Title: Greenwitch (The Dark is Rising sequence, book 3)
Author: Susan Cooper
Length: 147 pages
Genre: juvenile/fantasy
Plot Basics: All the work that Simon, Jane and Barney Drew did to recover the grail seems to be lost when the artifact is stolen in a museum break-in. The children and their Great Uncle Merriman Lyon know that the theft wasn’t the work of just any thieves, but agents of the Dark, trying to reclaim one of the Things of Power. Merriman recruits the three Drew children and Will Stanton to accompany on a week-long holiday back in Cornwall. But the week is hardly a holiday as a local rite – the creation of the Greenwitch – is wrapped up in the next piece of the struggle between Light and Dark.
Banter Points: Again, this is a fantastic fantasy series for kids. It’s classic good against evil, with a fun dash of British mythology thrown in. Word Nerd really liked to see Will Stanton interacting with the Drew children in this book. He’s a compelling character and was a nice contrast to the sometimes whiny-seeming Drews.
Bummer Points: The Dark wasn’t nearly scary enough in this book. In “Over Sea, Under Stone,” Mr. Hastings and a few others were acting as the agents of the Dark. Same for the Rider in “Dark is Rising.” While there was a bad guy in this book, he never had a name. As is understood in most books dealing with some kind of magic, names have power, and leaving this character unnamed didn’t heighten the mystery, but made it harder to believe this character had malevolent intentions.
Word Nerd Recommendations: Adults and kids still yearning for something to read in the Harry Potter vein should check these out. The Dark is Rising sequence doesn’t have the humor of HP, but the basic good vs. evil plot should be appealing.
31 October 2007
24 October 2007
Book Banter -- Storm Front
Title: Storm Front
Author: Jim Butcher
Length: ~320 pages
Genre: sci-fi/paranormal
Plot Basics: Harry Dresden is a wizard. And he advertises his services as such in the Chicago Yellow Pages. He also consults for the Chicago PD when they get the weird crimes. Like a recent pair of murders. Harry's called up to investiage two deaths at the same time he's hired by a woman to investigate her husband's growing interest in magic. As Harry starts to uncover the truth, he puts his own life and those of some of the people he works with, in danger.
Banter Points: Word Nerd's heard good things about the Dresden Files books, so she wanted to check it out. This first one is so-so. There's enough potential there that she sees why an editor/agent would have be interested in this series, but there's also a lot left unexplained.
Bummer Points: A little bit more background on how Dresden's mystical Chicago works would be nice.
Word Nerd Recommendation: She's been told the books get better after the third or fourth one, so she's got book 2 on hold.
Author: Jim Butcher
Length: ~320 pages
Genre: sci-fi/paranormal
Plot Basics: Harry Dresden is a wizard. And he advertises his services as such in the Chicago Yellow Pages. He also consults for the Chicago PD when they get the weird crimes. Like a recent pair of murders. Harry's called up to investiage two deaths at the same time he's hired by a woman to investigate her husband's growing interest in magic. As Harry starts to uncover the truth, he puts his own life and those of some of the people he works with, in danger.
Banter Points: Word Nerd's heard good things about the Dresden Files books, so she wanted to check it out. This first one is so-so. There's enough potential there that she sees why an editor/agent would have be interested in this series, but there's also a lot left unexplained.
Bummer Points: A little bit more background on how Dresden's mystical Chicago works would be nice.
Word Nerd Recommendation: She's been told the books get better after the third or fourth one, so she's got book 2 on hold.
18 October 2007
Book Banter -- The Dark is Rising
Title: The Dark is Rising (The Dark is Rising sequence book 2)
Author: Susan Cooper
Length: 218 pages
Genre: juvenile/fantasy
Plot Basics: Will Stanton just wants snow for his 11th birthday, but what he gets is far more adult and dangerous. Will discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones, a group of people withheld from Time who are the guardians of the Light and in constant struggle against the Dark. But as Christmas approaches, and the darkest time of the year, the powers of the Dark are growing stronger and Will is given a mission to collect and join the six Signs of Power as a weapon against the Dark. As Will comes into his power, he has a collection of mentors, including Merriman Lyon.
Banter Points: Word Nerd got interested in this series first after reading an interview with Cooper and then seeing the trailers for "The Seeker: The Dark is Rising" movie. (The movie is based on this book.) But, what she has found is a great kids' fantasy series that's good reading for adults too. High adventure and mysticism await in this book as Will learns what it means to be an Old One.
Bummer Points: Sometimes, Word Nerd really thought she needed to brush up on English mythology. There were a few references that she thought she should have known to stuff that was likely legend from Celtic/British mythology.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Though you don't have to read "Over Sea, Under Stone" to understand the action in this book, it's still good to start with that one first.
Author: Susan Cooper
Length: 218 pages
Genre: juvenile/fantasy
Plot Basics: Will Stanton just wants snow for his 11th birthday, but what he gets is far more adult and dangerous. Will discovers that he is the last of the Old Ones, a group of people withheld from Time who are the guardians of the Light and in constant struggle against the Dark. But as Christmas approaches, and the darkest time of the year, the powers of the Dark are growing stronger and Will is given a mission to collect and join the six Signs of Power as a weapon against the Dark. As Will comes into his power, he has a collection of mentors, including Merriman Lyon.
Banter Points: Word Nerd got interested in this series first after reading an interview with Cooper and then seeing the trailers for "The Seeker: The Dark is Rising" movie. (The movie is based on this book.) But, what she has found is a great kids' fantasy series that's good reading for adults too. High adventure and mysticism await in this book as Will learns what it means to be an Old One.
Bummer Points: Sometimes, Word Nerd really thought she needed to brush up on English mythology. There were a few references that she thought she should have known to stuff that was likely legend from Celtic/British mythology.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Though you don't have to read "Over Sea, Under Stone" to understand the action in this book, it's still good to start with that one first.
16 October 2007
Book Banter -- Over Sea, Under Stone
Title: Over Sea, Under Stone (The Dark is Rising Sequence, book 1)
Author: Susan Cooper
Length: audiobook... no page count this time
Genre: juvenile/fantasy
Plot Basics: Simon, Jane and Barney Drew are on holiday with their Great Uncle Merry in Cornwall, England. The big house where they are all staying holds many secrets and one day, while exploring the attic, they find a ancient manuscript. The manuscript, Merry tells them, dates back to the time of King Arthur and could lead them to a great treasure, an item that will help the powers of good ward off the growing Dark. But the Drew children aren't the only ones looking for clues in Cornwall and they find themselves in a race to understand the manuscript, chased at every step by those who serve the Dark and would like to see them fail.
