#authors

When you see someone read the book that you recommended to them

Looking at the three books you want because you only have money for two so you have to decide which one to cut

SHADOWHUNTERS

CHAIN OF GOLD

Come se avesse dimenticato che luce costante potesse essere la sua presenza quando sul mondo scendeva il buio.

Poteva anche esibire una compostezza quasi taciturna, ma in realtà sentiva, sentiva con intensità assoluta.

“La gente è invincibile soltanto nei libri” “Secondo me scoprirai che la maggior parte delle volte non è così neanche in quelli” le rispose Tessa. “Ma almeno possiamo sempre scegliere un libro e rileggerlo da capo. Le storie offrono migliaia di nuovi inizi.” “L'unico equivalente nella vita reale è la memoria”

Era il genere di amore che cercava di raccontare nelle pagine dei suoi racconti, ma non riusciva mai a trovare le parole giuste.

Voi amate, tremate e bruciate. Non permettere a chi non riesce a vedere la verità di dirti chi sei. Tu sei la fiamma che non può essere estinta. Sei la stella che non si può smarrire. Sei chi sei sempre stato, e questo basta e avanza. Chiunque ti guardi e veda il buio è cieco.

Non possiamo scegliere quando provare dolore nelle nostre vite. Arriva quando arriva, e cerchiamo di ricordare che tutto il dolore svanisce, sebbene non riusciamo a immaginare un giorno in cui la sofferenza mollerà la presa su di noi. Ogni infelicità passa. L'umanità è attirata dalla luce, non nell'oscurità. @cassandraclare

Literariamente hablando, es mi primer contacto con Umberto Eco. Aún después de haber olisqueado y hojeado incontables veces El nombre de la rosa, terminé por comprar su más reciente libro casi de manera impulsiva.

Número Cero es una sofisticada parodia del periodismo, pero una tan precisa y genial que podría pasar por ser un divertido y cínico manual para el mismo, desde la manera en la que se va urdiendo la creación de un periódico que planea anticipar las noticias hasta las discusiones que tenían los reporteros, el redactor (en este caso el protagonista), y el director de este diario de futuro tan incierto, que giran en torno a cómo funciona una nota, cómo se propaga, de qué manera debe redactarse para resultar más fidedigna ante determinado público y un sinfín de instrucciones a manera de furibundos diálogos.

Pero lo más interesante de todo termina siendo uno de sus más diligentes reporteros, obsesionado con la muerte de Mussoulini. Investigador incansable, sus teorías acerca de su verdadera muerte terminan abarcando capítulos enteros donde uno pareciera estar sumergiéndose en otra novela completamente distinta sin darse cuenta hasta que, pum, regresamos a la cantina en la que estaban sentados. Braggadocio (tal es el nombre de este curioso reportero) terminará siendo pieza clave en el desenlace de la novela y también una dura lección de lo que es el periodismo a final de cuentas: una libertad reprimida.

Donna Tartt, mid 80s

Bram Stoker’s Dracula playscript (1897)

Book store aesthetic

tenoko1:

Guys, stop being crap to creators. You aren’t hurting Amazon. You’re stealing from writers.

HYPE UP YOUR AUTHORS , GIVE THEM LOVE AND COMMENT, IT WON’T HURT NOBODY :)

“How’s work?”

“Well, a previously believed to be extinct species reappeared with the murder of a well-respected local political figure… despite that I’ve had more chaotic periods in my career.” 

Do you like YA fantasy books with dragons, family drama, strong friendships and perhaps a pinch too much banter? 

If so, you’ll enjoy my series Dear Dragon. 

The first book will have been out for a year next month. It followed Itazu, a young adult who believed she was the last dragon until she visited her home-town and discovered another nine dragons in hiding. 

My second book is due to come out in a couple of months and it continues her and all the other dragon’s story. 

I haven’t got a definitive cover or name for it yet (apparently I like waiting until the very last minute and stressing myself out with releases), but what I do have is a book ready for reading. 

So, if you’d like to be among the first people ever to read this book, I’d like to invite you to join my ARC team! 

