tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21400994819534070252024-02-06T18:42:02.151-08:00A & B NovelsLavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-45849825164917674452015-09-17T21:08:00.000-07:002015-10-04T21:05:56.706-07:00Ali reviews: The girl with all the gifts by M. R. CareyThe girl with all the gifts follows Melaine, a little girl with a genius-level IQ who lives in an underground military bunker. Melaine, along with other children, is kept in a cell overnight and then strapped into a wheelchair by soliders and taken to a classroom every day. Melaine likes school, but she adores one of her teachers, Miss Justineau. Most of the time, Melaine is a normal little girl - but when she smells human flesh, she turns into a Hungry, which is essentially a zombie. Things quickly start to unravel when the base is attacked, and a small group of survivors have to try to work together to stay alive.<br><br>
There are a lot of things I didn't like about this book. For a start, the author has a fairly annoying writing style that mainly revolves around telling us what the character is doing or feeling. Gruesome or tense scenes - and it is a zombie book, so there are plenty - are reduced to clinical descriptions that don't really hold any emotions at all. The characters are incredibly human - while that is a plus for the individuality of the book, it meant I didn't feel too involved in their survival. That though was probably also due to the lack of feelings the book produces.<div><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span><div>What makes this book unique, however, is that despite all of the negative points - and there are a lot - I found its premise so interesting that I would still recommend you read it.</div><div><br style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"></div><div>It starts off with a very unusual situation for a zombie book and continues to move in very different directions to the rest of the genre. Unlike some novels I've read, this different approach to zombies continues through out the story, finally finishing in a shocking conclusion that suits the uniqueness of the story perfectly. </div><div><br></div>Is everyone going to love the girl with all the gifts? Doubtful. Those who are fans on the horror/zombie genre will probably be disappointed by the lack of tension, will those who aren't fans may not enjoy some of the themes. But whether your new to the zombie genre or whether your a veteran, the girl with all the gifts may just surprise you yet as an interesting and unique addition.</div>Alihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06614706498600069223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-75926986579468972542015-08-12T04:47:00.000-07:002015-08-12T18:49:39.213-07:00A reviews: Fantastic Four 2015 (may contain spoilers)There are currently so many reviews circulating the internet that by now everyone must know that the reboot of Fantastic Four was, to put it nicely, a pretty huge letdown. But because I like movies, and because I also like to rant at great length about movies, I decided to share my two cents. I'm sure you all know the premise - super smart geek builds a spaceship, only in the reboot it's an inter-dimensional transportation device. The Fantastic Four suffer a 'space accident' that gives them incredible powers, along with their arch-nemesis, Victor Von Doom (or 'Dr. Doom' as he becomes). <br><br>
I think the most disappointing thing about Fantastic Four was that it really should have been better. When I first saw the trailer, I'll admit I was nowhere near as enthusiastic about it as I have been to all the other comic book movies and TV shows. With such fantastic offerings like Netflix original Daredevil, or the Avengers, Fantastic Four looked like it wasn't going to meet the bar.
But the first half of the movie, while a little slow, is a pretty good set up. We see new aspects to Reed, Ben, and then their relationship. But the great start to their relationship is quickly derailed as soon as they grow up. <br><br>
Adult Reed quickly abandons his best friend in favor of a scholarship to the Baxter Institute, where he meets a cold and boring Sue who was adopted into the Storm family (why she needed to be adopted is completely unclear - the rest of the Storm family are African-Americans, and it would have made far more sense if Sue was as well. Particularly because they completely ignore any jealousy or other dramas that could have come from the adoption other than one or two hints). Johnny Storm apparently has daddy issues and he is introduced via a Fast and the Furious audition, which completely ignored the fact he's also meant to be an incredibly bright science geek. He quickly moves into a typical side character (without the fantastic and snappy one-liners.) Budding relationships are limited to snapshots of the group sitting around and talking while Victor's strong introduction is quickly reduced to simply watching these moments in an attempt to convey jealousy of Sue and Reeds supposed romance. <br><br>
Ben reappears, scoring a spot on the transporter when a crucial member of the team is kind of just... left behind (not to worry, though! They will still gain powers for no apparent reason). Speaking of, when they do get their powers, things for a moment start to get interesting when they're taking captive by the government/military. Reed escapes captivity, Ben's trying to deal with his new life while being exploited by the military, and the Storms just keep on filling up the background while providing little worth to the current events. Sue's 'shining' moment of her character is when she helps to track down Reed using her supposed pattern recognition/analyzation skills. Its the type of thing that a) could have been accomplished far more efficiently by a computer, and b) was purely added for plot purposes, further cementing Sue as a pretty-faced prop.<br><br>
Any sort of rise the movie had created is quickly followed by a huge crash as the movie begins to rush, pulling out a villain in the form of Dr. Doom. Victor was at worst, an ass with a conspiracy and anti 'the man' complex but Dr. Doom is hell-bent on destroying everything. They hint that Victor had issues with the Baxter foundation previously but refuse to follow through, leading to something along the lines of 'he's now a villain because we said so'.
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The climax arriving was a complete surprise - the movie had done very little to put the four together as a team. As a result, the final battle was sloppy, poorly put together, and didn't utilize the team's powers. Dr. Doom's abilities were inconsistent and while Reed is originally struggling to use his powers without aid, that's somehow fixed by pure willpower in the space of thirty seconds.
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I'm normally opposed to movies being split into parts, but I feel like Fantastic Four would have benefited from a far longer runtime. It could have also been saved by better humor, or more thrilling action scenes, or if they had just continued to build/round out their characters and relationships rather than let them fall flat. At the end of the day, while I didn't hate it, it should have been a lot better than it was and I wouldn't be that interested in watching it again.
