I really like this essay! It's extremly helpful! How about an essay on plot making or something like that?

Not once did I find myself in disagreement with this entire essay.

Although I am more of a poet than an author.

Really well thought out essays. I agree with you about Mary Sues and how writers would make them "perfect" and deny the criticisms for it. What I would suggest is to plan out the characters (do a character chart.) To me, it helps with the execution and prevent being stuck or having the character become a self-insert.

This story is great! I love how you analyze everything from how stories get started, Mary Sues, and many other things! Keep up the good work & I'll be looking for your next essay!

Okay, I'll admit I really did NOT read much of it. That's because "Two Dimensional Characters" inspired me. THANK YOU!

I had to stop reading after that to write my thing, which will REALLY help me in my plot development of my current work-in-progress.

Thank you very much! And besides that, I've also enjoyed the other chapters. :)

-Kayleigh

First of all I'll say, I really like this essay that you did. Some parts of it are hilarious and the informative bits are quite useful for me. I mean, honestly, you go to class and listen to your teacher rant about how your eyes work, you fall asleep but if you read about them in a place where you usually read fun stuff, you learn more. Fact of life. Or at least mine. So yeah, I learned stuff from what you wrote.

I just realised that it's been years since you updated this "essay" so there's a chance you might have forgotten about it (I didn't read your profile yet so i don't know). Anyway, I'll still review and I'll try to reach the criteria you have sort of put out in the Review Essay.

Anyway, a lot of the stuff here are very subjective so even if I love and literally nod while reading some of your input, there are a few stuff I disagreed with but don't ask me which ones because i can't remember and can't be bothered to list them out. But some of your explanations are really cool, I might actually quote you in the future somewhere. The scientific/nerdy analogies are great, you are my friend's and my hero. We do that type of stuff, apply nerdy physics/maths stuff to our conversations and other nonsense. Though sometimes, very few times, the analogies are just like embellishments instead of really being significant to the explanations.

Since recently, I've been really interested and hooked by Mary-Sue-bashing so hahaha, yeah I love your Mary Sue sections. Though Mary-Sue litmus test are not always totally accurate and even if your character is not, the test may say otherwise.

A question though (you don't have to answer me back in a reply, but it'll be appreciated if you do), how can you make a character that's not an uber-Sue or something but at least make them have desirable characteristics or actually have heroic personalities?

All in all, I love what this little essay thing you did. It's entertaining, and often times really useful. I haven't read the last chapter since it looks really long and it's really late now and I have to wake up early tomorrow.

Cheers.

Hi there.

I like this essay thing here. It's informative and useful.

But you know...

Spell Checker isn't the the epitome of literary usefulness.

There are a lot of unnecessary words scattered here and there that spell checker does not cut out for you plain and simple.

But aside from that... Again this is good.

A useful collection of essays you've got here, the section on language is interesting.

I'm embarrassed to admit I've once or twice done the roll face on keyboard method. Unfortunately linguistics isn't my strong point.

Something I noticed in the religion essay though, you mention giving your god/goddess/gender-less neutral thing personality. You don't have any mention of mythologies or talking about what the deity has done.

It's possible I'm nit-picking here though, myths are my area of obsession, but it's something to consider. If the author wishes to write myths and so on and has an appropriate way of communicating them, then they could help give an idea of the culture.

I'm playing with a story/world in which several cultures share a creator figure, the First, but they like to make the First the First Artist or the First Craftsman or the First Thief based on what that culture values (creativity, hard work or cunning for example).

Anyway, I'm in danger of writing an essay of my own with nothing to back it up, so may I request an essay on magic?

For the love of Mike, never spell magic with a ‘k’. That just shames the English language…

Actually in the Wiccan religion magic is spelled magick because it's to seperate it from the flashy images connected with magic tricks and fantasy stories. Not everyone spells it like that to make the word look exotic.

Aside from that, your essay has a lot of good advice

I despise religion in fantasy stories... when it's emphasized. It's often done badly. That is why I liked writing atheists. Ha, anyway, this must've been a difficult chapter to write. Religion in both stories and real life is really important to a lot of people, so I applaud you on writing this chapter. It's a big topic to cover.

New languages... very complicated. Why don't people just take hte easy route and say they're speaking "The Language of the Angels" but it's just in English for the readers' sakes? That's what I would do.

One thing though: with your example of French, it's anctually BANGS (beauty, age, goodness, number, size). I can't help but say that because it was pounded through my head in French 2, and don't even get me started on "B SEFF CLAMPS" and all those other 'helpful' acronyms...

I love you. Why? Because you just brought up two of my favorite topics: weaponry and disease. I memorize dozens of these things and then people just write down "sword" or "lung problems". People are so fragile that you have to be specific on how they die; there's so many variations! I was just about to suggest a chapter on weaponry and death, but I guess I don't have to...

I love science, you love science; it's like we have an indirect bond that will never surmount to anything! *cough*

The comic relief rules... end of story. When combined with a Mary Sue protagonist, the sidekick is only the bestest there is. Yes, I did just write the word "bestest". Because it's true. Anyway, I agree that the comic relief should never be subjected to a similar personality like the protagonist.

Hm, I suppose that reviews aren't very detailed, but personally, I get excited to know that someone read my story (AND doesn't hate it) let alone recieve constructive criticizm and all. That's why, so far, I've pretty much've been reviewing every chapter; because most people don't review at all. So, I'm sorry if I annoy you. As for flames, don't they just make you laugh? They make me laugh.

But besides that, this chapter has some very good points, especially the first one. My friend was flamed by someone once who "hated their title, and how it sucks". We laughed. Oh, by the way, how am I doing with your review-rules?

Ah, thanks for this chapter. I can never manage to fit what I want in the summary... You're making me feel like such a n00b right now, heh.