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@noah-cochran

Interesting. Are the third person limited views quite sparse? Like Skyward’s interludes?

Exactly. I have… three chapters total, I think. For one, Liorah is absent but there’s important information, for the other she’s there but I needed it told through another character’s perspective.

Okay, that’s what I figured you were going for–and those examples were great, I will definitely try to incorporate some of that into TTD next revision.

I’m glad it helped 🙂

Alright, I was just worried that would be telling something twice, and thus lose any effect it might have had on the reader.

Actually, it’s the opposite. Telling them small pieces is actually more natural and more interesting, telling it in one block can often feel like infodumping.

I don’t think the video came through. I’m looking forward to seeing the video, because I can’t think of a single way to set up a romance without giving away that there will be romance (which I don’t like in haters-to-lovers).

… I forgot to send it…

Don’t you just love those little reminders that one is in fact not handling life nearly as well as one thought? XD

Writing Romance Arcs – Alexa Donne 

Very interesting ideas. I’ll try to incorporate something like that, but it seems that that would drag it out, and make their following relationship development seem quite unrealistic in such a danger filled time.

That’s what makes it challenging to write.

The midpoint doesn’t fix the character’s lie. It just adds a coat of paint over it, metaphorically speaking. They’re trying to fix it, but the lie is still there. It will show up again, sooner or later.

And the sooner is the low point. It shows up again and they act according to it, since it’s still their default. They’re back in their comfort zone, they get what they were chasing– and it falls horribly flat. They have what they wanted and they’re miserable because they have changed. Then comes the time that they rip out the lie, throw away what they wanted, and fix things once and for all. They don’t do that during the finale. The finale is just there to prove that they’ve changed.

If you only have a midpoint and no low point, their transformation seems like flipping a switch. It’s too linear, they go from lie to no lie without any major setbacks.

The fact that they could go back and get what they want but choose to throw it away is what makes it powerful.

As for not making it unrealistic, they wouldn’t just go on without acknowledging it. There’s going to be apologies and a good deal of humble pie on both sides. Their feelings for each other didn’t go away, something just got in the way.

I think I get what you’re saying. Basically, if I have a character whose lie is massive or very negatively affects the character, add some quality or behavior that makes them more likable and shows a good or sentimental side?

Exactly. All people have some soft side. It’s what shows their potential to change in future. And even if the lie is negatively affecting them, that doesn’t mean they’re aware of how. They probably think they’re doing great before they discover what they’re missing.

Yep, pretty much go through it with y’all’s tips fixing characters, fight scenes, adding introspection, improving prose where I can, things like that.

Speaking from past experience, it helps a lot to organize your notes and essentially make a revision outline, with exactly what you want to change about each chapter and how you want to change it, otherwise you might either get overwhelmed or risk only adressing the smallest issues instead of the overarching ones.

Huh, I’ve definitely never heard of a shamshir, is that African in origin? The curved scimitar blade is Persian/Arabian in origin isn’t it?

The shamshir and scimitar are the same weapon, but scimitar is also a collective name for sabres with curved blades from the entire African/Asian area.

There were variations of the shamshir in Turkey, Asia, and the Arabic countries. (So throughout the Islamic area as well during the late middle ages)

Remember I told you it was an absolute nightmare to research that area and time period? (North Africa, 15th- early 16th century) All the weapons I find from that region are the wrong time period. Like 18th-19th century.

All I’m fairly sure of is that some variation of curved swords existed in the loose proximity of that area and then I gave up. It’s fantasy, it’s historically plausible, it’s the best I can do XD I messed with time period and area so much that it’s basically impossible to get anything more than internally cohesive, much less accurate to time and area. (There is no time and area.)

And the only thing harder than finding out what weapons they used was how they used them XD I’m winging it, I’ll probably have to fix/change it later.

Also, quit slandering Tristan.

*Deep sigh* I knew that was going to happen. I give up XD