Book Review: Impossible

By Nancy Werlin

Lucy Scarborough is only 17, but she carries the burden of a curse that has already struck down several women in her family. Each of her afflicted ancestors failed at completing three seemingly impossible tasks, and each succumbed to madness at the birth of her first child. Facing this tragic fate, Lucy braces herself for a losing battle. Mercifully, she has allies in her struggle: intensely sympathetic foster parents and her loyal childhood friend Zach.

Why I read it: This was something I picked up randomly at the library. I guess I just liked the cover; I’m a big fan of covers with girls in pretty dresses. :)

What I liked: This book had a really original premise. It deals with the song Scarborough Fair, which I’ve always loved. Unfortunately, if I told you much about the premise it would kind of spoil the story. I read too many reviews beforehand, so I already knew a lot of what was going to happen. My advice to you is, don’t read reviews (other than this one). Just go and read the book. You’ll like it a lot better if you don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ll just say that I really enjoyed the way this book combined genres, like romance and a sort of paranormal/fairy story… it was quite clever.

What I disliked: From the premise, this could have been a four or five star book. Unfortunately, it lost major points in the writing category. For starters, it was written in third person, switching POVs between the MCs. Normally I love this, but in this book all the characters sounded the same. The teens sounded too old and the adults sounded too young.

The plot also moved really sporadically. Sometimes it was too slow, like when the MC has to accomplish three tasks, and with 50 pages left she’s finally starting on the second one. The romance moved too quickly: just 90 pages after figuring out that he likes her, the MC is already marrying a guy (I won’t tell you who, but it’s pretty obvious from the very beginning).

The characters were okay. I didn’t hate any of them, but didn’t really care that much either, probably because of the third person narrative. The villain was barely present and it was made way too obvious that he was the villain right from the beginning. I normally don’t complain about character’s names, but the foster mom’s name was Soledad. It took me forever to realize that she was a woman, and I never really got used to it.

From a Christian Perspective: The MCs in this book are both not religious, so there isn’t much religious content, just one scene where they talk about how they don’t believe anything. There is a teen who gets pregnant and chooses not to abort, but her decision is based more on some weird promotion rather than a pro-life conviction. There was a little swearing, but not very much. In terms of sexual content, it was as clean as could possibly be expected from a book dealing with teen pregnancy. Married characters have sex (it’s not described at all) and there is a rape (which is also skimmed over).

To buy or not to buy: I personally won’t buy this because romance isn’t really my thing. Romance lovers, however, may really enjoy the unique twists in Impossible.

Classic of the Week: Roverandom

Since I’ve been reading a lot of classic books/poems/short stories/plays for literature classes, I decided I’d like to share some of them with you. I’ve also decided to try and read a lot of older stories over the summer, rather than just reading YA. I’m not sure exactly what my definition of ‘Classic’ will be, but it will range from Homer up to Tolkien and other 20^th century writers.

Speaking of Tolkien… I’ve decided that my first post is going to be on one of Tolkien’s little known works:

Roverandom

This is a delightful little story, short enough to be read in an hour or two (my version was only 92 pages). Tolkein wrote it after his son lost a little toy dog at the beach during a family vacation. According to Tolkien, the toy dog was actually a real dog that was enchanted by a wizard and became a toy. He then came to Tolkien’s son, was lost, got turned back into a real dog and had all sorts of adventures before he came back home.

Since this was composed and then written down for children its idea is fairly simple and reminiscent of a fairy tale. Roverandom is simply trying to return home rather than saving the universe or anything like that. It’s also not terribly fast paced; despite it’s shortness I read it over about a week. It’s certainly not like anything you’d find in the YA section of a bookstore.

And that’s okay. I absolutely loved Tolkien’s whimsical style, so different then commercial fiction. It was so relaxing to read about Roverandom’s strange adventures, fighting spiders on the moon or swimming at the bottom of the sea. Maybe it’s a kid’s book, but I certainly enjoyed it.

One thing I did love was that Tolkien puts in references to many other works. There were many allusions to Norse Mythology (I didn’t really catch those… I need to take a mythology course) and at one point Roverandom sees the shores of Faery land, also known as Valinor, the land of the Elves mentioned in The Silmarilion. As a die-hard Tolkien fan, I loved these references.

In short, Roverandom is a classic that is a really quick, fun read. It’s the perfect thing to read to little siblings or kids you’re babysitting, but also to enjoy yourself. I’d recommend it to anyone seeking an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. 

