#musey monday

[pensandinkwells]

Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone: Muse-y Monday

This post is the first of many weekly posts that you can find at my co-created blog, Eclectic Scribbles. I'll put links to these posts here on Pens & Inkwells. :)

::

I have found, oftentimes, that it is very easy to fall into a rut when writing. You find your groove, something that works, and you stick with it. Say, for example, you write a fantasy book about a medieval-set place where a girl finds out she's a princess/or finds out that she has magic/or finds out that she's the key to some bigger event that she never even knew about. You love this book and enjoy the world building so much that, when the time comes for the book to wrap up, you either start a sequel to write more in that world or start a new book that has the same feeling and style to it.

Guilty as charged.

Fantasy is my safety zone. I'm comfortable working in the realms of magic and medieval things because I know how to do it. Several plots and series have come out of the same melting pot, and oftentimes I feel I wouldn't be able to try something different if I wanted to. This is okay, but it has the potential to hold you back.

A great writer can write thriller/horror/romance/fantasy/and mainstream without needing one genre to fall back on or use as a crutch when the tough gets going. Of course, you always have your favorite genre, but you should be able to work on other things too, just in case one genre or style doesn't work out for you.

It's hard. I should know. I've tried historical fiction (failed at that about 7k in), I've tried religious suspense (finished the book but won't ever do anything with it, it was that bad). I've tried romance (not great at romance, tbh), and I've tried sci-fi (fun, but involves a lot of world-building and logic, neither of which I'm good at). Fantasy has always been my net, catching me when I fail and keeping me from thinking I'm a terrible writer all together. I'm good at fantasy. I can pull it off. I have great plots, great characters, magic, subplots of romance, and fascinating villains.

But I'm not growing. There is no challenge with fantasy. The biggest challenge is editing my own work (it's hard to cut up my own darlings and think up new material; I often heavily rely on what I have to edit, going line by line. Faced with new material and I crumble).

Because I've grown tired of not being challenged, my brain decided to think up of a fairly radical plot line. I've been toying with it for a while, unsure if I can handle it... Why? It's mainstream fiction. General fiction. Character driven set in current times. No magic, no forests, no ancient curses or prophecies. Just a character suffering from mental trauma and a friendship that transcends/challenges what society thinks of relationships today. I've never done this before, and I'm still not sure how I'll pull it off. I'd be writing material that some people might question, sneer at, or shrug off. The biggest challenge is that I need to write it anyway and not let what other people think about it bother me.

So. I want to challenge you today to step outside your comfort zone and write what you think needs to be said. Sometimes writing should be safe and fun, but other times writing should be used as a way to challenge society and bring to light different views and opinions. Writing is a weapon just as much as it is an enjoyment. The pen is mightier than the sword, after all. It is your sword, and you should use it even if you think there's a chance people might laugh at you.

[pensandinkwells]

Shadowcry by Jenna Burtenshaw: Book Review (Muse-y Monday)

Last week, my friend and I were at Barnes and Noble looking through the fiction / paranormal romance section of the YA area. I had four or five books in my hands (as usual), and I couldn't decide which one to get. So I had my friend read the backs and decide which one I should get.

Out of these books including Linger by Maggie Stiefvater and The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter, my friend chose this one. She guessed that it might start out slow and get really, really, really good and told me she'd probably like to read it too.

She was right.

Here's the synopsis from the back of the book:

Those who wish to see the dark, be ready to pay your price.

The Night of Souls—when the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest—is only days away. Albion is at war . . . and losing. And fifteen-year-old Kate Winters has just raised a blackbird from the dead.

As her home is torn apart by the wardens, Kate's discovery that she is one of the the rare people who can cross the veil between life and death makes her the most hunted person in all of Albion. Captured and taken to the graveyard city of Fume—where her own parents met their deaths ten years ago—Kate must harness her extraordinary powers to save herself, her country, and the two men she cares for most. And she'll make a pact with a murderer to do it.

My review:

The moment I started reading this book, I was sucked into it. It starts off with a gripping prologue, featuring a mysterious cloaked woman disturbing old graves to find a book of power, and continues into a book filled with action, tension, and excitement. My friend was wrong about the slow beginning, though the beginning was perhaps less interesting on a scale of amazing to AWESOMELY EPIC than the latter parts of the book.

Almost immediately, the readers are introduced to several interesting, unique, and important characters.

First of all, there's Kate, the main protagonist who just learned that she can raise things from the dead and cross into the veil (where souls go to pass into death and peace). While she's hesitant, young, and somewhat innocent -- unable to protect herself or others around her -- she holds her family in high regard and would do anything to save them from danger. Even if that meant putting herself at risk. She's also compassionate, brave, and pretty rational for being 15 years old. Burtenshaw does well in creating a protagonist readers can believe in.

Then there's Edgar and Artemis. Edgar is Kate's best friend: a fearless, sacrificing, clever 17 (?) year old who saves Kate's skin more than once. He goes to great lengths to protect and help Kate, and he also has a fairly interesting back story that keeps the readers wondering what his place in the ruckus of the novel is. Artemis, on the other hand, is Kate's overprotective and somewhat close-minded uncle who gets himself into a lot of trouble (for Kate's safety, mind you). He has a limited role in the story, but he's well-written nonetheless.

Finally, after a slew of other, minor characters who are all almost flawlessly written and add great amounts of intrigue and magic to the story (look out for Kalen and Da'ru. You won't be disappointed!), there's Silas Dane. Silas. I really shouldn't spoil anything about his character, but if you had to have one reason for reading Shadowcry, it should be him. Silas Dane makes the whole story just THAT much better. He's dangerous, he's rough, and he's demanding, which is enough to make you find him evil and dislikable (and at first, I thought he was the main villain), but after a while, you find he's misguided, misunderstood, and after Kate for one reason: he wants her to help him die. If that's not enough for you, he's also tall, dark, and handsome, but I digress. Really, overall, his characterization is outstanding and exceeded my expectations. Burtenshaw did an amazingly epic job crafting his character and backstory.

I found Shadowcry to be character driven more than plot driven, but that was okay. The plot itself was interesting, the villain Da'ru had motives, and some chapters were definitely beyond what I expected (like finding rubies in a handful of emeralds). A lot of Shadowcry dealt with magic and death, and I liked those aspects because they were handled differently than other books such as the Harry Potter series and, say, Narnia. There were no magic spells, no incantations, no wands or blood sacrifices (per say). Most of the magic came from Kate's abilities that were guided by the knowledge of others. It's really worth reading to see how differently magic is treated in this book. It was refreshing, and I loved it.

Overall, I give this book 4.5/5 stars. There were a few nitpicky things that annoyed me, such as how many times Kate escaped . . . and then was caught again . . . but otherwise it was a fabulous book. I suggest anyone who likes fantasy or paranormal romance reads it. :) I also cannot wait to get the second book (there are three in all, and there seems to be no spoilers online! Augh. So yep, back to the bookstore I go!)

[pensandinkwells]

On Prologues & How to Use them: (Belated) Muse-y Monday

I have missed Muse-y Monday the past couple weeks because I've been busy, but as I just wrote a guest blog post for my friend Mariella (her blog can be found here), I thought I might share the link to it and just call it a day. :)

Also, her blog is a lot of fun and has a lot of information, so be sure to check it out!

Blog post on prologues and when they are/aren't acceptable in a novel can be found here.

Have a great afternoon, and I'll see you guys tomorrow for Character Thursday!