I just wanted to let some of y’all (Texas slang for “you guys and gals”) that Kaytlin Philips has a pretty good monitored Forum type blog site at:
https://www.writers-vision.com/

…if any of you want to try signing up there (yes, it’s free too).

They have writing games and contests, challenges, and writing topics too.

Spread the…[Read more]

@rae

@abrielle

@e-n-leonard

@lady-grace

@inkhorn

@wingiby-iggiby

@mischievous-thwapling

@millennium

@rusted-knight

@jasmine

@backwardslivewriter

@joelle-stone

@rose-colored-fancy

@littlewolf

@sparrowhawke

@anne_the_noob14

@noah-cochran

@irishcelticredflowercrown

@denali-christianson

@emily-waldorf

@mamaauthoress

@jar…[Read more]

Hi, Abrielle!

I am Inkhorn (as my username and tag both state xP), and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance though it is through the Internet.

I’m not sure how many people are still active since SE has been pretty dead lately, but since summer has started, it might kick up again.

I’ll tag some of the others from the…[Read more]

Awesome, thanks so much, Rose! I just sent you an email. And so cool that the story you’re writing is similar! 🙂

I’ll tag some people I know!  I’m not sure how many will respond (since the forum has been pretty quiet) but I’d love for you to get to know some people here &l…[Read more]

Oh noooo you are not alone!!! Lemmie find like @rose-colored-fancy @irishcelticredflowercrown and @calidris – you do dark fantasy right? – and my sister @hannahrenner and @brian-stansell and I think a buncha others. You’ll find tons of people who love dark themes in a Christian light here like any mature thing from lgbtq+ topics to…[Read more]

@rose-colored-fancy

@this-is-not-an-alien

@irishcelticredflowercrown

@lady-grace

@ethan-leonard

@e-n-leonard

@mamaauthoress

@anyone else

Is anyone up for more character castle shenanigans?

If you like superheroes, the Daredevil comic series by Mark Waid is clean! Vol. 2 gets a little weird for a bit (supernatural-style weird), but overall it’s really good! I also really liked The Defenders: Diamonds are Forever (which censors cussing).

To piggyback on @rose-colored-fancy‘s recommendation, Scott McCloud’s book…[Read more]

What’s your WIP about?  Do you have any favorite books?  What are some of your favorite crafts?
That’s really cool that you’re learning to knit!  I never learned to knit, but it does seem fun (and practical.)

I think that SE is…unfortunately rather inactive at the moment.  I think that…[Read more]

Thanks for the tips!

One caveat is that this works for me, but might not work for someone else. I like a lot of structure and plotting everything, and this technique is informed by that.

I should’ve done that as well. I outline the character actions and interactions quite heavily, but the combat sequences not so much. My…[Read more]

If you are interested in writing, art, or travel, please consider subscribing 🙂 The email goes out on the 22nd of every month, starting this November.

https://writesy-artist-ramblings.ck.page/

If your subscription confirmation email doesn’t show up, just check the s…[Read more]

I wouldn’t mind being a part of this, although I’m writing this as I’m coming off an insane 12 hour shift at the hospital. I have a lot of free time when I am off though. And ye, I have Discord.

And my email if we do it that way is jdwong188@gmail.com

I have pigeon brain right now
I have been awake…[Read more]

Count me in!

@ethan-leonard Discord works way better for me too – I’m horrible at checking (and replying to) emails, plus with discord you can send related media, gifs etc…

Idk, discord’s just really fun in general XD  I feel like it’s also way more casual, so there’s less pressure to write something amazing or…[Read more]

I am trying to get 4-6 people together to form a writing spring group. Basically, we get together at scheduled times to do writing sprints. It could be weekly, biweekly, monthly, whatever. I just think it would be good for me to do sprints, and it would be so much funner and more accountable with others!

