#apieters

[fictionadventurer]

Top 5 books that shaped your worldview Top 5 novels that defined your literary tastes

Top 5 Books that Shaped My Worldview

The Fairy Tale Novels by Regina Doman: I can divide my inner life into pre- and post-FTN eras. Seeing characters who were joyful and curious in their faith, incorporating it into their lives, learning about theology--it was life-changing for me.

Orthodoxy, Tremendous Trifles, and Manalive by G.K. Chesterton: Related to the first (which introduced me to him), but these books made me fall in love with the author in his own right, and almost everything I read gets compared to this worldview in some way.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien: I first read this as an adult, and if it weren't for the fandom, most of it wouldn't have stuck with me that much. But the scene where Faramir refuses to take the Ring, even if it means the world ending, was a jolt of a moment that, in one swoop, destroyed relativistic worldviews that I'd been dangerously close to falling into.

These Beautiful Bones by Emily Stimpson Chapman: Introduced me to Theology of the Body, which is an absolute cornerstone of my worldview.

Bringing It to the Table by Wendell Berry: Made me think a lot more about agricultural practices, how society needs to care for people and the land, about the dangerous fragmentation and specialization of knowledge, and anyway it's had a lot of influence on how I view the world.

Top 5 Novels that Defined my Literary Tastes

The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder: Sparked my love of historical fiction, historical research, and books that explore cultures very different from my own.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine: The very first fairy tale retelling I read, and the one that started it all.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: The first piece of English classic literature I ever read. Now that forms a huge portion of what I read.

The Fairy Tale Novels by Regina Doman: See the previous list. Without these books, I never would have read Chesterton, Lewis, Tolkien or almost any fantasy author.

Desire by Una Silberrad: It's an example of the type of light vintage novels that I already read a lot of, but it formed my tastes by starting me on a quest to search out very obscure authors and works (to the point that you have to read Gutenberg downloads or Google Books pdfs because they don't have print copies) in order to find hidden gems.

[ethanjhake]

For the end of the year asks, 25. If you didn’t create any new characters, describe your favorite self-created character.

25. Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one

I came up with a new character that I'm calling Val for now.

She is from the creation myth story for my original world called the Traivelt.

In the beginning, it was the end of the world. The stars fell out of a burning sky and the earth cracked and shattered into a million pieces. The people of the world went mad with fear, grasping, clawing, dashing, killing for any chance at something—anything—that might give them a chance to live another day. The ageless story was drawing to a close, collapsing in on itself under the weight of eons of pain.  But as everything was falling apart there was a girl who still believed in happy endings.

Because Val believes that a happy ending is possible, she is able to become the seed of the new world, The Traivelt. She works in the world, weaving purpose into every mishap, darning every tear with beauty, and sewing death back into life. slowly and surly, making all things new, a world that—this time—would be able to have a happy ending.

Thanks for the ask!

[taleweaver-ramblings]

For the 10 character ask game:

Chronicles of Narnia Themed—The Friends of Narnia

High King Peter Pevensie, Queen Susan Pevensie, King Edmund Pevensie, Queen Lucy Pevensie, Lord Digory Kirke, Lady Polly Plummer, Lord Eustace Clarence Scrubb, Lady Jill Pole, and because we’ve run out of friends, King Caspian X and Mr. Tumnus.

Some of these overlap with the last time someone asked me about Narnia characters, but let's go anyway!

Marry: Caspian. I don't think this needs explanation, but I do appreciate that his existence prevents me from having to choose between the Pevensie brothers again.

Drink tea with: Lucy! We're having a tea party, and you're all invited.

Party with: Mr. Tumnus, because his accounts of dancing under the stars sound FUN.

Kiss: Peter, by process of elimination.

Go out on a date with: Still Edmund, actually.

Push down the stairs: Pre-dragoning Eustace. Jury's out on whether or not it was an accident.

Slap: Polly, by process of elimination. I suspect it's shortly after her row with Digory in Magician's Nephew, and yes, I already feel bad about it.

Invade the dreams of: Susan, both because I think she'd have interesting dreams and because (if this is post-PC) I am prompting her subconscious back towards Narnia.

Take a nap with: Jill. She needs a nap.

Rob: Digory, and I am very specifically stealing a set of the rings from Magician's Nephew so I can go have adventures in other worlds (or just hang out in the Wood Between the Worlds when I need a break).

