So back in July the topic of the weekly newsletter, was discussing a question. The question was sent in by a young girl with a gift. Aka, ME. The question was…[Read more]

@noah-cochran

@erynne

@skylarynn

@rose-colored-fancy

@bclarke

@writergirl101

@daeus-lamb

@josiah

@hope-ann

@briannastorm

@karthmin

@this-is-not-an-alien

@everyone

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]

I can point you to some free…[Yes, I said FREE]…resources that I use, if you are interested.

I use “Voice Record Pro” on my Apple i-Phone.  It is free in the…[Read more]

That is probably what happened with one of my posts. I had wanted to put in a quote from something else and I think the form got tired of waiting on me to find it. 🙂

I did have two prior posts that were published disappear, but I think those were impacted by the server cut-over.

I guess I would have a correlated email somewhere…[Read more]

@josiah

@hope-ann

@briannastorm

@karthmin

@this-is-not-an-alien

@erynne

@skylarynn

@rose-colored-fancy

@bclarke

@writergirl101

To start the “Audio” ball rolling,… (Yes, yes, I know that’s cliche…)
Here is the first entry:

Moniker:
@obrian-of-the-surface-world

Text: (1623 Words)

The old woman watched as the foamy tides…[Read more]

@josiah

@hope-ann

@briannastorm

@karthmin

Hi Daeus,

There are some posts missing in the Forums.  Not sure if it is a tech glitch or some have been removed for editorial purposes or the content did not align with the guidelines.

I did ask a question on here that I do not see, but it was regarding posting a shared MP3 link to a…[Read more]

Group #3: 18,072

Group #2: 7,213

Group #1: 18.072

And the individual record for this month was 8,792, by @corkybookworm

@toklaham-veruzia @hope-ann @seekjustice @hope-mcclellan @r-m-archer @emberynus-the-dragonslayer @gabrielwoods @kari-karast @fairfay @the-golden-light @corkybookworm @abigail-rebekah @cassidy @millen…[Read more]

Our word war champions have emerged. In a stunning victory, word war group #3 takes the lead with 14,577 words, group 2 following with 7,358, and group 1 strangely no-show.

The individual with the highest wordcount was @joelle-stone with 6,841 words!

Great job everyone who participated.

@toklaham-veruzia @hope-ann @seekjustice @hope…[Read more]

I don’t have a lot I can say on this since I usually write fantasy (and yes, it’s possible that I do so for this very reason XD), but I do have an idea or two.

The first thing that came to mind was that you don’t need to include every detail or even every major part–in fact, you shouldn’t. How many people know all the details of 9/11…[Read more]

We had some insane competition this week. Some people cranked out more words in a week than I thought possible. 😂

Let me present you with your winners.

Group 1: 54,882
Group 2: 21,329
Group 3: 14, 860

And the individual with the most words? @the-golden-light at 22,828. 😱

Great job…[Read more]

Here are the new calculations:

Word war group 1: 10,810
Word war group 2: No participation
Word war group 3: 6,567

Individual with the highest word count: @fairfay with 6,191!

Sorry about the confusion, f…[Read more]

Word war group 1: 10,810
Word war group 2: 12,306
Word war group 3: 9,768

And the personal highest word count? @dakota at 6,538!

@law0413 @mayajoelle @dakota @pookiemonster @trallion @emgc @gabrielwoods @theswordinthebook @millennium @writercatherine @naiya-dyani @cazadoradelaluna @eden-…[Read more]

I don’t have any experience, or a lot of advice on author bio’s, but I think something that I find appeals to me is someone who is straight-forward, funny, and informative.

You’re talking about a real, true human being (yourself), so make it sound like that. Be relatable to other people…so that readers not only feel that they can…[Read more]

@zee Ah, chapter 9. Mine was chapter 21…the longest, hardest, most horribly written chapter in my whole book so far.😁

@hope-ann

I’m not one that typically struggles with perfectionism in life, but with writing, it has been a problem sometimes. Alabama Rose probably put it better than I ever…[Read more]

This is a really good question. For me, I think the main thing is to remember that there is no such thing as a totally new idea. Ideas are a little bit like matter. You can change them, but you can’t totally create or destroy them. Actually, the best authors you’ve read didn’t come up with everything from scratch. Tolkien didn’t invent…[Read more]

Another Question:

61. Do you have any physical scars? If so, how did you get them?

Here is a list of questions (anyone is welcome to add some) to ask about our villains.

We can post our answers here, and ask for advice on the ones we have no idea what our character’s response is. (:

1. Where did you grow up?

2. Who took care of you, if anyone?

3. Were you ever…[Read more]

Well, if anyone’s seen Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, they’d know that Thanos is one of the best villains ever. 😋  But really, he is.  I think what makes him such a great villain is his strong goal:  to destroy half of the population to make life better for the other half.  Obviously, that’s evil, but he didn’t have evil int…[Read more]

This is a very good question, and although I don’t have much experience (I struggle with relating to my villains too) I do have some theories based off of  inspiring villains that I have read or watched.

I believe the main thing is to give them reasoning. Once a villain has a reason to do evil, you can then get the feel for how and wh…[Read more]

@kimlikesart

Yeah, villains. They can be the hardest to create, but often the most interesting. I may sound like I have a lot of experience, but I don’t. I actually have none, and that is why I am on here, XD

Gracie, those are some great points and I definitely need to go over them with my villains. One of them has a pretty good back…[Read more]

@deeprun @michelle @bree-dawn @tinuviel @tashah-claymore @michael_stanton @caserola @trallion @hope-ann @mlbolangerauthor @lady-frosttongue @sarah-inkdragon @devastate-lasting @sageinthemeadow @enu @the-inkspiller [Read more]

I present you the scores.

