As a reader of fiction (especially if you're a devotee of
speculative fiction), how much do you like detailed descriptions and/or lists as part of the story? What if the story switches between detail and expediency?
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posted by batmonkey
on Dec 28, 2012 -
12 answers
I would like to read some non-linear books. Could you recommend titles and authors to me?
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posted by tnygard
on Dec 13, 2012 -
28 answers
What's the word for the re-deployment of a story element (character, object, motif, action) that was introduced earlier in the narrative?
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posted by dontjumplarry
on Oct 22, 2012 -
15 answers
Please recommend books that are similar to 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' (not just ones about autism).
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posted by fix
on Aug 29, 2012 -
22 answers
I want to learn about baseball. I've been able to crack basketball and football, but not baseball. What should I read? What should I watch? Who should I pay attention to?
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posted by kortez
on Apr 16, 2012 -
39 answers
Virtue ethics filter: I'm looking for some good research that shows a connection in ancient thought between narrative and emulating virtuous models for moral development. That is, what was the understood or pragmatic relationship between story telling and becoming like those who the stories portrayed? Any suggestions?
posted by SpacemanStix
on Feb 8, 2012 -
5 answers
Is there a single word for finding pleasure in well done formulaic stories not because they are doing something new or even being particularly clever, but because they hit the notes well, manage the tropes, and deliver what they promise?
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posted by The Whelk
on Jan 22, 2012 -
34 answers
What are some books or movies where the story is essentially told backwards? Ideally, ones that put a big initial event at the end of the narrative.
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posted by gottabefunky
on Dec 19, 2011 -
51 answers
I need to write narrative history for this paper. And I have no idea how. If you have tips for writing narrative or telling stories in general and narrative history in particular, those would be most appreciated!
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posted by kingfishers catch fire
on Nov 28, 2011 -
5 answers
I'm looking for stories (long or short) with self-aware robots or digital intelligences that are neither merciless killers of humanity/their makers nor effective slaves (created and forced to perform labor, either through laws or through programming). Ideally neither of those things would figure into their history, either. It'd be best if the constructed-people were the protagonists or main focus of the story, but this is not required.
posted by curious nu
on Oct 5, 2011 -
26 answers
What is the best forum in the United Kingdom for lengthy, in-depth narrative journalism, as exemplified in the United States by the New Yorker? I am aware of the New Statesman, the Spectator, and Prospect, but in my limited experience these seem more narrowly focused on current affairs and politics.
posted by EtTuHealy
on Jul 4, 2011 -
8 answers
Help me construct a typology of fictional (but familiar) technological epochs -- along with the genre-conventions and stock-elements that characterize each.
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posted by foursentences
on Jun 28, 2011 -
7 answers
I'm trying to come up with the name of a short story I read eight or ten years ago. It is a first-person narrative of the domestic life of a cynically detached man who lives with his wife and kid.
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posted by churl
on Jun 4, 2011 -
2 answers
How can I find out who invested in certain movies and how much they invested? I am trying to find out where the product placements are coming from in movies. Right now I'm working on Wayne Wang's 'Smoke', but also want to find this kind of information for other films.
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posted by Knigel
on Nov 8, 2010 -
11 answers
I'm a professional screenwriter interested in breaking into video games. I want to know more about videogame story telling. Aside from playing a bunch of games, which I'm doing, what should I read?
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posted by musofire
on Mar 28, 2010 -
14 answers
Innovative Books: I am looking to compile a list of the most innovative uses of the book format. Books that break the mould in their layout and design, perhaps books that use online systems to extend their content value or push their form into new places. I am most interested in narrative and theory, but any book that is interesting (artist books etc.) would be really appreciated.
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posted by 0bvious
on Nov 1, 2009 -
29 answers
Help me brainstorm! I need a story about a person who has an uninspiring job but does it in a way that makes a difference people's lives.
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posted by Pater Aletheias
on Sep 16, 2009 -
28 answers
Looking for multi-threaded narratives in film and video games, such as
Pulp Fiction or
Go.