Banter Points: First, Alex Jennings' narration of the book was great. He did a wonderful job of reading the story making it truly enjoyable to listen too. Second, Word Nerd doesn't know how she missed this book as a kid. Since she enjoyed it now as a grown-up, it would have been even better then! Cooper keeps the action up in the story, writing great chase scenes and description that really take the reader to southwest England.
Bummer Points: Simon, Jane and Barney were, at times, a bit wooden. They seemed sort of like the stock British sibling characters on holiday.
Word Nerd Recommendation: If you like Harry Potter, these are worth checking out.
Author: Susan Cooper
Length: audiobook... no page count this time
Genre: juvenile/fantasy
Plot Basics: Simon, Jane and Barney Drew are on holiday with their Great Uncle Merry in Cornwall, England. The big house where they are all staying holds many secrets and one day, while exploring the attic, they find a ancient manuscript. The manuscript, Merry tells them, dates back to the time of King Arthur and could lead them to a great treasure, an item that will help the powers of good ward off the growing Dark. But the Drew children aren't the only ones looking for clues in Cornwall and they find themselves in a race to understand the manuscript, chased at every step by those who serve the Dark and would like to see them fail.
Banter Points: First, Alex Jennings' narration of the book was great. He did a wonderful job of reading the story making it truly enjoyable to listen too. Second, Word Nerd doesn't know how she missed this book as a kid. Since she enjoyed it now as a grown-up, it would have been even better then! Cooper keeps the action up in the story, writing great chase scenes and description that really take the reader to southwest England.
Bummer Points: Simon, Jane and Barney were, at times, a bit wooden. They seemed sort of like the stock British sibling characters on holiday.
Word Nerd Recommendation: If you like Harry Potter, these are worth checking out.
15 October 2007
Book Banter -- The Fourth Bear
Title: The Fourth Bear
Author: Jasper Fforde
Length: 378 pages
Genre: mystery/comedy
Plot Basics: Nursery Crime Division Detective Chief Inspector Jack Spratt is off the job. His boss says it's because Jack is too crazy. But Jack's craziness is nothing compared to that of the serial killer Gingerbreadman who has recently escaped from prison. Top it off with some porridge smuggling, a Friend to Bears who may have been murdered, the world's worst idea for an amusement park and Jack is knee-deep in a bizarre case that he, technically, isn't authorized to solve.
Banter Points: Only Jasper Fforde could write this book and pull it off. At times laugh-aloud funny and filled with literary witticisms, The Fourth Bear is still a great mystery book. Obviously, Fforde knows both the genre and his audiences and the book is a delight to both.
Bummer Points: Word Nerd has now read her way through all of Fforde's back list and wishes there were more left for her to read.
Word Nerd recommendation: A must-read for anybody who loves books.
Author: Jasper Fforde
Length: 378 pages
Genre: mystery/comedy
Plot Basics: Nursery Crime Division Detective Chief Inspector Jack Spratt is off the job. His boss says it's because Jack is too crazy. But Jack's craziness is nothing compared to that of the serial killer Gingerbreadman who has recently escaped from prison. Top it off with some porridge smuggling, a Friend to Bears who may have been murdered, the world's worst idea for an amusement park and Jack is knee-deep in a bizarre case that he, technically, isn't authorized to solve.
Banter Points: Only Jasper Fforde could write this book and pull it off. At times laugh-aloud funny and filled with literary witticisms, The Fourth Bear is still a great mystery book. Obviously, Fforde knows both the genre and his audiences and the book is a delight to both.
Bummer Points: Word Nerd has now read her way through all of Fforde's back list and wishes there were more left for her to read.
Word Nerd recommendation: A must-read for anybody who loves books.
12 October 2007
Book Banter -- Trigun Vol. 1
Title: Trigun, Vol. 1
Author: Yasuhiro Nightow
Length: 357 pages
Genre: sci-fi/manga
Plot Basics: Vash the Stampede, also known as the Humanoid Typhoon, the legendary gunman, has a $$60,000,000,000 (that’s 60 Billion Double Dollars) price tag on his head for the damage that’s caused when he’s been around, including the total destruction of Third July City. Given his destructive wake, the Bernardelli Insurance Society sends two agents, Meryl Stryfe and Millie Thompson, to try to avert the risks and damage Vash causes. But they can’t believe at first that the donut-loving man they find is really such a phenomenal gunman until he stops the infamous Nebraska family, saves people and a town and does it all without actually killing anyone… a position Vash adamantly upholds that no one has the right to take another life.
Banter Points: Word Nerd decided to read the actual manga series after having watched the anime series and thoroughly enjoying that. So far, while the manga mostly follows the plot in the anime (or the other way around, technically), it’s fun to see the little things in the original story that didn’t make the TV show version.
Bummer Points: It’s not a true bummer, but this is the first manga that Word Nerd’s read, so it’s taken a while to get used to the format. Manga are read back to front, right to left, even in English, to mirror the original Japanese format. For at least the first half of this book, Word Nerd really had to work to follow the series of comic panels.
Word Nerd recommendation: If you’ve ever wanted to check out manga, but didn’t know what to pick up, try these. The stories have a fun old West flavor to them, with a good dose of sci-fi. Or if you’re disinclined to read a graphic novel, the anime TV series is good too.
Author: Yasuhiro Nightow
Length: 357 pages
Genre: sci-fi/manga
Plot Basics: Vash the Stampede, also known as the Humanoid Typhoon, the legendary gunman, has a $$60,000,000,000 (that’s 60 Billion Double Dollars) price tag on his head for the damage that’s caused when he’s been around, including the total destruction of Third July City. Given his destructive wake, the Bernardelli Insurance Society sends two agents, Meryl Stryfe and Millie Thompson, to try to avert the risks and damage Vash causes. But they can’t believe at first that the donut-loving man they find is really such a phenomenal gunman until he stops the infamous Nebraska family, saves people and a town and does it all without actually killing anyone… a position Vash adamantly upholds that no one has the right to take another life.
Banter Points: Word Nerd decided to read the actual manga series after having watched the anime series and thoroughly enjoying that. So far, while the manga mostly follows the plot in the anime (or the other way around, technically), it’s fun to see the little things in the original story that didn’t make the TV show version.