[urban-hart]

whiteboard doodle with @apieters's Tristan in mind, i would've drawn moar of him but the markers kept dying on me

[inklings-challenge]

Inklings Challenge 2024: Team Chesterton

It is time to officially announce the members of Team Chesterton for the 2024 Inklings Challenge

Members of Team Chesterton are challenged to write a science fiction or fantasy story within the Christian worldview that fits into one of these two genres:

Intrusive Fantasy: Stories where the fantastical elements intrude into the real world

Earth Travel: Science fiction or fantasy stories that feature any kind of land, sea, air, or underground travel on a past, present, future or alternate Earth

These genres are open to interpretation, and creativity is encouraged. You can use either or both of the prompts within your story, or if you’re feeling ambitious, you can write multiple stories.

Members of Team Chesterton are also asked to use at least one of the following seven Christian themes to inspire some part of their story.

Admonish the sinner

Instruct the ignorant

Counsel the doubtful

Comfort the sorrowful

Bear wrongs patiently

Forgive all injuries

Pray for the living and the dead

Writers are challenged to complete and post their story to a tumblr blog by October 21, 2024, though they are encouraged to post earlier if they finish their story before that date. There is no maximum or minimum word limit. Writers who have not completed their stories before the deadline are encouraged to post whatever they have written by October 21st and post the remainder at a later date. Writers are also welcome to post the entire story after the deadline.

Posting the Stories

All stories will be reblogged and archived on the main Inklings Challenge blog. To assist with organization, writers should tag their posts as follows:

Mention the main Challenge blog @inklings-challenge somewhere within the body of the post (which will hopefully alert the Challenge blog).

Tag the story #inklingschallenge, to ensure it shows up in the Challenge tag, and make it more likely that the Challenge blog will find it.

Tag the team that the author is writing for: #team lewis, #team tolkien, or #team chesterton. 

Tag the genre the story falls under: #genre: portal fantasy, #genre: space travel, #genre: secondary world, #genre: time travel, #genre: intrusive fantasy, #genre: earth travel

Tag any themes that were used within the story: #theme: admonish, #theme: instruct, #theme: counsel, #theme: comfort, #theme: patience, #theme: forgive, #theme: pray

Tag the completion status of the story: #story: complete or #story: unfinished

Team Members

The writers assigned to Team Chesterton are:

@afairmaiden

@agirlbelovedbygod

@allieinarden

@allisonreader

@apieters

@artist-issues

@butterflies-and-bumble-bees

@called-kept

@casa-anachar

@clarythericebot

@courage-is-when-we-face-our-fear

@dearlittlefandom-stalker

@dragonladyzarz

@drharleyquinn-medicinewoman

@ellakas

@esters-notepad

evanard

@flightsoffancyonpaperwings

@frangipani-wanderlust

@humanradiojmp

@iminlovewithpercyjackson

@katiethedane12

@kazeharuhime

@knight--error

@lover-of-the-starkindler

@maltheniel

@mels-library

@novelmonger

@novice-at-everything

@queenlucythevaliant

@ravenpuffheadcanons

@sashakielman

@secretariatess

@stealingmyplaceinthesun

@swinging-stars-from-satellites

@thalioneledhwen

@thebirdandhersong

@thefinaljediknight

@thelayofsolmonath

@ughnofreeusernames

@weird7habburger

@why-bless-your-heart

@wildlyironicbee

@zelda-was-here

Writing resources, including the Challenge overview, FAQ, writing prompts, and discussions of the genres are available at the Inklings Challenge Directory. Any writers with further questions can contact the Inklings Challenge blog for guidance.

Welcome to the Inklings Challenge, everyone! Now go forth and create!

[christian-oc-tournament]

Participants

#-A-E

@5tarryknight - 3

@apieters - 4

@as-dreamers-do - 1

@blairaptor - 1

@bookdragon1811 - 3

@build-a-problem-musical - 5

@chrystallink - 3

@claramurphyqueenoffandoms - 3

@cygnascrimbles - 3

@dragon-wisteria - 2

@egglygreg - 5

@elsabet-writes - 5

@enigma-absolute - 1

@enjoliquej - 2

@epnona-the-wisp - 6

@eruanna1875 - 4

anonymous (TheMailman17) - 2

@ethanjhake - 6

@evelynmlewis - 9

@everlune-evotide - 1

[writingquestionsanswered]

Dealing with Stalemate Period in Battle-Centric Story

apieters asked: My stories feature wars with periods of guerrilla-style raiding that keep the two sides in a stalemate until one side can force the other into a decisive battle. These periods are important for as the characters involved grow in leadership skills, compassion, courage, and ruthlessness; but the stalemate seems to put the main plot on hold until the next major battle happens. It almost feels like I should pause the main plot, tell a whole bunch of self-contained short stories set during the guerrilla campaigns, and pick up the main plot later, but that wouldn’t make sense unless I described the stalemate in the main plot. How should I think about stalemate situations in a story? How might I pace this part of the story so I can convey this situation of stalemate without boring my future readers?

