Land of Eternal Autumn by ViaEstelar
good design
Ronia the Robbers Daughter
what a great harpy! i would love to see it in a high budget film
In memory of some of the amazing, talented and beautiful people we have lost this year. May they rest in peace.
Morgoth - The Dark Vala by Elena Kukanova: http://ekukanova.deviantart.com/
VK group: https://vk.com/kukanovaart
Soft sculpture by UniversesSwirls on Etsy
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The biggest challenge to writing a novel is enduring to the final two words—THE END. Between the first line and the last are questions, choices, doubts. Sometimes they get the better of us, sometimes and we quit before the draft is complete.
The following articles contain insights, inspiration, maps and methods, answers to questions, and myriad tools to get unstuck.
Story arises from the impetus that starts the imagination on a quest to create a world in which the idea can grow in a movement toward meaning. Learn how to generate, recognize, and test your story ideas.
The Idea
Where Ideas Come From
Follow the Story
Keeping Confidence When Sails Deflate
What If?
What’s In A Title?
Storm Clouds
Wrong Turn
Obsession
Turn A Taboo
Cerebral Cinema
Heard It Through the Grapevine
Enter Stranger
Mad, Mad World
The Myth of Marital Bliss
A Picture’s Worth 1000 Words
Quotes for Writers
Photo Gallery Prompts
Theme is the tangential force that unifies story elements and instills those elements with meaning. From theme, the writer weighs in with a premise, and the story gains its philosophical, psychological, or spiritual spine. A well-crafted premise forces the writer to identify a main character, a central conflict, and a general plot. Like a mini-outline, the premise illuminates the story’s best course.
Understand the dynamics of theme and premise, learn how to differentiate and utilize the two.
Every Story Needs a Theme
Two Sides To Every Story
All-American Theme
How to Write a Story Premise
Story is a record of years, weeks, days, while plot derives and conveys meaning from a span of years, weeks, days. A hero wants something, goes after it despite opposition, and arrives at a win, lose, or draw. Unlike a chronicle of events (when someone says this happened, then this, then that) plot is dynamic. Plot is an interplay of forces coming together, pushing against each other, incrementally advancing while simultaneously coming to a boil, and ultimately achieving equilibrium.
Discover how to maximize the physics of drama.
The Physics of Drama
Plot Structure in Three Acts
Plot: The Inciting Incident
Plotting Your Novel’s Middle
Plotting the End of the Middle
Plotting the End
Something Happened
The Moment of Clarity
Filling the Emotional Void
Balancing the Plot Triad
Balancing the Plot Triad Part II
Creativity Abhors a Box
An outline provides milestones along a story’s route and makes sure the writer hits his plot points while steering clear of detours. Of course, some wrong turns amount to genius, but an outline can help to identify what is genius and what is superfluous.
To Outline or Not To Outline
The Outline as Plot Development
Outline in Three Acts
Outlining The Ten Story Elements
Outlining The Ten Story Elements Cont’d
Knowing what your characters need from you to take on a distinctive persona is integral to their creation and the success of your novel.
What goes into a great first line—a line so promising that readers commit to the next two chapters?
Characters & Plot
Memorable Characters
Identifiable Characters
Test of Time
The Character Profile
From Backstory to Front
The Heart of Character
Prince By Palace
Thoughts
Body Language
As A Man Speaks
Words Portray Character
Opinions
Actions
Through Another’s Eyes
Pressure
Character Check
A Unique Brand of Nice
Creating Funny Characters
The Fatal Flaw
Fatal Flaws in Literature, Film, & Television Characters
The Character Arc
The Enneagram Personalities
The Enneagram in Literature
By Any Other Name
Fiction’s Best Characters
Joseph Heller’s Yossarian from Catch-22
Anne Tyler’s Maggie Moran from Breathing Lessons: A Novel
What goes into a great first line—a line so promising that readers commit to the next two chapters?
Your Novel’s All-Important Lead
Begin With Character
Begin With Place
Begin With Questions
Begin With Answers
Begin With The Problem
Begin With The Unprecedented
Pencil In a Title
7 Ways NOT to Begin Your Novel
100 Best Opening Lines
What goes into a great ending—an ending so satisfying that readers commit to buying your next novel?
Endings Part I
Endings Part II
100 Best Novel Endings
The dos and don’ts of writing dialogue that will move your story forward while establishing characters.
Dialogue Part I
Write Between the Lines
Dialogue Is Adversarial
Internal Monologue
He Said, She Said
Dialogue Checklist
Everyone enjoys a laugh, but some writers are better than others when it comes to getting a chuckle from their readers. As E.B. White wrote, “Humor has a certain fragility, an evasiveness which one had best respect.” But understanding the patterns and repetitions that breach expectations, writers are able to craft the benign violations that tickle the brain and add to the texture of any genre piece.
Humor in Literature
The 1, 2, 3 of Humor
Humorous Imagery
Humorous Word Choice and Arrangement
Words With a Humorous Ring
Characters That Get Us Laughing
Humor Writing Exercises
Editing is everything. Know what to look for and how to self-edit your novel.
Editing Your Manuscript
Editing Your Manuscript Part II
Re-Vision
Re-Vision Part II
Editing Checklist
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Amazingly surreal Las Pozas in the rainforest by Xilitla in the Mexico mountains. Created by Edward James in the 40′s, it includes more than 80 acres of natural waterfalls and pools interlaced with towering surrealist sculptures and buildings. The many trails throughout the garden site are composed of steps, ramps, bridges and narrow, winding walkways that traverse the valley walls. It was supposed to be a “Garden of Eden” containing a huge variety of plants and animals.