Features | 5 Books On Writing For NaNoWriMo

Thursday, 12 November 2015

Features | 5 Books On Writing For NaNoWriMo

If you're anything like me, you're right in the midst of your latest NaNoWriMo project right about now. If you're even more like me, you're about 3000 words behind today's goal with no idea what's going to happen next in your story, but your Pinterest inspiration board for your novel is probably looking pretty fly. 

In the true spirit of slightly useful procrastination today I am sharing with you five extremely useful books on writing, any of which might help you if you're also struggling to keep up with your novel.

No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty

I can't write a list of NaNoWriMo books without mentioning the NaNoWriMo book. Written by the founder of NaNoWriMo himself, Chris Baty, No Plot? No Problem! is the perfect guidebook for this mad month of writing. It is exactly 50,000 words long and split into different chapters that are to be read before the month starts and then at the beginning of each week in November, addressing common problems for each point in the month for maximum writerly inspiration.

45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt

I first read this one (and the next book on this list) a few years ago but I go back to it again and again every time I start a new project. If you struggle with creating complex characters, or even if you just want to brush up on the different types of characters out there, this is an excellent guide. It won't give you a step by step for creating a realistic character, but it will definitely help you understand your own characters better and give you a few ideas on how to flesh them out.

20 Master Plots and How to Build Them by Ronald B. Tobias

As you can probably tell from the covers 20 Master Plots and 45 Master Characters are from the same series and they both follow a similar sort of structure. They are also both equally useful and I refer to both of them more than any of the other writing books I own. The idea of there only being a finite number of plots isn't a new one but Tobias presents his plots in this book with detailed examples of stories you're probably familiar with and he breaks down each of the plots in a way that can really help you to pinpoint exactly which plot is right for your story and how you might develop it.

The Art of Fiction by David Lodge

This one is more about the general art of fiction writing. Rather than addressing any one aspect of novel writing, Lodge uses examples from famous texts to demonstrate concepts such as 'The Unreliable Narrator', 'Showing and Telling', and 'Symbolism' in a series of short essays. If there is a specific aspect of the craft of writing that you're struggling with, you can probably find an essay about it in The Art of Fiction. 

Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande

This last book has nothing to do with the craft of fiction writing whatsoever. Being a Writer is about exactly that. It's about not only how to get yourself to actually sit down and write that thing you've been thinking about forever but more than that, it's about how to think like a writer. I think a lot of writers would probably find themselves reflected in this book (particularly the section where Brande talks about the things that hold back different kinds of writers.) Brande understands writers and her book might be the thing to kickstart you into finally writing like a writer.

So those are my five, quite varied, recommendations for books about writing to help you through NaNoWriMo (or any writing project!) Are you doing NaNoWriMo? Let me know how you're going in the comments! And feel free to share your own recommendations for books about writing. I am a fiend for books about writing. 

Read more »

No comments

Features | Author Spotlight: Morgan Matson

Monday, 9 November 2015

Features | Author Spotlight: Morgan Matson

Cover images via goodreads.com

Last month I read my first Morgan Matson novel. Then a second, followed by another…and well, I had to stop there since her fourth isn’t due out until next year! Back in early October, after a long run of thriller and ‘darker’ tales I felt it was time for a change. I was on the lookout for something a little bit different, and that's exactly what I found in Matson’s trio of contemporary YA novels.

My Matson read-a-thon kicked off with Since You’ve Been Gone (2014), her most recent release and, if I may say so this early on in the post, my personal favourite of the bunch. The novel follows Emily whose best friend Sloane disappears at the beginning of the summer, leaving behind a to-do list filled with things Emily would usually shy away from. With her best friend gone, Emily decides to tackle the list and the novel takes us along for the ride. The characters in this one really won me over (something I would later come to find was the case in all three novels) and I adored the concept.

After finishing, and very much enjoying, Since You’ve Been Gone I took straight to Amazon in search of similar reads. When I saw Matson’s debut, Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour (2010) was just 99p I quickly pressed the ‘Buy now’ button and started reading the book later that same day. Although the title characters haven’t seen each other since they were kids, they are forced to head out on a road trip together when Amy’s mother decides to pack up and move across the country. With Amy still concerned about getting back into the driver’s seat following a car accident, yet being the only one left to get the family’s car out to their new home, Roger steps in to help out. Both feeling a little lost, they decide to take a slight detour which turns into, as the title suggests, a pretty epic one. Despite never having been on any road trip adventures myself (that's one for the to-do list!), you always know they're going to make for interesting stories full of adventure and I loved following Amy on Roger on their unique journey.

This past weekend I finished reading my third Matson novel, Second Chance Summer (2012), which tells the story of Taylor’s summer break in Pennsylvania. After her father is diagnosed with a terminal illness and given just months to live, the family decide to cancel all of their usual summer plans and head out to their lake house, where Taylor hasn’t set foot for five years. The last time she was there, things didn’t end so well and to her surprise she’s about to run into some familiar faces. The theme of second chances carried right throughout the novel and once again there were lots of lovable characters to meet along the way.

Whether you enjoy contemporary tales when it comes to YA and haven’t yet picked up any of Matson’s novels, or like me you haven’t really delved very far into this genre in the past, I would definitely recommend any of these novels to get you started. Morgan Matson’s next novel titled The Unexpected Everything – the tale of a politician’s daughter named Andie - is due for release next year (and is available to pre-order now!).

Read more »

No comments

The Rest of Us Just Live Here | Patrick Ness | Review

Friday, 6 November 2015

The Rest of Us Just Live Here | Patrick Ness | Review

What if you aren’t the Chosen One? 

The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, 

or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death?

