Josiah DeGraaf

@that_writer_girl_99 That’s fantastic! How much of your growth would you say is from the articles we publish and how much from the forum interactions?

@daeus @christi-eaton The more direct link (minus the Mailchimp redirect) is https://kingdompen.org/panel-discussion/

@graciegirl Anything you’d be willing to share would be great, even if it’s just a couple lines. 🙂 This will be for the CHAP convention in Pennsylvania.

@jane-maree That’s hilarious about the movies. xD I love it!

That would be absolutely fantastic if you’d be willing to do that for us! Our tentative course release date is May 22nd, so anytime after that would be awesome. 😀

Ha. Not what I expected people to learn through the course, but that’s great! And congrats on the addition of a new…[Read more]

@anna-brie

For scene 1, both your action and reaction sequence sound like part of the same action sequence–at least in summary. How does Natalia react to this event? Does she just forget about it in her disdain, or does she think at all about the event?

And then how would you say scene 2 relates to your story’s theme?

@ethryndal

Ah–got ya.…[Read more]

@moriahs Ok; cool. I think that you could turn protecting a family heritage into a meaningful plot if you showed why achieving that goal was important to the MC’s personal development. That being said, if your goal with your story is to show the costliness of freedom, I agree that a different central plotline would be better to display that theme.…[Read more]

@moriahs Are you looking for additional plot lines because you’re worried that protecting a fortune isn’t meaningful enough to carry a whole plot, or are you looking for additional plot lines because the story is too lean, and it needs more things happening in it? Not sure which you’re wrestling over.

@dragon-snapper Most editors & literary agents I’ve read discourage this, but I’ve seen it done successfully a couple of times. Just as long as only one character has a 1st person POV, I think you could pull that kind of thing off.

@jenali Haha, yes–besides that. 😉 That sounds like a great plan to follow. And that’s fantastic to hear! I’m glad that this course has taught you how to write these kinds of stories, and it’s been a pleasure creating this for you and everyone else who’s been taking it. 🙂

@jenali Got it. Looks good!

@moriahs Oh, nice. I read Bond’s Crown and Covenant Trilogy, Betrayal, and a couple others when I was still in high school and remember enjoying each of them. Great historical fiction there.

@jenali That’s awesome to hear that the lesson was able to help you get over that fear! I do think that explicitly-Christian fiction can be harder than writing non-explicitly Christian fiction (because you now have a second element of what it means to live as a Christian), but I think it’s definitely a challenge that can be conquered with…[Read more]

@jenali Good combo. Acceptance is a unique theme to have. What would you say the focusing question is for that theme?
The story actually sounds a bit more like Method #2 to me, since the major and minor themes are providing part of the answer to the primary theme of leadership. Unless I’m misunderstanding what you’re saying?

@jenali That sounds great! Doing foils with a theme of friendship can be especially interesting because then the two characters’ foil relationship with each other becomes an aspect of the actual theme (friendship), and the reader can see how both characters treat the same friendship differently. Good choice.

@jenali Good. I would generally agree with you that writers who struggle with theme don’t often have more than one theme. I like the way that your two examples parallel each other (one being the third method done well; one the third method done poorly). Contrasting similar situations of stories that work and stories that don’t work can be a great…[Read more]

@ethryndal Liriel’s guilt in the reaction to scene #1 is unclear to me. If she didn’t care about his life in battle, why after battle does she begin to care? Are there any events that happen between those that send her on that path? Or is it the realization that he could be dead that makes her re-think her decision?

Scene #2 looks good to me.…[Read more]

@ethrynal Haha, got it. As long as you’re clear on what those events are, that should be good. 🙂

Welcome to the site, @moriahs! Glad you found us. Who are your favorite authors?

Welcome to the site, @morahs! Glad you found us. What do you like to write?

Hey all,

Just a reminder that this is happening today from 3-4 PM EST. To access the Q&A, go to https://kingdompen.org/theme-mastery-qa/ Looking forward to interacting with you there!