Category: Distractions

These posts are just distractions from the stress of writing. They include funny stories, photos, jokes, puzzles, book recommendations and reviews, etc.

Genres II: Age Groups

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve read a wide range of genres lately. I’ve dabbled in a little of everything from memoir to fantasy and beyond. However, that’s not the only genre classification I’ve been blind to. Age groups are also used to classify literature, from children’s literature to young adult (YA) and adult. I, personally, ignore such genre restrictions when reading. From Dr. Seuss to Harry Potter all the way to Anna James Watson’s Blackmail, I really don’t care about age groups. If I want to read it, I’ll read it. If I like it, I like it.

Not everyone approaches reading with such abandon. Some people are real sticklers for age groups, with kids reading children’s books, adults reading adult books, and pre-teens and teens reading Middle Grade and YA. But are those realistic expectations?

No, no they’re not.

First of all, it’s almost impossible to define the genre of a book based on age groups. Yes, some age-based genres are more easily defined than others. Erotica like Blackmail clearly belongs in the adult group, and picture books like Dr. Seuss’s works can safely be defined as children’s books. What about Harry Potter? The books start off more as children’s books but, arguably, the dark tones and mature themes they later take on can be considered YA.


In the UK, there are “adult” covers for Harry Potter so that older readers won’t be embarrassed to be seen reading them in public.

Image retrieved from Quora

The Hunger Games? The Giver? Post-apocalyptic YA often teeters between YA with adult themes and adult books with YA-style writing. The Catcher in the Rye? Not everyone likes their YA with such vulgarity and others would claim that it’s a necessary part of the coming-of-age element which helps define the genre.

I’m sure that many will argue that these books more clearly fit into their age groups then I’m saying. That’s fine. I’d love for someone to spark an articulate debate about the matter. My point remains that books don’t often fit neatly into their age groups. This difficulty rings especially true for children’s book, as I learned in my undergraduate Children’s Literature course.

The second wrench in the “divide by age groups” campaign is a two-parter: people read at different levels and all the age groups bring their own special joy to readers.

I’ve always been an advanced reader. I was already reading in kindergarten and had to be set aside with tasks like writing down the alphabet so that I wouldn’t distract the other kids. I started reading Anne McCaffrey’s The Dragonriders of Pern and Jack London’s works when I was in the fifth grade. My mom was the same way and so was my oldest brother. We’re avid readers and that made us more advanced readers, too.

Many of my friends were also advanced readers as kids. We probably aren’t the best judges of age-based limitations because we’re not the average reader. We read at a higher level than the standard for ages, while other people read at a lower level than average. There’s nothing wrong with it; it’s just who we are. Still, the very fact that we must read outside of our age groups to feel properly stimulating demonstrates the difficulty of such classification.

Of course, our reading level doesn’t matter as much as our reading preference. While I can read at a high reading level, I often read Middle Grade and YA novels. In addition to being a Harry Potter fanatic, I love Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, and The Chronicles of Narnia.

Books intended for younger age groups offer a lot of entertainment value and make for a much more relaxing read. They can also make us think about the world around us without us realizing that’s what we are doing. Books for older age groups, on the other hand, more thoroughly explore themes established in younger books and address those situations which people find too “adult” for younger readers. The higher-level writing forces us to think more, and the novels stick with us for long after we’ve finished reading.

Some people are snobs about age groups, some secretly read younger books, and others–like myself–read whatever they want without caring who sees. The idea of what’s appropriate for which age groups is ever-changing and hard to define. No matter the age of their intended audiences, all books have their merits. So long as you want to read it, you should; it doesn’t matter if you read Dr. Seuss, Victor Hugo, or something in between. Go where your interests lie.

What are your thoughts? Should readers only read in their age group, or should we feel free to read whatever we want (at least once we’re 18)? Start a discussion, drop a line in the comments.

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

The Intentional Fallacy, or Authorial Intent

Go ahead, English Literature majors, groan. I’m actually going to talk about “The Intentional Fallacy”. I’m a nerd, what did you expect? I didn’t really like modern literary theory as an undergrad but I wouldn’t be doing literature justice if I ignored it entirely.

For those who don’t know, “The Intentional Fallacy” is an essay written by New Criticism literary theorists W.K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley circa 1946. The essay argues, in essence, that the author’s intent when writing a work is impossible to know and highly undesirable when analyzing said work. What the author meant to say and what the writing actually says may be two entirely different things, especially when considering that many readers interpret texts differently, and so the author’s intent is negligible. If you want to know more, you can start with this Wikipedia entry on authorial intent. Beyond that, there are many resources you can explore, including the essay itself, but the Wikipedia entry provides a basic understanding.

We try so often to argue that an author meant this or that when we’re analyzing his/her work, but there’s a reason professors won’t let us get away with phrasing essays that way. It’s virtually impossible to know what a writer meant. We can’t step back in time and ask Herman Melville what he meant to say when writing Moby-Dick or what Percy Shelley tried to express in his poem “Ozymandias”. Even contemporary documents, such as letters and journals, may be unreliable.

