Josiah DeGraaf

@aratrea Ooooh, I agree, Method #2 does sound more like the story I have. No, you have not misunderstood, I think you have understood better than I did. 😛
The focusing question for my major theme of acceptance is what can you do, what does it take, to earn acceptance?

I have been terrified of writing explicitly Christian fiction for a long time. I have seen it done wrong so many, many times that I pretty much just shied away from it altogether and just focused on writing stories. This lesson has definitely helped me get over that fear. It was awesome! Step five, the one on prayer, was probably the most helpful.…[Read more]

@aratrea I’ll try to make it.

Do I, or do I not have multiple themes in my book? Of course I do.

My Primary Theme is Leadership.
My Major Theme is acceptance with a minor theme of love that goes along with it.
All of my themes connect together using method number three. The theme of acceptance deepens the theme of leadership because to be a truly good leader you must be…[Read more]

@aratrea Hm, yes that is true. I hadn’t thought of that. That the short stories have less space to develop characters.

Sigh, I always forget this part….. The story’s theme is the importance of family and good friends. The minor characters either support this theme and have good relationships with the protagonists, like good friends and…[Read more]

@aratrea Hi. Yes, Emma is my favourite Austen work. What are you studying at college?
@emma-flournoy I think the female INTJs are more likely to enjoy writing than the males… @Daeus Haha. Maybe I am impossible…
@that_writer_girl_99 My favourite Rick Riordan book would have to be the Mark of Athena (except for that awful cliffhanger at the…[Read more]

One of the books that I can think of that did multiple themes really well is The Sword the Ring and the Parchment. Its primary theme is trust, with major themes of salvation, assurance of salvation, and growth in Christ. It also has minor themes of the importance of the Word of God and prayer.
All of the themes intersect well with each other…[Read more]

@aratrea

Scene #1

Action: Liriel and Lotch are attacked by trogs, and Liriel doesn’t pay much attention to Lotch, who she thinks is unimportant and getting in the way. But this leads to them being separated, and Liriel is captured and taken away, leaving Lotch to face the trogs on her own.

Reaction: As Liriel sits bound, waiting to be dealt…[Read more]

@Aratrea Yeah, I know what events shape her course, but I kind of got carried away and didn’t write them down in the most coherent manner…

@aratrea
I’s actually a little more relevant in those points that I’m bringing out. It’s hard to choose the right details to summarize the story. I was going for simplicity over detail.

@Aratrea I forgot to tag you.

Minor characters need to tie into the theme more the less of them there are. If you have a huge cast and some of the characters are only there for a tiny bit of time, you can squeeze by with not having every single one of the characters tie into the theme. If you have a smaller cast, like in a short story, it is more important that every single…[Read more]

1. Mrs. Yannay, she is the companion of Jenali. She is very loyal to her and to her father and would do almost anything for Jenali. She practically does, she does things before Jenali even realizes that she needed that to happen. Her EiL is that a good leader knows what her people need, and then fills that need. She makes Teren groan a bit because…[Read more]

Okay. I’m so terribly sorry this has taken so long. My family ended up moving, which I had not anticipated, so for a while I haven’t had the time to sit down and figure out where this thing is going. I’m still not quite sure where it’s going…

Please bear in mind that my story is undergoing massive renovations, so things may be different from…[Read more]

@aratrea All Jenali has seen in regards to leadership is how her father leads people, which is with strength. So her EiL is that a true leader must be stronger than his people and be able to demand their undivided loyalty. As she does not believe that she is very strong, she doesn’t think she will ever be a good leader.

Yes, my username…..…[Read more]

What is cool about the second method is that you could do it with so many characters, and can be used with romance books, you have to agree to get together. 🙂 But I think you could do it with a protagonist and an antagonist, or two people who are so completely different that you would never even believe they would ever be friends, much less their…[Read more]

@aratrea okay since I won’t be able to get there -because I’m away from home at my cousin’s place and her internet isn’t good enough to load videos- I’ll have to drop in any questions here probably. (I’ll do that later)
But I hope everyone else has fun!! (and feasts on pizza and ice cream and all that fun stuff)

This character is the daughter of Captain Manel and the fiance of Teren. It is an arranged marriage, and in her opinion it isn’t the best position but it could be worse. And what is she supposed to do about it anyway?
Jenali is not a leader, in a story of natural leaders, she is not one of them. She has been controlled by her father and by others…[Read more]

In the very beginning of my story, the king dies.
When he dies his four children start squabbling over the throne. A squabble that comes dangerously close to civil war. All four kids think that they are the best for the country or just want the power that being ruler brings. And this whole thing is exacerbated by a little man whom they all trust,…[Read more]

I have a question, is it possible for the villain to have a positive character arc? Or would that just make him an antagonist. Is the villain too far gone to be saved? I was just wondering.

Before I start let me say that this is one of my least favorite questions. Usually, I hate villains. I don’t think the are ‘wonderfully creepy’ or anything.…[Read more]