Hannah

Here’s a ‘poem’ of sorts I wrote a while back. Most of the lines just came to me as I was knitting. I don’t know if there is any proper pattern, but the rhythm seems to work.

Two Gifts

Two gifts there were
Given to man.
The first can be taken
But not given.
The second can be given
But not restored.

Many think of the first as white
And the…[Read more]

Show the reader why the bad guy is doing what he’s doing. If the reader understands that, then they will feel for him, even though what the man does may be bad. Take Rumple in Once Upon A Time. He is very bad…he’ll kill people who go against him without a thought and has intricate plans and curses; and yet you discover that he’s doing this to…[Read more]

Yes— exactly. Of course you need some details— give the readers a starting point, and guide them throughout as you would with any other scene, but my point is you don’t have to take every agonizing turn of the rack, every sizzle of the branding iron, or every snap of the lash in slow motion. That is conducive to nothing but stomachaches.

And…[Read more]

Yes. Definitely. Chewy’s body language is very good. In fact it’s probably better he didn’t speak. Then words don’t get in the way of whatever emotion he’s trying to get across.
If he had confessed he was worried about Han out in the freezing snow instead of moaning softly and bowing his head against one of the Falcon’s ladders, we would have had…[Read more]

Wow, Sarah that’s… that’s… I like that. It’s not exactly a poem, but it’s not exactly anything else. It’s very unique.

The only thing I would suggest has nothing to do with the rhythm of the poem. In fact I’m only nitpicking, so feel free to ignore me. All through the poem I was going, ‘wow, this is great, this is so insightful— I feel like…[Read more]

Well I’m not exactly the kind of person who enjoys reading something that terrifying, at least not that terrifying in a dark, spine chilling, twisted sort of way. So… I don’t have a ton of ideas on this.

But… you did mention torture. I’m not big into graphic details of anything disgusting, but that doesn’t mean I’m against having anything…[Read more]

Hey you may have it there, Mark. Good analysis.

That was another thing I liked about Star Wars— even the characters who didn’t speak (whistle, gurgle, bleep bleep, and Gah! don’t count as speaking, at least not in my book) had personalities. They weren’t just droids or wookiees— they were people, even if they weren’t.

Doesn’t that make all…[Read more]

They hover using magnetic technology…

You could also get the same result using cats with pieces of buttered bread tied to their backs. Since buttered bread always lands butter side down, and cats always land on their feet, the two opposing forces would create a single hovering entity, each force struggling for the mastery, and each unable to…[Read more]

@kate-flournoy, @a-knight-of-the-prince Self-driving/hover cars, already done. 🙂 I call them Trans or P-Trans (short for Personal Transport). They all contain chips that interconnect with all the other Trans and so prevent accidents (normally). They hover using magnetic technology and so there are rails embedded into the road. Which makes it…[Read more]

@kate-flournoy, @a-knight-of-the-prince Self-driving/hover cars, already done. 🙂 I call them Trans or P-Trans (short for Personal Transport). They all contain chips that interconnect with all the other Trans and so prevent accidents (normally). They hover using magnetic technology and so there are rails embedded into the road. Which makes it…[Read more]

If you critique a book while reading it.

All. The. Time.

Well do it then!

See, I know what you mean, having just finished the book, and for a great deal of the story I almost felt that the Count himself was the villain. My feelings of pity were more strongly invested with de Villefort than with the Count, because the Count was, as you said, thirsting, we might even say lusting, after vengeance. But…[Read more]

Good stuff, @kate-flournoy! 1 especially. That’s the thing that in my mind that tip the villain scales to frightening.
The quote was from Josephine Tey’s book, “The Singing Sands”. The speaker is Inspector Alan Grant, one of the most awesome MCs of all time. There are actually a few other observations on villainy and such in The Daughter of Time,…[Read more]

Good stuff, @kate-flourney! 1 especially. That’s the thing that in my mind that tip the villain scales to frightening.
The quote was from Josephine Tey’s book, “The Singing Sands”. The speaker is Inspector Alan Grant, one of the most awesome MCs of all time. There are actually a few other observations on villainy and such in The Daughter of Time,…[Read more]

Oh my, what a deep question! We could spend years dissecting this one thing, but I’ll spare you the ordeal of everything I could find to say on this subject. 😛

A few things that raise red flags in my mind are as follows:

1. Does the person disregard the taking of life as a necessary part of living? Even hardened warriors do not slay for…[Read more]

You know you’re a writer when just the two words ‘novel’ and ‘idea’ make you cringe, because you already have way too many of them and are swamped as it is.

I’m going to share a quote from a book that really helped me with my villain.

“I find vanity repellent. As a person I loathe it, and as a policeman I distrust it.”

“It’s a harmless sort of weakness,” Tad said, with a tolerant lift of a shoulder.

“That is just where you are wrong. It is the utterly destructive quality. When you say van…

[Read more]

I only include things I can explain, or are somewhat based on present technology. Actually, a couple of my things I’ve actually seen as “Possible future inventions” in popular mechanics. AFTER I WROTE THEM. I was freaking out.
My big technology leap was robotic suits with gadgets outfitted for the military. It’s still a prototype, so there are a…[Read more]

Heh-heh… yeah.