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Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Alihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06614706498600069223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-40780802032938121122015-07-29T06:38:00.000-07:002015-07-29T18:06:04.190-07:00Ali reviews: Ashes Trilogy by Ilsa J. Bick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.burnbright.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Bick_ashes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.burnbright.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Bick_ashes.jpg" /></a></div>
The three books in this trilogy are Ashes, Shadows and Monsters. I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll be mainly talking about Ashes, but I do want to mention Monsters because it does somewhat effect how I felt about the series.<br><br>
So to start of, Ashes introduces us to Alex, a teenager dying from a brain tumour who’s out on a hike when an electromagnetic pulse occurs, killing elderly people while teenagers get turned into Zombie-like creatures. Alex teams up with a young girl named Ellie and a twenty-something war veteran named Tom in a fight for survival. Ashes is an interesting read, mainly in part to an interesting heroine. Her brain tumour immediately sets her apart, in both her attitude and her actions, and Tom is not the usual love interest either. The zombies aren’t particular anything new in the beginning but given time they’ll start to surprise you as well.<br><br>
The one thing I dislike about them is the excessive use of gore. Don't get me wrong, I get that gore is a part of a zombie concept and I’m usually okay with gore in a book format (movies, not so much). But Ashes tends to repeat the same gross imagery; the first time a couple of the particularly nasty ones cropped up I skipped them and then it reached a point where it was a little ‘ho hum, the zombie is eating someone’s eyeball again’. I don’t know, that one may just be me; as I said, I’m not a fan of gore so perhaps if I was it would be a little more ‘heck yeah, dismemberment!’ If you’ve read the series, let me know which side of the fence you sit on with this – and if you haven’t read the series, let me know generally!<br><br>
Beyond that, the further you get into the Ashes trilogy, the weirder it starts to become. I did continue to enjoy it, but I feel like it would probably start to alienate some readers, particularly by the time you get to the third book with Monsters. I don’t want to talk about it too much in case I spoil it, but as a bit of a preview, in Ashes Alex develops super smell (that happens fairly early so I feel it's okay to mention) but more things develop (particularly in a bad guy) that are bit… interesting. They don’t go super-powered or anything, I just feel like it starts to stretch into a different concept then what the rest of the series was (aka just a zombie book). Which is good in some ways and as I said, I still liked it. But I don't think it would be something everyone enjoys. <br><br>
The last thing I want to do is have a bit of a rant about the ending of Monsters. I won’t spoil it, don’t worry, but unfortunately Bick does the one thing I really can’t stand in an author; she gets lazy. Regardless of whether or not that was her ‘vision’, it’s a bit of a band-aid. It has an ending, don’t get me wrong, but I did put the book down with disappointment. I do understand the difficulty endings can be; everyone has their own vision and their own way of doing things. But I would’ve liked to have seen more to finish up a decent, although strange in the end, series.
Alihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06614706498600069223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-39833474922512073512015-07-22T20:28:00.002-07:002015-07-23T07:15:35.753-07:00New series: WTF did I just watch?I watch a lot of movies. Really, a <i>lot. </i>And naturally, while the majority of these movies are just the general, popular ones, I do end up getting dragged down the rabbit hole with a couple of them. Some are just plain ol' rubbish for various reasons, but some of them end up surprising me. As a result, I'm planning on sharing some of these oddballs with you guys. They will either fall into two categories - 'WTF did I just watch' means it's just too awful, weird or mind bending (and not in a good way!) to recommend. 'WTF, I actually kind of liked that' means that while it's still not a typical movie its actually got some redeeming feature (humour, awesome character, good plot etc) that made it watchable.<br />
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So to start us off, this is one I watched a while ago but it stuck with me... not necessarily for the right reasons. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mega Piranha</span></div>
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<b>The run down:</b></div>
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Usual stuff. Science experiment goes wrong, piranha's grow big. Really big. And then they turn suicidal and hilarity in all the best of the worst ways ensure.</div>
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<b>So the movie:</b></div>
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Genetically engineered piranhas who grow larger every couple of hours escape from an isolated part of the river and swim downstream towards Florida, which is in the middle of the tourist season.</div>
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Special Agent Fitch and a scientist named Sarah Monroe are trying to keep the piranhas contained despite trouble with the local police, namely Colonel Diaz. They run around doing high-speed chases through the jungle and 'fancy' tricks to keep a stolen helicopter in the air after it runs out of fuel. Meanwhile the piranhas have turned mega, cuing what could almost be the best of the movie. Some of the piranhas turn suicidal and decide to jump out of the water to eat people, attack buildings (or get skewered on buildings) and just randomly explode (no joke, they blow up two hotels. Magic). Torpedoes, depth charges and even a nuclear missile are useless against these huge fish so the heroes decide the best course of action is to get in the water with guns, in order to make the fish bleed and start a feeding frenzy. Colonel Diaz shows up in a helicopter, drops a rope in the water which Fitch then climbs up. He realises it the bad guys and shoots the pilot in the mouth with a flare gun. Cue bad graphics as the pilots head explodes in a shower of goop. Fitch uses some sort of beacon to attract a mega piranha and jumps out of the helicopter moments before its eaten by the giant fish. He then shoots the helicopter in the piranhas mouth, helicopter and piranhas explode and trigger a feeding frenzy which wipes out all of the piranhas while Fitch escapes.</div>
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Which is really, really familiar for some reason.</div>
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And that would be because at the beginning of the movie, when Fitch first meets the piranhas, he stabs one of the them in the eye and escapes while a feeding frenzy happens. </div>
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So why exactly did this movie run for an hour and a half?</div>
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<b>Highlights:</b></div>
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Pretty much... everything the piranhas do. It's just hilarious watching them crashing into buildings.</div>
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<b>Lowlights:</b></div>
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Every time Fitch says something hero-ish. Or dramatic. Anytime Fitch speaks, really.</div>
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<b>Verdict:</b></div>
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Its hilarious in all the wrong ways but then again, so is the 1:29 minute trailer.</div>
