I've Been Tagged

Greetings.

I know I said that my next post would be about the instrumental playlist for Noxumbra but I forgot that the wonderful Katie of Spiral-Bound tagged me for the Extraordinary Means Blog Tag. Thanks, Katie! You'll have to wait for the instrumental playlist. The gist of this tag is that it asks you what extraordinary means you would go to for certain bookish purposes. Before I begin I would like to add that, like my friend Liam of This Page Intentionally Left Blank, I would not actually go to some of these lengths, and some of them aren't that bad, but I shan't go into hilarious explanations like he did. Check out his post here. It's great.

1. I would give up the internet for a month for a signed first edition of this book.

Laddie by Gene Stratton Porter. I actually found a full color illustration first edition of this book at an antique store once. It just about killed me that I couldn't afford it. 

2. I would give up pizza for a year if it meant I could sit next to this author on a long plane ride.

Brandon Sanderson or Terry Pratchett.

3. I would sit through a thousand hours of commercials if it would ensure Hollywood made this book into a movie.

Ooh, this one is tricky. The first two that pop into my mind are Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson and The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. This should come as a surprise to no one.

4. I would never read a new book again if it meant I could live inside this book.

Okay to this one I do have to add "NO NEW BOOKS I WOULD NEVER AGREE TO THIS DEAL." But, it would be fun to live in either Terry Pratchett's Discworld or at Hogwarts. I could totally be a librarian at either the Unseen University or Hogwarts. *nodnod*

5. I would let my Google search history be made public if it meant I could be best friends with this author.

My Google Search history is actually pretty boring, but I would love to be friends with Maggie Stiefvater. Her Twitter and Tumblr feeds are nearly the best things on the Internet. 

6. I would donate everything I own to Goodwill if it meant I could date this book character in real life.

Two things: 1) the book boys that I like are usually already taken by women I ship them hard with, so I wouldn't want to date any of them because that would require breaking up my ship. 2) I'm not really interested in the dating scene. But, for the sake of the tag, I'd pick Elend Venture from Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn. 

And there you have it! Thanks again, Katie! As for who I tag, I tag you, fair reader, should you care to take the tag. It's all yours, have fun. 

Also, I should add an "I'M SORRY" to the folks who have tagged me for tags I have never done. There have been several of you. I'm really bad at getting around to tag posts. My apologies. 

The next edition of Lily's Notes in the Margins will actually have the instrumental playlist for Noxumbra. 

Kirk out.

Blogiversary and TCWT! December Blog Chain

Today is my 3rd blogaversary! That's right, I've been blogging for three years. For some reason that feels like a long time.


It's also my 19th birthday, which means I'm now the same age as the MC of Noxumbra. I think this is rather cool.

To celebrate, I have a TCWT! blog chain post. It's been a long time since I participated in a TCWT! blog chain, and I'm glad to be doing one again. This month's prompt is:

“What works of fiction have taught you by example, and what did they teach you?”

When I suggested this prompt to John, I meant "what have books taught you about writing" but as a few of the other blog chain participants have pointed out, it's rather vague, and so there have been several FANTASTIC posts about what books have taught life lessons. Yay for different prompt interpretations! I'll be focusing on books that have taught me about writing.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

These books are amazing for many reasons. The characters are great, the plot twists are mind-blowing. The first book taught me about character arcs, and showed me how a character can change over the course of a novel. I understood the idea that characters should change during a story, but watching Vin change throughout the course of this book really cemented it in my head. 

Also, the magic system was very cool and taught me about how magic systems can work. 

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

HER DESCRIPTIONS, DUDE. MAGICAL. Again, these books had great characters and plot twist, but what I took away from them was the descriptions. Stiefvater chooses just the right things to describe. Not the basics like eye color and hair color and a weirdly shaped birthmark. She picked things like the smell of gasoline and mint (she used smell a lot, actually, which worked stupendously), the canvas trees and nine pairs of scissors in Blue's room, the high ceilings and marks left by big machinery in Monmouth Manufacturing. She picked details that brought the scene to life. 

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

I finished this book on Sunday night, so I'm still reeling a bit from the ending, but one thing that I noticed she did really well was the characters' internal conflict. Everyone in this book was conflicted about something or fighting inner demons, and it was done in a way that made the characters seem very human and relatable, and made the overall character arcs awesome. 

Also, there were several viewpoint characters who all interpreted the situation differently, and had different ideas about what would happen, and how that would be good and bad. That was awesome. It made each character his/her own person, and let the reader see several different opinions on what was happening.

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Admittedly, I haven't finished reading the book, but I've seen the miniseries based on it a few times. What I learned from this one is that you can create a giant web of connections between characters and it makes for really cool story development. Now, it would probably be very easy to create a web that confuses the reader, but done right it's wonderful. 

I think that's all for this post. A merry Christmas to you all! 