What’s an ARC team you may be asking? 

ARC stands for Advanced Reader Copy, it’s standard practice in the industry where a certain number of readers receive a free copy (in this case ebooks) before release so they can read and review the book. 

If this sounds appealing to you, click here to fill in my ARC application form. 

There’s no obligations attached. Obviously the objective is to get reviews but I completely understand that life happens and gets in the way all the time, so if you receive a free copy and never read it or forget to review, don’t worry, I’m not going to chase you down or anything like that. 

This is basically just another way for authors and readers to collaborate! 

If you sign up to be an ARC reader, thanks so much for the interest, if you aren’t interested, I still hope you learnt something from this post about the book world. 

As usual, have fun writing, have fun reading, and you can find my socials, book and other links of interest:  here.

I hate gift giving. 

I mean, I love it when I know what to give but that’s rarely the case. 

Thankfully, in fiction, character’s will like what we tell them to like. But a powerful gift within the narrative requieres a bit more than for the character to like it. So here’s a couple of ideas to help: 

1.-Make it something useful. Show your character having a recurring problem, preferably something unimportant, something trivial. Don’t show them complaining, show their frustration through smaller details such as them taking a deep breath, rubbing their nose or pausing for just a second mid-task. 

This shows two important details on part of the gift giver: them paying attention to notice the problem and them finding a solution. 

Attentiveness plus problem solving. Meaningful no matter how minor. 

2.-Make it something they like, but something they’ve bought up only passingly before. If it’s something they love and go on about, anybody could get the right gift. Make it a small detail, maybe they’re at a farm in an early chapter and the receiver mentions their favourite animal, towards the end of the book the gift givers gets a plush, a figurine or a necklace with the animal. 

Same as before, attentiveness. Just make sure it doesn’t happen too soon, if the information is still fresh the reader will be like: “Well, you literally just bought that up to make this gift meaningful.” And they might be right, but give them time to forget and then be reminded and it’s like: “Oh! They remembered!” 

I did a whole post dedicated to giving time for things to sit, it’s a thing. 

3.-Make it hard. Hard to find. If they make it themselves, hard to make. Maybe they need to get the materials, hard to collect materials for? You ever heard of the McGuffin trope? Some people say it’s bad writing, personally, I believe it depends. But it’s the idea that the item doesn’t matter, it’s just an excuse for the actions to get it. Look at the gift like a McGuffin. But if you want it to be more meaningful, combine it with one of the previous points. 

4.-Maybe the gift isn’t the important part, maybe it’s the way it’s wrapped, with her favourite colour wrapping paper, maybe it’s the hand written note with a desperate attempt at cursive because, “You’re hand writing is so pretty, I thought it must matter to you.” Perhaps it a hand-made card that goes with it. Perhaps they’re separated for a mission but the gift givers sneaks away and risks a lot to get the gift to the receiver despite it all. (This could also end in a big argument but that’s up to you). 

Remember sometimes the point of a gift isn’t the gift but the situation surrounding it. 

5.-Make it something important to the gift giver. This is a pretty common trope but when properly established it still gets me every time. This is the whole, “Here, take my dead mother’s necklace.” “But it means so much to you!” “But I’d rather you have it!” Trope. I’m a sucker for it. 

Also, it doesn’t always have to come from the gifter. I have a scene way later on in my series where the love interest actually gives my main character something (not going to say what, that would be a spoiler) that he got from her father that once belonged ot her mother. It’s similar because the father gives it up so she can have it, but then it comes from the love interest. I’m not sure if this makes sense without context but obviously I don’t want to spoil like, final book scenes. But the idea is, there can be other characters involved in this, other than the two giver and receiver. 

6.-Maybe it isn’t important, maybe it isn’t meaningful, maybe it become so over time. I have plenty of stupid bits of plastic that were given to me on a night out as a joke in between laughters, perhaps a baby Shark kinder egg or a pretty plastic ring. But then instead of getting rid of it, I put it away. I look back at it and smile remembering those nights. Something can be meaningless in the moment, but become meaningful just for staying around long enough. 

