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    As a reader, what is your attention span tolerance for the minimum and maximum number of sentences in a paragraph?

    Honestly it depends on the nature of the story and skill of the storyteller. I've seen some great descriptive sections that were two or three paragraphs long, but each paragraph took up a huge chunk of a page - and then had short paragraphs used very effectively. This mix seems easiest in comedy...
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    Ten year olds are not toddlers!

    SIMPLE not STUPID. Understanding that difference is what made The Incredible Hulk a compelling character in his older stories (he is not stupid, but he has the intellect of a child... but the power of a god); more recent ones found ways to balance his character out or even let Banner be in...
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    Writing How tolerant are you of whether the scene elements should be showing or telling?

    Depends on the author's skill. Sometimes, telling bogs down the story while showing lets things keep moving, other times it works the other way around. A skilled author can learn when it is best to show or to tell and use that to control pacing and other scene elements. A novice author will do...
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    Writing Multiple POV vs. Single POV: Which fiction do you prefer to read as a reader, and which fiction do you prefer to write as an author?

    Depends on the needs of the story whether reader or writer. If the story needs the multiple points of view, then they should be there. Sometimes it is fun to get inside the villain's head or to watch what side characters are doing, if it helps advance the plot - but other times, it is just a...
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    Have you ever gotten stuck on a specific writing style?

    The weirdest "person" I've encountered was in E. R. Eddings The Worm Ouroboros - it starts with a SECOND person prologue, dragging the reader in as an observer, with a weird transition in the second chapter to introduce the main character, but it maintains a level of separation from said...
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    How many levels of administrative division should an interstellar nation have?

    Whatever the author feels comfortable with. I kind of liked the model Christopher Stasheff built for Escape Velocity and the Warlock books (The Warlock in Spite of Himself, The Warlock Unlocked, King Kobold Revived, et. al.). Essentially you have a central government with agents on every...
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    Do you love every story you write equally?

    I don't even love all my CHARACTERS equally... And some of the ones I really like I do nasty stuff to... so, maybe it's better that way...
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    Have you ever gotten stuck on a specific writing style?

    I keep hearing that but most of the people I know offline who do any writing beyond what was required in school started in third person because that was what they'd read and knew. I found it harder to transition to first person at first. Now I just occasionally forget which voice I'd been...
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    Have you ever gotten stuck on a specific writing style?

    My bigger problem is accidentally slipping into or out of first person in a third person story or vice versa.
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    Writing If your protagonist lived in the real world, what nationality might your protagonist be?

    In Between Earth and Pyrroth, the initial batch of MCs are one Canadian (who spent 1/3 of her life there before moving to the US, spending two years in the Philippines and then returning to the US), one non-terrestrial from an independent City State on another world (who would probably be from...
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    Writing Prompt THE SCRIBBLE HUB CREATION MYTH

    One day the High Tony of Tonyland had a vision - a vision to create a web site where authors could come together to share their work and discuss other things. That sight was NovelUpdates.com so I have no idea where this site came from.
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    Superpowers 101!

    The ability to swap quirks around. Not with myself = any other two people's quirks, just "Poof" now they have each other's ability, instead of their original one. Lasts until I swap two others around.
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    Do you ever ‘cast’ your characters?

    Actually, there was a time when I did consider casting characters, but my own Jack Diamond story convinced me I shouldn't - you see, I had someone offer to read chapters of books free of charge so he could show off his recording set-up and get some voice acting experience. When he read the...
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    Writing Outlining: How Do?

    I think shoe-horning is correct in this context.
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    Setting up Mystery novels is harder than I thought

    I've tried writing a lot of genres over the years, and found mystery to be one of the hardest. You have to write it like an onion, peeling off layers and sometimes revealing something completely different underneath... and always have the "core story" in mind as you go. Good luck (and writing...
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    From Cheerleader To Werewolf Queen!

    Why not? (Was kind of thinking of the movie But I'm a Cheerleader!)
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    From Cheerleader To Werewolf Queen!

    Typically, people mauled by werewolves heal within 24 hours. "It must be the drugs," I thought. "I'm hallucinating, that's what it is." The hospital room was as stark and ugly as always. God, I hated hospitals. That stupid stuffed Huskie - yeah, it said it was a wolf but, that was the drugs...
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    Character Jumping

    To avoid this, write in first person... Well, even in True Blue, though, I have jumped between father and child - and had one planned arc told by a guest character, so this is not a perfect option... And the Jack Diamond books had one planned installment where he's in a coma for most of the...
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    How long does it take you to write 2500 words?

    It varies wildly. On my more productive days, I generally pull a thousand words an hour, give or take, but some weeks I barely hit 2000 for the week. Went with 3 to split the difference and see the results.
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    Question blind protagonist

    Ah - I think Red Dragon was the one I couldn't remember.
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