Be sure to check out the rest of the blog chain: 

5^th – http://thelittleenginethatcouldnt.wordpress.com/

6^th – http://nasrielsfanfics.wordpress.com/

7^th – https://erinkenobi2893.wordpress.com/

8^th – http://introspectioncreative.wordpress.com/

9^th – http://semilegacy.blogspot.com/

10^th – http://kirabudge.weebly.com/

11^th – http://whileishouldbedoingprecal.weebly.com/

12^th – http://randomosityofeden.wordpress.com/

13^th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/

14^th – http://www.alwaysopinionatedgirl.wordpress.com/

15^th – http://www.juliathewritergirl.wordpress.com/

16^th – http://miriamjoywrites.com/

17^th – http://horsfeathersblog.wordpress.com/

18^th – http://unironicallyexcited.wordpress.com/

19^th – http://theboardingblogger.wordpress.com/

20^th – http://stayandwatchthestars.wordpress.com/

21^st – http://unikkelyfe.wordpress.com/

22^nd – http://fantasiesofapockethuman.blogspot.com/

23^rd – http://lilyjenness.blogspot.com/

24^th – http://oliviarivers.wordpress.com/

25^th – [off-day]

26^th – http://butterfliesoftheimagination.wordpress.com/

27^th – http://missalexandrinabrant.wordpress.com/

28^th – http://www.pamelanicolewrites.com

29^th – http://jasperlindell.blogspot.com.au/

30^th – http://maralaurey.wordpress.com/ and http://theedfiles.blogspot.com/

31st – http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain.)

Book Review: Storyworld First by Jill Williamson

I was lucky enough to be on the street team for Jill Williamson's (author of the Blood of Kings trilogy which I adore) new book about worldbuilding.


Oh. My.

This book is amazing.

It's full of interesting worldbuilding information and tips and things to consider about creating things like:

• Maps
• Creatures
• Techology
• Languages
• Magic
• Government
• And a whole bunch of other cool stuff. 

I loved it. Jill talks about so many different topics and areas to play with, but without going into agonizing detail or touching too lightly. I'm definitely going to come back to it once I start worldbuilding again. (And her repeated messages of "only uses as much as you need" and "don't succumb to worldbuilder's disease" will probably come in handy when I do.)

A quick warning: This book is so full of information that it's easy to get overwhelmed. What I did was read the whole thing  and let myself get exposed to the ideas without worrying about remembering any of it. Sure, some of it stuck, but I wasn't worried about remembering every single detail or tip she mentioned. When I'm ready to worldbuild religions or to create a map, I'll go back and reread those sections. In the mean time, whatever stayed in my memory from the first read through is floating around in the back of my head subtly influencing how I think about things.

Five out of five stars for sure.

Other fun stuff:
Here's a link to Jill's page of free printables and extras from the book: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/storyworld-first-free-printable-worksheets
Here's the Storyworld First page on Jill's website: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/storyworld-first-creating-a-unique-fantasy-world-for-your-novel/
And hers' the Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22928249-storyworld-first

That's all for this post. I noticed that I haven't posted here in more than a month. Oops. I shall remedy this. I have half a dozen Fun with Notes posts in draft form as well as a new short story I want to post. So, you'll be seeing those.

And a lovely day/night/whatever to you.

http://www.jillwilliamson.com/storyworld-first-creating-a-unique-fantasy-world-for-your-novel/#sthash.8QWzoaIg.dpuf

 http://www.jillwilliamson.com/storyworld-first-creating-a-unique-fantasy-world-for-your-novel/ - See more at: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/influencer-page-for-storyworld-first/#sthash.8QWzoaIg.dpuf

 http://www.jillwilliamson.com/storyworld-first-creating-a-unique-fantasy-world-for-your-novel/ - See more at: http://www.jillwilliamson.com/influencer-page-for-storyworld-first/#sthash.8QWzoaIg.dpuf

Some Thoughts on (Somewhat) Deceptive Back Cover Blurbs

This week I finished reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. It was fun and funny with some cool alternate-reality worldbuilding and I enjoyed it. However, the story I read was not the one the back cover blurb led me to expect.  Here's the blurb:

"Welcome to a surreal version of Great Britain, circa 1985, where time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem, militant Baconians heckle performances of Hamlet, and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is buisiness as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection, until someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature. When Jane Eyre is plucked from the pates of Bronte's novel, Thursday must track down the villain and enter a novel herself to avert a heinous act of literary homicide."

Here's what I deduced about the story from this blurb:
- The worldbuilding is going to be lots of fun
- Jane's kidnapping is going to be the inciting incident
- We won't know who the villain is until the end
- Thursday is going to enter the novel fairly early in the story

Only one of my deductions was correct: The worldbuilding was really fun. Jane did not get kidnapped until around page 300, we knew who the villain was in the first five chapters, and Thursday didn't enter the novel until near the end (the novel is where the final battle took place.)


Now, everything the blurb talked about did happen. It wasn't that the information it presented was wrong, but the way in which it was presented led me to believe certain things about the story that weren't true. This took a little of the fun out of reading, because I was expecting things that weren't happening and weren't happening and weren't happening. As a result, the beginning felt a little slow. I kept waiting for the mystery to start, and it was taking it's sweet time. Who cares about Thursday's nutty inventing uncle? Why does it matter that she meets the werewolf-catching guy? Do I really need to hear more about that war she fought in? I thought I'd been promised Jane's kidnapping, so where was it?

As it turned out, the nutty uncle and the werewolf catcher and the war were all important pieces of groundwork that played huge parts in the climax (in fact, there wouldn't have been a story without one of the uncle's inventions,) but because I expected something different, they felt like they slowed the story down.

