Morally Complicated YA - or the supposed lack of...

I haven't been around online much lately - mainly because I've been busy applying for new jobs and trying to do bits and pieces to the house when I can. Also, since the clocks went back, it's pretty much dark when I get home from work, so all I want to do is curl up in a blanket and read/sleep (which is what's mainly been happening if I'm completely honest). The lovely Murees Dupe sent me some great articles about using social media the other night, and they said about how you shouldn't feel forced to post something to social media - it should be something you enjoy, and you should only post when you've got something to share/say. Which is the principle I've been trying to live by (it's not just me being lazy, oh no...ahem...)

However, tonight I have something to say.

I saw this hashtag on Twitter yesterday: #MorallyComplicatedYA - at first, I didn't pay much attention as I was busy making supper, so I made a mental note to check it out later and then promptly forgot. However, when I got back from work today I decided to check out Twitter and the hashtag popped up again, this time with a photo:

(Thanks go to Diana Urban for taking this screenshot)

I read the excerpt in the photo (because I'm one of those people that'll look at every photo on Twitter, no matter what) and then I realised I needed to do some more digging. What was this book? Did I miss something? Well, actually, yes, it turns out I did.

I won't bore you with the whole details of what I found out (i.e. I Twitter-stalked a lot of YA authors until I found the cause of the problem - no, I'm not weird, honest...cough cough...) but here's the Publisher's Weekly article I finally found, which is the one that everyone was referencing in their increasingly angry tweets:

YA Debut Gets Six-Figure Deal, Sold to 16 Territories and Jerry Bruckheimer

I'm fuming. Normally, I try to steer clear of Twitter arguments and I'll just seethe quietly in a corner until I get over it. But I don't know if maybe I'm just tired from work and I don't have the patience to deal with any more bullshit or what, but tonight, reading this news just made me so angry, that I had to write about it. 

I don't know if I've ever read such a condescending load of crap. 'The morality of the book is more complicated than a lot of YA so I wanted to try doing it on my own' - my eyebrows nearly shot off my forehead when I read that line. I'm not saying that YA doesn't have it's problems, or that there are YA books that aren't up to scratch - every genre has books like that. Are there YA books I don't like because of the main character, or a weak plot or weak writing? Of course! Just like there are are chick-lit books that I both like and dislike, or fantasy books that I love or hate. But equally there are hundreds of YA books that I absolutely adore - and if it wasn't for YA, I sure as hell wouldn't be an author right now. I just cannot believe that this guy is taking the liberty of tarring every YA book with the same brush - not every YA book is Twilight, or the Hunger Games, or Divergent. The depth and breadth of YA out there is simply breathtaking - no matter what your tastes, you're pretty much guaranteed to find a YA book to suit you. And yet, Bergstrom is strutting around like he's invented the wheel. Um, I think you'll find there's literally hundreds, if not thousands, of 'morally complicated YA' books out there long before you came along, my friend (Flowers in the Attic, anyone?)

My other favourite quote is this one: 'Kicking butt to save your dad is actually a lot easier for me to swallow than kids killing kids in The Hunger Games.' Ahh yes, because kids killing kids isn't morally complicated at all. It's not like The Hunger Games kickstarted a massive debate about our modern day culture of watching reality TV, and how much we can really be desensitised to the idea of war. All violence, no matter what the situation, or in what medium we read or learn about it, is going to be morally complicated in some shape or form. To dismiss all other YA books as being somehow less important than his own book is incredibly insulting. 

And yet, you know what really angers me? The fact that if you read the sample chapter of his work, it's so glaringly obvious that he's never bothered to research his target audience once. It's almost like he's heard that YA books 'must include X,Y, Z' in order to be successful and so he's crammed as many of those tropes into his work as possible. Where's the originality? Where's his unique writing style? There's absolutely nothing that I've read in his work that makes him stand out - to me at any rate. I don't know - maybe because I'm a YA author, I clearly have no clue what I'm talking about? You know, seeing as how YA authors can't possibly understand how complicated the issue of morality can be (I'm looking at you, Suzanne Collins).

Shame of Bergstrom for thinking he's a million times better than all of the other amazing YA authors out there. But even more, shame on the publishers for accepting it. There's so many talented YA authors out there, whether they've self-published or posted their work on Wattpad or on their blogs, that deserved to be recognised for all their hard work and dedication to the genre. These are the authors who can only dream of the success that Bergstrom has acheived  - and yet, mainstream publishers seem to think that if they stick to what they know, they'll make far more money than taking a chance on authors that actually have an original voice. It just makes me sad. 

