Sunday Suspense (24) - The Elementalists (Tipping Point Prophecy) by C. Sharp

Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian
Expected day of publication: October 28th, 2014
Publisher: Diversion Books

Formats: Paperback
Pages: 374

Pre-order via: Amazon

Rising sea levels, droughts, earthquakes, tornadoes. Far below the earth’s crust, imprisoned in ancient slumber, the elemental powers of the land grow restless…

Meanwhile, in small town Virginia, Chloe McClellan’s first day of sophomore year was an epic fail. After she becomes the target of the fiery queen of the It-Girls in gym, she gains instant notoriety when she’s struck by lightning. That’s when things start to get weird.

There are disconcerting gaps in her memory, and freaky weather seems to follow her everywhere. She comes to believe that either she’s going insane, or her accident has awoken a terrifying creature from mythology, triggering the final countdown to the extinction of humankind.

Chloe finds unlikely help from a trio of male classmates: the grounded captain of the football team, the flighty stoner with a secret, and the enigmatic transfer student who longs for the sea. All the while, she struggles with the growing realization that dragons exist, and she, and her friends, may be the only ones who can stop them.

In the first book in the epic new Tipping Point Prophecy series, global dragon mythology is reimagined against a backdrop of ecological disaster, high school angst, and the power of the human spirit when working in accord with the elements.

Writing Wednesday (10) - Does your WIP work out for you?

Disclaimer: I'm not an author nor am I an editor or any kind of expert. I only can share my aspiring adventures with you, but I do hope, it'll help many other aspiring writers and we can go along the road together. :)

The title might be a bit vague, so let me explain to you what I meant by it befoer we delve into the topic in depths. This is something I share my thoughts on because it has happened to me recently. Well, most of the topics are like that, but it's a bit more. 

Has the following ever happened to you?: There's something you're dying to write about, like a certain type of supernatural creature or a world building you made up or certain scene you wrote and are in love with, the point is that something that wouldn't fill up a whole book by itself. This part is very well worked out and really cool and you're totally falling for it, and you may manage to create characters/setting/ a quite basic story as well to round it out. But soon you get stuck and you keep putting off try and figure out the next step. It's not that you ran into your (first) writers block. No, no, you have plenty of ideas, just....not for this story.

That's what happened to me a little while back. I wanted so badly to write about wraiths, because hey, wraiths are cool and definitely a rare type of animal. And I had this idea with an adopted wraith girl who is a bit like a black sheep, but doesn't know that the reason is so...khm...delicate. Also, her parents are divorced a few years ago and she still hasn't completely accostumed to it. And the main conflict would have been a wraith invasion. 

I had many ideas, but all of them vague, well that is except for the wraith of course, and the protagonist though fit into the story, didn't sit well with me. So I kept procrastinating to find a solution while I kept on writing short stories. Then one day I woke up and realized; nah. It's not gonna work. 

Do I want to write the story? Most definitely. 

Do I need to rest it until the right time comes? Surely.

Why did this happen?: That's something I have yet to figure out. I guess, the problem is that it's too little information or maybe it's not my thing only I don't know it yet. 

Solution: Well, at least that I've got. Put it off. Just do it. Like me, you can come back later, or build it into another WIP of yours. Maybe it will even better like that. Maybe that's what I will do, too, in the end.

If this has ever happened to you; you're not alone. If not, just save this post to your bookmarks.

Writing Wednesday (9) - Dos and Don't Dos of Fan-fiction Writing

Disclaimer: I'm not an author nor am I an editor or any kind of expert. I only can share my aspiring adventures with you, but I do hope, it'll help many other aspiring writers and we can go along the road together. :)


I've been reading a lot of fan-fiction lately. Really, I binged on them big time. There's this Doctor Who fever I just can't seem to get rid of and I constantly go for more and more and more. Fortunately, there are brilliant writers among the Whovians whose stories I can enjoy and whose ideas always leave me in awe. (Not to mention the fluff and angst. I love it!) Then there is the rest, mostly fan-fictions based on Hollywood created, meant-to-be-funny, cliched teenager shows. (Not like I have anything against tv shows targetting teenagers, me being one of them as well, but some of them are just stupid. Period.) I'm talking about the kind of huddled up, over-dramatic, un-edited um....pieces of writing, if they can be called that, the ones that are prone to be written in a rather puny writing style which can be inconvenient to read, but in fact, I could live with that. Not everybody can be a potential writer or an aspiring author, still they have the right to scribble down what conceives in their minds nevertheless. Which makes me roll my eyes though, is when they really put no effort into making it better, not even what they could easily help, including all those spelling errors, unexistent paragraphs and please give your reader and yourself as much respect that you do not type it out that XY's phones's ringing and then jot down the names and a couple of one-liners, but you actually write it down like you could have seen it in a book. (Please say you have...) I know I have already talked about fan-fictions once and I probably will again not one time, but today I would like to delve into it in real depth, starting with the most important dos and don't does of it.


