Lemme out!–convincingly

I am proud and relieved to announce that the Two Princesses prequel has a title. Alas, the dragons in sales and marketing nixed all other suggestions, including excellent choices from the blog, and I had to cudgel my head again. But finally, I came up with this one, which they like, my editor likes, and I like, and I hope you will like, and which I don’t think I gave you enough information to come up with. Here it is: The Lost Kingdom of Bamarre. Hooray!

So, there’s a lesson in this for all of us: We needn’t seek the perfect title until we have a publisher, because publishers have final say anyway. We can go eponymous and just call our book by the name of our MC and then dig deeper when the time comes.

And, if not a lesson, an idea: To loosen myself up and get out of the title groove I was mired in, I googled “popular fantasy novels for children” and clicked on a selection from Goodreads, which helped me realize that almost anything can be a fine title. Thus freed, my mind started wandering and got me where I needed to go.

Thanks again, many thanks, to all of you who posted title possibilities! I’ll probably ask for your help again.

Now for this week’s post:

On November 20, 2015, Kitty wrote, I need some ideas for a way for my MC to escape a prison cell. However, I would like to avoid anything involving the following:
1. Cliches (air vents and the ol’ fake escape gambit are out).
2. Mary Sue-like abilities (so no “Oh, I just happen to know some obscure physics/chemistry fact that I can totally apply to the situation, plus I can pick locks and dangle from walls). The MC is twelve, so anything that would be obviously beyond the ability/knowledge of a 7th grader is a no-go.
3. Outside help. She has to do it alone. Her friends are in different cells, so she’s not going to get any help from them, or anyone else. And
4. Excessive violence. PG 13 is probably okay. R is probably not. I’ll let you use your best judgement on that one.
5. Deus ex machinas. No “Oh, look, somebody left the door unlocked! Lucky me!”, or “Look, I happen to have a magical door unlocking device with me! I grabbed it when I got kidnapped, but I guess they didn’t notice!”

The cell is modern day with fairly heavy security (though I’m willing to make adjustments on the exact nature of the cell/security system), something that perhaps the CIA or FBI might have at their offices. There probably will be security cameras, though I’m flexible about that one. I don’t need her to escape the whole compound (I already have that planned out), just to get out of the cell she’s stuck in.

NPennyworth suggested: It sounds like the only way she’s getting out is if someone lets her out. Maybe she can use her age to her advantage and trick a guard into taking her out, maybe something like she says she has a stomach bug and pretends to throw up, or insists she needs to go to the bathroom. Once the guard opens the door maybe she could stomp on his foot and incapacitate him, and take it from there.

And Poppie said, I agree with NPennyworth about your escape scene: being let out is the only logical way to get away. I have never written about breakouts, so the only other thing I can recommend, is reading and watching some appropriate books and movies about the subject.

I’m with Poppie, in that research may be useful. We can google “famous prison escapes,” and even try “escapes from juvenile facilities,” since Kitty’s MC is twelve. Then we can mix and match what we come up with to suit our circumstances.

Kitty seems to be after originality in solving her incarceration problem, and the key, in my opinion, to original solutions is character.

Who is our MC? What characteristics that we’ve already established can she use to get herself out? NPennyworth suggests she pretends to throw up to get out of her cell. This becomes more plausible if she has a history of feigning illness to evade going to school, and the reader knows she’s really good at it. She’s discovered ingenious ways to make herself look pale and clammy or turn green or pink with fever. We have her decide which illness will  most likely get her out, possibly make the guards uneasy and unlikely to scrutinize her closely. This can be a lot of fun to write–and to read.

But we can give her other useful qualities. She can be artistic or persuasive or over-the-top charming. Let’s go with artistic. There isn’t much to work with in her cell, but she pulls a few strands of horsehair out of her ratty mattress and fashions a convincing tarantula in the corner. It won’t bear close examination, but from across the cell, it’s a stunner. The reader already knows that the prison is in the desert, so tarantulas aren’t an impossibility. Then she starts screaming. Guard rushes in, stands in the doorway, annoyed, says, “What?” She points. He runs in or runs out, leaves the door open.

