8 Things I’d Love to Write
Idea stolen from Steph Bowe's blog, because I thought the idea was fantastic.
There are a lot of genres and ideas I'd love to work with, and my to-do-list of ideas is a mile long... but here are 7 things I'd love to write:
- Calligraphy. My handwriting is atrocious (and my signature is even worse, urgh), but I'd really like to learn Calligraphy one day.
- Hard Sci-Fi. There are very few women out there writing hard, technical sci-fi (and there are some good discussions about it). I'd love to change that, but a little voice at the back of my head tells me I don't know enough science and math to pull it off. I still plan or writing softer YA sci-fi, though.
- Contemporary YA. My writing always leans towards ordinary, flawed people going through extraordinary events.I'd love to strip out the fantasy aspects and do a contemporary, like something by John Green or David Levithan.
- A very 'British' fantasy or sci-fi. Ala Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams. Just something with a strong, British voice (or a strong Scottish voice, either would be good).
- Cyberpunk. This one is on the to-do-list. I love cyberpunk stories, and I've got the techie bones to pull it off, so at some point I definitely expect to write some awesome cyberpunk stories.
- Middle grade (children's) fiction. Another one on the to-do list, I've got a few ideas for children's stories that I'd love to try one day.
- A Memoir. Maybe when I'm older, and my life is interesting enough...
- Songs. I've been writing lyrics for years, and I'm pretty good at it, if I do so say myself. But apart from singing, my musical talent is lacking. If anyone knows an up-and-coming rock band in need of some dark and sarcastic lyrics, give me a bell and I will channel all my years of teenage angst into musical goodness.
What about you, writer-friends? I'd love to hear about what you want to write, so drop me a comment or link me to a blog post!
“The Hunger Games” Movie
Along with a significant chunk of the YA writing/reading/reviewing world, I went to see The Hunger Games on it's release day.
I'll try to keep this as low on spoilers as I can, but I'm assuming all you cool people have read the books. And if you haven't, read the friggin books, because even though this is a faithful and brilliant movie adaption it will never be as good as the books. The movie had to cut out or just imply a lot of things the book covers in more detail. So read the books.
The Good
- Haymitch! I didn't care much for him in the first book, but movie Haymitch is brilliant. And he has an eerie similarity to Thor/Chris Hemsworth.
- Tracker Jackers! I was strangely concerned about them overdoing this and giving us some brightly coloured giant super-wasps. They didn't do this. What they did instead was TERRIFYING and so very well done. The entire Tracker Jacker scene is made of win and awesome.
- Most of the 'soundtrack' songs weren't actually in the movie, the soundtrack used was almost entirely instrumental. I liked a lot of the soundtrack songs, but the movie worked much better that way.
The Not-Quite-What-I-Expected
- Peeta. He's a great actor, just not what I expect from the boy with the bread. But he won me round by playing the role so well.
- The dog-creatures (the mutts). They showed a 3D model of them that looked kick-ass, but something about their design in motion didn't mesh well with me. They handled the fear in that scene very well, but they also took out a very creepy and powerful element from the books.
- The bloodlessness. I know this is a useless complaint, and if they had tried to add more blood this movie would never have been made... but sometimes the character deaths just felt too clean. It took away from the horror.
The Awesome
- SENECA CRANE'S BEARD.
- They somehow made Effie Trinket funny.
- The Gamekeeper's Control Room.
- Rue's lullaby.
- SENECA CRANE'S BEEEEAAARDDD.
I really loved this movie, and recommend it to anyone who loved the books -- just be sure to treat it as a separate creature to the books. Totally worth sitting through the 30 minutes of boring cinema adverts, and the one hour bus ride with loud drunks and no seatbelts that followed.
Emma Maree Reviews: Divergent
Book: Divergent by Veronica Roth
Series: The Divergent Trilogy
Genre: Fiction/Young Adult/Sci-Fi/Dystopian
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
Divergent is set in a world where Society has divided into five factions in order to avoid war in the future. This is a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it concept, and I’m on the side of the room that loves it and the way it slightly echoes Harry Potter houses.
I particularly loved that Dauntless, the daredevil faction designed to protect the city from an unknown enemy, is visibly falling apart and straying from its roots. It did push past believability at times, though. Jumping from a moving train across a drop that actually kills a new initiate on your first day felt unrealistic. Punching each other into unconsciousness to prove you're brave felt unrealistic. Blatantly ignoring a murder felt unrealistic.
