Random Monday: Coffee

Last night after work I pulled into the Starbucks drive-thru at 9:57 PM - three minutes before they closed. As I pulled up to the window after ordering, I apologized. "I just got off work and hurried over here..."

"Hey, you've got time," the very-kind barista said. "When you need coffee, you need coffee, right?"

Right. 

I don't know about you, but when I wake up in the morning, I usually have two thoughts on my mind. One is, naturally, "Do I have time to write before I go to school today?" and the second is, "I need coffee."

I used to hate coffee. That probably comes from my dad drinking it black and me trying to conform to his tastes when I was younger, but I couldn't get past how bad black coffee tasted. (He's since started using creamer.)

It was around the time I went to visit one of my best friends that he took me through a Starbucks and got me a Gingerbread Latte. It was November. I took a sip. It was alright. The more sips I took, the more I liked it. (Yes, Phil, this is your fault. :P)

When I got back home, I went a little Starbucks-crazy. I became a member and earned my gold card in less than a month.

I have officially become a coffee-holic. My mornings have to involve coffee, or it turns out to be a sore day indeed. It's only gotten worse since my parents got a Keurig. I just find it amusing how, when I was younger, I very solemnly vowed to myself to never enjoy that adult drink.

And now here I am, typing this up with a mug of coffee. Starbucks Veranda Blend, if you were curious.

Are there any other coffee fiends out there reading this post? How do you take your coffee? Does it get your brain going or do you just enjoy the taste? 

Have a happy Monday, everyone, and enjoy the wonderful weather we've been having!

BRT: The Sun's Rival by Danielle E. Shipley

Title: The Sun's Rival

Author: Danielle E. Shipley

Number of Pages: e-book

Rating: Can I give this a 10/5?

Released: December 2, 2014

Summary

Next to the uncommon beauty of her sisters, Princess Laraspur feels invisible, until she learns the two most powerful kings in the world have their eyes fixed upon her. But the ensuing double-courtship goes horribly awry, requiring Laraspur to brave the secret perils of earth, sea, and sky, on a quest that will try the very essence of her being.

Review

"AHHH!!"

Right, then. That would be my author (Flame Writer) running around talking in tongues about this book. So, this is Ashley Vaandere talking, gonna try to scramble up a review from some of the notes she's got, while she continues to do her thing over there.

Character exploration: Phenomenal. Not a page goes by without a hint toward some development.

Plot progression: Wondrous. It never moves too fast or too slow and keeps the reader hanging on for more.

Plot twists: Scream-worthy. There aren't very many twists, but the ones that exist are scream-worthy.

Flame Writer says, "One of the early seeming 'plot twists' isn't much of a twist, but I don't think it was meant to be. Given the title of the book, the choice Laraspur makes seemed rather obvious. However, that happens near the beginning, so that choice isn't meant to be so much of a twist rather than the framework for an oncoming twist."

With that, this book focuses on Laraspur, one of the daughters of Edgwyn and Rosalba, and plants her in the middle of a story that Edgwyn told her when she was a little girl. With the help of her brother Ionquin she'll have to, as the blurb says, brave many perils on a time-defying quest.

"He was such a jerk!"

Yes, he was. She's referring to Laraspur's antagonist, not Ionquin. And yet, according to her notes, he is an interesting one. He's not an "Oh, I'm so evil!" kind of antagonist - he just seems kind of selfish and not used to being defied. So when that happens, he doesn't react in the best of ways.

Conflict and resolution are top notch, the quality of writing as entrancing as readers have come to expect, and Shipley shows once again how much of a wordsmith she is when it comes to Laraspur and Ionquin puzzling out the map for their quest. In addition to that, the sibling friendship between Laraspur and Ionquin is fantastic. 

"Shipley made a deal with an anarchwitch, I swear, to make these riddles so well," Flame Writer calms down enough to add.

The tension in this novella surpasses almost all of the others, perhaps with only the exception of The Seventh Spell. The Sun's Rival successfully tugs at the heartstrings (Flame Writer cried near the end), has absolutely AMAZING descriptions, builds up character and plot nicely, and concludes perhaps a little too quickly, but in the perfect way regardless. 

There's also at least one point in this novella when you'll glare very darkly at the page. Like so:

With that, Flame Writer will conclude.

Taking a deep breath, the author of Flame Writer and Ashley Vaandere's story lets out a screech: "READ ITTTTTT!!!!!!!"

She swears it's the best one of the series so far.

Only twelve days to the release of The Surrogate Sea, the sixth book of The Wilderhark Tales! Get ready! ARC review on next Thursday.

