Lela's back on earth, but that doesn't mean her job is done; Mazikin have broken into her world, and it's her job -- and Malachi's -- to stop them. But between the monsters that breed like rabbits and the task of hiding the truth from their schoolmates, their task seems an impossible one.
Sunday, 12 January 2014
Saturday, 30 November 2013
The Belgrave Daughter Blog Tour
Synopsis:The Septemgeminus Prophecy states: "A powerful sorceress with blood laced in gold sevenfold shall determine the fate of the world."Fawn Belgrave's magical powers are the coveted prize in a bet between God and the Devil.When she meets Caleb, the dark angel assigned to seduce her, Fawn's life is turned upside down.
About the Book:
Title: The Belgrave Daughter
Author: Zara Hoffman
Series: The Belgrave Legacy #1
Expected release date: November 25th, 2013
Category: Young Adult (YA)
Genre: Fantasy Romance
View or buy at:
About the author:
Zara Hoffman is a teen author. She spends most of her time doing homework and writing new stories. When she isn’t wrapped up in projects, Zara can be found relaxing with friends and family, listening to music, reading and writing, or playing with her dog, Riley.
Zara Hoffman is a teen author. She spends most of her time doing homework and writing new stories. When she isn’t wrapped up in projects, Zara can be found relaxing with friends and family, listening to music, reading and writing, or playing with her dog, Riley.
Promo:
So you decided to write a series! Most people–even in the writing world–will call you crazy for embarking on this long and arduous journey, but the satisfaction of writing your story over multiple books and getting to know your characters and plot super well will be worth it in the end. But before you jump head-first into writing the first book, you need to plan your series–even if only a preliminary sketch that will most likely change over the course of writing the series.
I've only read one book on fiction series, and that was Writing the Fiction Series by Karen S. Wiesner. I highly recommend it for everyone, even people who aren't writing a series because it speaks a lot about consistency, and everyone can use some more help with that. In addition to that, I really love The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing. It has great advice from many renowned writers. Both of these books I consider must-buys for all writers.
I'm a semi-plotter, semi-pantser. Or as Stephanie Morrill of Go Teen Writers says, I'm a "Plantser." Let me explain. I start writing the first scene that comes to mind and keep going until I get stuck. Then I go back and re-outline. I do this for non-series books, too. But with a series, after outlining the whole first book, I go ahead and roughly outline the next and maybe 3rd book. If there's more in the series, I may try and put something down for them too, but it depends. Then I go back and revise the first book to hint at what comes in the subsequent books (Karen Wiesner calls these "Series Plants" in Writing the Fiction Series, and honestly, they're genius devices).
My process involves lots of revision, no matter how good the first draft is, because if I do something in the first, it will always affect the later books, and I go back to the later outlines to reflect that.
If you're writing a series, you're in it for a long haul. Don't half-ass anything and cut corners. It will leave your story somewhat flat, and readers will lose faith in you incrementally as the series progresses unless you have it all together.
So you decided to write a series! Most people–even in the writing world–will call you crazy for embarking on this long and arduous journey, but the satisfaction of writing your story over multiple books and getting to know your characters and plot super well will be worth it in the end. But before you jump head-first into writing the first book, you need to plan your series–even if only a preliminary sketch that will most likely change over the course of writing the series.
I've only read one book on fiction series, and that was Writing the Fiction Series by Karen S. Wiesner. I highly recommend it for everyone, even people who aren't writing a series because it speaks a lot about consistency, and everyone can use some more help with that. In addition to that, I really love The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing. It has great advice from many renowned writers. Both of these books I consider must-buys for all writers.
I'm a semi-plotter, semi-pantser. Or as Stephanie Morrill of Go Teen Writers says, I'm a "Plantser." Let me explain. I start writing the first scene that comes to mind and keep going until I get stuck. Then I go back and re-outline. I do this for non-series books, too. But with a series, after outlining the whole first book, I go ahead and roughly outline the next and maybe 3rd book. If there's more in the series, I may try and put something down for them too, but it depends. Then I go back and revise the first book to hint at what comes in the subsequent books (Karen Wiesner calls these "Series Plants" in Writing the Fiction Series, and honestly, they're genius devices).
My process involves lots of revision, no matter how good the first draft is, because if I do something in the first, it will always affect the later books, and I go back to the later outlines to reflect that.
If you're writing a series, you're in it for a long haul. Don't half-ass anything and cut corners. It will leave your story somewhat flat, and readers will lose faith in you incrementally as the series progresses unless you have it all together.
Enter the Giveaway, with a prize of five signed eBook copies of The Belgrave Daughter!
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6aea4a3/
Find the tour schedule here.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6aea4a3/
Find the tour schedule here.
Thursday, 21 November 2013
Book Review: The Fiery Heart (Bloodlines #4) by Richelle Mead
Between her witch classes with Ms T and tip-toeing around Zoe, Sydney doesn't have much time for her relationship with Adrian, but they make do. However, when new discoveries are made about restoring Strigoi and what's really in Marcus' tattoos, the couple find themselves on dangerous paths...
Saturday, 16 November 2013
Young Adult Blog Party: Do Authors Have a Responsibility to Their Readers?
It is a miracle; I am posting. Actually posting. Thanks to Matt over at The Little Engine That Couldn't and his wonderful Blog Party, I have an actual idea for a post. Hurrah!
The blog party is all about a genre known best as YA, or Young Adult. I've seen a lot of talk on YA review blogs lately about what is actually appropriate for books for teens, and it's made me wonder: do the writers have a responsibility for the appropriateness?
My first answer would be very loud and very in the negative if you asked me this question. In fact, I might even slap you upside the head for comedic effect. Unfortunately, my second reply would be a quiet and begrudging yes. But not in the way you might think.
A lot of aforementioned bloggers have talked about the sexual and explicit content of books. In fact, I'm pretty sure the (what seems to me when I have done no research whatsoever) rise in the 'Christian' genre is linked to this. Adults want their kids to read something 'clean' that affirms their own views and makes them accessible to what one adult calls 'the people of the tunnel', who laugh cynically at anything they need to believe in that isn't a fanon OTP. And that's good for them. I'm not going to go into that because it's a whole different kettle of morals.