This escape, or any escape, will be most believable if our MC has tried once or twice before and failed.

When we use character, the qualities we exploit have to be revealed earlier, when our MC is established. If she becomes artistic in her cell half an hour before she makes the fake spider, the reader is likely to be unconvinced and may shout “Mary Sue!”

In fact, Kitty’s Mary Sue example typifies the problem of the solution that pops out of nowhere. We may be able to pull off a knowledge of obscure physics or chemistry principles if the reader knows she’s a genius in those subjects, and this is established very early in the story. But scientific brilliance plus the ability to dangle from walls, even if set up early, will probably be too much for a reader to buy and may move our MC from a real  girl to a young super-heroine.

Our MC isn’t the only character we can use. If she’s observant (a really handy quality that we can give to almost any MC, along with whatever else we give her), she’ll pay attention to prison routine, the personality of this guard and that and of her fellow prisoners (which Kitty suggests she already knows). She can plan to use the nice guard in one way, the one who does everything by the book in another. Any other characters in her prison life can also be brought in to serve her purpose.

We don’t want to make the escape too easy. In the same way we use our MC’s character to let her escape, we can use her character to cause her to fail in an early attempt or to almost fail in her final successful one. Suppose she’s the spider artist, but she needs her creations to be admired, she may give herself away the first time. The reader will be terrified for her. An added benefit of an MC’s flaw is that it will counteract any Mary Sue’ishness the reader may have detected in her.

In the same way we use character we can also use the prison setting to develop the escape–although character will usually be part of it. Here again research may help. We can google prisons: maps, routines, personnel. It may be useful to search on well-run prisons and badly run prisons. Think about how your MC can use what you discover. Again, we need to set this up as early as possible so that whatever she turns to her advantage doesn’t seem too convenient to the reader. If there happens to be an abandoned aqueduct, for example, just outside the prison walls, our MC and the reader need to know about it before escape planning begins.

A lovely aspect of writing is that time inside our story doesn’t behave for us as it does for our characters. We can realize as we’re writing her escape that she doesn’t realize a crucial fact she needs to realize. Zip! We jump back three days and twenty pages and sew the fact in seamlessly so it’s there when she has to have it.

Obviously, these strategies apply not only to prison breaks, but also to any pickle our MC may find herself in.

Here are three prompts:

∙ Design an escape for a character using another quality other than artistic ability. Make one up or pick one or use one of these: persuasiveness, charm, taciturnity, short attention span, high energy. Write the escape.

∙ Rewrite the scene, but this time make it fail because of a character flaw. Keep her alive, though, and have her try again. If you haven’t before, bring in secondary characters and use their personalities in the scheme.

∙ Write an escape in which the prison itself, its routine or layout, possibly its computer system, is crucial to success.

Have fun, and save what you write!

63 Responses on “Lemme out!–convincingly”

  1. Mary says:

    I have a problem. My character is also captured and is residing in a palace. My book is a fantasy based in the Victorian era. I have hit a wall. I need her to escape with her friend, and I also need her to meet a princess. (I don’t really know if I could call her a princess. Her father isn’t a king, but he is kind of like an emperor.) But yet I need to find an excuse for her to meet the “princess”, and a way for her to get out. I was thinking she could escape when she is on her way to the capital, but I would love it if I could get some fresh ideas. But mostly I need to find a way for her to meet the “princess”. Thanks!

    • Bug says:

      I’m not sure that I know enough about your story to help with the escape, but in regards to the princess meeting, I think that, like Gail said in her post, you can make things happen in your story by determining what your characters are like. Is the princess kind-hearted? She could maybe go to the prison occasionally to try to comfort the prisoners or sneak them food or something. If she’s mean, then perhaps she could like to go to the prison to taunt the prisoners. If it’s based on the Victorian era, there might be a lot of places off limits for a princess like her. Maybe she’s daring, and she wants to go somewhere she knows she’d never be allowed to and talk to people she’d never be allowed to talk to. I don’t know. 🙂 These might all be way off the mark, but I really liked watching Gail’s train of thought in this post and it seems like it’d be pretty helpful (and fun!) in this kind of situation.
      Hoped this helped, at least a little!