Someone will probably counter that the prominence of social media allows modern writers, such as J.K. Rowling and Stephen King, to make their intent better-known. Does that mean we should utilize their intent in our analysis? That’s where we step into murkier waters.


Image retrieved from “The Problem of Authors”

In my critical honors thesis, “The Dumbledore Conundrum: The Presentation of Homosexuality in Harry Potter and the Production of Slash Fanfiction”, I address J.K. Rowling’s announcement regarding Dumbledore’s sexuality as a springboard for my overall argument. However, that does not serve as the sole–or the main–basis for my claims. I delve into textual analysis of both the books and the resulting fanfiction, theories regarding such topics as sexuality and the effects of children’s literature, and readers’ reactions to Rowling’s announcement. Certainly Rowling’s intent sparked a conversation but it does not drive the entire analysis of her books. Rather, readers compare and contrast their interpretations with her intention, thoroughly exploring the text for proof either supporting or disputing her claim.

Does such an argument fall under intentional fallacy? It’s possible. After all, the initial question behind the analysis relies on Rowling’s intention. However, the continuation of the argument relies on a much wider range of factors, including existing theories and textual evidence.

With the rise of writers’ presence and discussion of their own works on social media, we are met with an intriguing question: does the intentional fallacy still apply when studying 21st-century authors?

I don’t have a straightforward answer. The literary theorist in me wants to say yes. After all, writing is like any other form of art; the writer’s intention may have led to the creation but that isn’t what’s necessarily being expressed by the piece itself. Still, the curious reader in me wants to say that it’s not that simple. A writer’s intention may expose a side of his/her work that we simply hadn’t considered before but, now that it’s been brought to our attention, we see it everywhere.

I suppose my answer is this: authorial intent can start a conversation about the work but should not be primary evidence for any of the ensuing arguments. An author’s intent can be an interesting factoid and shed new light on his/her work but it does not prove that the work conveys that intent. Take what a writer says about his/her own writing with a grain of salt, especially when trying to formulate an argument about the piece.

What’s your opinion on the intentional fallacy? Does it still apply? Does social media and the Internet at large complicate matters? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

August Monthly Giveaway

Happy Friday, folks. Today I’m announcing the August monthly giveaway, available only to readers who also subscribe to The Writer’s Scrap Bin’s newsletter, The Scrapbook.

For this month’s giveaway, I want to provide a prize which can also help struggling writers to progress on their paths to becoming published. I will, for the month of August only, be extending to The Scrapbook subscribers the opportunity to have their work critiqued by me for free. If you sign up for the newsletter and follow the instructions provided in the August e-mail, I will read and critique your short story, a section of your novel, or an essay/memoir up to 10,000 words in length. (Unfortunately, I cannot critique poetry because I do not feel I have the grasp on that genre well enough to provide useful remarks.)

I typically charge $10 or more for this service on Fiverr, depending on the length of the manuscript. I have extensive experience editing and proofreading, particularly in providing feedback. I have taken several creative writing courses throughout my academic career and those classes always included a workshop element, so I know how to provide critique while remaining kind and building the writer up instead of tearing him/her down.

Right now I can only promise one round of revisions as the prize for this giveaway, but I may be persuaded to participate in multiple revisions. Of course, you will also be able to ask me as many questions as you have regarding my feedback for free.

If you are interested in this prize, please sign up for The Scrapbook using the link provided in the website menu.

Have any ideas for future monthly giveaways? Any questions about this giveaway or the newsletter? Feel free to drop a line in the comments or e-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com.

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Book Reviews: Sister of Echo: The Making of a Villain (Part Two)

Trigger Warning: The book reviewed here depicts sex, rape, heavy amounts of gore, and regular use of profanity. Slavery, abuse, and torture also serve pivotal roles in the plot. If you have any sensitivities toward such subjects or otherwise take offense to them, proceed with caution.

Warning: This review contains spoilers for the first book, Sister of Echo: The Making of a Villain (Part One). Do not continue reading unless you have read Part One.

Today I’m reviewing Sister of Echo: The Making of a Villain (Part Two), the second installment in the Sister of Echo: The Making of a Villain series by Ameel Koro.

When we last left the world of Sister of Echo, Alina’s secret identity as a vampire had been revealed to Corina and Cotiso, and Alina’s jealousy had driven a wedge between her and Sinna. At the beginning of this new adventure, the company is trying to leave Artucia when soldiers stop them to take Corina and Alina back to the arena for another round of slave fights. The questions on everyone’s mind: Why are they being dragged into another competition? And by whom?

Little do Alina and her friends know, the competition has been arranged to force Alina’s return. Cordillia, the richest woman in the city and leader of Artucia, believes that she knows what Alina is. She longs to meet the young woman, show her off to the other nobles, and reunite Alina with their kind. But is Alina what Cordillia thinks she is? Are Cordillia and her children really what the readers are lead to believe? When mysteries start unraveling, what will become of Alina and the rest of the company?