What I am going to go into is this idea that our young, impressionable minds can be dirtied and manipulated more than those of adults. This is where my emphatic, instinctive 'no' came from. Our society acknowledges that the media can manipulate us... but they also think that our generation -- the turned on generation, the one that will go and look for its own answers if it doesn't like the ones it finds -- are more likely to be twisted, simply because of our age. I have a giant issue with this. I may be gullible, but the rest of my generation aren't as stupid. If we see sex in a book, we're not going to be ruined like a maiden in Victorian literature. If we read a swear word in a book, it's not going to make us go around repeating it (after all, by the time you've made your way into the 'Young Adult' section of WHSmiths, you've already learnt a lot of things your parents never wanted you to know). We don't, as much as adults might feel it is their duty to do so, need to be protected from these things in our literature.
We need to explore them.
And this is why I think that authors -- and not just the authors, but their editors and publishers too -- have a responsibility to us, their young readers. These people have a responsibility to show us the entire world, preferably objectively, and let us make up our own ideas. Like I said before, we're the internet generation; if we don't like what we hear, we'll Google search until we see something we agree with more. But we need to know we don't like it before we go a-looking. And we can't do that if we have clean, or even worse, biased novels shoved down our throats. The longer I spend on this earth, arguing my views with opposing parties, the more I think that, however right my political and philosophical views seem to me, it is wrong to try and force people onto my side. As a writer, I don't want to be writing novels as propaganda for my own beliefs. Not any more. I want to write something that will make people think about -- explore -- something. If they happen to find that they believe what I believe, then hurray. But that shouldn't be the main aim.
In short, authors do indeed have a responsibility to their readers: not to censor things they don't need to know, but to let them think about the very things that the rest of the media restricts and come to their own conclusions.
At least, I think so.
Charlotte out!
The blog party is all about a genre known best as YA, or Young Adult. I've seen a lot of talk on YA review blogs lately about what is actually appropriate for books for teens, and it's made me wonder: do the writers have a responsibility for the appropriateness?
My first answer would be very loud and very in the negative if you asked me this question. In fact, I might even slap you upside the head for comedic effect. Unfortunately, my second reply would be a quiet and begrudging yes. But not in the way you might think.
A lot of aforementioned bloggers have talked about the sexual and explicit content of books. In fact, I'm pretty sure the (what seems to me when I have done no research whatsoever) rise in the 'Christian' genre is linked to this. Adults want their kids to read something 'clean' that affirms their own views and makes them accessible to what one adult calls 'the people of the tunnel', who laugh cynically at anything they need to believe in that isn't a fanon OTP. And that's good for them. I'm not going to go into that because it's a whole different kettle of morals.
What I am going to go into is this idea that our young, impressionable minds can be dirtied and manipulated more than those of adults. This is where my emphatic, instinctive 'no' came from. Our society acknowledges that the media can manipulate us... but they also think that our generation -- the turned on generation, the one that will go and look for its own answers if it doesn't like the ones it finds -- are more likely to be twisted, simply because of our age. I have a giant issue with this. I may be gullible, but the rest of my generation aren't as stupid. If we see sex in a book, we're not going to be ruined like a maiden in Victorian literature. If we read a swear word in a book, it's not going to make us go around repeating it (after all, by the time you've made your way into the 'Young Adult' section of WHSmiths, you've already learnt a lot of things your parents never wanted you to know). We don't, as much as adults might feel it is their duty to do so, need to be protected from these things in our literature.
We need to explore them.
And this is why I think that authors -- and not just the authors, but their editors and publishers too -- have a responsibility to us, their young readers. These people have a responsibility to show us the entire world, preferably objectively, and let us make up our own ideas. Like I said before, we're the internet generation; if we don't like what we hear, we'll Google search until we see something we agree with more. But we need to know we don't like it before we go a-looking. And we can't do that if we have clean, or even worse, biased novels shoved down our throats. The longer I spend on this earth, arguing my views with opposing parties, the more I think that, however right my political and philosophical views seem to me, it is wrong to try and force people onto my side. As a writer, I don't want to be writing novels as propaganda for my own beliefs. Not any more. I want to write something that will make people think about -- explore -- something. If they happen to find that they believe what I believe, then hurray. But that shouldn't be the main aim.
In short, authors do indeed have a responsibility to their readers: not to censor things they don't need to know, but to let them think about the very things that the rest of the media restricts and come to their own conclusions.
At least, I think so.
Charlotte out!
Thursday, 17 October 2013
Liebster Blog Award
Yes, friends. I am now famous enough to get an award. You are shocked, are you not?
The lovely Eryn over at telltaleink.blogspot.co.uk was wonderful (and wise -- I do have a pitchfork, after all) enough to nominate me for the Liebster Blog Award! Hurray, and thanks very muchly, Eryn!
Rules:
The Questions (dun dun dunn! also, the colour might look crappy but I felt like mixing it up a bit so go with it, minions):
Rules:
- Link back to the person who nominated you
- Answer the ten questions given to you by the nominator
- Nominate ten other bloggers for the award who have less than two hundred followers
- Create ten questions for your nominees to answer
- Let the nominees know you have nominated them by going to their blog and telling them
The Questions (dun dun dunn! also, the colour might look crappy but I felt like mixing it up a bit so go with it, minions):
- Are you an early bird, or a night owl? Which would you prefer to be and why? I'm a night owl, as I think most people my age probably are. However, I think being an early bird would probably be a blessing since society seems to think that the day starts in the morning.
- What's your favourite kind of story? Adventure, romance, etc. I love all sorts of stories *shifty eyes* okay, so maybe I read a bit too much YA paranormal romance, but is that really such a bad thing? It's a good genre!
- If you could live anywhere, where would it be (could be an imaginary place)? Hmm. Well, I couldn't live anywhere too warm because we vampires literally melt, but I also couldn't live anywhere too cold because as a cold-blooded reptilian hybrid thing I can't regulate my own temperature, so I suppose my ideal place to live would be in Goldilocks and the Three Bears land, where everything is juuuust right... until you get mauled, obviously.
- What is the first sentence of your current work-in-progress? 'The day that I lost my family was the day I started losing my mind.' It seemed like a opening at the time, but not so much anymore. Pretend you never read it.
