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Showing posts from January, 2011

Blast from the Past Blogoversy Highlights

Saturday was Writers' Chasm's two-year-anniversary so I wanted to do something to celebrate. :) So I dug up some of the highlights from my last couple years. On January 29th, 2009, I typed my first words for the blogosphere: Hi I'm Horserider! I love to read and write. My favorite genre is fantasy, but I'll read almost anything. Except horror. My favorite authors are J.K. Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Tamora Piece, Erin Hunter, Rick Riordan, and Anne McCaffrey. I do love Twilight and Harry Potter and I have also seen all the movies. I've written one novel so far. Once I finish this edit, it should be a little less than 350 pages. It was the first novel I ever finished and someday I hope to publish it. It's on the second edit at the moment which I hope to finish sometime this weekend. For the record, Stephenie Meyer is no longer on that list and you will never see me use Twilight in the same sentence as Harry Potter again. As for that first novel... Andra is

Multiple Points of View

Multiple points of view are tricky things. Done well, they can be a very powerful tool. Done badly, they can break a book. Making the decision to have multiple points of view is mostly a personal one, but there are a few things to remember before making the jump. If you're going to go for more than one point of view, you should have a good reason for it. The book needs to be better with more than one PoV than it would be if you just stayed in one character's head. One question to ask yourself when trying to decide would be, "Would this be better off in third person, showing all the characters' thoughts?" Each character should also have a distinct voice. There's nothing more jarring then having to flip back to the beginning of the chapter to see who's point of view you're in. With multiple points of view, you can run the risk of the reader loving one point of view and hating another, and therefore wanting to skip over the chapters of a particular chara

RTW: Alternate Universe

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This Week's Topic: If you could live within the universe of one book, which would you choose? I can't decide between these two, so I'm just going to list them both. 1. HOGWARTS! I started reading the Harry Potter books after my eleventh birthday so I never experienced the long hours of waiting for my Hogwarts letter except for maybe a fleeting hope that maybe it had just gotten lost in the Muggle post. I would still love to live in that world of witches and wizards. Preferably post-Voldemort era of course. 2. TORTALL! This is the country where many of Tamora Pierce's books take place and I wouldn't hesitate to move there if I could. I could move to Corus and join the Queen's Riders. I might also consider the

New Releases -- Timeless, The False Princess, Warped

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Timeless by Alexandra Monir When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance. Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their

5 Common Blogger Mistakes That Make Me Hit "Exit"

I read more blog posts in a week than I care to think about. I do it because I enjoy it, but sometimes there are things that just make me hit that red X when I'm reading a blog. Based on my experience, I compiled a list of five common mistakes bloggers make. #1 Same information I can get anywhere Be original! I've stopped reading blogs that give the same information as every other blog out there. You can take a topic and look at it from a different angle or compare it to something completely original or talk about it in your own way. Take beta readers for example. I've read a lot of blogs about what beta readers are, how to get one, and how to become one. But that doesn't mean that you can't take the topic of beta readers and make an original post out of it. #2 Double sides both packed with widgets This one is mostly a personal thing. When someone has two sidebars on their blog and both of them are packed to the brim with widgets, it really slows down my computer.

Week in Short

This has been a strange week. [I typed 'Today has been a strange week' first. I think it's time for bed...] Still trying to get my head on straight. Will hopefully be back to normal by Monday... Song of the week: Total Eclipse of the Heart -- Glee Cast Must Read: Hannah Moskowitz calls for more characters like you BookEnds: Pop culture in fiction Janet Reid: The difference between a pitch and a query Johnson Literary: November and December query stats Kirsten Hubbard: Cursing in YA Nathan Bransford: How to use Twitter In Movies: The Sorcerer's Apprentice -- Not quite as good as I expected, but it was cute and funny. Inception -- There are no words to describe that level of awesome. I'm going to be thinking about this one for a very, very long time. Also, ending scene = cruelest ending in any movie I have ever seen. In Writing: Did some revisions at the beginning of the week, but haven't had much time lately. I blame homework. Everyone have a great weekend and

Fallen Review

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Fallen by Lauren Kate First book in the Fallen series Published by Delacorte Press There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori. Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at Sword & Cross boarding school in Savannah. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are screwups, and security cameras watch every move. Except Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce -- he goes out of his way to make that very clear. But she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, Luce has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret...even if it kills her. I'm going to be one hundred percent honest about this one. I raved about it when I first finished it, but once I let the story soak in, I didn't feel so hot towards it. It has a similar vibe of other novels where the main character falls in love with a "mysterious" boy with

RTW -- Blurb It

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic. This week's prompt: Give a blurb for your favorite book or one of your own! Hunger Games: "An intriguing and original mix of suspense, love, and mystery. I couldn't put it down!" Catching Fire: "Even better than the first! The last line still gives me chills." Mockingjay: "The stunning conclusion to a fabulous series. It won't disappoint." Adoration of Jenna Fox: "The captivating story of a girl that shouldn't be alive struggling to discover who she is. This story will stick with you long after you've turned the final page." The Book Thief: "A heartbreaking story of family, love, and loss in Nazi Germany. I will never look at World War 2 the same way again."

