| Subject | Date Asked | Expert |
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| Query Letter for Competitions | 11/17/2009 | Cathy Clamp |
Q: Hey, I am currently trying to send some stories to Writer's Digest for their short story ...
A: Faythe! You might be confusing "cover letter" with "query letter." For short story competitions, ...
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| murder mystery | 11/8/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: What is the best way to start a murder mystery
A: There is no "best" way to start a murder mystery. What's most important in a mystery--or any written ...
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| publication of a short essay | 10/4/2009 | Cathy Clamp |
Q: I have a short essay about my father (WWII veteran who is suffering from dementia and Parkinson's ...
A: Liane! There are a lot of places to publish short essays, both in print and in online e-zines. The ...
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| really need help | 10/4/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: tiny strands of hair, extremely weird scaly skin, 7 rotting teeth that are wonky, extremely strong, ...
A: Chelsie! Your monster sounds crazy! :) How about this: Your monster is super ugly and scary, but ...
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| Humorous Short Story | 10/3/2009 | Cathy Clamp |
Q: Gosh, I can't believe I found you! I am currently attending university, with a journalism major, ...
A: Sarah! While I'd love to read every story that people ask me to, I simply can't. I'd do nothing ...
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| Question on writing prose | 10/1/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: I apologize ahead of time if my question is too broad. For the past few years, I've been writing ...
A: I can understand why your prose might be jarring if you've been writing screenplays. I think I would ...
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| online magazines. | 9/30/2009 | Brian Lawrence |
Q: I was wondering: would online magazines be looked upon as greater or lesser than print publications ...
A: Demetrius, Create a section on your resume called "Publications" and list the published story using ...
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| Publishing | 9/29/2009 | Cathy Clamp |
Q: I have written a short story ,which is kind of my personal experience and its not more than 7 to 8 ...
A: Arun! It's hard to tell how long your story is, because so much depends on how it's formatted. It ...
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| online magazines. | 9/28/2009 | Brian Lawrence |
Q: I was wondering: would online magazines be looked upon as greater or lesser than print publications ...
A: Demetrius, First, editors rarely care where else you've been published. It's just something for ...
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| My short story | 9/24/2009 | Susan Rand |
Q: Greetings. Basically,I am writing a short story about a group of outcast children, all of whom have ...
A: I think you have come up with an interesting idea for your story. To answer your questions: 1. ...
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| revision | 9/23/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: I got your point. Seeing the lack of tension, I put in a new paragraph and deleted the old. ...
A: Oh, sorry. I could have sworn someone named Demetrius sent me a story (sci-fi) a while ago for ...
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| revision | 9/22/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: I got your point. Seeing the lack of tension, I put in a new paragraph and deleted the old. ...
A: I don't think you should hang everything you do on my every word. You are the writer. You need to ...
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| short story collections - length | 9/18/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: I'm wondering if there is a mininum length for a new book of collected short stories which agents ...
A: I don't know this for sure in all cases, but my guess is that publishers aren't too concerned with ...
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| revision | 9/17/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: I got your point. Seeing the lack of tension, I put in a new paragraph and deleted the old. ...
A: Your voice in the first paragraph is MUCH better than before...it's natural and I am interested in ...
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| Flash Fiction | 8/28/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: you said you would be happy to critique one of my stories. This is a short flash fiction piece. When ...
A: The Products WE BEGAN (why caps here?) shop class in blank-white aprons and finished it with ...
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| Can you help my jumbled thoughts? | 8/22/2009 | William Sternman |
Q: I am a young writer who dreams to have a career as a successful author. I've been told that I am ...
A: If all you want to do is be a successful writer, I can't help you. I can only advise you on ...
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| theme of story | 8/8/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: I just got an idea for another short story, a Twilight Zone type. What's bugging me a bit is that ...
A: I wouldn't worry about that. Just write the story! Don't edit yourself and just write. If you can ...
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| Writing currency in dialogue | 7/18/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: What are the guidelines for writing currency in dialogue? Example: "They vary from fifty thousand ...
A: It depends on the style of the publisher. Many publishers have their own in-house styles that can ...
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| Cutting long stories down | 7/18/2009 | William Sternman |
Q: for some have said I make my friends jealous because I can write over 100 pages singlespaced and ...
A: If you’re writing a short story, you should delete everything that doesn’t carry the story ...
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| Help Me | 7/16/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: Can you help me please?
A: Magazines, both literary and general, publish short stories. There are publishers that also publish ...
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| Help Me | 7/16/2009 | William Sternman |
Q: I like to write short stories but I don't how to get them published or where to get them published. ...
