Kate Flournoy

Only the sixth chapter of the first book! It hasn’t even started to get good yet!

Oh, and with the screaming, gasping, fainting thing, I was talking about this topic. What makes men scream, what makes them gasp, etc. Sorry— should have clarified that. 😛

@Daeus— the fourth chapter of the first book? Or the fourth chapter of the third book?

Oh, and how ’bout screaming? And gasping? And fainting? Just kidding about the fainting. 😛

How long is your book, Hope? Schedules constrain us to ask such beastly questions. 😛

Good points. I like that little example you did there… you’re going to make me crazy to read that book, Rosey.

Cliches of any nature should sometimes be avoided, and sometimes they should be used and flipped around when the reader isn’t expecting it. Both ways are effective. Good thoughts!

Oh, and one more thing to add to this. The ‘type’ of your dialogue should fit the genre of your book. Like, Fantasy vs. Scifi, say. I’m too lazy to think up a mini-scene right now, so I’ll post a quick example from my WIP…

Egann laughed merrily. “You have not changed, at any rate,” he said. “Your tongue is still as sharp as the fangs of a wolf.…[Read more]

Oh yes, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ gets me every time. 😛 Great story. Just great.
Hey, that does sound like it could be a good ending. I’ll look forward to seeing it…

Have you seen the movies of ‘The Lord of the Rings’? We already had the discussion about melancholy endings, but the last scene of the movies (like the last scene in the book, but…[Read more]

Hahahahaha! I completely know what you mean with that last part, Daeus! Oh boy… is that ever true!
How about happy crying? Do men cry over happy things? I cried at a happy ending to a movie a few nights ago, and Daddy (a very tough, manly guy) said it was all right to cry with that story because he had cried over it before.

Obviously in any…[Read more]

As do I. Your characters may become only blocks of wood or stilted puppets if they have no speaking parts, but to speak is to live, and the breath of life for a character on paper definitely comes in the dialogue.

Good tips, @mark-kamibaya. Thank you. Where can I find movie scripts?

And… what is a log line? Is it basically a quick summary of the plot/characters/obstacles in your story? Like a one sentence thing?

Hey this is a good topic, Sarah. I’ve often wondered this myself— thanks for breaching the subject! And thanks, Daeus, for the helpful insight. What about very young men? Say, fourteen or younger? Especially if they have very sensitive personalities?

Thank you, Daeus. Thank you so much. I appreciate you being concerned enough to say something ‘not very fluffy’ because it’s true. I agree with you— everyone has his or her niche, what he or she is best at, or even truly great at.

I do not know that I have found my niche.

Writing has far surpassed any of my other million hobbies, but who is…[Read more]

Does that mean peasants are those who don’t drink coffee? Wow… cool. I always wanted to be a peasant. It’s so… I don’t know, romantic or something.

Yeah. That was the very height of naivety.

Sounds like a great book, Rosey, even if it does need a rewrite. And let me guess… Cobalt is the one wearing blue… right? How did I ever guess?
I’m in the middle of writing a sequel to my first ‘real’ novel (as in novel I would acknowledge to be mine) and that first novel needs a rewrite too! What a small world it is…

Another thing about…[Read more]

@Ezra—oops. Sorry. I thought the new person’s name was Joy…
Forgive me, Ezra, and forgive me, Joy. Ack! I mean, forgive me, Kate! Or which are you, anyway?

@Daeus— well, it’s good to know I”m not alone. 😛

@David… please don’t be toast. We have too many weird persons around this forum already. 😛

@Rosey— they certainly do steal the spotlight! Denholm is the favorite by majority vote, and nothing I do for my poor real MC will change that. *sigh* Poor darling Harold. Everything conspires against you.
Also those jokers are the kind of characters…[Read more]

Kate, Cobalt is your favorite kind of joker. I love those guys, so I just had to make one. XD

Well… lovely. So’s Denholm. 😀 And good point about the understatements. That can really be effective too.

Glad I was able to be of service, Hannah!

@Daeus— the ghostwriter greets you.

@Ezra— me? N….nooooo… that’s not me. I seem to be the only writer here who was never an OYANer and doesn’t drink coffee. 😛

@Joy— how about you, Joy? Do you drink coffee?

Welcome to KP, David! Join the crazies.

Ooh… what a deep question. Humor is not my strongest point, but I flatter myself I can do it well enough, so I’ll share some tips. Maybe…
Okay, first tip: inside jokes. Often these are driven home by a look or a secret smile or some subtextual passing of information between two characters.
As a quick example, say one of your characters once…[Read more]