Bummer Points: It’s not a true bummer, but this is the first manga that Word Nerd’s read, so it’s taken a while to get used to the format. Manga are read back to front, right to left, even in English, to mirror the original Japanese format. For at least the first half of this book, Word Nerd really had to work to follow the series of comic panels.
Word Nerd recommendation: If you’ve ever wanted to check out manga, but didn’t know what to pick up, try these. The stories have a fun old West flavor to them, with a good dose of sci-fi. Or if you’re disinclined to read a graphic novel, the anime TV series is good too.
11 October 2007
Book Banter -- The Pardon
Title: The Pardon
Author: James Grippando
Length: 406 pages
Genre: legal/thriller
Plot Basics: Jack Swyteck is a high-profile defense attorney, helping criminals avoid sentencing. His estranged father, Harry, is the law-and-order governor of the State of Florida, committed to enforcing the state’s death penalty when applicable. But after Jack defends – and wins a trial – for the notorious killer Eddy Goss, both Jack and Harry start receiving threatening messages. As they try to stay steps ahead of the blackmailer, Jack finds himself back at the defense table in a courtroom, but this time, as a defendant in a first-degree murder case. Jack knows he’s being framed, but it’s going to take reconciling with his father to catch another killer on the loose.
Banter Points: This is a great legal thriller read, reminiscent of early John Grisham books like The Firm and The Pelican Brief. Grippando makes both Jack and Harry believable characters instead of stock character-cut outs (the hotshot attorney, the governor only concerned with reelection). The plot has some interesting twists.
Bummer Points: This is one of Word Nerd’s recurring pet peeves in thrillers – the chapters written from the POV of the killer/bad guy. Word Nerd just doesn’t find this an effective technique. Most often for her, it doesn’t make the killer/bad guy any scarier, in fact, it breaks from the rising tension building for the main characters.
Word Nerd recommendation: Grippando’s got quite a list of titles out featuring Swyteck and Word Nerd’s excited to keep reading his back list based on his initial showing.
10 October 2007
Author Answers with Ben Bova
This week's authors is one of the top names in science fiction today, Ben Bova. Bova has written many books, looking at the exploration of our own solar system, nanotechnology and green energy.
For more on Bova, check out his website.
WN: Your latest novel, "The Aftermath" is part of your Asteroid Wars/Grand Tour books. How did you get the idea to do a series looking out further and further into space?
BOVA: I’ve been an advocate of space exploration and development just about all of my life. I worked on the Vanguard program, the first US satellite effort, two years before the creation of NASA. So it was quite natural for me to write a series of novels about how the human race will expand through the solar system. My readers dubbed the series, “Bova’s Grand Tour of the Solar System.”
WN: You are categorized as a science fiction writer, but from your perspective, how much of what you write is fiction and how much is science, or possible future science? What kind of research do you do for your novels?
BOVA: I’m researching all the time. Fortunately, I have many friends in various scientific and technical fields, and I know where to go to find the information I need. My novels are solidly based on what is known, but I feel free to go beyond that – as long as no one can prove that I’m wrong. For example, in my novel JUPITER I postulated giant creatures living in a world-spanning ocean. The conditions on Jupiter are based on current information, but the ocean and the creatures in it are my extrapolations of existing data. The human characters are what makes a novel interesting, and I try to pattern my human characters on real, living human beings, with all their emotions, strengths and weaknesses.
WN: How do you think science fiction has shaped or influenced technology for things like space exploration and nanotechnology?
BOVA: Many top researchers and industrialists started reading science fiction as youngsters. I know that all the astronauts who walked on the Moon did. Their early readings convinced them, I think, that working in science or technology can be fun – and much more interesting than selling insurance.
WN: When you look at recent developments like SpaceShipOne being the first private craft to reach sub-orbit, where do you think space exploration or space travel is headed?
BOVA: I think private, profit-oriented entrepreneurs will push the development and exploitation of space, while government and university efforts will focus on scientific research – and defense.
WN: Were you a reader as a kid... what turned you on to reading/writing books and science fiction in particular?
BOVA: I was an asthmatic (still am), so I was reading when most of my friends were playing at sports. Science fiction excited me. That old “sense of wonder” hit me from the very first.
WN: After writing the number of books you have written, does the process get easier or harder? Why?
BOVA: It gets easier AND harder. Easier, in the sense that you have acquired the skills needed to tell a story; harder, because you are always trying to stretch your abilities and reach new territory.
WN: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?
BOVA: There isn’t any single book, there are dozens, hundreds. Among the top are THE STORY OF MAN by anthropologist Carleton S. Coon, THE MAN WHO SOLD THE MOON by Robert A. Heinlein, and THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway. Not necessarily in that order.
WN: What's next for you as a writer?
BOVA: I want to do an historical novel set in the time of the Trojan War
09 October 2007
Book Banter -- Kill All the Lawyers
Title: Kill All the Lawyers
Author: Paul Levine
Length: 352 pages
Genre: mystery
Plot Basics: The lawyer team of Solomon and Lord is back, only this time, it's mostly Steve Solomon defending himself from a strange string of circumstances. It starts one morning when he discovers a marlin jabbed into his front door and then a local radio personality -- a man Steve once defended -- lambasting him on air. As Steve wrestles with his past and the possibility there's a killer still at large, his partner Victoria Lord struggles with whether their partnership is doomed.
Banter Points: Bobby, Steve's 12-year-old nephew, may again steal the show in this book. And for once, he's more integral to the plot.
Bummer Points: This one is not the best of the series, so far. It's strange to have a mystery novel without a dead body and the comedy between Solomon and Lord is lacking as well in this one.
Word Nerd recommendation: Since the first two were good, Word Nerd's not going to pass judgment on this series quite yet and is still planning to read the fourth one.
08 October 2007
Character Study -- Chuck Bartowski
Word Nerd has admitted in the past how she does put down the book from time to time to watch TV shows. Particularly in the fall, when the new crop of shows comes on.
And one of this fall's new ones provides a good look at another character archetype.
Chuck from the NBC show "Chuck" is a good example of the everyman character.
The everyman type (originally coined from an English morality play) is supposed to be just as the name describes -- a character that anybody can relate to.
That's Chuck: average guy with a humdrum job, trouble finding dates, a quirky best friend, a somewhat meddling sister. In the story, of course, Chuck comes into the possession of government secrets, which is admittedly not very ordinary, but he's not suddenly a James Bond. He still is trying to live his average life and not being very suave with the whole secret-agent thing.