DON'T DOS OF FAN-FICTION WRITING (I know it's more common to start with the DOS, but I feel DON'Ts are more imperative in this case and this order would be most benefitial):

• DON'T inidicate shouting with capital letters. You can add after the sentence something like: she screamed at him at the top of her lungs. Your readers hopefully will know it implies the rise of your character's voice.
• DON'T type out names. (E.g. Sophie: I can't do this anymore. / Alex: Why?) It's a book like thing, not a screenplay so don't go lazy on the dialogue, please.
• DON'T go lazy on the descriptions. It urges me to walk up to a wall and bash my head against it when I see this *alarm clock beeps* or *phone goes off*. I mean, really? Go read a book now.
• DON'T begrudge on likes/favs/votes/views/etc. I'm sure you've met this "I'll post the next chapter if I get (insert number) likes/favs/views/etc. Despite how much people tend to do it, I do not recommend doing this to you. It's annoying. Moreover, there's a big problem with those people's attitude. If you only crave for attention then write well or do something else you're good at instead of bribing your readers into liking your story.
• DON'T create plot holes. Just don't.
• DON'T use cliche. Like, no, they don't have to meet in a Starbucks and obviously if you write about one of the most famous teen bands of our generation than your protagonist surely will recognise them, especially if she's a fan. Unless she's been living under a rock for the past few years. But then she can't really be a fan, now can she?
• DON'T over-dramatize. It can be so ridiculus, I've abandoned not one fan-fic for it. For instance, there's a fan-fiction based on a tv show which is set in real life. It's a family drama, but also a comedy and from the mildest type, no action, kidnapping or supernatural forces. In fact the worst case was a bang on the head from a quite furious bride. In the fan-fiction, the protagonist feels a little sick one morning. Ten minutes later she faints, bangs dow the stairs and with that, obtains a huge gash on her leg. To top of this, the lawyer tends to her injury, who has apparently acquired some medical skills in that ten seconds this dreadfull fall happened. Why pile up all this sillinness? So that the love of her life can fuss about her. But let me tell you something. For one, I 've fallen down fifty steps lanked with metal - no gash. For second, it felt so madly over-dramatized I almost stopped reading it completely.
• DON'T overuse swear words. Seldom, it's justified. Most of the time, it's not cool. No no.
• DON'T switch perspective. It's also a basic rule of writing so I can't say it enough times.
• DON'T leave it un-edited. At least read it through once after you have finished writing it.
• DON'T leave (many) grammatical mistakes in it. If you're not acing grammar, or your native language is not English, at least run a spell-check. There are numerous sites for that on the Internet.
• DON'T use an exclamation mark after every single sentence. Again, it's annoying.

DOS OF FAN-FICTION WRITING

• DO use capital letters when applicable. (*Cough, cough* names, first letters in a sentence...)
• DO describe. Not too much as being over-descriptiveness can be irritating to read, too, but I would chose that any day over another phone go off or kiss happen between asterisks. Let alone the screenplay dialogue effect. (See second bullet point among DON'Ts.)
• DO encourage your readers to read your story. I know I said don't bribe them into it. And I won't go back on that statement. But there are much better ways to gain fans. Surveys have proved that leaving author's notes at the end of/between chapters encourage people to read your story. It establishes a kind of connection and in them you can even express how much you'd appriciate if they took their time to vote.
• DO update. Of course it's okay if life intervenes time to time. But if you're always promising to bring the next chapter in a week, and  in fact it happens in a month, people will not want to follow the story even if they like it.
• DO have a suspenseful plot. Do I need to explain this?
• DO use a wide variety of vocab. It improves your writing style which can only be an asset, can't it?
• DO break the chapters off into paragraphs. Reading a one page long text in one big column is extremely tiring. If you don't believe me just try it.
• DO write coherently. Sometimes I read and am not be able to make out what's going on. In one second the character is in love, the second she'Ss angry and all this without any sort of explanation or incentive.
• DO read through/edit your story. I will talk about this later more elaborately, bit in just a few words, you ought to eliminate the spelling errors, make sure you didn't change tense or POV, check if your text is broken off into as many paragraphs as possible and if it's coherent. In the very least.
• DO use punctuation marks. A comma can make big difference.
• DO it for your own entertainment and not for the attention or the praise. Share your story because you've come up with it not because you expect people to exalt you for it.
• And +1: Always be original! There's nothing better than to read about something incredibly creative with your favorite characters, but it's only a pleasure if not all the fan-fics are the same.