Image retrieved from Amazon

Over the following 210 pages, Koro throws readers through a series of twists, losses, torture, and just as many new questions as answers. We travel deeper into the social construct of slavery, Dacian religion, and a world of mythical beings which you can’t begin to imagine. With vivid imagery, a compelling plot, and heart-pounding action, it’s almost impossible to put this installment down until the very end.

I’m happy that, despite some minor reservations, I continued with the second book of the series. Sister of Echo: The Making of a Villain (Part Two) far exceeded my expectations based on Part One. Koro utilizes the social hierarchy and religious beliefs of the time more to the story’s advantage in regards to world development, character development, and plot. The characters of Alina and Corina also gain more depth with Alina becoming a more realistic person and Corina growing more emotionally complex.

Unfortunately, new elements introduced in this book overshadow much of the premise set by the first book, which left me with a lack of resolution. Alina’s jealousy drove her away from Sinna by the end of Part One, but Sinna still plays too little of a role in this book given how “in love” the two supposedly were. In fact, I am given serious reason to suspect that Alina may not have actually had real feelings for Sinna at all, but this suspicion may have been by design. Even Corina questions Alina’s love for Sinna, and Sinna’s ultimate fate remains a mystery. Could Sinna still be Alina’s happy ending? Or is that just an illusion? Oddly, this question of Alina’s true feelings made me more interested in the relationship than when they acted lovey-dovey in the first story.

Other characters also get too little time on the page in this book. Tati and Cotiso, while in the first few chapters of the book, seem to fall away with their fates revealed only in dialogue. Other characters, including Tsuri, receive such treatment, although I did not have such an objection with them because they did not serve much a role in the first place. I feel that Tati and Cotiso deserved more of an ending, and Cotiso’s ending deserved more of an emotional impact. Tati, at least, had an effect on Corina. Still, too many of these events take place off-screen, so to speak. Even much of the torture, with the exception of the introduction to Cornel and his “experiments” on Alina, appears to the reader in exposition.

The amount of exposition aside, the imagery improved significantly with this book and even as the novel progressed. Things get dark and gory quickly, but that’s one of the things I liked about this book over the first. With “The Making of a Villain” in the title, one expects things to grow dark and bloody. A lot more action appears in Part Two as well, allowing for more displays of Alina’s powers and the powers of her foes.

Most importantly to me, however, is the character growth which Alina and Corina experience. We see much more of Alina’s heartless side in this installment, and much more of Corina’s twisted and, strangely, vulnerable sides. While I started to hate Alina as a person, she actually seemed like a real person. The naïve, innocent pretty-girl act in the first book made her a rather flat character. In this book, we see just what Alina will do to stay alive and, in a much different way than in the first story, how ignorant she is to human interactions. I understand her and I pity her but I also hate her, which is the sign of a good character; I have conflicting feelings for her, as I would with someone like her in real life. On the other hand, I began to like Corina even more. She is still crude and self-centered, but she also displays sparks of true human emotion underneath that crusty exterior.

Sister of Echo: The Making of a Villain (Part Two) is not a perfect book. I identified several proofreading errors throughout the e-book. I also wish that Koro would ease up on the exposition, especially since readers would be able to infer much of it from the action and visual cues. Some of the more modern elements of the language, such as the “yeah” which persisted throughout the first book, have been corrected. Still, the writing maintains a modern element which I can’t quite identify and, honestly, don’t know how to fix. It may be the (what I consider to be) overuse of profanity throughout the story, or it may be a personal writing taste. The number of exclamation marks in the narration also annoyed me. I’m OK with exclamation marks used prudently in dialogue; in the narration, it can border on a slapstick feel.

Overall, I really recommend this book for lovers of epic fantasy. Koro introduced me to a species of mythical creatures that I never would have imagined myself, and I’m eager to continue to the next book.

Be sure to check back for my next review, Sister of Echo: The Making of a Villain (Part Three).

Do you know of any books I should read or review? Want me to review a book you’ve published? Contact me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com or look me up on Fiverr.

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Reviewing Opportunity: OnlineBookClub.org

Good day, readers and writers; it’s Friday once again. Today I wanted to present you with an opportunity unlike the writing contests and publishing opportunities I’ve brought you in the past. Namely, I’m going to talk about a website called the Online Book Club.

If you follow me on social media, you’ve already seen my plethora of posts related to the website’s Book of the Day and the (one) review I’ve published through them thus far. I signed up for the website when I received an invitation through a Twitter direct message, and I’m pretty glad that I grabbed that chance. Not only have I been exposed to a wider range of books but I’ve also learned of a couple opportunities which would help an avid reader/writer earn some extra bucks.

The Online Book Club offers two unique possibilities for its users: to review books and to have your book reviewed. Of course, you can join the website for the sole purpose of their free or discounted Books of the Day and to talk with other readers. However, you can also choose to earn some extra cash as a reviewer or gain some exposure as a writer. Note that it is an either/or situation; you cannot both be a reviewer for the website and ask your book be reviewed because it’s a potential conflict of interest.