Chuck works as an everyman character, Word Nerd thinks, because many people have probably thought (after watching a James Bond movie, or Alias episode etc.) that they would make a good spy if called upon to do that. Chuck, naturally, remains just as geeky as a quasi-secret-agent as he was before.
Just like most of us would be.
05 October 2007
The Book Meme
Word Nerd spotted this great meme over at upcoming author Jamie Ford's site, and thought, this is a good meme, since it's not the usual silly questions.
Since Ford tagged anybody who wanted to be tagged, Word Nerd decided to play along.
Total number of books
As in that are on Word Nerd's bookshelves? Or that she's read in a year or what? This category is ambiguous.
But here goes: Total number of books.
Seven Harry Potters + seven Chronicles of Narnia + four Time Quartet books by Madeleine L'Engle + six Griffin and Sabine + seven Graham Greene titles + ... oh you get the idea.
Both of Word Nerd's two bookshelves are full to overflowing.
Last book read
The Dead Girls' Dance. See the review of that here.
Last book bought
Thin Air. Rachel Caine. Book six in her Weather Warden series. Word Nerd had to lay down the cash for this one because the library hadn't purchased it yet and Word Nerd didn't want to wait.
Five meaningful books
1. The Lord of the Rings.
Word Nerd knows that this is a popular book for a lot of people, but seriously, this book has played a big part in her life. From having her dad read most of it to her the first time (until she got too scared at the end and made him stop until he insisted he tell her the end so she would know everything turns out OK), to rereading times for herself through in Jr. High, college, etc., it's been such a foundational story of how good triumphs and it's up to the least to change the world.
2. Watership Down.
Yes, it's the rabbit book. Another great foundational book that Word Nerd first had read to her as a kid, but has re-read many times since then. A great book about how stories impact communities.
3. The Once and Future King
T.H. White's classic King Arthur story. Another great book that has a good story, but deeper insights as well about how we order our societies and if might can ever make right and the falibility of humans.
4. The Hungering Dark
Frederick Buechner's powerful little book on doubt and faith and how having doubt doesn't mean that one doesn't have faith and that God is often found in the unexpected moments when we see "through a glass, darkly."
5. The Book Thief
Australian author Markus Zusak's haunting and compelling tale of a girl living in Nazi Germany. His prose is captivating and unique.
Since this is a meme, Word Nerd's tagging Stacie, Worderella and Kelly.
Since Ford tagged anybody who wanted to be tagged, Word Nerd decided to play along.
Total number of books
As in that are on Word Nerd's bookshelves? Or that she's read in a year or what? This category is ambiguous.
But here goes: Total number of books.
Seven Harry Potters + seven Chronicles of Narnia + four Time Quartet books by Madeleine L'Engle + six Griffin and Sabine + seven Graham Greene titles + ... oh you get the idea.
Both of Word Nerd's two bookshelves are full to overflowing.
Last book read
The Dead Girls' Dance. See the review of that here.
Last book bought
Thin Air. Rachel Caine. Book six in her Weather Warden series. Word Nerd had to lay down the cash for this one because the library hadn't purchased it yet and Word Nerd didn't want to wait.
Five meaningful books
1. The Lord of the Rings.
Word Nerd knows that this is a popular book for a lot of people, but seriously, this book has played a big part in her life. From having her dad read most of it to her the first time (until she got too scared at the end and made him stop until he insisted he tell her the end so she would know everything turns out OK), to rereading times for herself through in Jr. High, college, etc., it's been such a foundational story of how good triumphs and it's up to the least to change the world.
2. Watership Down.
Yes, it's the rabbit book. Another great foundational book that Word Nerd first had read to her as a kid, but has re-read many times since then. A great book about how stories impact communities.
3. The Once and Future King
T.H. White's classic King Arthur story. Another great book that has a good story, but deeper insights as well about how we order our societies and if might can ever make right and the falibility of humans.
4. The Hungering Dark
Frederick Buechner's powerful little book on doubt and faith and how having doubt doesn't mean that one doesn't have faith and that God is often found in the unexpected moments when we see "through a glass, darkly."
5. The Book Thief
Australian author Markus Zusak's haunting and compelling tale of a girl living in Nazi Germany. His prose is captivating and unique.
Since this is a meme, Word Nerd's tagging Stacie, Worderella and Kelly.
04 October 2007
September Bibliometer
Here's the count for September.
6 books
2,315 pages
average 77 pages per day
YTD
68 books
24,034 pages
Compared to August, the monthly book/page count is lower, but then again, there was no time spent on an airplane to boost the count this month.
6 books
2,315 pages
average 77 pages per day
YTD
68 books
24,034 pages
Compared to August, the monthly book/page count is lower, but then again, there was no time spent on an airplane to boost the count this month.
03 October 2007
Author Answers with Harry Hunsicker
So Word Nerd temporarily forgot that today was Wednesday, but better late than never, here's today's author interview with Harry Hunsicker.
For more on Hunsicker, check out his website.
WN: Tell us about your newest book, “Crosshairs.” What kind of reader will like this book?
HUNSICKER: Anybody who likes hard-boiled thrillers. Fans of Robert Crais, Lee Child, Michael Connelly.
WN: When you wrote “Still River,” did you expect to write a series?
HUNSICKER: When I wrote STILL RIVER I was mainly just trying to finish. In revising it, I realized that the character had some legs to him and might be a good guy to hang a series.
WN: How did you create the character of Lee Henry Oswald?
HUNSICKER: I wanted a character whose name was tied to the area where he operated, Dallas and North Texas. I thought about creating a character who was a hitman named Tom Landry (The Dallas Cowboys legendary head coach) but I thought they might run me out of town. A few days later I came up with Lee Henry Oswald. In actually creating who he is, I wrote out a four or five page biography of him. Likes, dislikes. Physical description, education, etc. Including a fair amount about who his parents were.
WN: Were you a reader as a kid… what turned you on to reading/writing books?
HUNSICKER: I’ve been a huge reader since age five or six, devouring books by the truckload. I loved getting lost in a different world. At some point, I realized that I wanted to try and create some of those worlds myself.
WN: What’s the best part of being a writer to you? What’s the most challenging part of writing for you?