Here's what I think would have been a slightly better blurb (may contain mild spoilers, as it includes information not presented in the actual blurb, and I'm a not the best blurb writer):

"First the original manuscript of Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit is stolen. All clues point to one man, Acheron Hades, a villain of the basest sort. Who is also invincible. After a showdown in which Hades supposedly died, Thursday's uncle and aunt are kidnapped, along with her uncle's Prose Portal, a device that softens the line between fiction and reality, allowing people from either side to cross to the other. Again, all evidence points to Hades. The official record may be that he died, but Thursday is sure he's alive, and that he has both the Chuzzlewit manuscript and her uncle's machine. If the Prose Portal is used on an original manuscript, the user could change the story forever. He could kill characters, and they would simply disappear, never to be read about ever again. Thursday and the other literature detectives must stop Hades before he does something to Chuzzlewit, or any other original manuscript he can get his hands on."

That isn't a great blurb by any means, but it is (in my opinion) truer to the story. We know who the villain is, so it looks like a "How're we gonna stop him?" as opposed to a "Whodunnit?", we know that Thursday's uncle's machine is involved in the story, and that the villain now has some serious power over what happens in Martin Chuzzlewit, or whatever other original manuscripts he can get his hands on.  And it doesn't mention Jane Eyre, who doesn't really make an appearance until the end anyway (though there is foreshadowing from the very beginning).

Now, that could be considered a good thing, in that it adds some surprise to the end of the story (Oh, no! Hades has Jane Eyre! What ever will Thursday do?!), however, from a marketing standpoint, it could be considered a weakness. Jane Eyre is far more loved that Martin Chuzzlewit. Readers, I should think, are more likely to pick up a book in which Jane Eyre is harmed than Martin Chuzzlewit. Chances are most people have never even heard of Martin Chuzzlewit, so who cares about him? Mentioning Jane instead of Martin raises the stakes by putting the more beloved book in danger.

From that standpoint, I can see why they'd mention Jane instead of Martin. But the cost of that is annoyed readers waiting and waiting for Jane's kidnapping. And possibly putting the book down when that doesn't happen soon enough. (At one point I read the first chapter of Brandon Sanderson's The Rithmatist because The Eyre Affair was too slow.) I'm no professional nor do I have any experience in marketing, but potentially annoying the reader seems like a kinda steep cost to me.

The Eyre Affair was still a really fun book, and I might pick up the sequel, but I do think there's a lesson to be learned from it in how readers interpret back cover blurbs: Don't make the book look like something it isn't, and by talking about the climax instead of the inciting incident, you risk annoying the reader. Readers are impatient and want to be thinking "What happens next?" not "When is XYZ going to happen?"

What do you think? Have you ever been annoyed by a deceptive back cover? What were your thoughts? 

Ten Books That Have Influenced Me (and a Free Ebook)

Hello, chaps.

Bethany from Ramblings of a Young Author tagged me in with the Top Ten Most Influential Books tag, so here's my list, in no particular order.

1. Embassy by S. Alex Martin.
This one is free this weekend on Amazon, which is why I put it first on the list. Go download it. It's fun.
I started reading Embassy last summer when Mr. Martin put out a request for beta readers on the Go Teen Writers Facebook group. I'd been thinking about reading someone else's story at the time since my dad and I had recently talked about critique partners, so I thought, "Why not? He only wants someone to read the first chapter, I'll give it a go." Three other readers and I worked with him over the next several months as he polished and polished and then published it. The book itself didn't influence me much (though it is a good book and I did enjoy it) but the process of working with Mr. Martin and the other betas was hugely influential and I loved it. So, go download Embassy while it's free. Read it! Enjoy it! Find my name in the acknowledgements!

2. The Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.
When my parents read me the first one when I was little, I thought "I want to write books like J. K. Rowling does!" Did I write any stories then? No. (Though for a while I told my sister bedtime stories every night.) Writing was for the future, and why worry about that when there were imaginary friends to play with? I didn't really start writing until I tried to get out of writing a book report by writing a story instead. I think I was about twelve. Mom didn't go for that, but I kept writing that story anyway. That awful thing was the inspiration for my first, awful novel.

3. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede.
Dealing with Dragons and the following books were the first fantasies I truly fell in love with. I've read the whole series at least twice, and plan on reading them again someday.

4. The Trixie Belden books by Julie Campbell and Kathryn Kenny
My mom bought all but four of the Trixie books while she was growing up (34 total), and my dad read all of them out loud to my sister and I. (He read out loud to us every night for YEARS.) They are falling apart, especially the oldest ones, but I loved them and they fostered my love of mysteries. Same can be said for The Boxcar Children books.

5. The Hank the Cowdog books by John R. Erickson
These are some of the funniest books I've ever read. Or, listened to. The author reads the audiobooks and sings all of Hank's funny songs, and they are fantastic. Like plastic. (Bonus points if you get that reference.) Many a long car trip or day helping my dad at work was spent listening to Hank.

6. All the Shakespeare I read in middle school.
Gotta love the Bard and his poetic, if sometimes practically indecipherable dialogue. I know, technically these are plays and not books, but whatever.

7 and 8. Little Dorrit and Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Little Dorrit is actually the only Dickens I've read, but I've seen the TV miniseries for each a couple times, so I know the stories. As I've said before, I love the complexity of the plots and the characters and how everything ties in at the end.

9. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
I read the Mistborn series last summer, and was blown away by the characters and the plotting. Yes, the books are sometimes creepy and bloody and gruesome but they are AMAZING. I'm thinking about dressing up as Vin for Halloween. Mr. Sanderson was the first author in recent memory to do something I usually dislike in a story and make me love it anyway.

