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.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
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.
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.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Review: Born to Rule: a Camp Princess novel by Kathryn Lasky
Born to Rule is a lower middle grade modernish fantasy about a summer camp for princesses.
My sister found this one at our library's book sale, and she begged me to read it. She loved it.
I give it 3.5 out of five stars.
The story centers around three princesses: Alicia, Kristen, and Gundersnap, all, I'd guess, around the age of 12. The first half to two thirds of the book was about them doing princessy stuff, like catching song birds to train to sing, embroidery, having makeup lessons, etc., and a long set up for a mystery involving a ghost, a tragic romance, a missing tapestry, and some magic at the end.
My thoughts:
The characters were all really shallow, which, considering they were mostly pampered princesses, wasn't surprising. Most of them, however, had funny character quirks that made them (mostly) fun to read about.
For as short a book as it was, the mystery wasn't bad. The pacing at the beginning was a bit slow.
Up next on my reading list is The New Recruit by Jill Williamson (author of the Blood of Kings trilogy), which is about a Christian spy organization. I won my copy in a giveaway at The Life of a Teenage Writer. And it's signed! To me! Squee!
My sister found this one at our library's book sale, and she begged me to read it. She loved it.
I give it 3.5 out of five stars.
The story centers around three princesses: Alicia, Kristen, and Gundersnap, all, I'd guess, around the age of 12. The first half to two thirds of the book was about them doing princessy stuff, like catching song birds to train to sing, embroidery, having makeup lessons, etc., and a long set up for a mystery involving a ghost, a tragic romance, a missing tapestry, and some magic at the end.
My thoughts:
The characters were all really shallow, which, considering they were mostly pampered princesses, wasn't surprising. Most of them, however, had funny character quirks that made them (mostly) fun to read about.
For as short a book as it was, the mystery wasn't bad. The pacing at the beginning was a bit slow.
Up next on my reading list is The New Recruit by Jill Williamson (author of the Blood of Kings trilogy), which is about a Christian spy organization. I won my copy in a giveaway at The Life of a Teenage Writer. And it's signed! To me! Squee!
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Series Review for The Blood of Kings Trilogy by Jill Willamson. Also, I Make a Vow.
I, LILY J, ALSO KNOWN AS GWEN C, HEREBY VOW TO READ A NEW BOOK EVERY WEEK UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR, AND THEN TO REVIEW EACH BOOK ON THIS BLOG. SHOULD I FAIL TO DO SO, I CHARGE THE READERS OF THIS TEXT TO SEE THAT I RECEIVE JUST PUNISHMENT, BE THAT BY DEPRIVATION OF CHOCOLATE, HAVING TO WRITE A SHORT STORY ABOUT ZOMBIES, OR ANOTHER SUCH PUNISHMENT, AS THE READER SEES FIT, WITHIN REASON. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.
Okay, now that's over.
I just finished the last book in the Blood of Kings trilogy (or as I call them, the Preposition Darkness Verb books) by Jill Williamson. Oh. My. Gosh. I loved these books. They get six out of five stars.
Back Cover Blurb for By Darkness Hid (book 1) from Ms. Williamson's website:
Half of Er’Rets is locked beneath an impenetrable shroud. On the side that still sees the sun, two young people struggle to understand the mind-communication abilities thrust upon them. It’s called bloodvoicing. Some say it’s a gift. One of the newly “gifted” wish it had never come.
Achan has been a slave all his life. He is consigned to the kitchens of a lord and forced to swallow a foul potion every day. When an enigmatic knight offers to train Achan for the Kingsguard, he readily accepts. But his new skills with the sword do not prepare him for the battle raging between the voices in his head.
Vrell Sparrow is not who she seems. She masquerades as a boy to avoid capture by the powerful forces that seek to exploit her. But Vrell feels called to help a young squire who recently discovered his bloodvoicing gift, even if doing so requires her to work with those who could destroy her.
While Achan learns to use his new ability, Vrell struggles to shut hers down. All the voices strive to learn Achan and Vrell’s true identities—and a different kind of voice is calling them both.
I won't go too far past that, 'cause there's a really big spoiler at the end of this book that I don't want to reveal. The two things I will say are that Vrell and Achan wind up going on a quest together, all the while he thinking she's a boy, and that most of the key characters practiced a fantasy form of Christianity, which plays a huge part in the story, especially in Achan's character development.
