MarkMcGuire

@Dekreel ooh, Night! That is one powerful little book.

For myself… Les Miserables, The Lord of the Rings, Fahrenheit 451, A Tale of Two Cities, The Count of Monte Cristo, A Christmas Carol, Lord of the Flies, the Mistborn Trilogy, The Roman-Britain Trilogy, The Red Keep… and the list goes on. 😛

As I develop characters I like to add songs and pieces of music that remind me of them and their arcs to playlists on my Spotify. Occasionally I’ll make a list for a scene or a whole story, but I like to have a whole story complete and in front of me before I dive into a playlist for it.

ALSO, if anybody here has a Spotify account, I made a bunch…[Read more]

@Ingridrd ooh, I’m getting strong velveteen rabbit/toy story vibes. 😀 I love the open end though; there’s still hope. 😉
And… believe it or not I really don’t have any criticism. It’s adorable. It made me feel guilty about my stuffed leopard that I haven’t talked to in ages. And it has that sweet, half-wistful tone of all stories told from the…[Read more]

@dekreel same. I know it’s a classic but I’ve never read it. 🙁

But as far as unique and compelling stories go… when you think about it, all stories are pretty much a mash-up of the same storylines being used over and over again. What makes them their own is what the author uses them to say. When a new voice picks up an old story, new depths…[Read more]

@Ingridrd millions.

Okay, maybe not millions… ;P But practically every piece of music I hear reminds me of something or someone somewhere. This is one of my favorites, for the brother (king) of my current MC.

@That_Writer_Girl_99 😂 😂 😂

@That_Writer_Girl_99 a girl after my own heart. 😉

@That_Writer_Girl_99 good thoughts. I played around a lot with government and where it fits in, but it was so equally part of all four of the pillars I couldn’t bring myself to make it its own separate one. 😛
It’s probably the most perfect manifestation of a country’s EiL within itself, whereas Economy is a further exploration of that outside of…[Read more]

@epicaddie2 Ooooh I was talking about this a while back… let me go copy and paste my emails… XD

It’s a fairly simple thing, but once you delve into it there’s a lot to work with.
Basically, I came up with four pillars I think every culture is built on.

1. History
2. Religion
3. Geography
4. Economy

In that order. History and Religion…

[Read more]

Greetings back atcha, @Dekreel! Welcome to the bestistest place on the internet. 😀 Cool! What poem was that?
What genre do you write? What’s your favorite book, if you can choose one? What kind of music do you like?

@Jess lovely topic. I have a lot of thoughts on unhappy endings, but I haven’t got time to consolidate them all now, so I’ll just leave you with the biggest two.

The first is the concept of catharsis. The reader must be satisfied in some way or other. The reader must feel that something was gained; that the world is somehow better as they leave…[Read more]

@Daughteroftheking it’s worth a shot. 😛

@Ethryndal sweeeeeet.

@xonos-darkgrate what @Daeus said, basically.

Otherwise I think it looks very solid. You seem to already have a lot of thematic material (foils and such) to work with, so you’re starting out with a wide perspective and plenty of stuff to juggle around. Also you seem to know what to do with that stuff, which is always a plus. XD

As for names……[Read more]

@Aislinn-Mollisong got it. 🙂 You did mention that you weren’t going to use that in the final, but I wanted to make sure. They’re fine to use for fun, but if you’re going to use them commercially in any way… yep. Copyrights. 😉

Awesome! Show it to me when you’re done.

@Aislinn-mollisong it looks great, but I’ve seen that image floating around and I’m pretty sure it’s not free; did you find the artist and ask for copyright license?

But as far as composition and layout, it looks great. The only thing is you might want to consider a slightly bolder, straighter font. Something more in tune with the fantasy mood.

@Aislinn-Mollisong I have never used Canva, but @Hope has had a very good experience with it, so yes. That could be another option.

@Jane-Maree I want to meet them. 😀