The reviews, at first, only give you the books for free in return. You have to climb the ranks through posts on the Book of the Month forums, published reviews, and the number of viewers and replies to your reviews. Nevertheless, it doesn’t take long to reach a paying level if you put a little time into it. I recently reached the minimum-payment books and am currently working on a $5 review.

You can also earn money through the Twitter Retweet Rewards Board, which involves retweeting, liking, and replying to the pinned Tweet on their account every day. In addition, they run a daily giveaway based on the Book of the Day, with the base prize being a $10 Amazon gift card ($20 if you have at least 25 posts).

There are many more details to each of these categories and I don’t have any experience with getting a book reviewed on the site, so I’m going to leave a link here for you to check out yourself. While your there, check out my review of Mois Benarroch’s poetry collection The Immigrant’s Lament.

Know of any interesting exposure, publishing, or money-making opportunities for fellow writers? Drop a line in the comments or e-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com.

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Writer Interviews: Rich Marcello

I’m starting the week with an exciting new feature: writer interviews. In this series I will conduct interviews with writers across the spectrum, from poets to fiction authors, self-published writers to the traditionally-published. I will ask them about their writing and publishing experiences, their advice to fellow writers, and their opinions on hot-button issues. For the first interview, author Rich Marcello has graciously taken time from his busy schedule to answer some questions via e-mail.

Rich Marcello: author, poet, creative writing teacher

Image retrieved from Amazon

You may remember Marcello from my review of his novel The Beauty of the Fall. In addition to The Beauty of the Fall, Marcello has penned two other novels (The Big Wide Calm and The Color of Home), writes poetry, teaches creative writing at Seven Bridges’ Writer Collaborative, and is an accomplished songwriter and musician. With a history in the technology industry, Rich Marcello is the perfect example of how you don’t need a literary or humanities background to write and tackle today’s biggest issues.

 

Let’s start with a question about your career background. The biography on your website says that you’re a poet, songwriter/musician, author, and creative writing teacher. However, you were also previously a technology executive who managed several businesses for Fortune 500 companies. Why and how did you make the leap from technology and management to writing and teaching?

When I was in college, my humanities professor told me I wrote well and offered to teach me how to write novels.  I was broke at the time, and though I loved writing, I decided to make money instead.  That’s why I went into hi-tech.  It turned out that I loved technology as well, and I thrived in that environment for a time. During my technology career, I wrote songs and poems and dabbled every now and again with writing stories, but there wasn’t enough time to do a full novel.  Finally, I reached a point where I had to make a choice: either finish out my career in technology or return to my first love ––writing.  I chose writing, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made.

 

Many aspiring writers come from a variety of educational and career backgrounds, from journalism and a Bachelor’s in English to marketing and a Bachelor’s in Economics. What advice do you have for writers coming from non-literary backgrounds?

Probably to accept the 10,000-hour rule.  When you are accomplished in one field and, as part of that field or because of some innate ability, you write well, you believe the transition to writing fiction will be easy.  But it’s actually like any profession ( well, okay, maybe harder).  You need to learn your craft and it takes a good ten thousand hours to get to a place where you can write a competent novel.  Along the way, be kind to yourself.  Writing a novel is the most difficult thing you will ever do and it will change you for the better if you are patience and stick with it.

 

What advice do you have for writers overall?

Write the first draft of any scene quickly so you get all of the core emotion in it.  Then edit the scene at least five times to flesh it out.  I even use this Five Time Rule with my students and all agree it works well.

 

Which writers have influenced you the most? Which books/poems?

I love Milan Kundera, Walker Percy, Thomas Pynchon, Mary Oliver, Audre Lorde, Kay Ryan, and Alice Walker.  I’ve read all of their books and would say they’ve influenced me the most.  I particularly like The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

 

Your prose strikes me as very poetic. Would you say that writing as a poet has affected your novel writing? How?

Poetry has had a huge impact on my novels mostly at the sentence level.  There are times when I will spend hours on a sentence (really) just to make sure that it is poetic enough.  I don’t do that all of the time, but there are places in novels where poetic language feels right, and when it does, I use it either as part of the prose or by adding an explicit piece of poetry or a song lyric.

 

Dan in The Beauty of the Fall seems to be partially based on your past as a technology executive, at least in regards to his career. You also reference many real Fortune 500 companies and several are clearly influenced by real companies (Peach and PhotoPhotobook come to mind). How did you handle the delicate balance between the “reality” in your novel and the fiction?

I rarely use real life incidents in my books, but I do draw on my expertise or the expertise of my friends or colleagues. I find that my best writing comes when I develop characters who in one way of another cross boundaries that I haven’t crossed in my own life.  In The Beauty of the Fall, it was important for Dan to have a lot of technology and management expertise, so I did draw on my time in tech to shape that aspect of his character.  Also, with Willow, I spent a year on the Board of Directors of a Domestic Violence non-profit so I could accurately develop her character.