A possibly fatal jump (with a net at a bottom) and computer simulations forcing you to face your fear made sense. They tested initiate's nerve while still being in a controlled environments for trainees. But if you're taking actions that are going to kill your new members, your system is broken.
It takes a lot for me to actually stop and say ‘this feels unrealistic’. It means the world-building isn’t holding up enough for me to believe life could be this bad, and it makes it harder to relate to the world and the characters. It didn't stop me from enjoying the book, but it frustrated me.
The story is loaded with action and adventure, and the main character Tris is a really awesome, strong young woman whose struggles and conflicting thoughts are clearly shown as she tries to adapt to a very different new life.
The smart ways Tris dealt with people being harsh and cruel towards her was brilliant, and she’s refreshingly different from other YA protagonists in that she can be self-centred, manipulative, and cold. To the point where her viciousness towards a genuinely nice, but troubled character made me want to put down the book.
But on the flip side, there were so many things I loved. The book is very 'clean' - it's hugely violent, and filled with action and romantic tension, but there's no swearing or sex. I think this might be due to the author's religion, hinted to be Christian in the acknowledgement, but the book has only minimal subtext and I really like how well the book managed to stay within the lines.
The romance is sweet and slow-moving, with no love triangle in sight, and the plot had more than enough twists and turns to keep me on the edge of my seat.
Despite all the conflicting feelings I had about the story, I was hooked from start to finish. I love the action, the adventure, and the world enough that I can look past my issues. It’s far too easy to overthink a story when you get that wrapped up in it, I think.
I’d recommend this book to any fans of YA dystopian fiction who like the concept of the world being split into factions, and who enjoy action-packed plots like The Hunger Games and City of Bones. I’m looking forward to picking up the second book in this trilogy, Insurgent, which comes out this year.
Grey from Inhuman
Another piece of fanart today - this is Grey from Inhuman, a brilliant sci-fi webcomic you can read over here. It's all drawn traditionally in marker-pen, and looks stunning.
The artist had what seemed like a crazy New Years week, so I thought I'd draw them a little something.
Sexism in Doctor Who’s “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe”
"You might want to look away now, we're about to critically examine a children's Christmas television special."
Just finished watching the Doctor Who, and I have some strong opinions on it already. Oh dear.
They are:
a) The Doctor trying to 'take care' of things was adorable.
b) Bill Bailey and his crew needed much more screentime. Great actors, funny dialogue, and wasted potential.
c) The attempt to tackle sexism made me seriously hate the writer (who I just found out was Stephen Moffat. Oh, Moffat, why do you have to disappoint me?).
The story began with a woman who can't drive, and continued to crash every vehicle she came across in the episode. Then in the middle, the story decided to make it very clear that the alien race view females as 'strong' and males as 'weak' - a cute little cultural twist that I liked, and it worked well with the story. These aliens made a big deal out of how much of a strong person the car-crashing woman was, and everyone present generally nodded and agreed 'oh yes, the strongest woman ever because she is a mum and that is wonderful'. Shortly afterwards, this 'strong' woman started gushing about how she met her husband: he followed her home every day from work, even though she didn't seem romantically interested in him, and eventually she gave in and married him.
So this strong, admirable woman was blackmailed into a relationship? What.
If you're going to write a story about how strong women are, it helps if you put a strong woman in it. Just an idea.
(EDIT: 'even though she didn't seem romantically interested in him' originally read as 'even though she didn't care for him', this was reworded for clarity.)
Discworld with a Sci-Fi Twist in Doctor Who, “The Beast Below”
This is the UK, a flat space colony which sits on the back of a giant star whale floating through space.
All I'm saying it, if they ever go back here the Doctor better be wearing a hat saying he's a Wizzard.
Not much to be said about the episode that hasn't been already said on Twitter - I thought the episode was very unsubtle in it's points and subtext, but the messages about political choice were fun nonetheless - especially "Every five years, you choose to forget."
Our Inverness girl Amy was lovely as the assistant, she really starred in this episode and currently has a good relationship going on with the Doctor that's just childishly innocent enough to nod back to how they met.
It was also great seeing Matt's take on the Doctor when his personality becomes less human and more Timelord. When the Doctor distances himself from humans is always some of my favorite parts, whether he's talking about how powerful he is, his past, what all he's done in his time, and even when he's simply giving the aliens a point of view. It's these moments that give the Doctor his flair as a unique character - he isn't human, and if he's always acting like one he loses a lot of what makes him the Doctor. In the last two episodes particularly he seems to be having trouble keeping his usual level of respect towards humans, though after this episode that will probably slacken off a bit.