- What is your ideal writing setting? Like, time of day, location, beverages to sip during. I like to write in the evening, sat in my room with angsty music blaring and lots of chocolate. Beverages would just take away from the... productivity...
- If you could stay any age forever, what age would you choose? This is another hmmm one. Hmm. I suppose I'd stick at the age I am now (seventeen, for those of you 'rinos that don't stalk me) just so I didn't have to work. But that's just me being lazy and scared of the future.
- What are your favourite historical figures? I wasn't aware I had any favourite historical figures, but if I do, they'll probably have to be the people hanging around Russia during the Revolution -- especially those who were part of the Revolution. Honestly, I just find the Russian Revolution interesting.
- What is the thing you think about most when you are writing a story? The characters. Always. What they're doing, what they're thinking, how much pain I'm causing them (mwahaha) -- I'm always thinking about my characters and seeing everything from their perspectives.
- What is your favourite animated movie? I'd have to say Finding Nemo.
- Coffee or tea? Anything but. I can't stomach hot drinks. But if I absolutely had to had to had to choose, I would go for tea.
- Jonathan
- Mark
- Anne
- Lily
- Oliver (I don't know how many followers you have but I nominated you anyway)
- Sam (who will have to send the link to his blog since he changed it)
- Cait and Mime (again, I'm not sure how many followers you have, but I nominated you anyway)
- Matt
- Jumbled Writer
- How many trees live in your garden? If you don't have a garden. how many trees live in your heart?
- If you had to do one hobby for the rest of your life, what would you want it to be?
- Do you know what a hobby horse is (because I don't)?
- What do you enjoy most about being nominated for awards?
- This is an open question. Tell the world what you think it needs to know.
- How many books do you own?
- Which is your very favouritest book?
- How long do you spend on each blog post (on average)?
- Has an animal ever tried to murder you?
- What is the best thing you have ever done, ever?
Saturday, 28 September 2013
Teens Can Indeed Write: Announcements
You all thought it was a lie, didn't you, 'rinos? You thought that it was absolutely impossible for teenagers to be able to write -- after all, we are inferior creatures from the land of Oz -- but in fact it is true! Hurray! And, in case you can't find it in your skeptical little hearts to believe me, I even have proof in the form of announcements from two teens from the crazy TCWT Facebook clan!
I'm a bit late getting to this announcement, friends, but Oliver Dahl's novel, The Dreamers, is free! But only until the end of the day, so hurry up and get it here: www.amazon.com/dp/B005JTAFHK
Not convinced that you want to splash out? Here, have a blurb:
If you can handle it, inferior creatures from the land of Oz (I really need to think of an acronym), I have even more news: Zara Hoffman has just revealed the cover for her soon-to-be published novel, The Belgrave Daughter. Having read bits and pieces of this one, I can personally suggest you go on and have a nosy over at http://www.zarahoffman.com/4/post/2013/09/cover-reveal-the-belgrave-daughter.html and see what all the ensuing exclamation marks are about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Proud Teen Writer out!
I'm a bit late getting to this announcement, friends, but Oliver Dahl's novel, The Dreamers, is free! But only until the end of the day, so hurry up and get it here: www.amazon.com/dp/B005JTAFHK
Not convinced that you want to splash out? Here, have a blurb:
The Dreamers is the NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING FREE CHILDREN'S SCIFI book on Amazon, and the #1Bestselling science fiction book! (+Top 60 Free books on all of Amazon!) Get it for FREE on your kindle or kindle reading app here - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005JTAFHKAbout: Sam is a Dreamer. This means that he can live inside of his dreams. In them, he must stop the evil Malfix from taking over not just the Dream Realm, but earth as well. Sam's adventures bring him through races, mazes, explosions, battles, and yes, the occasional cheesy knock-knock joke. Sound like your kind of book? Join thousands of people joining the ranks of the Dreamers at www.oliverdahl.com
If you can handle it, inferior creatures from the land of Oz (I really need to think of an acronym), I have even more news: Zara Hoffman has just revealed the cover for her soon-to-be published novel, The Belgrave Daughter. Having read bits and pieces of this one, I can personally suggest you go on and have a nosy over at http://www.zarahoffman.com/4/post/2013/09/cover-reveal-the-belgrave-daughter.html and see what all the ensuing exclamation marks are about!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Proud Teen Writer out!
Saturday, 21 September 2013
NaNoNovel Read-Through, Re-Cap, and Worry-Over
I promised you this a long time ago, and so here it finally is! You can also have a virtual bag of virtual popcorn if you can find one.
You may remember that I spent most of July writing, writing, writing. To you weirdos, partially, but mainly I was writing a novel based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. It still doesn't have its own title, but I've read it all the way through, and I thought I'd tell you what I thought of it.
Short answer is that it's absolutely rubbish. Thankfully, the fact that it's absolutely rubbish will make editing it a good lot easier, which is always good. But first, I need to do lots and lots of research. Which is where the 'worry-over' part of this post's title comes from.
You see, I have a bad habit of shoving things into my writing (which is a problem of its own that I don't have the energy to go into or even think about with this novel). When I'm writing speculative fiction, I tend to cram as many supernatural creatures into a world as is humanly possible. And in contemp., it seems, I shove themes and problems into novels like I've got four folders and a laptop to fit into a handbag. This particular novel has everything from terminal illness to mental illness, from suicide to cowardice to cold-blooded murder.
They say 'write what you know' but I only have experience in one of those things (and it's murder, of course). The rest of them are all things that you need a careful, well-informed hand to handle, and while I try to be careful, I'm not very well-informed.
What should you do when you're uninformed? You should get yourself informed! But with topics like suicide... it's a bit more difficult. Especially when you're socially awkward (but that's another issue I don't have the energy to go into). It's difficult to find people who can inform you, it's hard to talk to them sensitively -- possibly as difficult as writing about it is -- and if something they said would make a huge difference to the novel, what would I do? Would I ignore them so that I could keep it on track and not have to re-write the whole thing, or would I leave it and offend them and possibly others?
A friend of mine (hi, by the way, if you're reading -- harass me at some point; we haven't talked in yonks) pointed out that you can't keep everyone happy. But as true as that is, I'd like to avoid it as much as possible. I want what I write to be as true to life and human nature as possible. I want what I write to help people, if it can. I want people to like reading my writing, not hate it. Which is why reading through this novel was so difficult to do -- I could see the image it painted of the mentally ill and of people in general and it was so negative, so awful... but I've not got a clue how to fix it.
