1. The Epic Weaver. The writer manages to draw together vast plots and
many diverse characters into one story, without losing sight of detail
and the individual storylines and people within the larger picture.
Thing that seem unrelated, perhaps, at first, are pulled together, as
well as the characters involved. And furthermore, it is accomplished in
a way that jumps between those varied lines before they join so as to
keep them all fresh in the mind of the reader, in a fashion that doesn't
confuse the reader through all the jumps.
 Imagine a person weaving a vast tapestry. He has to work from one end
to the other, going in separate, parallel lines that eventually build up
into one great big picture.

He's right that this makes an incredible story (look at Robert Jordan's
Wheel of Time saga...whew!), and he's also right that this is *really* hard
to do, since there's no way you're going to sit down one night and write a
400 page story in one sitting.  The various plotlines quickly spin out of
control, and once they do, you need to get them back under control with a
definite finish in mind (that's why it's taking me so long to continue
Ryoga 1/2 :P).

Hunter Kid
http://www.serve.com/guilds/ranma/
guilds@mail.serve.com

open hk.sig

    The gentle, yet powerful, voice resounded through his mind, and he
awoke, strangely at peace.  He raised to a kneeling position as he tried to
answer the voice, but found that he could not speak.  His eyes searched the
intangible darkscape, but found nothing.  His ears strained to hear the
sound again, but found nothing, only silence.
    'Ashram.'  The voice came again through the blackness, this time
slightly firmer, but Ashram, try as he might, could not stop from thinking
that the ethereal voice was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.
'Welcome to eternity.'
				 	-from Kiss of Steel, prologue
[hk.sig; errors-0; file terminating]