Why Beginning Writers Should Learn to Plot

I’ll admit it: I’m a die-hard plotter. Before I wrote WANDER, my outline document filled with character sketches and minor plot outlines clocked in at 45,000 words. It was pretty much a novel in itself. This allowed me to write the entire story in just 19 days, because I already knew what was going to happen. Now, I know some people just can’t outline, and that’s fine. Many of my favourite published books are written by ‘pantsers’. However, I think some skill in outlining would greatly benefit many beginning writers. Here’s why.

Often times when people hear about all their favourite authors writing without an outline, they think ‘I can do that too!’ and so they pull out pen and paper and start writing. Five pages later, the story is already fizzling out. Why? Because they don’t know their characters, or their setting or the conflict. Even pantsers have a pretty good idea of these three things before they start writing. Remember this: Plotting may not be essential, but you need to have a good idea of Characters, Setting and Conflict. Even pantsers do some work ahead of time, especially figuring out their characters.

If you’re writing any sort of mystery or suspense, or basically any novel that has a secret revealed near the end, you’ll need some sort of lead up to it. A classic example would be the detective novel, where all the clues are there for the reader, but it’s only at the end that everything comes to a climax and the secret is revealed. In most novels there will be some sort of big revelation at the end, and some sort of foreshadowing earlier on. I enjoy plotting ahead of time, because that way I can put the foreshadowing in when I’m writing the appropriate scene, rather than forcing it in later to an already completed manuscript.

The main thing I enjoy about plotting is that it forces you to figure out the key areas of Characters, Setting and Conflict. You need to know your characters because you’re planning their actions. You need to know the setting, especially if it’s fantasy or a book that involves travelling. And most importantly, plotting forces you to figure out the true conflict of the story and allows you to plan scenes in order so that the pacing all works out.

Plotting certainly isn’t for everybody. Maybe you just really aren’t a plotter. But if you’re currently struggling with a first draft that isn’t going anywhere, or have five incomplete novels in your drawer, or a story with a main character who seems to be constantly changing, then it may well be a good idea to sit down and write up a bit of an outline. 

New Posting Schedule and IMM

Since it's summer for me, and my posting has been so much more frequent already, I decided I might as well start a new schedule. Here it is: 


Sun- ------
Mon- IMM
Tues- Random writing tip
Wed- Spotlight on a Classic
Thurs- Book Review
Fri- -----
Sat- How to get published


And since today is a Monday, that means it's time for IMM. Nothing physically arrived in my mailbox this week, but I visited the library, and I have a friend who's lending me a book.

I actually just finished it last night. Let's just say that I have really mixed feeling about this book, and a really long review is coming soon. 

I'm currently reading this. It's a book on teen pregnancy, which is normally not the sort of thing I'd read, but it's based on the song Scarborough Fair, which I've always loved, so it intrigued me.

This is a sequel to a companion novel of Ender's Game, which, if you haven't read it already, you really should. Orson Scott Card writes extremely good Sci-Fi.

This is a mystery set in a remote part of Canada, both of which make me really hope it's good. I love mysteries, and stories set in Canada are more relateable to me. I've read some not so positive reviews for it, though, so I'm not sure if I'll care for it. 

Over to you... is there anything you'd like to see more of on my blog? Any books you'd like me to review, or writing issues I should address? Have you read any of the books IMM? And what's on your reading list this week?

How to Get Published 2: Dealing with Feedback

If you’ve ever written anything in your life, chances are you’ve received feedback. This can range from a teacher’s scribbled notes in the margins of an essay, to a friend’s enthusiastic ‘I LOVE THIS!’ after reading a chapter of your story, to a professional editor’s suggested revisions on your novel. Writing, whether fiction or non-fiction, is a process intricately connected with receiving feedback. Getting comments and criticisms from teachers or peers is one of the best ways to improve your writing.

A professional novelist is going to get feedback of many different kinds, from crazy fans who absolutely love their work to book reviewers who hate it. That’s just the way things will be. There will always be someone who likes your work, and always someone who will hate it. I’ve seen stories in the top five on inkpop that I thought were absolute trash, but they had nothing but positive comments.

So, as a yet-unpublished novelist, what do you do with critiques?

1.       Develop a thick skin. Most people will give well-balanced critiques, but they will always be some who will completely bash your work. Get used to saying ‘It’s just their opinion’ and then learn from it.

2.       Get more than one opinion. Sometimes people will have drastically different opinions, so it’s best to get as many as possible and kind of average them.

3.       Pay attention to who is giving the feedback. Obviously, a professional agent deserves more attention than your six year old sister.

4.       Even professionals can be ‘wrong’. When HarperCollins reviewed ‘Because You Laughed’ they said that changing the ending might make it better. However, everyone on inkpop liked the ending as it was. I’ve decided not to change it.

