Endings

Clearly the ending of a book/story is super important. When it comes down to it, the last words on the final page will give the reader their ultimate judgment of the story. I've read endings that were bland and chalky in flavor, endings that tried to put a crazy, unnecessary spin on things, and fluff endings that are nice in their own way but don't offer any actual substance. These three types are typical of the books I've read. The entire rest of the series before the end is usually good, (otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with it), but the end just ruins it for me. However, every once in a blue moon, an ending to a book ruins a series for me in an entirely different way. When an ending makes you upset, just for the simple fact that it is 'The End", you know you've truly fallen in love with a book.

For example, a few months ago I read the final 70 pages of the sixth and last "Adventures of Tiger and Del" series. The reason I put it like that is because I had actually read the other novels in the series two years before. It took me two whole years to work up the courage to just read that ending. I knew it was one of the best series I'd come across and that meant the ending had to be perfect. It's a older work, from the 80's if my memory serves me, so it's clear that there will be no other book relating to those two particular characters. After those 70 pages there would be no more Tiger, with his manly-man attitude, and no Del, with her forceful determination. But then- after I'd finally ripped that band aide off and finished the book- I sat back against my headboard and smiled. There was nothing else I could do. The ending was- in every way that I could have dreamed it- perfect. And though I'd never be able to follow on another adventure of theirs again I was content. 

Endings, to me, are the portion of the book that should be perfected most, over and over, throughout the entire writing process. The final sentence is the author's last chance to give the reader a glimpse into their world before they shut that door and bar it from view.

Creating a Character

When writing any story it's important to know your character. Even if half of the things you know about them never make it into the final draft, knowing all their little idiosyncrasies will make them come alive in your writing and in your reader's eyes. When you're first starting out it's good to ask yourself how would Character A respond in Situation A? Situation B? Visualize their expression when they look at everyday objects. What things hold significance for them? What do they like and dislike? When you get down to it, there's a heck of a lot that needs to be considered!

So, with that in mind, I'm going to try and make up a trait chart for a few of the main characters in my story. I'll separate it into "Likes" "Dislikes" and "Other". For example: Serica- other- She sings when she's nervous, she can't say something mean without feeling bad, and she scratches her head when she's lying.

Those are just some of the things I'm starting with, but I'd like to get at least 100 different traits to give to each of the main characters. If you have any interesting traits in mind feel free to leave them as a comment!

Cast in Courtlight

The other day I finished Cast in Courtlight, the second book in Michelle Sagara's Chronicles of Elantra series.Again I was blown away by how expertly it functioned as a bridge to the preceding novels. Now, I'm not saying that Courtlight didn't have it's own engaging history and storyline, but it brought to light many of the themes and central ideas that the series has since focused on. In Cast in Silence the power of words is touched on but nothing more than that. Courtlight's entire plot, however, is centralized on the importance of words or, to be more specific, names themselves. To the Barrani, a race that inhabits Elantra along with humans, their true names are things of power and literally define who they are. To tell another person your name is to give away a piece of your very soul and, if they wished, the ability to control you. Kaylin's struggle throughout the novel is in completing the name of a dieing Barrani lord, and in discovering what her true name was.

I'm not quite sure why, but the Sagara's concept of a name really appeals to me. At any rate, I'm interested to see where Sagara will take the theme of words and power in her future novels. I want to reread the other four novels that follow Courtlight to see if I missed anything that might give away a hint or something!

Cast in Silence

     Back in 2006 I picked up a book called Cast in Silence by Michelle Sagara. Thinking back four years ago I can't remember what originally drew me to the book, other than the neat name itself, but it certainly wasn't the bland cover. ( It's bad, I know, but usually a book's cover determines whether I'll bother to read the synopsis on the back). One of the things I do recall from back then is that I wasn't very impressed when reading the book. I didn't dislike it, but I think I felt a bit lost in all the information that had been thrown at me. Nevertheless, I became fond of the very colorful characters and picked up the second book of the series when it was published. Then the third. Then the fourth. And again with each passing year. ( The yearly publication schedule is one of the many things that makes me love the series and the author). I'm not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the line I really fell in love with Kaylin, the main character, and the city of Elantra.
     The sixth book of the series, Cast in Chaos was published this September and I devoured the book in a few days. It was brilliant, as expected, but I also found something else. I COULDN'T REMEMBER WHAT THE HELL SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WERE REFERENCED WERE. Naturally, I was bugged.  So I decided to go back and re-read the series again starting with Cast in Silence. I finished it today and- to put it simply- I was astounded. Knowing the characters and events from the later novels, I watched as Ms. Sagara placed the framework for them. A seemingly inconsequential phrase here, a brief character introduction there, all point to hints at important story arcs and developments in the later novels. It was also amazing to see Kaylin for the first time again, and to know just how much her character (and the others, for that matter) will grow.
     All in all, seeing just how carefully Ms. Sagara planned out her novels, it makes me realize just how much I have to grow as a writer. Lesson learned: Don't just sit at my laptop and write! Make a gosh darned framework first! If I get confused with my own character motivations how the heck are my readers going to feel? So it's back to the beginning for my book until I have a proper set up for it.

CNWC (current novel word count): 1,073

Introduction and First Thoughts

     Hello there! Just thought I'd start out with a general introduction of who I am and why my ramblings would be interesting to you (if at all!). Currently I am a freshman college student. My life pretty much revolves around reading, writing, and playing video games ( and family, friends, work etc.,). I've been trying for as long as I can remember to write a novel. It's the one thing in life that I know I have to do. Through all the ideas, all the random scraps of writing, so far the furthest I've gotten to my goal is 52,000 words of my most developed idea. And I've come to the realization that it needs to be scrapped. Well, not completely. The characters need more dimension, the writing needs to be more fluid, and, to be frank, I've just gotta pull my crap together.
    With that said, I'll be writing about the books I read (which are mostly in the Fantasy/ Scifi genre), the writing in the games I play, and my love/hate relationship with my novel. Enjoy!