Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="OctopusPie" data-source="post: 2331947" data-attributes="member: 808797">1) Do not use the name Destiny. As a VERY longtime reader, I can say that the &#039;quirky&#039; names such as those tend to be a bit of a turnoff because they&#039;re very heavily used &amp; more often than not they&#039;re used for the cheesier books. 2) If you do go for strange sounding names or period names (Gwynhafar, Cyndel, etc) make sure that it fits the rest of the story, the time period the character was born into, the situation, &amp; the rest of the names. Having a main character with an old or exotic name when everyone else has names that fit modern day or the 1900s doesn&#039;t really look all that great. Since you are putting all of your characters into a modern high school, you will need to be extra careful about names. 3) Please be careful of how you describe/write characters. I only say this because you seem to be a new writer &amp; this is a very easy trap to fall into. Don&#039;t overdescribe your characters &amp; don&#039;t make your character extra-special in the looks or talent department unless it is absolutely necessary to the story. Even then, make sure you don&#039;t spend too much time describing them. 4) Be careful with the fey &amp; supernatural stuff. There&#039;s a lot of books out there with this theme in it, so take your time &amp; make sure that you give it a good spin. It&#039;s all too easy for books to blend into the background with the glut of fairy &amp; supernatural oriented stuff out there. 5) DON&#039;T make your character well loved &amp; popular immediately unless she does it via magic. When I saw that your character becomes well loved &amp; popular immediately, it smacked of Mary Sue. You do NOT want a Mary Sue. 6) Run all of your characters through a Mary Sue litmus test. ALL of them. I really hate to say it, but it sort of sounds like you are beginning to write a Mary Sue type story. Writing a Mary Sue story is almost 100% guaranteed to not only alienate most of your readers, but it&#039;ll also guarantee that just about every publisher will turn you down. I don&#039;t mean to sound harsh, but as a long time reader &amp; semi-professional reviewer I can certainly back up my claims.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="OctopusPie, post: 2331947, member: 808797"] 1) Do not use the name Destiny. As a VERY longtime reader, I can say that the 'quirky' names such as those tend to be a bit of a turnoff because they're very heavily used & more often than not they're used for the cheesier books. 2) If you do go for strange sounding names or period names (Gwynhafar, Cyndel, etc) make sure that it fits the rest of the story, the time period the character was born into, the situation, & the rest of the names. Having a main character with an old or exotic name when everyone else has names that fit modern day or the 1900s doesn't really look all that great. Since you are putting all of your characters into a modern high school, you will need to be extra careful about names. 3) Please be careful of how you describe/write characters. I only say this because you seem to be a new writer & this is a very easy trap to fall into. Don't overdescribe your characters & don't make your character extra-special in the looks or talent department unless it is absolutely necessary to the story. Even then, make sure you don't spend too much time describing them. 4) Be careful with the fey & supernatural stuff. There's a lot of books out there with this theme in it, so take your time & make sure that you give it a good spin. It's all too easy for books to blend into the background with the glut of fairy & supernatural oriented stuff out there. 5) DON'T make your character well loved & popular immediately unless she does it via magic. When I saw that your character becomes well loved & popular immediately, it smacked of Mary Sue. You do NOT want a Mary Sue. 6) Run all of your characters through a Mary Sue litmus test. ALL of them. I really hate to say it, but it sort of sounds like you are beginning to write a Mary Sue type story. Writing a Mary Sue story is almost 100% guaranteed to not only alienate most of your readers, but it'll also guarantee that just about every publisher will turn you down. I don't mean to sound harsh, but as a long time reader & semi-professional reviewer I can certainly back up my claims. [/QUOTE]

Name

Verification

Loading…