J.A. Penrose

@jess-penrose AAAAHHH!!! I know this one. Is it…Our Mutual Friend???

*thinks it probably isn’t* Thou hast wracked my brain.

@kate-flournoy @jess-penrose I like it too. 😀 It suits you.

@Jess-penrose oooh, Happiness Patrol… I like that. 😀

@jess-penrose Haha! I’m glad you liked it! 😛 And yes, come on the forum. It’s awesome here!

@kina-lamb! Thank you for the hug!!!

@jess-penrose – Ha! Thank you, thank you for the welcome and thought-provoking question. 🙂 I am glad to be here, as well! Christ is who I would sacrifice my life for, as well as, people.

@Jess-Penrose this is the story I was telling you about. *fingerguns*

@Jess-Penrose is actually visiting me that week so I’ll check with her, but I think we’ll probably both make it. *shall sign up* I’m definitely looking forward to this! 😀

@jess-penrose This outline works a lot better! Two comments! First, it’s unclear–at least in outline form–how he better brings about justice by staying in London. Is there a bad situation there that he needs to try and rectify? Second, he seems to too easily switch from the second EiL to the third. your “beginning of venn diagram 2” moment seems…[Read more]

@Aratrea yes. @Jess-Penrose is the cousin I blackmailed *ahem* convinced to buy the course. 😛

@jess-penrose

Yes–this is the method you want to be using to set out this kind of arc. This is why it qualifies as a complex character arc–there are a lot more key thematic points than there are otherwise.

The arc from the first EiL to the second works out really well, but it seems to deteriorate from there. I think you’re right that the…[Read more]

@jess-penrose Awesome. Nice work!

@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]

@Jess-Penrose Oh goodness. When I said that you weren’t ever meant to see it. XD

@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]