I’m looking for examples of a scene that focuses on tiny details that builds an incredible picture in your head. I just read The Pearl by John Steinbeck and it took me to a world I’ve never been to but loved the detail in the story telling.

This list comes from 2021, but it's very long. Besides full funding, what should one consider in a grad school/MFA program before applying?

I'm having trouble deciding where and when I should use montage instead of just show the full scene

Like what are montages actually for cus im having trouble deciding if my montages are in the right place

I want to make the name of one of my countries, the witch country, an incantation that some non magical people refuse to say/ are afraid to say.

I just had the thought though, is this too similar to Voldemort :/ ‘he who shall not be named’ lol or an original enough idea to stand on its own? It’s not similar to Harry Potter or even the same genre at all, but now I’m worried this could derail a reader/ pull them out of the story

How much of a concern is having work stolen when posting on here? Has anyone had someone steal an idea/entire work from them after posting a sample on here? I’m interested in sharing sections of a screenplay on here but am afraid someone might inevitably steal something from me. Do yall think people in high places ever stumble on here to purposefully steal ideas from the public so that they don’t have to pay ppl? I know it sounds very conspiracy-theorist of me but I’m legit curious if anyone’s ever had to deal with something like that.

I really want to work on writing stories, probably fantasy stuff because I find that very cool (I'd also eventually like to get into making a short film but that's a whole different story) how do I go about starting a story because I have some rough ideas for a cool story but I feel really nervous to start, like I'm going to screw it up and the cool idea will be ruined. Not sure if this sounds ridiculous but any and all advice is appreciated, thank you :)

i have an idea for a story but need to know how long it takes to write a book and how many pages i should aim for

I'm working on a book where there is essentially a war between two sides. (Superhero-esque sci fi/science fantasy.) Before the narrative starts, their initially large number of members shrinks through each battle. By the time the narrative starts, the Good Guys have 12 people. The Big Bads have 16.

Both sides are intended to have characters the reader will sympathize with. The Good Guys are complicated people who are trying to right wrongs or process trauma by helping others. The majority of the members of the terrorist group headed by the Big Bad are victims of circumstance, lured or forced into working for the BB; they were basically children who followed the pied piper, or adults who had no one else to turn to.

By the end of the final battle, the Big Bads will have 4 survivors; the 12 casualties all come from this battle. The Good Guys will lose 3--one in the second act, the rest in this battle.

For me, as the writer, I feel like this will best represent and support the narrative themes woven throughout the book. However, I'm worried that these choices might piss off readers. I want to create the story in my head, but I also want to ensure some level of reader satisfaction.

Any thoughts or opinions on this would be appreciated.

Hello! I'm currently working on a novel and the main character has an attention-seeking disorder. Like RAD. Basically he had a traumatic childhood which led to him having the consent need of attention. He will manipulate, cry, act, and hurt, just to get the slightest of attention. I'm now starting the novel (and it's my first novel, yay!! :) ) and I want to depict his disorder! But I'm not sure how. Plus I'm starting it without the readers knowing who he is, to add mystery, so he is sometimes "The man" and sometimes "The other man". Anyway. If you want I have a first draft! This is only a piece of the first draft, where he had the outburst. Now again it is a FIRST-DRAFT. So I KNOW it's written badly! I just wrote it down, okay! Anyways!!! Here it is :)

(The first guy is the other dude in the room! The protagonist is the second talker!)

Draft of outburst:

“I-I don’t know what you mean...” The man retreated his eyes still fixed on the ground not even trying to make the slightest of eye content

“Bullshit. And what’s the deal with you eyeing the ground? Mm?”

“I’m just-”

“You just WHAT? LOOK ME IN THE EYES WHEN YOU ARE SPEAKING TO ME!” He yelled as he then kicked the other man with deadly precision precisely in the middle of his chest, where the ribs meet. The air in the other man’s lungs quickly escaped with a guttural wheeze. The man’s balance faltered as his weight shifted and he hit the hard floor. Shocked he was gasping for air

The satisfied man started to amble towards the beaten man on the floor

“So? Can you look me in the eyes while we have our little chat?”

He looked up. At his wicked eyes. Those... Those brown eyes filled with satisfaction at the pain they brought the man. Oh, the pain...

Is there a shorthand name for when an author keeps establishing a thing for too long or does it multiple times? I.e. When creepy rockstar implies they would bang a minor in their intro scene (which is enough and implicit anyhow), but then pages later the author feels the need for the rockstar to call out specific things they'd do. Or when a crooked cop is introduced as such, but instead of advancing the plot, author gives yet another example of their morality. WE GET IT, TIME TO MOVE ON WITH THE STORY.

I need this for a review purpose. How is this called? ''Redundancy'' isn't specific enough.

I bought the laptop that I’ve been putting off for a long time and sat down to write. (I’ve been writing off an on with my work computer and my cell phone over the last year)

I feel paralyzed with fear.

I am worried both that every moment I waste not writing I’m losing something, and at the same time, that I have nothing interesting to share.

I feel physically unable to write anything.

I start typing on my fiction draft and I don’t know what happens next.

I start typing on something about my life and I become frozen in fear that someone will someday read what I’m writing and feel bad. Then I think that I should try and fictionalize my memoir writing. Then I think I should just write it first and then worry about other people later.

Maybe I’ve fooled myself and I can never be a writer and nothing I write is worth writing anyway.

I don’t really know what to do. I don’t even know why I am posting here. I’ll probably get the same advice to write badly. But I CAN’T. I physically cannot commit to even writing badly for five minutes before I feel like throwing up.

I even just reread the first two chapters of my novel draft and I was blown away by how good it actually was. Or like, not horrible.