BRT: The Song Caster by Danielle E. Shipley

Title: The Song Caster

Author: Danielle E. Shipley

Number of Pages: e-book

Rating: 5/5

Released: June 24, 2014

Summary

The dull doom of impending marriage at his back and a reticent royal at his side, remarkable minstrel Gant-o’-the-Lute is off in search of adventure, and you can be sure he finds it – complete with much music, magicked maidens, and a dangerous power so great, Lute might for once find himself outmatched.

Review

Remember my little complaints regarding The Seventh Spell? They don't apply any longer. I doubted that I would have to worry for long! I admit upon starting this book I had my insecurities: I didn't know much about Gant-o'-the-Lute just yet, and I was not a fan of Benedeck in The Stone Kingdom.

As usual, however, my interests were captured and happily enslaved to the book's plot. Throughout this novella we learn a little more about the culture that is the world of the Wilderhark Tales, including some of the "myths" that pervade their culture and we get to witness another kingdom or two.

There are also cats. Lots and lots of cats. (The cat lady inside me squeals.)

The character exploration in this addition surpasses that of the previous books. In the first, Sula and Villem found themselves,  but when it came to their innermost traits, they didn't get into that as much. The same for Rosalba in The Stone Kingdom. The Seventh Spell spent much more time focusing on the major problem at hand (understandably). 

So to have a book that's perfectly paced while digging into the depths of the two protagonists is refreshing and fun to read! It ties up a loose end left behind from The Stone Kingdom and shows us so much more about Lute's conflicting desires - and, once again, love prevails over all in a wonderful twist.

Perhaps the one thing I'm unsure of in this addition is how a certain spell was cast in the first place. To prevent spoilers, all I'll say is that it's a spell Benedeck is sent to solve. Did Lute accidentally cast it?  I don't think it was ever confirmed. 

The only other thing I wondered about was Viralei's characterization - everyone else got plentiful development, but I didn't see as much from her, only a few tidbits about the culture of her kingdom. (I personally would love a book about her kingdom.)

Otherwise, I have no complaints about The Song Caster. Delicious plot twists, amazing characters, perfect pacing, a nice blend of conflict and resolution, in general a fantastic and worthy addition to The Wilderhark Tales.