Publishers - you have the power to change things like this. The future of YA is literally in your hands - take a chance on authors who DO write 'morally complicated YA' (i.e. a very large majority of them). Readers - you deserve so much more than this drivel to read. If you want recommendations for actual 'morally complicated YA', I strongly recommend you search for the hashtag on Twitter - there's hundreds of fabulous recommendations that I simply can't list all on here. And my dear fellow authors - keep doing what you're doing, and don't let condescending people hold you down. I love you all, but also, remember - don't write a book in a specific genre and then shit all over the genre you're supposedly writing for. It's just not cool.

What do you think of the #MorallyComplicatedYA debate? Is everyone overreacting? What do you think about the selection of YA books available?

P is for...Profanity

Today's A to Z Challenge post is brought to you by the letter P!

YA books can come with a lot of controversies: sex, drugs, violence, murder, war, death...and swearing.

A lot of people don't mind profanity in YA books - it can make them seem more realistic, it can add to a particular scene and it can show you certain parts of a character's personality. However, a lot of readers also don't like swearing in YA books - it can seem ugly and unnecessary, it might not fit with the setting (i.e. are we going to have the same swear words in the future that we do now?) and it might lead younger readers into bad habits.

While I can see both sides of the argument, personally, I don't mind swearing in YA books. Just like some will drink underage and have sex, most teenagers do swear - I know I did. It's their choice. It really pulls me out of a story when I'm reading an emotionally charged scene, and one of the characters suddenly says, 'what the fudge?', or 'I frigging hate you.' I really really dislike it. But that's just my opinion, and I respect anyone who doesn't wish to see bad language in the books they read - again, it's their choice.

I use the same principle in my own writing. My characters swear - not all the time, just whenever they're angry or frustrated - much like I do in real life. I know many readers won't like this aspect of my books, and that's fine, but I'm simply trying to keep it realistic. When I use swearing in my novels, I'm using it for a reason. I choose all my words with care - whether I'm describing a scene, or two characters are having an argument - I'll choose words appropriate to that setting, whether that includes swearing or not.

I might be alienating readers by including swearing in my work, but to be honest, that's just the writer I am. I'm not doing it to deliberately shock, or to be different - I do it because it fits that particular story. I won't add in any profanity if I don't think it'll add anything to a scene or to a character's personality, but equally, I won't shy away from it either.

How about you? What do you think about profanity in YA books? Do you agree/disagree with it? I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Happy Synthetica Release Day!!

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! IT'S FINALLY HERE!!

I still can't believe it! Synthetica goes on sale on Amazon today!! Ahh!!

As you can tell from my IWSG post, I'm still freaking out about this - I've been in a constant state of nervousness since about 7pm last night and I don't think it's doing my heart or mind any good.

So today I've decided to get out of the house. If I stay in, I know I'm just going to drive myself crazy, refreshing my Amazon dashboard every 5 minutes, crying when everyone in the whole world doesn't immediately buy a copy*, and generally driving myself insane. I've made plans with one of my best friends to go out for afternoon tea to celebrate Synthetica's release and I can't wait - not just because I'm celebrating the release of my first book, but also because I haven't seen her since Christmas and I'm looking forward to having a proper girly catch-up.

So, I'm off now; I'm going to go and walk the dog, read, catch up on wedding stuff, get ready for my afternoon out, and generally try not to freak out anymore than I already am. I'll be back later to check out all the awesome A to Z Blog Challenge posts, but until then...have a great day, folks!

Oh, and if you DO fancy checking it out, you can find my book on Amazon, or on Goodreads :). Happy Wednesday!



*But at least I can console myself in the fact that my mum has promised to buy a copy, even if no one else does ;)

Why I wrote a book.

Synthetica is nearly here.

Tomorrow, I will finally be releasing my baby into the wild for it to fend for itself. I'll still be here if it needs to be fed, or comforted or if it wants to come home for a little while, but really, it's time it stood on it's own two legs.

There's not really much else I can say. I've freaked out about the launch, I've put up a little teaser from the book, I've posted up my writing playlist, I've told you about the inspiration behind the book, and I've revealed my book cover.

