Saturday 28 April 2018

Beautiful People: Favourites Edition


So I'm back with another Beautiful People linkup questionnaire. This one'll be the last one - at least for a while. So I thought I'd do it, just because of that.

I've got a couple of big assignments coming up next month, one at the beginning and one at the end, so I'm probably not going to be posting any posts really next month. I'm just too busy, so I'm pulling back a bit to hopefully start again once my degree is finished.

Anyway, enough of my wittering. On we go!

Favourite genre to write in?

Fantasy, a hundred percent. I love fantasy. Although I am developing a fondness for sci-fi and magical realism...which is still technically fantasy.

What book (a real actual published book!) do you think your character would benefit from reading?

Minerva (Asteria) - I think she'd benefit from reading The Hunger Games. The whole theme of recovering from trauma and violence and life being good again is one that I think is really important for her.

Favourite piece of dialogue you’ve written?

I love a lot of the dialogue I've written, but I suppose that I'm pretty partial to this bit:



It's from Ghosts, Doughnuts and Other Related Things, my weird novel that's somehow both the worst thing I've ever written and also the best. Somehow.

What did your character want to be when they grew up, and what did they actually become?

Because today calls for Sadness(tm), let's go with Minerva.
When she was very young - about six - Minerva wanted to be a historian like her mum. She used to spend hours pouring over books - even though she didn't really understand any of it. 
Now - at sixteen - she's a brainwashed assassin slave and her mum's been murdered. Fun times.

Favourite character name(s)?

I am never happy with my character names, but there are a few that I ended up being genuinely happy with. Some of my favourites are: Calahan Brazier (Asteria), Medea Nakamura (Medea) and Giovanni Lupo (Graylings).

What makes your character feel loved, and who was the last person to make them feel that way?

Minerva - People taking the time to talk to her and listen to her and be with her makes her feel loved. The last person to make her feel loved - even though she hadn't realised that was what it was - was her best friend, Layla. She also didn't know that Layla was her best friend, that that was what it was called, until after Layla had been murdered. Minerva's full of sadness, guys.

Favourite character you’ve ever written?

I can't choose! I love them all. I guess I'm going to have to go with Will Herrman (The Gatekeeper Chronicles). He's my soft boy book worm and I love him. He was the first character I created that I got really invested in, so I suppose I'm always going to come back to him.

Honourable mentions include: Reinette Bellerose (Ghosts, Doughnuts and Other Related Things), Vivi (my new fantasy series, Narafire),  Ellie Kendrick (The Kendricks),  Jeffrey Waldorf (X) and Ophelia (The Raven and The King). 

If your character were permanently leaving town, what would they easily throw out? What would they refuse to part with? (Why?)

Minerva - She doesn't own much, so she would have much to throw out. But she'd never throw away her leather jacket (which was a gift from someone she adores). Never ever.

Favourite tropes to write!

Found families! I love found families so much. And just generally friendship. I also love the brooding old/middle-aged man who's super grumpy accidentally adopts child trope. See: my favourite video game of all time, The Last of Us.

Which story has your heart and won’t let go?
Look, I adore all my stories. They're all my favourite. But my favourite favourite stories tend to be whatever I've been working on at the time. At the moment, my favourite is probably either Asteria which I've been working hard on or Narafire which I've been doing a bunch of worldbuilding for and falling more and more in love with.

Favourite relationship between characters you’ve written?

I love the relationship between Minerva and Calahan in Asteria. It's kind of romantic, kind of friendship, but it's all beautiful. My precious kids who are trying to figure out how to be free and fix each other. I mean, it starts with attempted murder, but I swear it gets better.

Toni Morrison once said, “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” What are the books that you want to see more of, and what “holes” do you think need filling in the literary world?

I should actually write a post about this - I've been planning to. But, in a quick answer, I really want to see more friendship in books. I adore friendship.

Favourite pinterest board / aesthetic for a book?

I really, really love The Raven and The King.



I've put a lot of effort into making it as Aesthetic(tm) as possible.

Favourite time periods & settings to work with?


I love history-based fantasy - particularly Victorian or 1900s era fantasy. I also love medieval fantasy, although I don't write that much of it. I also adore space! Space is so much fun to write!

When people are done reading your book, what feeling do you want them to come away with?