These books had it all. Okay, they didn't have dragons, but they had epic battles, deceit, great plot twists, complicated love polygons (yes, I like those), the characters were all delightfully flawed, and there was some good humor. Vrell and Achan's banter back and forth was hilarious.
Cleanliness wise, these were pretty good. There was no swearing, though there were some insinuations made to "advanced snogging", as one blogger put it. Mentions of men having mistresses, and the like.
After finishing the last book, instead of feeling that sadness that the story had ended, I felt giddy, 'cause the end was so good. I don't know what that says about the book, but I thought I'd mention it.
Well, I think that's all I have to say, coherently and without giving out more spoilers anyway. Hopefully I'll be better at reviews by the end of the year.
Next on my reading list is Born To Rule: a Camp Princess novel by Kathryn Lasky. It's one my sister bought at our library's book sale, and she begged me to read it. So, that's next. I'll have a review next week.
Okay, now that's over.
I just finished the last book in the Blood of Kings trilogy (or as I call them, the Preposition Darkness Verb books) by Jill Williamson. Oh. My. Gosh. I loved these books. They get six out of five stars.
Back Cover Blurb for By Darkness Hid (book 1) from Ms. Williamson's website:
Half of Er’Rets is locked beneath an impenetrable shroud. On the side that still sees the sun, two young people struggle to understand the mind-communication abilities thrust upon them. It’s called bloodvoicing. Some say it’s a gift. One of the newly “gifted” wish it had never come.
Achan has been a slave all his life. He is consigned to the kitchens of a lord and forced to swallow a foul potion every day. When an enigmatic knight offers to train Achan for the Kingsguard, he readily accepts. But his new skills with the sword do not prepare him for the battle raging between the voices in his head.
Vrell Sparrow is not who she seems. She masquerades as a boy to avoid capture by the powerful forces that seek to exploit her. But Vrell feels called to help a young squire who recently discovered his bloodvoicing gift, even if doing so requires her to work with those who could destroy her.
While Achan learns to use his new ability, Vrell struggles to shut hers down. All the voices strive to learn Achan and Vrell’s true identities—and a different kind of voice is calling them both.
I won't go too far past that, 'cause there's a really big spoiler at the end of this book that I don't want to reveal. The two things I will say are that Vrell and Achan wind up going on a quest together, all the while he thinking she's a boy, and that most of the key characters practiced a fantasy form of Christianity, which plays a huge part in the story, especially in Achan's character development.
These books had it all. Okay, they didn't have dragons, but they had epic battles, deceit, great plot twists, complicated love polygons (yes, I like those), the characters were all delightfully flawed, and there was some good humor. Vrell and Achan's banter back and forth was hilarious.
Cleanliness wise, these were pretty good. There was no swearing, though there were some insinuations made to "advanced snogging", as one blogger put it. Mentions of men having mistresses, and the like.
After finishing the last book, instead of feeling that sadness that the story had ended, I felt giddy, 'cause the end was so good. I don't know what that says about the book, but I thought I'd mention it.
Well, I think that's all I have to say, coherently and without giving out more spoilers anyway. Hopefully I'll be better at reviews by the end of the year.
Next on my reading list is Born To Rule: a Camp Princess novel by Kathryn Lasky. It's one my sister bought at our library's book sale, and she begged me to read it. So, that's next. I'll have a review next week.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Top Ten Movie Soundracks
Happy New Year, Chaps!
A couple of the blogs I follow have compiled lists of their ten favorite bits of movie soundtracks. It sounds like fun, so I will join them.
You will notice that I like period dramas.
Note: The tracks are not listed in order of preference.
1. The theme from the 2008 version of Sense and Sensibility. It's the first 35 seconds of this video. Then there's the kinda sad piano bit, and then another good theme after that.
2. The theme from the 2009 version of Emma. I happen to know that Liam, Head Phil's sisters like this piece, and now nearly every time I hear it, I think of them.
3. I've Seen Hell from the 2004 version of North and South. The best part is toward the end.
4 and 5. Test Drive and Forbidden Friendship from How to Train Your Dragon.
6. The theme from Little Dorrit.
7. The theme from the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice.
Here's the link to the video, since I cannot seem to find it on the silly Blogger YouTube search thingy.