Also, I haven't got a satisfactory ending yet. But at the moment, that's almost the least of my problems.
Writer-who-actually-seems-kind-of-depressed-but-promises-she-isn't out!
You may remember that I spent most of July writing, writing, writing. To you weirdos, partially, but mainly I was writing a novel based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. It still doesn't have its own title, but I've read it all the way through, and I thought I'd tell you what I thought of it.
Short answer is that it's absolutely rubbish. Thankfully, the fact that it's absolutely rubbish will make editing it a good lot easier, which is always good. But first, I need to do lots and lots of research. Which is where the 'worry-over' part of this post's title comes from.
You see, I have a bad habit of shoving things into my writing (which is a problem of its own that I don't have the energy to go into or even think about with this novel). When I'm writing speculative fiction, I tend to cram as many supernatural creatures into a world as is humanly possible. And in contemp., it seems, I shove themes and problems into novels like I've got four folders and a laptop to fit into a handbag. This particular novel has everything from terminal illness to mental illness, from suicide to cowardice to cold-blooded murder.
They say 'write what you know' but I only have experience in one of those things (and it's murder, of course). The rest of them are all things that you need a careful, well-informed hand to handle, and while I try to be careful, I'm not very well-informed.
What should you do when you're uninformed? You should get yourself informed! But with topics like suicide... it's a bit more difficult. Especially when you're socially awkward (but that's another issue I don't have the energy to go into). It's difficult to find people who can inform you, it's hard to talk to them sensitively -- possibly as difficult as writing about it is -- and if something they said would make a huge difference to the novel, what would I do? Would I ignore them so that I could keep it on track and not have to re-write the whole thing, or would I leave it and offend them and possibly others?
A friend of mine (hi, by the way, if you're reading -- harass me at some point; we haven't talked in yonks) pointed out that you can't keep everyone happy. But as true as that is, I'd like to avoid it as much as possible. I want what I write to be as true to life and human nature as possible. I want what I write to help people, if it can. I want people to like reading my writing, not hate it. Which is why reading through this novel was so difficult to do -- I could see the image it painted of the mentally ill and of people in general and it was so negative, so awful... but I've not got a clue how to fix it.
Also, I haven't got a satisfactory ending yet. But at the moment, that's almost the least of my problems.
Writer-who-actually-seems-kind-of-depressed-but-promises-she-isn't out!
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Happy Birthday to Me, Happy Birthday to Me...
Hurray! Guess what, everyone -- I'm two today!
The blog itself just said that, by the way. At the grand old age of twenty-four months it has been given the ability to speak by the gods of technology. It asked me (at knife-point) to tell you this because it thought you wouldn't believe it if it told you itself. But it is completely true, 'rinos. I can assure you of that.
Yes, it was on this very day in 2011 that Charlotte posted her first post, which you wonderful people have somehow kept as the most viewed post throughout that whole time, even though I have become a treasure trove of much better and less embarrassing posts since then. I'm sure Charlotte will join me in thanking you for doing that. We are both so terribly grateful and bemused.
Two years,one hundred and fifteen posts, three followers,one thousand six hundred and seventy views, forty menacing stalkers and three convictions later, the world is a much better place for having me in it, as I'm sure you'll agree.
I've seen a lot of blogs have parties for their birthdays, and while I would love to have a game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, I'm a blog with no arms. It's lying -- it's pointing a knife in my face right now so how could it not have arms? Someone please come and help me. Ignore Charlotte, she's just messing, and taking me away from my point: I'm a blog, so I can't have a human birthday party (and don't really want one, either). However, I would like to have a Blog Get-Together. If any of you three followers, forty stalkers or people of the void have blogs, and if those blogs have been granted voices by the gods of technology, I would love to get to know them! Link to them in the comments and let them post what they will for the day, and I will get my minion/blogger to comment on their post for me. I would love to have some Blog Friends instead of rubbish human ones who think the anthropomorphosis of something immaterial is impossible.
If you would like to send me a birthday message just add a comment, and if you would like to send me a birthday present (which you undoubtedly do), post it to Charlotte and I will steal it off her when she's asleep. Or perhaps I'll just kill her and take over her life as if nothing has happened -- I have been privy to her thought patterns for long enough now that nobody would ever notice, I think. I'll just see how it goes.
Blog out!
The blog itself just said that, by the way. At the grand old age of twenty-four months it has been given the ability to speak by the gods of technology. It asked me (at knife-point) to tell you this because it thought you wouldn't believe it if it told you itself. But it is completely true, 'rinos. I can assure you of that.
Yes, it was on this very day in 2011 that Charlotte posted her first post, which you wonderful people have somehow kept as the most viewed post throughout that whole time, even though I have become a treasure trove of much better and less embarrassing posts since then. I'm sure Charlotte will join me in thanking you for doing that. We are both so terribly grateful and bemused.
Two years,one hundred and fifteen posts, three followers,one thousand six hundred and seventy views, forty menacing stalkers and three convictions later, the world is a much better place for having me in it, as I'm sure you'll agree.
I've seen a lot of blogs have parties for their birthdays, and while I would love to have a game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, I'm a blog with no arms. It's lying -- it's pointing a knife in my face right now so how could it not have arms? Someone please come and help me. Ignore Charlotte, she's just messing, and taking me away from my point: I'm a blog, so I can't have a human birthday party (and don't really want one, either). However, I would like to have a Blog Get-Together. If any of you three followers, forty stalkers or people of the void have blogs, and if those blogs have been granted voices by the gods of technology, I would love to get to know them! Link to them in the comments and let them post what they will for the day, and I will get my minion/blogger to comment on their post for me. I would love to have some Blog Friends instead of rubbish human ones who think the anthropomorphosis of something immaterial is impossible.
If you would like to send me a birthday message just add a comment, and if you would like to send me a birthday present (which you undoubtedly do), post it to Charlotte and I will steal it off her when she's asleep. Or perhaps I'll just kill her and take over her life as if nothing has happened -- I have been privy to her thought patterns for long enough now that nobody would ever notice, I think. I'll just see how it goes.
