Yikes, Melian_Maia, that's awful! I had a few irritating losses when I first started out writing years ago (I kept hitting the on/off switch of the computer with my foot ), but nothing nowhere near as bad as losing a whole novel! I feel for you.

Here's a question - where does everyone like to go when they're writing?

I've almost always written my stories on the computer, so that's dictated where I write quite a lot, even in today's technology-filled world—I'm too terrified of losing my laptop to take it out of the house. So mostly, I just love to get off on my own to a quiet space and type away. My surroundings usually dissolve once I get involved in what I'm writing anyway (much to the vexation of anyone who tries to ask me a question or talk to me ), so I suppose it's just as well.

Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions for me to save my novel! I'm going to be saving it on our external hard drive, as well as on Google Docs. I'm probably going to just write the whole thing on Docs so that when I save it it's automatically on any computer I use.

As to where I write... I mostly use the computer, but when I write on paper, I am normally in my room scribbling feverishly. I usually write the best on Mondays and Wednesdays because I'm home alone for about 2.5 to 3 hours. And with four siblings younger than me, that's the most quiet time I get each week.

I'm typing it on the computer--and I keep getting distracted. Its a second draft.

hi everyone!

I have an assignment from my mom as a school project: write the story of where the painting of the Dawn Treader came from! in the book VotDT, the only thing we know about where the painting came from was that it was from someone Alberta didn't want to offend and that it was a wedding gift from that person. so I am going to write the story of where the painting originated! I have my basic plot written down.

Wow, that sounds like a really awesome story, Liberty! I've always wondered about that painting myself, and the story behind it. I hope you post it on Narnia Writer's Guild when you've finished it, so we can all read it!

I haven't been to the NWG in forever. I've just been busy.

Well, I've heard back from Lighthouse Christian Publishing. I asked a few questions about the system and how they market and got a reply just now. Lighthouse does have a $300 set up fee, which establishes the ISBN number and the typesetting for Amazon. For marketing, they market to bookstores through thier catalogue and will assist authors in setting thier book signings as such. I replied right away and told them I would sit the rest of this weekend and pray about it. Then Tuesday, I will have my decision. I don't know if they have accepted it yet, but we will see very soon.

I've got a question that maybe someone can help me with.
I'm having a hard time figuring out if my story is Fantasy or Allegory. Does anyone know what it is that separates the two? Or how to tell the difference? I want my story to be a Fantasy.  

I've got a question that maybe someone can help me with.
I'm having a hard time figuring out if my story is Fantasy or Allegory. Does anyone know what it is that separates the two? Or how to tell the difference? I want my story to be a Fantasy.  

I can answer that, I hope!
An allegory is something that is symbolic. The characters are usually symbolic of real people or ideas, and things aren't just as they appear. You have to look deeper into them to find out what everything really stands for. A lot of people thought Narnia was an allegory because they said Aslan was symbolic of Jesus, Jadis was symbolic of Satan, Aslan's death was symbolic of Jesus' Crucifixion, etc.
A fantasy is just a fun story where amazing or magical things happen.

~Riella

Wow, that sounds like a really awesome story, Liberty! I've always wondered about that painting myself, and the story behind it. I hope you post it on Narnia Writer's Guild when you've finished it, so we can all read it!

thanks!
is Narnia writer's guild on narniaweb? how do I see it? I will be happy to post it there!

thanks!
is Narnia writer's guild on narniaweb? how do I see it? I will be happy to post it there!

The Narnia Writer's Guild is a seperate site from NarniaWeb. It was created for NarniaWebbers to post their stories/novels/poems, so that the Ditto Town forum would not be too crowded.

The Narnia Writer's Guild is an offshoot of NWeb. Here is the link. http://narnia.suddenlaunch.com/index.cgi?action=login2 You can get all sorts of ideas, see other works in progress, and it is also a place where you can get feedback on your work in progress. It's a much smaller forum community than NWeb so there isn't as much of a concern for showing it to too many people. It's a good place for an on-line writting group. But there will be phases where hardly anyone shows up. I'm one of them right now. Enjoy seeing what's there.

I have decided to pursue Lighthouse Christian Publishing. I wanted to be sure that the $300 fee they mention is a set-up fee for after acceptance of a contract and all the feedback I've gotten off it appears to be that way. $300 is definately in my affordable range. All the others charge $1,800 or more, which just includes putting it in print. I'll easily make up that $300 once the book releases just due to my personal contacts. So now it's a matter of waiting to see if they will accept my submission or not.

@Eustace+Jill: Thanks! That does help me!
Maybe you or someone else know if it is ok to mix Fantasy and Allegory or should the two be kept separate form one another?

@FencerforJesus: I'm so happy for you FencerforJesus!

It is perfectly fine to mix fantasy and allegory. The whole story doesn't have to be allegory. You can have little parts be allegorical. Lewis insists that Narnia is not allegorical, but rather a 'suppossition' of how would Jesus appear in a world of Talking Animals. The story is not allegorical, but whether he wants to admit it or not, he has allegorical parts. The whole Stone Table sequence is allegorical of the crucifixion and ressurection. But the LWW story is not an allegory. So you can definately mix the two.

Just have fun with it. But something you might want to play with is symbolism. A symbol is different than an allegory. The Stone Table sequence is allegorical just like Pilgrim's Progress is allegorical of the Christian life. But in Lord of the Rings, the One Ring is a symbol of the power of sin and temptation. Symbols are more open to interpretation. An allegory can be compared to a metaphor (_____ is _____) while a symbol can be compared to a similie (______ is like _____). Just have fun with it.

Thank you FencerforJesus! That helps me out a lot, now I can get back to my writing with a clearer idea of what I'm writing.

So I know that August isn't even over yet, but...

...is anyone else getting that NaNoWriMo itch?

Well, it's not August anymore, but, yeah, I definitely am. I actually started with a very rough approximation of the plot sometime in May, and then I abandoned it until about July, when I suddenly had a lot of inspiration.
So now I've got a lot of the backstory done, and about four chapters sort of outlined.
Recently, though, I haven't really worked on my NaNo novel much. My characters seem to be in some sort of hibernation mode; I just hope they start talking to me again by November.

Also, this year I'm not even sure if I pull off 50K; I won last year (but it was so very terrible that I didn't bother getting the CreateSpace proof), but now I've started high school and the workload has pretty much doubled. It's going to be difficult this year. I guess I should plan on staying up late.

I'm taking a ton of precautions this year. Last year I won, but my computer crashed and the entire novel was lost.

Oh, that's awful! My friend's computer crashed last year halfway through NaNo, and she had to start completely from scratch. She kept her wordcount, though, so she didn't have to catch up.