I want people to come away feeling hopeful. Feeling like maybe there's something good in the world and believing that people can be good. I write a lot about light in darkness and I suppose that's the attitude I want people to come away with.

And I want them to feel satisfied. And like they can't tear themselves away from my dorky characters.

And that's the last Beautiful People post. At least for now. Hopefully, it'll restart again at somepoint, but even if it didn't, I've really enjoyed it while it lasted. It's been fun! 

Saturday 17 February 2018

Genres Explained - Fantasy (And A Tiny Bit Of Sci-Fi...Tiny)

Hey guys!

Last week I talked about wanting to start a new series called Genres Explained. And that's this! Before we go any further, I know I said that I'd start with magical realism. But! I quickly realised that it'd make a ton more sense to start with the umbrella genres; fantasy, science fiction, contemporary and so on, and then talk about the smaller genres within those ones.

And today's genre is! Fantasy!

Yeah, you already knew that from the title but eh. Give me my moment, okay?

So what exactly is fantasy?

Fantasy -  as I mentioned above - is what I call an umbrella genre. That is to say that it's a big genre that a whole bunch of eeeny-bitty tiny genres come under. Let's say that it's the mother genre and all the others are its babies that it loves a lot, but honestly, sometimes they get a bit out of control.

It's the genre with magic, it's the genre without rules - unless you set them up yourself - it's kind of a giant mess, but we all love it anyway.

Fundamentally, to be a fantasy, you need one thing - something out-of-the-ordinary or unexplainable by real-world standards.

And that something can be anything. From the vague magic-tinted tips of magical realism to the vast fictional realms of epic fantasy, fantasy can be literally anything. It's like the ultimate version of play-dough.

But, I hear you asking, where does science fiction come into this? Wouldn't that come under that banner as well?

And...you're sort of right. See, this is why I often prefer to use 'speculative-fiction' as the umbrella genre term, but for the sake of this series, I decided to split fantasy and sci-fi.

Honestly, the difference isn't huge.

You can hear the horrified gasps from the nerds in the back.

Look, just let me explain. The truth is fantasy and science fiction are too interlinked to really separate them too much. I mean, there's so much crossover. You have science-fantasy - a fantasy that uses scientific elements. You have hard fantasy - fantasy that confines itself to rules not unlike hard science fiction. You have space operas, like Star Wars, that are clearly fantastical...but they're set in space, so what gives?

See?

But, personally, I would typically define the difference as this:

Sci-fi does its best to fit in with the world of established reality. If something couldn't happen in reality, they either don't let it happen or - in the world of softer sci-fi - they throw technobabble at you.

Fantasy takes the world of established reality...and crumples it up into a ball, lights it on fire and dances around it as its dying screams echo throughout the universe. Fantasy likes to be internally consistent. But that doesn't mean that it needs to fit in with reality.

For example, take a flying bus. Those two genres would have two different ways of explaining that. Our old buddy Fantasy - let's make her a cute twelve-year-old girl with a big sword twice her size on her back - would take one look at it and say 'Magic! Magic fuel makes it fly!' Then she'd probably come up with a whole magic system for that fuel and it'd become a big thing.

Meanwhile our other friend Science Fiction - let's make him a pretty cool guy with glasses and a mohawk - would take a look at that flying bus and then start spouting something about aerodynamics and trying to fit wings onto that thing. He'd throw all sorts of science at you and expect you to understand it.

See the difference? Both are dealing with something that - in the real world - is impossible, but they both handle explaining it in two different ways. One takes the rules and throws them out of the window, while the other does its darnedest to make that dang flying bus fit in with what could actually happen.

Got it? Good. Let's move on.

What comes under the umbrella of fantasy?

There are a lot of different genres under fantasy and I am not going to write them all down. Look it up, mate. But I'll give you a few.


  • High/Epic fantasy
  • Low fantasy 
  • Urban fantasy
  • Magical realism
  • Fairy tales
  • Steampunk fantasy
  • Historical fantasy
  • Sword and sorcery
See? There's a whole bunch and that's definitely not all of them. As mentioned at the start, I'm planning to go into more detail about these genres - or at least into my own understanding of them. But that's pretty much it for today. Just a brief overview of fantasy as a whole.