HUNSICKER: The best part of writing is the satisfaction that comes when everything works, when a scene comes together and everything fuses. It’s a marvelous feeling. (Which doesn’t happen enough!) The most challenging part is creating the setting. I spend hours describing the way a room or street looks, and then a few minutes on what happens. Weird, I know.
WN: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?
HUNSICKER: Yikes, this is a hard one. I’m going to say TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Story and character all came together seamlessly in that novel, making me realize what to shoot for.
WN: What’s next for you as a writer?
HUNSICKER: I’ve got premises for a couple of more Oswald books jotted down. I am working on a standalone right now. The hero is a similar character to Hank Oswald, but at the same time radically different. I’m doing a lot of magazine work these days and have also started on a screenplay about, what else, a writer.
For more on Hunsicker, check out his website.
WN: Tell us about your newest book, “Crosshairs.” What kind of reader will like this book?
HUNSICKER: Anybody who likes hard-boiled thrillers. Fans of Robert Crais, Lee Child, Michael Connelly.
WN: When you wrote “Still River,” did you expect to write a series?
HUNSICKER: When I wrote STILL RIVER I was mainly just trying to finish. In revising it, I realized that the character had some legs to him and might be a good guy to hang a series.
WN: How did you create the character of Lee Henry Oswald?
HUNSICKER: I wanted a character whose name was tied to the area where he operated, Dallas and North Texas. I thought about creating a character who was a hitman named Tom Landry (The Dallas Cowboys legendary head coach) but I thought they might run me out of town. A few days later I came up with Lee Henry Oswald. In actually creating who he is, I wrote out a four or five page biography of him. Likes, dislikes. Physical description, education, etc. Including a fair amount about who his parents were.
WN: Were you a reader as a kid… what turned you on to reading/writing books?
HUNSICKER: I’ve been a huge reader since age five or six, devouring books by the truckload. I loved getting lost in a different world. At some point, I realized that I wanted to try and create some of those worlds myself.
WN: What’s the best part of being a writer to you? What’s the most challenging part of writing for you?
HUNSICKER: The best part of writing is the satisfaction that comes when everything works, when a scene comes together and everything fuses. It’s a marvelous feeling. (Which doesn’t happen enough!) The most challenging part is creating the setting. I spend hours describing the way a room or street looks, and then a few minutes on what happens. Weird, I know.
WN: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?
HUNSICKER: Yikes, this is a hard one. I’m going to say TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Story and character all came together seamlessly in that novel, making me realize what to shoot for.
WN: What’s next for you as a writer?
HUNSICKER: I’ve got premises for a couple of more Oswald books jotted down. I am working on a standalone right now. The hero is a similar character to Hank Oswald, but at the same time radically different. I’m doing a lot of magazine work these days and have also started on a screenplay about, what else, a writer.
Progress
The September page count meter barely got filled by the end of the month, but Word Nerd squeaked it out... all 30 pages.
Let's just be clear: September was hard work to make the goal. There's some life stuff currently making it hard to write because time is at a premium.
October likely will be the same way, so Word Nerd's dropped her page count goal for the month from 30 to 20. That also conveniently takes her to the end of the current composition book she's in, so at that point, again, she'll have to consider if this is the time to make the switch over to writing this book on the computer. (Her hunch is the answer is yes...)
The new October meter is up.
Let's just be clear: September was hard work to make the goal. There's some life stuff currently making it hard to write because time is at a premium.
October likely will be the same way, so Word Nerd's dropped her page count goal for the month from 30 to 20. That also conveniently takes her to the end of the current composition book she's in, so at that point, again, she'll have to consider if this is the time to make the switch over to writing this book on the computer. (Her hunch is the answer is yes...)
The new October meter is up.
02 October 2007
Book Banter -- The Dead Girls' Dance
Title: The Dead Girls' Dance
Author: Rachel Caine
Length: 248 pages
Genre: YA/urban fantasy
Plot Basics: Claire Danvers, teenage genius, barely survived her move into the Glass House after being run off campus by an all-beauty-no-brains clique. Moving to Glass House, despite making her great new friends Eve, Michael and Shane, may have been just as dangerous for Claire as she learns the truth about Morganville -- that the town is controlled by vampires. Now, there's a new gang in town determined to wipe out the vamps, no matter what the cost. And Claire finds herself in the position where going to a notorious frat party -- the Dead Girls' Dance -- may help her avert disaster.
Banter Points: There's a requisite "wow" needed here because it's a Rachel Caine book. She is one of the best writers of series that Word Nerd has encountered. Each book raises the stakes far higher than the last one, but in addition to having good plot, forces changes on the characters. Also, Word Nerd doesn't want to give away what it is, but it's interesting to watch Shane make a moral choice at the end of the book, when much of the current culture would say he should have chosen differently.
Bummer Points: Again, it's a Caine book, so who can say cliffhanger?
Word Nerd recommendation: Looking for good books for teen girls? These are on the OK list. They may feature vampires, but compared to the snarkiness that girls dish out to each other in some other YA books (like Gossip Girl), the vamps aren't so bad.
28 September 2007
Book Banter -- The Big Over Easy
Title: The Big Over Easy
Author: Jasper Fforde
Length: 383 pages
Genre: mystery/comedy
Plot Basics: Detective Inspector Jack Spratt has been with the Nursery Crime Division for years, but his success rate isn't so great. On the heels of a failed prosecution of the Three Little Pigs, DI Spratt is assigned a new partner, Detective Sergeant Mary Mary. Together, they begin to investigate the death of Humpty Dumpty. At first they think the giant ovoid committed suicide, but as they piece together the clues (and Dumpty's shell), they begin to suspect murder. But Spratt and the whoel NCD division are under some pressure to finish this case before the division is shut down or the case is given over to wildly popular detective Friedland Chymes.
Banter Points: Another winner from the wacky mind of Jasper Fforde. Honestly, this man must take imagination pills with his morning coffee to come up with all this stuff. He mercilessly plays off of familiar nursery rhymes and fairy tales in this book as easily as he does with classic literature in his Thursday Next series. His humor is smarty and witty, but the comedy doesn't overshadow the story. At it's heart, even though it's the death of Humpty Dumpty, the book is still a smart mystery.
Bummer Points: For a reader unfamiliar with Fforde and Thursday Next, some of the humor would be lost.
