FencerforJesus--That's really exciting about how close your book is to being ready! I can't imagine how excited you are.

I don't remember if I had mentioned it earlier, but I'm working towards getting my '09 novel self published with Create Space. Well, I got back my first review for the 2nd proof copy, and I'm really excited about the encouragement and the ideas of things to clear up!

Now if only I had time to work on it right now.

Tiffany

I'm very proud of myself for making myself write yesterday.
Okay, that sounded weird. But I did write a sad scene convincingly, and that is hard to do.
Congratulations to everyone who is getting published! I hope to get published one day. I don't know when I hear back about my poems.

Okay, I have a question for everybody. What do you do when your characters are traveling?

I've always had a rough time with this. I don't want to glance over their travels with a "so they traveled to such and such place". But I don't want to spend too much time on it either.

I do have something to work with, especially since two of the characters are forced to travel together and really don't get along, but I don't want to drag it out either. And right now they've stopped completely because one character broke her leg and they have come to the mountains. So how do you have a good balance? Do you focus on the traveling a lot to give a sense of the amount of time it takes, or do you condense it into narrative? I'm kind of stuck on this.

The key to travel scenes is what does it do for plot and character development. What is the difference in the characters from point A in the travel to point B? What has happened in the plot line that changes from point A to point B? I wrote a medieval action thriller to kick start my writing (I plan to revisit it after I finish my spiritual warfare series.) and I have a lot of travel scenes in it. They aren't perfect, but some sequences I quickly glance over and other I delve into them a while. Sometimes you need both. In some of them, I have two youth who are training in sword play, and so I have a few training scenes during the travel. I need it because from point A to point B, the two youth become better swordsmen where that is needed before they can train at their destination.

As for your story, Fire Fairy, I'd recommend not having the character break her leg unless it serves a purpose. Will the broken leg draw the two travelers together? Will the broken leg have an effect on what the characters can do in regards to the plot line? If the answer to one of these types of questions is yes, then include it. But if you have it in there just to draw out the travel, don't. If the two depart, she breaks her leg, they arrive at point B, the leg gets better, and the two characters haven't really been improved, it becomes wasted space.

If you have a character or set of characters that have an urgent need to get from one place to another, and that is all you need to focus on, then do a montage in the scale of the length of the travel, because no character development will be necessary and the only plot development that can happen is what is happening elsewhere to set up the scene at point B. So it depends on the situation. But the big things to keep in mind for travel scenes is: how is the reader going to get to know the characters better? and how will this journey affect the plot line aside from just getting to the destination? I hope that helps.

Thanks, Fencer, that really helped.

Okay, I know I just asked for advice, but I just ran into a huge problem.

So I was just watching a new anime, and this character was introduced, whose name is Toki and who has sandy blonde hair and an eye patch on his left eye. The problem is, that's just like my character in my novel!! I thought I had made that name up! And here I am watching this anime, only to find my character's name and description being used! The personalities are completely different, as is the situation, but the name and appearance are similar enough that it's gotten me worried. Especially since I plan on publishing it! I don't want to be accused of stealing a character, which isn't the case, since I didn't even watch anime when I thought this up. What do I do? I really don't want to have to change his name, since I'm already ten chapters into the story, and I really don't want to change his appearance either, since it's part of the story. I'm so confused!!!

I don't think you should be worried, Fire Fairy. Unless the character has the same personality, it shouldn't be close enough for plagiarism. I've read several stories containing a blonde Lucy and they haven't been sued by the Lewis estate.

Thanks, sweeetlilgurlie. I feel a bit better about it now, since I've watched a few more episodes and found out that the character only wears the eye patch in like one episode, and he doesn't really lose his eye since it just kind of turns into an eye that can see spirits or whatever, which is totally opposite from my character. My character loses his eyeball for real and has his lids sewn shut to protect the socket. And their personalities are like on opposite ends of the spectrum. I won't worry about it too much any more.

So I've just decided to cut the scene where one character nearly got voted out of the governing council he was in, but he still gets hit with a colossal fine because he can't keep his mouth shut.
I've also decided on the temporary exile of the heroine's cousin. He manipulated his brother the king into doing what he wanted, as well as making multiple important decisions without consulting him. The king dies, his son, the next king, finds out about all this, and he doesn't like it at all.
But I don't write on Christmas.