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<b>WTF did I just watch.</b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05620289256222440760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-63012486742845258492015-07-01T04:10:00.000-07:002015-07-01T04:27:20.031-07:00B Writes: A Long Time Love Affair with Books<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666;"><span style="line-height: 1.4;">When I saw this cute </span><span style="line-height: 20.3636360168457px;"><a href="http://www.chronicallyvintage.com/2014/07/chatting-about-my-reading-habits.html">bibliophile</a></span><span style="line-height: 1.4;"><a href="http://www.chronicallyvintage.com/2014/07/chatting-about-my-reading-habits.html"> post</a> by Jessica of</span><span style="line-height: 1.4;"> </span><a href="http://www.chronicallyvintage.com/" style="line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none;">Chronically Vintage</a><span style="line-height: 1.4;">, I knew I had to do my own version. Naturally, as an author </span><span style="line-height: 1.4;">I just adore books, </span><span style="line-height: 1.4;">and this really is a delightful questionnaire that explores the different way each book lover might enjoy their reading experiences.</span></span>
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<a href="http://www.lavenderandtwill.com/2014/08/long-time-love-affair.html"><img alt="Princeton_3" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglKTmQ2Wru1EFDeMAvD5Us1u6Om0U3XBPQPq35aoHTPo3VWscIrc6DBXnfZqEojJcYlR3ddHXCPB3dbqFmtQSujVDTeP0y5QA-yxPv_1DwO8tcS0VYsxmqpZ5hbH_wcXaoE7ZoZUMgsazB/?imgmax=800" style="font-size: 15.3999996185303px; line-height: 1.4;" /></a><span style="font-size: 15.3999996185303px; line-height: 1.4;"> </span><span style="font-size: 15.3999996185303px; line-height: 1.4;"> </span></div>
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Do you snack while you read? If so, what is your favorite reading snack?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Frequently - some of my books are always talking about the delicious food they are eating and it makes me soooo hungry. I’m looking at you Brain Jacques’ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redwall" style="color: #a178b2; text-decoration: none;">Redwall</a> series!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wouldn’t say I have a favorite snack, I’ll eat anything I feel like - chocolate is quite a favorite however.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666;"><span style="line-height: 1.4;">What is your </span><span style="line-height: 20.3636360168457px;">favorite</span><span style="line-height: 1.4;"> drink while reading?</span></span></span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Tea naturally! Green teas of all flavors, and the ever amazing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Grey_tea" style="color: #a178b2; text-decoration: none;">French Earl Grey</a>. Mmmm.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I would never write in novels, but I am forever making notes and underlines in my non-fiction books. Only in pencil! For some reason that seems to make it less of a heinous crime. </span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?</span></strong></div>
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I used be very guilty of leaving my books open face-down to keep my place - my mother would tell me not to - “You’ll break the spine!” - but I would be in such a hurry that I wouldn’t care.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As I’ve gotten older and collected more and more vintage books that just fall apart when you read them, let alone opening them wide, or heaven forbid! Laying them face-down! Well, now I use bookmarks. I’m still in a hurry though, so that can be anything from a hair band, to a tissue, to a leaf. Anything small and flat will do.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fiction, non-fiction, or both?</span></strong></div>
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Mostly fiction I’m afraid. I would love to read more non-fiction on subjects I’d like to learn about, but I really have to be in exactly the right mood for that, so it doesn’t happen very often at all. If I do read non-fiction, it is most likely to be some kind of book on horses - training, dressage, stable management, etc.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Are you the kind of person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?</span></strong></div>
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Who wants to stop in the middle of the chapter?? Ahh! If it’s a book I have read many times over (<em>and I have quite a lot of those!</em>), I can stop in the middle of the chapter, because I know what’s coming next.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But if it’s a new book, or one I haven’t read in a while and I’m really into it; I’m hard pressed to put it down, even at the chapter ends.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Are you the type of person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh yes. I have read some absolute trash; without even meaning to, and one time I was just so disgusted with the rubbish the author had written that I tossed the book across the room, than promptly tossed it into the recycling bin. I try to only read books that are uplifting, or that make you think in a good way. I don’t have time for dirty, insipid or stupid books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Hahaha, that makes me sound so stuck up and pretentious! I don’t think that I am, I’m just super fussy about what I consider to be a good book. I also know that I am very eclectic with my literature choices.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I try too! I love learning about new words. Etymology absolutely fascinates me ~ language, vernacular and the origin of words is one of my deep interests.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><strong>What are you currently reading?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"The Foundling" by Georgette Heyer</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><strong>What is the last book you bought?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mary Grant Bruce’s “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Grant_Bruce" style="color: #a178b2; text-decoration: none;">Back to Billabong</a>” for the Kindle. I rarely buy new hard copy books, but I will thrift books like they are going out of style. (<em>Which they sort of are! ...</em>) (TT Д TT) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><strong>Are you the type of person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I <em>can </em>read more than one book at a time, but I really <em>don’t</em> like too, and generally won’t. Even if I have to finish a book I don’t want to read to read the one I do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><strong>Do you have a favourite time/place to read?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Any time of the day will do for me, but the best place to read is somewhere cozy - preferably a couch, near a window with the sun streaming in. Yes, I’m part cat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><strong>Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A bit of both actually. If the story is really good, but I don’t like the rest of the author’s writing, I usually like a stand-alone, but as I tend to get very attached to certain authors and characters, I probably mostly prefer series because I just want to read more.</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mmm, not so much. Like I previously mentioned, I’m so eclectic with my taste, I tend to stay away from recommendations, because most people don’t read what I do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><strong>How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author's last name, etc.)</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">By genre, then series, or author, and that’s as far as it goes. I have too many books to get really fussy, and not enough bookshelves to spread them all out on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><em>N.B: After talking so much about eclectic reading choices, I sort of felt I needed to answer one more question, so I added it on…</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><strong>What kinds of books do you like to read and who are your favorite authors from those genres?</strong></span></div>