Word Nerd recommendation: Fans of Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams if you haven't read Fforde, what are you waiting for? Bibliophiles of all stripes, Fforde will likely tickle your funny bone as well, but start with The Eyre Affair and read the Thursday Next series (at least up to Something Rotten) before reading Big Over Easy, to see how the two series link.
27 September 2007
Harry Potter and the Bothersome Punctuation
Word Nerd was forwarded this commentary from Education Week and it was too good not to share.
This will not dilute Word Nerd's fan status for the books, but it is interesting to wonder if because it was Harry Potter, the editors involved were more forgiving.
Published Online: September 24, 2007
No Wiz at Grammar
Does it matter if the newest Harry Potter book is a punctuation train wreck?
By Alan Warhaftig
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels have earned a special status in our culture, along with copious royalties for Ms. Rowling and profits for her publishers. The stories are imaginative, complex, and charming, and have accomplished the magical feat of inspiring millions of children to read.
This special status brings with it special responsibility, and in one important respect the final novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, fails: It does not respect the conventions of grammar and punctuation. This complaint may seem peevish, but as a high school English teacher I have to question the curriculum at Hogwarts. Like Chaplin’s dehumanized assembly-line worker in “Modern Times,” who feels compelled to tighten everything in sight with his wrench, I found myself marking this final Harry Potter as though it were a student’s paper.
For example, on Page 416, Hermione says, “I don’t think anyone except Mr. Lovegood could kid themselves that’s possible.” On Page 426, she says, “If surviving was as simple as hiding under the Invisibility Cloak, we’d have everything we need already!” While many teenagers are casual in their use of language, Hermione is not one of them, and while we know that she excels in Potions and Divination, she is also the type who would be acquainted with pronoun-antecedent agreement and the subjunctive mood—the errors in these two examples.
Hermione would also have learned to express herself in complete sentences, yet on Page 414, she says, “It’s just a morality tale, it’s obvious which gift is best, which one you’d choose—”
Grammar is not a scheme to suppress creativity wherever it rears its head, and following its conventions would not have compromised Ms. Rowling’s vision.
Albus Dumbledore, the longtime headmaster at Hogwarts, may be the root of the problem, a non-grammatical hero for young wizards to emulate. On Page 685, he says, “Harry must not know, not until the last moment, not until it is necessary, otherwise how could he have the strength to do what must be done?”
If these were isolated errors, it would be one thing, but I noted 474 run-on sentences in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—all “comma splices” (We went to the store, then we went home)—and countless more saved only by dramatic overuse of the ellipsis, dash, and semicolon.
Speaking of the semicolon, a punctuation mark with noble potential, Ms. Rowling frequently misuses it, combining it with coordinating conjunctions (and and but) and using it between an independent and a dependent clause—both of which require English teachers to reach for the red pen.
An even more egregious problem is Ms. Rowling’s approach to punctuation of quotations, which appears to be almost perfectly random. In some instances, italics are used in place of quotation marks, as on Page 248: Her office must be up here, Harry thought.
Frequently, as on Page 21, both quotation marks and italics are used: “I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks.”
On Page 312, this technique is used in combination with another serious punctuation error:
He could hear Ron saying, “We thought you knew what you were doing!”, and he resumed packing with a hard knot in the pit of his stomach.
In one instance, a punctuation train wreck on Page 566, the need for quotes within quotes is completely ignored:
“I told him, you’d better give it up now. You can’t move her, she’s in no fit state, you can’t take her with you, wherever it is you’re planning to go, when you’re making your clever speeches, trying to whip yourselves up a following. He didn’t like that, said Aberforth, and his eyes were briefly occluded by the firelight on the lenses of his glasses: They shone white and blind again.
Of course, none of these examples accords with the rules we teach in school, but what’s impressive about the grammar and punctuation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is its inconsistency, a trait it shares with the preceding novels in the series. Did Scholastic Inc. neglect to assign an editor to the project, or are Ms. Rowling’s manuscripts protected by an immutability charm?
Writing is communication, and as readers we look for certain indicators to help us construct meaning. If we read, “John took Jane Eyre to bed,” we may infer from the italics that the name refers to the title of a work rather than someone he met at a nightclub—even if we have never heard of Charlotte Brontë.
Reading and writing are two sides of the same coin. The clues we require as readers are our responsibility to provide as writers. Punctuation serves the function of traffic lights and signs: It may be inconvenient to stop when we’re in a hurry and the light turns red, but we’d be far more severely inconvenienced if there were crashes at every intersection because there was no order to the flow of traffic.
In his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell wrote that our language “becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.” Writing is not necessarily the recording of existing thoughts on paper; it can also be the means by which we form our ideas. The rules of language provide boundaries within which our voice must flow; they force us to discipline both expression and thought, which is why it is so important for young people to learn to use language precisely.
Grammar is not the enemy, a scheme to suppress creativity wherever it rears its head, and following its conventions would not have compromised Ms. Rowling’s vision. It is unfortunate that the editing of her books, with millions of young, impressionable readers, has not matched the quality of their storytelling.
How shall my colleagues and I respond to students who ask why they should follow the rules when the author of the wildly successful Harry Potter novels does not? Should high-stakes exams adopt an “anything goes” approach, with any of the multiple-choice answers considered to be correct? Writers and publishers have a responsibility, and Ms. Rowling and Scholastic Inc. have clearly dropped the snitch.
Alan Warhaftig teaches English at the Fairfax Magnet Center for Visual Arts, in Los Angeles.
Vol. 27
This will not dilute Word Nerd's fan status for the books, but it is interesting to wonder if because it was Harry Potter, the editors involved were more forgiving.
Published Online: September 24, 2007
No Wiz at Grammar
Does it matter if the newest Harry Potter book is a punctuation train wreck?
By Alan Warhaftig
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels have earned a special status in our culture, along with copious royalties for Ms. Rowling and profits for her publishers. The stories are imaginative, complex, and charming, and have accomplished the magical feat of inspiring millions of children to read.
This special status brings with it special responsibility, and in one important respect the final novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, fails: It does not respect the conventions of grammar and punctuation. This complaint may seem peevish, but as a high school English teacher I have to question the curriculum at Hogwarts. Like Chaplin’s dehumanized assembly-line worker in “Modern Times,” who feels compelled to tighten everything in sight with his wrench, I found myself marking this final Harry Potter as though it were a student’s paper.