    • SAPPHIRE says:

      I know I’m way late on this, but maybe I can still help…. Perhaps you could set(Early on in the imprisonment) that this ‘princess’ visits the prison, or whatever it is, on a regular basis, on order of her father, or maybe she just likes to meet and talk to the prisoners. you can make it so that the princess bumps into the MC and her friend as they’re running out, and hearing their(hastily told, no doubt) story, she might actually HELP them to escape. this can also act as a subplot later on when the emporer confronts his daughter on her questionable decision. someone may have already said this below, like I said, I know I’m late on this bandwagon, but I’m in a bit of a rush now, so I dont have time to read them all.Hope this helps!

  2. Mary says:

    Thanks! The princess’s father, fiance, and her whole family is against my main character. She is going down there because she is curios. But the princess is a little confused on her views. She doesn’t like her father, or the men he works with. Her only real friend is her fiance, who also is working for her father. So if she gets caught with my MC she will be deemed treasonous, and promptly killed. So what could make her want to see my MC? They can’t really bump into each other. Those are just a few facts to clear up the picture.

  3. Melissa Mead says:

    Does she know your MC at all? Is your MC famous? Who captured your MC, and what is she imprisoned for? Some shocking public spectacle that the princess would be curious about? Maybe she tried to assassinate the princess’ father?

    • Kitty says:

      One thing that I see in a lot of books (the main one that comes to mind is Legend by Mary Lu) is that the princess/authority figure who ends up having a change of heart and allying with the rebels tries to chase down said rebel by themselves, either out of personal vendettas (in your case, since your MC is kinda trying to kill the princess’s father, I’m guessing she won’t be too happy about that. Or if she dislikes her father to the point where she really wouldn’t mind him dying (but it doesn’t sound like she hates him THAT much), then somehow make her fiancee at risk too. If he’s allied with the King, she rebels aren’t going to like him either.), or out of a sense of civic duty (Like a cop or something.). You could have something like that in your story. For example, the princess hears about the escape, and decides to try to hunt your MC down herself. In doing so, she manages to have a conversation with her that changes her view somewhat. In Legend, the FMC, the orphaned daughter of high up government officials, takes it upon herself to hunt down the MMC, a rebel living in the slums, because 1. she thinks he murdered her brother and 2. the government that she’s (happily; at least at first) working for wants her to be their spy and help capture him. Eventually, the two fall in love, discover a large secret government conspiracy, she FMC joins la resistance, and all your standard dystopian YA novel trappings. It’s a different genre than yours though, so this might not work.

    • Charlotte says:

      Could your MC try to use the princess as part of her escape plan? Like, she takes her hostage so the emperor won’t shoot her on the way out or whatever?

  5. Erica Eliza says:

    Congratulations on naming your book!
    I like prison stories. Here are some successful and failed escape plans I’ve used:

    -Friend hides a key in a china doll that they send to the prisoner. Prisoner fails to find the key and resorts to throwing pieces of the doll down the hallway, prompting guards to investigate the shattering noises, and hides in an empty cell until they leave.
    -I had a story with a jailer’s daughter as the MC, so I had to invent a lot of escape methods.
    Princess Prisoner’s artist friend gets himself arrested. Princess Prisoner’s mother has been asking for a portrait lately to prove that her daughter’s still alive. Artist is allowed to sketch her and plot with her. They attempt to escape through the wooden roof, only to be caught by the jailer’s daughter. While begging JD not to report her, Princess Prisoner grabs the key. JD realizes it’s missing within five minutes and gets it back. What she doesn’t know is Princess Prisoner pressed the key into a candle in order to make a mold so she can carve a wooden copy. Later, jailer goes off to arrange daughter’s marriage at a dinner party and leaves her in charge of the prisoners. They overpower her, get out with their new key, and Princess Prisoner passes herself off as jailer’s visiting niece.
    Same Story: Boy prisoner tricks JD into falling in love with him. She sneaks him out all right, but then things fail spectacularly. He ditches her once he’s escaped so she rats him out. Boy gets dead, JD gets disinherited.
    Still the Same: JD is a sorceress who can melt metal, but her body is not heat resistant. Newly escaped princess traps her in a magic metal collar that forces her to do her bidding. JD has to find a way to melt collar without frying her neck.
    -Then I had another story that was a tribute to all the poor guards in fantasy novels. Guard MC foils prisoners’ plans to break out by tunneling or drugging the guards. He also has to fight off an outside ally who keeps breaking in with tools ranging from a flamethrower to a dragon. But alas, Guard Guy can’t keep from falling in love with outside ally, and with teamwork they get some of the prisoners out. These guys come back to storm the prison and free their friends.
    -Character is trapped in a bathroom, chained to a showerhead. She tries to use her weight to break the metal ring her chains go through and snaps the pipe instead. When her captor comes in to investigate, she weaponizes a towel rack.
    -Witch character rallies an army of wild creatures to occupy guards while she frees her sister. To her dismay, her sister has been moved to a new cell and she’s walked into a trap. Witches can’t cross thresholds guarded by a jack o’ lantern so her captor sets up a pumpkin by the entrance. She summons a bird to peck the jack o’ lantern to pieces. This fails, and her human friend has to find a way to get close enough to her to remove the pumpkin himself.
    -Current Story: Prison is perfectly escapable, but the prisoner swore on her honor that she wouldn’t try to leave. Her friends have to physically drag her out so she’s not escaping of her own free will.

    I like to plant seeds of successful escapes in failed ones and give characters challenges especially suited to their abilities. Feel free to use these as inspiration fodder and alter them for your own use.

  6. Florid Sword says:

    Congratulations on your title! I can’t wait to read it.
    I have an escape where the MC is being held on a ship. Her captor’s son falls in love with her and helps her escape by cutting the rope on a lifeboat and throwing her overboard. He then jumps in after MC and helps her get to the lifeboat.

  7. Chicory says:

    Great title! Your publishers must be title geniuses. 🙂 I have no idea how a normal twelve year old girl could escape from a modern prison. Could she figure out some way to keep the door from locking next time the guard comes to feed her? I once read a book set in the Middle Ages where the heroine stuck her wimple in the door to keep it from latching, so she could escape her captors (Wolf Hunt by Gillian Bradshaw. It’s an adult historical fantasy novel based on a story from the time period, and involving werewolves). Maybe your heroine could figure out a way trick the electronics into thinking the lock is set when it actually isn’t. 🙂

  8. Kitty says:

    Great post, Gail! Thank you so much for your suggestions, as well as everyone who helped me out when I first posted my question. You guys are awesome!

    What I eventually decided on going with was that my MC is stuck in a room with a security camera, uses a sheet of metal grating to break the lights, and then when the guards come and investigate (because they can no longer see her through the camera), she knocks them over and escapes. Its rather ironic, given that the story is sort of a satire about privacy and government surveillance, and the whole symbolic “Santa’s eyes in the sky” turn out to be his downfall.

  9. Poppie says:

    Hi Mrs. Levine! Thank you so, so, so much on including my comment in your post…that meant a lot to me!
    And I really like the new title for your book! I hope your writing goes well!

    • Bug says:

      Hmm. The only one I can think of right now is “Adelvice.” It’s a really weird name, but the last syllable is actually pronounced like “ice”, so that’s a plus, I guess. It’s a phonetic version of “Edelweiss”, which is a flower associated with the Alps, so if you’re looking for a cold kind of name, that might be kind of cool.