10. The textbooks I've read over the years, especially the science ones and my American government book.
Call me a nerd if you want, because I am one. These books have taught me so much and helped me understand the world better and write better. Pretty much the only reason I read the gov book after that class was cancelled is because I knew I'd be able to apply what I learned to worldbuilding governments. (And I was so right.)

Other books worthy of mention, because top ten just doesn't cover it: almost anything by Dr. Seuss, Eragon and following books by Christopher Paolini, the Bible, Laddie by Gene Stratton-Porter, Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright, The Blood of Kings series by Jill Williamson, and all that poetry Mom made me read in middle school.

I'm not going to tag anyone specifically, so if you want to participate in the tag, go for it! Or feel free to tell me about some of the books that have influenced you in a comment.

Teen Read Week Blog Tour: My Favorite Books I Read This Year

It's Teen Read Week! And once again the lovely Sarah F. from Inklined is hosting a blog tour. For my post, I'm going to list my favorite books that I've read in the past year, with the Goodreads description, and my (brief) thoughts on each.

The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson

"A thousand years ago evil came to the land. A dark lord rules through the aristocratic families and ordinary folk labor as slaves in volcanic ash fields. A troublemaker arrives. A rumored revolt depends on an untrustworthy criminal and a young girl who must master Allomancy, metal magic."

This was by far my top favorite of the year.  Fabulous character development, and a twisty plot. It was written for adults, so it's a little dark, and there's a smidge of adult content, but nothing graphic. Such content usually is a turn off for me, but I liked this book so much I ignored it.

If you're a writer, be sure to check out Writing Excuses, a podcast series about writing hosted by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells (see his book Partials below), and Howard Tayler.


Entwined by Heather Dixon 
"Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late."

I randomly picked this up at the library, and I loved it. This spin on The Twelve Dancing Princesses was delightful. Magic, mystery, and a hint of romance. Read my review here.


The Partials Sequence by Dan Wells
"The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials—engineered organic beings identical to humans—has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them—connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there."

This, again, was a little dark, and since a good portion of the plot revolved around humanity losing the ability to reproduce (sort of), it was a topic of discussion. But again, aside from references, there was nothing horrid. This one had lots of action, good characters, and some good plot twists. I hadn't read a lot of dystopias before this, and this was the first one I really liked.  (I think the only one I'd read before was Lois Lowry's The Giver, which I...well, hated. But I was only thirteen or so, and it seriously creeped me out.)



The Blood of Kings Trilogy by Jill Williamson
 "Given the chance to train as a squire, kitchen servant Achan Cham hopes to pull himself out of his pitiful life and become a Kingsguard Knight. When Achan's owner learns of his training, he forces Achan to spar with the Crown Prince--more of a death sentence than an honor. Meanwhile, strange voices in Achan's head cause him to fear he's going mad. While escorting the prince to a council presentation, their convoy is attacked. Achan is wounded and arrested, but escapes from prison--only to discover a secret about himself he never believed possible."

I think I might have actually finished this at the end of last year, but I'm counting it anyway. This was a great fantasy with a fun plot, an interesting world, and enjoyable characters. Read my review here.


The Ankulen by Kendra E. Ardnek
"Fifteen-year-old Jen can't remember her imagination. She knows she had one once, though, and honestly, she'd like it back. It's been eight years. One day she finds a young boy who claims to be one of her imaginary friends and that her imaginary world is being eaten by a hydra-like monster called the Polystoikhedron. He helps her find the Ankulen, a special bracelet that had given the ability to bring her imagination to life and together they embark on a quest to find friendship, healing, and perhaps even some family."

 I had the pleasure of beta reading this earlier this summer, and it has since been published. This was a delightful, completely clean little book with that great concept.  Read my review here.


The Archived by Victoria Schwab
"Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often—violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous—it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall."

Again with an interesting concept and great characters. Also some good mystery. I always like mystery. And the pretty-sure-is-going-to-be-a-romantic-interest-in-the-next-book was hilarious, as I recall.  Read my review here.


Aurelia by Anne Osterlund
"Princess Aurelia is next in line to rule the kingdom of Tyralt, but she would rather be one of the common folk, free to learn and roam and . . . not marry the next tyrannical prince that comes courting. Naturally, the king wants Aurelia to marry for political power. Aurelia wants to marry for love. And someone in the kingdom wants her . . . dead. Assigned to investigate and protect Aurelia is Robert, the son of the king's former royal spy and one of Aurelia's oldest friends. As Aurelia and Robert slowly uncover clues as to who is threatening her, their friendship turns to romance. With everything possible on the line, her life, her kingdom, her heart, Aurelia is forced to take matters into her own hands, no matter the cost."

I really enjoyed this, and it's sequel Exile (though I liked Aurelia more). At the time, I really liked the character development. But then I read Mistborn right after this, which blew every book I read this year out of the water, so my memories of this one are slightly skewed. More good mystery, political intrigue, and like I said, character development.


There you have it! Be sure to check out the other posts in the blog tour at Inklined, Emily Rachelle Writes, and The Ramblings of a Young Author.

And a lovely day/night/afternoon/whatever to you.