Blog out!
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
I Have Completely Given Up On...
...waiting a while to get perspective on my WiP. If I don't edit it soon I might blow up, so I'm going to read through it, and when I have I will actually get around to that post I've been promising for over a week now about how it all went.
Spontaneously combusting person out!
Spontaneously combusting person out!
Monday, 19 August 2013
A to Z Survey
Author you've read the most books from: Probably Rachel Caine -- I love all ten Weather Wardens books, and I've read a lot of the Morganville Vampires books, though I've sort of gone off them.
Best sequel ever: Tough one -- I love all sequels, usually, simply for the fact that there is one. But I think the best has to be The Evolution of Mara Dyer.
Currently reading: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.
Drink of choice while reading: Robinsons Orange and Barley squash. I basically only drink squash and Coke.
E-reader or physical book? E-reader. I love books a lot, but I also love my Kindle and not having to cart around very heavy books -- especially when on holiday like I just was.
Fictional character you probably would have dated in high school: well, I'm still in school, so... I think probably Adrian from Vampire Academy and Bloodlines. I just always want to give him a hug. And he is so romantic in The Indigo Spell that he just can't be beat. Since this is hypothetical and he is fictional, he'd also probably have to not be a drunkard who was five years older than me.
Glad you gave this book a chance: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin. I wasn't so sure about it at first, if you can actually believe it.
Hidden gem book: Samantha Young's Slumber (Chronicles of the Fade #1).
Important moment in your reading life: when I read The Book Thief. First book I ever cried at and one of the greatest books in the history of forever.
Just finished: The Magnus Bane Chronicles #1: What Really Happened in Peru. Don't read it. You will want to punch Magnus Bane and Cassandra Clare in their pretty little faces. It is way too cruel for words.
Kind of books you won't read: Contemporary. I know I've read some -- I think I've even reviewed some of them on here -- but no more. Reading them makes me feel dirty (says the girl who is writing a novel that walks the line between speculative and contemp. Don't talk to me.). I hate the 'broken person healed by love' trope.
Longest book you've read: If I'd got through Les Mis, I could say that, but unfortunately I didn't, so I don't really know.
Major book hangover because of: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelled Hodkin. Anything I read afterwards paled in comparison.
Number of bookcases you own: two. I have one in my room and my old one is on the landing and serves as a kind of communal thing for the books me and my brother have grown out of but can't find the will to get rid of.
One book you have read multiple times: I read lots of books more than once! The one I've read most times, though, is probably Vampire Academy #1. I think it's got up to 4 re-reads now.
Preferred place to read: in my house somewhere. The living room couch, probably.
Reading regret: that I used to be a Twilight super-fan in my youth. Sure, it introduced me to the genre that I love, but did I have to be so obsessed with it? Could I not have realised how bad it was sooner?
Series you started and need to finish (all the books are out): ha! I don't have the luck of discovering serieses after they've finished. My life is a list of Amazon Pre-Orders and cliffhanger tears.
Three of your all-time favourite books: that is just mean. Three?! Probably The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. No, wait, what about Weather Wardens? And the Kate Daniels novels? And the Alex Craft novels? This is too difficult.
Unapologetic fangirl for: Vampire Academy and Bloodlines, of course.
Very excited for this release more than others: The Fiery Heart (Bloodlines). And Grave Visions (Alex Craft #4) by Kalayna Price. You can't expect me to choose just one.
Worst bookish habit: breaking the spines on my books.
X marks the spot -- starts at the top of your bookshelf and pick the 27th book: it depends how you're doing it, because my bookshelf is double stacked and stuff, but what I got was... Lord of Misrule (about #100 in the Morganville Vampires Series).
Your latest book purchase: I just pre-ordered Grave Visions (Alex Craft #4) by Kalayna Price.
ZZZ-snatcher book -- last book that kept you up way too late: I haven't stayed up too late to read since I started getting migraines when I was ten, so it's a hard one to remember -- but I think the last one I remember was a book by Dianna Wynne Jones that I can't remember the name of but had something to do with red and white Welsh dragons and magic.
Well, that took up even more time than I imagined it would (I've been kind of stuck for purpose since I decided to take a writing break [which, if you don't count my holiday, has been today and yesterday and that is it] because all I want to write is my WiP and I'm supposed to be letting it rest [which I'm probably going to give up on soon and just go straight into my first read-through], so this is better than it sounds). Hurray!
Charlie out!
Thursday, 8 August 2013
Book Review: Angel Fever by LA Weatherly
Willow, Alex and Seb have escaped from Mexico City and the angels, and now they've set up shop in Nevada, training new AKs and planning for the end of angels. But then a spanner's thrown in the works and Alex finds himself on a mission that he can't tell Willow about. Will he survive it -- will Willow?
Thursday, 1 August 2013
CampNaNoWriMo: Day X
It's the END. Camp has finished (and I won!Yay!). But my novel hasn't.
Hopefully it will at some point, though, because I'm very proud of it and can't wait until it's finished and had a bit of time to sit so that I can go back to it, read it, and realise that I've made a bigger mistake than Frankenstein did when he made his monster. And then I can follow in Frankenstein's footsteps even more by attempting to make it better and just killing everyone I love.
Maybe not the last bit. But the rest of it is exactly what will happen. Don't worry, 'rinos -- I will continue to bother you incessantly with my blathering about it.
WriMo out!
Hopefully it will at some point, though, because I'm very proud of it and can't wait until it's finished and had a bit of time to sit so that I can go back to it, read it, and realise that I've made a bigger mistake than Frankenstein did when he made his monster. And then I can follow in Frankenstein's footsteps even more by attempting to make it better and just killing everyone I love.
Maybe not the last bit. But the rest of it is exactly what will happen. Don't worry, 'rinos -- I will continue to bother you incessantly with my blathering about it.
WriMo out!
Monday, 29 July 2013
CampNaNoWriMo: Day 29
Yes, it's Day 29. I've got two more days, and then I should, hopefully, have my 50K written and ready.
The novel, however? Not so much. I'm still not sure how to kill off Hamlet or his uncle or Laertes or the new person that I somehow accidently added to the hitlist. His mother is dead, though, which I suppose is a start.
