Daniel Thompson

@xonos-darkgrate I know some people who would find that too graphic, but I don’t. I think there’s a good light/dark contrast and it doesn’t make me feel empathetic toward the villain so I’d say this is good so long as it’s for a good purpose. 🙂

Oh, and I didn’t read your excerpt either. If I did, I’d want to know what basic content was in it first and I might not be able to get it in anyways.

@xonos-darkgrate

I’ll just stop in real quick to drop a few bits of meat, but if you want to hear a lot about this subject, we have several articles on it.

The thing I think is crucial to understand with content is that you want sympathy but you do not want empathy.

Sympathy is when you feel for or understand another person’s e…[Read more]

@leumeister Yes

@leumeister I would personally vote 1, 3, 2.

@dragon-snapper Sure, though you shouldn’t just stick two stories in one book. The two villains need to have the same goal or attack the same weakness in the protagonist or do anything else that keeps the story coherent.

Oh, wait, you already asked Kate this question. WHY!?

@dragon-snapper The max? Hahahahaha!

Oh, dear. The max, you say. Well, I don’t know if there is a max. 😉 Probably very few people if any have ever written a 1,000,000 word fantasy novel, but I will say that the trilogy I’m working on is looking like it will end up that long.

And whatever you do, don’t ask Kate this question!

Fantasy stories…[Read more]

@xonos-darkgrate I basically side with @kate-flournoy, though I don’t think that swear words cannot ever ever be used.

We had a discussion on this before you might want to read. https://kingdompen.org/forums/topic/coarse-language/

Basically, my position is that you should try as hard as you can not to use any swear words and that the majority o…[Read more]

@winter-rose Do I ever feel for you. Quitting the standard, laid out path to go write has got to be one of the most disorienting, frustrating, wonderful things ever.

I have no idea what it will be like for you, but I do know that.
1. God is faithful
2. Writing is awesome
3. You’ll never be the same

Have a cookie 🍪 😀

@salome01w4g Yay!!!!!

@dragon-snapper Signing off. I wrote 527 words.

@dekreel I worked on chapter three of the first book in a fantasy trilogy I’m writing.

@dekreel Yes, I’m still here. 🙂

@dragon-snapper I’ll join you for the next hour.

@dragon-snapper I believe lesson three of the course addresses this subject. Have you looked at that yet?

@shannon I remembered one more thing that’s helped me flesh out characters.

It’s the concept of yearning.

Yearning is different from a goal. A goal is generally viewed in an external light. For instance, the MC of my WIP has a goal of saving the world. His yearning, however, is to live a life that achieves greatness. This is much deeper and…[Read more]

@shannon Okay, I’m back.

First of all, I really like what everyone’s said so far.

I’ve never heard anyone else articulate the way I develop characters, but I think we all do it without noticing it. My big focus, at least for step one, is to hone in on the feel of a character.

You know how when a person comes to mind you get this certain…[Read more]

@dragon-snapper Well, it isn’t easy. I try to write down story ideas whenever I get them so that when I’m done with one novel I can have a basic idea of what the next one’s going to be about.

But, obviously, you want a plot now. Well, I do have one suggestion. One of the best sources of inspiration for me is to read other novels. I don’t just…[Read more]

@overcomer I think there are two reasons to know your target audience.

First, so you don’t write the wrong book. For instance, if I know I want to write for seminal-Christians aged 30-45 who are in the military, that will keep me from writing a children’s fairy tale. Knowing your target audience also helps you maintain a core unity between all…[Read more]

Raspberry breath… Haha. 😛