For example, on Page 416, Hermione says, “I don’t think anyone except Mr. Lovegood could kid themselves that’s possible.” On Page 426, she says, “If surviving was as simple as hiding under the Invisibility Cloak, we’d have everything we need already!” While many teenagers are casual in their use of language, Hermione is not one of them, and while we know that she excels in Potions and Divination, she is also the type who would be acquainted with pronoun-antecedent agreement and the subjunctive mood—the errors in these two examples.
Hermione would also have learned to express herself in complete sentences, yet on Page 414, she says, “It’s just a morality tale, it’s obvious which gift is best, which one you’d choose—”
Grammar is not a scheme to suppress creativity wherever it rears its head, and following its conventions would not have compromised Ms. Rowling’s vision.
Albus Dumbledore, the longtime headmaster at Hogwarts, may be the root of the problem, a non-grammatical hero for young wizards to emulate. On Page 685, he says, “Harry must not know, not until the last moment, not until it is necessary, otherwise how could he have the strength to do what must be done?”
If these were isolated errors, it would be one thing, but I noted 474 run-on sentences in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—all “comma splices” (We went to the store, then we went home)—and countless more saved only by dramatic overuse of the ellipsis, dash, and semicolon.
Speaking of the semicolon, a punctuation mark with noble potential, Ms. Rowling frequently misuses it, combining it with coordinating conjunctions (and and but) and using it between an independent and a dependent clause—both of which require English teachers to reach for the red pen.
An even more egregious problem is Ms. Rowling’s approach to punctuation of quotations, which appears to be almost perfectly random. In some instances, italics are used in place of quotation marks, as on Page 248: Her office must be up here, Harry thought.
Frequently, as on Page 21, both quotation marks and italics are used: “I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks.”
On Page 312, this technique is used in combination with another serious punctuation error:
He could hear Ron saying, “We thought you knew what you were doing!”, and he resumed packing with a hard knot in the pit of his stomach.
In one instance, a punctuation train wreck on Page 566, the need for quotes within quotes is completely ignored:
“I told him, you’d better give it up now. You can’t move her, she’s in no fit state, you can’t take her with you, wherever it is you’re planning to go, when you’re making your clever speeches, trying to whip yourselves up a following. He didn’t like that, said Aberforth, and his eyes were briefly occluded by the firelight on the lenses of his glasses: They shone white and blind again.
Of course, none of these examples accords with the rules we teach in school, but what’s impressive about the grammar and punctuation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is its inconsistency, a trait it shares with the preceding novels in the series. Did Scholastic Inc. neglect to assign an editor to the project, or are Ms. Rowling’s manuscripts protected by an immutability charm?
Writing is communication, and as readers we look for certain indicators to help us construct meaning. If we read, “John took Jane Eyre to bed,” we may infer from the italics that the name refers to the title of a work rather than someone he met at a nightclub—even if we have never heard of Charlotte Brontë.
Reading and writing are two sides of the same coin. The clues we require as readers are our responsibility to provide as writers. Punctuation serves the function of traffic lights and signs: It may be inconvenient to stop when we’re in a hurry and the light turns red, but we’d be far more severely inconvenienced if there were crashes at every intersection because there was no order to the flow of traffic.
In his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell wrote that our language “becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.” Writing is not necessarily the recording of existing thoughts on paper; it can also be the means by which we form our ideas. The rules of language provide boundaries within which our voice must flow; they force us to discipline both expression and thought, which is why it is so important for young people to learn to use language precisely.
Grammar is not the enemy, a scheme to suppress creativity wherever it rears its head, and following its conventions would not have compromised Ms. Rowling’s vision. It is unfortunate that the editing of her books, with millions of young, impressionable readers, has not matched the quality of their storytelling.
How shall my colleagues and I respond to students who ask why they should follow the rules when the author of the wildly successful Harry Potter novels does not? Should high-stakes exams adopt an “anything goes” approach, with any of the multiple-choice answers considered to be correct? Writers and publishers have a responsibility, and Ms. Rowling and Scholastic Inc. have clearly dropped the snitch.
Alan Warhaftig teaches English at the Fairfax Magnet Center for Visual Arts, in Los Angeles.
Vol. 27
26 September 2007
Author Answers with Thomas Maltman
This week's featured author is Thomas Maltman. Maltman's first novel, "The Night Birds" was chosen as a Book Sense and Midwest Connections book pick earlier this year. Maltman teaches at Silver Lake College.
For more about him, visit his website.
WN: What is "Night Birds" about and how did you get the idea for this book?
MALTMAN: The Night Birds is about the Dakota Conflict of 1862, a lost history long overshadowed by the Civil War. It's about this history and so much more. Recently, I interviewed with a bookseller down in Iowa. "What your novel is really about," she told me, "is family secrets." Now that's a much juicier description. Much of the novel also takes in 1876, fourteen years after the conflict. My narrator grows up, as he puts it, "in the shadow of the Great Sioux War."
I first came across the story of conflict and the hangings in a book written for children and my imagination was captivated. Then I married an ELCA pastor from Minnesota and our first assignment took us to Little House of the Prairie territory, just five miles from where the trouble all started. I felt this history calling to me from out of time and knew that I had to tell it.
WN: What's your writing process like?
MALTMAN: I have a lovely, two year old daughter who governs the household. (Or likes to think she does!) So I rise early in the morning and begin writing at 5:00. I like to write while it's dark outside and the world is hushed and still. In that quiet, my half-asleep mind can dream up surprising things. I write for a few hours, until my daughter wakes up, and I always try to end in mid-sentence, so that I have a beginning place the next day. I write drafts all the way through, then put the story away for awhile, so I can take it out a few months later and look over it with fresh eyes.
WN: You also teach creative writing. As a writer, is it hard to practice what you preach?
MALTMAN: I hope not! I do think my students here at Silver Lake College can learn from my failures just as much as my successes. I've saved everything I've ever written and it's not all pretty. Sometimes, I'll bring samples from my undergraduate work, which includes some comical missteps, and we'll talk about where a poem or story went wrong.
I'm a poet as well as a storyteller and I so want them to learn how to make language sing. Ultimately, the class is about them and the focus is on their individual growth as writers.
WN: Were you a reader as a kid… what turned you on to reading/writing books?
