Archive for » January, 2009 «
Or I have a website that does. I’ve decided to cross post all of my book reviews that I’ve done on here, and will do on here, over at a specific review blog of my evil conjuring making. Bites is its name and chomping is its game. I have a bit of a reputation for handing over rather . . . honest reviews so I decided to play that up. For instance I don’t have a star rating. I have a bite rating. The little Scrat above is it. It’s a different form of rating and it fits with the motif of the site.
Aside from free books (I’ve come to realize publishers love giving away ARCs to bloggers and free books rock), I’m really trying to connect with other book review sites. I’m thinking forward here. Now’s the time to do this because when I start getting published (positive thinking, people!), I’ll be able to go to these sites and ask nicely if theyd review my ARCs. I can’t remember which agent gave that piece of advice but it was one of the good ones. And it makes sense, right? I think so.
So now I have my own book review site. I’m excited, especially because I get to bite things. Come on by and let me know what you think. It’s going to take me a little while to copy all of the reviews from here over there but it shouldn’t be too bad. Once that’s done it’ll be double posting. Nice and simple. I’ll have to expand my horizons on Bites a little bit but I think I have a little while (or, more correctly, I’m giving myself a little while) before I need to do that.
PS–I have more dragon eggs. Click them! Click them nao . . .
I’ve decided that I’m going to post the back blurb of the book that I’m reviewing, especially since I have a tendency to launch right into the review/critique without a recap. At least this way you’ll get to see what made me pick up the book in the first place. So from here on out, summary time.
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder–much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it’s hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary.
Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters: a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-hour hours, Clary’s mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon.
But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know . . .
That and, uh, the bod on the cover didn’t hurt either.
Holy crap weasels! Talk about a surge! I’ve doubled my hit count in the last 24 hours. I guess a fair number of people are just as shocked as I am about Meyer being author of the year. That was the most popular post by a long shot. So, yay for stats!
And yay for me! I think. It would appear I’ve won a copy of Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side from the IB Teen Blog but I’m not 100% sure. The comments section of Beth’s interview on that site was the entry ballot and there are two Donnas on there, including myself. If she’s going by handle, then it’s me but I wanted to confirm to her before I got all excited. How embarrassing would that be? So, it looks like I won but I’m not really celebrating yet until I know for sure. I haven’t been contacted yet or anything so we’ll see.
Now onto the editing oi. I knew DC would need some serious editing but I didn’t think it was going to be this bad. Well, not bad, really, just a lot more than what I imagined. My situational timing is off and I’m focusing on the wrong events, and on the wrong characters, in some parts so that needs to be fixed, on top of a total rewrite for the first four and a half chapters, not to mention I still don’t know where this story is actually going to start but the idea is becoming clearer the deeper into editing I get.
I’ve figured out that reading this particular manuscript is like reading (or feebly attempting) to read Old English through to Middle English. I’ve said about the tone before that it’s a drastic shift at the four and a half chapter point. With hindsight I thought the shift was much more drastic than what it actually is. It is drastic, but the language I was trying to get away from is more tapered.
Side Note–OMG my egg hatched! He’s a little dragon! Click him to help me raise him. He’ll die if you don’t. Do you want that on your shoulders? And yay for the psycho-fastness of Barnes and Noble shipping! My copy of Why We Suck by Dr. Denis Leary arrived today. My lord and savior, I have thee in book form.
USATODAY named Stephenie Meyer author of the year. Why, you ask? Good question. I have no idea. Nor do I have any idea why she would approve such a god horrible picture to be released of her. She had to approve that picture, you know that, right? Was no one able to tell her that only people weighing less than 80 pound can pull off an upshot like that? Eek!
Anyway, I’m trying to figure out what renders Meyer suitable for author of the year, because it certainly isn’t the writing. Not in this case anyway. Yes, she has something that keeps you reading. I don’t know if anyone knows what that something is, but that’s all she has going for her in the writing department. I’ve seen better written prose out of a ten-year-old.
People say she revolutionized the YA market. Nope. Sorry. JK Rowling beat her to it years ago and with much higher quality work. So stop. There’s just no comparing. Harry Potter is something that will be filed into the “classic children’s literature” category 30 years from now while no one will even remember what Twilight was. At least I can severely hope.
The plot thickens . . .
Nothing is more important to you than a good plot, an engaging story. Writing style and characterization can’t make up for the absence of a real story for you, but don’t forget that they’re still essential.
You’re a Plot writer!
Want to find out what kind of writer you are? Then take the quiz and find out. For a Quizilla quiz, it’s pretty accurate. I’m definitely focused on plot more than anything else in my writing but I’d like to think I don’t leave other things behind! So? What were your results?