What are your thoughts on fantasy? Do you think I drew the line between sci-fi and fantasy fairly or not? Tell me in the comments below.

Saturday 10 February 2018

January Wrap-Up

In no way, shape or form is this post late. Shush.

Hey guys!

So this week I'm doing my January Wrapup - a week late. I'm sorry, okay! We've covered that I'm bad at deadlines and I need to get back into the rhythm of writing posts. But it's here now.

My plans for the next few months aren't completely set in stone, but next week, I'm going to start a new series dedicated to explaining genres and giving a few examples of each one. I'm planning to start with magical realism - which I myself had trouble fully understanding for ages!

I'm also considering starting a series called 'Writer's Reviews'. This would be reviewing books and films with the goal of seeing what we as writers can take from it, whether that be through what the author did right or through what they did wrong. Would anyone be interested in that? I'm going to try one and see how it goes, see if it works alright as a format.

But that's my current plans for the blog, so hopefully I won't miss any more weeks. Sorry again!

But onto the Wrap-Up we go!

Music

I got massively into Ruelle this month. She's similar to AURORA who I recommended back in November. More creepy, atmospheric songs. I've been compiling some playlists that require that sort of song so I've been listening to her a lot. 

I also started listening to Jonathan Young who does a lot of rock/pop punk covers of different songs - I particularly like his Disney covers. He did an amazing cover of The Bells of Notre Dame from The Hunchback of Notre Dame with Caleb Hyles which I adore. 

My song recommendations for this month are:

Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra: So cheerful and upbeat! I love it. 
On My Way Home by Pentatonix - Another happy one that I love. It's great for family playlists.
Hustler by Zayde Wolf - Zayde Wolf is another one I've gotten really into this month and Hustler is one of my favourites. I don't even know why, I just love it. 

And my artist's recommendation for this month is: Jonathan Young.

His covers are amazing. Seriously, go listen to them. My favourites are The Bells of Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), The Trail We Blaze (The Road to El Dorado) and Peace Sign (Boku No Hero Academia).

Films

I watched IT this month! And it was great. I loved it. And I cried, but that's not a surprise to anyone who knows me - since I cry incredibly easily. 

My film recommendation for this month is:

 The Prince Of Egypt - This is an adaption of the first part of Exodus, for those who didn't know. It's the story of Moses. But it has stunning animation and amazing songs. My favourite is Deliver Us.

So prettyyyyy.


TV

I watched Brooklyn Nine-Nine this month. It's a comedy about police officers in Brooklyn, New York. It's actually hilarious. I love it. I also watched some of The Shannara Chronicles which is a fantasy series. Another good one, at least so far. 

I also watched some Power Rangers. Because I enjoy cheesy superhero shows, okay? Don't judge me. 

My TV recommendation for this month is: 

White Collar - This is an US show about a con-man who gets caught and makes a deal to help the FBI catch other white collar criminals. It's nowhere near as serious as it sounds. It's ridiculous and funny and Neal Caffrey and Peter Burke are my ultimate BrOTP. 

Neal is really very polite.

Writing

I reached 70000 words on Asteria! I mean, I'm still only just two-thirds of the way through my outline, but still! Achievement. I'm slightly concerned about how long this story is going to end up, but eh. It'll be fine. 

I've been working a lot on world-building for my different stories, particularly Asteria but also my Narafire epic fantasy series and The Memory Weaver - an alternate-historical fantasy set in Victorian Britain. 

The only post I wrote on my blog this month was - Ten Types of Writers.

But! I did guest-post over on Deborah Kelty's blog, writing about editing here.

Reading

This month I started Game of Thrones by G.R.R. Martin finally! I've also been reading a few books for my module. I've been reading Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, The Country Wife and Arabian Nights' Entertainment. 

My recommendation for this month is:

The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock - I love this book so much. It's set in Alaska in 1970. It follows four different characters living different stories right until they meet at the climax. It was such a fascinating read, particularly since I don't know much about life in Alaska. The writing is so amazing and lyrical. Really sensory as well, the author does an incredible job of describing scents and sounds and so on. Definitely a good one to pick up. 

And that's it for January!

I didn't get as much done as I wish I had, but I was ill for all of it, so I think I did okay. As I mentioned at the top, next week I'm going to be talking about magical realism, so look out for that. 

What did you read or watch during January? Let me know, down in the comments.