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<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Regency romances ~ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgette_Heyer" style="color: #a178b2; text-decoration: none;">Georgette Heyer</a></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Quirky/humorous Science Fiction ~ <a href="http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/" style="color: #a178b2; text-decoration: none;">Terry Pratchett</a></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pony books ~ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullein-Thompson_sisters" style="color: #a178b2; text-decoration: none;">Josephine Pullein-Thompson</a> & <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Edwards" style="color: #a178b2; text-decoration: none;">Monica Edwards</a></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Classics ~ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Maud_Montgomery" style="color: #a178b2; text-decoration: none;">L. M. Montgomery</a> & <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien" style="color: #a178b2; text-decoration: none;">J.R. Tolkien</a></span></li>
<li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Children’s Classics ~ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Lofting" style="color: #a178b2; text-decoration: none;">Hugh Lofting</a></span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinf6_JnKkcRpBwXd7WwWP75Q2D6_-s_aXv-XqTn6xDWnFLqk_5ooCYYdDLQioDGiZt4aWz0Fkt7BAxkDzKOb2ZvIXy2_ibBHT7gNEsWWQTatcf1HlXibzceR8MM6Y_78KzKK00lJOjmXBU/s1600-h/Everyone%252520Reads%25255B7%25255D.jpg" style="color: #a178b2; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Everyone Reads" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdDC19_5NkSDgSePRHeAJHZj-fmz2ty1xi01DevRawLx4slRBCeZ3kse11Lt6k_8Ii6xYcL4t7dfXKHevWz0fKp-p_fpj7oHQPvIRk6tLF9mfzoRsB9PxO81qSKMVDEpq5nt9IjODiux9a/?imgmax=800" height="543" style="-webkit-box-shadow: transparent 0px 0px 0px !important; background: none !important; border: 0px none !important; box-shadow: transparent 0px 0px 0px !important; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative;" title="Everyone Reads" width="498" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I hope you have enjoyed this little Q&A, and please write up your own answers if you are so inclined. I would love to read about your reading habits, so don’t forget to leave a link if you post. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">b.</span><br />
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Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-67094454594767484912015-06-15T07:25:00.000-07:002015-07-01T04:13:48.811-07:00A writes: Why I Write<div>
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I know B already shared this post a few weeks ago, but I thought it was interesting and I wanted to share it too.</div>
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B's been inspiring me a lot lately, particularly with her 'write a bit daily' ideas. I'll admit that I also find myself waiting for inspiration to strike. Or worse, editing. Editing is something I've found that just shouldn't happen until the end of the book - otherwise each day I find myself just going over the previous work, even if I'm not necessarily editing and instead just rereading. As an attempt to break that, I've been forcing myself to just write and so far its going well. A part of this is also going to be an effort to do more regular blog posts, so we'll see how we go! </div>
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So...</div>
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WHY DO I WRITE?<br />
To me, this isn't really a question. You might as well ask why I breathe, or sleep, or eat. For as long as I can remember, stories and their characters have just been a massive part of who I am. Even if I'm not physically putting a story down onto paper, it's always in my head. It's a strange feeling - a part of me does, and always will, live inside many different worlds that no one else understands, at least not until they read about them. And even then, sometimes what they get is only a glimpse into a world I see, into the lives of characters who I know very intimately. Why do I write? I suppose the easiest answer would be because I want you to see - the worlds, the people, their stories. I want you to love them as much as I do, but if you don't, that's okay. I'll keep writing them anyway, because I could never stop. I can never stop.</div>
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HOW DO I WRITE? </div>
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Typically in bed, but lately also in front of the TV. I actually prefer paper and pen, but the ease of a computer is undeniable and so that makes it my object of choice. I'm one of those people who always has a writing playlist - what's on it tends to vary. Sometimes it's just whatever music I'm loving at the moment - normally songs with emotions, though. I've also become a huge fan of 'epic' music, like Audiomachine. It makes me think of sword fights, and dragons, and always helps me really want to write, even if I'm not feeling inspired for the story itself. </div>
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HOW DOES MY WRITING DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN ITS GENRE? </div>
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I think B's answer to this was fantastic. Faith is the biggest part of our lives, and that comes into our writing a lot - even if it's not always obvious. I think as well, the fact that theres two of us can make a difference! At least, I like to think so.</div>
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HOW DO I GET PAST WRITER’S BLOCK? </div>
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You write. You don't edit, you don't re-read, you just write. Even if it all seems useless, and doesn't seem to have anything to do with your plot - just keep going. I find the moment I start to look back at the book, or even the last couple of pages, I get bogged down - all I can see are the flaws and I spend far too much time trying to fix things. For me, the only thing to do is to look forwards, even when I hate everything I'm writing. The important thing is to keep writing, because you'll be pushing yourself towards the next important plot point or you'll discover a new direction for your book that you hadn't considered before. Either way, when you're finished the book, then you can go back and get rid of the utterly useless scenes you're writing right now. Or you might discover that you love them, who knows.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I hope you enjoyed my take on these questions. Hopefully you guys have also been inspired like I've been to write frequently, even if it's just a little bit and even if you hate it. Because either way, you're writing and thats the important thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">-A</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05620289256222440760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-44439937539811392972015-05-27T05:56:00.000-07:002015-05-27T05:59:36.906-07:00B writes: ProgressI'm happy to report that this <b>250 Words a Day </b>writing challenge I set myself is just what I needed to get my backside into gear and finish this pony story I've been sitting on since 2013! <br />