A: My advice is keep on writing until you're sure your stories are worth publishing. Show them to ...
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| Selling Short Stories | 6/29/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: My daughter has started writing short fiction stories she is nearly 11 years old but i think her ...
A: John, I hope I can help. She could start by submitting her stories to magazines that accept stories ...
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| Copywriting?? | 5/25/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: This may sound like a ridiculous question or two but nonetheless I shall still ask! I belong to an ...
A: Your questions are not at all ridiculous! There is a lot of confusion regarding copyright. I am not ...
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| Stuck .... and frustrated about it, too | 5/22/2009 | Cathy Clamp |
Q: Ok ... I started this story back in my sophomore year of high school, in 2005. (Since then, it's ...
A: Caren! I saw your question in the pool and it struck a cord with me. Well, not with *me* per se, ...
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| An Opening... | 5/8/2009 | Pat |
Q: Greetings and thank you in advance! Wonder if you could comment on this opening to a short story. I ...
A: ..and thanks for using AllExperts Overall you're opening paragraphs are very well done. I really ...
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| i need to publish my novels | 3/20/2009 | Brian Lawrence |
Q: how can i guarantee that my stories wont be stolen through the internet ?
A: Rozy, Don't put them on the Internet. And send only to reputable publishers and agents. There is ...
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| Cheating? | 3/20/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: Well what is your definition of cheating,you don't have to answer? ANSWER: My definition of ...
A: I don't think that example is cheating. You were just repeating an answer that the class had already ...
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| Cheating? | 3/17/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: Well can I ask you just one more question really quick? ANSWER: Is this a joke? ---------- ...
A: I asked if this is a joke because you have asked me a number of similar questions about the same ...
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| Cheating? | 3/17/2009 | Brian Lawrence |
Q: Well I have another question.We were going over a paper in class and the girl beside me wanted to ...
A: Yes, your motivation was to avoid confrontation. This isn't always bad, but if it leads to further ...
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| Office 2007 re: writing short stories | 3/16/2009 | Cathy Clamp |
Q: I am trying to figure out how to set up MS Word 2007 for short story writing. Word 2003 and previous ...
A: James! I saw your question in the question pool, so I thought I'd try to help out. Here's what you ...
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| Cheating? | 3/14/2009 | Brian Lawrence |
Q: Well I have another question.We were going over a paper in class and the girl beside me wanted to ...
A: You need to follow your own conscience. If you think it's cheating and are uncomfortable doing it, ...
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| Cheating? | 3/12/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: Well I was taking a spelling test the other day and the guy behind me kept saying the answers to me ...
A: I don't know. Should he? I think you should ask your teacher about it. I won't be answering any ...
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| Cheating? | 3/10/2009 | Cathy Clamp |
Q: Well I was taking a spelling test the other day and the guy behind me kept saying the answers to me ...
A: The easiest thing to do would be to sit on an end row and ask a couple of friends to sit behind and ...
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| Cheating? | 3/8/2009 | Cathy Clamp |
Q: Well I was taking a spelling test the other day and the guy behind me kept saying the answers to me ...
A: CGLLR! If you got up and moved during the test, no doubt the teacher noticed. I don't know whether ...
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| Cheating? | 3/8/2009 | Susan Rand |
Q: Well I was taking a spelling test the other day and the guy behind me kept saying the answers to me ...
A: I am sorry to be late with this, but I did not get a notification. So long as you were adhering to ...
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| Need help with defining personality | 3/7/2009 | Susan Rand |
Q: So I have a main character, and she's the star of several disconnected sci-fi action stories I'm ...
A: This is a difficult question to answer in the space I have here. You have the right idea with "a ...
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| hemmed in/idea of the fool | 2/6/2009 | Cathy Clamp |
Q: Your last answer was very helpful. Thank you for it. My next question is a kind of continuatiuon of ...
A: Luke! Honestly, you're starting to get into questions I just can't answer. I'm not a songwriter and ...
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| questions | 2/5/2009 | Cathy Clamp |
Q: I cannot figure out some of the things this guy is talking about.Maybe you could help me? Bono from ...
A: Luke! Well, I'll give it my best shot, anyway. The only REAL way to know what he meant is to ask ...
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| writer block | 1/27/2009 | Susan Rand |
Q: I have been writing short stories for a number of years, now I find myself suffering from severe ...
A: I would suggest you use keywords to spur youself on. Sit quietly and think about what you want to ...
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| Book idea | 1/26/2009 | Samantha Prust |
Q: I have a book idea about teaching beginning writers on how to write in the style of their favorite ...
A: Enzo, Your book idea sounds interesting. Whether or not a publisher would publish it has nothing to ...
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