Personally, though, I think Matt needs a bit more practice at conveying emotional intensity. When he spoke about what he was going to have to do to this episodes alien, the dialogue was perfect but the delivery fell a little flat. I think it's because I'm used to Nine and Ten, who could suddenly switch to serious dialogue with some big clues in their body language and tone.
Liz 10 was a fantastic character for the first half of the episode, but she lost her brilliance quickly as soon as they got into the tower. I was half-hoping the mask would mean she was half-Smiler and the mystery as to what was going on with them would deepen, but it was glossed over instead. It was fun while it lasted.
This episode is a lot more enjoyable after the Discworld connection was made, though, so thanks to Hannah for pointing it out. You can check out her blog over here.
The next episode is the one I'm really excited about though, despite it's weird and wonderful concept. Stereotypically British Daleks spouting lines that were tailor-made for me to love. I'll be counting the minutes. I hope one of them has a top-hat and monocle, c'mon Moffat!
Reading, Writing, Attorney-ing and Time Travelling
Bear with me, I'm being a bit experimental here - I want to do a round-up of all the random awesome stuff I've seen on the internet. If I was cool, I would do this on Wednesday and make it Web Round-Up Wednesday - however, I'm not, and most of my randomly articles tend to be gathered throughout the week.
So instead, let's make it... Skiver's Friday! AKA. I should be working but it's almost the weekend and I've found some funny links - day. Then I got distracted and didn't finish the post, so really it's Skiver's Saturday. Shh.
WOO ENTERTAINING IMAGES. If I posted every image that entertained me, I'd never sleep.
Then there's Iconic Photos, some great photos from throughout history.
In the news, we have lots of stupid people. Including yet another woman who can't live without her expensive things and someone who got a Pit Bull to look 'hard' and couldn't be bothered to train it.
It seems people are having divorce parties now? Can't decide if that's a good thing or not - I like the idea of making things a bit easier in a rough time, but the cakes there - particularly the 'Hooray, I'm free of them now' feel of some of them - are just laughably bitter.
Awesome Christmas presents - Fondue Mugs, EatMeCrunchy Bowl, Baconnaise and Marshmallow Fluff. I don't like Christmas much - not only is it generally quite unlucky for me, but the pressure to find the perfect gifts for everyone really bothers me. I'm quite far behind on my Christmas shopping, argh. D: Feel free to leave a comment with your go-to gifts when it comes to finding Christmas presents for people - this year I'm abusing the use of cute microwavable teddies, and presents from last year that I never managed to post out.
*resisting the urge to comment*
For gamers, there's a Flash demo of the newest Ace Attorney game. I am rushing to play it as soon as this post is done. <3
(EDIT: Played it! Be careful, when examining the scene it'll glitch if you examine the chess board first. Examine something else instead.)
If you're a fan of sparkly vampires, 11 Points' 11 Random Observations Outside the New Moon Premiere is very funny. The Vatican have also complained about Twilight leading Christians into a world of undead romance, or something.
On the fanfiction front, I've been reading some Doctor Who fanfics. Today's recommendations are short, standalone stories that are suitable for all - 'This Moment Has Been Prepared For', a cute re-imagining of Donna's ending with a winning first line and 'Drinking Tactics for Nine Hundred Year Old Minors', a comedic story of Elven & Sally Sparrow's drinking trip turned feminist nightmare and the only good thing related to the Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith that I've found so far. Oh, and it makes me giddy that a campaign to Save (Torchwood Character) Ianto Jones raised £12k for Children In Need.
Last stop are some writing related links. The Reality of a New York Times bestseller has been crushing dreams for a while now, but it's still required reading for anyone expecting to be the next J.K.Rowling. A follow up to the post is here. There's the guide to Write Badly Well, which has taught me things like the word 'syllepsis'. I knew what it was, but didn't know there was a name for it? Now I can proudly say that syllepsis is (are?) awesome.
For those of you who like reading more than reading about writing, there are the 'Very Short Stories' of Edith Zimmerman. An example is below the cut, so click 'Continue reading' for a sample.
Hailing from the wet and windy Scottish Highlands, Emma is an avid reader and writer of YA novels. She works in IT and drinks too much tea.
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