Somewhere Private. (Writing Prompt -- #7)

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Catching the signal from one of her friends, Angela brushed her skirt, took a deep breath, and walked towards where he was sitting.
"Hey," she said, nodding to Caleb's friends. She tried for a meek smile but only managed to lift half of her lips up, resulting in a strange and totally awkward grimace. "I um--"
"Wait a second," said Patrick, leaning back in the booth. He laced his arms behind his head and openly stared at her. "Weren't you the girl who passed out this morning? In Gov?"
Something inside her roared in protest at this, threatening to overtake her control and assume charge from there. The tips of Angela's fingers tingled and her hands twitched, as if itching to punch Patrick in the face. But she swallowed and forced the feeling down, pressing it as far back in her mind as possible.
"Listen," she said, making herself look at Caleb. He had his gaze lowered, pinpointed on the cup of coffee in front of him instead, but Angela stood her ground with a surprising firmness she had no idea she possessed. She pressed her lips together. "Can I talk to you? In private?"
And that was definitely stretching it a little. She'd barely known Caleb for a month, which meant she had no right to ask him to speak with her in a private area. She knew this just by the looks on his friends' faces and she mentally cringed at it. But she didn't have a choice. It seemed like there was something going on with Caleb, a connection between him and the violent feelings she has been experiencing...and, at least, it was something he understood better than her. 
At that point Angela snuck a look to her side, her eyes searching for her friends. They were still grouped beside the counter, with Macy leaning across flirting shamelessly with the cashier, who must be at least a freshman in college. It surprised her that they were still there, but she was immensely grateful regardless. No matter what strange events happened to Angela, it was comforting (though surprising) to know that her friends would still be with her.
"Come on, man," said Patrick, shaking his head. "Don't go anywhere with her. Let's just get out of here."
She glanced at him and her teeth gnashed together. Honestly? She didn't understand why she had to put up with this, with any of this. If Caleb had wanted to help her--which he obviously did or else she would not be alive in the first place--then he would come to her. And so far, he hasn't. If anything, she should be the one waiting on him. It shouldn't be the other way around.
As if hearing these thoughts Caleb finally looked up, and when his gaze met Angela's, he smiled faintly.
"No, it's fine. I'll hear what she has to say."
Patrick seemed taken aback, a look on his face that matched the stupidity in his brain. Angela pressed a hand to her mouth, hiding her smile and feeling oddly triumphant. She watched as Caleb's friends got up, one by one approaching the door, each muttering excuses and disloyal comments that Angela was proud to realize her own friends have never uttered. When all of them had left she turned to face Caleb, suddenly unsure of herself again.
"Um," she began, but he only shook his head, gesturing to the small hallway next to the bathroom. "I thought we were going somewhere private?"
Angela exhaled. "Yeah," she said. "Right."

- E

February's update of The Ink Timeline.

What I recently found online: An article on the traits of a Mary Sue character. Basically, an article on What Not to Give Your MC. I thought it was pretty entertaining if not a little intimidating. And mind wracking (although some parts of the article are just a little weird). Because eventually during the middle of the article, you will start comparing the article's list of traits to your own MC's list of traits (or you will have a sudden revelation that your MC is, in fact, a Mary Sue). Which, I suppose, is the point. o.o

This post is going to be about me. (And something I'd [reluctantly] like to mention over what I'm about to read.)

As some of you might know, on January 19th I made a post about the Ink Timeline which basically stood as a list of writing goals I hope to make by the end of this year, labeled in chronological order with a time limit per goal. The goals of the timeline include: finishing the GOoD (Giant Outline of Dread--and I did change what the acronym stands for because after starting the GOoD, I've dreaded finishing it ever since), finishing the WAPs (Wikia Article Profiles--world building documents based off the format of Wikipedia articles), revising Depravity, and writing/revising Shadowed.

My first goal was to finish both the GOoD and the WAPs during the months of January and February. Because today is March 5th I should be done with them both, right?

Ha ha ha.
Wrong.