There is really only one last thing I wanted to share with you all, and that's the reason why I finally got my act together and wrote a book, instead of just sitting here still daydreaming about it.

The reason is my state of mind.

You've probably seen me mention passing references to my mental health and my anxiety in this blog. The time is coming soon, I think, when I'll let you know the whole horrible story behind it, but as I'm still trying to wrap my head around my book launch and get ready for the A to Z blogging challenge, that day is not today. All you need to know is that a few years ago in my second year of uni, I suffered a panic attack which led to a nervous breakdown (which is a tad ironic because at the time, I was having the best time of my life). The lingering effect of this, is that to this day I still suffer from high anxiety - it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be, but it's definitely still there and it gets so much worse if I'm tired. And I also have a horrible suspicion that it's led to a few episodes of depression, though, as I'll explain later, I don't trust going to the doctors to get it officially diagnosed.

Anyway, back then, I didn't know what I was dealing with. Mental health was never a topic that was discussed in school, which led me to believe I was indeed going mad. It took me a long, long time to come to the realisation that I wasn't mad - I was just human.

But during my darkest days, I couldn't bring myself to do anything. I didn't want to meet up with any of my friends, I didn't want to talk to my family, I didn't want to go outside. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry. Which I did. A lot.

I don't recall when the turning point came, but I do know it took me at least two years to get back to anything resembling normal. But I lost such a big portion of my life, that it made me realise something - I'm not willing to wait around anymore. I'm done with being helpless. I'm done with thinking that I'm a failure and that I have no control over my future or my life. Because I do. I'm the one that's in control of my life, not my anxiety.

It's taken a couple of false starts, and writing novels which came to a sudden dead end because the plot wasn't going anywhere, but guess what? I did it. Through all my securities, and my anxiety and my black periods where I didn't want to communicate with anyone, I did it. I wrote a book. And now I know that I can do it again. And again. And again. As many times as I like. Or not, if I choose not to write anymore. The point is, it's up to me.

I often raise an eyebrow when I see people saying' oh, I wrote my book for me, not for anyone else to read' but y'know what? I did write Synthetica for myself. I wrote Synthetica to show myself that I am capable of doing something with my life, that I'm more than capable of following my dreams and making my dreams a reality. All I have to do is to keep working at it, and keep writing.

I will never let my mental health define me. I will never let it restrict the choices I have in my life, or make me think that I'm worthless, or that all this has been for nothing. Because at the end of the day, whether you choose to read Synthetica or not (although I sincerely hope you will), I wrote this book for me. And I finished writing it for me.

And I'm damn proud of that.

Happy Fridays and Synthetica Book Blitz announced!

Morning everyone! It's Friday, the sun is shining and it's the last day of school before the two week Easter break! Hooray!

Another thing to celebrate is that the Synthetica book blitz is now open for sign-ups!! The blitz will run from 1st - 8th April and you can sign up here at the YA Bound website if you'd like to take part :) (don't you just love that banner?? I know I do!). Huge thanks to Nereyda over at YA Books for organising the whole thing!!

So that's all my Friday news! I'm considering wearing my new bright yellow coat today, just to keep me in a happy mood ;).

Happy Friday, everyone! Have a great weekend!

Synthetica - Cover Reveal!!

So the day is finally here...I can finally get rid of that horrible greyish/green box on my Goodreads page and jazz up my soon-to-be 'Books' page on my blog. Why? Because today is the day I CAN FINALLY REVEAL THE COVER FOR SYNTHETICA!!

I'm so so excited!! I really, really hope you guys like it!

Before I get down to it, I just wanted to share with you a little story behind the cover, and why it means so much to me.

Basically, back in January this year, I was slogging through my rewrites of Synthetica, still dreaming about getting published one day but not really doing much about it and going through one of the worst bouts of anxiety I've had in a long long time. I couldn't seem to pull myself out of it. Everything just seemed dull and pointless.

But then, one night, the Engineer started asking me questions about my book. The conversation went a little like this:

Engineer (out of the blue): "What kind of mask does your villain wear?"
Me: "Think about the guy from Captain America: The Winter Solider, and you've got your man. Why?"
Engineer (super sly): "No reason..."
Me: "TELL ME!"
Engineer: "No." *clams up and refuses to speak to me about it again*

That conversation hasn't been stylised at all. Well, maybe a little, but still - he did ask me out of the blue about my villain's mask and when I pressed him, he did refuse to tell me.

