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@whalekeeper Oooh, I love this topic – thanks so much for starting it!
Honestly, I resonate a lot with what @trailblazer said about writing because you’re a storyteller. I’m the kind of person who’s been scribbling stories for as long as I can remember. I don’t think I ever sat down and went “I’m going to write a story because xyz” – I tell stories because I don’t know how not to.
As I start thinking more about how I want strangers to interact with my writing, I honestly see it as an extension of my personality, another way to reach out to people and make them feel welcome and safe. It’s kind of like inviting someone over for a meal – the purpose is to bring people in from the rain, but the meal can vary. The book can vary.
And boy oh boy do my books vary. xD Sometimes I want to explore death and hope from the perspective of a quiet eleven-year-old. Sometimes I want to re-imagine Aladdin where lying has consequences. Sometimes I want to process something in my own life, and sometimes I want to write something for someone I care about.
So essentially, I think I write because that’s how God wired my brain to work – just like breathing, or having conversations, or sketching. It’s rarely been a conscious decision (though I have had to intentionally make time for it because consistency is hard, y’all 😅). My aim changes depending on the WIP in question, but overall, I really want my books to be an extension of how I interact with people and provide them with a safe, warm place where laughter is common but it’s okay to cry.
Or somethin’ like that. 😛
@esther-c And ooh, I love that article, especially the point about how we need both. 100%.wonder | beauty | truth | love
Re-typing; let’s hope this works. XD
@rae To be fair, I’m a big fan of protective characters, so I may be a wee bit biased. But I don’t think it’s the end of the world, for a few main reasons:- It provides a subtle yet cohesive theme. Just having all of these characters with these motivations that drive them will add an extra layer of theme.
- It makes sense within the world. Like you said, your culture sets these characters up to value protection. Especially if you contrast it with characters from other cultures who don’t value protection, that could be a cool world-building tool.
- Heroes are protectors. I’m still not sure if this is an always thing or just a sometimes thing, but actively protecting someone else makes us root for a character more than ever. (This is one reasons writers trying to make us sympathize with a villain give them someone they’re protecting.)
That said, I get your fear that it might be a bit too repetitive. On one hand, I don’t think this is the end of the world; it might just be part of your “author brand”. There’s a quote (that I sadly can’t find attribution for) about how pastors only preach one sermon, or artists only paint one picture, or singers only sing one song. While that’s a bit hyperbolic, I think there’s a grain of truth – all of us will have a theme that keeps popping up over and over, and that may just be part of the message God’s placed on our hearts.
But variety isn’t bad. Maybe you could throw in a more selfish character, or one who’s just a loner, or one from a culture that values fighting for yourself above all else? I’m not sure a lack of a less-protective character would break your story, but adding one couldn’t hurt.
Anyhow. I have the itching feeling that the original version of this was better, but I’m gonna push “submit” and hope it makes it through this time. xD
wonder | beauty | truth | love
Oooh, this is a fascinating topic – thanks for starting it, @esther-c!
I honestly feel like story (at least for me) reflects redemption best when it dives deep into one aspect instead of trying to tell everything.
The gospel is the most beautiful story out there, but it has a lot of elements – a wicked people, a perfect king, redemption, discipleship, sacrifice, community, creation, hope, and so many other things. And while some stories manage to cover them all, most can’t. there are certain stories where you can pull those in, most are going to feel a bit too forced if you try to pull all areas of theology into a single story.
But then there are the stories that focus on a single aspect of the redemption story, and those can be so powerful. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe brings in the triumph of the ressurection. The Wingfeather Saga lets us see redemption and being loved beyond personal worth in a new way. Henry and the Chalk Dragon rejoices in the wonder of a well-created (and downright funny) world.
And I feel like that’s what I go to fiction for. Not so much for an elaboration on every detail of the gospel (I can access wonderful sermons and nonfiction books for that), but for an exploration into how that gospel and that core truth runs through all other areas and changes the people it meets.
. . . but I’m also still figuring this out in a lot of ways, so I love everyone else’s thoughts. 😂
wonder | beauty | truth | love
@savannah_grace2009 Ooooh, I 100% second @euodia-vision’s recommendation to try out Crazy Writing Week (I haven’t heard the dates yet, but it should be sometime in January). And hey, I would absolutely love to see you inside the program. 😀 *bribes with cookies*
wonder | beauty | truth | love
@overcomer This is gorgeous. <3 It pulled me in so much, and the atmosphere you set up is stunning.
My only real comment is that your transition about a fourth of the way through from longer to shorter lines felt a little bit awkward? You came out of it very well at the end, but going into it and shifting the cadence of the poem felt a bit disjointed.
But truly, I loved this poem. <3 Thank you for sharing.
wonder | beauty | truth | love
@whalekeeper Thanks so much for starting this thread – these are amazing. xD I don’t have anything to add at the moment, so I’ll just lurk around taking notes. xP
wonder | beauty | truth | love
@autumnlily I’m sliding in a few days late, but I think that generally, at least from what I’ve seen, middle grade is the best genre for chapter titles nowadays. (There are certainly exceptions – think The Book Thief – but as a rule of thumb, that’s what I’ve seen.) And when it comes to that, I honestly think the best chapter titles are the ones that don’t fully make sense until you’ve read the chapter. They should tickle the reader’s fancy, almost make them laugh out of anticipation of what’s in the chapter, but also not completely fit until you’ve read it.
A few that I’ve had fun with:
Chapter One: A Story Almost Doesn’t Happen
Chapter Three: In Which Nayela Is Cold and Cinnie Is Confused (And Cold)
Chapter Four: Time Travelers Are Clumsy
Aaaand you get the idea. Something that hints at what’s coming and draws the reader in without actually giving it away (and often something that has a bit of humor in it, especially for MG).