But I feel like I can’t do it.

Sorry for a long rambling post. Does anyone have any advice?

I have a journal I’ve been writing in for about ten years, and I’m planning on publishing it to a hardcover book so I can pass down my thoughts to my children.

While proofing old entries, I found some areas of my writing to be too verbose, and grammatically shotty.

Should I preserve all of the small nuances of my writing, or should I fix my mistakes (minimally), and if so, to what degree? This is supposed to be a reflection of who I was at any given time, so I don’t want to edit the entries so much that it sounds like my now-self is injecting edits into my ten-years-ago-self’s writing style.

So this is probably stupid and I know that but a couple months ago I came up with my idea for my book and some of the characters and basic plot, and I was really excited about it. Just the other day I read a book that was exactly what I wanted to write, different setting but when I read it it felt like I was reading the final product of my book. This book is now my favorite book but I still want to write mine, how do I do that when I know that a much better version already exists. I'm also worried that I'll steal from the book subconsciously now that I've read it, which will just make them even more similar

I love writing, I love everything to do with writing, but my absolute favorite is outlining and shaping the stories with lessons, changes, twists, character arcs.

I like the characters who are so diverse but change drastically through the book to become something opposite at the end.

The more I write, the more I fall in love with writing, the world building and the authentic but emotional adventure to pull the reader in.

I am a person who doesn’t have people in their lives to learn from so my vocabulary has gone down, my syntax is all over the place and I sometimes have grammar issues, but the stories I write pull in any reader, the dialogue I include and all the connected but mysterious twists I reveal little by little as the story shapes itself and being able to share my creative ideas through my work and present it to my readers, is all I have ever wanted.

The most rewarding to me is knowing my hard work goes far, readers appreciate stories/books that have a lot of thought put into it but not too much.

What about you? In your opinion what is the most rewarding and most grueling process when it comes to writing? I want to hear your thoughts.

Most of my funny fiction seems to come from Britain. Thinking Douglas Addams, Prachet, Gaiman. Christopher More or Tom Robbins are the only American authors that I can think of that fits the bill for what I’m thinking about.

so I have a character who needs to die young as part of his arc, and it also has to be in such a way that he knows he's going to die before it happens and has time to send voicemails about it. i was thinking some kind of illness but I don't know what. any ideas?

I want to write a story with 4-5 characters but I’m struggling with being able to keep them all distinct and not like blend in if that makes sense. Is it a good idea to write this many main characters?

I’m in a memoir writing group right now, and the feedback I’ve been getting is very eye-opening. What I have come to find in beginning to write my memoir is that I am extremely literary in my prose. I value beautifully written language in books that I read, and I tend to transfer this into my own writing. However, most people in my group tell me that my language needs to be cut down and I need more action. I totally understand that many people only have a certain attention span for descriptive writing, but I’m struggling to find a balance. It seems like the opposite problem than a lot of people have: I describe a scene TOO much, therefore lose the momentum. What are people’s feelings on this, in memoir specifically? Do you appreciate good writing, or do you just want the author to get on with the story? I think anyone can write a memoir, but not everyone can write one well. I adore Mary Karr’s writing, but modern memoirs seem to have much less narrative. Should flowery prose just be reserved for fiction? I’d like to see people’s opinions.

Due to the nature of the story, can a dead character (throughout the series) still belong with (/be considered as) the main characters? They may not be the protagonist but if their character is too important and actually moves the character, would it be possible?

Hi, I'm a novice writer that is writing a fantasy story. I'm trying to create a non binary character in my story, though I'm having problems, specifically with the pronouns and the vocabulary. Should I not use they/them pronouns and give up on the idea or try and adapt at the cost of the writing itself.

Hello,

I often write for work on technical topics to present to the leadership or managers. I also write for my blog.

But I don't like the texts I produce - they seem to be dry, with long sentences, and, generally, not exactly a pleasure to read. Is there something like a course (Udemy?) where I could learn some basics?

Thank you.

"Senjogahara is always alone reading a book in one corner of the classroom."

"Senjogahara is always in one corner of the classroom alone reading a book."

Which would be the better sentence? Or is the difference inconsequtnial? "Senjogahara is always in one corner of the classroom alone reading a book." is used in the book I'm reading but I would think the other line is better as it builds more intrigue as the reader questions 'why is this character in one corner of the classroom?' Or maybe the former sentence that's actually used in the book is better because it seems to flow better to me? I would be interested to hear others opinions on this.

When I self-published in late February I remember thinking it was a waste of time, and that nobody would actually like it. I think every writer goes through these stages when writing, editing, and trying to publish a book, where all they can think about is backing out and giving up. But the moment someone tells you that they love your book, or even when someone says it's their favourite book, all of the doubt goes away.

Trust me, writers. Publish your book. Write your story. Push yourself through times of doubt. Even apart from how many you sell or how much money you make, it'll all be worth it the moment a real person in the world reads it.

First let me say, I'm still in the first draft, but I'm also turning over the route I want to take this manuscript, whether indie publishing, traditional, or a persistent idea I've had it to release it on my own website myself, and do a serialization with the chapters.

I'm also aware that in the first draft stage a lot of this is waaay into the future, so maybe I'm getting ahead of myself wondering this.

But most times I've seen books that switch p.o.vs doing it chapter to chapter, and I've seen a few that have, say, three different characters p.o.v within the same chapter, marked by names.

Like for example in large letters "Will" goes for a few pages, then in large letters "Stacy" goes for a few pages, then "Ryan" and ends the chapter

I actually don't have a preference at all, which is why I'm thinking it might be simpler to do it the second way; but I'd like to know which you guys prefer when you write or read, or perhaps what advice you've been given on that kind of formatting?