Faith Kindred

Hello, Hope! Glad to have you on the forum!

How are you going about editing your books?

Good idea, Daniel!
You’ve got a point there. Just give them something that will make them stand out immediately, and they will be more memorable. Of course, this wouldn’t work for every character— imagine giving an evil baron an allergy to broccoli. Somewhat… incongruous. But a very good idea just the same.

Do that often enough, Daeus, and you’ll eventually get to the point where you can tap them on the shoulder and say ‘hey, I want to talk to you— got a minute?’ and they’ll stop whatever they’re doing, turn around, look you full in the face, and talk to you— with very little effort on your part. I know this sounds crazy, but I never said I was…[Read more]

Thanks so much. 🙂 That is perfect. I changed the last line just a little, so now the last two lines are:

Summons your doom, as conquering plight
Through love the twins set all to right.

What do you think? (and if there’s something that doesn’t sound right, don’t hesitate to say something).

Well, it’s getting pretty dark outside, so I’m going to have to cut that interview short. So far, I don’t think I have encountered anything new or missing in my character, but perhaps that will come later on, or with a different character. The one great benefit I have already seen is that I realized that I have not been doing a good enough job…[Read more]

Excellent! Go for it!

And I generally try to avoid giving the kind of dares you referenced, since I myself would never take one. 🙂

Ah, I see.

How about this, “summons you doom, as conquering plight…” I think this would fulfill your purpose, but if not, how about, “Calls forth (or summons) your doom, as in their plight”.

Well, normally when someone dares me to do something I take special care not to do it because it is probably one of the dumbest things on earth a fellow could do, but I think I will actually try this. Honestly, nothing even remotely close to such a procedure ever entered my mind, but I can see the value.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an…[Read more]

The last two lines really go together. The first four lines (the valley turning white, fire blazing, etc.) foretell what’s going to before two twins set all to right…in this case, defeating the bad king and breaking the banishment of their friends. That’s what the ‘heralds your doom’ means (because the prophecy is spoke in judgment to the bad…[Read more]

Amidst all these formulas and rules and technical stuff, I just wanted to say something really simple but really important for writing any character, minor or not. You have to know them. You have to not just be acquainted with them, but actually know them— what drives them, what their motives are, why they are like they are, why they are where…[Read more]

Hi Hope,

You’re concern was correct about the second to last line. I would provide you with a suggestion to replace it, but I’m not completely sure I understand what it is saying. If you could give me a version of it in everyday english, taking care to make it extra clear just in case, maybe even going into a little of the context, I am sure I…[Read more]

Yes, absolutely— wonderful point about the innkeeper needing to serve the plot instead of just filling up a place in society that will have to be filled anyway for the sake of reality. Every character should be in some way essential to the plot of a story, even if it’s just to bring out some facet of a major character’s personality. Even if the…[Read more]

I really like Tree of Life too. But soft emotional music…that is hard. There was an eight minute piece of Beethoven that was perfect for an emotional scene, but I’ve lost it. I might try to find it and the name again though, because I’ll need it for the book I’m writing. 😉

Yes I certainly do! I also have been a great listener to Audiomachine, and one of my favorite albums of theirs is ‘Tree of Life’. You’re right— good war music. I’ve been struggling to find more peaceful or dramatic music for the more peaceful or dramatic scenes, though. I listened to so much classical music a few years ago that now it has to be…[Read more]

Yes, that’s what I mean’t.

I like that point about making sure your character has resources. To turn a minor character into a major character without talking more about them, we need to make sure our character is a person of resource who can cause dramatic changes quickly. So, say I am writing a story and wan’t to ramp up the tension real fast,…[Read more]