By my count, this is what I have finished so far:

• 16/26 WAPs
• Like 1/20 of the GOoD
• Revisions of the prologue and chapter one of Depravity
• All of the Pre-GOoD (an outline of events that took place leading up to the start of Depravity)

But look. At least I did something with my life during that time. I just didn't do enough. Which, by the way, will not happen again. I've extended my timeline so that (basically) I'll have until the end of April to finish what I should have finished by the end of February, and I'll have to write more during the July-August time span. Which is perfectly fine since I'll be on break, as long as marching band doesn't barge in and ruin everything.

The thing is though, what worries me the most aside from finishing the GOoD is finishing the WAPs. That requires a great deal of detail; I'm basically putting in whatever world building detail I can think of into one document, so I don't end up forgetting that detail or changing it up, or anything else, really, when I'm writing/revising. And it takes so looong. On Saturday, I had about fourteen of the WAPs done and I thought, "Oh, my gosh. I'm more than half way done." And for a moment I allowed myself to celebrate. And then I thought, "Oh, my gosh. If I'm half way done, then to finish it up I basically have to do it all over again."

Yeah.
So, wish me luck :]

- E

Note: On the reluctant part of this post: I'm about to read Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast. I don't particularly want to read this book because I am a little tired of vampires, but the series has around, what, ten books now? And I'd really like to know what all the fuss is about. So, Marked. Here we go.

The 21 Minus Blog Tour

Hey guys! I know I have never mentioned this before, but weeks ago, I was nominated by someone to participate in the 21 Minus Blog Tour, hosted by Anna Waggener (author of Grim). The blog tour itself is pretty self-explanatory: writers under the age of twenty one were gathered together and interviewed. Also, along with the blog tour is a pretty amazing giveaway. The giveaway list is here (and there are some really great books on the list ^-^).

Although we were all interviewed, however, the process itself was slightly different. We were each assigned one person to interview, but the interviewee was not allowed to know the interviewer. In other words, at this very moment, I still have no idea who interviewed me. But if that person is reading this blog post right now, then thank you for your lovely questions. I really enjoyed answering them! And if whoever nominated me is also reading this post (I believe I know who it is, but I'm not entirely sure) thank you so much as well.

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And I interviewed Taryn! Not only is she a writer, but she is also a literary agent intern and she already has an agent for her novel. Which, to be put simply, is just amazing.

Q: Why, exactly, do you write? What made you decide to write or aim to be a lit agent? 

A: I love stories, and I’d rather have a job I enjoy than something that makes me miserable or is just done to make money.

Q: Is there one thing that always ends up feeding your muse whenever you write?

A: Nope.

Q: What is your current take on the Harry Potter vs. Twilight debate? And which one do you prefer?

A: The HP-vs-Twilight debate has been dead for years. The nice thing about reading is that it’s subjective so there’s no point in saying which is better, blah blah blah. I have never been a fan of love triangles, vampires, or characters who must be saved, so I prefer Harry Potter. But it’s not a debate in my mind—not since my junior year of high school (2008-2009).

Q: If there was one person you could be from your WIPs, who would that person be and why?

A: I write a lot of strong female characters. Since I’m toward the end of swim season right now, and I have a few swimmer protagonists, I’d have to choose between them. Lottie’s Olympic level, but she hates her sport. And Tessa’s not quite as fast but she lives on swimming . . . and she’s very independent. So I’d go with Tessa right now. Tessa at the end of the MS, after her journey.

Q: If you had to describe your latest WIP in one word, what would it be?

A: Motivated

Q: What is your take on love triangles and the current Young Adult books out there? Have you noticed any recent YA cliches?

A: As I said earlier, I’m not a fan of love triangles, simply because of their pervasiveness. Sometimes they work, but when it’s just the typical bad guy-good guy choice, I’m not a fan because that doesn’t happen. The way your question is phrased, it sounds like love triangles and YA are hand-in-hand (it sounds condescending, actually), and they’re not. Be careful to read everything. Publishers hype what sells—it’s always ridiculous to me when Hunger Games uses the love triangle as a selling point. That’s not even close to what it’s about. There are amazing YA books out there.

Q: Quick! If a meteor were to come hurtling out of the sky right this moment heading towards you, your family, and your friends, what would you do?

