Masyn

Yes… I do say the conversation out loud. Well, actually, define loud. Most of the time I mutter it under my breath while I’m in the shower.

What do I think of the different spellings for people’s accents in dialogue?

Hm. Whal now, I ain’t ‘zactly givin that noo proper thought. I ‘spect it’d have a laht ta do with yer nationalitee, if ye take…[Read more]

Yay! A fresh perspective! Mine was about strangled…

Good thoughts, Rolena. I like the point you made about a believing audience needing more than the truth of the gospel by itself. That’s funny, because I never really picked a target audience when I wrote a book. The question was always ‘How do I present this theme that I’ve chosen in as fresh…[Read more]

Actually it may also have to do with the impossible deadlines I set for myself— right now, I am angling to finish an eleven book series before I turn twenty, which is four years from now. Who knows if I’ll make it, but for now I’ll try for all I’m worth.

Whoa, yikes… I don’t know if I have any tips. I don’t think I’m ever not in the mood to write. Give me five minutes between when the dryer timer goes off and the dishes need washing, and I’ll sit down and type, type, type as fast as I can until I have to go do something else. There’s never a time when I feel like I need to get in the mood to…[Read more]

Oh. Drat. I thought it would be something interesting. 😉
Oh well.
Do you mean… procrastination in writing? Oh My Goodness! Wonderful! Will you share your secret? Because I cannot make myself procrastinate to save my life. If I haven’t picked up my writing for twenty four hours I’m absolutely miserable, and when I do pick it up I go so fast…[Read more]

A turtle? What’s the story behind that?

Wow… that almost sounded scriptural! I guess what you read really does rub off on your writing…

Yep! Sounds great! I’m too woozy right now to think of anything I can add to that train of thought— that always seems to happen when it gets late.
But I certainly agree about bittersweet endings. There’s nothing emotionally stirring about a…[Read more]

Yay! Well, in that case…
No seriously, I want to read both of them, so I would have done it even if you hadn’t wanted to read the Lord of the Rings. 😛
And while climbing trees is somewhat of a dangerous pastime, I would not suggest giving it up altogether. I still do it myself, even though I’m sixteen and my siblings think I’m nuts.

Okay……[Read more]

*Is ashamed*
Miss Hannah, permit me to extend to you a warm and friendly welcome to this perfectly sane and normal sight known as Kingdom Pen. I hope you will spend a very profitable time here, and enjoy a great deal of very serious, intellectually stimulating conversation. It is my wish, and I am sure, the wish of every person on this wonderful…[Read more]

Hello Hannah and welcome to the Nut House. Glad to have you here. Are you by any chance a squirrel? Because we seem to have a shortage of those and a surplus of nuts here at Kingdom Pen. A squirrel would be nice for a change.

I think I’ll have to claim that plot. It fits right in with a villain who was really only a vague idea in my mind— heh heh. Sorry. I really need to stop posting novel ideas on a forum full of novelists. It’s bad for my health.

And let me just say, Animal Farm is a GREAT book. I read it, and I was just like ‘ouch’. It was so hard hitting I…[Read more]

Trust Rosey to post those pictures! Oh man… that has got to be one of my favorite scenes in that entire series. Poor Mr. Bush!

Ugh— the italics setting on these things drives me nuts. I always forget to turn it off.

Eh… the debate was so-so. It’s really difficult to give equal talking time to each candidate when there are so many of them, so it was kind of a confused mess.

I didn’t catch your Les Mis reference, not having read the book, but I see what you’re saying nonetheless. That’s certainly a very powerful way to do it.

But I just had this really cool…[Read more]

Of course not! Easy questions are not discussion starters! 😀

The villain, if there is a villain (and there are times you can go without them), must not merely oppose the MC in a physical sense. He must (at least usually) oppose him on a mental/spiritual level as well.

Okay… good. I like that. Let’s take that. Let’s go deeper with that one.…[Read more]

So what do you think is essential to a good strong theme? How should each role (MC, villain, antagonist, protagonist) serve the theme and make it better? Is it better to do obvious themes, or vague themes with a moment at the end when suddenly everything makes sense?

Oh, and by the way, I don’t think there ought to be a limit as to how many…[Read more]

Oh yes. I love Ben-Hur too. It’s just all around such a great story, though I might make the complaint that Esther is too perfect— look who’s talking. 😛

Yes, I understand what you mean about taking that approach with fantasy and accidentally presenting a moralist gospel, but for some reason I don’t think that would happen, at least with my…[Read more]

Good points, Daeus.

I will add a few little differences of opinion we seem to have here… when I asked if the theme should be attached to the MC’s character arch or the plot, you said it didn’t really matter. Here’s why I disagree. Oftentimes, if the theme is whatever the MC went through (learning to lead, learning how harmful pride can be,…[Read more]