8. I am the Doctor from the 5th season of Doctor Who. Not a movie, I know, but I love this piece.
9. The theme from Pirates of the Caribbean.
10. Septimus from Stardust
Bonus bit:
11. Fairground from Penelope.
There's a really good chance that I've left out some great pieces. The soundtrack from the new Star Trek movie is great, but I don't know of a specific track that I like.
Check out Liam's list and Erin's list too.
What are some of your favorites?
A couple of the blogs I follow have compiled lists of their ten favorite bits of movie soundtracks. It sounds like fun, so I will join them.
You will notice that I like period dramas.
Note: The tracks are not listed in order of preference.
1. The theme from the 2008 version of Sense and Sensibility. It's the first 35 seconds of this video. Then there's the kinda sad piano bit, and then another good theme after that.
2. The theme from the 2009 version of Emma. I happen to know that Liam, Head Phil's sisters like this piece, and now nearly every time I hear it, I think of them.
3. I've Seen Hell from the 2004 version of North and South. The best part is toward the end.
4 and 5. Test Drive and Forbidden Friendship from How to Train Your Dragon.
6. The theme from Little Dorrit.
7. The theme from the Keira Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice.
Here's the link to the video, since I cannot seem to find it on the silly Blogger YouTube search thingy.
8. I am the Doctor from the 5th season of Doctor Who. Not a movie, I know, but I love this piece.
9. The theme from Pirates of the Caribbean.
10. Septimus from Stardust
Bonus bit:
11. Fairground from Penelope.
There's a really good chance that I've left out some great pieces. The soundtrack from the new Star Trek movie is great, but I don't know of a specific track that I like.
Check out Liam's list and Erin's list too.
What are some of your favorites?
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Various Anniversaries and a NaNoWriMo Update
Today, December 23, 2012, marks to important occasions: The 1 year anniversary of this blog, and my 17th birthday.
If you've stuck around with me for the entire year, I thank you. If this is the first post you've ever read, I thank you too.
Some of are no doubt wondering if I won NaNoWriMo. Well, yes, I did. I made it to the 50k mark for the first time. Oh, yeah. The story isn't finished yet, I estimate that I have about 30k or so words left to finish the story, so by the time I'm done, I'll have a story that's actually novel sized.
I can't think of anything else to say, other than "Merry Christmas", and "I'll try to blog some more in the future, though I can't promise anything. If you want me to post, please feel free to threaten or bribe me."
With that, I'll leave you with three of my favorite pieces of music, all from the How To Train Your Dragon soundtrack, composed by John Powell. Enjoy.
Forbidden Friendship:
Test Drive:
See You Tomorrow:
If you've stuck around with me for the entire year, I thank you. If this is the first post you've ever read, I thank you too.
Some of are no doubt wondering if I won NaNoWriMo. Well, yes, I did. I made it to the 50k mark for the first time. Oh, yeah. The story isn't finished yet, I estimate that I have about 30k or so words left to finish the story, so by the time I'm done, I'll have a story that's actually novel sized.
I can't think of anything else to say, other than "Merry Christmas", and "I'll try to blog some more in the future, though I can't promise anything. If you want me to post, please feel free to threaten or bribe me."
With that, I'll leave you with three of my favorite pieces of music, all from the How To Train Your Dragon soundtrack, composed by John Powell. Enjoy.
Forbidden Friendship:
Test Drive:
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hey all, I hope you're having a great day on this day of thanks, whether you're visiting family or just hanging out.
Here's one of my favorite Thanksgiving bits from TV, from the show WKRP in Cincinnati. (Bonus points if you just sang "In Cincinnaa-aati" in your head.) It's kinda dumb, but soooo funny.
So, what are some things you are thankful for? Here's my list:
- mashed potatoes
- pie
- more mashed potatoes
- glitter
- did I mention mashed potatoes?
- NaNoWriMo
- friends and family
- mashed potatoes
- books
Have a wonderful day!
Here's one of my favorite Thanksgiving bits from TV, from the show WKRP in Cincinnati. (Bonus points if you just sang "In Cincinnaa-aati" in your head.) It's kinda dumb, but soooo funny.
So, what are some things you are thankful for? Here's my list:
- mashed potatoes
- pie
- more mashed potatoes
- glitter
- did I mention mashed potatoes?