[Ask edited for length]

It sounds like your story is both character-driven and plot-driven since you're showing character growth against the external conflict of a war. However, you never want to put the external conflict on the back-burner in order to focus on character-growth. In stories with both internal and external conflict, you need to work the character growth into the plot.

First, I would not recommend having more than a few stalemate periods per story. You could do one big one that stretches across a couple scenes or even a whole chapter, but the other one or two should be just part of a scene or something mentioned. For example, you could skip ahead--past some of the stalemate period--and work into exposition how many stalemates there were or how long that period lasted.

The rest of the character-growth will be worked into the other events of the story. For example, if you want to show your character becoming more courageous, you will look at the events of the story (the major plot points) and figure out how each one helps them along that path of growth.

By minimizing the actual time you spend in the stalemates, and by working the bulk of the character growth into your main plot points, you can eliminate the pitfall of repetition that comes with having to invent new and different "self-contained" scenes to house this growth. Building the growth into the main plot events helps keep the character growth from slowing the pace of the story or bringing it to a halt.

Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

LEARN MORE about WQA

SEE MY ask policies

VISIT MY Master List of Top Posts

COFFEE & FEEDBACK COMMISSIONS ko-fi.com/wqa

[masterfuldoodler]

@apieters reply to this

[apieters]

apieters

lady-merian

4h ago

idratherdreamofjuneFollow

Dec 13, 2021

A Fortnight of Books

Prompts for a yearly reading roundup!

Day 1:

Overall - best books read in 2021? For fiction,Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas, translated in two parts by Lawrence Ellsworth, an excellent adventure featuring older, more mature versions of the Four Musketeers. Also greatly enjoyed Aristotle for Everybody by Mortimer J. Adler in the world of philosophy, but really, really enjoyed The Righteous Mind, by Jonathan Haidt, which should be required reading for most high school seniors and college freshmen.

Best series you discovered in 2021? The Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, an action-packed adventure stories about a quick-thinking British redcoat in the Napoleonic era.

Best reread of the year? Probably God in the Dock, the collection of essays by C.S. Lewis.

[fictionadventurer]

At the risk of self-aggrandizement, here is a poem I wrote back in 2016, after a slew of mass murders made the news cycle:

When death and tragedy surround,

When orphans cry and widows wail,

When darkest loss eclipses joy,

To what I turn that hope prevail?

When hate and anger rear their heads,

When man inflicts his pain on man,

When blood is shed for selfish cause,

To what I turn for shelter then?

When men forget our pain and loss,

When passions cool and ebb away,

When we're alone, yet still we grieve,

To what I turn that ever stays?

I'll look upon the cross of Christ,

My hope in time of sorrow.

The God who suffered for us then

Is with us, healing, here and now.

I love some good self-promotion! Thanks for sending this my way! It's great!

[grifrift]

Pilnmēness

Resns ģīmis spiežas caur logu, Kā dēmons - tas nespēj radīt. Aizlienē Dievišķo roku, Sāk cilvēku likteņus vadīt.

Tie mostas kā Frankenšteini Un iesēj neprāta sēklu. Svin uzvaru zemiskās tieksmes, Eņģeļi sacelt grib brēku.

Demiurgs transā vāc ražu, Tad aiziet uzaustot gaismai. Nespējot Dieva likumus apiet, Atstāj visus velnišķā trauksmē.

A.

[taleweaver-ramblings]

For the traveling game:

My character lives in a medieval fantasy world. He is about 18 years old and is a direct male-line descendant of his world’s equivalent of King Arthur, and is by birthright one of the six most powerful lords in the kingdom. The current elected monarch murdered his father, leaving him the last surviving member of his family.

He is generally pretty grumpy about the fact that his father’s murderer has not been brought to justice and longs for revenge, but is still capable of acting in a just and compassionate way towards others who are being oppressed by the evil monarch’s regime, even if the only emotions he regularly expresses are anger and sullen apathy. Despite this, he has friends who have not given up on him, and when the Prince of the Gods himself decides to step in and fix the kingdom, he calls this character to be his right-hand man.

He likes old stories and legends told around the campfire, generally prefers heavy/hearty food without much spices, and enjoys a good sparring match. If pressured, he will take on gangs of little children in a wrestling match and will let them win.

