Haley Long

Those are really helpful thoughts @daeus. If you ever wanted to do a full article detailing what you learned from your self-publishing experience, I think that would be a pretty helpful article premise.

@livylynn I’m still working on bringing my works to publication, but when I do, my plan is to try and pursue both options at once, since I think…[Read more]

@dragon-snapper Those are really cool! The design is excellent and it just screams sci-fi. I would have imagined the characters a little differently, but Ike’s pretty good actually.

@Dragon-Snapper really cool!

@Dragon-Snapper I LOVE NAMES. I NAME EVERYTHING.

*coughs*
With that crucial bit of random information out of the way, I’d tend to agree with you. The best fantasy names are those that don’t look so absolutely foreign they’re impossible to relate to. The name should describe your character, not overshadow him. Personally I love old Norse, Saxon,…[Read more]

@Daeus eeeeeh… no pressure. 😛

@That_writer_Girl_99 good question though. I think… it seems to me that you’re asking not just about the Warden, but about the moral balance of justice and mercy. How do you show the necessity of justice (bad actions have painful consequences) while balancing it with understanding and forgiveness (we’re all…[Read more]

@gh24682468999 what they said. 😉

@aislinn-mollisong First of all, I just read your prophecy and had to say you did a great job with it.

As for writing in first person, I think that could work great. Of course, third person could work great too. I’d recommend trying them both out and seeing which one you like better.

@livylynn I have self-published once.

When I first started writing, I really wanted to be traditionally published, but I eventually did a 180. The reason was simple. Since I was a beginning author, publishers would want to see my platform before they published me. And if I already had a platform, why not self-publish? After all, self-publishing…[Read more]

@that_writer_girl_99 Didn’t see your previous reply to the subject. On that front, I think it’s helpful to distinguish between a theme and a message. A theme is just a topic like mercy or justice. A message says what you should do with regards to that specific topic (e.g. you should always how people mercy, or you should be wise on who you show…[Read more]

Great question. My answer would be not to let yourself or the readers pin the Warden into a clearly evil camp or a clearly misunderstood camp. Most people have complicated motives, so weave that into the Warden as well. Personally, I think that has the potential to really deepen your story’s them as the reader is forced to wrestle with the…[Read more]

@that_writer_girl_99 I will humbly acknowledge that Kate probably has a much better answer than me, but I don’t see your dilemma as a huge problem unless you want the warden to be a pure character. You can just depict him as a character in a very complex situation who doesn’t like what he’s doing, but doesn’t know what other choices he has.

@gh24682468999 I support what @perfectfifths said. It sounds though like your main problem is not that you aren’t showing reactions, but that you feel like you have too many and it’s cluttering your prose.

I assume you’re using action tags (i.e. Sam put on his glasses. “Don’t I look cool in these?”)

Action tags are extremely helpful to a story.…[Read more]

Hey, I could use some prayer. Tomorrow, we’re driving to Maryland for my grandpa’s memorial service (he died last week). Please pray for my dad and his siblings especially during this time.

@catwing and @epicaddie2
I’ll be praying for you all! I know how stressful switching houses is. 🙂

@dragon-snapper I personally use this site and just play with alterations on the different names the site generates until I find the one that works for me: https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ The most important thing for me is finding names that all seem to have a similar vibe/similar culture behind them in a story.

@Daeus yikes… okay. I’ll see what I can do.

@Dragon-Snapper the Chosen Kate… hm. *frowns* Yeah, I’m not sure that rolls too well either. XD

@aratrea Okay, great. Good to know! *rushes out of room to register*