- NaNoWriMo
- friends and family
- mashed potatoes
- books
Have a wonderful day!
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Thus Far in Noxumbra Manor...
Hello bloggy friends!
I would apologize for not posting in a while, but I'm in the middle of National Novel Writing Month, and honestly it comes before food and sleep on my priorities list.
If you want to follow my word count progress, I've got a neat little widget over there --> that has my word count on it. It's at 20k something right now. You can find my NaNo profiles here (adult site) and here (young writers program).
This NaNoWriMo has challenged me in new ways. It's been a test of endurance, patience, and not-giving-up-ness. (There has to be a better word for that...) Last November was incredibly slow, life wise, and this November has so far been the complete opposite (though it could be worse). This month my family is digging giant pits of despair (bonus points if you get the reference) on two sides of our house so we can pour a new foundation, my grandma is moving, and we have two fiber/art shows as well. Also my sister's birthday is on Thursday, and she has strictly forbidden me from writing anything on that day. It would have been really easy to give up before now, and just help dig and move and sell stuff, but I've kept going, and I will continue to do so. It's hard, because sometimes I feel guilty for writing and not helping, but I gave the world 335 days notice that I would be doing NaNo this year, and I am holding myself to that. I will persevere to the end of this thing no matter what life throws at me.
There are a few things I am hoping to practice and get better at with this NaNo:
- description
- internal narritive
- not using humongous blocks of dialogue
- humor
- character development
I've had my good moments with all, but I'd like to be better. And, like, um, not forget to describe things like all the characters and places this year. Cross your fingers.
That's pretty much all I have to say for now. I may not post again until December first. Until then, please enjoy this parody on the Christmas song "It's the most wonderful time of the year," I wrote for NaNo. Feel free to comment and add a stanza or twelve.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year,
With the keyboards a-clicking
And writers all saying “it’s finally here”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
It’s the happiest season of all,
With those insulting greetings and secretive meetings,
When foes come to call
It’s the happiest season of all.
There’ll be parties for hosting
And strange meat for roasting
And battling out in the snow
There’ll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Victories long, long ago.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year,
There’ll be dragons for riding
And orphans a-hiding when villains are near.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
I would apologize for not posting in a while, but I'm in the middle of National Novel Writing Month, and honestly it comes before food and sleep on my priorities list.
If you want to follow my word count progress, I've got a neat little widget over there --> that has my word count on it. It's at 20k something right now. You can find my NaNo profiles here (adult site) and here (young writers program).
This NaNoWriMo has challenged me in new ways. It's been a test of endurance, patience, and not-giving-up-ness. (There has to be a better word for that...) Last November was incredibly slow, life wise, and this November has so far been the complete opposite (though it could be worse). This month my family is digging giant pits of despair (bonus points if you get the reference) on two sides of our house so we can pour a new foundation, my grandma is moving, and we have two fiber/art shows as well. Also my sister's birthday is on Thursday, and she has strictly forbidden me from writing anything on that day. It would have been really easy to give up before now, and just help dig and move and sell stuff, but I've kept going, and I will continue to do so. It's hard, because sometimes I feel guilty for writing and not helping, but I gave the world 335 days notice that I would be doing NaNo this year, and I am holding myself to that. I will persevere to the end of this thing no matter what life throws at me.
There are a few things I am hoping to practice and get better at with this NaNo:
- description
- internal narritive
- not using humongous blocks of dialogue
- humor
- character development
I've had my good moments with all, but I'd like to be better. And, like, um, not forget to describe things like all the characters and places this year. Cross your fingers.
That's pretty much all I have to say for now. I may not post again until December first. Until then, please enjoy this parody on the Christmas song "It's the most wonderful time of the year," I wrote for NaNo. Feel free to comment and add a stanza or twelve.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year,
With the keyboards a-clicking
And writers all saying “it’s finally here”
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
It’s the happiest season of all,
With those insulting greetings and secretive meetings,
When foes come to call
It’s the happiest season of all.
There’ll be parties for hosting
And strange meat for roasting
And battling out in the snow
There’ll be scary ghost stories
And tales of the glories of
Victories long, long ago.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year,
There’ll be dragons for riding
And orphans a-hiding when villains are near.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween all! I hope your day is full of candy and scary movies and awesome costumes and other Halloweeny-stuffs.
