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That’s easy–Anna’s brother, Radoslav. In fact, “I’m sorry” (without all the extra “so’s”) seems to be his favorite line. Used in the sense of an apology, rather than commiseration.

Who’s most likely to say “I miss you?”

I don’t want to keep bumping this discussion if nobody else is interested, but just wanted to make sure that everyone who might be had a chance to see it. Please remember, I’m looking at at January 31st deadline for “Works in Progress” submissions.

@joelle-stone, looks like you’ve got a pretty solid set of potential motives for your villain. Any one, or combination of them, could create quite a strong story for him, I think.

As for your protagonist, I think what you’ve got listed are less goals/motivations and more like what are sometimes called “inciting incidents” the event that forces…[Read more]

@rose-colored-fancy, sounds like you have a very complex story going. I’m impressed!

I wonder if part of the difficulty lies in the fact that the plot of your story is on such an epic scale, tribes clashing, royal rivalries, etc. Hakan might be the main villain at the back of all the other wars and villanies, but since he is out of the picture…[Read more]

@epicaddie2, that’s an interesting question. I’d argue that any book has a message, whether the author necessarily intended it or not, but it’s not always a good or true one–and I assume that’s what you’re looking for. One book I thoroughly enjoyed as a child was The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindart DeJong. It’s more of a Middle Grade reading…[Read more]

My personal opinion is that any story, however familiar or even borderline “cliche” can be great if it’s written well. It’s not the original idea that’s important so much as the original execution of a familiar idea.

That being said, I think your initial concept has promise, but I’d want to know more about it before I could pass judgement on…[Read more]

What I’ve learned is that a good book summary includes three things–it introduces the main characters, the setting, and the conflict. You don’t want an in-depth discussion of any of these things (after all, most casual book browsers will move on after a paragraph or two) but just enough to raise questions in your potential reader’s mind that he…[Read more]

Thanks for sharing, @epicaddie2. Going now to follow you. And I kind of have to wonder who EpicAddie1 is…

That’s great, @joelle-stone! I look forward to seeing what you have to share.

Welcome, @sparrowhawke! This is a great site (as I suppose you already know) and I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself here. Am I correct in assuming that Wheelock’s features prominently in your past?

Nicely done, @naiya-dyani! It looks great. I’ve signed up to your mailing list, and I’m following you too.

@joelle-stone, sure, that’s no problem. My email is btznvntATgmailDOTcom.

Sounds great, @joelle-stone! And I like your tagline, BTW.

Like others have said, I think it all depends on how it’s done. An actual resurrection-type scene would be extremely hard to pull of well. In fact, Gandalf’s is the only really good one that comes readily to mind.

If I’m led to believe that a character really has died, and then that character reappears, I think I’m more likely to feel tricked…[Read more]

@kristianne-hassman, that’s no problem. Feel free to share as much or as little about it as you want. The idea is to give people an opportunity to talk about their writing with a slightly wider audience than they may have had up to this point, and maybe spark some interest in their ideas and stories, so that when they do eventually finish…and…[Read more]

@naiya-dyani, the website is https://shardsofsevia.wordpress.com, and the actual blog page is under the heading “This and That” at the top right-hand corner.

@dakota, @hope-mcclellan, @deeprun, and anybody else who’s interested–I forgot to mention that I’m hoping to start this series early next year, so if interested parties could get their…[Read more]

Very cool, @toklaham-veruzia and @naiya-dyani! Now I’m going to follow you both.