MALTMAN: My grandma was a large woman who had a rich, sonorous reading voice. When she held me in her lap to read to me it was like sinking into a warm, plush cushion. She read to me from Tarzan and the Lost Empire, a book illustrated with lovely paintings. I traced these paintings with my fingers while her voice invoked the action. The scenes were of immense trees with twisting vines, pythons and black panthers, and the orphaned boy mesmerized by his own reflection in a dark pond. My grandma's voice was every bit as important as the visuals. She could imitate animal sounds, change pace and pitch as danger threatened Tarzan, and descend into a low whispery cadence when the hero was alone or dreaming. She made the book come alive.
As an adult reader and writer I still marvel at the power of good fiction to transport us to another time and place. There is nothing else like it. No movie or video game can awaken the imagination the way a good book can.
WN: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?
MALTMAN: I love Dostoevsky's The Brother's Karamazov. I used to smuggle this sprawling Russian epic into my jacket when I went deer hunting with my brothers-in-law and read it after the sun came up. Vivid and charged with incident, the novel still takes on the great question of our existence—why are we here?
WN: What's next for you as a writer?
MALTMAN: My next project is a small town mystery. I think many writers are drawn to small towns, which offer the universe in a microcosm. Good and evil exist everywhere, but in a small town those attributes are much more apparent. The novel will still touch on history and the way history is alive and impacts the present.
MALTMAN: The Night Birds is about the Dakota Conflict of 1862, a lost history long overshadowed by the Civil War. It's about this history and so much more. Recently, I interviewed with a bookseller down in Iowa. "What your novel is really about," she told me, "is family secrets." Now that's a much juicier description. Much of the novel also takes in 1876, fourteen years after the conflict. My narrator grows up, as he puts it, "in the shadow of the Great Sioux War."
I first came across the story of conflict and the hangings in a book written for children and my imagination was captivated. Then I married an ELCA pastor from Minnesota and our first assignment took us to Little House of the Prairie territory, just five miles from where the trouble all started. I felt this history calling to me from out of time and knew that I had to tell it.
WN: What's your writing process like?
MALTMAN: I have a lovely, two year old daughter who governs the household. (Or likes to think she does!) So I rise early in the morning and begin writing at 5:00. I like to write while it's dark outside and the world is hushed and still. In that quiet, my half-asleep mind can dream up surprising things. I write for a few hours, until my daughter wakes up, and I always try to end in mid-sentence, so that I have a beginning place the next day. I write drafts all the way through, then put the story away for awhile, so I can take it out a few months later and look over it with fresh eyes.
WN: You also teach creative writing. As a writer, is it hard to practice what you preach?
MALTMAN: I hope not! I do think my students here at Silver Lake College can learn from my failures just as much as my successes. I've saved everything I've ever written and it's not all pretty. Sometimes, I'll bring samples from my undergraduate work, which includes some comical missteps, and we'll talk about where a poem or story went wrong.
I'm a poet as well as a storyteller and I so want them to learn how to make language sing. Ultimately, the class is about them and the focus is on their individual growth as writers.
WN: Were you a reader as a kid… what turned you on to reading/writing books?
MALTMAN: My grandma was a large woman who had a rich, sonorous reading voice. When she held me in her lap to read to me it was like sinking into a warm, plush cushion. She read to me from Tarzan and the Lost Empire, a book illustrated with lovely paintings. I traced these paintings with my fingers while her voice invoked the action. The scenes were of immense trees with twisting vines, pythons and black panthers, and the orphaned boy mesmerized by his own reflection in a dark pond. My grandma's voice was every bit as important as the visuals. She could imitate animal sounds, change pace and pitch as danger threatened Tarzan, and descend into a low whispery cadence when the hero was alone or dreaming. She made the book come alive.
As an adult reader and writer I still marvel at the power of good fiction to transport us to another time and place. There is nothing else like it. No movie or video game can awaken the imagination the way a good book can.
WN: What is the best/most influential book you have ever read and why did it inspire you?
MALTMAN: I love Dostoevsky's The Brother's Karamazov. I used to smuggle this sprawling Russian epic into my jacket when I went deer hunting with my brothers-in-law and read it after the sun came up. Vivid and charged with incident, the novel still takes on the great question of our existence—why are we here?
WN: What's next for you as a writer?
MALTMAN: My next project is a small town mystery. I think many writers are drawn to small towns, which offer the universe in a microcosm. Good and evil exist everywhere, but in a small town those attributes are much more apparent. The novel will still touch on history and the way history is alive and impacts the present.
25 September 2007
Book Banter -- Fire Me Up
Title: Fire Me Up
Author: Katie MacAlister
Length: ~380 pages
Genre: paranormal/chick-lit/romance
Plot Basics: Aisling Grey, recently discovered to be a Guardian, goes to paranormal conference in Budapest to learn more about her powers and maybe get a mentor to show her the ropes. Her uncle has also graciously extended her another courier job to complete while she's in town. When she arrives in Budapest, she also spots Drake, the uber-cool and sexy thief who tormented her time in Paris. Turns out Drake's got business in Budapest too, business he may have moved there just to be in the same city as Aisling. Aisling's search though for a mentor becomes difficult when some of the Guardian's she approaches later turn up dead.
Banter Points: Again, as in the first book, Jim the talking Newfoundland may be the best part of these books.
Bummer Points: See the review of "You Slay Me." Most of those problems still apply. Also, Aisling seems to be suffering from Anita Blake syndrome (ie, she keeps getting massive new powers for no good reason...)
Word Nerd recommendation: If you like novels heavy on the romance side of "paranormal romance," then you might like these books. If you want something with a better plot, better characters, etc., skip these.
20 September 2007
Progress
Yes, the page count meter is slowly creeping up this month. Since Word Nerd hasn't yet set pencil to paper for today, the meter is exactly where it should be in the one-page-a-day plan.
She was hoping to make more progress on the WIP this month, but sometimes life gets a little busy for that. A page a day is still respectable. The difficulty now is that the story is getting to the good part -- murder! treason! possible regicide!
As a writer, it's harder to stop writing some of these scenes. That unfortunately means that if Word Nerd doesn't think she has the time, she's not starting them... Again, she's wondering if it's time to abandon the composition books for the keyboard, where the words flow a bit faster.
She was hoping to make more progress on the WIP this month, but sometimes life gets a little busy for that. A page a day is still respectable. The difficulty now is that the story is getting to the good part -- murder! treason! possible regicide!
As a writer, it's harder to stop writing some of these scenes. That unfortunately means that if Word Nerd doesn't think she has the time, she's not starting them... Again, she's wondering if it's time to abandon the composition books for the keyboard, where the words flow a bit faster.
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