 

Conversationworks involves many technological and societal leaps in order to thrive. Do you think that such feats are achievable in today’s world?

Well, the technology isn’t available today to build Conversationworks, but it will be in say twenty or thirty years.  With that said, the world we live in is so polarized that we certainly could use Conversationworks today. One of the reasons I chose to end the book on a hopeful note is because I’m firmly convinced we need something like Conversationworks to help move the human race forward.

 

The Beauty of the Fall deals with many controversial issues, including violence against women, self-harm, and ethics in business and technology. Was it difficult to write about these subjects? How did you navigate the tricky obstacle of depicting the heavy truth of these issues while still making the novel palatable for readers?

I’ve always been drawn to the big questions in life, so no, writing about these things was not difficult.  In many ways, I feel one of my roles as a writer is to shed light on difficult topics and to do it in a way that resonates with readers.  With that said, it is tricky to get the balance right.  Because Conversationworks was designed to facilitate difficult conversations, I was able to use it as the primary vehicle for some of the more difficult conversations in the book. In that sense, The Beauty of the Fall provided me with a unique opportunity to go a little more into heavy truth.

 

Finally, what do you think is the biggest issue facing the writing/publishing industry today? Should we be more concerned about the business issues, such as profitability of books and the e-book versus paper book debate, or social worries, such as representation in the writers and topics we print?

Well, the short answer is both.  In general, it’s harder and harder for a writer to make a living as a writer. Most of the writers I know have other jobs because they don’t make enough to support themselves or their families. So what happens is they look for ways to get their book sales up and that often means compromising their art.  In general, much like Conversationworks revolutionized technology, there’s a need for a revolution in the publishing business, one that helps empower writers to create more art during a difficult time in the history of the human race and compensates them appropriately for doing so.

I want to thank Marcello once again for taking time for this interview. You can learn more about Rich Marcello on his website and buy his novels through Amazon.

Also remember that the first $25,000 in profits from The Beauty of the Fall will be donated to the domestic violence organization Bridges. For more information and to donate, please visit the donation page.

What are your thoughts on Marcello’s advice? Do you know of any writers I should interview or books I should review? Drop a line in the comments or e-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com.

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Writers on Writing: Anne Rice

Well readers, it’s almost Thursday. Two days stand between us and the weekend. To help you pull through it, I’ve decided to discuss a rather encouraging quote on writing by beloved Gothic and supernatural.paranormal writer Anne Rice.

Image retrieved from Anne Rice’s Facebook page

For those who don’t know, Anne Rice is a popular author best known for The Vampire Chronicles and the iconic Lestat, known lovingly by fans as the “Brat Prince.” She also wrote The Witching Hour and other books about the Mayfair Witches, The Wolf Gift Chronicles, the Sleeping Beauty erotica series, and Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, on which the 2016 film The Young Messiah is based.

I hate to admit this but I have yet to read any of Rice’s books. I know, I know, how can I be a fan of the supernatural/paranormal and Gothic genres in this day and age if I haven’t read The Vampire Chronicles? I could defend myself by saying that I’ve seen both Interview with a Vampire and The Queen of the Damned but I know as well as every other reader or writer that the movies can never hold a candle to the books. I plan to read and review Memnoch the Devil before the summer is over, and my mother is a huge Anne Rice fan.

I do, however, follow Rice on social media for the interesting news articles she posts and her invaluable advice on writing and succeeding in the publishing industry.

I decided to focus on the following quote, advice which she has posted many times and re-posted on her Facebook page the other day:

In your writing, go where the pain is; go where the excitement is. Believe in your own original approach, voice, characters, story. Ignore the critics. Have nerve. Be stubborn.

–Anne Rice

We all know that, at its core, writing is an act of courage. Writers dig deep into their psyche, their emotions, and harness that raw power to create something that, hopefully, someone will want to read. All writers put a chunk of their souls into their work, no matter the subject matter or genre. That’s how all creative types do, whether they’re writers, painters, architects, or even scientists. That’s why we take negative feedback so personally.

It takes courage to experiment in writing and to continue writing what you love. Step too far outside the box and the work will be pushed aside, sometimes ridiculed. Stay too far inside the box and the work will be ignored and labelled “cliché.” If readers have become accustomed to you writing in one genre, stepping outside of it may alienate them (which is why some writers opt to use pen names). If you stick with your preferred genre too long, you’ll be called a one-trick pony and forever associated with that genre, for better or for worse.

People will judge you so long as you’re brave enough to put your work out there.

That’s why Rice’s words are so potent. Writers must dig deep and go where they have the most passion, whether that passion be pain or pleasure. I know from personal experience that it’s hard–I often freeze up at the thought of going into the more…passionate areas of my psyche–but the effort pays off.

This Vampire Queen knows very well how to go where the pain is and come back out alive and healing.
Image retrieved from Anne Rice’s Wikipedia entry

More importantly, writers have to let themselves use that passion without worrying what others will think. That first draft is for you alone. Tap into the pain, pleasure, depression, anger, and excitement and let it lead you where it may. After that, rewrite it into something you would want to read. You will want to keep an audience in mind but don’t censor yourself because you’re worried that some critics will throw their two cents in. Remember, some of the biggest literary classics started as failures during their first run.

