way through writing the story. (This doesn't generally happen to me.) I usually try to make up a terrible pun or similar literary thingie relating to the story.
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Mar 19, 2014 10:25
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CommissarMega posted:Does anyone have any idea on how to make a group of arrogant nobles even vaguely sympathetic? As in, they know what they're doing to the lower classes is wrong, but they think they're still somehow morally, socially and/or even genetically superior? I'm writing something else entirely, but for some reason this plot element is bugging the hell out of me, and I don't want to let it go lest I lose a grand idea in the making or something. I think I've located your problem, here in bold. If they think they are the peasants' betters, they probably think they are totally justified in oppressing them.
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May 6, 2014 12:34
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I dunno, you could maybe make certain members of this group more sympathetic by contrasting against members that are particularly large jerks. Is there a particular reason they believe themselves to be superior? Are we talking divine right, the fact that it just so happens to be a class based society and that's more or less how they roll, is a secret society brainwashing them? What's the reason they think this way?
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May 6, 2014 12:48
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I like semicolons so whatevs.
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May 25, 2014 17:09
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DivisionPost posted:And also, when Chillmatic posts like he did above, you listen. He's twice the motherfucker we aspire to be. What Chillmatic posted reads a lot like one of those auto generated insults and adds nothing to the thread. I regret the few seconds I wasted reading part of the first paragraph. Also hey Sithsaber I agree with the why don't you post some samples of writing that would be cool and good, OK thanks for reading, peeps.
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Jul 9, 2014 08:28
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Blue Star posted:Ive heard it said that you shouldn't write if you don't have anything to say. Sounds like something a dickhead would say IMO. Write things you think will be fun to read if you want.
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Aug 27, 2014 08:29
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Liam Emsa posted:If I want to devote a chapter to giving a historical background of a company, is that something I do in present tense? I'd say it's something you do in NEVER tense. I mean, maybe not never. But that's boring as hell. I'm not gonna read a chapter of historical background unless it's full of gang fights and murder.
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Sep 9, 2014 08:11
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Fake ocker done badly is the best, do this. Wallaby bilby sheila mate.
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Sep 28, 2014 14:38
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SurreptitiousMuffin posted:In the middle of a scene where a man abandons his dying wife so he can save the lives of his children, you chose to intentionally mis-spell the word 'Hollywood' why exactly? What is the humorous intent here? Dammit Muffin I know this post was from a page or so ago but how can you not see the joke Cache Cab was making. You wrote 'spell mistakes' instead of 'spelling mistakes' and Cache Cab was making a joke about how you couldn't possibly tell whether he had made mistakes with his spells, GOSH.
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Oct 10, 2014 07:02
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Every time I lost it was because those dumb domers didn't understand my genius, man. They just don't get it. I'll show them. I'll show them all.
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Oct 21, 2014 21:03
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This anti butts bias must be stopped.
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Oct 22, 2014 06:30
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The Hunger games is written in present tense and it works well there, IMO. Gives a good sense of immediacy.
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Nov 10, 2014 06:43
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Sometimes present tense just seems to fit the voice of whoever's telling the story, as well.
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Nov 10, 2014 07:16
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Don't spend that $5 right away though, just in case. I lost like three times in a month or something.
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Nov 11, 2014 07:08
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My personal opinion is as long as it is clear when you switch POVs, go hog wild. Have as many as you want.
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Dec 24, 2014 04:07
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You should write from the POV of the characters' penises, IMO. EDIT: Or boobs, or vaginas, obv. Chairchucker fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Dec 24, 2014 |
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Dec 24, 2014 04:31
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIN4tC5Zwx0
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Jan 26, 2015 08:43
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Just use the notes section of Facebook, and it will pop up in all your Facebook friends' feed.
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Feb 27, 2015 11:59
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 03:15 |
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Screaming Idiot posted:
No.
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Mar 1, 2015 22:02
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