Josiah DeGraaf

@aratrea thank you!! 🙂
I’m sort of struggling with my beginning. It feels a bit up-down and not entirely connected to the plot. After the inciting incident there’s seven chapters before the first plot point and I’m not sure how to keep the plot moving during that time not just pointless action scenes.
And making my villain not an evil-overlord…[Read more]

@aratrea Alright. A foil, then. And yes, Ard is very interesting. I still am working on figuring out the end of his arc…

@aratrea Yes, it might have something to do with that too. Actually, it will probably have a lot to do with the negative EiL and consequences from events over 30 years ago… *grins* *heads off to work on details*

@aratrea Yep. The one piece of truth they have is the piece the MC is missing. It so much fun when the villain or main antagonist knows and (in some sort of manner) teaches the MC the truth they need to hear even while mortal enemies.

Tuck Everlasting I think is actually Method #4. (of course I chose the crazy one) The choice Winnie makes between living forever and living a normal life is between her story goal and her thematic development.
@aratrea

Can characters be antagonists on and off? Because I’ve a number of characters that are antagonists at some points and work with the MC at other points.

Silvara: An archeress. She’s been a legend for 500 years and thinks the whole name deal is a bit hilarious. Though when it comes to the respect people have for her just due to her name and not…[Read more]

@Aratrea
@daeus

Just two… Foil characters are so much fun. These are for Fidelyon, again. The rest of my work will probably be for that novel. My trilogy isn’t developed enough for this yet… Anyway:

1. Seamus: the page boy of the MC. His EiL is that names don’t mean much, if anything. He’s an orphan, and couldn’t care less. It is what he…[Read more]

@Aratrea hmm… yesssss… probbbably the Primary Tempter? I mean… yeah, that makes sense. Okay. Yes. Primary Tempter. There may be some slight overlap between that and both of the other two, but that’s the main one.
It makes me very happy to hear you like it… I actually can’t take credit though because his connection to Harold’s EiL was…[Read more]

@aratrea sorry for that. I’ve tried narrow it all down a bit – as well as fix that first plot point problem.

Inciting Event: Will smuggles himself onto a plane to get out of the country, hoping to get away from the Agents pursuing him for good. Unfortunately he gets seen upon landing and recognised as an outlaw and wanted man. Manages to get away…[Read more]

@aratrea You haven’t read The Robe?!?!?! It’s the best Christian novel ever! Go read it xD

I think it was so interesting because now I have more ways to stop my protagonists from reaching their goals 😉 I like the idea of characters who are friends creating conflict with each other too. And I have an idea to make a really cool antagonist, so it…[Read more]

@Aratrea

Okay. I’ve mentioned some of this already in the other homework assignments, but my primary villain (I’ll get to his brother in a minute) pretty much set/justified Harold’s EiL. (That the world is worth saving because man is ultimately good). Wayyyy back in the backstory of the story, the villain— when he was young and optimistic and…[Read more]

Muchas gracias, @aratrea! I forgot to mention I’m learning Spanish, and it just comes out. Watch out! You might have to use google translate a little more than you used to now, unless you know Spanish. : )

I have a quick question about villains: must they be people? Say that a protagonist’s greatest obstacle was pride. Would that be an antagonist to him, a villain, or simply a negative EiL that he must overcome?

@aratrea or @daeus

@kate-flournoy Favorite? Oh, where do I begin…

I’m honestly not sure! I have too many “favorites”. And what if I choose one, and the others get offended and run away? What would I do then? (Sorry, I swear I’m not completely crazy…)

@aratrea Of course not! Especially because half the time the character ends up evil or dead…

The main hero…[Read more]

@aratrea I saw your name mentioned on one of the other posts when I was poking around…I mean that in a non-creepy, anti-stalkerish way, of course. Although…writers are a little stalkerish, come to think of it. We watch people, analyze them, and then write characters based off of them…My point was, it’s nice to actually meet you!

I have not…[Read more]

@aratrea Yeah…I figured that a few hours later. 😛