Recent content by John McDonell

Thanks so much for this great information. I released my first book only last week on kdp and have been getting anxious for reviews. I will follow your advice. Thanks again John McDonell author of Orphans of Tarnalin

Sorry the above post was in reference to this.

I remember reading in "The Witchery of Archery" something about making their own arrows from long saplings, sorry I don't remember which type, and they were very effective. They were hunting I believe in the southern U.S. and they fire-hardened the tips. Mostly used for hunting birds I think.

backed bows I haven't heard the term 'cable' backed, but I have heard of bows with backing. Basically it is a way to add strength to a wooden bow. I think it was used mainly in areas where there was a lack of strong types of wood for bow making. Many of the Native American tribes backed...

Sorry I missed the range thing. I am going out on a limb here and say that I don't think your bow's range would change much but your accurate range would. Most bow hunters I know would not take a shot at a deer over 30 yards away with traditional gear-longbow or recurve. That doesn't mean they...

Regarding shooting in the rain: Lots of traditional hunters use plastic bags to keep their fletchings dry in the rain. Compound bow arrows generally have plastic fletchings so it doesn't affect them. Turkey feather fletchings, however, tend to lay close to the shaft and bunch up when wet so...

Longbows use silencers also. A silencer is usually a specific type of fur, like beaver wove in to the bowstring halfway between the ends and the middle. They are about 2-3 inches long usually and look like a ball of fur when placed on the string. They work by dampening the sound of the...

In metric hectares (ha)are used instead of acres. 1 hectare is 2.47105 acres or 2.5 depending on how precise you want to be. If you are converting things roughly you can compare meters and yards. ( 1 yard = 3 feet. 1 foot =0.3048 metres....so 1 Yard = 0.9144 metres) Your archer may make a...

You are right Lawrence, we all go through different things. I am very fortunate, a fact that I constantly have to remind myself for some odd reason. It sounds like you had a tough go. I don't really have the right or knowledge to comment on that other than to say that you sure sound like your...

Interesting topic. I guess my two cents worth is that I can relate to what you are saying Lawrence, although I have not found it to be damaging to the extent that you describe. I have had a strong interest in fantasy since my friends introduced me to D&D when I was 12 or so.....way back in 79...

I found it slightly odd when Goodkind used 'Richard' as his main character while most of his other characters had invented names. I try to invent all of my names, places, people, monsters. It is tough though to come up with something that sounds like an actual name that isn't and actual name...

I hold the same opinion of most commentors to this post. I read the first 2 or 3 books, if memory serves and found it too slow and ponderous. Unfortunately, I only remembered that after buying the first book again for my kindle last year and doing a re-read. Same result. :(

I just started writing around Christmas. I try to write from 5-7 everymorning before I get the kids to school and go to work. I try to hit 1000 words in that 2 hours but honestly it seems to depend on what is happening in my story. I can write 1700 words if its an action sequence, but if I'm...

Great shooting Ani!, I just wanted to ad a bit about keeping a primitive bow strung. (Primitive meaning that it is made from all natural materials ie no glass) A wood or composite bow will do something called 'following the string' if it is left strung too long, or even after a few hours of...

Hmm.. How about: Describe the father raising the bow (all or halfway) and noching the arrow in one motion. He watches the creature, knowing that the fluid motion of draw and release were a second away if he had to do it. Knowing he would be more accurate if he didn't try to hold the drawn arrow...