A: Depends how much time there would be. For instance, if you actually mean “sky,” there would be no time to react. But if scientists realize we’ll be hit in like 24 hours, I would spend my last day with friends.

So, thank you Taryn for your answers, and Anna for this amazing tour! And once again, the link to her blog is here, where you should be able to read her very own blog post and interview questions for the 21 Minus Blog Tour. And don't forget about the giveaway on Anna's blog!

- E

Top 5 books with the most baffling love triangles

Could be love triangles that shocked me in a good way (both development and conclusion), love triangles that shocked me in a bad way, and love triangles that flat out just didn't make any sense to me. I made a post about love triangles here.


Warning: Possible spoilers.

Blurb

1. Hourglass by Myra McEntire. (you can read my review for Hourglass here)
This book definitely falls in the "love triangles that didn't make any sense" category. Emerson Cole meets Michael Weaver. There is an obvious attraction between these two, an almost insta-love, that although I didn't buy I was still somewhat fine with enough to finish the book. So, throughout the book, I thought, "Hey, this is fine. This is all right." And then, BOOM, I met Kaleb.
I liked Kaleb, actually. I liked him more than I liked Michael. But for some odd reason, after just a few hours, Kaleb decided that he really, really liked Emerson. It happened so fast. And it just didn't make any sense! Where in the world did he come from anyway? How could the author just let him barge into their relationship without much of an explanation? It was as if she was saying, "Dang, there isn't a love triangle in this book. WE NEED A LOVE TRIANGLE IN THIS BOOK." And you know what? Books without love triangles are perfectly fine. Great, even. Books without love triangles are better, in my opinion, than books that have them.

Blurb

2. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand.
I liked the love triangle in this one. I really did. The relationship Clara shared with Christian led me into thinking that she was going to choose him for sure they (SPOILER ALERT) supposedly had a destiny with each other after all. In fact, I hadn't even considered the other persona of the triangle, Tucker, as much as I should have. So when Tuck really did come into play, I was shocked, but in the good way. Although I didn't exactly see it coming, the love triangle intro was still believable because there was character development between the two. Cynthia Hand actually turned the love triangle into what a love triangle should be in the grand scheme of things: a plot twist.

Blurb

3. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.
I should be saying great things about this book. So many people loved The Hunger Games, after all, and I know at least twenty people who are going to see the movie when it hits the big screen. But then again, so many people were also immensely disappointed by the last book. And actually I was one of them.
The main reason I didn't like the outcome of the series was because of the conclusion of the last book. So:
Katniss chose Peeta over Gale. Why did she do it? That was never fully explained. Frankly, I'm a Team Gale person, and to me the fact she chose Peeta was more out of guilt than anything else. And originally, the whole love triangle between the three throughout the series had never even clicked in my head at all. I couldn't understand how Katniss and Peeta felt about each other. I didn't get the chemistry between them. But Katniss's relationship with Gale--now that I understood. Maybe the reason I'm ranting about this is because I'm a disappointed Team Gale fan, but that is not necessarily it. In my opinion, KatnissxPeeta had never been fully developed at all. And once again, this can be taken back to my tidbit with Hourglass. Where is the development? The obvious relationship? How could the love triangle have been genuine? Because to me, it wasn't.

Blurb

4. If I Die by Rachel Vincent.
 #4 on this list is another good example of baffling love triangles, and by good I mean I was genuinely happy with the outcome. If I Die is actually the fifth book of the Soul Screamers series and the love triangle that began to emerge in books four and five (My Soul to Keep and My Soul to Steal respectively) was both shocking and pleasing, because first of all: 1) The relationship between Kaylee and the persona that made the triangle a triangle was believable--unlike Mockingjay. 2) The love triangle had not seemed random at all, like it had in Hourglass.
Why did I choose If I Die then if the love triangle had started in books four and five? I was mainly impressed by the outcome of the triangle, and in If I Die, the outcome was delivered. With justice. And the outcome was the most baffling part of it all. Originally, I had been rooting for a Kaylee and Nash pair (Naylee, if you will) throughout the first four books. In fact, I hadn't even considered the other addition to the love triangle: Tod. Or Taylee. And when I figured it in the beginning of If I Die, I thought, "Oh, of course! So that's why. That explains everything now." And ironically enough, Rachel Vincent claimed that she hadn't even expected Tod to be that addition. (In fact, Rachel Vincent herself said that the love triangle isn't really a love triangle at all, which you can read more about here.)