I'm getting supremely weary of this novel, but still it's all fascinating me. I originally aimed for a writing style reminiscent of The Silver Linings Playbook and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer -- mystical but simple and understated. I don't think that writing style will be particularly obvious in this first draft, but it's a feeling I have constantly while I'm writing it (even if it is hidden under a pile of fatigue and moaning). Hamlet, to me, is Shakespeare's greatest play because Hamlet is his greatest character. There are so many layers to himbecause he's an onion, and he continually surprises others -- and himself. He's like a dark and depressed teen at times and at others he's the class joker, except most of his jokes are so intelligent that his classmates don't know he's laughing at him (note to self: add in intelligent humour because there currently isn't much).
I'm not going to say I've been recreating that -- I don't think it's possible -- but I've been trying, and it's been wonderful to attempt to make a character so wonderful and alive.
In short, unless the next two days fall to pieces in a hail of bullets or something, this is the best NaNo I've ever done.
Let's ignore the fact that it's only the third, people. Just enjoy the moment.
[Edit: I forgot to mention that the Stats page on the Camp website lied to me. It turns out that it's been giving me false hope all along, because its 'Words per Day to Finish on Time' thing counts the day that you're on, even if you've updated your word count for that day. Thankfully, I noticed this before Something Bad Happened and I found myself supremely unable to hit that 50K. Yesterday I got to the point where my daily word count matched up with what I started with having to do (when I worked it out myself because of the website lying). So, yay!]
WriMo out!
The novel, however? Not so much. I'm still not sure how to kill off Hamlet or his uncle or Laertes or the new person that I somehow accidently added to the hitlist. His mother is dead, though, which I suppose is a start.
I'm getting supremely weary of this novel, but still it's all fascinating me. I originally aimed for a writing style reminiscent of The Silver Linings Playbook and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer -- mystical but simple and understated. I don't think that writing style will be particularly obvious in this first draft, but it's a feeling I have constantly while I'm writing it (even if it is hidden under a pile of fatigue and moaning). Hamlet, to me, is Shakespeare's greatest play because Hamlet is his greatest character. There are so many layers to him
I'm not going to say I've been recreating that -- I don't think it's possible -- but I've been trying, and it's been wonderful to attempt to make a character so wonderful and alive.
In short, unless the next two days fall to pieces in a hail of bullets or something, this is the best NaNo I've ever done.
Let's ignore the fact that it's only the third, people. Just enjoy the moment.
[Edit: I forgot to mention that the Stats page on the Camp website lied to me. It turns out that it's been giving me false hope all along, because its 'Words per Day to Finish on Time' thing counts the day that you're on, even if you've updated your word count for that day. Thankfully, I noticed this before Something Bad Happened and I found myself supremely unable to hit that 50K. Yesterday I got to the point where my daily word count matched up with what I started with having to do (when I worked it out myself because of the website lying). So, yay!]
WriMo out!
Thursday, 25 July 2013
CampNaNoWriMo: Day 25
These days have started going faster. It feels like yesterday that I posted for day 22.
So, day 25... the day that you can start winning. I think I won on maybe the 27th or somesuch in November, but not this time. I've got a good 12,000 words to go and no understanding of how I am actually going to get to the place that I will have to get at some point: the end. Just a couple of days ago, I felt like I was going to run out of story before I got to the big 50K; today, I feel as if I'll get to 100K before my characters actually do each other in like Shakespeare intended.
Speaking of what Shakespeare intended, this isn't so much a re-telling of Hamlet now as a thing that was origjnally a re-telling of Hamlet. I'm pretty sure that his uncle insn't going to be the one to kill him. And his mum has to die at some point, too. And I don't know what to do about Laertes, because he has to die too and he also has to be Hamlet's uncle's right-hand-man and all sorts of things that should happen in the end don't seem like they'll stick with the characters. Oh, and Hamlet's got another best friend and another murder to do.
This is probably why I don't feel like it's ever going to end -- because I don't have a clue how it's going to end, not really, even though I think I just said above that I do. I don't know. This is why I don't write thrillers or detective novels or anything like that. I just don't have the brain power to mastermind a murder (let alone like five or however many). Although it is nice to be able to write on a Sticky Note on your computer (for the whole world to see), 'The train isn't a safe place to plan to murder someone'. That was a fun moment of my life.
In other news, I read a blog post about word wars/sprints, and how you could just do the magainst yourself. I tried one yesterday, just made myself write as much as possible as fast as possible for fifteen minutes, and it really speeded up my time for getting my 1700 words or so done. I've mentioned before how I hate having to rush things and not having the chance to stare out of the window and contemplate life and everything and soak in feels, but I did actually quite enjoy writing that fast. It makes me feel productive.
And I need to be productive right now.
WriMo out!
So, day 25... the day that you can start winning. I think I won on maybe the 27th or somesuch in November, but not this time. I've got a good 12,000 words to go and no understanding of how I am actually going to get to the place that I will have to get at some point: the end. Just a couple of days ago, I felt like I was going to run out of story before I got to the big 50K; today, I feel as if I'll get to 100K before my characters actually do each other in like Shakespeare intended.
Speaking of what Shakespeare intended, this isn't so much a re-telling of Hamlet now as a thing that was origjnally a re-telling of Hamlet. I'm pretty sure that his uncle insn't going to be the one to kill him. And his mum has to die at some point, too. And I don't know what to do about Laertes, because he has to die too and he also has to be Hamlet's uncle's right-hand-man and all sorts of things that should happen in the end don't seem like they'll stick with the characters. Oh, and Hamlet's got another best friend and another murder to do.
This is probably why I don't feel like it's ever going to end -- because I don't have a clue how it's going to end, not really, even though I think I just said above that I do. I don't know. This is why I don't write thrillers or detective novels or anything like that. I just don't have the brain power to mastermind a murder (let alone like five or however many). Although it is nice to be able to write on a Sticky Note on your computer (for the whole world to see), 'The train isn't a safe place to plan to murder someone'. That was a fun moment of my life.
In other news, I read a blog post about word wars/sprints, and how you could just do the magainst yourself. I tried one yesterday, just made myself write as much as possible as fast as possible for fifteen minutes, and it really speeded up my time for getting my 1700 words or so done. I've mentioned before how I hate having to rush things and not having the chance to stare out of the window and contemplate life and everything and soak in feels, but I did actually quite enjoy writing that fast. It makes me feel productive.
