The Overlook Hotel

2:31 AM

-1

Does anyone have a good plot suggestion for a children's fantasy? Maybe about a 13 year old girl in the 1500's. Anything will do.

Monica Cellio

@PaulA.Clayton, I made some changes to the "content" section but didn't move on to others. Let me know what you think when you have a chance.

Paul A. Clayton

1:17 PM

@MonicaCellio The following was composed outside of chat; it is a bit long.

@MonicaCellio The paragraph you added at the start of the "Content" section makes clear one problem that I am not entirely certain how to address: the proper combination of flowing text with list points. I like the content, and having a brief introductory paragraph for each of the three "aspect" sections may be appropriate; but, as it stands, the move to list format is excessively jarring.

The completeness statement added to the "relevant quotes" point is good, but since such is a more general point, it should probably be the primary bullet point (perhaps ideally with "relevant quotes" being one of several subpoints). Such would require a rewording of that sentence ("should" to "do") and of the "relevant quotes" sentence.

Including the "recommending books" subpoint in its parent point's text is appropriate as long as further subpoints are not found (a list of one entry is not a list).

The merging of the "additional resources" point into the "sufficient" point is good, but I plan to edit that last sentence moving "such complex questions" to the beginning.

The moving of the editing portion--and substantial expansion of the content--seem good. The appropriate tone of the subject (more counsel/encouragement than commands--not that the bullet points are absolute commands or exclude advice on application) fits the format. However, it revisits the issue of how flowing text and lists should work together for artistic excellence.

It might be appropriate for counsel (flowing text) and commands (lists) to be separated at the top level rather than at the section level. This would involve fewer (jarring) transitions. Placing the counsel at the end would have the advantage of first giving the "Law" and then giving the "Commentary" (and avoids the need to substantially rephrase the introduction).

However, as the length of the text portion grows, section headers might be needed for it as well, making the list sections less distinct. (Using a h1 header over the entire "Commentary" portion might properly separate the two parts of the answer and allow subsection headers to be used without disorientation.) OTOH, there is an attraction to having a summary/commentary at the end of each section.

As an initial guess, based on your text additions, it seems most appropriate to have a very short text piece at the start of each section and an extensive text at the end of each section. I am not entirely comfortable with this organization since the text content seems likely to have overlap and non-obvious assignment. A unified text could avoid repetition and would be more friendly to a less structured organization than lists.

Concerning additional content, a "provide examples" bullet point seems appropriate, but I am not certain whether such belongs under "Content" (it is adding content) or "Style" (it is a method of explanation). There should probably also be a point about not using a signature (I suspect there is also an answer-equivalent to the "Thanks in advance" of questions which should be avoided).

Since all SE sites could benefit from "What makes a good answer?" advice and a large portion of that advice is about writing, it would be right and proper for the answer for the Writers SE to be a worthy resource for other SE sites. The joy of excellence in your (plural) calling awaits.

Stack Exchange

2:02 PM

0

Q: Is it correct to use verbs like "sighed" and "laughed" as dialogue tags?

In other words, is it correct to write something like this: "Oh," he laughed. "Sorry, I'm not sure what's with me today." (Every time I see something like this, I think: "How is this peson laughing an talking at the same time? But other times seems OK for me. Strange.) as an shorter versio...

creative-writing dialogue

Monica Cellio

2:19 PM

@PaulA.Clayton, thanks for the extensive comments! Good stuff. I agree that the combination of text and bullet points is problematic; I wonder if we should write a text-only explanataion first and then a bullet-point summary (checklist)? That way the why is there for people to read, but for the "TL;DR - just tell me what to do" folks, we have a handy form for them.

I found myself reaching for subheadings (I'm not sure if Markdown supports that), too. One approach I've seen for the "big" FAQ-y posts on MSO is to use multiple answers, but I'm not sure we want to do that. Maybe, for each of the three sections, text first (possibly with subsections), checklist/summary at the end, and clear division before the next section (e.g. lines)? Just thinking out loud here.

Paul A. Clayton

@MonicaCellio OTOH, the TL;DR people would want the quick part first. BTW, subheadings are supported (the number of # marks), but they are not especially distinctive. WRT multilple questions, I was thinking that an editing question/answer could be helpful (and could extract some content from this answer).

Monica Cellio

Or, collect the bullet points at the end in one section, as you suggested.

@PaulA.Clayton I actually meant multiple answers to the same question, with the "question" post providing the linked TOC (including the TL;DR list, if we want to do it that way). Hang on while I find an example of what I mean.

Paul A. Clayton

Ah, that sounds like a very good solution.

Monica Cellio

72

Q: Moderator Cheat Sheet

As an alternative to the other FAQ format being fleshed out here on MSO, I'd like to propose something far more terse that covers the bare essential mechanics of being a moderator. Feel free to add more questions, but keep them short: this isn't the place to get into complex moderation issues, ...

support moderators moderator-faq

We would presumably want to remove the other two answers (that predated yours) after making sure their content is incorporated (I think it is already), then make the question CW (which will make future answers CW automatically).

Paul A. Clayton

@MonicaCellio That is a clever hacking of the Q&A format!

Monica Cellio

2:27 PM

@PaulA.Clayton it is. :-)

@PaulA.Clayton, would you like to take a stab at restructuring along the lines we're discussing? (You can make new answers and hold off deleting the originals until you know it'll work.)

Paul A. Clayton

@MonicaCellio I could make a first attempt at that later. I will be leaving the computer soon. (I did make a few edits of the answer a little while ago; nothing substantial, however.) I shall return (God willing). (leaving chat)

Monica Cellio

@PaulA.Clayton sounds good! I'm at work now, so I wouldn't get to it until later either. Take care & see you soon, God willing.

Stack Exchange

3:56 PM

0

Q: Wait for the results of writing contest or try other means

I submitted the manuscript of my first, never yet published, novel to a big writing contest whose outcome will only be revealed in December, and may lead to a publishing. Now, I'm unsure of what to do next: just wait, hire an agent, and/or submit the manuscript to other publishers as well. If ...

publishing agent publisher

Hemant

4:29 PM

what is the difference in these two sentences ?

1 . John is proud TO HAVE SERVED his country.

2. John is proud TO SERVED his country.

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