Blurb

5. The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong.
Yet another "good" example of love triangles (in other words: Yes, I did enjoy this book very much and it was an excellent way to end the Darkest Powers trilogy.) The love triangle part of this book was filled with pleasant shock and I LOVED its conclusion. Once again, I didn't see it coming because the author had originally focused on the Chloe-Simon bit, but when it did come it was still fully believable. Still fully acceptable. Even though I had loved Chloe and Simon, I began to love the newest addition even more. And that, everyone, is what a love triangle should be like: a plot twist that increases character development, relationships, and interaction, making it more believable and fleshing out each persona of the triangle even further. In my opinion, at least.





Another important notice: The Maximum Ride Reading Challenge officially starts today! So if anyone's interested, the banner at the top of this blog should take you to the MRRC blog--and all of its glorious details ^-^

- E

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Title: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Genre: YA - Contemporary
How I Obtained Said Book: Library
Series: Stand-alone novel
The Blurb: (from Goodreads)

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A. 

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

The Review: (This review will contain a minimum number of spoilers. Ha ha, bet you didn't see that coming...)

Seventeen year old Hadley's father is just about to be remarried to a British woman in England. Despite her obvious hatred for the marriage, Hadley decides to listen to her mother's insisting pleas and fly by herself to England to attend their wedding. But several things happen that change the course of her journey: 1) She misses her flight by four minutes. 2) She meets a British boy named Oliver. 3) Her next flight to England is the same flight as Oliver, and they are sitting in the same row. The relationship that comes to be from these events and this one particular encounter will change Hadley's reflection on her family, first love, and perhaps
her overall outlook on life.

I thought this book was wonderfully truthful when it came to showing the aftermath of divorce and death, when it comes to the people affected by them. I also thought this book was poignant, amusing, and startling (why the title of the book is what it is, for example; and no, it doesn't necessarily mean that Hadley and Oliver shared a "love at first sight" sort of thing, because if they had, then this review would've turned out a lot differently). All of this was made possible by Hadley's "voice" and personality. I mean, there are preppy YA contemporary main characters and there are the calm, sensible kind, and Hadley definitely falls in the second category (although there are definitely many more categories than just those two). And I liked that, I really did. I enjoy reading about calm, sensible characters. The thing is though, Hadley isn't completely like this throughout the whole entire novel. Some parts--like the words she said to her mother right before going to the airport, and how she behaved during the plane ride--definitely did not suit the whole "calm, sensible" sort of description. But you know, that was perfectly cool with me as well.

And then there's Oliver. Oh, Oliver. I'm not really a sucker for guys with accents; accents are pretty sweet and everything, but I'm not going to automatically like you if you have a super cool accent (I might be a tiny bit jealous though :P). However, even if Oliver hadn't possessed a super cool accent, I'd wager that a bunch of the readers would have liked him anyway. He's charming. There really isn't a better word for it, I mean. He made me crack a smile so many times throughout the book, and during the parts he wasn't present, I found that I really missed him.

The book itself is set in a period of twenty four hours, which upon first glance might make you doubt the plot's credibility, but no worries, it's perfectly credible. Transitions between each part were lovely and smooth, and oh, the pacing of the book was great: a little bit of Hadley, a little bit of Oliver, and a bit of Hadley's family all mixed together. Perfectly proportioned as well. So you know, it's pretty great.

In Conclusion...!


The Stat of Love wasn't necessarily as poignant or deep as The Fault in Our Stars but it was poignant and deep enough. It's a considerably quick read: honestly, the two hundred pages flew by so quickly, when I read the last page I thought, "Okay...wait. Seriously? This is it?" Which could be both good and bad, I suppose, but in my opinion it's very, very good.

Rating: 8 - Hey there. I think I'll read you again another time.

