For Sci-Fi, check out the Ender Saga and Asimov’s original Foundation trilogy (the prequels are also good, though not as good as the trilogy. I don’t recommend the sequels.)

N.D.Wilson’s Ashtown Burials series is phenomenal. Christian author and super creative. Intense, original, and timeless.

The Six of Crows dulogy is a gr…[Read more]

For Sci-Fi, check out the Ender Saga and Asimov’s original Foundation trilogy (the prequels are also good, though not as good as the trilogy. I don’t recommend the sequels.)

N.D.Wilson’s Ashtown Burials series is phenomenal. Christian author and super creative. Intense, original, and timeless.

The Six of Crows dulogy is a gr…[Read more]

ConvertKit is a good newsletter service you might like! I’ve personally decided to go with MailChimp, but I have a few friends who use ConvertKit for their newsletters, and it works great for them.

I personally enjoy it when bloggers share short stories through newsletters. You could always have that as a little bonus at the end…[Read more]

Yay! Someone who’s read The Space Trilogy! 😀 I love the series, but it seems to be one of Lewis’s more often overlooked works.

Ooh, you should definitely finish The Wingfeather Saga! The third and fourth books are a lot stronger than the first two, so if you liked the first two (or at least got through them), you’ll definitely…[Read more]

Thanks for the reply Ashley. 🙂

I believe I have answered on these points in my last few comments in reply to Taylor and Archer, so read over my replies to them if you would like to see my rebuttals to your points on the definition of magic, Sanderon’s works, portraying magic and the supernatural in fantasy worlds, etc…I really…[Read more]

I see a bunch of people have already recommended some Brandon Sanderson, mainly Mistborn, but he also wrote a Sci-fi series that I really enjoyed! Skyward hits all those points, with a plot that is both galaxy-wide but close enough that every single character matters, awesome, original, intricate worldbuilding that’s detailed…[Read more]

Thanks so much for reading! It’s absolutely fine for anyone to join in, the admins just don’t like people tagging everyone under the sun. I appreciate your thoughts, and I’m sorry I didn’t communicate as well as I could’ve.

I don’t mean that some kinds of conflict are better than others. That’s definitely the view some people have…[Read more]

I do. 🙂 Arthor C. Doyle and Wilkie Collins are my favorite. Dickens is on my list. Jane Austen is slightly pre-Victorian era, but she’s pretty good as well. What our some of your favorite Victorian era authors?

I love this!! There’s something satisfying and magical about using pen and paper. ❤️

@sparrowhawke Yes Trello can be dragged and changed around. You have lists (brainstorming, first draft, second draft, characters, etc) and within the lists you create cards. You can link documents to the cards, so if you’re like me, and you…[Read more]

I got Scrivener for my birthday and I really love it! It helps keep everything organized without having to open dozens of folders for it.

@joy-caroline

Also, Scrivener is awesome for organizing notes and other things. I use it once in a while and would recommend!

At first I didn’t think Scrivener would be useful for me, but the…[Read more]

…AND I have added one additional question that goes to the value of this fun exercise. 😎  12 Disciples – 12 Tribes of Israel – 12 Gates in the Heavenly City – 12 – Eggs in a Dozen… (Okay, I’ll admit I got carried away with this last…[Read more]

Hi Joelle,

Whew! It has been a long and busy week.
Trying to catch up on responding to posts.

So, let me clarify a little.  These snippets of scenes are extracted from anywhere in a longer work, so they will often be introduced without context or backstory.  We are just looking at the intrinsic value of a single scene, which m…[Read more]

Thank you, that’s actually really helpful! I’m dealing with so many details for this story that something small but vital could definitely be off. This is making me begin to wonder if I’m dealing with a problem with my outline or a problem with one of my main plot points… I have some work to do. XD

Noah, how’re you doing, bud?

Still praying for you to get through this and back in the saddle again.

@ashley-tegart

Okay, Ashley,

You sneaky intriguer, you!  😛 I am going to need to be updated on this as well…

AND you are setting it in the 1800’s. Wow!

I need to get on your newsletter list, if you have a site you can…[Read more]

I say an Amen! to Daeus (@daeus-lamb) on this one.

He is right. If you over plan or write an outline that is too dense or detailed, all of your creative energy and the mystery of discovery will be spent on the dry bones of a story, that needs the flesh, blood, muscle, sinews, breaths, sweat, and tears to fully come…[Read more]

I wrote the second draft of my epic fantasy last year. Rewrite might be a better word, since it was radically different from the first draft. I outlined most of it, though the plan for the second half of the book was…[Read more]

Hi Ashley,

If I were to hazard a guess, I think I just used the comment reply on the message itself, so that may be why my American Lit query wasn’t showing up in the general Forum feed.
It should show on your personal Activity page below the initial reply you made to this feed. (I’m kinda learning this stuff too, as I go.)