    • Rosie says:

      You could have a name having to do with ice or winter and her a nickname could be Ice. Or a name starting, ending, or including the word ice. I recommend baby name websites. They are amazing and I have found some great names for characters. I also use “most popular” lists if I want a popular name. My favorite sites are Nameberry, Baby Name Wizard, and a few others.

        • Lady Laisa says:

          Hey guys, thanks a lot for your help!
          Erica Eliza: I’ll take a look at the list. And I suppose initials could work, after all, I ended up deciding to call her Icy because when I first created her character, before I started looking for a name, she was In Charge, shortened to IC…

          Bug: I’m not sure that would work for Icy, but it fits another character PERFECTLY. Thanks!

          Rosie: Hey, don’t worry, I’m good, I didn’t give much info. I did that on purpose because I thought that if someone thought of a guy’s name I could use then I’d kill two birds with one stone (she may or may not masquerade as a guy, I’m still debating this plot-line). Yes, I love name websites. My favorite is behindthename.com. I use the “most popular” list a lot for guy’s names. (I’m really bad at finding good names for my heroes.) And I did debate making her true name Icy, but her parents weren’t the sort. At one point her name was Heather. It didn’t stick.

          Thanks again!

          If anyone else has a good name or idea let me know.

  11. Riverwyte says:

    Just a little question for y’all…
    Any ideas for writing attraction but not romance? I’m writing a book/story, and I don’t want it to include a lot of romance, but it does have just a tad of mutual attraction in several instances. I want to keep it to mutual attraction and not love or romance, but still convey the attraction to my reader.
    Thanks!
    Riverwyte.

    • Charlotte says:

      What age group are you writing for? Because I think in YA (and somewhat in middle grade) if you just have a boy and a girl who get along the audience will pretty much assume there’s going to be a romance. And maybe you can play off of that–they can be nice to one another, and appreciate one another’s looks the way they’d be expected to if they were in love, but they don’t have to do all the typical “we’re in love” things.

  13. The Florid Sword says:

    Awww! I was hoping it would be sooner. But your books are always worth the wait!
    Also, I have a writing question. I’m writing a series, and in the first book, two characters’ relationship gets off to a rocky start. The characters are both male, one eighteen and one thirteen. The younger one is used to being in charge, but the older one is trying to assume control of the quest based on his age and exploits. However, I know that the two of them are going to later become friends and fellow A-team members. My question is how to make their shift in relationship seem natural and gradual, not just a sudden shift from “I hate you” to “You’re my best friend.” I hope this is clear. Thanks!

    • bird dog says:

      This happens with Harry, Ron, and Hermione in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Harry and Ron were very annoyed by her, and only become friends after they get each other out of trouble that they got each other into in the first place.
      What happened was (because I’ve read Harry Potter more times than my parents are proud of)
      Ron insults Hermione who spends the next several hours crying in the bathroom. Harry and Ron proudly lock a troll in the bathroom, conveniently forgetting that Hermione is in there. When they realize it they go back and help her, and the three of them successfully knock out the troll. By this point, they’ve made a lot of noise and attracted a group of teachers. Hermione, who is the perfect student, lies against her character to keep them out of trouble and they all end up being friends.

    • Christie Powell says:

      I think the point behind the ‘danger as relationship-fixer’ is that facing a life-and-death situation allows them to see what really matters. If something serious is at stake all those things they once hated in each other just don’t seem to matter very much. Any change of perspective would likely fit the same role. For instance, if they were thrown into a setting, social or physical, in which they are not familiar but everyone else is, it would give them a change of perspective and automatically they would start noticing similarities instead of differences.

    • Lady Laisa says:

      Well, I had this problem with one of my cousins. We were both used to being in charge. We clashed often and spectacularly. Quite frankly I think I hated her. It had been nearly three years since I’d seen her, but I met her again this summer.

      I really, REALLY like her.

      Part of the what fixed the problem was that I realized that I was a big part of the problem. Sure, she wasn’t always right, and she was probably as much to blame as I was, but I wasn’t completely perfect myself. I can remember three distinct times I continued an argument with simply to make her mad.