He has a strong sense of right and wrong, and as he matures he learns to evaluate situations fairly and not just with his emotions. “Fair” and “just” decision-making, however, don’t always translate to “mercy.”

Interesting! He sounds pretty cool. As for who of my characters I think would get along best with him . . .

Ariana Nernathon is a traveling bard determined to find the heir of a hero of legend. She's mostly looking for a specific hero of legend's heir, but she would not object to finding a different hero's heir, and "direct descendant of the King-Arthur-equivalent" would look like a good enough candidate for her to keep an eye on him. As a bard, she can appreciate the desire for both justice and revenge (though she would probably try to gently encourage him towards the former rather than the latter), and she is always happy to spend time with those who enjoy the old stories.

[urban-hart]

Full body commission (with a bit of bg thrown in as a 'thanks for waiting a whole month!!') of Peter the Marshal from @apieters's world of Heimar. :D Thank you so much for the commish, my dude! It took awhile, but Peter truly was a pleasure to draw for you!

[inklings-challenge]

2024 Inklings Challenge Participants List

This is an ongoing list of writers who have expressed interest in participating in the 2024 Inklings Challenge. I will be updating this list until October 1st, 2024, at which date everyone on the list will be assigned to one of the three Challenge Teams.

I have erred on the side of including people, so if you’re on the list and you do not want to participate, let me know and I’ll remove you. And it’s very possible I’ve missed names in the shuffle, so if you’re not on the list and you do want to participate, let me know so I can add you.

@afairmaiden

@agirlbelovedbygod

@allieinarden

@allisonreader

@anipologist

@apieters

@artist-issues

@ashknife

@asjdklfeuwqoi

@atlantic-riona

@aussie-the-hedgehog

@awesomebutunpractical

@bean-with-a-blog

@beneathascorpionsky

@bunnyscar

@butahumbleguest

@butterflies-and-bumble-bees

@bytes-and-blessings

@caffeinecath

@caitriona-3

@called-kept

@casa-anachar

@catkin-morgs-kookaburralover

catrina

@challenger2013

@clarythericebot

@confetti-cat

@courage-is-when-we-face-our-fear

@cygnascrimbles

@dearlittlefandom-stalker

@dimsilver

@dragonladyzarz

@dragonteaandfairyhoney

@drharleyquinn-medicinewoman

@edgeladyramblings

@ellakas

@e-louise-bates

@esters-notepad

@enjoliquej

evanard

@ettawritesnstudies

@fairytale-lights

@fictionadventurer

@find-the-path

@flightsoffancyonpaperwings

@for-the-writing-artist

@frangipani-wanderlust

@freenarnian

@friedwritinggamingghost

@frominsidetheblanketfort

@gailyinthedark

@galahadiant

@ghostrider-02

@glassheadcanon

@greater-than-the-sword

@healerqueen

@heepthecheep

@herbofgraceandpeace

@humanradiojmp

@icwasher

@iminlovewithpercyjackson

@incomingalbatross

@kanerallels

@katiethedane12

@kazeharuhime

@lady-larklight

@ladyminaofcamelot

@ladyphlogiston

@larissa-the-scribe

@lauravanarendonkbaugh

@leseigneurdufeu

@lilaccatholic

@littlegirl-arise

@lover-of-the-starkindler

@lydiahosek

@magpie-trove

@maltheniel

@melliabee

@mels-library

@muse-write

@n1ghtcrwler

@nervousbookmouse

@novelmonger

@novice-at-everything

@o-lei-o-lai-o-lord

@onewingedsparrow

@on-noon

@plainshobbit

@phoebeamorryce

@physicsgoblin

@popcornfairy28

@queenlucythevaliant

@quill-driver08

@rachellesedai

@ravenpuffheadcanons

@rosesnvines

@rowenabean

@sashakielman

@saxifrage-wreath

@scarvenartist

@screwtornadowarningsimsouthern

@secretariatess

@secret--psalms--saturn

@septembersung

@shakespearean-fish

@shaylalaloohoohoo

@shiningshenanigans

@siena-sevenwits

@simplyghosting

@siriusfan13

@solovei-solovey

@starknightgirl

@stealingmyplaceinthesun

@supreme-leader-stoatstoat

@swinging-stars-from-satellites

@taleweaver-ramblings

@thalioneledhwen

@thebirdandhersong

@thefinaljediknight

@thegreenleavesofspring

@thelayofsolmonath

@tzarina-alexandra

@ughnofreeusernames

@unquietfaith

@weird7habburger

@why-bless-your-heart

@wikipedianna

@wildlyironicbee

@windwardrose

@zelda-was-here

[christian-oc-tournament]

Please vote based on the picture AND the description!