Team 1: 36,480
Team 2: 18,871
Team 3: 8,964
Individual winner: @toklaham-veruzia at 17,251!

@toklaham-veruzia @hope-ann @se…[Read more]

I feel like if your quest feels like it can’t do without the characters, then perhaps you could merge the side characters’ traits onto the main characters. Then again, this…[Read more]

@hope-ann So about old prose… I’d mostly say that yes, there is a chance for old prose, since it is used for older books, and I like a quite a few old books written in old prose. Such as The Hobbit and so on.

But one thing I’d say (and this…[Read more]

Madelyn, great questions! With one of my favorite books being written in the 1800’s and being 900+ solid pages long (Bleak House by Charles Dickens, his longest and least read book), I have thought about this and the conclusion I arrived at was that the style of old prose has strengths and values that the style of new prose does not, a…[Read more]

Is this a discussion for everyone? I have some comments, but I’m not sure if I’m included in this or not… *shrugs*

1. My sister likes old prose, and is determined to write in that style

2. Classics are written in old prose and still enjoyable (For the most part)

I think every author has their own unique writing voice, and if yours is old prose, then go for it! I would suggest reading…[Read more]

Hey, guys! The word war for May…[Read more]

@devastate-lasting and @Princess-Foo have great responses – but I already typed this thing up so I may as well send it in. 😛

A quiet, passive, reserved character needn’t be inert.
While others are off gallivanting about, sassing each other and exchanging their witty repartee, she plays the part of the straight m…[Read more]

I think that having many different kinds of characters is a great way to reach many different kinds of people. People often identify with characters they’re like, so there may be quiet people who like quiet characters XD. Though, of course, it depends on how well they’re executed.

Quiet people are generally sassy too. They just know…[Read more]

Research is very important in writing about different nationalities. Don’t just stick with your stereotypical ideas of a nationality or with ideas you’ve gotten from movies. Do your research. Use reliable sources about that people group, and if you can, try to read a story or article from the point of view of a person from that…[Read more]

*cracks knuckles*

For starters, don’t shy away from writing characters of other nationalities. That sounds kind of obvious, but that’s an important place to start.

Imagine having a friend of that nationality read your story. Or if you can, ask someone of that nationality to read it. If you’re comfortable with that, even if you’r…[Read more]

This is a nuanced question, to say the least. It’s too easy to go to one extreme or the other – being obsessed with inoffensiveness to the point of stifling, or so crassly out of touch that one ends up as the poster child for “those views we don’t hold anymore” in three generations or so. But I’ll try my best…[Read more]

Ooh, perfect! I’m doing some of this in my own story (which is fantasy, granted, but does have other races in it).

I think the first thing to keep in mind is that you will almost never be able to avoid offending everyone. There’s always going to be someone who takes something the wrong way. So don’t freak out too much to start with,…[Read more]

Let me tag @hope-ann and @karthmin

These guys are great for explaining stuff about worldbuilding. There’s also some great articles on the blog here! Hope that helps a bit 😀

I love this!! I’m probably not the most qualified to answer, since my main characters are the more emotional ones without fail. I do have a pretty important, cold hard side character, so this was honestly kinda helpful 😆

My big things with him is, he’s the scary quiet one. He doesn’t say much, and he doesn’t raise his voice. So in my h…[Read more]

Thank you for tagging me in this 🙂 Here are some ideas (some of these may have already been mentioned):

• These characters often show, rather than tell,  how much they care. They could sacrifice themselves. Have them secretly perform an act of kindness or faithfully watch out for someone without saying a word.
• Microexpressions.…

[Read more]

@toklaham-veruzia @hope-ann @seekjustice @hope-mcclellan @r-m-archer @emberynus-the-dragonslayer @gabrielwoods @kari-karast @fairfay @the-golden-light @corkybookworm @abigail-rebekah

@millennium @writercatherine @phoenix

Hey, guys! The word war has finished. Peace i…[Read more]

Cool question!! I do things like that in stories, it’s just hard to narrow it down to a specific technique

Hello, It’s Mic…[Read more]

—

Ah, a new week already. Well, do y’all have any goals planned for this week?

For me:

— Finish organizing everything before I leave (Speaking of which, guys, I’ll be out of the country these next two weeks so I won’t be on here at all. You guys can…[Read more]

@seekjustice Ooh yay for rain! You guys sure need it right now. Hopefully your far away from the cyclones though. 😬 Glad things went well this week. 🙂

@sageinthemeadow That’s great!

My goals went pretty well. I didn’t write as much as I wanted, but I think I’ll be able to make up for it this week. I did get to read…[Read more]

Wow…this sure is interesting xD

I must say, I do love and admire how Tolkien was able to create his own complete languages.

Wish I could do that 😉

I look forward to future questions 🙂

I’m glad your goals are going well! (And am excited to read what’s next in your story. 😉 )

My goals went pretty well, thanks for asking! I was a bit nervous for my concert just because some things came up to make things complicated (such as one of the violinists breaking her wrist).  But it went really well! I’m…[Read more]

@hope-ann How are your goals coming along so far? Your trip sounds exciting! Hopefully your preparations are going well. 🙂

@seekjustice I forget it’s summer in your end of the world. XD (We just had a blizzard here!)

How’s the outlining and blogging…[Read more]