P.S. I saw Parajunkee's Snark Weel Book Blogger Challenge, but decided to not participate because I thought there would be nothing I could go off about. Well, I guess I was wrong. I could have written quite a snarky rant about terrible fan-fics.

Writing Wednesday (6) - The Importance of Practice and Persistence

Disclaimer: I'm not an author nor am I an editor or any kind of expert. I only can share my aspiring adventures with you, but I do hope, it'll help many other aspiring writers and we can go along the road together. :)

Previou posts in  the series:

Writing Wednesday (1) - Introduction

Writing Wednesday (2) - How to move on from aspiring?

Writing Wednesday (3) - How to start

Writing Wednesday (4) - Keep Going

Writing Wednesday (5) - Writing Fan-fiction vs. Original

Today, I will be writing about something that is less a tip or advice than some experinence, something that I have been going through lately and wanted to share with you, guys, becasue I believe some of you might make use of it. I hope so at least. :)

No matter what you do, you are improving at it meanwhiele. The more you occupy yourself with it, the more/the faster you improve. And along the road you may see your earlier work lame, perhaps even bad. Have you ever had the feeling like "Was it really me? How could I do that?" Yes? Of course. It's natural. It means you  have gotten better at it. However, you could look at it like this; 

'That's how I started and since then I have come such a long way!"

I have been caring for writing a lot lately. Reading articles, tips&tricks, seeking out character sheets, taking courses, etc. I'm constantly analyzing what I'm reading, what is awry, what the author could have done better so that I have a better chance not to make the same mistake. (Like this. I mean seriously? Everybody knows the don't-tell-show rule. It's the no. 1 principle of writing, duh.) And at the same time, I'm writing my first draft of my very first WIP. Before the above mentioned articles, I used to think I worked it out pretty well. Not perfectly of course, but fairly enough. However, having learned a few new tricks I have improved, which is the most visible in the fact that now I can clearly see how delusional that was which makes me want to go back and start it all over again. 

Then a thought occurred to me. Or rather a traing of thoughts. It's a first draft. It's my first first draft. It shows how much I have gotten better which is important. What's more, I hopefully will continue to improve and in that case if I always rewrite what I have penned to suit my current level, well then I'm never going to get done anything. But if I save up my ideas for my second draft when I can revise and rethink everything, but with all the knowledge and familiarity with the story and characters I have gathered, it can end in something pretty wicked, isn't it?

So what am I going to do? Exactly what I just said; I'm going to get on with the WIP as it is and then look back my progress from the beginning to the end. Meanwhile, I'm having smaller projects such as fan-fictions (I still haven't managed to get over City of Heavenly Fire. Pretty pathetic, but it was a shaking conclusion, now wasn't it?) that will help me put into reality what I learn. After finishing the first draft, I can move on to some brainstorming and a lot more character interviewing and then I'm going to start writing the second draft. It will be a lot of work, but you know what? I can't wait to improve, learn and experience and see the progess I have made.

And what's the point of this little ranting? I only wanted to point out that you should embrace what you created - disregarding if it was in the beginning of your journey and it's a wobbly stickman or it's your debut novel that has just gotten to be no. 1 bestseller. - it's your work and you can always learn from it.

Writing Wednesday (5) - Writing Fan-fiction vs. Original

Disclaimer: I'm not an author nor am I an editor or any kind of expert. I only can share my aspiring adventures with you, but I do hope, it'll help many other aspiring writers and we can go along the road together. :)


I haven't posted Writing Wednesday in a while (the first week it was because of the Internet deficit then last week I literally forgot it ((silly, senile me))), and it was a little hard to pick the line up, thus it's a bit different topic now. Today, we're talking about writing fan-fiction vs. original.

Sunday Suspense(17): Beware the Wild by Natalie C. Parker

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Publisher: HarperTeen
Expected day of publication: October 21st, 2014



Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook



Add to Goodreads
Pre-order via: Amazon  I  Barnes&Noble  I  Indigo  I  Abebooks  I  The Book Depository  I  Alibris  I  iTunes  I  IndieBound



Synopsis:



It's an oppressively hot and sticky morning in June when Sterling and her brother, Phin, have an argument that compels him to run into the town swamp -- the one that strikes fear in all the residents of Sticks, Louisiana. Phin doesn't return. Instead, a girl named Lenora May climbs out, and now Sterling is the only person in Sticks who remembers her brother ever existed.

