Masyn

I have seen that one— and personally, I didn’t like it as much as I was hoping I would. No disparagement to those who do— it just wasn’t as great for me as I was expecting. I liked the book a million times better.

A lot of it probably has to do with the fact that I’m completely spoiled when it comes to actors… my parents have always been…[Read more]

Thank you, Daeus. The… hm… hypothetical guy I referenced is generally a pretty laid back, cheerful, happy personality, who likes to joke and tease and make people look at him like he’s crazy. Not that he doesn’t feel grief as keenly as the next person, but he chooses to make light of it because being grumpy about it won’t change anything. When…[Read more]

Too cloudy.

Okey dokey. I did it. Thanks so much, Hope. I’m really looking forward to this. I read the first paragraph you had up on your blog, and… well… I’m hooked. You caught me. That can be a good thing, or that can be a bad thing. It depends upon your perspective, I suppose. 😉

I like it too. 🙂
Okay, I talked to my mom, and she says we’ll have time for it. I can’t make any promises as to when I will have it finished for you, but hopefully it should be before the end of the year. We’re just starting to get back into homeschool after welcoming our tenth sibling into the home 😀 so the schedule is going to be really,…[Read more]

Thanks for the tips, Daeus. I have an… ahem… hypothetical case to present. Just a question, actually. Say a young man (sixteen, almost seventeen) was thrown into command of a tired, demoralized, losing army, while his father (who had been the commander) and his uncle (with whom he is very close) and his sweetheart (enough said) are captives of…[Read more]

How many people do you want to beta read your book, Hope? Because I can’t say for sure, but I may be able to as well. Considering it is only 125 or so pages (which is an excellent length for a book; how do you do it? Mine end up five hundred plus!) I could probably squeeze it in. I’ll talk to my mom about it, and if she says we’ll be able to do…[Read more]

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.