The Ankulen by Kendra E. Ardnek Cover Reveal

This past June I had the great pleasure of critiquing/beta reading The Ankulen by Kendra E. Ardnek. Today, I'm participating in the cover reveal. 

Lovely, isn't it?

Here's the back cover blurb: 
Fifteen-year-old Jen can't remember her imagination. She knows she had one once, though, and honestly, she'd like it back. It's been eight years. One day she finds a young boy who claims to be one of her imaginary friends and that her imaginary world is being eaten by a hydra-like monster called the Polystoikhedron. He helps her find the Ankulen, a special bracelet that had given the ability to bring her imagination to life and together they embark on a quest to find friendship, healing, and perhaps even some family.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Ankulen.  Here's the GoodReads profile so you can go add it to your shelves.  

And here's a mini-interview with Miss Ardnek about The Ankulen. 

1. What sparked the idea that became The Ankulen?

There was no initial spark for The Ankulen. My younger cousin and I were in the yard trying to come up with a play for us to perform at our next family get-together. We had being trying to do something based on a story I had found that my mom had written, but it wasn't going anywhere. 

So we did what we always did when we wanted to come up with a new story. We assigned ourselves names, and started making stuff up as we went along. I was Jen and he was Chris. When he popped out of our toy castle claiming to be a friend who had once been my best friend but had been trapped in my imagination for the last eight years, we knew we had struck gold. We never performed the play, unfortunately, because we couldn't come up with an ending that would work with our limited budget.

2. Who is your favorite character, and why do you like them?

This is probably the most difficult question people ask me, since I love every character in a different way and for different reasons. However, I'll go with Derek as my favorite today. I often struggle with my boy characters, since I'm a girl and I don't know any boys older than twelve with whom I could sit down with and ask "okay, now how does your brain work?" But I think I got Derek right, and my Grandma and my Great Aunt (both of whom grew up with two brothers and no sisters) agree. Derek is a very complex guy, and he's stingy with his back story. (Which is probably the worst of any character in the book), and as a result, I didn't grasp his complete character until draft two. For the longest time, I thought that he didn't care about anything, but I was wrong. He does care about things, deeply, and he's very protective of anyone he's cares about. But he's been hurt a lot, so he's afraid to care. The full extent of his horrible childhood is never revealed in the book, but there are hints, and I do know most of it now. If I ever write a sequel, I will reveal the rest.

3. What was your favorite part of writing The Ankulen?

I'll go with the relationship between Derek, Jen, and Megan. I've never been in love, so I feel kinda awkward writing romance (fun though it may be), but I do have brothers and sisters. I also have cousins who live close enough to be practically siblings. I love writing about the bond that siblings share, and since Derek and Megan are adopted, writing this bond into existence was lots of fun. Megan and Jen get it right off, but there are lots of rocks where Derek is involved.

Kendra E. Ardnek  is the eldest daughter in a homeschooling family of four. She has been making up stories since an early age and published her first book, Sew, It's a Quest, when she was sixteen.

When she isn't writing, she's usually knitting, crocheting,  making swords out of paint-stir sticks, or looking up random facts. You can follow her writing adventures on her blog, Knittedbygodsplan.blogspot.com.

 Sew, it's a Quest was equally enjoyable. You should read them both.

 

And, she's having a release party on her blog on September 6! Mark your calendars! 

And that is all I have to say today. A wonder-filled day/evening/morning/whatever to you.

We Interupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming...

Here's the deal. I don't like writing book reviews. So, I'm not going to post a review of every single book I read anymore, just the ones that are SUPER AWESOME DROP WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING AND GO TO THE LIBRARY NOW worthy.

So, instead today I'm going to share something I wrote. This is the first 700 words from a story I just started called Falsely Accused (at least until I find a better title). Please feel free to critique. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have.

Awaiting your execution is nerve wracking, no matter how many times you do it.

I should know, I’ve learned the hard way.

Yet no matter how many times I try, I can never manage to convince myself that this time won’t be any different from the others.

The time I spent awaiting my sixth attempted execution was no different. Goosebumps ran a marathon up and down my arms, trying to win out over my racing heartbeat. Taking deep, calming breaths was out of the question, since the Ootwoxans had stuck me in the rankest part of the Royal Dungeon. Apparently I’d commit enough crimes against them that they’d stuck me with the murderers. Great.

At least the Spryllians kept their jails clean.

Maybe he won’t come this time. That nagging thought danced around my mind. 

“Oh, shut up.”

A dark mass moved in the cell across from mine. “I didn’t say nothin’.”

“I wasn’t talking to you, Horace.”

He humphed. “Have ye finally gone mad, then?”

I laughed. “No, I’ve been in far worse places than this.” Yes, I had.  And in far worse situations.

Well, in theory. 

At any rate, I was going to get out. No dying today.

I jumped as a loud bang raddled the room with enough force to knock my cup off the shallow ledge I’d set it on. A dim scrap of light crawled along the floor and dodged around the shadow of the prison guard.

“Mesonoxia Svensora! Your turn at the noose.”

I swallowed hard and stood. “Here.”

“Eager t’ die, are you?”

I bit my tongue and waited while he unlocked my cell.

“Nice knowin’ ye,” said Horace.

Several others mumbled goodbyes as the guard led me up a narrow flight of stairs.  He pounded on a wooded door until it whined open, flooding the dark stairway with blinding light. I blinked several times.  The first thing my eyes focused on was the noose. Not a welcome sight.

