Sarah Hoven

@sarah-h I thought you might be interested since you are from Arizona. We (actually I should say, my two sisters) have just studied Arizona. Here are a few facts that we found out.
The flag: The 13 rays of the red and gold on the top half of the flag represent both the 14 original colonies of the Union and the rays of the Western setting sun. Red…[Read more]

@sarah-h I thought you might be interested since you are from Arizona. We (actually I should say, my two sisters) have just studied Arizona state. Here are a few facts.
The flag: The 13 rays of the red and gold on the top half of the flag represent both the 14 original colonies of the Union and the rays of the Western setting sun. Red and gold…[Read more]

Hey Tessa! I live in California (am I the only one in the KP Forum who lives in Cali? It sure feels like it). @sarah-h is right: it’s very beautiful and extremely liberal, quite the opposite of conservative Texas, the state I wish I lived in. I think God made California specifically with no regard for the seasons. It can be cold and raining one…[Read more]

@sarah-h I don’t know enough about it.

Well actually @Sarah-h, in my current novel the MC’s arc spans… eh… one two three four… four? Yes, four years, and it’s not been either annoying or unrealistic. In fact, it’s more realistic to have the character take a long time to make up their mind, because no one really makes snap decisions on that level of importance… specially when…[Read more]

@kate-flournoy said “To use a very simple example, if the message is about overcoming fear by the grace of God, start with a very timid, nervous, stressed-out character who’s afraid of everything, and take it from there.”
I’ve got that as one of my subplots. I like it because I could actually write a one sentence pitch for that plotline without a…[Read more]

Good points, @Daeus. Very good points.

Also, @sarah-h, it’s not so much about showing your character’s response to the arc as it is about showing the arc itself. Let me explain. Say you’re character has a problem with lying. As you progress through the arc, don’t show us the character lying less and less. Show us the changing perspective in the…[Read more]

@sarah-h

Character arcs should be theme based. Let me give an example. In one of my current works, the theme is loyalty/treachery. In this story, I have two characters who unexpectedly betray the same household. Both of them start off seeming very loyal, but along the way, there are certain hints that their ultimate loyalties are to themselves.…[Read more]

@sarah-h
Yes! You are definitely not alone when it comes to structuring, believe me! 😉
@gretald
Aw, well did they taste good at least? Haha… We’ve just started milking one of our goats today. It’s been so long since we’ve had goat milk, so I’m excited 🙂

No problem @sarah-h! 😀 The list I gave you is just to help ‘humanize’ your characters in your mind— if you can think about them as living, breathing, complex… er… problems, that’s half the battle. 😉

Does a character have to have a major flaw to be relatable and realistic? No. In fact if you think about it, there’s not a majority or…[Read more]

@gretald
We did have 8 goats (two baby bucks were sold this morning)… so now it’s only 6. And I think we have 7 chickens. Sheep, huh? They sound fun! 🙂 And don’t worry.. ha-ha. (when we started with our goats we didn’t know what we were doing either 😉 ) So, how many sheep do you have then?
@sarah-h
Thank you. 🙂 As far as structure goes, to…[Read more]

That’s a very good question, @sarah-h! And unfortunately, I don’t think I have a concrete answer to lay out in so many rules and statistics.
You can tell you’re missing something— that’s very good, that’s an enormous start. Now to figure out what that something is. 😉 😛

I think one of the things that makes this conversation so difficult to…[Read more]

@gretald
Really? That’s neat. I guess there’s a lot of “farm folk” on here, huh? 😉
@sarah-h
Well, I’ve written quite a few different things…but I think fantasy/fiction novels are the most fun for me to write (although, definitely NOT the easiest…and I’ve never finished one 🙁 Sadly, I’ve picked up the bad habit of writing tons of book…[Read more]

@kate-flournoy and @sarah-h Loved that idea! XD We actually have a running joke in our family that I’m “Somebody” and my brother is “Everybody”. 😛

“I say… er… good sir?” I squinted against the bright sunlight to the guide loading the camels ahead. He looked up at me, his white teeth contrasting sharply against his nut brown face.

“Yes,…[Read more]

So cute, @sarah-h. Tell your little brother ‘well done.’

@Sarah-h Yeah, Daeus explained it very well there. I like to think about plugins as apps. You can get ‘apps’ for WordPress just like you get apps for a cell phone. The WordPress “apps” make your website do something that it isn’t already programmed for …just like a cell phone app.

@sarah-h They’re premade programs that you just download and start using. Think of it like an extra arm for a robot you already have – only instead of having to wire and screw the arm onto the preexisting robot, you can just clip it on and it starts working. WordPress plugins are similar to that. For instance, my contact form is a plugin. I simply…[Read more]

@sarah-h Well, at least as you start.

@sarah-h
First of all, the difference between a publisher and a realtor. A publisher is a person or company that turns your text document into a book. an e-book publisher is just like a traditional publisher except that they have far less work to do. A realtor is basically just a book store, except for e-book realtors, they are an online book…[Read more]

@sarah-h — Glad to be of service!