A week or so later, while he was in China on a business trip, the Engineer sent me an email. Attached was a mock-up of a cover for Synthetica. Without me knowing, he'd got a designer he works with to design a cover for me. I was in shock and so thrilled at the same time - when I asked him why he'd done it, you know what the Engineer said to me? He said he wanted me to have something to look forward to. He did it to pull me out of myself and back into the real world. I still can't believe that I've managed to find someone that selfless, who knew I was going through a rough time and decided to help me out of it by encouraging me to never give up on my dreams. I wouldn't be self-publishing my book today, if it wasn't for him.

If I'm 100% honest, that first cover wasn't what I was imagining when I thought about it in my endless daydreams, but I think that's a good thing. I think that together, me and my designer have come up with an even stronger design than the one I originally envisioned.

It's not pretty like the other YA book covers you tend to see. But y'know what? I don't care. I'm not a frilly, pretty pink person. Neither is my book. Both me and my book are dark and straight to the point. And in this context, I think the cover for Synthetica couldn't have been any better.

It's bold. It's simple. It's striking. It's everything I wanted.

And here it is:

Synthetica...it's coming. 1st April 2015.

The backbone of the story...

Today, I'm going to be talking a little bit about the background to Synthetica.

There are a lot of  dystopian/sci-fi/apocalyptic YA books out there which seem to have one central theme: all of the protagonists are fighting to overthrow some kind of government regime. I know that not all YA books within these genres contain this theme - there are some that don't, and then there are some which do, but they deal with it a lot better than others.

For whatever reason, the main character is often 'chosen' in some way to lead the resistance against this oppressive power. Which they often manage to do against impossible odds, without getting all sweaty and falling in love with a cookie cutter, I mean, handsome, devil-may-care male lead in the process.

I have no problem with this. The Hunger Games and Divergent count among my favourite YA books of all time (if I'm completely honest, I think Divergent may actually be my favourite, full stop). I love to read (and write) YA, simply because it allows me to escape reality into these fantastic worlds, where the protagonists fight against all odds to do what they believe to be right. It's great, and I love, love, love it.

But...

I can't lie. My patience is starting to wear slightly. I can deal with oddly constructed love triangles. I can deal with whiny heroines/heros. What I can't deal with any more is the flimsy premise that some of these main characters have for miraculously meeting the head of this so-called totalitarian government and then either a) being forced to work for them or b) being recruited to work against them.

When I read, I want to be sucked into the character's world and feel what they're feeling, and see what they're seeing. The world can be as fantastical as you like - talking dragons? Shape shifting puppies? Twenty feet tall cupcake monsters? - I genuinely don't care, so long as the author can draw me into this crazy world and make me believe it could be true.
But readers can tell when something is so obviously done for convenience - such as the MC randomly meeting the President, or the King or Queen, or whoever, just so they can fight them later down the line. It jars. It takes you out of the novel's world, and makes you think, 'hang on, what just happened??' Once this thought happens, it's very hard (for me at least) to get back into the story, because I finally myself gradually getting more and more annoyed at the characters, and the ease at which they overcome obstacles or manage to overthrow an entire government.

So I knew from the start that Synthetica was never going to be about bringing down a government regime.

There is a reason why I love Lord of the Rings. And Harry Potter. And Batman. And any Marvel comic/film. Each and every one of the character's battles was personal. The reader could connect with what the character was doing, and why. We get to see their inner turmoil, see what makes them tick, see them agonise over their choices, and - ultimately - defeat a villain.

And that, right there, is why I wrote Synthetica the way I did. I wanted Anais' battles to be personal. I want readers to love her when she gets it right, and hate her when she gets it wrong. I want people to like her and dislike her in equal measure. Sometimes, I dislike her and the choices she makes, but ultimately, I still want her to succeed against her own enemy - the Hacker. The reason I loved writing Synthetica so much is because I felt I had so much more scope with the story by making Anais' enemy a real person. Firstly, how do they even become enemies? How does the Hacker make his plans personal to her? Why does she need to stop him? How will this obsession (on both their parts) affect their relationships with other people?

I haven't answered all of these questions in this book. But I definitely kept them in mind while writing Synthetica; and the second book in the series is going to focus on that final question in particular.