With that thought in mind, I release you to your writing endeavors. Just remember the key theme of this blog as you move forward: write for yourself first.

Thoughts? Questions? Suggestions for future “Writers on Writing”? Drop a line in the comments, and don’t forget to follow our new Facebook page.

Update 11/25/2022: This article and other pieces of my writing, from The Writer’s Scrap Bin articles to original stories and poetry, can be found on Vocal.

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Book Reviews: Sister of Echo: The Making of a Villain by Ameel Koro

Trigger Warning: The book reviewed contains scenes of violence and gore as extreme as dismemberment. Sex scenes are also depicted, though not in great detail. Brief discussions of sex-related human trafficking occur and slavery serves a pivotal role in the plot. If you’ve had bad experiences with any of the above or otherwise take offense to these topics, proceed with caution.

Epic fantasy fans may want to check this one out, especially if you like your fantasy with a side of romance, mystery, and a touch of gore. Today I’m going to review Sister of Echo: The Making of a Villain (Part One) by Ameel Koro.

Set in Dacia during the time of the Roman Empire, The Making of a Villain (Part One) follows a convoy of merchants, their slaves, and the guards guiding them to Panonni. One night the convoy runs into a problem: a young woman, muddy and naked save for her horrific-smelling cloak, has been found sleeping on the side of the road. Dardanos, the leader of the guards, has a bad feeling about her and wants to leave her. Cotiso, a kind-hearted merchant, refuses to abandon her in the woods on a cold winter’s night, and so offers to buy her as a slave. Dardanos agrees but on the condition that she remain locked in the wagon in which she will travel.

As their travels continue, people warm up to the girl, Alina, with the exception of Dardanos. Unfortunately for the soldier-turned-guard, the one whom warms up most to her is one of his own men, nineteen-year-old Sinna. The young man can’t keep his eyes off of this beautiful woman, and the feeling is mutual.

What unfolds over the entire 237 pages is a whirlwind of romance, mystery, gore, and a splash of revenge. The biggest question on everyone’s mind (including the reader’s): who—or what—is Alina?

Image retrieved from Amazon (ad included below)
The plot interested me and the setting grabbed my attention immediately. I typically enjoy books which take place around the time of the Roman Empire (Black Horses for the King is one of my favorite books) and the mystery of Alina’s identity kept me on my toes. Even when it seemed that part of her secret had been exposed, Koro approached it in such a manner that I questioned if it was the truth—at the least I knew it could not be the whole truth.

However, the use of setting disappointed me. I did not feel truly immersed in the time or place until they arrive at Artucia. Names of places, gods, and cultural groups are used but I never got a real feel for the location or the time. The forest, the village, and the first mansio feel as though they could have been anywhere; only the weather gives the reader a real idea of geographical setting beyond the names used. More should have been pursued in the cultural and religious aspects of the setting. Koro explores some of the cultural views of slavery and the characters repeatedly refer to a god named Zalmoxis but beyond that the story very well could have taken place in a parallel world or the modern day (if technology were added).

In fact, the dialogue and the terminology throughout the narrative seems far too modern for a book set in Roman times. The characters frequently use the word “yeah” and the narration includes words such as “boyfriend” and “pimp,” neither of which would’ve been in use back then. (“Pimp” did not enter colloquial English until at least 1607.) I can usually suspend disbelief in this regard because it would be impossible to account for all of the differences caused by time. In this case, however, it really bothered me that the writing had such a modern feel to it. I expect a far different kind of writing with historic fiction, even historic fantasy, and I felt as though I could have found this sort of writing in something like Harry Potter.

The behavior of the characters strained my ability to suspend disbelief as well. I appreciate the strong women in this narrative; in fact, I love them. Still, the dynamic among the slaves and the freed men did not match the social hierarchy and accompanying mannerisms of that time. Slavery in Roman times did follow different rules than Europe’s African slave trade we learn about in the Western World, but I doubt that the slaves would have been allowed to speak quite as informally with freed men as these characters do. I understand why Corina and Tati act the way they do and I would not expect any different from fatherly Cotiso. I also think that Sinna and Alina’s interactions could have carried on the way they do as well. The other interactions, such as Maria shouting at a guard like Sinna, seem unrealistic.

A diverse cast of characters populate this historic—yet fantastical—world: Cotiso, a kind-hearted, fatherly merchant; Tati, a skirt-chasing merchant in Cotiso’s convoy; Corina, Tati’s sassy, sexual, and jealous (perhaps even insecure) female slave; Maria, Cotiso’s tough and practical but mischievous and dirty-minded slave and Alina’s mentor; and Dardanos, the military-roughened guard with nothing but suspicions, orders, and a temper. Of course, we also have Sinna, the sweet but rather naïve and romantic (yet also, clearly, hormone-driven) guard, and Alina, the quiet and obedient mystery woman whom no one can figure out.

