Looks yummy, Mother! *takes a cocoa and sits with Lily* *sigh* It’s been a long day. Work is amazing but stressful. I’ve got 150 students to interact with and it’s nuts! How are you, Lily?

Welcome one and all to the White Ajah's Snow Leopard Lounge! Have a seat. Grab some cocoa. Enjoy the cool serenity of a snowy backdrop and a warm fire to take away the chill.

Let's assemble! @Rhea @Gentled Ben @kukasö @Charis alAslan

I love the idea of slashers! Sometimes I have paragraphs I can't get right and having it dissected could help immensely! Also, I love prompts! We could also try some workshops. Maybe a quick breakdown of "blocking," or hints for dialogue that flows, or how to build well rounded characters. (@Jason Denzel, didn't you say you even completed the star charts for your characters? A talk about something like this would be amazing!)

Charis! *huggles* Thank you and I’m so happy to see you here! I got a new phone and haven’t been able to get on DM till this morning (hence my lateness)!

Harriet McDougal's birthday is approaching and we, the fans, want to make it extra special. Alan Romanczuk has asked for support in sending Harriet some birthday goodies. Please consider helping all of The Wheel of Time fandom celebrate this wonderful woman! View full news item

Yeah a mid-boss and final boss analogy makes sense. I’d have to tie the final boss into the plot of the first book—the demon they banished will have to make another appearance. So I need to think of mid-bosses to get me through the next two books (if I do one per school year). It basically comes down to me forming ideas, so I’ll have to let the characters, locations, and circumstances I know bounce in my head until some new ideas ripen into useable plots.

Lol! And I was so excited about it too!

Yes, I'm sure it says that somewhere in the novels. But I was taking the Companion as the ultimate in canon. My faith was unfounded. *lol*

And Ben was right! Maria said it was a typo and it was fixed in the paperback version! So back to First Reasoner it is!

Just so ya'll know, I emailed Maria Simons to see what the correct title of the Head of the White is. *LOL* The Companion might have a typo.

Yay! Ben's here too! (I might get in touch with ASG and let him know now is the time to come back in preparation for the tv show!)

Yay!

There's no right or wrong way to form your story. Some people just dive right in. Others plan meticulously. My advice is if you're having problems starting, try writing a detailed outline of the novel. Break it down by chapters: 1. The Apostate a. Introduce Derick as he's running from attackers. He outsmarts them by hiding.... 2. The inn a. Derick is able to hide in the crowded inn. There, he meets up with Donna.... b. Donna knows who he is but helps him hide from roaming bandits.... 3. A respite a. Derick and Donna sneak out of town the next morning.... I've found the more detail I can get, the better. Sometimes my outlines are 20+ pages long. When I sit down to write, I have all the information I need and the scenes flow pretty well. If that doesn't work, try writing at a different spot. Don't start at the beginning. Write the last chapter. Write a scene where the love interest appears. Write the battle scene in the middle of the book. Anything that gets your creative juices flowing is a good thing! And last thing you can do is take a break from it completely. Write something totally new. Use an old idea, or a plot generator, and write SOMETHING! Maybe even try a different genre. I tried for ages to write sci-fi/fantasy. Struggled and struggled and struggled. Then I wrote a romance and it clicked. I finished my first romance novel (50,000 words) in 15 days. I wrote five complete novels in my first year of writing. (They were poorly written, but they were written.) The more you write, the more you grow, the faster you become at the craft.