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Most days I'm easily going over my target - in fact my average word count is 500 words a day. I've done seven days of writing, and 3,503 words so far - with a few extra typed here and there that I didn't bother tracking. So far, I'm only doing the challenge five days a week, but I might up that to six days a week soon. <br />
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I want to keep it achievable though. That's why I picked such a low word count to aim for. Yes, it would be slightly ridiculous for some writers who are already writing regularly to do the same, but this is for me. A busy mother with three children under four years old, who has many other responsibilities and hobbies besides writing. <br />
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250 words, five days a week is not only achievable, but also encouraging. I hit that goal, I want to try for more. So I end up doing more than 250 words each and every time I sit down to write! Sometimes it's a little more, sometimes it's a lot, like 1,013!<br />
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Either way, progress is being made and it's good. I like it. <br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">"The
first jump was an inviting oxer, with a nice ground line. Simple bars, and
solid wings, the jump was set up to encourage the horse and rider to get into
the course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">It
didn’t look that scary until Jody was standing next to it, and then it was as
high as Dudley’s knees, 60 centimetres tall. She could feel the butterflies
flopping about. She’d jumped higher than that before – she’d been regularly
jumping a meter ten at the riding school, but that had with Bosley; her
favourite mount. Now it was just her and Dudley and she wasn’t sure she was
ready for that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">She
could dimly hear Mrs. Lowe discussing the course as they walked around, and
shook herself, panicking. What did she miss? “-so make sure you sit up after
the spread and really half-halt to gather Dudley’s strides. He will have
flattened out to jump over the width of the triple bar, and you’ll really need
to collect them up to get through the bounce clear.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">David
nodded in complete agreement, but Jody felt like a vice was squeezing her
ribcage when she looked at the pair of jumps set so closely together after that
wide staircase spread. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A
triple bar! Then a combination! She could feel her knees knocking together, but
David and Mrs. Lowe were already striding to the last jump of the twelve obstacles
– the wall. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A solid
jump, one to scare the riders, and Jody remembered it’s not just the riders
that don’t like wall jumps – most horses didn’t either because they couldn’t
see the ground on the other side of the jump. They had to trust their rider
that it was safe to jump. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Jody
swallowed hard. She and Dudley had been working on their relationship all this
time – and they’d had some crazy adventures together – riding for help after
Betty’s accident, and then riding out alone to help Cinnamon, but where they
ready for this? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">Jody squared her shoulders. Well, it was now or
never, and as she walked back to her family and Dudley, she thought it was time
that Dudley proved himself to be the right pony for her." </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">- Dudley's Last Chance by Bonita Vear</span></span><br />
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Coming soon!<br />
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b.<br />
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<br />Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-25604412325704711992015-05-12T21:31:00.002-07:002015-05-27T05:57:26.817-07:00B writes: On WritingSo I've made a pledge to myself. I'm going to start a habit of writing 250 words a day on my books - any of them. A novel, the e-book, anything - but it's got to be on a book, and <i>not </i>on a blog! <br />
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I do write a lot every week, but I'm writing on my blogs, on Twitter, on other people's blogs. I'm not writing on things that are going to help my journey forward as a published author. I'm missing that part in my schedule of things to do, and as a result, all too often the book writing gets completely overlooked. <br />
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Crikey, the last time I worked on a novel seriously was.... Uh. Whoops. I don't even remember. Probably Nanowrimo 2013.<br />
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Gamenian did get some work done on it in 2014, but that was mostly polishing and editing; stuff to ready the manuscript for publishing. No real 'writing' as in building the story.<br />
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Since I've made this pledge I've written over 1,000 words. So I know it can be done. Bit by bit, day by day, I'm going to finish my next book, and then I'm going to start another one. I'm a writer. So I am going to write.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"<strong><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Jody stared
at the measly remnants of cake in front of her, and poked the crumbs into a
tidy heap in the middle of the swirling gold pattern. It was always a bit of a
worry when Bridget got that look on her face – mostly because it meant that she
had some new idea that she was going to drag Jody into, and any amount of ‘no’s’
just made her all the more determined to go ahead." </span></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></strong></span>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">- Dudley's Last Chance by Bonita Vear</span></strong></span><br />
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b.<br />
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Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-71627530163868864152015-04-12T17:55:00.001-07:002015-05-12T21:33:55.606-07:00B writes: Why I Write<p>A series of questions I found on <a href="http://galadarling.com/">Gala Darling</a> that instantly intrigued me, and I knew I had to answer them for myself. <p>Because why <em>do</em> I write? <p>Why? <p>WHY DO I WRITE?<br><br>Because I can’t <em>not</em> write. Because I can’t <em>not</em> tell a story some how, some way. I have so much to say, and so many ways to say it – art, photography, creating with my hands – but in the end, I can’t <em>not</em> write about it. </p> <p>It’s like the story is too big and too grand to be captured just by one medium, and each different medium adds another layer to this great big story I call ‘Life’. </p> <p>So I create, I share my stories, and I hope that somehow the message gets across… </p> <p>There is something out there, something that is bigger than we see. Something that inspires us, that drives us, that pushes and pulls us to grow, change, explore, create, expand, implode, fall down and begin all over again. </p> <p>There’s life. There’s hope. </p> <p>And those two things are the fundamental elements of my creative ‘me’. Story telling just happens to naturally blossom from those two core truths I know, and writing just happens to naturally blossom from my desire to tell a story. </p> <p>So I write because I must. </p> <p>HOW DO I WRITE? <p>Sporadically. It’s kind of sad. I’m not even close to any sort of rhythm or routine. I know that all professional writers talk about dedicating certain hours of the day, or making sure to hit a certain number of words, but I don’t do that. In fact, I’m the worst kind of writer… <p>The one who waits for inspiration to strike! <p>Ruh-Rho… <p>Please don’t follow my example! I write when I have a blog post to write, but it’s never on the same day week to week. I write when I have something I need to remember, or a story to tell. I work on my books when I need too. <a href="http://nanowrimo.org/">Nanowrimo</a> was