What suggestions or advice would you give on writing a transformation story with the following elements? 1) Begin with a realistic situation: a...

In planning your transformation narrative, I would recommend beginning with the main character. Question lists can help flesh out aspects of the character, such as his or her physical characteristics, background, family, interests, and desires. I recommend the character questionnaires from Gotham Writers Workshop (https://www.writingclasses.com/toolbox/character-questionnaire). Make sure to give your character flaws because a perfect character is a boring character, but be careful not to make your character so flawed that he or she is unlikable. A successful story almost always depends on a likable protagonist. Otherwise, the reader will not care or be invested in what happens to the character.

Once you have a strong idea of who your character is, you can plan what object you want your character to become. Alternately, if you already have an idea of the object, you may want to start your planning there. Your character’s traits may develop around the object you choose. Either way, you will likely want to connect aspects of your character to the object he or she transforms into. For instance, a woman with a “prickly” personality who can’t get close to people could transform into a cactus. A narcissistic man could turn into a mirror, doomed to never really be seen by those who look at him. In these examples, the characters’ flaws are revealed by the object they become. If you choose this strategy, your transformation story could become a story of redemption. Through the character’s literal, physical transformation, aspects of their personality could also transform.

Your character’s transformation should be tied to his or her initial problem or conflict. The story’s plot development should bring the character to a point of revelation or understanding, leading to the resolution of the conflict. To return to our former examples, maybe the woman who turns into a cactus realizes the importance of human contact and intimacy. For the man who becomes a mirror, perhaps he experiences the joy of appreciating other people, rather than always seeking their approval. In some ways, every story is a transformation story. I hope you have fun writing yours!

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...

nouns - what do you call the person who passes the trophies to the prize giver/presenter?

The person who gives out the trophies to the winners are called award presenters. So what do u call the person who passes the trophies to the presenter? Thanks!

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.

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