The Inkspiller

@anne_the_noob14,

Why yes, it is – it’s a box turtle I found out on a walk. Don’t worry, I left him where I found him. I love turtles and tortoises too – we have two Leopard Tortoises who have developed a passion for cactus pads.

And yes, my signature is the Latin translation of Psalm 115:1 –

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give…[Read more]

@phoenix,

Finding Time to Write:

The reality is that time is not found, but redistributed, though obviously some portions of the day are not as negotiable as others, and some weeks are less flexible than others. When it comes to finding time to write, there are a few things to consider:

1) When is your mind most active and you are best able to…[Read more]

@naiya-dyani

I have an exam to study for, but we’ll see! As for hitting 5k in a day – yesterday I hit 9k. It was definitely unusual, but if you take the whole day and you have an outline and a plan that’s been stewing on your mind, you can surely hit 5k.

@phoenix, through here works just fine for me, unless you had other ideas. What do you want to talk about first?
And do you want to do it more like quick, one-off responses to smaller questions, or provide more extensive answers to whatever questions we have?

All that to say – if you’re interested in continuing to talk about it, I think there’s plenty we can learn from one another.

@phoenix, I know exactly what you mean, and I know people of my age who have still less time than I do – and I still fail at matching their productivity (though the past week has been an abnormally sustained break from that discouraging pattern).

Furthermore, for me as a man – I’ve often felt guilty about wanting to pursue my writing more…[Read more]

@phoenix, So it’s funny you mention that – I’ve been told to diversify and practice with a lot of different ideas and prompts, but only one story has ever really captivated me, which happens to be the one that I’m working on at the moment (and finally making progress in for the first time in almost 8 months). Though it’s been through many…[Read more]

Eh, well I haven’t been very dutiful about checking in for a while, but I’m 23; I get you about struggling to find peers of a similar age here. Don’t worry, they’re out there. What sort of writing do you do?

@rochellaine, ah my mistake. I tend to click on everyone’s google docs links (being interested in reading what they have to say) but if you wish to keep it private, no worries. My apologies if I was too nosy.

@karthmin

Much appreciated, thank you!

@karthmin, @northerner, @morreafirebird, @kelly-lundgren, @princess-foo, @sarah-inkdragon

Hello again! The time of our contest draws near, and I was wondering if you wonderful souls would have the time to beta-read the new draft of Goddess / Zauberin (link below), mainly for the changed ending. It now sits under 5k words – but I want to make sure…[Read more]

@lrc, Hey Lindsey, nice to meet you! Not only are you a his-fic, you’re even in my era (or close to it.)

I have to admit, I’m a historical fantasy writer, not a strict historian – I prefer to call it supernatural rather than magical, along the lines of the Enemy’s magic and God’s miracles rather than a totally otherworldly magic system.

Being…[Read more]

Preliminary Commentary (First Pass); @morreafirebird

Criticisms and Questions:

Unclear who or what Gedeon is, who Markus is; took a couple of takes to get that the dragon and celestial objects were a description of the outer design of the vase.

Gedeon’s motivations are unclear and confusing. He wants pretty things because… what? And why the…[Read more]

@princess-foo, I think we’re doing alright. I think you’ve done a pretty good job of marshaling our army to enter the fray with all soldiers in attendance. You even got me to stop lurking and actually contribute, even if I failed to actually write original stuff this time around.

@coggleton,

Valtmy has some good points regarding the “corruption” arc and the “rocky ground” arc. But I sense your original title question still needs answering as to how to write an antagonist for a negative character arc (for the protagonist). So, I’ll roll up my sleeves and give it a shot. If you have a specific set-up or characters in mind…[Read more]

@Catwing, I must second Karthmin. I have to disagree with you on not having a vivid imagination – you just focus on the broad strokes.

@karthmin, The strangest dream which I can recall was one which involved a good friend of mine that I roomed with in college, a real tubby guy, my height (short) but three times my weight, shaved head but a real…[Read more]

@karthmin, I appreciate your silver lining!

By the way, I quite liked Endbringer, though I think I still need another couple read-throughs to understand it properly. It’s funny – I immediately began thinking of the song “O’Death”, specifically the cover performed for Until Dawn – which I totally wasn’t listening to nonstop while writing this…[Read more]