MNValentine

@dekreel Tricky question. I have a bully in my current novel who plays a fairly small role, but it was hard to figure out how to write him without making him feel cheesy. This is what I’ve found

First, recognize that a lot of bully cliches are cliches for a reason. These things are true in real life, so they should be true in a book. This isn’t t…[Read more]

I don’t outline at the beginning of a novel unless it’s a novella or something else short that I need to stay on track with. Once I’m several chapters into a full-length novel I start outlining five to ten chapters ahead, which allows things to move naturally. In a series I do that with the first book then do ‘skeleton outlines’ of the next few…[Read more]

I don’t know how you usually work – whether you’re a heavy planner or not – but at this point in the story, I think you should probably just keep going in the way you are now. I would expect, from what I’ve read so far, to see the prince trying to control other people’s relationships a lot and eventually suffer from it and learn better, and to see…[Read more]

@ariel-ashira @sam-kowal @valtmy Thanks so much for your help!! After all this feedback I’m probably going to go back to the previous version of the first chapter and see if I can improve it a little so I like it better (it’s a version my friend likes). It’s shorter and establishes the characters and relationships better. On that note, the reason…[Read more]

@skredder Thanks so much for your feedback and encouragement!!! Do you feel it would be better if it was shorter and had a little more conflict and/or humor?

@that_writer_girl_99 Thanks for your input! I suspected she was right, I was just kind of hoping she wasn’t because I’ve written the first chapter of this book at least twenty times. That’s the way of writing, though 🙂

@dekreel You already have some of my info, I noticed 🙂 But if you could change my fur color to reddish (I saw some very cute red squirrels a while ago and love them…) and add that my personality is ‘easily distracted, excitable, loves shiny things, and enjoys a little excitement now and then’ 😀 This is a cool idea, by the way!!!

@warrenluther04 Cool! I love it 😀 Can’t wait for more!!

@kaymart This is really good! It asks a lot of questions really well, and definitely makes me want to read more. You did a really good job drawing the reader into the story.

@notawriter I tend to run on inspiration too, but when it doesn’t happen, what I do is sit down and write about it. If it’s a plot issue, I like to split it up into different ‘plot layers’ that have to do with different characters, story lines, etc. and write out everything I know about each one. For world building, I recommend making an atlas of…[Read more]

@dekreel Dare I say the best yet? 🙂 I loved it! You have a real gift for humor writing!! 😀

@kaymart Welcome! I hope you like it here 😀 I just recently came out of a dry spell myself. I went for weeks without writing, but now I’m relieved to have come out of it and am writing as strongly as ever. I hope the same happens for you 🙂

@dekreel I am sorry I haven’t read this! I couldn’t because of internet troubles 🙁

This part was funny and sweet, too 🙂 Better than ever!!! Keep up the good work 😀

@warrenluther04 I’m sorry I haven’t been keeping up! We’re having internet problems right now, so I’ll have to be a little sporadic for the rest of the week. That said…

AAAH! Cliffhangers!! Who did they see???

I love it 😀

@dekreel I’m going to start a blog soonish too, and I would say the main reason to have a blog as a writer is to publicize your work. That does sound kind of selfish right off, but if you think about it, your blog is basically just serving the end of spreading whatever the themes of your work are. Hope that made sense 😀

@warrenluther04 Great job 🙂 I can tell this is going to be cool 😀

@rochellaine Well cats can kill squirrels for sure… Our cat can catch anything she decides to. Even hummingbirds 🙁

@rochellaine That’s a relief 😀

@warrenluther04 Cool 🙂 I don’t think I’ve ever known a dog who could catch a squirrel anyway…

@warrenluther04 Ooh, fun… I’m afraid I haven’t really concocted a full character yet 🙂 But I’m a talking squirrel with reddish fur, with a liking for food and shiny things and I’m easily distracted. You don’t have to make me a major character 😀