A Writing Update

As I said in my post last week, the main reason for my lack of blog posts lately (besides moving house, starting a new job and having an adventurous and sleep-shy one-year-old) is that I have been spending all of my free time writing. 

I had just finished my first detailed read through of Amber & Ice when I got another story idea which I was so consumed by I had to start planning it out at once. And once I'd planned it, I couldn't not start writing it immediately. Three months later and I have the first (very rough) draft of a new fantasy novel. I don't want to go into too much detail in this post, but I will tell you that it's set in the same world as the Elements of Power series, but features different characters. And no, it won't be called Earth, although it doesn't have a title yet. I feel like my writing has improved so much since I wrote Fire and this new novel has given me the chance to try and do a world and idea that I'm still very proud of a bit more justice. I'm not sure what my long-term plans are for it yet, but I had a lot of fun writing it and it's been  great exercise in learning how to plot more effectively. I now need to read back through it to determine if it's worth sharing with anyone else. 

Before I do that though, I'm finally getting back to Amber & Ice and am determined to finish my initial edits, no matter how many other story ideas I have (currently at a total of three). I still feel like there is a lot of promise in this idea, even though my first draft was really weak. The good thing is I have loads of ideas on how to make it better and I'm really pleased with how editing is going. The major problem at the moment is that I think it reads like YA, but with NA aged characters... Do I change up the story completely so the characters are in school rather than uni, or do I work on my extreme avoidance of writing romance scenes? If you've read the first draft on Wattpad, I'd love to know your thoughts! It also desperately needs a better title, but inspiration for that is still eluding me at the moment. 

That's all from me for this week - I need to get back to editing!

Pop Sugar Reading Challenge

Hello! I'm sorry I haven't updated in ages. It's because I've been super busy writing, but there will be more on that in my next post. Today, I want to post an update on the Pop Sugar reading challenge I've been working on. 

A book with more than 500 pages {Casual Vacancy}
A classic romance {Mansfield Park}
A book that became a movie {Gone Girl}
A book published this year {The Red Queen}
A book with a number in the title (Fahrenheit 451}
A book written by someone under 30 {Queen of Shadows}
A book with nonhuman characters {Winter}
A funny book
A book by a female author {Gone Girl}
A mystery or thriller {The Cuckoo's Calling}
A book with a one-word title {Fangirl}
A book of short stories
A book set in a different country {100 Years of Solitude}
A nonfiction book {Bringing Up Bebe}
A popular author's first book
A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet {Paper Towns}
A book a friend recommended {The Secret History or One Hundred Years of Solitude}
A Pulitzer Prize-winning book
A book based on a true story
A book at the bottom of your tbr list.
A book your mum loves
A book that scares you {Asking For It}
A book more than 100 years old {Tess of the D'Urbervilles}
A book based entirely on its cover {We Were Liars}
A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't {An Inspector Calls - technically, I didn't have to read this when I was at school, but I did need to read it for work and managed to blag my way through a few lessons before I got round to it}
A memoir {The Guantanamo Diary}
A book you can finish in a day {7 Days}
A book with antonyms in the title {AWorld Without Princes - The School for Good and Evil #2}
A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit {The Scorpio Races - I know it's not real, but I would love to visit Puck's island}
A book that came out the year you were born
A book with bad reviews
A trilogy
A book from your childhood {We're Going on a Bear Hunt}
A book with a love triangle {Half Wild}
A book set in the future {Only Ever Yours}
A book set in high school {To All the Boys I've Loved Before}
A book with a colour in the title {Red Rising}
A book that made you cry {Tess of the D'Urbervilles}
A book with magic {Half Bad}
A graphic novel
A book by an author you've never read before {The Winner's Curse}
A book you own but have never read
A book that takes place in your hometown {A Darker Shade of Magic - well, versions of it, anyway!}
A book that was originally written in a different language {One Hundred Years of Solitude}
A book set during Christmas
A book written by an author with your initials
A play {An Inspector Calls}
A banned book
A book based on or turned into a TV show
A book you started but never finished {Casual Vacancy}

There are quite a few categories I don't think I'm going to cross of this list and there are a few books I've read, but can't fit in anywhere. I've now read 38 out of the 40 books I set myself as a challenge on goodreads this year.

Easy Grammar

This is going to make me sound really weird, but I'm going to admit it anyway: I find grammar really interesting. I like the rules and the precision. But I'm also willing to admit that my grammar is far from perfect. I always seem to come across new rules, or I will suddenly understand something which had always confused me previously. Sometimes, it's just a matter of having things explained in the right way. Here are a few grammar rules and the explanations which suddenly helped me to understand them. {Warning: I take no responsibility for the fact that you can't unlearn these rules, and it will forever bug you when someone gets them wrong...}

Less/Fewer
If you can count it, use fewer. If you can't, it should be less.
Fewer cakes / Less love
Fewer students / Less work

I have a compulsive need to correct this one when I hear it misused, although I try very, very hard to keep the corrections in my head...

I/Me
Is it Roxy and I, or Roxy and me? The simple way to work this one out is to substitute in 'we' or 'us'
We went to the beach = Roxy and I went to the beach.
It poured down on us = It poured down on Roxy and me.

Speech
I don't know if I missed this in school, or forgot it, but when I first wrote Fire, I had no idea how to punctuate speech. But  it's another really easy rule once you know it.
If you are following your speech with an action, put a full stop at the end of your speech.
If you are following it with a description of speech (she said / she muttered / he yelled etc.), you should use a comma.

Vocative case
Another speech related rule. If your speech is addressing someone (using the vocative case) put a comma before their name.
"I love you, Roxy."
"I will kill you, Cinaer."

