Taylor Clogston

@ashley-tegart

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]

@wordsmith

Just a quick warning that all Murakami’s books have a lot of sexual content, so if that (understandably) bothers you, probably best to stay away.

1Q84 doesn’t flawlessly mirror each character in where they start out and where they end, but it does introduce a double handful of motifs and themes and will carry forward even when the…[Read more]

@noah-cochran

You’re welcome for the tag! You’re another person whose thoughts I always enjoy seeing pop up.

Here’s the thing, I agree with them, but this has never made me think that story is only about conflict. Thus, your comment about storytelling being more than conflict is absolutely true, but I don’t know of many people that would dis…

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@r-m-archer

There is plenty of conflict–I suspect this book would fall somewhere in between Eastern and Western structure? If such a middle-ground exists–but it’s more for the sake of showing character than pushing the story.

There is certainly huge overlap between most story structures that I’m aware of, and plenty of books I’d say are defin…[Read more]

I’d be happy to participate in a SE NaNo group, whether on or off site! I also find group writing encouraging. The accountability is powerful. I’m afraid I can’t really answer your question of where to find a specifically Christian NaNo group off this site, though.

@wordsmith Thank you so much! I always enjoy reading your insights on stuff when I come across them on the forum, so that means a lot.

I agree with you that writers need to learn the differences between East/West structures. Just that they exist, even. I don’t think the Western structure is inherently bad, but I don’t appreciate all its…[Read more]

@this-is-not-an-alien @noah-cochran

While I enjoyed reading both your posts, maybe you could take the theology discussion to a new thread? It doesn’t exactly fit this topic =P

@lrc I feel a little bad piling another response on when it seems like you haven’t yet had a chance to reply to the excellent other discussion points people raised… but not that bad.

I agree with you that the “You must be always reading or your writing will be terrible!” we sometimes see needs qualification and suffers from returns that…[Read more]

@noah-cochran Have you tried using the Google Docs dictation tool? It’s way better out of the box than the last version of Dragon I tried was after hours of calibration. The main problem comes from saying constructed words or names, but generally it does a fantastic job.

I get a lot of structural feedback as I write, so I make whatever big…[Read more]

@noah-cochran

When I dictate, I write about 5000 per hour, but when I factor in the editing time it goes down to maybe 3000 an hour and is the least interesting editing work I’ve ever done, so I don’t use it for anything except writing sprints any more.

Now I do writing sprints every morning with a few writing friends, and usually get 2000 an…[Read more]

@nataliecone [I wrote most of this post before I realized you were talking about the mindset course. The new Breakthrough Strategies course also talks about finding a mentor, and that’s what I had in mind.]

The mentor section of the [breakthrough] course was good advice, but I really wish they went into more detail, because clearly different…[Read more]

This is true for a very specific kind of writer, one who is fine with reworking their book over and over until it works. That’s not going to work for many indie writers who need to be writing a good enough first draft, sending it to an editor, making one round of edits, and then publishing.

For that kind of writer, “writer’s block” means “I don’t…[Read more]

I’m not entirely sure what the scope of the question is. Can you give a few more details about what you foresee as being the hardest aspects of writing them?

When you have characters who might not get along well on their own (and who you need to work together), it’s important to give them shared values and objectives. Highlight not only the…[Read more]

@rose-colored-fancy Both “evil on the outside, evil on the inside” villains (your Darth Vaders and Witch Kings) and “pristine on the outside, evil on the outside” villains (your suave serial killer in a spotless suit, your red-lipped, voluptuous, evil queen) are tropes I’m pretty tired of in fantasy. It’s entirely possible to design…[Read more]