Hope that helped a bit!
wonder | beauty | truth | love
@whalekeeper Oy. . . quite the interesting predicament. 😂*sends your favorite writing snacks for motivations* The only suggestion I can think of is to maybe look at where your characters aren’t challenged – where does your main cast already agree on, and can you add a side character who doesn’t? Or maybe you already have characters from a range of places but not one specific place, so you could throw in a side character there?
Alternatively, you could use them to complement certain characters. Who agrees with the black sheep? Who speaks this random dialect of which you only had one native speaker?
Ooh, and since it sounds like you’ve already drafted this at least once, maybe look at the dialogue and see if they reference characters that never make it onto the page? Maybe one character comes from a town and he makes a sweeping statement about the townspeople in act one, but then in act two somebody else from that town shows up. Cousins are always a possibility, or random strangers that made an impression on your main cast. . .
Essentially, I think using your existing cast as a launching pad rather than trying to come up with some entirely distinct characters would probably be the easiest, although I’m genuinely just speculating here. 😂 But you’ve got this!
wonder | beauty | truth | love
Eyy, this is so exciting, @godlyfantasy12! *throws confetti* Congrats on jumping into this! (Editors are amazing. 😁)
I’m currently finishing up line edits on a novella called Buried Stars, and chapter six is throwing me a bit. If you have time, I’d love it if you could look at some of the phrasing!
I’ll drop the link below, but relevant information so that you know what’s going on: Their world is entirely underground with rudimentary inventions, and Antonio is the son of a herald (think fancy mail-men) and just delivered a message for his father that resulted in a violent crack-down from the authoritian government. After he ran as far away as he could, a girl about his age found him in an empty tunnel and just mouthed the words “Do you know how to read?” (literacy and all books are severely restricted in the empire).
Whew. That was a lot. 😂 No worries if you can’t get to this, but thanks for offering! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qF_VdRzMnTzziKzHGVXAmXkw3uYmfl1GE8WBjGAovg8/edit?usp=sharing
(And @whalekeeper those character are so sweet. 😍)
wonder | beauty | truth | love
‘Nuff said.
Just kidding. . . but also not. xP The first draft is just the starting point – there’s a quote that says “you can’t edit a blank page”. There will be endless revisions and chances to tighten things up further down the road, but the story needs to exist to be made better. All you have to do right now is get it on the page, in all of its clichéd, melodramatic, rambling mess. Your goal in future drafts will be to make it good. . . your goal in this draft is to make it.
So have fun! *offers your favorite snack and a motivational grasshopper* Enjoy hanging out with the characters, try, if possible, not to re-read as you write, and don’t give up. 😛 Another quote says that the first draft is just shoveling sand that you’ll later use to make castles – and the more sand you have, the bigger the castle can be.
You’ve got this!
wonder | beauty | truth | love
Tint (eleven-year old cousin of dystopian MC)
1. Drinks hot chocolate in all temperatures.
2. Has been captured thrice (and escaped with snarky comments each time).
3. Once convinced his own side that a raid was happening in the middle of the night and thought it was hilarious.
wonder | beauty | truth | love
@whalekeeper This sounds fantastic. xD I’ll put my character in a minute later, but for Calvin, erm. . . three? The one with the colors?
@godlyfantasy12 The siren, maybe?
@zemira (Awesome name, by the way.) Ermmmmm, fork, maybe? Edit: Wait, you already revealed it. xD Whoops.wonder | beauty | truth | love
@acancello Yesss, it’s so saddddd. I have indeed read the Little Women books, and I’ve started Rebecca once but never really got into it. 😅 Is it worth trying again?
wonder | beauty | truth | love
*casually comments because this will be helpful later xD*
Honestly, besides Abbie Emmons and StoryEmbers, the thing that’s been the most helpful in plotting is a whiteboard. XD At our current house we have a huge whiteboard on the wall, and being able to fill it with all the plot points and character arc beats and random notes is spectacular. *happy sigh*
wonder | beauty | truth | love
@janellebelovedpig Oooh, this premise sounds fascinating. I’d be super interested in reading this one day.
I don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, so behold, a rambling list of points about failure:
- If you remember failure, that remembrance is going to be called something. But there’s a difference between guilt and regret – guilt is crippling and continually tells you that you’re a terrible person for what you failed in; regret is softer and something that you wish you had done, but without the crushing guilt along with it.
- True healing from failure, I’d say, isn’t forgetting about it or moving on as if it didn’t happen – it’s recognizing fault where it occurred, learning from it, and determining never to do it again. Instead of pinning you in the past, it launches you into the future.
- One problem with failure is that we define our worth in our success. I don’t know how far you’re going with the allegory-type elements, but if you do have a Creator-type character, you could pull some of the what-actually-defines-our-worth in there.
- “And also, she doesn’t tell anyone she has this companion.” This is going to be fascinating. If Little One meets with other people but doesn’t tell them about Failure, then even if they’re encouraging and loving, she’ll have a lot of reasons to brush them off. Oh, they don’t know about this. If they had been around for that, they wouldn’t say it. They’re just saying it because they don’t actually know about me. That would be a really interesting storyline to run with.
- We don’t talk about failure a lot, but everyone fails. There’s no category of ‘those who fail’ vs. ‘those who don’t’. Humans mess up.
- I love your point about those who have been forgiven little love little. <3 That’s a beautiful way to phrase it. What if Little One had another companion at some point, who picks her up time and time again and pours out love – only for Little One to realize that they’ve messed up badly. That they know the taste of Failure first-hand. That could be incredibly powerful.
As I said, a ramble. xD I hope a bit of that was helpful, and, again, this story sounds fascinating. Definitely something I’d consider reading.
wonder | beauty | truth | love
