Each snowflake, like each human being is unique. |
Research Editor's Picks 1. Globetrotting by a Nose 2. The Troll's Guide to Solving a Crisis 3. A New Hero 4. Werewolf Song Lyrics in Limerick 5. 3rd Strike 6. Alien Speak 7. My Yesterdays Walk With Me 8. Sleeping 9. The Witch's Final Request Heading 1 The End is Near Heading 2 Did you finish writing a novel in November? Hook How did your novel end? Or did it end? About This Newsletter “Every trail has its end, and every calamity brings its lesson!” James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans “The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.” Brandon Sanderson, fantasy and science fiction writer "Inside each of us is a natural-born storyteller, waiting to be released.” Robin Moore, author “A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.” Graham Greene, novelist and author “So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit Letter From the Editor Dear storytellers, Many of you spent the month of November writing a novel. Some of you spent a month completing a novel you begin in 2022. Did you finish the novel? Did you write a sequel to a novel you finished last year or the year before? Are you satisfied with the climax of the novel? If you are not satisfied with the ending, do you know why? Did you start editing your novel in December? Are you letting it rest for a while before you begin editing it? If you are letting it rest, do not let it rest for very long. Go back to it periodically, read a chapter, and write notes about what you want to change. You do not want the novel to lie very long before editing, because the longer it lies unedited, the less you desire to edit it. Like the year, all novels and short stories must eventually come to an end. It could be an end that leads to a sequel or makes the short story into a chapter of a longer story, but there needs to be some type of ending or climax. Does the ending satisfy both the author and the reader? Is there a lesson in the story that needs emphasizing at the end? Did one or more of the characters change either for the better or the worse? Let me and the readers know the answers to some of the above questions. Let us know if you want someone to review your novel or chapters in the novel. If you want someone to review it, please let whoever you chose to review it knows what you want them to look for. Editors Picks
Submitted by Readers Activities, Groups, and Contests Feedback "Fantasy Newsletter (November 22, 2023)" Schnujo's Doing NaNoWriMo? writes: Fun Fact: My family tree ends (or begins, depending on your view) in a frost giant fathering a baby with a woman whose name I don't recall because it wasn't nearly as interesting as the frost giant father. Hahaha! Seriously, if you look back at our family tree, the famous Viking Ragnar Lothbrok was also an uncle, though I can't recall the name of the actual member of our tree. Anyway, regarding the frost giant, my suspicion is that she got pregnant by her boyfriend and was too scared to tell her parents, so she made up the frost giant bit. Either that, or frost giants really did exist. lol Feedback "Fantasy Newsletter (April 12, 2023)" Elfin Dragon-finally published writes: I never thought much about the easter bunny. In my house Easter was Sunday morning services, celebrate Christ having risen from the dead, Sunday dinner with family. And the bunny didn't exist. Oh, sometimes if I was at a friend's house I'd color eggs with them. I can only remember one egg hunt, maybe two, that I've been on. Feedback "Fantasy Newsletter (May 10, 2023)" Elfin Dragon-finally published writes: While I haven't finished my scientific stories yet (still working on poetry and other stories) I do have some partially written. One with a planet orbiting a dark star, another where the scientists who are terraforming a planet end up turning the planet into a sun, and (of course) a scientific fact book of dragons. Feedback "Fantasy Newsletter (June 7, 2023)" Elfin Dragon-finally published writes: Re: Healers. I also believe gender doesn't matter when it comes to who a healer is. My ex has a male barbarian character who knows how to heal. But, like him, I believe any good warrior worth their salt should know basic battlefield medicine. |