To echo what Noah said above, I do think it’s important for the blurb to reflect the style/tone of the story itself. I personally do not feel it’s terribly/very dark. I mean, it’s supposed to be epic fantasy, so heavy is naturally inferred and darkness is necessary. 🙂

Just my two cents. Feel free to leave it or take it as you…[Read more]

So I when read “I’m in search of opinionated people to help clear me out of this muddle.”

I thought I should probably say something here. 🙂

I’m good with the Option A. Probably give it a 4.5 out of 5 vote. It’s very poetic. It is a bit vague, as the beta you quoted said, but I think in a good way. After reading Option B, I do l…[Read more]

Tolkien. (Enough said.)

Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy (I’ve yet to read his other works but I own most of them :P). It’s not Christian fantasy though, but very unique magical…[Read more]

IKR! I think I found the one announcment JAPenrose gave me, but somehow I forgot to check back… 😛

Anyways, thanks everyone who participated for your hard work! 🙂 I’m sure we’ll nail it next time.

“I write these words in steel, for anything not set in metal cannot be trusted.” From The Well of Ascension by Sanderson.

I’m actually reading the same series right now!

Ahhh… that’s makes sense! I’ll certainly tread carefully then.

I suppose one thing to point out is that in the TV show, there’s really no romantic subplot at all until the last two episodes, in which he basically marries his landlady’s daughter, Maria, (in a rather non-standard/non-cliched romantic way… I think the film version of…[Read more]

What led you to hate the books? (Do you mean all the ones after the first two?) I’m loving the adapted TV films – especially the first four – but they’re all quite wonderful. I especially admire the leadership psychology and decisions and war strategies in the movies. Although the character of Hornblower is not very well developed as I…[Read more]

🙂 Love C&P! Dostoevsky really goes deep in his writing – it took me six months to finish his Brothers Karamazov but it was worth it (the length of time may have had something to do with the translation I picked up). Which translation are you reading?

What I Read: Finished Mistborn The Final Empire (4.8/5 stars – Allomancy is so…[Read more]

Just sayin’ 🙂

Hi! First, sometimes scammers use a legit site’s name and change it a bit in the sent email address to “fake it” – so perhaps you may want to see what email address it was sent from? Second, if you did not subscribe to this in your real name and if they somehow got it addressed to your real name in their emails to you, perhaps…[Read more]

Thanks for the heads up! I’m going to read through what we have right now.

@christlover I’m dittoing Steward’s question about where this story is heading. 🙂

@anyone else

Is it even possible to have dialogue in a 2nd POV story? If so, how can one go about writing it?

(Disclaimer – I’ve never written anything good in 2nd POV :P)

Hmm… Since “You” is now established to be the author, I’m not sure how to describe other people from 2nd POV without being confusing. Perhaps you can give me an example? Because the voice of the story is addressing “You, the author” so I’m not sure how the voice of the…[Read more]

(For once, I think I’m in time in responding to you :P)

Looking at the webpage link you supplied above, and specifically the book cover, I’m thinking of an Indiana Jones adventure… or maybe (to eliminate the cultural reference 🙂 – historical or modern archeological-related adventure, with some mystery related to some ancient…[Read more]

Have anyone heard of audiomachine? They do epic/trailer music as well. I tend to favor listening to the more flowing, beautiful, classical, dramatic instrumentals for my computer work rather than the battles and gore/intense style, and their albums Lif…[Read more]

Hmm… that sounds interesting! And rather do-able. 🙂

So my question is, how can we tell a story without using 1st POV and only 2nd POV without lecturing the reader?

Because the only 2nd POV books I’ve ever read are like “self-help” books.

o.O So not helpful. I’ll be watching this thread and see what others come up with. 🙂

P.S. Loved the Marvel examples you gave 🙂 Civil War is one of my favorite Marvel films. And very timely, too – ahem, ahem Endgame.

I can’t really think of anything substantial and new to add to what you all said. I love your emphasis on how our faith unconsciously impacts our writing. And the…[Read more]

🙂 Actually, to clarify, my first time as a beta was for Daeus’s God of Manna. Unfortunately my feedback time was ahem, very sloooww because at the time I overpacked by schedule. 😛 I shall do my best to repent of this bad habit; as far as I see right now, I’m clear for May. I still consider myself a newbie, though, because I…[Read more]

🙂 As far as I can see, I’m free in May. Would you include me?

(I’m a newbie at beta reading, though, so any tips on what you’re looking for would be great!)

My favs. in fantasy include the Narniad.

Sci-fi would have to be Ender’s Game (and the rest of the series, plus the Ender’s Shadow parallel series) by Orson Scott Card – it’s a masterpiece about competent leadership, character, morality/ethics, society/social expectations vs. individual desires and fears, war,…[Read more]

Yeah, B.K. was dense. Which is why I’m trying to do some light reading before diving into Mistborn by Sanderson. It took me six months to finish reading B.K.. I LOVE Dostoevsky though – utter brilliance. (Crime and Punishment is a great read as well, and I thought it is less dense than B.K.) Tolstoy’s War and Peace is next in line…[Read more]

What I Read: I finally finished Brothers Karamazov and The Fiddler’s Gun (by A.S. Peterson). Started on Fresh Perspectives on Ender’s Game – really highly recommended along with the actual book Ender’s Game, and am about to start Fawkes (you’d be proud, @steward-of-the-pen 🙂 – I’m looking forward to SE’s series on Fawkes.

What I…[Read more]

Thanks for these great questions! They’re forcing me to self-reflect 🙂

Worldbuilding is one of my stronger points. All the others are things I’m currently “working on.” 🙂 I found K.M.Weiland’s Helping Writers Become Authors.com to be super helpful in this area, but I’ve been struggling with finding time to read through her…[Read more]

It’s funny because I’ve been gone for a couple of months now… so I didn’t notice your absence. 😛

Thanks for tagging me!

Common historical inaccuracy (and I’ve seen more hist. fic. films than books) is the language. They use such modern language and grammar sometimes! Belle though, is one film that I found to be very elegant in…[Read more]

About Fahrenheit 451 – I loved the book’s premise and story and characters! 🙂 It’s also a very quick read. So it’s a recommend, but some content issues (although they didn’t really bother me too much – PG-13). Perhaps the PluggedIn review on it would help? https://www.pluggedin.com/book-reviews/fahrenheit-451

Ah! Thank you!! 🙂

Quick question here for readers: Do you have any recommendations as to book review sites that are reliable and accurate? 🙂

Currently, I only know of PluggedIn (which is limited in the number of books they review) and Goodreads (which is more of a hit and miss, since I doubt the majority of readers today have a Christian worldview to…[Read more]

I felt like you wrote this for me 😛 I have tried and failed in journaling for 5+ years… I just read what you wrote this morning and immediately joggled down your points about “What to Put In a Journal” on my favorite blue sticky note. When I get home I’ll paste it on…[Read more]

Absolutely correct. I hate it when biopics are made badly. I was really impressed with HBO’s John Adams (2008). Some liberty was taken with facts but overall it was rather accurate and good.

🙂 I love this lesson.

I think it’s important also to highlight the MC’s weakness in relation to his/her character arc/development.

And I think even if we’re dealing with, say, an antihero MC, her flaws must be realistic but shown to be flaws and not traits to model from.