The guard laughed. He trembled like an earring on a noblewoman’s ear. “Where’s your confidence, now?”

Oh, that was me trembling. 

I scanned the crowd of people come to view my demise. My heart leapt at the sight of the back of a tall redhead. Jasp was here. I wasn’t going to die.

“We meet again, Miss Svensora.”

I turned to face the short, dark man standing before the noose. “Hello, Boris.”

“I believe we have some unfinished business.”

I smiled. “Aye, but we won’t finish it to…” The tall redhead had turned around.

It wasn’t Jasp.

I swallowed. No. No, I wasn’t going to die. Boris was short, even by Ootwoxan standards, maybe I could make a break for it and run…

“Brought before you today, ladies and gentlemen, is the notorious Mesonoxia Svensora, charged with the murder of Duke Limeberry. Her punishment…”

“Wait, what?” I asked, brought out of my plans for escape. “Murder? I’ve never killed anyone.” I was a petty thief and a traitor to the crown, but not a killer.

Boris glared at me. “Excuse me, I’m trying to announce your death.”

“But I’ve never killed anyone. I don’t even know who Duke Berriedlime is.”

He shrugged. “That’s not what they told me.” He turned back to the crowd. “She shall be hung from the neck until dead.”

A smattering of applause ran through the audience.

I shook my head. “But… you can’t hang me for something I didn’t do.” I took a step back, and bumped into the guard. My heart pounded in my ears.

“The king says you killed Duke Limeberry, you killed Duke Limeberry.” Boris stepped forward with a leather bag.

I tried to run, but the big Sudethen guard grabbed me and pinned my arms behind my back.

This could not be happening. I struggled against him, but he was too big.

“No! No, I didn’t do it! Stop!” Dizziness swept over me. 

Boris smiled. “Time to finish our business.”

He slipped the bag over my head, and the world dissolved into darkness. I gagged on the smell of other prisoner’s sweat, and I-didn’t-want-to-know-what-else.

“NO! Jasp! Jasper! Help!”

The guard pushed me forward.

“Stop stop stop s-s-stoooop!”

The noose fell down around my shoulders. Tears poured down my face. “I didn’t do it! Stop!”

And I'm going to stop there and exercise my Evil Writer Cliffhanger muscles. This hasn't been edited, and as I said before, I'd love to hear any thoughts you have.

In other news, I've recently been tagged for an "Answer 10 questions about your work in progress" blog hop, in which I'm supposed to tag 5 other people, but I don't know who to tag. Pretty much everyone in the two Facebook teen writer groups I'm in has done it already. So, if you want me to tag you, please leave a comment telling me so, and I shall do it. Here's the post by the girl who tagged me, if you want to see it.

And a good day/afternoon/evening/morning/whatever to you.

Review: Emily the Strange: The Lost Days by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner

Yeah, not The World Above by Cameron Dokey that my side bar says I'm reading. But last weekend it became very apparent that I would not finish it in time, so I read the book my sister had just finished and loved (and which was much shorter and that I could read in a day) Emily the Strange: The Lost Days by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner.

Guys.

It. Is.

....

Well, strange.

And really, really fun. 

Allow me to present the Amazon description:

"13 things you will find in the first Emily the Strange novel:

1. Mystery
2. A beautiful golem
3. Souped-up slingshots
4. Four black cats
5. Amnesia
6. Calamity Poker
7. Angry ponies
8. A shady truant officer
9. Top-13 lists
10. A sandstorm generator
11. Doppelgängers
12. A secret mission
13. Earwigs"

Yeah, not very informative. Yet very fitting for the story, which is about a girl who wakes up with amnesia in a little town in the middle of the desert called Blackrock, and her quest to recover her memories. The novel is presented as her notebook (complete with illustrations), so you get to learn about her as she learns about herself. And you get to read all her hilarious, snarky comments about everything.

Emily herself is an awesome character. Come to think of it, she's the classic anti-social genius homeschooler. And she's like that because she's tried to fit in with the rest of the world, finds it boring, and
prefers to spend time in her lab experimenting with explosives and time travel and snuggling her cats.

She doesn't remember that 'til the end of this book, but my sister's been reading the rest of the series and I've been hearing about it all week. 

So, in short, Emily's awesomeness + the 13 things listed above = great read.  And it was really clean too, which gives it lots of bonus points.

I believe that is all I have to say, chaps. A good day/night/morning/afternoon/other to you.

Review: The Archived by Victoria Schwab

Amazon description:

"Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive. Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was: a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous—it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now that her little brother is gone too, Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall."

Of all the books I've read this year, The Archived has been one of my favorites. It's got interesting characters, mystery, and a page turning plot. 

There were, however, a few things that bothered me.  The swearing, for example. There wasn't a lot, and it was no worse than your average PG-13 movie, but it was there. And there were a couple of kissing scenes that I didn't like, and a "take off your shirt so I can look at your injuries" scene, but that was all that happened.  So, I'd recommend it to older teens, maybe 16+.  

There were also a few flashbacks that showed up right in the middle of chapters, and though they were important to the story, they were kind of annoying.

Also, it was in present tense, and it confused my past tense-using Inner Narrator. You know, that part of your brain that adds comments/metaphors/narration to your everyday life that sound like they're from a story? Suddenly it started saying things in different tense! Like, "I fail at trying to come up with a decent example" instead of "I failed at trying to come up with a decent example".  Totally bizarre. Though it was interesting to see how the different tenses acted. And they did act differently.