I just hope you all enjoy reading about Anais' world as much as I enjoyed writing it :).

Just a tiny update...

So I have some super exciting - and super terrifying - news for y'all...



I have set a publication date for Synthetica.



The thought makes me want to simultaneously jump for joy and throw up out of nerves.

How? How on earth am I going to fit everything in before my proposed date?? Will the novel actually be ready (i.e. will I wake up the day before and realise the whole thing needs to be trashed and completely rewritten)?? Am I actually capable enough to do all my own promo?? Will anyone even WANT to feature/review my book?? Have I made a serious error and I'm not actually cut out to be a writer at all??

Does this mean that I finally have to admit to the world that I've written a book??


I can't even believe the amount of fears and anxieties I'm experiencing right now - it's about 100 times worse than anything I've felt during an IWSG post....and I haven't even published my book yet.

And yet...it's also strangely exhilarating. I finally have a timeline to complete everything in. I can finally put a plan together for marketing my book. It's finally snapping me into action.

And that is, if I'm completely honest, the real reason why I made the decision to publish my book. Without this deadline, I could go through revision after revision and keep putting off doing the deed with excuse after excuse. But I don't want to do that. I don't want to be a writer who writes, but never has the nerve to publish anything. I want to write, and I want people to read what I've written.

People might hate it. People might (hopefully) love it.

But I'm never going to know what I'm capable of until I actually publish it. It's time for me to stop messing around and get serious about my writing.

So (providing there are no major major catastrophes) pop the date in your diary, folks...

1st April 2015...Synthetica is coming.

The light at the end of the tunnel...

I've been having a sick, twisty feeling in my stomach most of the afternoon.

Now, before you start backing away in horror and reaching for the face masks, it's not because I've contracted some kind of lurgy.

It's because I'm *this* close to finishing the first draft of my novel.

I have never gotten so far with one of my novels before, and while it's exhilarating and I can't help thinking of the millions in sales/the 1001 book deals/film deals that are obviously going to come my way the second I publish it, it's also incredibly scary.

I genuinely can't believe I've got this far. I know I'm not at the end of the road yet. I know I've still got a lot of work ahead of me before I can even think about publishing it, but to me, this is a big deal. 

Never before have I actually written the climax of my novel - you know, that epic scene(s) where everything comes crashing down and your MC has to fight for her life, save the one she loves, while defeating the bad guy with the twirly moustache in a battle to the death (if case you hadn't realised it yet, I have a flair for the dramatic...) - or y'know, whatever your novel's equivalent is.

These are the scenes that I've been imagining since the concept for my book first popped into my head. These are the elusive scenes I've been working towards, but never seriously thinking I'd get to. And today, I finally get to write them. The thought makes me want to squeal in excitement, and run away and hide at the same time. Am I up to writing these final scenes? Will I *gasp* actually manage to finish a book??

There's only one way to find out.

I'm not going to be blogging again until my first draft is finished. So you could very well see me in a day, a few days or a few weeks. But however long it takes, my story that started out as a tiny little idea way back in March will finally resemble something that looks like a book. An actual book.

I'll see you on the other side.

It's finally time...

After waiting and waiting for weeks, it's finally here....the summer holidays! *cries in relief*

Now, I know most people will be grumbling and saying that no one needs as much time off as teachers/TA's do, but let me tell you something - when you look after over sixty 4-5 year olds every day for weeks on end, as well as dealing with their parents - you need a break. Otherwise you'll just burst into tears and have a nervous breakdown. I love my job, I really do, but when you've had to put up with kids arguing with you (yes, even at that age), parents shouting at you, children getting hyper because it's approaching the end of term, as well as dealing with the 101 things you have to do as part of your daily job anyway....trust me, you're glad for the break.

On another positive note, we finally have internet in our house - hooray! Although the slight downside is that I'm now away for the next four weeks...but I have constant internet access where I am anyway, so there's really no excuse now for me NOT to blog regularly (apart from y'know, sheer laziness).

Anyway, the real point of this blog was this....

I think I'm finally ready for a Critique Partner.

I'm at that stage in my novel where I've edited (most of) it, I know what I want it to sound like...I now need someone to tell me how to whip it into shape, and to call me out on some of the dreadful writing I know is in there, but I just can't see it. And of course, I will reciprocate in kind :).

