Recent content by mirrorrorrim

Just a quick reply, but have you looked into Korea at all? Their traditional religion features female shamans, who could speak with the gods and nature. I'm not sure if that's exactly what you're looking for, but I think it gets pretty close. For most Eastern religions, there didn't seem to be...

I'm not sure I'd consider 7+ different races (including multiple nations for each race) small. :p But I think you make a good point—every creature should be described in enough detail for the reader to have a good grasp of just what your heroes are looking at. If they're not going to be able to...

That's a rare gift you have! I think most authors struggle much more with keeping things short than making them long; I know I do. I've had to give each of my chapters a page limit, and when I hit it, I don't allow myself to add anything new without erasing an equal amount of content to make up...

Is it just me, or are the bad characters even more interesting than the good ones? I think my two favorite characters in the show so far are Mr. Gold/Rumplestiltskin and the Regina/the Queen. ...If I am the only one, I'm not sure quite what that says about me. :unsure: I'm also really enjoying...

That bad? Crossroads of Twilight was one of the most boring books I've ever read, and it kind of killed The Wheel of Time for me. I think I'll wait to read books four and five until book six comes out, and hope that those two were just flukes!

Quick historical point: Christianity reached Alexandria in the 1st Century A. D., and became the official religion of Ethiopia in the 4th Century A. D. It is very likely that it would have spread in some form to more southern portions of Africa, especially given that Christianity is an...

I think the best strategy—and the one most successfully used by popular authors—is to make everything as foreign to the main character as it is to the reader. Harry Potter does this rather obviously with its Muggle/Magical world duality, but Tolkien achieves the same result just as effectively...

I just finished the third book, and this is probably the first series where a middle book in a series is even better than the first! So much happens in it, and it doesn't seem stale or repetitious at all. I'm not sure if four and five are different. I've read that George R. R. Martin didn't want...

That's very lucky. With a small apartment, it's hard for me to collect books in physical form. If I get very many more than twenty, I end up having to give some away. My Kindle, on the other hand, has over twenty books already, and doesn't take up as much space as even a single paperback book!

I think that's a great idea! I hope you'll share what you learn from reading them! I think I might try to do the same thing. The Greeks, who enjoyed tragedies, were probably better at telling sad stories than most of us today, who have grown up loving Disney fairy tale happy endings. And that is...

Thank you so much for your help, everyone! As I've read your comments, I realize that it would be unfair to both my readers and nd my story to change the ending and make it happier. Chilari, just like yours, my story builds to the ending I have planned, and I don't think it would feel genuine to...

I'm still quite a long way off, but the eventual ending I have planned for my story is quite a sad one. When I first conceived of it, I hadn't gotten to know my characters very well yet, and so it seemed easy to have things turn out the way they will. Now, though, after having spent hundreds of...

Okay, that's completely different, then. If your story's more about the quest than about the characters, than I don't think any of my suggestions necessarily apply. George Lucas was able to create the second-most successful film of all time by starting at an exciting part in the middle of his...

Why is it that you're excited for her to meet Gareth? Remember that you only get to introduce a character once. If Gareth is introduced at the same time as Kasaqa, Akhom, her other companions, and whatever backstory/setting you need to fit into the first chapter, he's just going to seem like...

I feel the most important thing a first chapter needs to do, even more important than introducing the main character, is to set the tone and direction for the first part of the book. From what you've written of Kasaqa, it probably wouldn't be best to start the book with her being rescued from...