Even with such a wide range of personalities, I felt that the characters left something to be desired and that many do not reach their full potential. Several are stereotypes, such as Corina and Tati, and others do not really develop into realistic people at all, like Tsiru. Besides following Tati around because he himself is bad at business, Tsiru is a blank slate which Koro could use to his advantage in future installments. Tati and Corina, while a fun dynamic to watch and certainly revolutionary given the setting, fall under stereotypes that I have seen many times before: the man who should be in charge and his woman who is actually in charge.

Despite Alina and Sinna being the center of the plot, I am more interested in Cotiso. He is a very kind man, even to his slaves, and refuses to become a slave merchant. However, he also has no qualms with entering Maria and Alina into a slave contest in Artucia. If he’s fine with the idea of them being degraded in a slave contest, is Cotiso truly driven by kindness? Or by greed? He proves not be entirely pure-hearted by the end of the novel, which I think Koro pulled off well. After all, every human has the ability to commit some mean act against another human, no matter how good they seem, especially to get information that they want.

Speaking of the slave contest, the twist involved in that event—which I will not discuss in detail to avoid spoilers—humored me initially. It was too much like a plot twist in a sitcom to fully fit my tastes. As it continued, however, my blood pounded and then my heart broke. I loved seeing more of Alina’s abilities revealed—and, thus, more of her identity exposed—but the sacrifice behind it saddened me, which is the mark of a good scene. I think the slave contest revealed more about the main characters and more masterfully handled the action and Alina’s secret than any other part of the novel.

Sinna and Alina’s relationship, while sweet and playful, had me thinking much like Cotiso. Sinna is so young, how could he take of her? He thinks he loves her now because she is so beautiful, but does he truly love her beyond her beauty? This doubt caused me to not root for the relationship very strongly. At the same time, I liked Alina and felt that she had been through too much already, so I found myself hoping the relationship would last so that she would not have to experience more heartache.

On a more technical side, there are several proofreading errors, but not so often as to be too distracting. The overuse of exclamation marks, the word “intoned,” the word “nagged,” and comparisons to children, on the other hand, annoyed me. These issues can easily be fixed with more editing and feedback.

Overall, The Making of a Villain (Part One) has a lot of potential: the plot is engaging, the setting piqued my interest, the character interactions are fun to observe, and the mystery and magic behind it all compelled me to read to the very end. I want to see where the next book takes the series but I am hesitant because of the pitfalls in the writing. I just don’t think that the writing matches the setting and should have been workshopped and refined more before publication.

As usual, don’t take my word for it. Check Koro’s book out for yourself by following the ad below.

Do you have any books you think I should read and review? Published a book of your own and want me to post a thorough, honest review of it here? Contact me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com or look me up on Fiverr.

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Friday Fun-Day Writing Prompt: The Pilgrimage

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well with the summer heat or whatever you have to tolerate where you live. Today’s writing prompt, in honor of The Beauty of the Fall by Rich Marcello, will involve a pilgrimage. Not a geographical pilgrimage, mind you, but one of the mind and imagination.

Travel seems to have a strong effect on human beings. I don’t know the science behind it, any neurological effects or evolutionary benefits, but I’ve noticed that people become different when they travel, no matter how slight that change is. My mother and I become happier, more relaxed. My father gets even more stressed and cranky during the actual travel and, depending on the destination, he can either get slightly happier or even worse once we arrive. No matter how our attitudes change when we travel, they do, and that seems to be why people travel so often when they take a vacation (and when they can actually afford it).

Some people even find spiritual benefits to traveling. That’s where the pilgrimage comes in. While a pilgrimage is often considered religious, it doesn’t have to be. According to dictionary.com, a pilgrimage can be “any long journey, especially one undertaken as a quest or for a votive purpose, as to pay homage”.

In The Beauty of the Fall, Dan Underlight embarks on such a pilgrimage to Fortune 500 countries across the U.S. He’s looking for inspiration and to find himself, and he at least achieves the first half of that goal. I think everyone, especially the creative types, could do with a pilgrimage like that.

My pilgrimage would include Sin City. Good luck figuring that one out.

Image retrieved from Business Insider

What if you can’t afford a pilgrimage? What if traveling that far for that long is just out of the realm of possibility due to money, work, family, and other commitments? Well, that’s what today’s writing prompt is about, going on a pilgrimage without having to leave the house or office.

This prompt involves a lot more writing than usual but I’m sure no one will object to that.

I want you to imagine that you have all the resources and time you need to take on your perfect pilgrimage. Meditate on the matter for about ten minutes and jot down notes. Where do you go? When do you go? What landmarks do you visit?

After these ten minutes of note writing, I want you to step away from the notes for a while, perhaps an hour. Let it all sink in. Then return to your notes and reread them.