And I need to be productive right now.
WriMo out!
Monday, 22 July 2013
CampNaNoWriMo: Day 22
I thought I had another day before I had to write this post. Huh.
You may remember that I put my word count down to 45K because I'm a wimp. Well, I put it back up again, because the stats told me that I didn't actually have to write as much to catch up as I thought I did. Of course, that was before I gave up at 750 words yesterday because I felt so shattered, but, you know. I still don't have to write a load more a day than I originally did. And I've finally got to a place where I can actually get back to the plot, which is always good.
But nine more days, people! Sigh. I don't know if I have nine days more energy left in me. Which is a shame, since I really want to actually be able to finish this first draft. I stopped everything else I was doing because I really wanted to write this. Sigh.
Keep your fingers crossed for me.
WriMo out!
You may remember that I put my word count down to 45K because I'm a wimp. Well, I put it back up again, because the stats told me that I didn't actually have to write as much to catch up as I thought I did. Of course, that was before I gave up at 750 words yesterday because I felt so shattered, but, you know. I still don't have to write a load more a day than I originally did. And I've finally got to a place where I can actually get back to the plot, which is always good.
But nine more days, people! Sigh. I don't know if I have nine days more energy left in me. Which is a shame, since I really want to actually be able to finish this first draft. I stopped everything else I was doing because I really wanted to write this. Sigh.
Keep your fingers crossed for me.
WriMo out!
Friday, 19 July 2013
CampNaNoWriMo: Day 19
So, it turns out I was using hyperbole on day 13. Just about hitting your word count? It's cool. It's a nightmare and hard and a total love/hate thing, but it's fine. It's not the end of the world.
What is the end of the world is feeling like you have to drop your word count goal.
Gasp.
I know, it's lame. It's like losing, except worse because you know you're going to win without putting half as much effort in at all. Basically, it's like cheating. However, it was out of my control. I missed two days (and possibly today; I've got a headache already and I've only been checking Tumblr) because of a really bad migraine. I can see what you're thinking: two days, pah! That's not that much to make up -- but the thing is, when you're wimping out of your word count as it is, it's difficult to see how you would make two/three days of words up. I'm going to try, of course I am. But I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself -- I've already learnt that that's a pointless thing to try and do. Besides which, of course, my novel will never end regardless of it's word count.
In other news, Dropbox is SO slow on my phone it is ridiculous and was a waste of time downloading the app.
WriMo out!
What is the end of the world is feeling like you have to drop your word count goal.
Gasp.
I know, it's lame. It's like losing, except worse because you know you're going to win without putting half as much effort in at all. Basically, it's like cheating. However, it was out of my control. I missed two days (and possibly today; I've got a headache already and I've only been checking Tumblr) because of a really bad migraine. I can see what you're thinking: two days, pah! That's not that much to make up -- but the thing is, when you're wimping out of your word count as it is, it's difficult to see how you would make two/three days of words up. I'm going to try, of course I am. But I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself -- I've already learnt that that's a pointless thing to try and do. Besides which, of course, my novel will never end regardless of it's word count.
In other news, Dropbox is SO slow on my phone it is ridiculous and was a waste of time downloading the app.
WriMo out!
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
CampNaNoWriMo: Day 16
Well, it's all been going on in the past three days, I have to say.
I have given up on Q10. I don't know if I mentioned it in that previous post, but the thing didn't have scroll bar and the longer my novel got, the longer it took to get to the bottom of the page so I could actually start the thing. Grr.
I did the unthinkable, guys. I copied it all into MS Word.
I know, it hurts me, too.
I also, after a bit of nagging from my mum, 'But what if the thing with the battery breaks the laptop?' etc., I have downloaded Dropbox. I thought it'd be a bit like Google Docs, but actually it's just a folder on your computer that you can get at from the net. It would be cool if it didn't want to sell more space to me.
And Day 13, I think, was The Day That It All Went Wrong. I mentioned how the novel had now stepped into the unknown with no hope of survival, and it's possible that that will still be the case. I barely wrote anything on Day 13, just about caught up on Day 14, and then yesterday I just lost all my motivation. That lack of motivation is still quite obviously there, unfortunately, which is why I am writing this now. Hopefully it'll jump-start my brain, but I don't know.
On another note, my Inner Editor is very unhappy with my lack of research and the marked change in the whole tone since I stepped into the unknown. This part could very well be a sequel to the first part, if the first part was long enough to count as a novel on its own.
I don't think that was 'another note', really, but there you go.
On another another note, in case you were wondering about the whole 'I have no clue how he'll get out of this' line from my last post, I still don't. I'm leaving it until a certain point that I've fixed in the future of the novel to worry about how that will work. I might have to kick Shakespeare when he's down and change one of the best parts of Hamlet to suit my personal preferences.
Hurray!
Well, we'll see how far it's been driven into the ground on Day 19, I suppose.
WriMo out!
I have given up on Q10. I don't know if I mentioned it in that previous post, but the thing didn't have scroll bar and the longer my novel got, the longer it took to get to the bottom of the page so I could actually start the thing. Grr.
I did the unthinkable, guys. I copied it all into MS Word.
I know, it hurts me, too.
I also, after a bit of nagging from my mum, 'But what if the thing with the battery breaks the laptop?' etc., I have downloaded Dropbox. I thought it'd be a bit like Google Docs, but actually it's just a folder on your computer that you can get at from the net. It would be cool if it didn't want to sell more space to me.
And Day 13, I think, was The Day That It All Went Wrong. I mentioned how the novel had now stepped into the unknown with no hope of survival, and it's possible that that will still be the case. I barely wrote anything on Day 13, just about caught up on Day 14, and then yesterday I just lost all my motivation. That lack of motivation is still quite obviously there, unfortunately, which is why I am writing this now. Hopefully it'll jump-start my brain, but I don't know.
On another note, my Inner Editor is very unhappy with my lack of research and the marked change in the whole tone since I stepped into the unknown. This part could very well be a sequel to the first part, if the first part was long enough to count as a novel on its own.
I don't think that was 'another note', really, but there you go.