Saturday 20 January 2018

Ten Types of Writers

Hi guys!

So yeah. I'm back. *ducks to avoid rotten tomatoes being thrown* Sorry for being so late! In my defence, I got sick about a day after Christmas and still haven't fully recovered. Also, I kept forgetting until it was too late. But I'm back now!

I know you all thought you were finally free from my inane rambling, but no! You'll never be free.

So happy new year everyone! Please ignore that we're a few weeks into the year already. I hope it's been going well for you all so far. Today we're going to be discussing the Ten Types of Writers.

Some might say that you can't tie down a group of people to ten types, but those people are wrong. And I am right. Because I know everything. Ha*.

On we go.

*Shush, and let me have my delusions, okay.


Ten Types of Writers

THE FIDDLY PLOTTER

This one is those nerds who plan every single detail. They do all their research ahead of time. They have shiny graphs and notebooks all neatly written. Unplanned stories give them anxiety. They probably colour-coordinate everything. Nerds.

THE COWBOY

This one is the pantser. Named because they treat their story like the Wild West. A mystery, where anything could happen and they're just along for the ride. It does have the downside of having characters randomly drop dead and honestly, the likelihood of finding gold is even lower than during the Gold Rush, but dang it, they're going to try!


THE 'OOOH, SHINY!' ONE

This is the one who starts on a story. And writes a chapter. Then starts thinking about mutant sharks. Then starts thinking about a story involving mutant sharks. Then starts thinking about how much more fun it would be to write about mutant sharks than whatever the heck they were just writing about. They might fight their urges for another chapter. Then they give in and write about mutant sharks.

But...a chapter into writing about mutant sharks...they get an idea for murderous ballerinas...and the cycle repeats.

THE NANOWRIMOER

This is the one who has November marked as busy all year around. They thrive off the challenge, off the Word Wars, off the caffeine-driven writing sprees, off the grey hairs they're getting. They probably completed NaNoWriMo once and now insist on upping the ante every time they do it. Fifty thousand words? Pfft, that's nothing. Try a hundred thousand words. And on it goes.

They're probably going to die young. But at least they'll have written a whole lot when they do.


THE ROAD RUNNER

This one is just....inhuman. They write faster than most people think. You blink and they have another book written. Those words might be ninety-percent nonsense, but they're words, dang it. We all dream of being them. We are not them.

Give us your wisdom, oh Road Runner. Please.


THE SNAIL

The opposite to the Road-Runner. They started a book when they were eight and now they're eighty. They're just reaching the midpoint. But those words are good words. Probably. They'll at least somewhat make sense. Maybe.


THE 'I CAN STILL BE A WRITER IF I DON'T WRITE ANYTHING, RIGHT?' ONE

Oh procrastination. We do love you so.

This one is the one who will literally do anything but sit down and write. They'll sit through Where The Wild Things Are. They'll badly breakdance in front of strangers. They'll break down and cry, hiding in a cupboard. Anything but actually writing.

They're a mess to be honest but at least they're trying, okay?


THE MASS-MURDERER

No one is safe. This writer takes a machete to their characters with gleeful laughter and/or broken sobs. Getting attached to one of their characters is a dangerous game. You are almost certainly going to get your heart broken.

But they're almost certainly destroying their own soul while doing it, so at least you can take comfort in that.


THE MULTI-TASKER

This one is a little like the 'Oooh, shiny' one, except they never abandon a project. They just add projects on. It's a point of pride, you see. They think wistfully back to the days when they were happy and free and only had ten projects on the go. 

But they'll never be free. Anytime they finish a project, they celebrate by letting themselves add another five projects onto their pile. They're crying. 


THE SUPER SECRET ONE

This one basically treats writing as if they're part of MI6. Nobody can know anything. If you hear any details, they'll have to kill you. They probably write at midnight just in case anyone looks over their shoulder and catches - le gasp - a character name

They've probably committed murder in real life. Avoid them at all costs. 

And that's the ten types of writers! I'd say I'm a mix of the multi-tasker and the mass murderer. 

What about you? Which type would you say you are? Tell me down in the comments.

Know The Novel - Within Spooky Wild West

Hello, all. It's been a few weeks and I'm back again, with the second part of the Know the Novel linkup made by Christine Smith . If...