- E

P.S. Chapter 3 of A Rush of Needles is finally finally up. Please review? ^-^

Tagged -- #2

I have been tagged (again!) by Nicole from Fierce Butterfly (thanks Nicole ^-^ and also, I love the vocabulary you used in your questions!). The rules are the same:

THE RULES
1. You must post the rules.
2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've been tagged.
3. Tag eleven people and link to them on your post.
4. Let them know you've tagged them!

1. What is the oldest book you've ever read?
I will admit right now that I have not read many old books, besides the ones I had to read for English. So I guess that means that the oldest book I've read--and finished--is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The oldest book I've attempted to read--but never finished--is either Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. I can't remember which book was published first.

2. What was the first story you ever wrote and what was it about?
The first story I ever wrote was also the most stupid story I ever wrote. I have to admit that. I have come to terms with that. So, the first story I ever wrote was when I was seven, and it was about how my dad was out mowing the lawn and--SOMEHOW--mowed a gigantic hole in the grass, which strangely enough led to a secret passageway. And my protagonist (AKA my 7-year-old self) went down that tunnel and found a wonderful world (woah--Narnia). Like I said: stupid and silly :]

3. Who is your favorite author? If you have several, list them all out!
My favorite author right now is still J.K. Rowling. But I also love John Green and Sarah Dessen.

4. Tell me a little story about the significance of your birth date. Feel free to embellish.
I was born in Michigan in late July. My birth date really isn't that significant besides the fact that it's apparently a really hard number to remember (it took one of my past best friends an extremely long time to remember it). But I guess one significant story was that when I was finally able to leave the hospital, my dad brought me outside and it started to pour. I mean, the clouds were still there, the storm was obvious, but it hadn't started raining at all until I stepped outside*. No idea what this means. Hopefully nothing bad :]

5. What tropes are beginning to annoy you in steampunk? I know you have a few; I certainly do.
Okay, confession time: I haven't read many steampunk books. But if I do have to choose some cliches, I'd probably have to pick the whole "clockwork army" thing. That and if the girl is the main character, she feels like she must defy the social norm and become a non-lady.

6. Do you think a novel needs an idealized hero?
Hmm...not necessarily. I love characters who are flawed, but a character who is idealized would be great too. As long as they aren't Mary Sue's/Gary Stu's.

7. What do you think of gender roles in novels? Should they reflect reality, an ideal, or something in between? 
Probably something in between. I think gender roles should be able to be switched in novels, altered, and changed in any way to fit the plot and novel elements. Gender roles should also be, like, equal and interchanged. For instance, if a girl can be a damsel, so can a guy (although both would be a little annoying and eye rolling-worthy, in my opinion).

8. What makes a delicious villain?
Villains with a past! Villains with good qualities! Villains with a purpose besides just feeling like "being evil", or taking over the world, or something else that's common. Villains who are actual human beings. Or, villains who are so far from being human, they are absolutely unique and strange that they're considerably interesting.

9. Tell me about a lesser-known novel that made an indelible impression on you and why.
I would have to choose The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (which I think was originally written in French). I read it in seventh grade for my English class, and it was probably the most meaningful book I've ever read at that time. It played with themes involving the behaviors and intelligence of children and adults, which, you know, definitely created a giant impact on a twelve year old who was just about to become a teenager. I highly recommend this book.

10. Early bird or night owl?
Night owl. I even have "Become nocturnal for one week" on my Bucket List. I love staying up late and I hate waking up early in the morning. So much.

11. Favorite mythological being? Feel free to pick an obscure one.
This is a hard one...but I'd have to choose an elf. Elves are pretty sweet.

Since I've already picked eleven bloggers in my last tagged post, I think I'll pass on this one (truth is: I can't think of eleven more bloggers to tag. It's very sad.) Thank you again Nicole!

- E

* 'Course, I couldn't possibly have "stepped" outside. I couldn't walk then. But you know what I mean.

Things worthy of loving.

First, we have this song:

And this song (I LOVE Titanic):
(I realize it's only part 2 of the song. The original song is actually about 20 minutes long and Youtube doesn't typically allow 20-minute long videos...but you can still find part 1 by clicking on the link in the info box ^-^)



And this movie trailer (of course):



And this movie trailer:



And that is all.
(A pretty meaningless post...but I felt like I had to share all of this amazingness with someone. So. There you go.)

- E