10
votes
Accepted
Answering my own questions
Answering your own question is great! There's a whole official blog post dedicated to this: It's OK to Ask and Answer Your Own Questions.
Most of all, it's useful to people in exactly the same ...
- 28k
7
votes
Accepted
Are questions about the anatomy of existing works off topic?
Yes, questions about existing literature are off-topic on Writing.SE
Taken from the Help Center, specifically the topic What topics can I ask about here?:
On the other hand, these kinds of ...
- 5,586
7
votes
How can we make questions look less opinion-based?
There are a few questions here I'd consider inter-related, but distinct:
Are pure "Can I Do--" questions on-topic, even if the answer is invariably "Sure, why not, if you do it well".
Can we outline ...
- 28k
7
votes
Accepted
Question extensions. Should I ask each extension as new question?
According to my limited experience here, being specific is better than being broad in most cases. The only exception to this rule is critique requests, that are of course off topic.
What should be ...
4
votes
Is this question fit for Writing SE or EL&U?
It fits better on EL&U
Disclaimer: I am not active on EL&U and not 100% certain on their guidelines.
If I saw this question on Writing.SE I would vote to close as off-topic. One of our off ...
linksassinMod
- 4,058
4
votes
What are the guidelines for asking for a critique of my work?
Important:
Policy change: critique questions are now off-topic
As of November 2014. See the explanation there for how to ask on-topic questions about your own writing. Bottom line: Ask the core ...
- 21.3k
4
votes
Accepted
Definition Words
If a question does not, in its present form, fit the requirements of the site we're considering migrating to, then we should put it on hold until it can be fixed. If we migrate something that doesn't ...
- 21.3k
3
votes
Does it matter if I have more questions than answers?
This community is has much more of a lack of good questions than of good answers. So having more questions than answers is actually a net gain for the community.
3
votes
Accepted
Question About File Format Differences On-Topic?
We allow questions about choosing tools for writing (so long as it's primarily a writing question and not a software question), so I think a question about choosing file formats would be similar. Be ...
- 21.3k
3
votes
Are questions about the anatomy of existing works off topic?
I think some of those questions can be valid, to an extent. The three act structure is derived from existing stories, and identifying where beats occur in "Lord of the Rings" vs the movie "The ...
- 91k
2
votes
Accepted
Is this question fit for Writing SE or EL&U?
This question should be on English Language & Usage and not on Writing.
It's not about writing. It's information that might be useful to a writer, but then is information from a wide variety of ...
1
vote
When discussing fiction, should there be more effort to clarify and/or acknowledge the writer's overall goals?
I think this is valuable advice, and we can certainly link to this meta post when applicable. Keeping one's audience in mind is always a good idea.
- 9,334
1
vote
Accepted
Are questions about sources or references for help book editing acceptable?
Questions asking for resources are on topic here. However, you're better off asking a specific question about an editing problem you have. The are not answerable and are what the Stack Exchange Q&...
- 9,334
1
vote
Suggestions for making a question about how to ask for good non-professional criticism?
First: Just ask questions. There is no shame in getting a question closed. We still can improve it when it was asked.
Second: Too broad. People are too different. Which works for one has catastrophic ...
- 14.7k
1
vote
Accepted
Asking for non-English websites recommandations
Questions and answers on Writers.SE are expected to be in English. However, the scope of those questions and answers is worldwide and multi-lingual; we are not limited to questions about work that ...
- 21.3k
1
vote
Is asking to compare one aspect of two different works in regards to writing an acceptable question?
Questions about literary analysis are off-topic, but if your question is "how do I write in this style?" you could ask that. Answers will likely then offer some analysis of the style you're trying to ...
- 21.3k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible