Michael Stanton

@hope Ah; okay. He probably does have a bit of a tempting role, then, even if he is more solidly foil than tempter.

@Aratrea then… hm. So then it’s possible for a character to be more than one of the three types? Because she’s definitely a type one, and yet when you said that I realize she could also be a type two after a fashion. Does that work?

@hope Ah; I like that. So they’re not only foils with the main theme, but appear to be opposites with what might be a major or minor theme of power. He sounds the most like a foil to me. He isn’t an ultimate foil with regards to the primary theme, but if he’s an ultimate foil with regards to another theme, he can still function as the best…[Read more]

@kate-flournoy Ah; nice. I like that. Moving characters from extremes to a middle ground is a really good way of implementing Method #2.

Ah; nice. I like that. Moving characters from extremes to a middle ground is a really good way of implementing Method #2.

@jane-maree My recommendation would be to figure out what chain of events will lead the protagonist from the inciting event to the first plot point, and then use those to structure that area. Also possibly use that period to develop your characters more before throwing them out into the fray. K.M. Weiland wrote a post about this several years back…[Read more]

@hope Yep. That’s awesome. I like it a lot.

I’m going to go with Arianwen again. Her arc mirrors Harold’s, making it a type one. They both follow disillusionment arcs.
Arianwen’s, however, more represents the flip side of Harold’s, because while Harold was particularly disillusioned with the ‘good guys’ and almost considered joining the bad guys, Arianwen, because she was on the wrong side…[Read more]

@Overcomer *grins* I like this. Muchly. The only thing I might say do differently than how you have it is make this the peddler’s story, not the princess’s. By which I mean, take out the intro about the princess who had trouble dancing (hilarious though it is) and just start with the peddler on the road meeting the dancing master. That will give…[Read more]

@jenali Good for finding an outside-of-the-box example. 😉 Haven’t read the book, but the brief description there sounds like it matches the method!

@jane-maree That looks good and makes a lot of sense to me. 🙂 What parts of your story’s structure are you still wrestling with?

@jenali That looks pretty good. My one concern would be that Brigen should be more seriously considering trusting in the Creator at the midpoint, not at the climax. If he only considers and tries to live this out at…[Read more]

@hope Yes–you can certainly have characters who are antagonists at some points and allies at other points.

Good set of characters. Bryce sounds more like a foil to me. He would be a testing ground if part of Ethaniel’s journey required Ethaniel to move Bryce to his side after Bryce learns about his true heritage. Otherwise, he’s probably going…[Read more]

@hope What @daeus said. It also seems like part of the reason Zevlin dies might be the ongoing poetic justice of his initial negative Experiment in Living? If so, that doesn’t violate those principles since repentance after-the-fact doesn’t always resolve us from the consequences of sin. I would point to the peace Zevlin feels in his sacrifice as…[Read more]

@hope Oh; I like that concept. So basically someone who has a mostly negative EiL, but still have some grasp of the right truth?

@Jane-Maree yup. Don’t I know it. 😛

@Daeus well, you didn’t read the first draft, thank goodness. SO MUCH SUPERFLUOUS MATERIAL.

@Daeus true… 🙂 *sigh* I’m working on it… I think I may actually be able to make my goal of two hundred pages cut and get it down to six hundred pages by the end of this draft. *cheers*