      By this summer I had learned that being right isn’t always as important as it seems. I had discovered that one of my goals was to be charming, and another was to be kind. I want to be a lady, and that means I can’t put myself first.

      So when I found out out I was going to see her again I wasn’t entirely pleased, but out steeled myself and prepared to be charming and kind and ladylike if it killed me.

      I decided to try to make her comfortable with me, and to just talk and laugh with her and try to find things I liked about her. And to stuff a cookie in my mouth if I even thought of arguing.

      And good gravy, it WORKED!!! I was utterly astonished. I love her very dearly now, she is one of my best friends, all because I was determined to be pleasant.

      Another thought, based off my own experience. When you’re thirteen you don’t know much about being in charge. Sure. You may have led a school project or two, bossed your siblings, helped in Sunday School, but you are only thirteen. You don’t know enough to boss people even just five years older than you. I learned that the hard way.

      They may just be a few years older, but at this point in your life those few years make a BIG difference. Even if the adult is less experienced to being in charge, they still have more experience and a better right to it.

      So maybe your thirteen year old could realize that. It will be completely humiliating. It will possibly have bad effects on his relationship with the eighteen year old for a while, but if he decides to deal with it and fix things and learn from mistakes and maybe even apologize for being obnoxious to the older character (even if he wasn’t always wrong here can apologize for being obnoxious without apologizing for being right) then you have things set for friendship. That would most likely be the most believable fix. Seriously, an apology moves mountains.

      (Though I will stress again, he can apologize for being mean without apologizing for being right. It is a little devious, but it gives a hint of satisfaction to make the agonizing pain of the apology to down easier. Just don’t say, “but I was still right,” after he finishes the apology. That ruins it and makes the person mad again.)

      Also, I would totally read Princess Ben, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. Ben and Sophia’s relationship is an excellent example of this sort of thing.

  14. Mary says:

    I read a book once were the two character hated each other. One of them hated the MC because the girl he liked liked the MC instead of him. At one point they get into a fight and beat each other up. After the fight the two of them kind of exchanged why they hated each other. (I haven’t read it in a long time, so I might be a little rusty on the story.) Afterwards their relationship got a little better, and eventually was mended when the girl went with the guy who liked her in the first place. So maybe you could let them put off a little steam at each other, and then gradually wean the hatred off. You can show that they are starting to slightly like each other by making them say not as many spiteful things at each other, or submitting to the others idea and not instantly rejecting it. Just a few ideas. Hope I helped.

    • Song4myKing says:

      Something like this actually happened to my sister and me. Only, it was a verbal fight, and we never specifically spoke about the “why.” But we did understand each other better afterward.

      Another thing that works in stories (and real life!) is going through danger together. Sometimes, when you realize who the real enemy is, (be it a physical villain or some other danger) you also realize who is really a friend. Or when you see the one you dislike in danger, you realize you don’t want him to die or whatever.

  16. Writer of Magic says:

    So.. I’m sorry if I interrupted any conversations, but I need some help. My MC is a girl named Marie, and she’s getting a magical bracelet from her grandmother. The bracelet grants eternal life. I have a villan, but I could use a few names. Also, I need a way to make my MC more compassionate. Any ideas?

    • Leah says:

      Gail: Congratulations on the name! I cannot wait to read it. It shall be greatly anticipated.

      Writer Of Magic: You need a villain’s name? If so, I suggest Google-ing or looking up a name book for name meanings. If you give your character enough background, it wouldn’t be hard to find out what you want to call them. Suggestion: something “bitter” or “sad” (etc.) as the name meaning – for no one looks at him/herself and truly believes that they are evil, which is why sometimes I see superheros’s villians or many villains names in books unbelievable. I don’t think that if I personally believed something that I would name myself “The Evil __” etc.

