The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey

I'm sure you're tired of hearing me talk about this book in all my posts, so you should be glad to know that this is the last post about it! I finished it! And although it was creative, exciting, with well developed characters, interesting ideas and great prose--it also irritated me quite a bit. Along …

Harnessing the excitement of a blank page

The new year is a blank page, full of endless possibilities. People feel they can start over, be anyone, do anything. If only there was a way to keep this feeling going past the first few weeks. For me, the excitement of starting fresh, of having no boundaries or guidelines or boxes to work within, …

Don’t hoard your ideas

Similar to what I was saying yesterday, but more specifically, use ALL your ideas--that is to say, don't ration them out as if you're starving for them, picking one 'great' idea and then trying to build an entire novel around one single observance or cool twist. Cram all the good ideas you can fit, into …

Quantity over Quality

The year is almost over, and it's going to be the worst year--as far as number of views--that my blog has had since its creation. Probably cause I went three months without making a post. It is becoming clearer and clearer to me that in the world of unknown writers, quality without quantity is as …

Iconic scenes in literature

Sometimes, stuff just sticks with you. Over weeks or months or years, sometimes that one scene stays burned into your brain. What is it about these scenes that makes them stay? It can sometimes just be a very shocking scene, or maybe its a certain description that really resonates with you and seems so true …