Once you’re finished reviewing your ideal pilgrimage, write a story about taking it. I would suggest doing so in the form of journal entries or a log book but do whatever feels natural for you. I want you to imagine that you are currently taking that pilgrimage, not just planning it. Is everything as you expected it to be? Do you experience any bumps in the road? Meet anyone interesting?

Don’t think too hard on the matter or research the locations. Just free write, record whatever pops into your head.

This exercise isn’t so much about accuracy or plot but emotions and character development. You can check the accuracy later and a plot will probably emerge from your subconscious. What’s important is to focus on how you feel during the pilgrimage and what you think would change about you along the way.

I know that this prompt sounds rather complicated and more jumbled than what I usually present to you. I think that it will help you to not only think more about character but to also stretch your imagination by trying to picture places you may not have even been to before.

When you’re done, feel free to talk about your experience in the comments or even post an excerpt from whatever arises from the exercise.

Don’t forget to check out The Beauty of the Fall and read my review of it here.

Enjoy your journey and have a lovely weekend.

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

An Argument for Writing Diversely

The week I launched this blog, I talked about genres of literature and the genre-based elitism which still exists among writers today. I want to return to that idea, particularly the issue of writers crossing genres. I have always sung the praises of reading diversely; now I want to discuss writing diversely.

Most writers are best known for certain genres. However, many of these writers also dabbled in other genres. Edgar Allan Poe wrote mainly Gothic horror short stories, yet he is also famous for his poem “The Raven”. He composed one novel outside of the Gothic horror genre, but that book did not go over very well at the time. Ian Fleming’s claim to fame are his novels about secret agent 007, but he also wrote Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car, which inspired the classic film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. (Fun fact: Roald Dahl co-wrote the screenplay with Ken Hughes. Bonus fun fact: I love this movie!) More recently, J.K. Rowling dared to step out of the fantasy and children’s books genres twice, once to mixed reception (The Casual Vacancy) and another to raving reviews (Cormoran Strike series, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith).

                 

Based on these examples, writing diversely seems to yield mixed results. An audience maintains certain expectations for a writer and when he/she drifts away from these expectations, not one sort of reaction is guaranteed. Some may be thrilled that a writer they like is branching out; others may insist (rather angrily) that he/she stick with the tried and true.

For a writer, writing diversely may be a long-awaited release from the mundane or a horrifying plummet into the unknown, or both. Whether you embrace it, fear it, or approach it with caution, crossing genres can benefit your writing in many ways.

I will discuss four of these benefits in this post.

  1. You can strengthen different aspects of your writing. I’ve discussed this benefit at length before. Different genres teach us about different aspects of writing. Fantasy and science fiction teach about world building but horror and thrillers teach about suspense; with nonfiction, writers learn how to develop characters as real people readers can relate to, but fiction lends more to plot construction; writing novels necessitates sustaining consistent narration across many pages, and flash fiction weighs the importance of each word. When writing diversely, you develop more tools for better writing, no matter which genre you frequent most.
  2. You may discover a new genre you didn’t know you would love or for which you have a knack. You know the saying: you never know if you don’t try. You might love a genre you’ve never tried before because you’ve heard bad things about it. Maybe you thought nothing new could be brought to the genre but something in your writing could revolutionize it. Perhaps you’ve avoided writing a genre you love to read because you didn’t think you could do what your favorite writers do. If something inspires you to write in that genre, if you seem to get a sign from the universe that says now’s the time to try this, do it. There’s no harm in trying.

    If you’re ever in doubt about crossing genres, follow J.K. Rowling’s lead and write under a pen name. It’s an age-old tradition and you may like living a secret double-life and creating a persona for your “other self.”

    (left picture: cover of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, art by Mary GrandPré and published by Scholastic; right picture: cover of The Cuckoo’s Calling, unable to find artist but published by Sphere)

  3. You may discover that you despise writing a particular genre. Sometimes you love to read a genre but can’t write it. I really enjoy poetry but, frankly, I can never tell when my own poems are any good. This process frustrated me to the point that I decided I will continue to read poetry but that I should keep my poetry for myself and, occasionally, to share on this blog. By trying various genres, even if you end up hating the experience, you still get the benefits from #1 while also learning what you don’t want to do with your writing. It’s like they say, you regret the things you didn’t do more than the things you did.
  4. Writing diversely recharges your imagination. Are you feeling in a rut? Can’t get your creative gears going? You may need to switch genres for a while. Maybe you’ve run low on good ideas for your favored genre and need to shake things up. Maybe you’re bored with writing the same kind of thing all the time. And maybe you just have the sudden inspiration to write something you’ve never done before. Go ahead, knock the dust off and try the new, the unknown. It might be all you need to put your writing back on track.

Writing diversely can strengthen your craft and help you learn who you are and who you want to be as a writer. We may prefer specific genres but that doesn’t mean we should restrict ourselves to them. Better to branch out and grow as writers than to remain stagnant.

You have any thoughts on writing diversely? Ever discover you loved a genre you never thought about trying? Learn that you’re tired of writing in the same genre time after time? Drop a line the comments.

 

Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011