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posted by ga$money
on Sep 11, 2009 -
51 answers
Please recommend some smart, nifty-looking, story-heavy Xbox360 games for an relatively artsy, overly cerebral, 30-something newbie.
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posted by palmcorder_yajna
on May 8, 2009 -
22 answers
What is the name for the narrative technique whereby you start in media res in the middle of the story and then jump back to the beginning to tell the story in a nromal linear fashion?
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posted by ninebelow
on May 8, 2009 -
17 answers
What is the first example, some of the earliest examples, or some of the best examples of the "Club Story" narrative cliche?
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posted by LucretiusJones
on Apr 28, 2009 -
15 answers
Is it possible to write a story with no hint whatsoever of any other being but one?
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posted by dnial
on Apr 23, 2009 -
22 answers
Please tell me of good novels you have read where the story all takes place in one day.
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posted by jammy
on Mar 23, 2009 -
34 answers
I'm looking for narratives (books, movies, games) in which the protagonist is dead, dying or unconscious, and discovers they are not in the 'real' world at all, but Hell, heaven, purgatory, a coma, a nightmare, memory, or similar. Examples which contain spoilers below the fold.
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posted by unSane
on Mar 28, 2008 -
63 answers
I'm looking for fictional intragenerational incest narratives -- books, film, television, etc. -- in which the relationship is presented as a tragic love, doomed to failure. I'm not interested in the probably more common (and more realistic) pure trauma narratives. The relationship need not necessarily be physically consummated.
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posted by nobody
on Mar 25, 2008 -
49 answers
I am interested in the mimetic and narrative capacities of
artefacts, how cultural remnants transmit information through time and how meaning is translated once an artefact is re-appropriated or examined from a new perspective. I have several avenues of study at the moment (a list in extended explanation), but would like some more ideas. Areas of critical theory, linguistics, evolutionary psychology and poetics are all relevant.
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posted by 0bvious
on Jan 27, 2008 -
12 answers
What are some famous stories that don't have a proper ending, like the series finale of the Sopranos?
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posted by lunchbox
on Oct 23, 2007 -
62 answers
New York Creative Writing/Critical Theory PHD: I am currently undertaking an MA in Creative Writing and Critical Theory in London, and plan to go on to PHD after I finish. I would ideally like to go to an East coast USA/New York university to do this (for several reasons). I'd like some help with finding a good list of possible institutions...
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posted by 0bvious
on Oct 16, 2007 -
26 answers
I'm looking for scholarly research and writing on the topic of experience mediated through recording devices, with an emphasis on cell-phone still/video cameras, point-and-shoots, etc -- casual, frequent media gathering activities performed by nonprofessionals in support of blogging and other personal storytelling.
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posted by Alterscape
on Mar 26, 2007 -
4 answers
English majors? I'd like to read about how elements of narrative are categorized and labeled
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posted by nanojath
on Dec 19, 2006 -
9 answers
Do you have any recommendations for solid creative non-fiction magazine columns or the like?
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posted by loiseau
on Dec 5, 2006 -
4 answers
Can anyone point me in the direction of stories involving specific battles of Greenpeace, (and Greenpeace members?) I'm also interested in stories involving Greenpeace splinter groups.
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posted by np312
on Nov 6, 2006 -
2 answers
Examples of movies, books, where the narrator lies to the audience as they tell their story?
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posted by scallion
on Sep 10, 2006 -
63 answers
Web Drama Filter: I liked
Broken Saints. What else would I like? ( I'm not looking for web comics so much as long-form dramatic pieces, with sound, 2D and 3D animation and possibly video.) Is there anything else out there using the web as a platform for viewing and distribution?
posted by chocolatepeanutbuttercup
on Jan 23, 2006 -
3 answers
Fiction usually comes in two flavours: 1st person narrative or 3rd person description.
What short stories or novels have been written in
2nd person perspective (i.e. from the reader's viewpoint)? Also, are there any movies shot entirely from this angle?
posted by 0bvious
on Jan 17, 2006 -
63 answers
Are there any approved U.S. patents in which the patent application is itself an instantiation of the patented invention?
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posted by nobody
on Nov 4, 2005 -
1 answer