***There is going to be another post today for The Sun's Rival! Stay tuned!!***

Writing World Wednesday: Discoveries During Editing

If I had made a Random Monday post, it would have been about me being on Spring Break, haha. Spring Break is why I didn't make a post. (I was lazy.)

~~~

This sort of relates back to a post I made a week or two ago about characters defying what their authors think is going to happen. I don't know about you, but when we're writing, the number of things that don't go as expected often reach the double-digits. Maybe even triple, if you're unlucky. 

That leaves a LOT to do during the editing process. The adaptations to fit the plot as it is after the first draft, the sentence structure, paragraphs, entire scenes changed or even deleted... Yeah, you know the drill. My point on this is:

Have you ever noticed that sometimes you subconsciously seem to pick up on how a plot might change? I know a couple of times during my editing process I'll come across something that very effectively foreshadows that happens in the future - something I hadn't anticipated during the initial writing.

Maybe it's the characters again, picking up on things we don't! Is this just me, or does this happen to some of you too? Are our characters picking up on our plot changes before we're even aware of them ourselves? If that's the case, they need to let us know earlier on!

(It is indeed 1 AM. And technically Thursday. But I am one of those people who continues to call it Wednesday until I go to bed.)

BRT: The Seventh Spell by Danielle E. Shipley

Title: The Seventh Spell

Author: Danielle E. Shipley

Number of Pages: e-book

Rating: 4.5/5

Released: January 28, 2014

Summary

A witch’s attempt to cast one spell too many casts everyone touched by her previous spells into chaos. Scattered throughout each other’s pasts, Sula and Edgwyn, Villem and Rosalba, and the rest of the magic’s affected have a single chance to break this last enchantment before their “happily-ever-after”-s cease to have ever been. 

Review

It's no secret that I love Danielle Shipley's work at this point - or, I hope it isn't. The Seventh Spell is no exception to that flow - I'm still in love with the work and the characters .

And characters come forth in abundance in the third installment of the Wilderharks. Each has their own predicament, tale to tell, and skill that assists all of our beloved protagonists out of the situation they've found themselves in.

*Cough* Sula.

From the first page, the reader is unfailingly hooked - again. Shipley's skill to carry a story from project to project and keep the precise characterization, tone, and pacing consistent is still extraordinary. 

A few of my favorite things from this book include the fact she has still continued to offer nods of acknowledgement to fairytales of old, that each and every new character gets just enough time in the spotlight to become someone we care about immensely, and the idea utilized for the plot of this project in general. 

I really have no idea how she keeps making these riddles and songs. I'm starting to think she's striking deals with anarchwitches to have this kind of talent. I couldn't make a song or riddle like the ones in The Seventh Spell to save my life.

The settings and characters, again, are just fantastic. The plot is beautiful and well-executed.

And now, for the cons. This might be one of the first times I've ever had small complaints about her books, but they're minor indeed:

1. Pace. I stated earlier her pace is still consistent - and where it concerns how it spans across the books, it is. Yet I encountered a few issues when, especially near the end, it seems that there are still events waiting to occur, yet they're skipped in favor of going straight to the end. Since it's a novella, I understand there were constraints, but it still felt rushed

2. Lack of resolution in some aspects. At the very end it seems a few plotlines that had been utilized throughout the work were sort of abandoned (for example, Sula having a minor conflict with [spoiler - highlight to read] Sigmund and Edgwyn). Some of the characters also vanish - which is addressed in the next book, but was so open-ended in The Seventh Spell.

3. Lack of conflict. This kind of ties into the lack of resolution. Don't get me wrong. Conflict was abundant and wonderful in this book! Yet there are a few times when it seemed some characters should have argued/hashed things out, and they never did. Example: Sigmund and Sula didn't have enough conflict/resolution, nor did Aurabella or Cellodran.

Again, all of these points can be traced back to the constraints Shipley faced since this is a novella. The fact there were a few flaws doesn't detract from the work enough to come even close to saying, "Don't read it!" On the contrary, this book set so much into motion that I'm going to beg for people to read it.

Small flaws or not, it's fantastic. This book weaves together the plots of the previous books - something a lot of authors fail to do - and incorporate a half dozen new plot points in such a way that readers won't get lost or wonder who or what they're dealing with. Her writing flows as always. In the end, very great book, and worthy as the third installment of the Wilderharks. 

Formatting issues wouldn't permit italicization of "The Seventh Spell/Wilderharks" throughout the review. 

W3: NaNoWriMo 2014

W3 is much easier to type than Writing World Wednesday.

It never occurred me to write a post about it - I'm not sure why I didn't. How did your NaNoWriMo 2014 go? 

The first few days went pretty great for me - I wrote 7k in one day near the beginning. I went through a slump afterward due to school and work, though. [[[Yeah, work was interesting during that time.]]] Afterward I bounced back and made it to 51k!

Whether we succeeded or not, just writing at all is a fantastic achievement. Every word goes to the story that may change someone's life. Just keep trucking it along!

On that note, I guess there's an app on GooglePlay called NaNoProgress that poses a bit as an out-of-November NaNo word counter. I'd recommend it, if I could get it. It's only available for Samsung devices.

It's almost that time... I'm gearing up for Camp NaNoWriMo, too. How about everyone else? If anyone's curious about joining my cabin with Z.G. Writer (heh, it's been a while since she posted, but she is still writing) let me know.

Have a good Wednesday, everyone, and take a minute today to write three sentences in your WIP for me! If you have any stories about your NaNo experiences leave a comment~

Book review on The Seventh Spell tomorrow!

Random Monday: Tones

I've always been intrigued by how the subtlest differences in tone can work. Sometimes they can sound similar and sometimes unearthly different. 

I won't lie - my parents bicker a lot. I tend to leave the room whenever they do. In my upstairs room, I can hear the fluctuating tones of their voices downstairs. I groan to myself every time I realize they're arguing.

Imagine my surprise one night when I ventured downstairs to get a drink, thinking they were in a fight, and instead found them snickering together. Somehow the stress in their voices matched, to a degree, some of the joking tones they used. 

On the other hand, in my workplace, I've been having a very hard time with my manager. In a sentence, I feel as though I'm inconveniencing her every time I ask a question. Even her texts to me give off the air of, "Leave me alone, I don't have time for this." 

Just the slightest shift in volume of a voice can mean the world. One night when I was speaking to her, I asked a question, and her voice dropped - almost un-noticeably - but enough that I felt as though I couldn't ask any other questions for the rest of the evening.

This is actually a great tool to utilize in writing. Simply making a character use a different word than they would usually use, or use a shorter sentence than they might normally say, can speak a lot for what the character is actually feeling.

Just a random musing I've had lately. What sort of experiences have you had when it comes to people's tone of voice?

Have a happy Monday, everyone!