I was hoping we could…[Read more]

And how’s your second day of 18, @ethan-leonard ? We still have more cake to eat XD

Honestly, his birthday party yesterday irresistibly reminded me of the upcoming fashion show in here 😂  He got a lot of clothes, and one shirt an…[Read more]

And, Rose, that was directly my fault for getting Tul involved with two interactions at once, lol. I can carry on a dual timeline if you want to interact before him and Val are done, though. Dual…[Read more]

Yes I did have an awesome day, I went to a gun range with my dad. That was AMAZING!!!

A man rolled in, sitting in a chair. It was newer and better designed than any he had seen. He started to wonder what country the man came from, but his thoughts broke off mid-sentence.

pain shot up and down his right leg, overwhelming the other emotions that bombarded him. He categorized them almost unconsciously.

Anger, resentment,…[Read more]

”You think I could help you, my lady?” Frey looks up at me.

I raise an eyebrow. ”Two heads are better than one, so they say. And so I say, as long as the heads have brains in them. I’m assuming there’s a brain in yours.”

He seems to be ignoring this, and says, “But, if you like, we can go ask someone.”

He’s standing by the time he finishe…[Read more]

I glance back as the wall behind me suddenly creaks, rolling forward with a grinding screech.  “The room’s shrinking!” someone yells.  I stumble, yanking Calix forward as the crowd surges around us.  The walls in front roll back, parting as we flee the room.  It’s so much darker in this new room.  I shrink back as people bump into me, brus…[Read more]

Frey smiles and says, “Of course I do, I mean everything I say. I mean, look at the situation we’re in, what’s the use of lying?”

I frown at him. He’s joking. I can hear the laughter in his voice.

“Did you notice anything odd in the way you came here?”

Arms crossed, I debate whether or not I should actually give him a piece of my mind. T…[Read more]

Thank you, I really appreciate that! That’s so cool! I’ve definitely gotten fascinated by it through finding out I was autistic XD

I’m glad! And yeah, same here XD

Oh that’s so cool! That’s like… wayyy more than most writers have XD It’s so fun that you have a character that’s both like canonically autistic and that it affec…

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@mamauthoress I second what Rose says!  Autism kind of became a special interest for me, so I’m more than happy to infodump about it as well XD

Also, that WIP sounds really cool!

As a fellow ND and birdwatcher…YES!!!

Val:

The…[Read more]

As it should be XD

hehe yes

SAME HERE!!!  ADHD and autism for me!

That inevitably bled into my characters, and so Val is autistic and Kit is ADHD 🙂

whaaaa?? That’s so cool! *neurodivergent high-five*
Hey cool! I have two sibling characters, Clanner and Coryn, who have OCD and autism respectively.
I honestly find it fascinating, these…[Read more]

It should be seen more often imo 🙁

I’m glad you like it!  At first, I wasn’t quite sure how people would receive it, but so far people really like him and that makes me happy 🙂

Oh boy…how do I start…

So, Spire used to be WAY more dystopian, and focused on Basil and a female super soldier as main characters (as of now,…[Read more]

Is anyone else having issues with SE lately?

When I click on the Character Castle 2.0 page, it shows a white screen that says “No matching template found.”  Same with the Fantasy Writers group (which is why I’m putting this in the General Writing Discussions group) and also if I click on people’s profiles.  This has been going in f…[Read more]

Yeppers. But it still stinks when a book takes 3 months longer to write than it was supposed to. 🙂

Oh, good XD

*chokes on tea* Yes, this! 😂

That’s so sad. If Mara knew, she’d talk to him anyway 😢

@inkhorn

Thank you! Fun fact: that’s actually my hand in the picture XD It pays to work at a photo studio; I got to do an (medieval themed!) author photo shoot. And I think that particular picture is actually a happy…[Read more]

The man took a moment before he relaxed and smiled. “I’m Frey. I thought you were a part of whatever dream this is at first.”

He laughs, and I frown. So this isn’t a dream, then? Frey’s next question came too fast for me to ask that one.

”What’s your name?” The wheelchair creaks the tiniest bit as he leans forward for my reply.

”Mara G…[Read more]

I definitely agree with what was mentioned about setting aside the book between drafts. For me at least, that’s been really important.