Here's a Halloweeny thing I wrote weeks ago for a 500 word writing competition on Go Teen Writers. The inspiration for this came from a combination of an old epitaph and this really weird story idea I had a few years ago. If you like, critique it and tell me what you think.
Here's a Halloweeny thing I wrote weeks ago for a 500 word writing competition on Go Teen Writers. The inspiration for this came from a combination of an old epitaph and this really weird story idea I had a few years ago. If you like, critique it and tell me what you think.
Something warmed my face.
An orange glow illuminated the insides of my eyelids. The smell of grass tickled my nose. It was a lovely day.
Something told me this was wrong. But how could it be?
My stiff eyelids fluttered open. Blue.
All above me was watercolor blue. The warmth on my face seemed to say
“Stay and look at this blue. The
sunlight will keep you safe.”
Sunlight. That was the warmth I felt. How could I have forgotten?
I curled my fingers to feel the grass. The cool ribbons felt good against my stiff
fingers.
Why was I so stiff?
What had I done yesterday? I didn’t remember. What about this
morning? Who had I been with? I didn’t remember. A shot of fear ripped through my
stomach. I couldn’t remember anything before lying here in the sun.
Surely there was someone in my life, someone I loved, and
who loved me. No memories of family,
friends, or foes came to me.
Who was I?
My mind was blank.
My breath came in panicked bursts. Who was I?
Where was I? How had I gotten here?
What had happened? Why did it feel so
wrong to breathe?
My back creaked with pain as I sat up. I was in a field bordered by trees. Ink spots appeared before my eyes, blotting
out the landscape around me. The world began to tip. My head hit the ground.
What was happening to me? Who was I?
Something in my mind whispered Tess.
My name was Tess.
Tess Who?
My heart pounded. My ears rang. I put a hand to my face to
shield my now burning eyes.
My skin was white. White like the skin of a corpse. White like
death.
Was I dead? Is this
what death felt like? If this was death,
what had my life been like?
A memory penned feint words on the backs of my eyelids.
Remember friend as you
pass by…
Remember what?
… As you are now so
once was I…
The words sharpened in my mind’s eye. Dark words, written in stone.
… As I am now so shall
you be…
“Prepare for death, and follow me.” My throat felt rough,
and my tongue felt dry and awkward in my mouth and on my parched lips as I
formed the words. They felt so strange,
yet so familiar. Why did I remember such
an eerie verse? Because I remembered death.
More memories formed as death painted a picture in my
mind. A woman looked down on me, her
brow creased in worry and her eyes full of love and…sadness?
Colors shifted and the scene changed. I looked down at the
woman dressed in black as she stood by a small stone church. Others stood with
her. A train of gloomy figures dressed
in black.
The picture blurred as though it were wet paint being washed
away. A tear ran down my cheek, the warm
water soothing my burning eyes.
I'd forgotten how creepy this is. Hope you...enjoyed it. Happy Halloween! Because, ya know, saying it three times in one post is absolutely necessary.
Monday, October 29, 2012
The Development of Characters is a Difficult Matter...
Over the last few weeks, I've been working on prep work for my NaNo novel. One thing that I severely stunk at last year was character development, so I've been working more on characters than plot lately. I saw somewhere that someone said that strong characters can carry a weak plot, but weak characters will wreck a strong plot. I don't know if the former is true, but I had a decent plot for NaNo last year, and my shallow, cardboard-cut-out characters made it seem shallow and cardboard-like.
For character development advice and ideas, I went to Go Teen Writers, a seriously awesome writing site that you should check out as soon as you're done reading this post.
One thing I did was label my characters (as a hunter, giver, monster, ect.) , as Jill Williamson suggests in this post, using her list of archetypes in this post. Once I had labels, I started asking the question "why?", like Susie May Warren said in this post. Why is this character a giver? What made her think that way? Why did that occurrence happen? And so on.
This really helped me to begin fleshing out some of my characters and their backstories. Take, for instance, my character the late Lord Wycliff Copperstone (Gwen's uncle). Once I found a label for him, (actually, it was three) and started asking why, I got some tidbits for potential backstory. Here's what I have for him in my character development Word doc:
The latest thing I've done was answer the questions from Susie May Warren in this post:
I finished doing this for most of my characters this evening, and the results were so interesting. For instance, both Yoreth, one of the villains, and Bevanne, one of Gwen's friends, have a love of reading/learning, but for different reasons. Yoreth wanted to learn because he used to get teased for being dumb. Bevanne just loved learning. There were other interesting things, but that's the one I can remember right now.
