Josiah DeGraaf

The conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist shows another facet of the over all theme. The antagonist’s goal is to live forever, but the theme is that it is better to live once and then die. The antagonist shows another reason why it is better to have a set time to live by how he is willing to do absolutely anything to live forever.…[Read more]

Thanks for the welcome, @aratrea. My premise is, there is a race of people that can shift certain parts of their body with animal parts (I’m not going to go into the rules right now XP ). A certain family is run out of their community for a certain reason (no spoilers XD this is sounding cryptic), and stay in America for several years (the…[Read more]

@aratrea yes. Thank you for putting that into words, because I think that’s exactly what I’m trying to do!

Thank you! @aratrea

@aratrea To be honest, the idea of planning out a story is very new to me. When I was younger, I would write out any idea that came to me until I lost interest, but the older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized how bad a habit that is.

Since I’ve started planning out this story, though, I’ve come to see how valuable taking the time to plan is.…[Read more]

@aratrea first, I’m going to try and get my hands on some of K.M. Weiland’s writing craft books I basically learned how to plot from her blog, so I’d love to delve more into all the knowledge that she has!

I’m also going to go back through some of my favorite novels and see how the authors execute theme, plot, character arcs, etc. I’ll be able to…[Read more]

@aratrea I’m still trying to figure how I’m going to show that 😛 The idea is that the protagonist goes seeking a truth to set her free from her past and finds one that destroys it more. She then realizes what she needed all along was forgiveness (at the midpoint), and the rest of the novels is her trying to gain forgiveness but believing a lie…[Read more]

Hello Josiah!
@aratrea
I read the first book in the Sword in the Stars series a few years ago, but didn’t like it as much as the Door Within books. My copy of the Sword in the Stars is actually signed by Batson…I met him at a homeschool convention in Orlando four years ago.

Regarding your second question, I’m not exactly sure what to classify…[Read more]

@aratrea Speaking of books and themes, have you read The Ball and the Cross by G. K. Chesterton? I started rereading it part way through this course and the theme…! Every single conversation and interaction all relate back to the theme and focusing question and experiments in living. I love the story and the philosophical arguments and all, but…[Read more]

Tuck Everlasting chapter 19. I was hoping some of the later chapters would be easier. 😛
I am pretty sure she is using point #8. The protagonist is coming into conflict with the antagonist and his EiL.
@aratrea

What @audrey-caylin said. 😀 Incorporate all I’ve learned into my future novels.

I also want to study the books I read and movies I watch to practice figuring out themes and experiments in living. Basically, lots of practice on the writing end, lots of analyzing on the reading end. And occasionally rewatching a course video.

This seriously is…[Read more]

Oh, and one more thing that my mom just suggested (and I forgot to mention in the survey 😛 )

Have you thought of creating a little certificate for when the course is finished? Just a thing you can print out that says “I completed theme mastery course,” or something to that extent. It’s just a random thing, but it might be good proof that the…[Read more]

*rubs hands together* I’ve been looking forward to this lesson 😀

Hm…in the sequel I’ve been working with, the balance is nearly equal between the themes of Forgiveness and Truth, but I’m going to work on using Forgiveness as the primary one. Thus:

Primary Theme: Forgiveness. When does one gain forgiveness for their past actions?

Major…[Read more]

@aratrea the father is a pretty minor character, so I don’t specifically have the protagonist realize that her mental state becomes the same as his, or that he influences her away from her original POV. It’s just one of those “ah-ha!” moments for the reader when they realize how similar the father and the protagonist have become. And it will…[Read more]

@aratrea the father has a similar view of truth because he’s mentally disabled, which makes it ironic because the protagonist isn’t mentally disabled at first and thinks the same way. 😀

@aratrea As for Foil characters, can other main characters be foil characters? In my WIP, I don’t have too many characters at all.

@aratrea As for Foil characters, can other main characters be foil characters. In my WIP, I don’t have too many characters at all.

@Aratrea okay so…I think it’s pushing him toward realising that his old way really didn’t work very well (things keep going wrong when he tries to use his faulty EiL to succeed) but this new way of trying to help others – scene 1 he is going to try help the 2 imprisoned friends, he fails in his resolution in scene 2 but Ben’s actions prove that…[Read more]

@Aratrea okay so…I think it’s pushing him toward realising that his old way really didn’t work very well (things keep going wrong when he tries to use his faulty EiL to succeed) but this new way of trying to help others (scene 1 he is going to try help the 2 imprisoned friends, he fails in his resolution in scene 2 but Ben’s actions prove that…[Read more]