 Annoying things aside, it was really a good read.  And I did not see the ending coming. It was great.
I do love a good mystery.  Also, the almost-a-romantic-interest was great. Definitely my favorite character.

Before I sign off, I wanted to let you know that By Darkness Hid by Jill Williamson and Me, Just Different by Stephanie Morill are free on Amazon today.  By Darkness Hid is great, and though I haven't read Me, Just Different, I do read the teen writer's blog run by Stephanie (Go Teen Writers), and she's awesome. 

Review: Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey

Amazon description:

"Etienne de Brabant is brokenhearted. His wife has died in childbirth, leaving him alone with an infant daughter he cannot bear to name. But before he abandons her for king and court, he brings a second child to be raised alongside her, a boy whose identity he does not reveal.
The girl, La Cendrillon, and the boy, Raoul, pass sixteen years in the servants' care until one day a very fine lady arrives with her two daughters. The lady has married La Cendrillon's father, and her arrival changes their lives.
When an invitation to a great ball reaches the family, La Cendrillon's new stepmother will make a decision with far-reaching effects. Her choice will lead La Cendrillon and Raoul toward their destiny -- a choice that will challenge their understanding of family, test their loyalty and courage, and, ultimately, teach them who they are."

Before Midnight (from the Once Upon a Time is Timeless series) was a delightful retelling of Cinderella. It changed several things about the story, including who the antagonist was (a bit), and added some really fun political intrigue.

It did not, however, remove all the love at first sight. There were six couples in the story, and four of them fell in love at first sight. The other two were arranged marriages and the parties hated each other.  That was a bit annoying. 

But, all in all, I enjoyed it. I give it four out of five stars. 

Fair warning, I'll be reading a lot of retold fairytales over the next few weeks.  I have a bookshelf full of books I bought at our library book sale that I haven't read yet, and several of them are in the Once Upon a Time is Timeless retold fairytales series. The shelf technically belongs to my sister, and she's informed me that she's going to start evicting books one by one, and the only way I'll be able to save them is to read them.  The next one she's chosen is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, in which Jack's sister has to save him. Should be fun. 

Review: Entwined by Heather Dixon

Amazon description:

"Come and mend your broken hearts here.

Just when Azalea should feel that everything is before her—beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing—it’s taken away. All of it. And Azalea is trapped. The Keeper understands. He’s trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. So he extends an invitation.
Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest, but there is a cost. The Keeper likes to keep things. Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late."

I finished this book sometime after midnight one morning last week..  I loved it.  It is a lovely retelling of the fairytale The Twelve Dancing Princesses, with magic and romance and secrets, a good plot and delightfully flawed characters.  It was charming with some deliciously dark and creepy places.

So, I give it 5 out of five stars.

If you're looking for a light, but fun read, I'd definitely recommend Entwined.

I think that's all.  Live long and prosper.  

Review: By These Ten Bones by Clare B. Dunkle

Amazon description: 
"There’s hidden places all over this land-old, old places. Places with a chain for them to chain up the wolf when it’s time.

A mysterious young man has come to a small Highland town. His talent for wood carving soon wins the admiration of the weaver’s daughter, Maddie. Fascinated by the silent carver, she sets out to gain his trust, only to find herself drawn into a terrifying secret that threatens everything she loves.
     There is an evil presence in the carver’s life that cannot be controlled, and Maddie watches her town fall under a shadow. One by one, people begin to die. Caught in the middle, Maddie must decide what matters most to her-and what price she is willing to pay to keep it."  

By These Ten Bones is a quietish little story about, as the description alludes to, a werewolf.  

 

I give it three and a half stars. 

 

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't my favorite.  I liked Maddie and the other characters, and the plot was pretty good.  There was some good conflict between and within the characters, and the end was good and suspenseful.

 

Also, the description says "One by one, people begin to die", but only one (at least that I can remember) person in the village gets killed by the beast. Another character dies, but he gets murdered by another one of the characters after the other character is killed by the beast.  There were some other characters that died, but they were dead before the story even began, and you heard about their deaths from other characters.

 

I think that's all I've got to say. See ya next time.  

TCWT! February Blog Chain: A Post in which I Review a Self-Published Story

So, I'm participating in the Teens Can Write, Too! February blog chain. This month's topic is:
“Choose one self-published book to read, then briefly review it or talk about your experiences reading it.”

I read Sew, it's a Quest by Kendra E. Ardnek, who is another teen writer, and homeschooled too! I'm pretty sure I downloaded Sew, it's a Quest because it was on sale for free for a day on Amazon. Anyway, I'd forgotten I'd downloaded it and then I found it when I was trying to download another ebook, so I decided to read it for this, since it was self-published.  I am very pleased I did, because I loved it. 

Sew, it's a Quest is a fairytale novella targeted at preteen girls and younger children.  So it's short, and isn't written with sparkling prose, but it's cute.  The main plot centers around Prince Robert and Princess Robin, twin royals whose gifts were switched at birth, and their quest to right their gifts before their 18th birthday, which is only 4 months away.  There are, however, some subplots that do in places take over.

The story itself was pretty good, not fabulous, but typical for a fairytale.  A good portion of the side characters are versions of characters from other fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty, which made for a fun read.

