https://anordinarypen.wordpress.com

But sadly it seems like most of my original blogger friends have grown up and got real adult lives (unlike me) and don’t blog anymore. Who’s out here running a blog? I’d love to get in to…[Read more]

A really interesting article! To be honest, I have no idea what to think/feel about Disney and their current “Live-action” spree. Disney has never been part of my life and I just don’t really care about them, so neither the nostalgia works on me, and I’m not outraged that they’ve ruined my childhood movies. But I do find the wider…[Read more]

I think they’re just ordinary goldfish, though I’m not 100% certain. A friend of ours bred them for a while and gave us a few. They don’t look particularly odd though, so I’m guessing they’re just normal ones.

@wordsmith Thank you! I have an Instagram account dedicated to it, so I discuss a lot of stuff on there (my handle is…[Read more]

Wow, that’s quite an array of animals! I really wanted guinea pigs and hermit crabs when I was little, but we ended up getting a dog and it was love at first sight for me. Since then, I’ve also got four horses and three more dogs. My first dog and my old horse died a few years ago, so currently I have three of each. My dream pet in the…[Read more]

Hello! I don’t think we’ve met, but I wanted to jump on here and say that I love animal nonfiction! I used to write articles about native wildlife for my local newspaper and I loved doing it. I wish I still had time. I’m also I’m a dog trainer, and I write heaps of things on training, behaviour and genetics!

It’s lovely to meet you 😀

Hello! I’m an avid fantasy writer and I’m so glad you asked about “fantasy types”, I’ve really enjoyed reading the results so far.

I write mainly historical fantasy. Either fantasy set in a (real) historical setting (like Fawkes, or Romanov, by Nadine Brandes) or sort of alternate universe historical fantasy, I guess. However,…[Read more]

• A Tale of Two Cities–novel
• The Eagle of the Ninth–novel
• The Lord of the Rings–novel and movies
• The Hobbit–novel
• The Chronicles of Narnia–series
• Howl’s Moving Castle–book and anime
• Unnatural Causes–nonfiction
• All That Remains–nonfiction
• The King’s…

[Read more]

Hello there! It’s Chelsea! How are you going? How’s your current WIP going?

Hello! How have you been? What have been your favourite recent reads?

Personally, what has always worked for me is writing the first draft, and maybe allowing a few people to read it (so far I’ve only done this for sequels and only for a handful of people who beta read the first novel) but more for encouragement than critique purposes. Then I write a second draft, fixing everything that I can see myself…[Read more]

Hello there! Do you do ballet? I’ve been doing an adult ballet class (so nothing fancy or hardcore lol) for the past two years and I love it! I also do Highland dancing as well 🙂

All right, obligatory question asking…do you have a favourite author or books? And do you have any pets?

I 100% agree that theme/message is hard. My book currently doesn’t even have one. I think ones coming out organically but in the next draft I’ll definitely have to work on it more.

It’s quite a feat to go through Lewis’s entire collection! Are you going to read his theological ones too or are you mostly focusing on the fiction…[Read more]

Ah, good 😀

I will definitely hit you up when I need an alpha/beta. It’ll probably be next year some time (hopefully soon!)

Oh that sounds really cool! I like the concept and the plot and I wish you the best of luck with it. and likewise, if you need an alpha…let me know 😉

I actually think the only reason they’re called sci-fi…[Read more]

Just needed to jump in and say that I hated both of those books too. Island of the Blue Dolphins I genuinely found traumatizing. It was awful. And I just didn’t like Healer’s Apprentice and the other books by the same author.

Hello! We sound very similar! I also love languages, history and mythology, I’m currently learning Hawaiian and Auslan (sign language). History is also awesome and I think its really cool that you’re into Incan history! I’ve always wanted to study it but I just haven’t had enough time with all my other historical obsessions.

And I…[Read more]

Hello Addie!! It’s been quite a while…*backs off awkwardly, hoping you remember me because it would be really awkward if you didn’t* 😛

I didn’t know you read and wrote historical fantasy! It’s absolutely my niche and I love it and there’s so few good historical fantasy published. Also, your current novel sounds so awesome! The one…[Read more]

It’s in Hawaiian! I started learning it for a book of mine quite some time ago and I got really obsessed. It’s possibly my favourite language.