Nokh [Songs of the Fallen @ethanjhake]

The very manifestation of Death itself who has been stalking Princess Kimera since childhood.

Peter Dragonsbane [The Marshal's Saga @apieters]

A semi-legendary figure by the events of the main stories I want to write, Peter Dragonsbane is the founder of the Perseyn/Marshal family. As a boy, he learned how to forge dragonsteel (an alloy of steel and a dragon scale, which is nigh-indestructible, does not corrode, and never needs sharpening) from the Prince of the Gods, who helped him forge a greatsword. Peter then used the greatsword to help the Prince of the Gods slay a firebreathing dragon, earning him and his sword the nickname of Dragonsbane. In return for his help and loyalty, the Prince of the Gods made an everlasting covenant with Peter and his descendants: Peter was to have an unbroken line of sons, and the Prince of the Gods swore to himself that as Peter wielded Dragonsbane, so the Dragonsbane's descendants would be the sword of the Prince of the Gods for all time. Peter himself was arguably the first and greatest of those who took on this role. As the boy grew up, he defended the Isles from the Thrallic Empire, the civilization on the mainland of the continent of Heimar, infamous for being built on the backs of slaves; for this, Peter became the first Lord of the Isles. He was called by the Prince of the Gods again in young adulthood to end the slavery of the Thrallic Empire. He conducted raids, sailing up rivers in a fleet of longships to free the captives of slavers, but soon he grew bolder, and began to fight skirmishes and battles. Soon, he learned of the other Heroes of Heimar, other men called by the Prince of the Gods to destroy the wicked civilization of the Thrallic Empire, and when they gathered it was the Dragonsbane who became their Commander in Chief. With the greatsword Dragonsbane in his hand, Peter lead his armies to victory, driving the Thrallic Empire off the continent of Heimar.

[writingquestionsanswered]

apieters asked: My stories feature wars with periods of guerrilla-style raiding that keep the two sides in a stalemate until one side can force the other into a decisive battle. These periods are important for as the characters involved grow in leadership skills, compassion, courage, and ruthlessness; but the stalemate seems to put the main plot on hold until the next major battle happens. It almost feels like I should pause the main plot, tell a whole bunch of self-contained short stories set during the guerrilla campaigns, and pick up the main plot later, but that wouldn’t make sense unless I described the stalemate in the main plot. How should I think about stalemate situations in a story? How might I pace this part of the story so I can convey this situation of stalemate without boring my future readers?

[Ask edited for length]

It sounds like your story is both character-driven and plot-driven since you're showing character growth against the external conflict of a war. However, you never want to put the external conflict on the back-burner in order to focus on character-growth. In stories with both internal and external conflict, you need to work the character growth into the plot.

First, I would not recommend having more than a few stalemate periods per story. You could do one big one that stretches across a couple scenes or even a whole chapter, but the other one or two should be scenes or partial scenes. And you need wouldn't want to drop the main plot completely during those scenes. You would want to find small ways to keep moving the story forward. For example, let's say you want a scene where Character A's compassion is challenged when Character B shares a sad bit of their backstory, so you choose to have them go fishing together to kill some time and catch some dinner. This is great for character development, but it doesn't do much for your actual plot. So, what can you do to make it so this scene still has a hand in moving the plot forward? Maybe at the end, on their way back to camp, they discover something about the landscape that can be used to draw the other side into battle. Or, maybe they stumble upon a camp of loudmouth scouts from the opposing side who inadvertently reveal critical strategic plans. Or, perhaps they intercept a courier delivering an important missive between generals on the other side, and not only are they able to make sure it doesn't reach the intended recipient, but they're able to deliver critical information to their own side's leadership.This way, the scene accomplishes two things… it lets you really focus on character development while still moving the actual plot forward.

However, you can't rely on scenes like this to do the work of your character development. The bulk of your character development will occur in parallel to the events of the external plot. If you want your characters to grow in leadership, they will do that through their experiences dealing with the external conflict. If you want your characters to become more courageous, that will occur through their experiences with the external conflict.That keeps the pace of your story where it should be rather than bringing the plot to a screeching halt, and the pace along with it, to focus solely on character development.

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

LEARN MORE about WQA

SEE MY ask policies

VISIT MY Master List of Top Posts

COFFEE & FEEDBACK COMMISSIONS ko-fi.com/wqa