Masyn

We’re in the same boat there! This is the only such site I have ever been a part of, and I don’t know whether you’d consider this social media. Frankly, I just don’t have time. I seem to be consistently short of that… 😛

Amen to that last part, Natalee!
But I have a thought on this. How many of you here have read the Lord of the Rings? It’s my all time favorite book, so I’ll probably be referencing it so much you guys are going to start screaming ‘enough with the Lord of the Rings stuff already!’ so I’m going to take advantage of it before it gets too old.…[Read more]

Wow Sarah, you’re British? Neat! Does that mean you spell color like colour? And honor like honour? And valor like valour? And judgment like judgement? Oh wait… 🙂
I actually get into trouble a lot with that one, because I read a lot of old British books, and for the longest time that’s how I thought those words were really spelled. Gulp. And…[Read more]

Okay. I’m not intimidated. But you didn’t really give us much to go on, Ezra. I mean, what kind of an intro is that? Really. 😛
Well, that you’re Daniel’s totes bestie is pretty descriptive, I guess… but you might have put down some of what follows in implication. Or maybe you shouldn’t have. It might be kind of intimidating after all. But I’ll…[Read more]

First things first, Rachel. An apology is in order. I beg your pardon for being so late in replying. My only excuse (a rather shabby one) is that something seems to have gone wrong with the setting that sends replies to email. They have not been coming into the inbox. I was on my page today, and saw this cute little button stamped with the word…[Read more]

S—sir what? Except for that last part, I agree. And I only don’t agree with that last part because… how can a moose be a count or have anything to do with bologna?

Comedy doesn’t seem to agree with my system.
Huh. Funny. At first I thought Ezra Wilkinson wrote this story in the first person. My mistake. I must have been wrong in that supposition. Yeah. I must have been wrong. Funny. All other evidence points to it.
Yes, he’s definitely a homeschooler. Only a homeschooler would write or even dream of p…[Read more]

Neat— great ideas. I’ll have to admit advertising is the only thing about publishing that scares me. Let me know when you create your blog.

Actually my latest knitting project is one my mom started when she was about sixteen, then gave to me to finish a long time later. It’s a scarf. Gulp. I still haven’t finished it. But I am crocheting an afghan that will probably be finished before I turn one hundred. It’s red and brown and green, and done in a ripple pattern.

Hm… dare I suppose you are thinking specifically of Archie Kennedy?
I think a good way to throw off the reader and not have them guess is to strongly foreshadow that the character is going to die. Then the reader is expecting it when it happens, and is maybe not quite so shocked and devastated, but it will be a very real, heavy, and right…[Read more]

I’ll be on the lookout for references, and explain them to the unenlightened in the audience so you don’t have to. 😀 It’s never good to have to explain your own jokes, is it? 😀 😛
Yes, I can definitely see how your name could be either English or Welsh. Pardon me for pointing it out— I have a fascination with names and their origins that…[Read more]

Yes, I think we can all agree to disagree on the points upon which we do not see perfectly eye to eye. It was a great discussion. Thanks for starting it, Daniel!

No one else is answering… so I guess it falls to me to make sure this topic does not fall into oblivion. Oh what a noble quest.
I’m not really a composer, but I do enjoy music a great deal. I also play the piano, the harp, the violin (kind of) and sing. I would love to be able to write music, and though frankly I don’t know how I’m ever going…[Read more]

Hello Rosey! Lemme just say really quick that I really like your last name. It sounds… like Dickens or something.
I have watched the A&E Horatio Hornblower, and yes, I love it! Actually, the movie (don’t read the books, they’re nothing special) has a special place in my heart for more than itself. The first time I watched that with my parents,…[Read more]

Oh. My. Goodness. Your bio could almost be mine, Dani! Only I was born in Texas and still consider myself a native of that state… so I must have evolved from longhorns. Or fire ants. Or scorpions. Or rattlesnakes. Something like that.
But I sing, woodburn, do calligraphy, love Tolkien (though I’m a little unsure about Lewis) and knit. Welcome to…[Read more]

Wow, if you let a topic go for half a day it completely gets away from you! Let me start at the very beginning. Reagan, all the way up there somewhere— the misunderstanding is entirely my fault. I tend to overstate my positions to make a point, then forget to go back and clarify them later. Also, at the start of this topic I thought we were…[Read more]

Hey, you have some really good points there.
Okay, just for the record, I write fantasy. I definitely write about dragons and elves (at least my own version of elves) and other such magical creatures. But I think we need to be extremely careful about using creatures that are very closely associated with darkness and evil such as vampires and…[Read more]

All of you guys made very good points. I think I know what you mean, Dani, about Tolkien, and I agree now that I’ve thought it through, and it probably wasn’t a good idea to do it that way. Tolkien didn’t take it as far as Lewis and make it essential to the story, and therefore I would venture to say that he was a little wiser, a little more wary,…[Read more]

Excellent question. Hannah got my answer before me, basically, but I want to answer a point you brought up specifically. First, I am a complete and utter, totally obsessed, diehard Tolkien fanatic. I think Tolkien did it the right way (created his own world) because he made very definite distinctions between Middle-earth and our world. I am aware…[Read more]

Let me throw in something here. While I would not write of zombies or vampires no matter what side they were on, simply because I find them utterly disgusting, I would probably write a witch if she were very obviously on the evil side. Writing a witch is simply like writing a mage gone wrong or a wizard turned sorcerer. (See general writing…[Read more]