Yes, and unfortunately it’s something I find hard to do, since I like to just leap into things and get them done, without realizing that sometimes what seems like the long way is really the qui…[Read more]

Oops, I didn’t see your post until I posted mine. Would you still like them to interact with Conroy?

I’d love to! Eve will likely still be near the entrance, and I’m gonna write a thing with Calix here, so you can interact with either one of them!

@rose-colored-fancy

Ahhhh, I love how you wrote that!!

thank you so much!!

AND WHY I…

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I blink in the comparatively dim light in this next room. Is it dark enough to hide my face? I shudder. There is no way that woman was real. There is no way any success of mine could result in that. I crouch down, wondering whom I will catch in my operation.

Creak, creak.

My head whips around. A young man on a wheelchair rolls into the r…[Read more]

What a marvelous suggestion! Really, I’m concerned that this room will be filled with maniacal laughter. Fashion show! 🤣

Also…I have a rather cursed idea for the next challenge: the characters have to participate in a very difficult challenge, and if they refuse or fail they have to walk in a fashion show as punishment XD

@rose-colored-fancy was thinking that the challenge could involve making the characters give up something valuable to them – not nec…

[Read more]

Also…I have a rather cursed idea for the next challenge: the characters have to participate in a very difficult challenge, and if they refuse or fail they have to walk in a fashion show as punishment XD

@rose-colored-fancy was thinking that the challenge could involve making the…[Read more]

You might not like this answer, but I’d say it’s whatever works best for your story. With some series, it’s definitely better to edit the first book first. I have a duology I’ll almost certainly refine book 1 in before I write book 2, or at least before I expect book 2 to offer a solid foundation to work from. Meanwhile, my plan fo…

[Read more]

Here’s one for Mara:

As I lunge toward the giants, the floor disappears. In fact, everything disappears. Only a white mist whirls around me while I twist weightless in the air. Is this whole thing just a bad dream? It’s all too fantastical to be real.

Or not. Being thunked on the floor hurts ple…[Read more]

The horns blare outside with that unrelenting force that I know will eventually pull every human in the city from their bed, except for me. I’m already awake and out of bed.

I meticulously study my reflection in the mirror. My birthmark is dull after powdering it but still visible which is quite irking for someone of my significance.…[Read more]

@rose-colored-fancy

@inkhorn

@e-n-leonard

@ethan-leonard

@lady-grace

@irishcelticredflowercrown

@this-is-not-an-alien

@jared-williams

@anyone else I missed

I’m going to go ahead and get started on that new challenge!

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than horrifying people with my alternate use of British and American spellings XD

Noooooooooo
One or the otherrrrrrrrr
aaaaaa >_<
😆

Aww, thank you so much! I love his name too! It was one of those cases where the character forms around the name. A writer friend suggested the name and the whole…

[Read more]

Also, Laura, LOVE that magic system, it sounds SOOOO cool!!! You’ve really thought it through as well!

Thank you so much!! <3

Okay so the plan is: Someone finishes off Lord Castle, we drop in the new characters, a…

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First off, I have a few questions that may seem unrelated, but I will tie them back in after asking.

What kinds of books have you been reading for fun, lately?

What kinds of books have you been reading for research (story related) lately?

What kinds of TV or movies have you been binging on lately, if…[Read more]

@calidris   That’s a cool painting of Kit! I especially like how you did his clothing.

And I LOVE that idea for after the fight with Lord Castle! …though I’m not sure if I should laugh or be incredi…[Read more]

Actually! I have an answer!

Here you go, this is the DSM diagnostic criteria for Autism in adults. (Rooted around through way too many links from decidedly… iffy autism resources.)

It’s a bit information dense and clinical, not to say a little pathologizing, but a good overview! It also says how many of these traits you nee…

[Read more]

Hey y’all, I’m going to be stepping back from Story Embers for awhile/potentially taking a permanent hiatus. I’ve enjoyed chatting with you guys, but school is going to be picking up, and I want to make sure I am focusing as much as I can on the classes for my degree. I also feel like I nee…[Read more]