I finally understand what I've heard about character backstory making all the difference. It made sense before, but now I get it.
One semi-good, semi-bad thing I discovered is that I'm really good at creating "broken" characters. By broken, I mean psychologically messed up in a big way (like my character who can't get over his brother's death). I almost titled this post, "Help! Get the duct tape! My characters are broken!" Being good at creating such characters is good because "broken" characters are interesting to write about. The bad side is I don't necessarily like "broken" characters. They can get morose really fast (like the guy who can't get over his brother's death), which is really annoying. This is not post-Donna Doctor Who. Though come to think about it, I can fix my "broken" characters in the story, and that will lead to a happy ending, plus be relatively interesting story content. That was really obvious, wasn't it? *Shakes her head at herself*
The other thing I did for some character development was take some Jung/Meyers-Briggs personality tests as my main character. That was interesting, but I liked the above methods better. If you want to know more about those personality tests and how they relate to character development, read this post on Go Teen Writers.
How do you develop you characters? What helps you find your characters hidden depths?
For character development advice and ideas, I went to Go Teen Writers, a seriously awesome writing site that you should check out as soon as you're done reading this post.
One thing I did was label my characters (as a hunter, giver, monster, ect.) , as Jill Williamson suggests in this post, using her list of archetypes in this post. Once I had labels, I started asking the question "why?", like Susie May Warren said in this post. Why is this character a giver? What made her think that way? Why did that occurrence happen? And so on.
This really helped me to begin fleshing out some of my characters and their backstories. Take, for instance, my character the late Lord Wycliff Copperstone (Gwen's uncle). Once I found a label for him, (actually, it was three) and started asking why, I got some tidbits for potential backstory. Here's what I have for him in my character development Word doc:
I don't have a lot yet, but labeling and asking why helped to get ideas flowing.
Uncle Wycliff was a tyrant, bully, manipulator. [He liked to be in control, had no tolerance for weakness (especially in himself), he played with situations and people to get what he wanted.] He didn’t tolerate weakness because someone he looked up to did something he considered “weak” and it crushed him. He wanted to be in control because he felt like he didn’t have control of his life, so he controlled everything else (and thus his life, kinda). He manipulated people and situations because it was a way for him to control things, and he felt manipulated, possibly by the person that let him down by showing “weakness”, or, someone he looked up to later was a manipulator, so Wycliff copied him/her.
The latest thing I've done was answer the questions from Susie May Warren in this post:
What was the darkest moment of your childhood that shaped
your past?
What kind of a person are you today
because of that?
What lie do you believe?
What emotional wound do you carry?
What's your greatest fear?
What are your motivations and values?
What would you die for?
What are you good at?
When the going gets tough, what do you do?
What was the happiest moment of his past?
What's your character's greatest dream?
What truth will set you free?
What was a black moment in
your past/childhood? (The black moment has to do with romance. If you're not
writing a romance or at least including it in your book, you don't need
this question.)
I finally understand what I've heard about character backstory making all the difference. It made sense before, but now I get it.
One semi-good, semi-bad thing I discovered is that I'm really good at creating "broken" characters. By broken, I mean psychologically messed up in a big way (like my character who can't get over his brother's death). I almost titled this post, "Help! Get the duct tape! My characters are broken!" Being good at creating such characters is good because "broken" characters are interesting to write about. The bad side is I don't necessarily like "broken" characters. They can get morose really fast (like the guy who can't get over his brother's death), which is really annoying. This is not post-Donna Doctor Who. Though come to think about it, I can fix my "broken" characters in the story, and that will lead to a happy ending, plus be relatively interesting story content. That was really obvious, wasn't it? *Shakes her head at herself*
The other thing I did for some character development was take some Jung/Meyers-Briggs personality tests as my main character. That was interesting, but I liked the above methods better. If you want to know more about those personality tests and how they relate to character development, read this post on Go Teen Writers.
How do you develop you characters? What helps you find your characters hidden depths?
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