great for getting me into a regular routine, but I couldn’t keep it up for long. I had really bad tendonitis after trying to write 1,000 words a day for a month. Ouch. <p>Basically, I write when I want to. But it’s a least once a week, so I am writing regularly if it comes to that – just not once-a-day-regularly. <p>HOW DOES MY WRITING DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN ITS GENRE? <p>Hmm. This is a super great question. Mostly because I’m not sure, but let me think… <p>I think our writing is different from other books that I’ve read in the same space opera genre, mostly because of our faith, and how that shapes our world view, and consequentially, our writing. <p>There’s always a theme of hope, and something greater that’s out there – referring to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to make people think about their world view and <em>why </em>they believe what they do. Questions always lead to answers when your heart is truly seeking, and we hope to that by provoking the questions our readers can find an answer that satisfies their soul. <p>HOW DO I GET PAST WRITER’S BLOCK? <p>I… don’t. No, really. I just move onto another project and wait for the writer’s block to dissolve. Sometimes this works really well, and sometimes it doesn't. I think the best approach to writer’s block has a lot to do with whether or not you are a professional writer, or a part-time writer like myself. <p>I PASS THE PEN TO… <p>Alethia! </p> <p>I pass the pen to any writer out there who would like to answer these questions themselves. Go ahead – tell us - why do <em>you</em> write?</p> <p>b.</p> Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-36049652281178150572015-01-21T18:28:00.000-08:002015-01-21T18:29:35.989-08:00A writes: our query letter<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;">
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I did a post on query letters a couple of weeks ago and as promised, here is our query letter. Hopefully, it gives you a few ideas! </div>
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<i>Dear [ ],</i></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><i><span lang="EN-US">Gamenian</span><span lang="EN-US"> is a complete Science Fiction novel of 78,000 words aimed at young adults and science fiction space opera lovers. Fast paced and character driven, Gamenian explores the games we play with each other, the lies we tell, and the search for forgiveness. It follows a young woman as she seeks to reconcile the idea of a higher power with the actions of a broken humanity.</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Freedom is a lie. It’s been four years since Tori escaped the desert planet of Esandira and her life as a drug-mule and assassin for a dictator named Craik, but she is as enslaved as she ever was. While she is physically free, inside her mind the past blurs with the present and she’s desperate for a cure from the faces that only she can see, and the voices that only she can hear.</i></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: black; font-size: 13px;">The fragile life she has created for herself is simultaneously destroyed by an unorthodox bounty hunter named Ash, and Lethar, an </span><span style="font-size: 13px;">assassin</span><span style="font-size: 13px;"> sent by Craik,</span><span style="font-size: 13px;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13px;">forcing her on a reckless journey to escape from her demons. Her past is no longer inside her head and with her control slipping, the last thing she needs is a 17-year old Way Seeker stuck by her side, but that’s what she gets in the form of Spencer. Spencer doesn’t want anything to do with her, and while she shares the sentiment, their lives are twisted together by the death of a mutual loved one.</span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: black;"><i>Both Ash and Lethar are relentlessly tracking their every move and she’s getting tired of running. Spencer believes Tori's only true freedom is from the Almighty, but she isn’t so sure. There’s only one out that she can see - Craik must die. It’s a dangerous cat and mouse game, but the closer she gets to Craik the more her dark secrets begin to surface and the more she begins to question the path she has chosen. </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><i>Bonita and Alethia are Australian sisters who share a passion for stories, whether it’s reading them or writing them. Bonita graduated in 2009 from the University of Canberra with a BA in Journalism. Since then she has been busy publishing on a variety of platforms on the internet. She writes and edits content on three different blogs, twitter, Instagram, and is currently building an online portfolio to showcase her works. Alethia is currently studying Medical Science at the University of Canberra and frequently blogs.</i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: black;"><i>Thank you for your consideration, we look forwards to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. </i></span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: black;"><i><br /></i></span></span> <span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: black;">Obviously, the original wasn't in italics ;) Looking back, I'm pretty happy with the letter we created - we ended up using a lot of it on the back of the book. A lot of people with opinions on query letters - some people say to put the book info first (genre, word count etc) while others say to put it in later. Personally, we decided that putting it in before would be helpful and ran with that. </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span> <span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: black;">For me, writing the story plot was easy - I knew my book and straight from the start I had a pretty good idea how to present it. After doing a lot of research into formatting the plot, I found it relatively easy to write. The rest of it, like how to write credentials when you have none, what to mention, what not to mention etc just took a LOT of research. I've posted some of the links in the earlier post on queries that I did, but they were really only some of the crucial sites I found. I found a lot more of random articles, or random paragraphs within articles, that were very helpful, but there were too many to actually write a post about!</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span> <span lang="EN-US"><span style="color: black;">Hopefully, this gives you all some ideas on what to do with your query! As I've said before, I'm in no way an expert on query letters but I'm happy to answer any questions you guys might have. </span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05620289256222440760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-68427755008022879852014-12-22T03:06:00.000-08:002015-01-21T18:28:47.044-08:00A writes: Elementary vs Sherlock.<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.9950008392334px; margin-bottom: 1.615em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
I am a huge, huge fan of the BBC's Sherlock and while I wasn't too keen on Elementary at the start, it actually surprised me. That said, I feel a little bad comparing these two. While both revolve around the same concept, the way that they’re approached makes them worlds apart. To start off, Sherlock.</div>
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Wow. Trying to describe Sherlock is pretty much impossible for me; it has <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">everything. </em>It is damn clever, it gives me sooooo many feels (Particularly with Sherlock and John’s relationship), it keeps me on the edge of my seat and is pretty much impossible to predict. The only bad thing about it is how long they leave it between series but given that Benedict Cumberbatch is in an awful lot now days (Which is amazing, because he is amazing!) that’s not really surprising. And honestly, I think it’s one of the reasons why it’s so popular; it comes along every few years, hits you with a couple of episodes that are so jammed-packed and leave you wanting more. It’s the type of thing I can see going on for years and years without becoming stale like most good TV shows do.</div>