@arindown Those all seem really fun. They do sound like they’d spice up the story a whole lot.

@ashley-tegart I…[Read more]

Hi Ashley!

Your quote got my attention:

What British and Russian authors do you like?
Of Russian authors, I have read Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Brothers Karamazov”, etc. and Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard”, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn “The Gulag Archipelago”, and some parts of Leo Tolstoy’s works, to name a few.  We sometimes…[Read more]

@obrian-of-the-surface-world Oh, cool! I’ve been looking into doing blog serials. Do you have any tips? Wow, your life sounds busy. I’m glad you’ve been able to write, though!

Plotters like to know where they’re going, Pansters like the sense of the total unknown.

However, there is a large spectrum of area between Panster and Plotter.  For instance, most pansters have some sort of small outline or synopsis to know what the book is about and who the characters are. As for plotters, the amount of which…[Read more]

@obrian-of-the-surface-world Ah, yes, guilds…I miss my Erekdale. Wow, all three of these dragons sound very cool. I love how you have Bible verses from which they are based. And which themes in particular would y…[Read more]

I read The False Prince and its sequel (I think?) a few years ago, but never finished the series! I’ve heard good things about The Ranger’s Apprentice!

Awesome! Yes, the concept behind Ranger’s Apprentice is quite good, though there are some things I would have done differently. The False Prince was great!

My favorite fantasy books…

[Read more]

Your WIP sounds very cool! What are some of your favorite fantasy books?

*Produces a scroll and unfurls it. It reaches the floor* Ahem! Here we go!

I love Ranger’s Apprentice and Brotherband Chronicles by John Flanagan. They’re slightly lacking in several aspects, but still very enjoyable!

The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen.…[Read more]

Character sketches sound interesting, I’ll try one of  those sometime. Thanks for sharing that!

@obrian-of-the-surface-world

I agree with you Brian; I also find metaphors more evocative and enthralling. However, I will agree with Rose that I like similes mainly because I am able to come up with non-cliche ones much much…[Read more]

I purchased by website theme from creativemarketplace.com. It’s a great place to find awesome-looking, more professional themes and the ones I’ve used were fairly easy to install and customize. And as for post photos, I’ve just been using the option Wordpress gives to find free stock photos from Pexel. 🙂 Hope that helps!

Till We Have Faces is a great read. I have several C.S. Lewis books and got The Chronicles of Narnia when I was years old which put me on my writing journey…long, long ago…in a galaxy far, far away… [sorry, got distracted there.]
A lot of my fiction tastes are blended genres, but I love biblical mysteries and have researched…[Read more]

Hi Ashley,

Welcome! You will find many Lewis and Tolkien fans among us!  So glad to have you join.  Check out some of the Forums and join a group.

I write Fantasy too and have a WIP I have been…[ahem]…perfecting…for many years. 🙂
Would love to hear what yours is about.  Mine has a long timeline too, but the longer ti…[Read more]

My current WIP is the first book of a planned four-book epic fantasy series that spans thousands of years.

I’ve been seriously writing for several years now!

What are you currently working on?

Ooh! Books that span a long time are really cool!

I’m working on a fantasy trilogy set in a desert setting inspired by medieval North A…[Read more]

I’m glad I could help.  See ya around!  🙂

Hi Ashley! I’m Rose, pleased to meet you!

I also write mostly fantasy. Though I have a love for all things sci-fi, I haven’t written it yet.

What’s the premise of your current WIP?

I’ve been writing for just over a year, how long have you been writing?

Hope to see you around!

Hi Ashley,

Welcome! You will find many Lewis and Tolkien fans among us!  So glad to have you join.  Check out some of the Forums and join a group.
Here’s the link:

Groups

Several have started some exciting topics that help draw out some of your special gifts and perceptions.
Here are a few I r…[Read more]

Hi Ashley, I’m Lily.  Welcome to the S.E forum!  I hope you enjoy your time here.

Hmm, I haven’t read those books by Lewis yet.  Are they more theology or fiction?

I enjoy writing fantasy too.  Have you’ve joined the fantasy and sci-fi groups yet?  They are super helpful and supportive in certain genre-related questions (i.e worl…[Read more]