Michael Stanton

Yes— exactly. Of course you need some details— give the readers a starting point, and guide them throughout as you would with any other scene, but my point is you don’t have to take every agonizing turn of the rack, every sizzle of the branding iron, or every snap of the lash in slow motion. That is conducive to nothing but stomachaches.

And…[Read more]

Yes. Definitely. Chewy’s body language is very good. In fact it’s probably better he didn’t speak. Then words don’t get in the way of whatever emotion he’s trying to get across.
If he had confessed he was worried about Han out in the freezing snow instead of moaning softly and bowing his head against one of the Falcon’s ladders, we would have had…[Read more]

Wow, Sarah that’s… that’s… I like that. It’s not exactly a poem, but it’s not exactly anything else. It’s very unique.

The only thing I would suggest has nothing to do with the rhythm of the poem. In fact I’m only nitpicking, so feel free to ignore me. All through the poem I was going, ‘wow, this is great, this is so insightful— I feel like…[Read more]

Well I’m not exactly the kind of person who enjoys reading something that terrifying, at least not that terrifying in a dark, spine chilling, twisted sort of way. So… I don’t have a ton of ideas on this.

But… you did mention torture. I’m not big into graphic details of anything disgusting, but that doesn’t mean I’m against having anything…[Read more]

Hey you may have it there, Mark. Good analysis.

That was another thing I liked about Star Wars— even the characters who didn’t speak (whistle, gurgle, bleep bleep, and Gah! don’t count as speaking, at least not in my book) had personalities. They weren’t just droids or wookiees— they were people, even if they weren’t.

Doesn’t that make all…[Read more]

They hover using magnetic technology…

You could also get the same result using cats with pieces of buttered bread tied to their backs. Since buttered bread always lands butter side down, and cats always land on their feet, the two opposing forces would create a single hovering entity, each force struggling for the mastery, and each unable to…[Read more]

Well do it then!

See, I know what you mean, having just finished the book, and for a great deal of the story I almost felt that the Count himself was the villain. My feelings of pity were more strongly invested with de Villefort than with the Count, because the Count was, as you said, thirsting, we might even say lusting, after vengeance. But…[Read more]

Oh my, what a deep question! We could spend years dissecting this one thing, but I’ll spare you the ordeal of everything I could find to say on this subject. 😛

A few things that raise red flags in my mind are as follows:

1. Does the person disregard the taking of life as a necessary part of living? Even hardened warriors do not slay for…[Read more]

You know you’re a writer when just the two words ‘novel’ and ‘idea’ make you cringe, because you already have way too many of them and are swamped as it is.

Heh-heh… yeah.

Okay, when I read ‘if you think of any other kind of futuristic technology’ I got this crazy image of us all walking around with shock-collars on and some sadistic governmental committee hovering over a glowing panel of instruments and monitoring our every move… which is weird, since I’m not a conspiracy theorist.

But let’s not pursue that…[Read more]

I like Dr. Lorry too, but Sydney Carton completely blew me away.

Miss Pross is another great character, and Lucie too, only Lucie and Charles Darnay were sort of… ideally perfect. Sydney was the personification of flawed, struggling humanity who rose above every mean and petty thing in the end and found the strength to sacrifice himself for…[Read more]

Toxicology. 🙂

Hahaha… yep, I know what you mean.

@Mark-McGuire— yes! They did it without any of the fancy modern computer stuff, and in consequence it looked amazingly real. That’s a win for the cinematographers, though, not the storytellers! But yes, it’s great. It definitely contributes to the overall quality of the experience.

Hey, what are your thoughts on C3PO, guys? He’s a droid— not…[Read more]

Good, Hannah! So… who was your favorite character? 😛

And wasn’t the end scene absolutely mind blowing?

You know you are a writer when you hear a song and go, “Oh! That would go perfect in that one scene I am working on!”

YES! YES YES YES! Absolutely!

Yes! I completely know what you mean. It can actually be annoying to think of something new every time you go somewhere different. 😛