      As for the compassion, I’ll give you a little “secret.” Compassion is a great part of everybody’s life, and people generally feel that if another gives kindness to them, then they must themselves return the favor, even if not to the original giver themselves. It’s what makes the world go ’round. So if you want your character to be kinder in general, I suggest someone doing something big – huge even – for your MC. Perhaps every time she is in a situation she will remember the thing that “Cousin Louise” or “Aunt Marty” did for her. Perhaps she’ll think she owes a debt to that person. … And to add to the depth, you could even throw in a heartless death, which I believe in this case it would be a good cause to kill someone. (ah, the life of a writer! Perhaps writers should call themselves murderers with all the characters we kill.)

      Just a suggestion. Good luck! (and sorry the post is so long)

    • Christie Powell says:

      My latest story has clans based on the six colors, so a lot of the characters have color names, and the villains usually have names meaning dark or black: Donovan, Kieran, Sclera, Melanie, Ebony, Adrian, Blake, Daren, Jett, etc. I also keep a collection of names with relevant meanings that I keep in a spreadsheet.

  17. Mary says:

    What I do for names sometimes is I go to Google Translate and describe the character in a few words, than convert it to Latin. I pick the syllabus that I like out of the Latin, put them together, and walla! I have a name! This also works great with naming kingdoms, cities, and even made up creatures. Hope this helps.

    • Florid Sword says:

      When I was trying to come up with villain names, I used Tolkien’s Elvish lexicon, found words that meant “evil” and “teeth” and “dark”, combined some of the roots and changed some letters, and I had my name. I think Mary’s advice is excellent, using other languages as a root for your name. I will have to try that.
      And Mary, that is genius!

  18. Bookworm says:

    I need some help with some things in my novel. I have it pretty much figured out, but the scenes seem to zoom by. I don’t think my MC is really getting enough challenge in some of the scenes.

    I also need some help with a side MC. He’s the main comedian, and I don’t have many jokes and puns for him. I could really use some help to get some good puns and jokes. Can you help me?

      • Writer of Magic says:

        Bookworm: What I would do to make it more challenging is to go through each sentence and see if you need more detail. Example: Her jeans ripped. Or: The seam on her jeans ripped. Blood seeped out. Sorry for the gore.

        • Bookworm says:

          Thanks Writer of Magic! I think that’s exactly what I need! The era is modern times, but the action takes place in different dimensions. For example, there’s the real world, than there’s Destiny Forest, and another dimension is Musical Hills. There’s not more than one of the MC though, like a doppelganger. Thanks!

          • Bookworm says:

            Also, I need a name for a sword that bursts into flames whenever someone unsheathes it. It’ll disintegrate anyone evil wielding it, and will help the cause of anyone good that wields it. If anyone has any ideas for the name, let me know!
            Thanks!

  19. Mary says:

    Bookworm: Actunes would be a cool name for the sword, or Ferignis. Like I was saying, Google translate had it all. Ignis means flame in Latin, and Acutum mean sharp. Ferrum Ignis means blade of fire, so I took the parts that I liked and put them together. Easy as that.

  20. Mary says:

    Why type of bagel can fly?
    A plain bagel!!!
    Wow, I just realized what a cheesy joke that was. If you need a lot of really cheesy jokes just come to me. I have dozens of them.

  21. NPennyworth says:

    What’s brown and sticky?
    A stick!

    Two man walk into a bar. One turns to the other and says “Ouch.”

    “A train just passed by here!”
    “How can you tell?”
    “It left it’s tracks!”

    “Did you get a haircut?”
    “No, I got all of them cut.”

    If you need more try searching Google.
    As for puns I find that they work best in the situation. If the character drinks chicken soup they can say it tastes “fowl”. Fish is always really heavy because it has so many scales. Cheese has many “gouda” puns attached, and can be “grate” to use. Horses also have many puns attached (Behooved is a good word, and people can mention neighbours, both of which can be used in many “tales.”) A mention of eyes can lead to many puns, such as “eye see,” mention of pupil(s) (for teachers or students), and complaints that people will always “lash” out. Cars are “wheely” good, and if you’re getting “tired” of my examples Google can help with some more specific examples. I hope this gives you a few ideas!

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