LIZORAE

Keeper of the Lost Cities  is a MG fantasy series by Shannon Messenger. It's currently 8.5 books long and it gets so much hype. With one more book on the way, what can we look forward to? Despite all its hype, there's a lot  that has been complained about. And most of it is justified.  I've been with this series since the release of Neverseen , Book 4. While I enjoyed it at first, the more I read it, the less I enjoy it. I feel like the series began with so much potential, but missed the mark by a long shot.  Here's the four biggest problems we can take away from this series. Let's get to!    1. Special snowflake and cardboard cutouts  Our main character, Sophie Foster, is a special snowflake. She's the specialest of special snowflakes. First, what does it mean?  To be a special snowflake means that the character is treated differently, generally worshipped, because of their supposedly amazing qualities. Here's a few common traits: The world re...

Fiction impacts lives. You can't call something "just a story" because it isn't. Stories have messages, intentional or unintentional, and the readers will be affected. Sometimes, it's obvious. Sometimes, it's not so obvious.  When you're writing something, it's important to make sure you're intentional about your content. While it's okay to write from a perspective you don't agree with, you need to make sure you're framing it with intent.  The following topics on this list are objectively  bad. I'm not saying never ever write a story that has this in it, because that's wrong. Everything here has a place in fiction. What I am saying is that you should not romanticise them.  I have seen them many, many times in fiction. It's horrifying how some of them are portrayed to be good for you. Like you should wish to go through it.  Yeah nah, mate. It's painful. You don't want to experience any of these, and you don't want...

Transcript Killing your darlings? WHAT IT MEANS: To delete anything that doesn't work in your story, no matter how much you like it. WHAT TO DO INSTEAD: Make it about your darling. Give your darling a reason. Change your darling to fit. It only needs to be by a bit. Keep your darling for a future story. You won't be killing your darling, you'll be making them move house. Only kill your darling completely if you can't save them!

The Boy and the Spy  by Felice Arena is a MG historical fiction set during one of the World Wars. I can't remember since it's been a while since I read it. (Edit: WW2, thank you Goodreads reviews.) I try to keep the  Lessons From The Media   positive, even when noting the weaker aspect. Unfortunately, out of my February reads,  The Boy and the Spy  is one of two books I can formulate a post on. I happen to dislike this one slightly less than the other one, so here's the three main things that threw me off.  Disclaimer: this is more of a rant than an informative post. Apologies in advance.  Let's get to!    1. Clumsy prose.  Simple prose has a certain charm to it. Take The Travelling Cat Chronicles  for example. It's another February read I will recommend to anyone who wants a bittersweet, slow read. The prose is simple but still captures the reader's attention. It helps that Nana, the narrator, has a  personality-filled ...

The Whisper  duology , comprising of Whisper  and Weapon , is by Australian author Lynette Noni . If you guys read last week's post , you'll remember her from the YA section.  I have been most fortunate to skip the tense waiting between books and binged the whole series within a week. While I don't think it beats her Medoran Chronicles , it's still an enjoyable read. It's short, so it doesn't take up much time if you have other things to do. For those who haven't read it, it's a dystopian story about Jane Doe. Jane is locked up in a secret government agency facility called Lengard, a place that is, to say the least, unpleasant. She hasn't spoken in two years.  Without further chit-chat, here's 6.5 lessons from the  Whisper  duology .  Let's get to!    1. Keep consistent characterisation  Authors love to talk about how they developed their characters. Oh, I used 67 different questionnaires , one might say. Or, I used every major person...

The best books are the ones that make readers feel something. Fight me.   When people say to make readers "feel something", the first thing most authors think of is to make them cry. But that's only one part of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for books that make me tear up.  Beyond crying - or the base emotion of sadness - you get laughter, suspicion, fear. Make readers have to think about the issues you bring up - your themes. Shock them. You want readers to come away from this emotional rollercoaster wanting more.  So how do you do this? Write impactful scenes. Make them mean something.  Let's get to!    1. Get in the mood  If you're not emotionally invested in whatever's going on in your story, how can you expect readers to be invested? Let's not forget you're the one who revealed the characters and their stories.   Before writing a scene, you need to get in the right mood. While not all authors and readers are the same, if you...

Transcript  Writing With Perfectionism: When to use perfectionism in writing The key question to ask: Can this be changed later? If it can, use imperfection. If it can't, use perfectionism.    Let's look at the three stages of writing: Idea >> Imperfection Research Execution >> Imperfection Planning, drafting Presentation >> Perfection Editing, design

What's this? Lessons from another  video game? That's right, mates. But that's not all, it's another Square Enix game. Instead of Kingdom Hearts , I'm going to talk about an entry in their Final Fantasy  series.  Specifically, the long-awaited  Final Fantasy XV . Or Final Fantasy 15  if you don't like Roman numerals. FFXV was released in 2016 after ten years since its teaser, and is the latest to date. It follows the four Chocobros - Noctis, Ignis, Prompto and Gladio - on a quest to save their kingdom.  There's probably going to be spoilers in here, so I'll give a warning before and after them. That said, if you haven't already, I highly recommend you watch it . Like, right now . It's a beautiful story about the friendship between the bros.  Here's the link I used:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PMDFu9d83Y   Psst, after watching the link above, you should also watch: Episode Gladio, Episode Prompto, Episode Ignis and Episode Ardryn . They...

We've all seen miscommunication in fiction. I don't know about you, but it drives me insane . I find myself internally screaming like people in memes, and I don't know that many memes .  Communication is something only living things can do. Go figure. And it's an amazing aspect of humanity. It's how we exchange ideas, feelings, thoughts. I revel in overthinking about the unspoken thoughts. Let's not talk about how this probably isn't good for mental health .  You understand what I'm typing because writing is a form of communication. Books are a form of communication. Anything in the arts is a form of communication. Everyone knows this. You might not know communication also includes your body language, tone, disjointed speech.  What happens when you don't have communication? To put it shortly: bad stuff. You might be able to sprinkle in some humour, for sure. But most of the time, no communication means miscommunication. While it may provide sweet, sw...