Extra points if the grifter dies or otherwise leaves. 

And those are my 6 tips. You can combine as you wish. Also, I used a love interest in one example, but anybody can give anybody a gift! I give gifts to my roommates, friends and family. And it’s just as important to work on the relationships that aren’t romantic as it is the romantic ones. (Unless you’re writing a romance I guess, but I only do fantasy, usually YA so, can’t really comment on that). 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here. 

So, with christmas coming up, how’s your gift buying going? I knows it’s not that soon, but I have exams in November so I try to start really early. I have a special box where I just put things in. 

EXTRA NOTE: I know, I know, I’ve been missing for a while. I’ve got one month at university and as always, exams, homework, chaos everywhere! I promise I’m still around, I promise I’ve got 18 drafts plus several lists of ideas. As soon as I have time I’ll get back into posting more often. I just have to prioritize school, work, paying for food and those good boring stuff! 

Also, I’ll be putting my ebook on sale sometime this December for Christmas! So, you know, if you want a gift idea for someone who likes reading YA Fantasy with dragons, look out for that! 

It is surprisingly rare in the real world how many relationships consist of people the same age. (The older you get, the more rare it is, which makes sense as age is relative and what not). 

For today’s reference I’m focusing on a minor age gap. As usual I’ll be talking from experience so for context sake I’m 23 and my partner is 30. A seven year gap, pretty common especially where I am. I’m saying minor because it’s the average, but averages vary depending on locations and culture so take that in mind. 

With all this said, here’s a list of things that happen due to this age gap: 

1.- Different shows and music growing up, different games too! My first pokemon game was Diamond on the DS, my boyfriend was around to play pokemon red. That’s like, the first one! 

Similarly sometimes my boyfriends and friends start going of about an old show I’ve either never heard of, or binged as an adult because it wasn’t on television when I was a kid. 

Sometimes it’s the opposite and I start going on about a show they never saw because they were too old. Or shows that I watched they will laugh at because, when it was on television it was “little kid’s show”. 

This leads to both me and them discovering a lot of amazing new shows. I view this as a total positive. But if a relationship was not willing to give new things a chance, this could be a barrier, less things to talk about. 

2.- General different childhoods. I’ve had internet since I was like six or seven. My boyfriends grew up without it. If you’re writing fantasy, this can be replaced with any important technological advancement. 

Because of this specific one, I’m more technology dependant, I use an ipad instead of paper for example, where he is better at using dictionaries and maps. 

3.- Language differences. I’m fortunate enough to have grown up with plenty of terms that weren’t in use when my boyfriend was young. Some are technological, while other’s are mental health or sexuality related. Because of this when we’re discussing news I tend to speak in a more “politically correct” kinda way. 

This also affects expressions, I’m going to use an example in Spanish because I can’t think of an English equivalent, “Chachi,” is a word that means cool. There’s a lot of words like that in Spanish (Guay, mola, súper, lindo…). And it’s a term that my generation used a lot in High School, my boyfriend was older, didn’t use it and now it is not a normal part of his vocabulary. He’ll said mostly “mola”. 

It doesn’t really make a difference. It’s just a difference I’ve noticed and thought could be fun to implement in a story. 

4.- Fashions choices is obvious and I don’t think needs an example. 

5.- Playgrounds songs and games. It’s kind of upsetting that I have more overlaps with my little sister than most of my friends. But it’s also kind of funny. 

6.- Schoolling! This is a big one. We learnt different subjects, under different rules. Sometimes these differences are minor, back when he was in school he had to study religion. I studied ethics. But other times the entire educations system is changes so that now a degree is worth less and I am forced to not only considerbut consider almost mandatory getting a masters degree. Thank you politicians. 

7.- Politics. We are one the same side of politics but the politics we have experienced and lived through are very different and that’s something you can tell when we talk and discuss stuff. I was too young when my country was in crisis to truly understand what was going on. It was just a word to me. He suffered the consequences. 