5 Things I've Learned from Dating in the Dark

Lately I've become re-addicted to Dating in the Dark. If you've never seen the show, they take three guys and three girls and put them in the same house, but they're only allowed to meet in the dark room where it's impossible to see your hand in front of your face. At the end of the dates, they are each allowed to pick someone they want to see in the light. Then they can meet on the balcony if they want to keep dating, or walk away. It's actually a pretty fascinating show. #1 Looks really do matter They're definitely not the only thing that matters by no means, but physical attraction is important. It surprises how many people say "I'm going to meet this person on the balcony regardless of what they look like" who end up walking out the front door. The biggest things seem to be how old/young a person looks, how heavy/skinny they are, or how they'd fit in with that person's friends. #2 Chemistry counts Chemistry really counts between the cou

10 of my Favorite Quotes

Decided to do a fun post today. I have this weird habit of when I'm watching a movie or doing something and I hear this really awesome quote, I have to write it down. I have a word document dedicated entirely to random quotes and things I need to remember called my "Scratch Sheet." Today I wanted to go through that and share some of my favorite quotes with you. "Nothing is more tragic than a love never loved, a stand never taken, a performance never held, and a life never lived." ~ Zoombie from AW Kazran: "Why are you climbing in the window?" Doctor: "Because if I was climbing out the window I'd be going in the wrong direction." ~ Doctor Who (A Christmas Carol) Kazran: "When girls are crying are you supposed to talk to them?" Doctor: "I have absolutely no idea." ~ Doctor Who (A Christmas Carol) "I have a life left to be lived. And you're not going to be in it!" ~ The Holiday "Sometimes you read a boo

Week in Short

O.O Is the second week of 2011 really over already? I hope everyone's weathering the Snowpocalyse and that your year is off to an incredible start. Song of the week: There's a Place for Us by Carrie Underwood. Theme song for Dawn Treader. AMAZING song. Must Read: Why the N-word matters -- No one could have said it better than Sean Ferrel. "Free" books aren't free, the implications of illegal downloading How movies based on books happen News: TWFT is BACK and it's better than ever! Check it out and make sure you watch for the excitement coming soon! Natalie Fischer has huge news Lisa McMann's WAKE was challenged The future looks bleak for Borders [I am not exaggerating when I say I will literally cry if they close.] WriteOnCon announces their January Live Event The title and cover for the second book in Riordan's Kane Chronicles series has been announced! Adventures in Agentland: Top ten query pet peeves BookEnds: Unlikeable characters GLA: Succes

The Angel Experiment

The Angel Experiment by James Patterson Maximum Ride #1 Published by Time Warner Book Group Six unforgettable kids -- with no families, no homes -- are running for their lives. Max Ride and her best friends are products of an experiment: they were engineered to fly. And that's just the beginning of their amazing powers. Now they've escaped, and they need to know who made them, who's hunting them, and why they were designed to be superior to all other humans. After a couple years of avoiding the craze that is James Patterson, I finally decided to pick up one of his books. I expected an action-packed book that I would rave about for days. I was disappointed. The beginning was everything I hoped for, but after that it started to trail off and slowed down. Twists that were meant to create tension barely caught my interest. Even when the characters were on a dangerous mission, it felt like they kept taking random side trips. It picked up a little more towards the ending, but it

Veronica Mars Season One Review

You might know that for the last two weeks, I've been watching Veronica Mars. I watched the last five episodes on Saturday night and I can't stop thinking about the show so I figured I'd write up a quick review of season one. Here's a quick summary for those who have never heard of the show: Veronica Mars is the daughter of private investigator Keith Mars. A year before she lost everything when her best friend Lilly Kane was murdered and her father -- the sheriff at the time -- remained convinced that Lilly's father was the murderer even after another man confessed. Veronica never quite understood her father's conviction that Lilly's father was responsible until she uncovers her own evidence that the man sentenced is innocent and reopens the case. I can sum up the first season of this show in one word: Incredible. If you don't like soap opera-esque shows, you probably won't like VMars. Every time I finally think I've got things figur

New Releases -- XVI, Unearthly, The Water Wars

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XVI by Julia Karr Nina Oberon's life is pretty normal: she hangs out with her best friend, Sandy, and their crew, goes to school, plays with her little sister, Dee. But Nina is 15. And like all girls she'll receive a Governing Council-ordered tattoo on her 16th birthday. XVI. Those three letters will be branded on her wrist, announcing to all the world - even the most predatory of men - that she is ready for sex. Considered easy prey by some, portrayed by the Media as sluts who ask for attacks, becoming a "sex-teen" is Nina's worst fear. That is, until right before her birthday, when Nina's mom is brutally attacked. With her dying breaths, she reveals to Nina a shocking truth about her past - one that destroys everything Nina thought she knew. Now, alone but for her sister, Nina must try to discover who she really is, all the while staying one step ahead of her mother's killer. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand Clara Gardner has recently lea

The Lost Hero Review

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The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan Jason has a problem. He doesn't remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently has a girlfriend named Piper, and his best friend is a guy named Leo. They're all students at the Wilderness School, a boarding school for "bad kids," as Leo puts it. What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly? Jason doesn't know anything -- except that everything seems wrong. Piper has a secret. Her father, a famous actor, has been missing or three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare about his being in trouble. Piper doesn't understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn't recognize her. When a freak storm hits during the school trip, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she's going to find out whether she wants to or not. Leo has a way with tools. When he sees his