Kathryn Comstock

@perfectfifths That looks really good! I really like how you’re giving your characters multiple competing Experiments in Living to make them complex characters (and good work with those side characters! I won’t be addressing them in the lessons till the fourth module, but you have a great start there!). Could you explain #5 some more, though? I’m…[Read more]

@jess-penrose I would personally do an arc for the series like the one you outlined above (just not do a more detailed one like you’ll do in your homework for lessons 6-8. However, each writer has their own methods. Some writers work better with doing a detailed outline all-at-once and some writers work better not outlining at all, so it really…[Read more]

@jess-penrose Yep–especially when you are taking time to do all the discussion questions and homework assignments, I don’t think it’s a problem to move through it quickly. You may need a bit more brushing-up on some topics later on to get it into long-term memory, but that’s all.

@jess-penrose @jane-maree Wait–are you two related to each other? I didn’t realize that until now!

Is there anything specific about your grandmother that you would say makes you look up to her?

@jess-penrose

Glad to hear that you found this lesson helpful! That’s definitely a relatable struggle with the challenges of writing a character who is quite different from yourself. My best recommendation would be to study how extroverts you know act in real life, and possibly also study how extroverts in books you read act, and use that to…[Read more]

@jess-penrose

Glad to hear that you found this lesson helpful! That’s definitely a relatable struggle with the challenges of writing a character who is quite different from yourself. My best recommendation would be to study how extroverts you know act in real life, and possibly also study how extroverts in books you read act, and use that to…[Read more]

@anne-of-lothlorien Haha! Yeah–absolutely. Our facebook account can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/kingdompen/ You should be able to access it without having a Facebook.

@anne-of-lothlorien The first “I don’t know” is Mackenzie; the second is Rolena’s sister who came along for the ride.

@dragon-snapper Here’s the picture Anne was referring to. There are more photos on our social media accounts if you’re able to access them!

@anne-of-lothlorien The first “I don’t know” is Mackenzie; the second is Rolena’s sister who came along for the ride.

@dragon-snapper Here’s the picture Anne was referring to. There are more photos on our social media accounts if you’re able to access them!

@anne-of-lothlorien The first “I don’t know” is Mackenzie; the second is Rolena’s sister who came along for the ride.

@dragon-snapper Here’s the picture Anne was referring to. There are more photos on our social media accounts if you’re able to access them!

@anne-of-lothlorien The first “I don’t know” is Mackenzie; the second is Rolena’s sister who came along for the ride.

@jess-penrose You may be setting a record for how quickly someone has worked through this course! 😉

Silmarillion is a great book for finding negative arcs in, though you’re correct that Melkor is the villain of the story and not really the protagonist. Children of Hurin is another great example. I’m really fuzzy on the details of Children of…[Read more]

@jess-penrose Haven’t read that series yet (though I think I have the first book on my Kindle), but it sounds like the character arc does exactly what it’s supposed to do there! When readers feel like they’re growing right along with the character, you know you’ve done your work as an author effectively!

@jess-penrose Got it. Makes sense! Actually, thinking about my comment on your homework for lesson 5, perhaps the difference between your MC’s beginning and closing arc is that initially the MC just believes that everything must be sacrificed for justice, and he doesn’t add the “as long as it is not unjust to do so” clause until the end of the…[Read more]

@ethryndal How would you say Emolas is connected to your story’s theme? I.e. what does he consider to be the greatest gift?

I think it may be tricky to have Sley’s EiL come out effectively in the story as one doesn’t normally think of justice when they think of the greatest gifts. However, I think that some well-placed lines of dialogue could…[Read more]

@jess-penrose

Good questions. I would personally try to sketch out the general character arc of the entire trilogy, but keep it rather general at this point. Enough so you know where you’re headed and where you’ll be building off of this first book, but not so much that you’re getting bogged down in details.

With regards to this outline, I would…[Read more]

@jess-penrose Glad to hear you’ve been finding this so helpful. 🙂 Those are good thoughts. Often we are unwilling to change until we’re forced to change, which is why it’s crucial to have a relevant plot in our stories that will do the work of forcing changes in the protagonist.

@jess-penrose Yep–that works! The physical problem doesn’t need to happen to the protagonist as long as it still affects the protagonist.

@jess-penrose By “not require atonement of itself,” do you mean that we shouldn’t commit injustice in order to bring about justice? Or do you mean something else? I’m a bit confused on what you mean by that.

@ethryndal Yes–looks great!