This is another one where I don't understand why I didn't already know it, but you will quickly notice that not many people do. It isn't just necessary for clarifying speech in stories, it should also be used if you are addressing someone in an email, text or message of any kind. All those "Happy birthday Roxy" messages, they should really be "Happy birthday, Roxy." And once you know this it will bug you every. single. time. (Your're welcome!)

Jealousy/Envy
I'm going to leave the explanation of this one to Homer Simpson. It's more memorable that way and I don't think I could put it any better.

Mirrored Snow: Update

Today I posted the final chapter of Mirrored Snow on Wattpad. I have had so much fun with this short story. I had to approach it in a different way to my novels, due both to its length and the fact that it is a retelling. If you haven't taken a look yet, please do and let me know what you think. You can find it on Wattpad. Here's the cover (which I changed from my original post) and the description. 

Everyone know the story of Snow White: blood red lips, ebony hair and skin the colour of freshly fallen snow. Her vain step-mother, desperate to be the 'fairest of them all' attempts four times to have her killed, until her prince comes to save the day. 

But what if Snow wasn't a princess, but a prince. 
And the queen's antique silver mirror contained not just her reflection, but a girl. 

Mirror can no longer remember her name - or life - before the queen imprisoned her. All day, every day, she finds herself at the queen's beck and call; a life of endless servitude and isolation. 

Snowdon is approaching his 18th birthday and is an increasing threat to the queen's right to rule. And his looks are putting him in the running for her 'fairest' title too. So the queen decides the quickest way to solve all her problems is to get rid of Snowdon. Permanently. But the girl watching their every move has other ideas.

Authors on Wattpad

As well as being a great platform for thousands of fresh, talented writers, young and old, many established writers can be found on Wattpad. Some post sample chapters from their novels, while others post short stories and exclusive content. Here are some I think you should really check out:

Marissa Meyer
Meyer has posted the first six chapters of Cinder and Scarlet on Wattpad, along with three short stories and the first chapter of Fairest. The one you really shouldn't miss is The Little Android, which is a retelling of The Little Mermaid, set in the world of the Lunar Chronicles.

Margaret Atwood
Atwood has posted poems and a non-fiction piece to Wattpad and has also just launched her own writing competition on the site! It's fantastic to see such an established, respected writer supporting a website like Wattpad, I think it really shows the importance and potential of the site. I'm going to start working on my contest entry later this week...

Beth Reekles
Reekles began her writing career on Wattpad and had her trilogy published as a result of her success on the site. You can still read samples, prequels and some short stories on the site.

Laure Eve
Eve has published the entirely of her first book - Fearsome Dreamer - on Wattpad and she replied to all the comments she gets on it, which is really cool.

Taran Matharu
Another Wattpad sucess story. You can still read a sample of his novel and some prequels on the site, plus he is really active and replied to comments.

Do you have any other recommendations? Please post them in the comments if so!

Mirrored Snow

Today I am posting something entirely new on Wattpad!

Mirrored Snow is a gender-reversed retelling of Snow White, where Snow has become 'Snowdon' and is told from the perspective of a girl the evil queen has trapped in her mirror. 

It's going to be a short story, rather than a full novel, and although I have of course been influenced and inspired by the Disney film and other modern retellings, I'm trying to go back to the Grimm original for my plot. 

Here is the description:

Everyone know the story of Snow White: blood red lips, ebony hair and skin the colour of freshly fallen snow. Her vain step-mother, desperate to be the 'fairest of them all' attempts four times to have her killed, until Prince Charming comes to save the day. 

But what if Snow wasn't a princess, but a prince. 

And the queen's antique silver mirror contained not just her reflection, but a girl. 

Mirror can no longer remember her name - or life - before the queen imprisoned her. All day, every day, she finds herself at the queen's beck and call; a life of endless servitude and isolation. 

Snowdon is approaching his 18th birthday and is an increasing threat to the queen's right to rule. And his looks are putting him in the running for her 'fairest' title too. So the queen decides the quickest way to solve all her problems is to get rid of Snowdon. Permanently. But the girl watching their every move has other ideas.

And the cover:

Are you interested yet? You can check it out here!

My Wattpad Recomendations

So I wrote on Wednesday that I have been reading a lot of stories on Wattpad recently and I really wanted to share some of my favourites with you, so here they are!

  

 

First, let's just take a moment to appreciate how amazing those covers are - the talent on this site extends far beyond the writing.

Rimwick by FionaChai
Sometimes on Wattpad, a story will be so good I will forget that I'm not reading something that has been published. Rimwick was definitely one of those stories. A fantastic, supernatural fantasy book with great characterisation and plot twists.

RUNES by Authorednah
This is the first book in a published series, but it looks like most of them are also available on Wattpad to read for free. The author has created a complex, intriguing fantasy world and there has already been lots of action.

5:48 by cityscape
Quite a different sort of book to what I normally read. It's about a group of teens, each with their own troubles and complex back story, who run a coffee shop together. Touching, emotional and complex.

Magnificent by Corlaya
Only a few chapters of this book have been posted so far, but I am really enjoying it. The main character has a really intriguing secret and I'm desperate to find out what it is!

The Roommate Rulebook by Lilohorse
This is another one i haven't finished yet but I am enjoying it so far. It's a bit like A Beautiful Disaster


Do you like reading books on Wattpad? If so, do you have any recommendations? Or do you post writing of your own? Please leave me some links in the comments and I will try to check them out. Don't forget you can read Fire in full and check out my new story, Amber&Ice, on my account.