Sterling needs to figure out what the swamp's done with her beloved brother and how Lenora May is connected to his disappearance -- and loner boy Heath Durham might be the only one who can help her.

Name Decoder - TMI Special Edition

Last week I finished reading the City of Heavenly Fire, the last installment of The Mortal Instruments series and I still can't get over it. It was so angsty and sad and happy at the same time, it was dancing on my nerves all along. I'll never be the same... However, that's not what bugs me the most. It's that the series is over. It's gone and though there will be more (TDA, TWP, TLH) and I cannot wait to read them, it will not be the same and I have a hard time with letting go. (Proves it the few hundred fan-fitions I've read since last week.) Thus right now everything's revolving around TMI and CoHF in particular. And that's how I came up with this special TMI edition of Name Decoder. Some of the names have already been featured in the section, Clary's and Jace's and Raziel's so now I'll be concentrating on the less main characters whose names have not been mentioned yet. Hope you"ll like it!

Name Decoder - Demons' & Faes' Names And Everything that is Similar

Roth from White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

meaning: 

Roth is an English, German or Jewish name. There are seven different meanings broken down by origins:

• the spilling of blood from the warrior class of ancient Germanic Deutsch soldier
• ethnic name for an Anglo-Saxon, derived from rot (meaning "red" in pre-7th century), referencing red-haired people.
• topographical name, derived from rod (meaning "wood"), referencing a dweller in such a location.
• derivative from hroth (from the Proto-Germanic word for "fame"; related to hrod).
• locale name for 18th century Ashkenazi refugees to Germany.
• derivative from roe in the ancient Danish language to signify (of) a king.
• of the red colour of clay, as in pottery (Deutsch)

Meghan from The Iron King by Julie Kagawa



meaning: Meghan as a girl's name has the meaning "pearl" and is a variant of Margaret (Greek): a saint's name. Also a variant of Megan (Welsh): variant of Margaret (Greek) "pearl", based on the short form Meg.












Laurel from Wings by Aprilynne Pike



meaning: It is of Latin origin, and the meaning of Laurel is "the bay, or laurel plant". Nature name related to Laura.

Gabby from Surrender the Sky by Meradeth Houston



meaning: It is the short form of Gabrielle, or Gabriela, and is of Hebrew origin. The meaning of Gabrielle is "heroine of God"














Magnus Bane from The Mortal Instruments (and The Infernal Devices and Bane Chronicles) by Cassandra Clare



meaning: Late Latin name meaning "great". It was borne by 7th-century saint who was a missionary in Germany. It became popular in Scandinavia after the time of the 11th-century Norwegian king Magnus I, who was said to have been named after Charlemagne, or Carolus Magnus in Latin. The name was borne by six subsequent kings of Norway as well as three kings of Sweden. It was imported to Scotland and Ireland during the Middle Ages.

The Myths Behind the Most Famous Paranormal Creatures 6 - Demons

Angels and demons often come together, especially in books and as last week I presented angels, let's see demons now.




Demons are very popular in modern belief and can be broken down in three categories.


Hell Demons: The "Actual" demons, as in the ones that are born from all the Hate and all evil in Hell, along with the Dark Fallen Angels.


Dimensional Demons: Beings that inhabit different dimensions or planes of existence. They could have dark intentions or be born out of spite, vile, and evil. These demons usually have an epheral existance or a not very solid composition in our plane of reality and the physical.

Earth's Demons: Beings that inhabit the Earth.

Name Decoder - Angels' Names

Raffe from Angelfall by Susan Ee



meaning: A usually triangular topsail set above a square lower sail.

Raziel from The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare



meaning: Raziel as a boy's name is of Aramaic origin, and the meaning of Raziel is "the Lord is my secret".

















Daniel Grigori from Fallen by Lauren Kate



meaning: From the Hebrew name meaning "God is my judge". 

















Christian Prescott from Unearthly by Cynthia Hand



meaning: From the Medieval Latin name Christianus meaning "a Christian". In England it has been in use since the Middle Ages, during which time it was used by both males and females, but it did not become common until the 17th century.










Gabriel from Halo by Alexandra Adornetto



meaning: From the Hebrew name meaning "strong man of God". Gabriel was one of the seven archangels in Hebrew tradition. This name has been used occasionally in England since the 12th century. It was not common in the English-speaking world until the end of the 20th century.

Sunday Suspense (14) - Darksoul (Darksoul #1) by Eveline Hunt

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Publisher: - (Indie)
Expected day of publication: August 21st, 2014



Formats: Kindle Edition
Add to Goodreads



Synopsis:



Problem number one: Asher Evans, her best friend and long-time crush. A lover of piercings with tan skin and a posh British accent, he’s spunky, fun, dirty-mouthed…and clearly more than what he seems.

