Joy Schmidt

@shannon I remembered one more thing that’s helped me flesh out characters.

It’s the concept of yearning.

Yearning is different from a goal. A goal is generally viewed in an external light. For instance, the MC of my WIP has a goal of saving the world. His yearning, however, is to live a life that achieves greatness. This is much deeper and…[Read more]

@dekreel *squints* Hey. I think something happened to the post. What happened to the rest of it? 😛

Seriously though, what’s gonna happen!

@kate-flournoy I’m sorry. *pat shoulder* I don’t know why it has to be stopped, but I’m sorry anyway. There there.

@Ingridrd That last version is great. I’m too late to help, but you got a bunch of good help. 😉

@Dekreel Sweet. 😀 😀 😀

@Dekreel ooh, that’s an unusually flattering representation of me waking up. It usually involves rolling over at least five times and eventually tumbling off the bed tangled in my fleecy blanket (with static hair flying all over the place) and then crawling my way still half asleep to my closet while splitting my ears with yawning and trying not…[Read more]

@Dragon-Snapper congratulations on branching out. 😉

They’ve covered a lot… the only thing new I have to add is pretty small. You mentioned that you’re tired of writing snarky characters and want to try something different, but had no idea how to go about it…

Why do you like snarky characters in the first place? Is it because they come easy…[Read more]

@Kina-Lamb well, that’s pretty sound as far as I can see. 🙂 The only step I might add between the two is figuring out the theme, but I’ve not done non-fiction before, so I can’t say for certain how majorly that would figure in.

In your place, I would just ask myself, What lesson does this story teach me? To have courage? To persevere? To be kind…[Read more]

@shannon Okay, I’m back.

First of all, I really like what everyone’s said so far.

I’ve never heard anyone else articulate the way I develop characters, but I think we all do it without noticing it. My big focus, at least for step one, is to hone in on the feel of a character.

You know how when a person comes to mind you get this certain…[Read more]

@dragon-snapper Well, it isn’t easy. I try to write down story ideas whenever I get them so that when I’m done with one novel I can have a basic idea of what the next one’s going to be about.

But, obviously, you want a plot now. Well, I do have one suggestion. One of the best sources of inspiration for me is to read other novels. I don’t just…[Read more]

@overcomer I think there are two reasons to know your target audience.

First, so you don’t write the wrong book. For instance, if I know I want to write for seminal-Christians aged 30-45 who are in the military, that will keep me from writing a children’s fairy tale. Knowing your target audience also helps you maintain a core unity between all…[Read more]

@everyone-here I’m out now guys! I accumulated a lot of ideas. Probably going to write a children’s book next. 😀

@sam-kowal Welcome!

@dekreel HI! I suppose that KPA is going well? 😛

I’m listening to my epic playlist. It’s a mix of a whole bunch of stuff.

@introvert_girl Well, I can only write in ancient dwarvish. It didn’t take me long to learn, since I practiced it a lot. I can still write it today. 🙂

@introvert_Girl Ooh…deleted scenes eh? Hope you find a way. 😀

Yes! EPIC MUSIC! Epic music and old notebooks. I just found my first notebook. It has stickers and whole pages written in dwarvish. XD

@introvert_girl Yes!! Aren’t they! I’m listening to epic music and stuff. 😀

Oh boy. Short stories. Those can be challenging.

@dekreel Yes! I haven’t seen them in a while, but their shows are awesome! 😀

And unfortunately no, it’s not Star Trek.

@dekreel Hi and doubly hi! I’m going to find a new story idea!! Bwhahahahah!

@Dekreel @That_Writer_Girl_99 @Dragon-snapper @Ethryndal @Daeus @Audrey-caylin @Jane-maree @Shannon @Sam-Kowal wow, thanks so much guys, all of you. Just getting the general feedback and feeling out opinion about the existing title helped me get so much more perspective.

@Jane-Maree, believe it or not, I had actually already considered Destroyer,…[Read more]