Sounds like everyone here is being nice and productive - except for me. I've been sitting here like a lump on a log, barely writing half a chapter all week! And I'm on break, too. I had really wanted to get some writing done over break. *sigh*

Fire Fairy my characters do a lot of traveling as well. In fact, most of the book is traveling. They're on a journey, after all. My traveling scenes also can sometimes feel tedious, so thank you Fencer for your wonderful advice! That helps me out a lot too. I can't wait to see your cover! How exciting!

And strange about that anime, FF. Weird coincidence! It's happened to me before where I'll hear or read a name, then forget about it and accidentally name one of my characters or places that name! Then, several months later, I'll discover my mistake and be like, "Aww, I liked that name!" Though, I don't think that's what happened to you. It sounds like the two characters are different enough for you not to worry about it.

I'm currently working on rewriting a part of my book. I had to change part of the plot to omit a pointless character and, long story short, that left a gaping hole in the middle of my story that I have to fill. I know what I'm going to do, but it's taking me forever to actually bridge that gap. But once I finish that, the hardest part will be behind me since the remainder of my book doesn't need much rewriting.

I know what you mean Silver. I wanted to get the bulk of my sequel finished during my 5-week winter break. Two weeks in, I am only on Chapter 5 (page 46 on Word, single-spaced). I am expecting this to be around 180-200 pages (single spaced) and I highly doubt I will get close in the next three weeks. But now that I have the plot about 90% figured out, it is better that I take the time now and do less editing later. But one problem I am going to have is one character needs some kind of arc to play the role she has. I just don't know what to do for her yet. But the story is presented in such a way that I can add it in without having it drastically affect the story.

I have every intention of showing off the finalized cover. I've been meaning to get an avatar up for some time (my old one was a well received one with the Peter/Jadis duel in LWW that Gymfan made, but it got lost somehow) but never gotten around to it. When I have the time I don't think about it or want to deal with it then. So to advertise my book here on NWeb, I'll be having plugs for it on my siggy and avatar. I will say this: it is an attention grabber. The final version should be in sometime in the next two weeks (preferably one, since all that needs to be done is color and more details). Once I approve that, a release date should be set.

Man, you guys are productive! I, on the other hand, have written a big fat nothing since November ended, simply because I do not want to. But I do! *sigh*

Oh, Fencer, that is so exciting! Any chance we could hear the title? I think when I actually see your book in a store I'll probably freak out (Ohmigosh, it's Fencer's book!).

I'm not sure yet if my book will be available in book stores. It's for sure going to be available on Amazon, but I am going to be talking with Family Christian Bookstore, LifeWay Christian Bookstore, and even B&N about carrying it. I'm also going to approach World Magazine about doing a book review.

Lighthouse has gotten back to me with a colored version of the cover art and it looks even better. All that needs to be determined now is where and how the title is going to go. They are thinking of having it sideways on the edge of the cover and have alternative suggestions. I think I will want to see it before I can make an official judgment. Once the title and author is put on, I'll be posting that.

So in the meantime, be looking out for a release date to be determined shortly. Then "Battle Cry: Adventures in the Kingdom of Heaven" by "C. A. Wolcott" will available at least on Amazon.

FencerforJesus, I'm really happy for you! That's great news.

As for myself, I've run into some trouble. You see, I think I like my MC too much. I want to make things easier on him, but it is probably best that I give him some more trouble (well torturehim emotionally is more like it.) *sigh* It makes me sad to hurt my characters.

I know the feeling. It hurts to see the characters we love going through a tough time. But that is part of what we love about them: how they get through that tough time. We usually don't like boring characters that never have any difficulties. At the same time, a character that is simply too powerful for the circumstances is also boring (a reason I do not like Superman, and that's with Kryptonite in the equation).

I've been working on my sequel while I have down time for the Winter Break and I've developed a villain that I've suddenly fallen in love with. She played a minor role in the first draft, but in the 2nd I re-designed her. I think she may play a more significant role than I initially thought. She will also be very difficult for my heroes to defeat, which sets up for a very nice battle scene. Her name is Caecita and her specialty weapons are related to poisoning and blinding opponents. And when she blinds the leader of my hero entourage (spiritually speaking), it prevents him from seeing a very dark villain from within. Good stuff.

^ Thanks for you empathy Fencer.
Yes, it is kind of fun to see your characters overcome their troubles at the same time.
It is ironic since I normally hate perfect characters in books I read/movie I watch. So I try to keep in mind that even if I love a character to pieces, other readers may not, especially if he/she is a Mary Sue who has no trouble.

By the way, your character Caecita sounds really interesting. How do you pronounce her name?