Recent content by MatthewCEarls

No, that was simply part of the opening line. Not the entire line whatsoever. The entire line encompasses that sometimes you can see for miles and miles but not get very far, both literally and metaphorically. Of course the main character's name would start the opening line.

Looking through several books on my shelves, including non-fantasy novels, not many of the first lines struck me as capturing. I'm in the camp that first lines should do several things: identify the main character, possibly introduce part of the conflict, and maybe set up some type of theme or...

Thanks guys (and gals if there are any)! I think I can give enough of the two main characters at the beginning of the novel to have the reader care about them enough. That way, when they arrive back home to see their father murdered and their home burned down, the reader will care enough to...

As of right now I have the first 26 chapters of my novel outlined and ready to go (adding in foreshadowing, symbolism, etc. each day). I'm stuck at where exactly to start my novel. I'll give you guys a synopsis of the first couple of chapters. Part of me thinks my third chapter should be my...

I think it all depends on how often that character is seen/heard from and if that character is either a) going to play a prominent role and have other chapters told from his/her POV or b) has already had a chapter told from his/her POV. I wouldn't do it for just one chapter As a reader I would...

Hand of the King isn't set in stone. In fact, it was originally the King's top Knight who led the Royal Guard. I have changed it a few times. His importance has more to do with him being the father of two children (the main characters), not his title. It will probably end up changing to...

Thanks for the advice. One possibility is that the former King's Hand won't know who it is that is murdering him, and it will more likely add to the twist because the men will be wearing uniforms from the King's Watch. So, before he is murdered or as he's looking his killer in the eye he could...

How would you feel if the POV character (3rd person) for the first chapter of a novel was an unknown person? Would you be confused or feel cheated in some way by the author not letting you in on the "secret" of who this person is? To give you a little background, the first major event of my...

Readers, the majority of the time, have to get the information at some point, somehow. The most efficient way varies story to story. The most important word in the phrase info dump is dump. By doing this, authors bog down readers and hammer them over the head with information that isn't needed...

Good point, but I'd like to keep my chapters somewhat the same length, save a few pages here and there. I don't want one chapter to be thirty pages if the others are roughly eight. I'll give it a second look and see if I can adjust anything to combine or possibly give the second POV character...

My novel is flowing two POV Characters. The two are separated roughly 1/3 of the way through the book. I was going to alternate chapters for each, but I think there is a point where, for timeline's sake, have two chapters in a row for each character. My question is this: If you were reading a...

So I'm outlined through chapter fifteen, have names for all of my characters, and on paper have the entire plot arch mapped out. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with two major elements of my novel. I need two names, neither of which have anything to do with people. The first name is the basic...

So, I'm writing my novel in third person limited point of view and I would like to limit it to three POV characters. Surely this doesn't seem to be too many? Any rule of thumb I should go by? And does a POV character always have to be a major character of the novel. Thanks for the input in...

I personally prefer Traveler as the title to the series, especially if it was the series revolves around. It's difficult to pick a book title because I don't have a good sense of any of the concepts of the novel, but just based on the titles, I like Fateguard the most.

When first going about outlining, brainstorming, and plotting your novel, you end up with several holes? I constantly ask myself the following questions: -Would he/she really do that? -Why would he/she care? -Would they really do x instead of y? And with that, my plot and entire story...