Josiah DeGraaf

Thanks for jumping in, @graciegirl! 🙂 Yes, normally we ask people to email us with their username info since we don’t have the technology yet to automatically add premium students to the private section of the forum. However, because you posted here, I was able to quickly add you to that forum section. The links should all work now, and you…[Read more]

@sleepwalkingmk Yep–literature can be very powerful in that way by helping a reader look at an issue from a new perspective. Knowing what it looks or feels like in other works is a great first step to doing the same thing in your own works!

@graciegirl Nice job. That looks like a great pairing. When I first read through it, my worry was that answers 2 & 3 and then 1 & 4 both looked kind of similar, but reading through them again, I can see the distinctions you’re drawing there. As long as those distinctions remain clear in your head throughout the book that should work out great!…[Read more]

@graciegirl Yeah–it will get easier the more practice you have at doing this with films and books, but some stories are still tough to analyze in this way!

I haven’t read “The Little White Horse,” so my ability to contribute helpfully here is going to be a bit limited. However, from what you said, it could be that the FQ is something like “What…[Read more]

Welcome to the site, @graceofspades2017! Great to see another fantasy lover. Haven’t read Wingfeather Saga yet, but it’s on my reading list for this summer!

Welcome to the site, @graceofspades2017! Haven’t read Wingfeather Saga yet, but it’s on my reading list for this summer!

@graciegirl Yep–been there, done that myself! And I agree. Sometimes you can get away with stories that have little meaning if the story itself is really well-executed (Force Awakens would fall into that camp for me), but even then, it only works because it has some meaning, and 9 times out of 10, the story would be improved if themes were more…[Read more]

@sleepwalkingmk Looks like you’re at the right place then if that’s your goal. 😉 Being able to spot it in books is a great first step. That should help you make a lot of good connections as you move through the course and can compare what you learn here to what you’ve seen in those books.

Welcome to the site @mariposa! Awesome artwork. :O And I love the Spurgeon quotes. Are you still working on that second dinosaur book or are you already planning your next work?

@anne-of-lothlorien Well, I should probably preface this by saying that I’m not much of a poetry person… Most poetry just doesn’t connect with me, and I grew to appreciate it some during college but still don’t fully “get” it. =P

That being said, I do like George Herbert and Emily Dickinson a fair bit. Alexander Pope is also pretty good–and…[Read more]

@anne-of-lothlorien Well, I should probably preface this by saying that I’m not much of a poetry person… Most poetry just doesn’t connect with me, and I grew to appreciate it some during college but still don’t fully “get” it. =P

That being said, I do like George Herbert and Emily Dickinson a fair bit. Alexander Pope is also pretty good–and…[Read more]

@winter-rose Well, the really awesome thing is that even when you aren’t ready for whatever is thrown in your path, when I look back, what strikes me is not how hard it was but how faithful God was during those times. 🙂 While it may be tough, the moments I’ve felt closest to God have come during those times, which is a humbling but encouraging…[Read more]

@anne-of-lothlorien Ah. 🙁 Miscarriage is really hard. I can only imagine how much harder it is when you’ve been wanting kids for a while. Sorry to hear that, and I’m praying that God sustains her and the whole family during this time.

I believe both @michael-stanton and myself graduated from college this year. 😀 The biggest thing I learned during my time at college wasn’t related to academics at all but was on the more personal level of what it means to live with a focus on pleasing God rather than other people around me. Still have a bunch I need to learn on that front, but…[Read more]

@bethanysinkyroses I’ll second what Daeus said about the importance of characters who journey from darkness to light. I’ll also say that I dislike the current trend in fiction where parents are incompetent and merely obstacles in the protagonist’s path. =P

That being said, I don’t think writing perfect parents is a good solution to that problem…[Read more]

@northerner Yes–it will be recorded. 🙂 We’ll be sending out a link sometime after the webinar Monday or Tuesday.

The normal price of Theme Mastery will /probably/ be $147 (we’re still ironing down the details), but we’ll be running a sale where it’s only $97 for the first week of its release.