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Elementary is <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> completely </em>different. It’s the light, feel good, mainstream TV version of Sherlock. The reason I’m a bit hesitant about doing a comparison is because there is none. Sherlock in Elementary is smart, clever and observant, yes, but the important distinction is that I believe 100% that he could exist. There’s no… magic. No real ‘wow’ factor. There’s just a man, who’s <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">really</em> good at what he does, but is flawed. His flaws, however, are a part that I grew to like an awful lot; it gives dimension to an otherwise run-of-the-mill cop show. I think a big part of my lack-lustre response to it initially was their decision to make Watson a female. The Sherlock-Watson relationship is fantastic (The Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jr. & Jude Law movies highlight it, too) and a female Watson completely rips that relationship apart. Particularly seeing as its entire purpose is sex appeal. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against good-looking actors/actresses, but when the only purpose of a character is sex appeal it annoys me. In my opinion, my reservations unfortunately proved to hold true; Watson does not work as a girl. All of their adventures, all of their banter, is now just prelude to a hook up which seems inevitable. Which to me just seems like a huge letdown for a great character and what should have been a great relationship. Negatives aside, though, it does have some good moments.</div>
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BBC Sherlock, particularly season 3, does begin to add more depth to Sherlock’s pitfalls but Elementary really paints the picture of broken genius which does draw me. After watching the first season of Elementary, it does hold its own but only when you look at it on its own – die-hard Sherlock fans might not want to worry about it at all. A comparison leaves it extremely lacking and if I had to pick my favourite of the two there’s no doubt whatsoever which one I would pick. But if I was comparing Elementary to some of the other mainstream cop shows, it’s a lot more likely to make the list.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05620289256222440760noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-36955421242574452212014-12-10T18:18:00.001-08:002015-01-21T18:29:10.610-08:00A writes: the query letter<span style="font-family: inherit;">A while ago on my </span><a href="https://alethiafraser.wordpress.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">personal blog</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, I did a post on writing query letters and I thought I would also share it here. I'm in no way an expert on query letters; I have, in fact, written one. But what I also did is a lot of research, so I'm hoping to save you a bit of time by sharing the four main websites that I found particularly invaluable. I'm also planning on posting our query letter in the next week or so to show how we wrote ours. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Anyway, to <span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 20.9950008392334px;">start off my research, I spent a good deal of time in the archives of </span><a href="http://queryshark.blogspot.com.au/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Query Shark</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 20.9950008392334px;">, and </span><a href="http://misssnark.blogspot.com.au/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Miss Snark</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; line-height: 20.9950008392334px;"> (who also helped write the synopsis!). These two websites have some great ‘what not to do’ feedback as well as what works in a query letter. But the reason I love these two websites is because once I learned what <i>not </i>to do I was able to figure out what I wanted my query to look like. Writing the first draft of the query was relatively easy after reading through many, many pages of awful queries. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #111111;">In addition, </span><a href="http://www.jmtohline.com/p/querying.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">JM Tohline</span></a><span style="color: #111111;"> has some great tips from agents about what they look for in a query letter on his website. And last but not least, the </span><a href="http://www.agentquery.com/format_tips.aspx" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">agent query</span></a><span style="color: #111111;"> website also talks about formatting etc your query once you’ve written it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If any of you have any websites about query letters that you've found helpful, let me know in the comments! As I mentioned earlier, I am by no means an expert on this and I'm always looking out for more hints or tips.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Speaking of, the best tip I can give you is to read the requirements carefully; some publishers we’ve looked into requested marketing info such as target readership etc. In the end, however, no matter how much research you do you just have to sit down and write the thing. And then spend an awful lot of time editing, proofreading and making sure that there are no errors. Because at the end of the day, the query is your first meeting with a potential agent or publisher and you'd better make sure the impression is a good one.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05620289256222440760noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-20616985364121510002014-11-12T00:40:00.001-08:002014-11-12T00:42:01.969-08:00Cover Reveal for Our Upcoming Novel Release - Gamenian<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR_dIfrXJxf9TLyxTWsvGdJPM2jOpo44tWK-Fiqfop997KAdZmMLnXGwM-pL75CwuUc7dodPTgcoBe3sPG4fV7CS8HByVE6gR_lZqZNfWyf3XbGSQ9TafaphhVkG85PTqQNhQVXsN0vK7b/s1600/Gamenian+500x750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR_dIfrXJxf9TLyxTWsvGdJPM2jOpo44tWK-Fiqfop997KAdZmMLnXGwM-pL75CwuUc7dodPTgcoBe3sPG4fV7CS8HByVE6gR_lZqZNfWyf3XbGSQ9TafaphhVkG85PTqQNhQVXsN0vK7b/s1600/Gamenian+500x750.jpg" /></a></div>
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Who else is excited?? We sure are!!! \
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<!--EndFragment-->Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-8202372243604278502014-01-29T22:02:00.000-08:002014-01-28T22:04:10.020-08:00B writes: Cover ArtSo Ali & I have been looking into different artist and styles for the cover art for Gamenian. It's a bit tricky; we thought that we were allowed to choose an artist for the cover art, but we might have to go with the in-house artist instead.<br />
<br />
This will be fine - I have no doubts about the in-house artist's skills at all; I'm sure they'd do a fabulous job. It's more that we were hoping to have the cover art and book trailer art (<i>yes, we are planning a book trailer! Excitement!</i>) from the same artist for consistency's sake.<br />
<br />
Maybe it won't make all together that much difference in the end? I don't know. We did pick our artist out for their very specific style of art, the line art and digital coloring were exactly the way we want it to look. So we are hoping that we might be able to get our outside cover art approved, but we will have to see.<br />