I think her going “missing in action” would be your best option. For example, something happens and everyone assumes she’s dead, but one of the characters holds out hope that she’s still alive. This will sow doubt in the reader that she really is dead and when she’s proved to be still alive it’s pay off rather than a cop out. Does…[Read more]

No worries! Glad I could be of help.

Hello, Rose! I love this question and I think it’s a great one. To clarify, before I give my thoughts, I’m neither deaf nor blind, but I have done a lot of research and I have a particular interest in Deaf culture and am enrolled to begin studying to be a sign language interpreter next year.

First of all, if you’re on any…[Read more]

Hey there! @zee has given you some great advice already, but I just thought I’d throw my two cents in.

When writing in first person, you are pretty limited to what the MC knows and sees, but there’s heaps of ways to get around it, depending on the context of your story. The Hunger Games for example, is told in first person by K…[Read more]

Hello, how are you? I see you like history? What are your favourite time periods? My obsessions are Roman-occupation era Britain, pre-colonial Polynesia, World War One, and the French Revolution!

Hello! How are you? My name is Chelsea/SeekJustice and it’s great to have you here! who are some of your favourite authors/books?

Thank you for your answer! I found it really helpful and clarifying.

It’s a fairly minor subplot, as the main plot is revolutions and treason. However, it needs to happen before the end due to PlotReasons, in the current draft I think it’s about 2/3rds of the way through and it sets in motion the final act. So I like your suggestion of…[Read more]

Sorry I’m super late to this but I only just saw it and since this is a topic I’ve actually done a lot of research on, I thought I’d quickly give you my thoughts.

Some people may call your story appropriation and some might not. However, the most agreed upon definition of cultural appropriation is when a piece of a culture, usually a…[Read more]

I’m planning to return to ’18 NaNoWriMo novel, which is a New Adult fantasy novel that I’m hoping to redraft sometime next year. My question came up while I was writing it, but since I was just doing a first draft I brushed it aside, but…[Read more]

Hey, it’s completely fine to decide you aren’t ready yet! In fact, I admire that you’re willing to say that. It shows a lot of maturity, in my opinion.

I’ve definitely been in this position (I’m actually in it now, to be honest) and I think stewing on it for a couple months or a couple of years is the best course of action. For…[Read more]

Me! Me! Pick me!

(I’m terrible at Alpha reading at the moment, but i desperately want to read STR).

Hello! My name is Chelsea (aka SeekJustice).

I love fantasy too! It’s what I primarily read and write, though I’ve never read any of your favourites except for The Door Within though.

Do you have a current work in progress?

Also, what are some of your hobbies other than reading and writing?

Thanks for your thoughts! I’ll definitely catch up on that thread too.

I’m just going to jump straight into it. I want to know what you guys think of female characters in novels, particularly YA and Christian novels.

I’m currently plotting a YA fantasy novel and it’s come to my attention that I have a bad habit of making my characters all the same. As in, across my novels my female leads are almost always…[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 😀

Thanks for posting that Kat. It was a great reminder of the importance of focussing on wisdom and caution without getting caught up in fear.

I love putting diversity of all sorts in my stories, because I feel like it makes the world I’m writing about more like the world I live in. In the class for the dog training course I’m doing at the moment, out of eight people, we have one man from South Korea, one woman from Poland and one…[Read more]

Honestly, I think a lot of artists of various sorts use writing as a way to work through trauma, I definitely know that I have.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>And yes, I think it has value, even if it’s only because it helps you to cope and to process things.</p>
Also I don’t believe that “beautiful art” has to be super happy fluffy art.…[Read more]

Probably Stephen Lawhead’s King Arthur books. They sort of lean toward historical fiction more but they have a definite fantasy tinge.

Other than that, I haven’t read many explicitly Christian fantasy novels.

Anyway, loving this convo, I’ll leave now 😀

Let me just say it’s been ages since I heard from you last! Secondly, love your idea! And your themes seem great. What was the gist of your plot? That might help me a tiny bit with your question.

I’m also writing a WW1 book so we can be WW1 writerly buddies 😛

This week is just a continuation of last week’s goals really 🙂

The King of Night and Snow is mine 🙂

I quite like the sound of it to be honest.

Unfortunately my fantasy novel has no snow in it so i’ll have to come up with a new plot based solely on this prompt.

Hey there! How’s things going? What was your favourite of those genres to write in?

For me, I keep coming back to TJs, particularly INTJs, ENTJs and ISTJs.

@deeprun @r-m-archer @naiya-dyani