On another another note, in case you were wondering about the whole 'I have no clue how he'll get out of this' line from my last post, I still don't. I'm leaving it until a certain point that I've fixed in the future of the novel to worry about how that will work. I might have to kick Shakespeare when he's down and change one of the best parts of Hamlet to suit my personal preferences.
Hurray!
Well, we'll see how far it's been driven into the ground on Day 19, I suppose.
WriMo out!
Saturday, 13 July 2013
CampNaNoWriMo: Day 13
Is it nearly two weeks, 'rinos? It feels like less... no wait, that's a lie. It feels like months.
You may remember day 10's entry. Ironically, I got my writer's block fixed after writing that post, and finished up my word count plus more, I think. So, you know, hurray for me then.
Today, however, I am back to the self-same slump. My characters have pulled themselves back into line, and the plot with them, but I have got to the bit that I hadn't prepared for, and it doesn't bode well at all. Not at all at all at all. I won't get into the specifics, but let's just say that this novel either has to find itself a deus ex machina or stop being an almost exact replica of Shakespeare's Hamlet, because I don't have the foggiest how I'm going to write myself out of the corner I flung myself in. Sigh.
WriMo out!
You may remember day 10's entry. Ironically, I got my writer's block fixed after writing that post, and finished up my word count plus more, I think. So, you know, hurray for me then.
Today, however, I am back to the self-same slump. My characters have pulled themselves back into line, and the plot with them, but I have got to the bit that I hadn't prepared for, and it doesn't bode well at all. Not at all at all at all. I won't get into the specifics, but let's just say that this novel either has to find itself a deus ex machina or stop being an almost exact replica of Shakespeare's Hamlet, because I don't have the foggiest how I'm going to write myself out of the corner I flung myself in. Sigh.
WriMo out!
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
CampNaNoWriMo: Day 10
I totally forgot about this post, so I'll keep it quick.
It turns out that today is the day that I start crying (inside). I'm running out of writerly energy, or something. Maybe it's because my brain decided to go against Shakespeare and re-write the plot, making it all harder. Maybe it's because my characters (after quick consultation with my brain) decided to have a bit of a fight, even though one of them is the only person that the other character will trust. Maybe it's because the character with trust issues ran off to his girlfriend who he was supposed to be driving away and have no real connection with. Maybe it's because, just after I'd resigned myself to that, his girlfriend decided she had standards and was strong enough to say no to someone who didn't understand the word. Maybe it's simply because I'm sick of feeling like I have to do something every single day, even though it's the summer holidays. Maybe I'm just being mopey. Who knows, but I'm falling behind my word count for the second day sice you last heard from me. Day 8 was the first time; this was when the plot first started to go kaput. I caught up and wrote past my word count yesterday (there were feels) but now I've started writing late in the day because I've been out with friends all day, and I've been trying to get away from it because I just can't get anything to happen the way I want it to.
Sigh. Not as short as I thought. I've got another 800 or so words to write. Darn.
WriMo out!
It turns out that today is the day that I start crying (inside). I'm running out of writerly energy, or something. Maybe it's because my brain decided to go against Shakespeare and re-write the plot, making it all harder. Maybe it's because my characters (after quick consultation with my brain) decided to have a bit of a fight, even though one of them is the only person that the other character will trust. Maybe it's because the character with trust issues ran off to his girlfriend who he was supposed to be driving away and have no real connection with. Maybe it's because, just after I'd resigned myself to that, his girlfriend decided she had standards and was strong enough to say no to someone who didn't understand the word. Maybe it's simply because I'm sick of feeling like I have to do something every single day, even though it's the summer holidays. Maybe I'm just being mopey. Who knows, but I'm falling behind my word count for the second day sice you last heard from me. Day 8 was the first time; this was when the plot first started to go kaput. I caught up and wrote past my word count yesterday (there were feels) but now I've started writing late in the day because I've been out with friends all day, and I've been trying to get away from it because I just can't get anything to happen the way I want it to.
Sigh. Not as short as I thought. I've got another 800 or so words to write. Darn.
WriMo out!
Sunday, 7 July 2013
CampNaNoWriMo: Day 7
You may remember me saying I would be crying by today. Well, I was right, but it's more because of the intense heat, high pollen levels, and large amount of open windows than any issues with Camp.
However, that brings me to one of the points that I don't like as much about writing a novel in a month -- the lack of feels other than 'I have to get this done'. I mean, giving myself a deadline is extremely necessary (I take years to finish novels when I don't have one), but I like meandering my way through a story line. I like taking a minute or a day or a week, whatever I feel like, to soak up the feels of a scene. I like to take time to plan my chacters' next move (by which I mean to let them plan it themselves).
But that's irrelevant, because working like that won't get anything wrote, and I can always catch up on feels while I'm reading it for editing purposes. It can just feel a little bit empty sometimes.
Other than my winging, though, it's going okay. I didn't hit my daily word count yesterday because it was absolutely boiling and I had to play at a concert (an annual one which was the first one in three years to A: be warm and B: be inside with hot stage-lights trained on the players), but I have been writing five per cent or so over most days anyway so I didn't go under the word count I was supposed to be at.
Hurray!
I can't think of anything else, I'm too busy watching the Tennis to think properly. I promise a better round up on the tenth.
WriMo out!
However, that brings me to one of the points that I don't like as much about writing a novel in a month -- the lack of feels other than 'I have to get this done'. I mean, giving myself a deadline is extremely necessary (I take years to finish novels when I don't have one), but I like meandering my way through a story line. I like taking a minute or a day or a week, whatever I feel like, to soak up the feels of a scene. I like to take time to plan my chacters' next move (by which I mean to let them plan it themselves).
But that's irrelevant, because working like that won't get anything wrote, and I can always catch up on feels while I'm reading it for editing purposes. It can just feel a little bit empty sometimes.
Other than my winging, though, it's going okay. I didn't hit my daily word count yesterday because it was absolutely boiling and I had to play at a concert (an annual one which was the first one in three years to A: be warm and B: be inside with hot stage-lights trained on the players), but I have been writing five per cent or so over most days anyway so I didn't go under the word count I was supposed to be at.
Hurray!
I can't think of anything else, I'm too busy watching the Tennis to think properly. I promise a better round up on the tenth.
WriMo out!
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