5.       Don’t get too attached to your story. Especially if you started your story a long time ago, you may need to make major changes to both characters and plot, not just minor writing edits.

6.       If (when!) you get negative critiques, give yourself a little time to rant about it, then go back and see what you can learn.

Hopefully, if your critiquers are nice people, the reason they’re reading your story is to help you improve. Even the most negative critiques can come from people who are genuinely trying to help, but just went a little overboard. It’s then your job as the author to use their suggestions well and make your story stronger because of them. And remember... as the picture to the left says, the only way to avoid criticism is to stop writing. 

Over to you… any other tips for dealing with feedback? Do you have any stories about receiving critiques? I’d love to hear from you, so leave a comment!

The Name Game

One thing that every single fiction writer has to do is find names for their characters. This could be as simple as using your own names (I'll admit it: I've written at least two stories using myself as a character.) or it could be an agonizing process where absolutely nothing seems to fit.

Right now, I'm in the latter stage. I spent all afternoon pouring over baby names on websites and a friend was helping me out on twitter, but so far I haven't come up with a name that just clicked. I have a vague idea of the character in my head, and nothing has fit her perfectly. It's either too sophisticated or too boring or old fashioned or too flowery...

Before now, names haven't been hard. The character of Wander, actually, was created to fit her name. I remember searching for Ida's name, and the instant I found it I knew it was right. In 'Because You Laughed' the MC was originally named Maddie; not an ugly name by any means, but fairly nondescript. Her name doesn't actually appear in the manuscript at all, but it'll still always be Maddie to me. :)

My favourite way to find names is to think of a couple words to describe the character. For my new story, a couple would be: Strong, Cheerful and Spider (don't ask!). If you're using an internet database of names (it's easy to find one with Google) then you can often search for meaning. Aside from that, when I think of 'strong' I think of names beginning with 'strong' sounds, like K or T. If I think of cheerful, I might try ones beginning with vowels (I found a lot of 'A' names I like.) And as for Spider, I could chose 'Arachne' which means Spider, or I could go and find a name beginning with S, which could evoke a certain sinister feeling if used correctly...

I think the most important thing about a name is that you, personally, as a writer, have to feel like it is the character. You don't necessarily have to have it on your list of 'Names for my kids whenever I have them'. You don't even really need to like it. For instance, I would never think of naming my kid Phoebe, but for some strange reason I think it just might fit this MC...

That's enough rambling from me. Any thoughts on naming your characters? Do you find it hard to name your MCs? Is it easier to name a minor character? Have you ever given a character a name you loved, and then it turns out people hated it?

On Parents and Evil Villains

It’s so easy to make someone seem worse than they are. It’s so much harder to make them better.

Like that quote? I just made it up. I’ll probably work on paring it down and making it more concise, but for now, the message stands. If you’re a writer, I assume you’ve written both good and bad characters. Which is easier? I’d much rather write a scene with a completely evil bad guy, instead of the good MC. It’s so hard to make a likeable MC, someone that pretty much every reader will identify with, and so much easier to create an evil villain.

I came up with the idea for this post this morning when my mom was giving me a slight talking-to. If I was writing that scene in a story it would be so easy to make my mom into a villain. I’d just need to use a couple well chosen words and my mom would seem like some monster who’s constantly nagging me to clean up my room and who’s paranoid that there’ll be drinking at a party this Friday and who doesn’t trust my driving. How many teen books have you read with parents like that?

The thing is, my mom isn’t at all like that. She’s not a nag. She’s not paranoid (at least, not more than any good mother should be) and she trusts my driving. She’s the best mom ever and I love her so much… but with words I could make her out to be something terrible without even exaggerating events (much).

 

That’s just a little scary, isn’t it? It’s so easy to give the wrong impression. And it’s so easy to be negative. When you write a story, how many evil/annoying characters do you have? Are the parents portrayed as paranoid and restricting? Are the ‘Mean Girls’ just another cliché clique? Is the bad guy a faceless evil?

The impression we get of your characters completely depends on the events that you decide to show. If I only told you about the times when my mom was annoyed with me then she’d come across as a nasty person, but I’d be skipping the 90% of the time when she puts up with me being annoying to her. To give a fair portrayal of my mom, I’d need to show her as loving and sympathetic most of the time, and whenever I showed her in a ‘worse’ light I’d have to explain that really, she’s probably justified in ‘nagging’ me to clean up my room.

If you have a Mean Girl in your story, why not try giving her one short scene where she does something nice for a change? Maybe your villain actually has a weak spot, or the evil stepmother turns out to love birds…

It’s your choice. Just remember that characters are more interesting when they’re not completely bad.