I guess I'd just love someone to read though it and let me know as someone who; A) isn't related to me and B) has no obligation to be nice to me because of point A, whether or not my story works and what I can do to improve it.

This is a big thing for me - for years my work has been private and I've shied away from sharing it with anyone because I'm just simply too terrified that people would hate it. Now, I think (and I honestly don't mean to sound arrogant here) I finally have a novel that I'm willing to share with the world.

So if you're a YA author and you're at all interested in becoming my CP, please just let me know :). I'd love to send you a couple of chapters for you to check out (don't worry, I won't bombard you with the whole thing at once!). The email address you can contact me on is: rachelsramblingsblog@gmail.com.

Or alternatively, feel free to leave me a comment in the comments section of this post :).

Like I said, it's a two way thing, so I'm more than happy to critique your work in kind. And just so you know folks, now is probably the best time for me to review your work as I have a long loooong summer ahead of me ;).

Happy writing!

Friday Reads: Pawn by Aimee Carter

I've been hearing good things about this book for a while, so eventually I decided to bite the bullet and see what all the hype was about. To be completely honest, Pawn is an okay book...but it's nothing spectacular.

Kitty Doe has been raised in a world where, on your seventeenth birthday, you take a test which will determine what rank you receive. Your rank (from I – VI) determines what kind of life you will lead – from what job you will do, to where you will live and what privileges you are entitled to. Aiming for an average VI but marked as a III, Kitty knows that there is no hope for her...until she is offered an opportunity she cannot refuse. In return for raising her rank to a prestigious VII (which only the Prime Minister and his family are entitled to), Kitty must agree to fool the world and live the life of Lila Hart – the Prime Minister's dead niece. But as Kitty is drawn deeper into the Hart's twisted game, she slowly begins to ask herself - is a rank worth the lives of those you love?

Pawn was a bit of a let down for me in terms of writing style and character development. Although it sounds great, I didn't feel as though the rest of the novel lived up to it's premise. Quite often we're told instead of shown that Kitty has 'spunk' – okay, that's great and I'm all up for a feisty character – but not when they're generally just standing around observing events and occasionally coming up with stupid 'smart' comebacks. And if I need another characters specifically telling me that the main character has 'spunk', then warning bells immediately go off in my head and I spend the rest of the book rolling my eyes at her 'spunkiness' (okay, I'll stop using the word spunky and all it's variations now).

Then there's Kitty's boyfriend, Benjy. To me, Benjy merely seems to exist in this book to create some extra teenage angst/drama – the overall plot would've worked perfectly well without him, given that he doesn't actually do anything. Ever. Oh, but when he does pop up, you can be assured that he'll bring with him the whole 'overprotective boyfriend' cliché. Seriously, he wants to stop Kitty from doing anything...but when she says she's going to do it anyway, he just seems to shrug his shoulders and let's her get on with it, which is a tad contradictory to me (not because I agree with him stopping her, just because he seems to whine a lot and gives up far too easily).

The whole book feels very clunky – there are virtually no descriptions, or if there are, they're very generic and flat. The only time I felt as though I could really visualise the setting, was when the author wrote about Elsewhere – then I could really imagine all the vivid colours of the woods. Although, there is one part when Kitty is on a private jet and her luxurious surroundings are described to us, including the real log fire...yes that's right, there's a real log fire on the plane. Now, I'm all for futuristic, but I'm pretty sure a real fire on a plane would interact very badly with the plane's combustible fuel system...but hey, what do I know? There's also a scene with a poker towards the end of the novel – I won't go into details in case I spoil it, but I'd love to know if anyone else spotted the consistency errors in that scene...

Final comments: Overall, Pawn was an okay read – nothing spectacular, but good if you're looking to while away a couple of hours. Just don't expect too much from this novel, and you won't be disappointed.

3/5 cupcakes

One detailed synopsis down, one novel to go...

Today I'm proud to announce that I've actually finished something novel-related.

After about three months, and a lot of procrastination, I've finally finished the detailed synopsis for my novel! In case you're wondering, for a while now I've been following a 'how to' guide on writing a novel (because if left to my own devices, I don't get very far...), and in it, it suggests writing a detailed synopsis for your novel, so you can see exactly what's happening in each scene. The idea is that you write your detailed synopsis, then leave it for a couple of weeks and do something completely non-novel related, so you can come back to it with fresh eyes and see what parts of your novel might need fleshed out a little more, whether anything needs to be changed around, or perhaps cut out/changed altogether. That way, when you come to write your first draft, you've already got a solid idea of your novel in your head. Which, trust me, works a lot better for me because it stops me from fizzling out halfway through!