The best part overall was the humor.  There's one character who was gifted with excellent math skills, but whose tongue does not know the difference between "castle" and "tassel." It was hilarious.

....I can't really think of anything else to say.  I think there were a few typos, and the characters could be flat at times, but in case I hadn't made it obvious enough, I loved it anyway. I give it four point five out of five stars. 

Be sure to check out the rest of the blog chain!

February 5^th – http://the-writing-junkie.blogspot.com/

February 6^th – http://miriamjoywrites.wordpress.com/

February 7^th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/

February 8^th – http://fida-islaih.blogspot.com/

February 9th – http://sarahhudsonscribbles.blogspot.ca/

February 10^th http://avonsbabbles.wordpress.com/

February 11^th http://notebooksisters.blogspot.com/

February 12^th http://mirrormadeofwords.wordpress.com/

February 13^th http://www.lilyjenness.blogspot.com/ -- You are here.

February 14^th http://www.writerbewildered.blogspot.com/

February 15^th http://realteenreader.wordpress.com/

February 16^th http://epistolarygirl.wordpress.com/

February 17^th http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com/

February 18^th http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ (We’ll announce the topic for next month’s chain)

Review: The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman

Back Cover Blurb:

"Twelve-year-old Alexa Daley is spending another summer in Bridewell with her father. She looks forward to exploring the old lodge where she stays each year, with its cozy library and maze of passages and rooms. She's also eager to finally solve the mystery of what lies beyond the immense walls that were built to keep out and unnamed evil that lurks in the forests and The Dark Hills -- and evil the townspeople are still afraid of.
As Alexa begins to unravel the truth about what lies outside the protective barrier she's lived behind all her life, she discovers a strange and ancient enchantment. Armed with an unexpected new power, Alexa exposes a danger that could destroy everything she holds dear -- and change The Land of Elyon forever." 

The thoughts that came to me whist and after reading:
This was pretty cute. Its target audience is tween girls, and you can tell.  It's by no means riveting or a page turner, but it isn't bad.   The first 100 or so pages are set up, which is kinda slow, but you need it for the end. 
Overall, I give it four stars.

My Auntie S. recommended the series to my sister a few years ago, but Sis didn't get very far,  Then we found the series used at a second-hand book shop for super cheap and bought it. I read this because Sis was in the middle of another book and wanted to know how these were. I told her, but now she is considering not reading them because of something unfortunate that happened to a cat in the story.  Sigh.

I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to read the rest of the series or not yet. I've got other books higher on my list.  Including the one I'm currently reading, Sew, It's a Quest by Kendra E. Ardnek.  I'm reading it for the Teens Can Write, Too! February blog chain, the topic of which is to pick a self-published book and review it. So, I'll have my post for that up on the thirteenth.  Be sure to check out the rest of the blog chain, too.

Review: Beautiful Creatures

Back cover blurb (well, actually it's the Amazon blurb):
 There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

.....

Beautiful Creatures was recommended to me by my aunt.  I give it four out of five stars.

The biggest issue I had was that it was a romance.  But it was a pretty clean romance, which is always a plus.   I just like "Let's save the world!" plots more than "I love you and our parents will never keep us apart!" plots.  That being said, this was pretty good. I liked the characters, and there's a chance that the story will develop into a "let's save the world!" story in later books. (Though I'm not sure I'll read the rest of the series soon. I have a really big pile of books on my dresser that give me dirty looks every time I bring something home from the library.)  The writing itself was good, and there are some great plot twist.

Currently I'm reading The Dark Hills Divide, book 1 in the Land of Elyon series, by Patrick Carmen.  I'm over 100 pages in, and I still don't know what the plot is, but other than that it's pretty good. And it's short, so the plot is bound to show it's face soon. 

Review: The New Recruit by Jill Williamson

The New Recruit is a Christian teen spy novel. Yes, you read that correctly.

The backcover blurb is:
Forced to choose between military school and a Christian spy organization, skeptic Spencer Garmond signs on with the Bible geeks. But before he even boards the plane for Moscow, Spencer realizes this is no Bible club. 
These guys mean business.
Stumbling into a case involving a gang of homeless boys a chilling tattoo, and the always beatuiful Anya Vseveloda, Spencer struggles to find the faith needed to save the Mission League from enemy infiltration.

On a scale of one to five, I give this one a five.

The plot was fun, the character development was good, and there's this really great cliffhanger at the end that leaves room for more books in the series. In fact, Mrs. Williamson has self-published a sequel novella called Chokepoint (click here to see it on Amazon), all the proceeds of which go to help a family adopt a little girl from Eastern Europe.

Anyway.

I had feared that, since this was a book about a skeptic being converted, it would be super preachy/gushy.  Don't get me wrong, it's nice to hear people talk about their faith, but one can only take so much.  I did not think there was too much of that in the book. And it balanced out with Spencer's snarky voice.  There is one "force the Bible down your throat until you believe" character, but the rest were very low-key, "you'll believe in your own time" folks. 

All in all, I really enjoyed it.  I won my copy in a giveaway at The Life of a Teenage Writer, run by the lovely Katelyn. Mrs. Williamson actually gave the book away herself, and she even signed the book to me! I meant to post a picture of it, but frankly I'm too lazy to do that. 

Currently I'm reading Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, which my Auntie S recommended.  So far it's pretty good.