What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom 

and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before 

someone goes and blows up the high school. Again.

Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, 

and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life.  

*********

Mikey is mostly your standard teenager - dealing with school, girls, family, OCD - but what he's not is the chosen one. Mikey lives in an earth which is the same as ours, except that previously there have been all sorts of crazy supernatural going-ons ... and the characters know that something like an apocalypse, or a zombie attack is a actually something that is likely to happen. The Rest of Us Just Live Here is a fascinating angle of a story we don't really read. Mikey and his crazy family, and his school life and friendships are the characters in stories we never hear about.

What were all the other students doing at Hogwarts while Harry was off defeating Voldemort? Did the other people in Sunnydale realise Buffy was kicking butt and saving their lives every night? Patrick Ness takes those characters, the ones that don't usually get a main spot light, and makes them the main story line. At the beginning of each chapter, you read a short snippet of what the Chosen One is getting up to, how they are saving the world or fighting zombies, but the rest of the chapter, the 'real' story, is about Mikey and his friends. Their every day lives, their own struggles and flaws, their real life battles, their relationships with each other and their families, and this all plays out like nothing else is happening around them.

I actually listened to this as an audio book, so at first the chapter beginnings were a tad confusing, because I couldn't see the difference...if that makes sense. But I loved this book a lot. It was so clever, and I was so excited to see/hear that someone had actually written this story. It's one of the things I'm always wondering in books and movies - but what about that other character? What are they up to? It was a fantasy story, with supernatural elements, but it was also your standard YA teenage-issues books, which took place in the foreground of the Chosen One saving the world.

It was a brilliant book, and I recommend it if you haven't read it yet. Definitely worth picking up. If you're interested in he audio book, here's one you can get on Audible. 

Have you read it? What did you think? 

Image and synopsis from Goodreads

Read more »

No comments

Features | Books that aren't worth the hype

Thursday, 5 November 2015

Features | Books that aren't worth the hype

There are so many amazing books in the world that no one ever talks or hears about

 Then there are the mediocre ones that it seems everyone's reading. Warning -if you are an easily offended obsessive fangirl (or boy) I would advise you don't read this post - things might get a little controversial.

I don't think many people will disagree with me on this one, but the third hunger games was a massive disappointment. It wasn't bad, but didn't live up to the standards set by the previous two books. Having said that, I'm still ridiculously over excited for the last movie.

Another book that I enjoyed a lot less than I thought I would was looking for Alaska. In fact, I didn't just think this book was mediocre - I actively disliked it to the point where I couldn't finish it. I found the characters to be slightly shallow and irritating, and aside from the twist, the plot was thin. I know a lot of people that love it though, so maybe it just wasn't for me.

The perks of being a wallflower is another book I don't really understand the hype around. I do see the merits of the book - it's well written, the characters are interesting and it handles difficult issues reasonable sensitively. However, I found the story really difficult to get into. If you're not too bothered about plot and prefer reading about characters thoughts and feelings then you might really like this, but it was a bit too slow for me.

Finally, we have my sisters keeper. To be fair, most of the hype is around the film, which I assumed meant it applied to the book as well. It doesn't. The idea for this book is so good, but in my opinion it's not executed well. The point of view is constantly switching which makes it unnecessarily confusing and much harder to get into.  The film tells the story far better.

What books do you think are over hyped?

Katie x

Read more »

No comments

Unspeakable | Abbie Rushton | Review

Wednesday, 4 November 2015

Unspeakable | Abbie Rushton | Review

Unspeakable swung between three and four stars constantly throughout the book and I wasn't sure what my final decision would be until I read the last line. Megan doesn't speak. She hasn't made a sound since her best friend died, but when the exotic Jasmine joins Megan's school, they become closer than Megan ever imagined. The book has an air of mystery about it, with so many questions arising within the first chapter and remaining unanswered till the very end. I loved the mystery aspect of this story and the twist at the end was a little predictable but I enjoyed watching it play out. 

This next paragraph, whilst not having any spoilers, may not make sense unless you've read the book. For some reason, I felt as though Megan's confusion throughout the book was unnecessary. Thinking of it objectively, as events and emotions separate from the story, I can understand why she was so confused throughout parts of the book, but put together with the story itself, it just seemed over the top and was one of the biggest things that annoyed me about Megan. Although we saw Megan's character visit the school psychologist, it would have been nice to maybe have a professional opinion written in as to why Megan was mute, rather than just the occasional references to guilt and the aggressive voice in Megan's head that frequently made an appearance. I understood that witnessing her best friends death caused her to go mute, but it may have made her more relatable if we knew why it caused her to stop speaking rather than sink into depression, for example. 

I would recommend reading this book, it did have potential to be amazing, and it ended up settling somewhere in the 'okay' realm. Unspeakable is probably something to read to kill time, rather than a book to clear your schedule for. I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Read more »

No comments

Heart and Brain | Nick Seluk | Review

Monday, 2 November 2015

Heart and Brain | Nick Seluk | Review

Summary:

The cover really says it all. This is a collection of web comic artist Nick Seluk's best Heart vs. Brain comics.

Review:

I picked up this book because I am a fan of The Awkward Yeti comics. Seluk does an amazing job of depicting real-life battles between what your heart wants and your brain knows is best. Every page of this book made me laugh because it's so easy to identify with the characters. We've all been in situations where our brain tells us "yes, I remember this person's name" only to find out our brain forgot how to talk. And I know I'm guilty of letting my heart talk me into purchases that my brain told me weren't worth it.

This is a great book if you're in need of a laugh. So many of the situations and conversation in this book are relatable to everyone. I highly recommend this book and the web comic.

Read more »

No comments