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b.Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-45756355948508346382014-01-28T22:05:00.001-08:002014-11-12T00:36:10.935-08:00A writes: Gamenian Stuff<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.615em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">*trumpet fanfare* my sister Boni and I are very excited to announce that Gamenian has been accepted for publishing! They are just a small publisher but we’re really looking forward to working with them. There is sooo much to think about though; book blurb, book tag line, cover, editing the manuscript to fit their guidelines… </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We decided to hire an artist ourselves to do the cover art because we’re also planning on doing a book trailer. The trailer will just have a couple of pictures to introduce Gamenians main characters and the idea we have for the cover fit into the video really well. So we figured, why not get an artist to do both? We did find an amazing artist; we haven’t sealed the deal yet but she seems pretty keen and we both love her work!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the future I’ll be releasing more details – in the future we’ll probably be doing a cover reveal plus a sneak peek at the book trailer. And of course I also wanted to do a quick post of our query letter to help you guys out! <img alt=":)" class="wp-smiley" src="http://s0.wp.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif?m=1129645325g" style="border: none; height: auto; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px;" /></span></div>
Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-6711277341600998122014-01-16T22:12:00.001-08:002014-01-16T22:12:12.171-08:00Announcement: GamenianThey say it's not in the bag until you hold your book in your hands, but...<br />
<br />
We've signed with a publisher to get Gamenian published!! It's a small, independent American publishing company, and it's going to be a huge learning curve, but we are excited to see how we get on from here.<br />
<br />
One step closer....<br />
<br />
<br />Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-43000054786034792972013-11-06T01:24:00.002-08:002013-11-06T01:24:39.789-08:00B writes: Ugh, focus - NaNoWriMo TroubleI'm at 5,500 words, two chapters down and I'm already losing focus... Writer's block and wrist aches. Yay.Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-52923211339935328692013-11-04T02:33:00.000-08:002013-11-04T02:33:00.251-08:00B writes: Well, we've somehow made it this far......and what a journey it has been!<br />
<br />
Neither of us planned on publishing Gamenian at the beginning, but at some point along the way we realized that we weren't the only ones that liked the story we were telling. Mind you, our long suffering family had to put up with lots of interesting discussions where Ali and I were the only ones that actually knew what we were talking about, and often we would start talking about the next plot issue only to have one or the other of our two sisters beg us to "Please stop talking about stories."<br />
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For the most part I think the biggest obstacle for Alethia and I has been The Dreaded Writer's Block. A disease that most creative people are familiar with, and therefore worthy of a caps title. There are times when the well just dries up, life gets in the way - all that and more. Sometimes I'm waiting on Ali, and sometimes she's waiting on me. I think though, as a whole, working with a partner is a fun and interesting way to write - provided that, for the most part, you can agree. </div>
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I personally feel in this case, two heads are better than one, and I'm excited to see how far we can get with this manuscript. I guess I don't have much more to say on the process at the moment; in a way I think I'm a little more removed from the story as it tend to live in Ali's head and I just see the parts that she puts on paper. But it shall be exciting to share where we go from here, we'll try to keep the blog updated but I think that, just like writing the story, publishing our novel is going to be quite an exercise in patience. </div>
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Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-77397435294997913822013-11-01T03:31:00.000-07:002013-11-01T03:32:43.709-07:00B writes: NaNoWriMoI'm going to give <a href="https://nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a> a whirl; anyone else giving it a go?<br />
<br />
I'm a little late to the game, but let's see what happens... : D<br />
<br />
<br />Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2140099481953407025.post-21883732920386265072013-10-28T01:07:00.000-07:002013-10-28T01:07:45.818-07:00A writes: End of an Era After more than ten years, Bonita and I feel like we’re finally ready to look at publishing our novel, ‘Gamenian – ’till death do we play’. It’s a scary idea; we have slaved over this thing. We’ve written it, scrapped it, written it again, changed themes, changed titles, changed characters.<br />
<br />
To be fair, I come up with the original idea when I was roughly ten; the main character, Tori was a badass anti-hero… with super powers. Which she got via toxic sludge. Needless to say when I told my amazing fifteen-year old sister about my cool idea I was quickly shot down with a very blunt opinion on how lame that was. But, I was told, Tori sounded like an interesting character and I should think of something else for her story. We completed the first novel a few years later and a few years later I was old enough to realize it wasn’t what I wanted for her at all (She <i>giggled</i>. To this day, that is the ultimate horror I have ever inflected on a beloved character).<br />
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So began the first rewrite. Tori and the villain, Craik, were the only characters to survive the slaughter; everyone else was put firmly to pasture and a whole new story was born. The plot still changed quite a bit over the next few years; I would say the defining moment was when we decided we wanted to put some of our faith into the book. Well, I should say Bonita decided. At the time, I just couldn’t see how someone like Tori could ever want God. Again, that took a bit of time before I was old enough to realize that someone like Tori didn’t have to want God at first; she <i>needed</i> Him and the want would come later.<br />
<br />
We finished the book and sent it to a friend of ours, Tim. He has turned out to be an incredibly valuable editor; Gamenian honestly would be no where near the book it is today without him. He was able to point out the problems with the book whilst still celebrating the things that he liked and I’m amazed he was willing to put up with the number of times we made him read the book to check our edits. Not to mention the number of times I had an author tantrum, insisting the plot point/motivation/random item was perfectly clear to everyone, aka me.<br />
<br />
But eventually we had to reach a point where we took a step back and went, ‘I think this is as good as we’re going to make it.’<br />
<br />
While I would be perfectly happy writing for just myself for the rest of my life, the dream is that other people will have the opportunity to love these characters as much as I do. And I do love them and their stories, far too much not to try to get them published. So my sister and I are about to start our querying process. As I said at the beginning, it’s a scary thought. At the moment, there is potential for the book. It might possibly be able to get published. But once this process has started, it will either be yes or no. I’m sure all authors believe, or at least hope, that other people will see the book and the characters the way we do but the number of rejections would prove us wrong in that regard. Things like marketability are words that terrify me; even if a publisher does love my book they have to think it will sell.<br />
<br />
Still. I love these characters too much not to try. I feel privileged to have been able to write their stories and all I want is for them to be heard.<br />
<br />Lavender and Twillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06331125027969557539noreply@blogger.com0