Josiah DeGraaf

@anna-brie Great goal! I think most writers generally try to include theme in some form in their story, but intentionally studying theme is one of the big things that separates the beginners from the greats.

It’s probably what sold me the most on the Enneagram system since I know I tend to act fairly differently depending on my mood.

@kate-flournoy @daeus @graciegirl One other thing to add to this discussion on Enneagram theory is that one of the coolest parts of the system (at least for me) is the theory that when you are stressed or relaxed, you actually act like a different character type (hence the connecting lines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality).…[Read more]

@daeus It’s essentially saying that while you’re predominantly one character type, you also share a lot of qualities in common with another character type adjacent to your character type in the Enneagram circle. That alternate type will then be your ‘wing.’

@graciegirl Welcome to the forum! Glad you’ve found us. 🙂 I actually just read Scandal in Bohemia for the first time last week for a college class and enjoyed it a good bit. Also, shout-out for breaking the MBTI-monopoly by including your Enneagram. 😉 I’m actually a 4w5 as well!

@graciegirl Welcome to the forum! Glad you’ve found us. 🙂 I actually just read Scandal in Bohemia for the first time last week for a college class and enjoyed it a good bit. Also, shout-out for breaking the MBTI-monopoly by including your Enneagram as well. 😉 I’m actually a 4w5 as well!

@gideon-sowdon Good question! That’s actually something that we haven’t finished yet. The worksheet, though, will essentially just be the list of questions I ask at the beginning of this thread put in a more elegant format, so I recommend you just use those questions on page one of this thread to guide you through this exercise. 🙂

@gideon-sowdon Glad to hear it! Looking forward to seeing what you submit for the homework. 🙂

@audrey-caylin That looks like a fantastic outline. Makes me want to read your book! I love how naturally those experiments flow into each other, and at least on paper, the plotting seems perfect!

The one thing you’ll want to watch out for is the fact that the story seems to be more leading from one experiment directly to the next one without a…[Read more]

@aella I love that! One of the most intimidating things as an author for me is to read a really good book that really moves me and wonder how I’d ever be able to write a book as good as that. Theme definitely helps a lot with that, though, so that’s a great motivation for delving into theme more!

@anne-swiftblade Knowing that Christ may be able…[Read more]

@gideon-sowdon Awesome! The third lesson should help you a lot in recognizing themes both in your story

@aella No problem! Having gone through the wisdom teeth operation myself, I can definitely sympathize! =P We’ll be covering a fair bit on outlining and story planning; let us know at the end of the course how helpful you found the course to be…[Read more]

@ethryndal Awesome! All of that sounds great then. 🙂

@hope Got ya. That does make it more difficult, but it sounds like those physical consequences are exactly the right direction you want to be going in for that. 🙂

@hope Wait, you’re saying that you don’t want me to include a lot more of me rambling in the polished version? Hmmm… Interesting. 😉 Haha, and yes, backstories are great. Random facts are good too, especially as a means of expressing unique characterization.

@ethryndal Good point. The ghosts of our past along with the pain we experience at the present is absolutely important in shaping who someone is.

@hope Nice work. Like I mentioned with Audrey, you will also want to think about the physical consequences of these experiments along with the mental consequences to really display poetic justice powerfully. so you may want to work on that. Other than that, these look great!

@hope Sounds great!

@ethryndal Looks like a good basic setup there. Tying back to the theme, would you say your protagonist’s initial Experiment in Living really has to do with the fact that they superior races have more intrinsic worth to them?

Yes; absolutely! Developing Experiments in Living for other characters is crucial to broadening your story’s theme. We will…[Read more]