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Showing posts from October, 2020

5 Lessons From DREAMTREADERS

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One series I read a while ago and decided to revisit is the Dreamtreaders  series by Wayne Thomas Batson. I enjoyed it before, but on my reread, not as much. Don't get me wrong, I still like it, but the technical flaws glare at me.  But the things I liked about it and continue to like about it is its charm. There's something refreshing in high school drama after epic fantasy. That's probably just me though.  Let's get to!  1. Referring to characters  One of the most grating things I find in my reread is how the author refers to characters in the narrative. Specifically with title calling.  What is title calling? It's when you talk about another character by what they do. I like to extend this to anything else besides their name or pronoun.  First, a little context about the story. The main character, Archer Keaton, is a Dreamtreader, which means that he can do almost whatever he wants in the dream. It's basically a lucid dream, except reality. Kind of. If my me

Ranting About Kingdom Hearts

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Time for something new on my blog. This time, it's no informative post or something fun about being an author. This is me ranting about a series I really love. That's what the LFTM series was initially for, but now, I can be totally unrestrained by the obligation to be smart. Here, I can yell to my heart's content.  Major spoilers  throughout. Most of my ramblings will not be based on facts, but merely my own, biased opinion on it. I may add some random writing fact, but don't get your hopes up. Take this as a recommendation to fill your creative well , if anything. Or an excuse to see me geeking out like a normal person. Anyway. *deep breath*  Let me tell you all about a series I fell in love with around half a year ago. It's a highly acclaimed video game that first debuted in 2002 and is still going . It is the amazing, the spectacular, the heartwarming. Okay, I'll drop the suspense now. It's in the title and seeing as you clicked on it, you know what it i

The 3 Stages of Writing Books

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After an hour or so of thinking, I've concluded that every book has three parts. No, I'm not talking about the three act structure or anything. I mean literally. The spine and covers, the pages and the binding.  Nah, just kidding. I'm talking about the three parts authors follow when they're writing a book. Three phases, if you may. So without further ado, let's get to it!  1. Idea The first stage of a book is the idea. The sparkly egg in its full glory. (Talking about sparkly eggs, someone needs to write a book about chickens who lay sparkly eggs)   Often, this is the part that takes the longest. It involves firstly coming up with something, hopefully interesting, and expanding on it. Think of it like a chicken (you) laying an egg (the idea) and brooding on it.  Most authors I know like to spend years imagining this and that for their shiny new idea. (Exhibit A: *me*) Some don't, which is totally fine. We all work differently. Personally, I say take as long as

#WQT: Writing A Dynamic Series

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Transcript Writing A Dynamic Series Dynamic series have an overarching plot that interconnects with a book's individual plot. Overarching plots may take the back seat in early books, but should be prominent toward the end. Individual plots are the stepping stones leading up to the overarching plot. Overarching plots raise questions, individual plots answer them. Updated Version Transcript Writing A Dynamic Series The overarching plot interconnects with individual plots. At the start of the story, the overarching plot can take the backseat. By the end of the story, the overarching plot should be prominent, Individual plots are stepping stones to the finale of the overarching plot. Overarching plots raise questions, individual plots answer them.