[the guy who be short]

this is in bold so you look at it! its an important question. did you start writing because of jrr tolkien?
i did, because i wanted another work as complete as his, even if it wasnt as good.

We discuss "the temptation to be imitative of Tolkien" -- IN WHAT SENSE?! Writing style? Plot conventions? Using Elves, Dwarves, Orcs and ancient kingdoms?

i am imitative in writing style, definitely.
i have ancient kingdoms (well, theyre not ancient yet, theyve only just been created, but they will be ancient) i have dwarves that lust for gold (but theyre bald!) and dragons. no elves or orcs, i think thatd just be too obvious.

Oh no, my world must not have elves, that would be imitating Sir Tolkien" is just so much dwarf's bread I want to smack them.

what if elves arent needed for the storyline? see, i have two reasons not to have them.

I really have a problem with my history. As I said, it's supposed(sp?) to be like the Sil, but I'm really bad at telling legends, and I don't know where to start - anybody has any ideas?

this was posted about a year ago, but anyway. my poem is also strongly based on the sil. how about starting off with a creation story, creation of earth, men, and any other creatures you have. you can then go from there.

I am now very glad that I did not type up my story without a written copy - someone has selectively gone through my computer deleting all my coursework and my story. If I had not written all my story down 2 years of work would have gone

what kind of monster would do such a thing? i shudder just thinking of it! eugh! well, theres a lesson in this: keep a floppy. il be borrowing one from my sister.

When you are writing, you usually have so many ideas you want to write several different stories. But you can't be focusing on more than one, so what do you do with all your ideas? Keep them for later, or is there fear that you will forget your ideas or stroke of creativity?

write them in a notebook for later use.

I have a question for you guys about characters. What are your characters based on, physically and emotionally? Why are their pasts the way they are?

their names come from jumbling up my friends names. they are based on people from the sil. or from my mind.

Forbidden Romance should only go if it's a cliche, Lila -- if you can put a new spin on it by all means write it

question: how can forbidden romance not be the cliche version? ah... idea. thank you!

we as authors have to be willing to detach ourselves and actually let -- or make -- the characters suffer a bit

gladly [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] i have sooo much evilness planned, its just unbelievable. youd think i was bent on destruction and death of good things, and on evil... first, i have a kingdom destroyed, all but about 600 people, perhaps less... then another kingdom, this time only about 200 people escape... then a few civil wars in the surviving good kingdoms, and one is broken up and its people turn into refugees as evil assails them... im sooo evil! [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]
anyway, killing/harming characters is not a problem with me. then again, i dont really get to know the people i kill. perhaps if it was somebody i knew, i might care more. probably not! [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]
be back for page 17... this is slw going, eh? soon i will catch up...!