Then there is Hunter Slade, who, although cold at first, becomes surprisingly good friends with her. He also works her last nerve. But when she finds out his deadly secret, their friendship comes to an abrupt end—or so it may seem.

Hunter and Ash are the least of Hazel’s worries. Someone is out to kill her, and she has no idea why. Monsters seem to come from left and right. Invisible wings follow her everywhere she goes. There’s a voice, soft and strangely familiar, inside her head. After a series of scary encounters, Hazel doesn’t know who or what to believe, although she isn’t about to go down without a fight. Armed with some old self-defense lessons, two Butterfinger candy bars, and her ever-present camera, Hazel will seek to find out the truth—no matter how much it costs her.

Before reading rating:    

Watch the trailer:

About the author:

Eveline Hunt was born overseas but has lived in the United States since her middle school years. When she’s not busy typing away on her computer, she enjoys drawing, sleeping, playing her guitar, and getting under her older sister’s skin (especially that last one). She currently attends Brown University, where she plans on majoring on just about everything. Darksoul is her first novel.
Visit her at http://evelinehunt.co.nr/.

Name Decoder - Dystopian Heros/Heroins

Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins



meaning: Katniss Everdeen is the main character of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games trilogy. Katniss is an edible aquatic plant belonging to the Sagittaria family and more commonly referred to as "duck potato" or "swan potato". Sagitarria means "of an arrow" and the plant species was likely named this due to the pointed shape of the leaves. 











Magdalena "Lena" Ella Haloway-Tiddle from Delirium by Lauren Oliver



meaning: From a title which meant "of Magdala". Mary Magdalene, a character in the New Testament, was named thus because she was from Magdala - a village on the Sea of Galilee whose name meant "tower" in Hebrew. She was cleaned of evil spirits by Jesus and then remained with him during his ministry, witnessing the crucifixion and the resurrection. She was a popular saint in the Middle Ages, and the name became common then. In England it is traditionally rendered Madeline, while Magdalene or Magdalen is the learned form.








Thomas from The Maze Runner by James Dashner



meaning:

Greek form of the Aramaic name תָּאוֹמָא (Ta'oma') which meant "twin". In the New Testament this is the name of the apostle who initially doubts the resurrected Jesus. According to tradition he was martyred in India. Due to his renown, the name came into general use in the Christian world.









Linh Cinder from Cinder by Marissa Meyer



meaning: The name Linh is originally from Vietnam and its meaning is spring. It is usually given to girls. There is no enough recorded information on the name and therefore is challenging to determine whether the name is popular.















Cassie Sullivan from The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey



meaning: It is of Greek origins. Its meaning is Purity; unheeded prophetess. In Homer's 'The Iliad' Cassandra's prediction of the fall of Troy was unheeded
.

The Myths Behind the Most Famous Paranormal Creatures 4 - Fairies

Welcome to the fourths The Myths Behind the Most Famous Paranormal Creatures. Today, we are talking about fairies.

Fay based stories are definitely a trend lately, and by lately I mean the past few years, and they have a strong connection with fairies so let's start with them.

Name Decoder: Moms

Renée from Twilight by Stephenie Meyer



meaning: The name Renee is from French origins. In French the meaning of the name Renee is reborn.

Mrs. Molly Weasley from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling


meaning: It is of Irish and Latin origin, and the meaning of Molly is "star of the sea". Pet form of Mary. In use since the late Middle Ages. In the past, "moll" had meant a pro****e or a gangster's girlfriend, making the use of this name uncommon.

Maggie Gardner from Unearthly by Cynthia Hand



meaning: It is of English origin. Short form of Margaret (Greek) "pearl". Used as an independent name in the late 19th century. Popular now due to revival of interest in "old-fashioned" names.

Blythe Grey from Hush, hush by Becca Fitzpatrick



meaning: Blythe as a girl's name (also used as boy's name), is pronounced bleeth. It is of Old English origin, and the meaning of Blythe is "blithe, cheerful, carefree". Modern coinage, though possibly linked to the transferred use of the surname from the word "blithe" during the Middle Ages.

Natalie Prior from Divergent by Veronica Roth


meaning: It is of Latin origin, and the meaning of Natalie is "birthday". Refers to the birthday of Christ, or Christmas. French form of Natalya. There was a fourth-century Saint Natalia. The "h" is silent in the French form Nathalie; some American variants (like Nathalee) are phonetically spelled to retain the "h" sound.