This one is probably the one that can be incorporated the best into a fantasy setting. And now that I’m thinking about it, I believe Poison Study did quite a good job at doing it. Not going to spoil anything too big, but basically there’s a big political incident that happens before the books and the main character barely remembers it, while the love interest lived it. I highly recommend you give Poison Study a read! It’s one of my fave books of all time (even though I haven’t read it in years). 

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

Are you in a relationship with an age gap? What’s your experience? Feel free to add to this post! I sometimes struggle with what differences are due to age and which are due to culture so I left quite a few things out. 

There are a ton of cool ways to do this! 

Want to show a caring character? Show them loving their pet, show them helping a fallen bird. 

Want to show a character being evil? Kick a puppy. 

Both super obvious. Let’s check out some more. 

Want to show a character as stern but caring? Have a very loyal dog or horse that show no sign of fear. 

Want to show a character’s patience? Show them training an animal such as a puppy or a horse. This takes a lot of discipline and patience. 

Want to show their bravery and compassion? Show them capturing and releasing a wild and dangerous animal from a location they are not safe at. 

If they have pets, say for example a cat, how that cat behaves also says a lot about the owner. Are they allowed on the furniture? If they are allowed on the furniture, is it because the owner agrees with animals on furniture, or do they constantly complain about it? Telling us they aren’t good at being in charge. Does the cat always ask to be fed at the same time? That would tell us the owner is good at keeping a constant schedule. 

Do they have books about animal care? Or do they instead claim to have learnt what they know from their parents? 

Where did the cat come from? Adopted, bought? Was it sought out or did it just wonder in one day and stick around? 

Also, all my posts are mostly directed at writing young adult fantasy, and something you often see in fantasy that doesn’t necessarily coincide with real world is that animals will behave like their owners. This is an obvious way to show a character of through an animal. 

But even funner is to show an animal being nothing like their owner and forcing the owner to do things they are visibly uncomfortable with. I absolutely adore the typical serious all business character with his head on his palm while his other hand bounces some string around to help their daughter’s kitten burn of some energy. 

Or a hyperactive child coming to terms with the fact their fish just isn’t going to do much. (Be careful with these kind of stuff, make sure to research. Children aren’t usually fit for taking care of animals, if you do have children in your story taking care of animals either express that they are an exemptions, who parents being involved or make sure it’s obvious this is a bad move, I’m sure everyone already knows this but I feel like I have to add it anyway). 

Also, on that note, careful what animals you show as pets. I know it’s fantasy but if an animal isn’t a good pet irl you can have influence and cause trouble. An off-hand comment about, “oh, that animal usually isn’t friendly, it must be attracted to your magical power”, can communicate to a reader, hey, this is fantasy. Remember that. 

Also, emotional support or service animals! Another great thing to include that can speak a lot about a person. Different people require different support and will have different support animals because of this. I have to recommend doing a lot of research into this though as I have never had a service animales and do not feel qualified to truly explain them. (Also, emotional support animal and service animals are two different things, look it up if you didn’t know, it’s quite interesting!) 

Extra: 

Here’s something I’ve seen a lot in media. Showing a character as being scared of say a dog as a way of showing them as being evil. Please don’t do this. 

I get the theory behind it. Dogs are loyal caring animals and anybody who is scared of them clearly lacks empathy and understanding for the innocent animal that just wants to play! 

Except, dogs are still animals, and although rare, they can be dangerous. A lot of people are scared of dogs. Yes, I’m scared of dogs. I love dogs, if I know them. But when I was about four years old, one Easter, sitting in London park with my new Barbie doll, this dog three times my size ran over and jumped on me, took my Barbie and broke it. 

It terrified me. 

The owner just laughed and called the dog off. I wasn’t hurt or anything but it’s a memory that remains close to me. And whenever I see an unfamiliar dog I may take a couple of steps to the side in an attempt to keep my distance. 

I don’t feel attacked when I see fear of dogs used as a villain trope or anything. It just makes me roll my eyes at how people don’t understand the deepness of fears.

As usual,  check out my book, stories I’ve written plus other social medias: here.

Do you have a pet? What is it? What are they like?