Karina Sanchez

Hello, Hope! Good luck on the trilogy— I started a trilogy once, but it turns out instead of having three books in it it has eleven, so… that didn’t really work out quite like I was expecting it to. I’m still trying to figure out how that happened… 😉
So glad you joined us!

Yes, excellent thoughts. Having your explorer carry on a protracted and entirely ridiculous conversation with a giant frog, hm? Peterkin, anyone?
A good example of an author who exaggerates well is Dickens. I know I sound like a broken record— Dickens this, Dickens that, but it’s true. Who would have remembered the preacher from Bleak House if…[Read more]

Hi Kate,

Good analysis. It can be especially hard to give your characters their own distinctive voice since you as the author tend to always think in the same way.

One thing you can do to create characters your reader can imagine and cherish, minor or major, is to exaggerate them. This may sound deceptive, but usually you will only be adding to…[Read more]

Three very good points, Daeus.
What are some ways to give a character their own unique individuality, so that the reader will love (or abhor) 🙂 them for their own sake whether or not they like the book? A few of my favorites are as follows. 1: give them their own distinctive voice. No two people talk the same— some are very terse and to the…[Read more]

Excellent topic, all the more because it is a difficult one. I’m hoping plenty of other people share their ideas, because we are going to need all of them to get to the bottom of this. Despite the vastness of the subject, I think we can recognize three general things you wan’t to do with your minor characters.

Number one, develop them as…[Read more]

Wow, thanks, I’ll look into it.
Thank you for clarifying about the assonance thing. I probably could have looked it up in a dictionary, but a human is always preferable to a dictionary. For one thing, a dictionary can’t talk.

Hi Kate,

What you are thinking of is actually called slant rhyme, or even just slant. Assonance is when two words (almost always in the same line) have the same vowel sound. Some random examples are kick/bliss, kite/eye, meat/tree. Here is a link to a page that goes into more detail link. A slant rhyme will probably include assonance and a normal…[Read more]

I just remembered another all time favorite of mine that I cannot believe I forgot to mention. I’ve read so many books and loved so many of them that I can’t keep them all straight!
Anyway, anyone here a fan of ‘A Christmas Carol’? That has got to be pretty near my favorite of the Dickens I have read (Aside from ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, of course).…[Read more]

Yes, that’s Sydney. The first ‘what’s his name’ you mentioned would be Charles Darnay (Evremonde), who was married to the doctor’s daughter, Lucie Manette… if I spelled that correctly.
Thanks for the word of advice on the Three Musketeers. I’ll remember that, you may be sure.
Yes, I tend to set lofty goals for myself, whether from a surplus of…[Read more]

Hi Kate,

Definitely stay clear of the three musketeers. If you hate it, I utterly despise it (no offense to anyone who might happen to like it.) It is still surprising to me that The same author wrote my all time favorite book. I don’t pretend to understand it. Even if you are a fast reader, getting through The Count of Monte Cristo will probably…[Read more]

Yes, please! Don’t stand on the sidelines and keep quiet just because you didn’t start this topic. We need everybody in here— the more opinions and voices and different suggestions, the better!
I’ve actually never read ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’, but I definitely want to. It should last me longer than most books, which in itself is a plus,…[Read more]

All right, I can’t resist anymore. My top three favorite books are (in order):
1. The Count Of Monte Cristo. I love this book for its vivid characters, high suspense, how no sentence, character, or description is wasted, how it deals with deep issues, and absolutely everything in-between. I seriously can’t describe how good this book is. The…[Read more]

*Sniff Sniff* Kleenex, please.

Oops, the “underline” in the first line was not supposed to be there. Oh, well.

Really? You know, I never would have guessed…
By the way, to whom exactly were you referring when you said ‘tacos’? I have been called many things in my few years, but never (repeat, never) a taco.
🙂

Snarky things, eh? That sounds like fun.