I'm so thrilled that I've actually managed to complete something novel related for a change (even if my original schedule dictated that I finish it in March – but that's a minor detail..) - but my only niggle is that it's only 8,902 words.

Now, I know this sounds like a lot, but the last detailed synopsis I did, it ended up being over 20,000 words...so now of course I'm completely paranoid that there's nothing happening in my novel and I should just give it up. I have no idea how long a detailed synopsis should be, but I'm assuming it's up to the writer, depending on how much, well, detail, they want to put in. But still, I guess 8,000 words is better than nothing!

Anyway, I'm now going to stop worrying now and relax. It's half term next week, so for once I'm going to enjoy the holidays without fretting over whether or not I should be working on my novel, and then come back to it well rested and with fresh eyes in a couple of weeks time.

I've love to hear about your experiences of using a detailed synopsis – do you write one? If so, does it work well for you? Or was it completely pointless? And if you've never written one, would you consider it or not?

P.S. About the book reviews – I definitely still AM writing my book reviews, although I do apologise thatI haven't been able to post any for a couple of weeks. The internet here is horrendous and I hate it. But I am hoping that at least for this Friday and next Friday, I'll be able to post something up for you guys :). Happy writing/reading!

Book review: Half Bad by Sally Green

Warning: this review contains mild spoilers!

I was always going to be slightly biased towards this book as 1) I am a huge sucker for giant marketing campaigns and 2) it was written by a fellow North Westerner (still not entirely sure whereabouts in the North West of England Sally Green is from, but I'll take what I can get).

So, Half Bad is a YA book about witches. There are two types of witches – Black and White, and on a witch's seventeenth birthday they have a giving ceremony, which determines which kind of witch they are going to be (I think this is determined by what kind of witch gives them their blood at the ceremony, but I'm not entirely sure...).

Nathan is half and half – his mother was a White witch, but his dad is the most powerful Black witch alive. As he grows up, the Council (who are all White witches and believe Black witches should be wiped out) takes increasing interest in him, as they try to determine what kind of witch he'll be. They imprison Nathan in the hope that they can manipulate him into killing his own father, but he escapes and goes looking for his father instead. It's a race against time for him to 1) receive his three gifts at his giving ceremony on his seventeenth birthday (because if he doesn't, he'll die) and 2) find his father before the Council does.

The book starts with a bang – when we first meet Nathan he's locked up in a cage. Sally Green does a fantastic job of drawing you into Nathan's world, simply by starting the book is what is essentially the midpoint of the plot. The background to Nathan's world is intriguing, and I really enjoyed finding out about the rules of this world, the psychology of both White and Black witches, and about Nathan's own upbringing. However, around halfway through the book, I have to admit I started to get a teeny bit restless. As we follow Nathan on his journey to find his father/another Black witch called Mercury who can help him with his giving ceremony, he makes friends with another Black witch, escapes from Hunters (White witches trained to kill Black witches) numerous times and falls in love with a White witch (naturally). After the halfway point, I started to get a bit bored and found my attention wandering, as Nathan just seemed to be running around and not doing an awful lot apart from moping/thinking about Annalise/agonising over his future (think of the first half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and you'll get my drift).

Overall, Half Bad is a great debut book and I like the fresh take Sally Green has on witches. The world building was good and I was satisfied with the explanations behind the character's motives and world. The writing is gritty, and the author doesn't skimp on the bloody or violent details like most YA authors tend to do. It's this style of writing that really makes you feel for Nathan and his situation, and makes the whole thing seem more real, as though there really could be witches running around trying to murder each other while us 'fains' (non-magic folk) wander around blissfully unaware. The main theme running throughout the book is the age old question of nature vs nurture, and as a reader, you're constantly wondering which direction Nathan will go – will he stay true to the beliefs he's been brought up with, or will the White witches and their endless persecution turn him into a witch's version of 'Frankenstein's monster'?

For me though, the last third of the book wasn't up to the same standard as the rest of it, and the action felt more rushed than punchy - the last few pages in particular were a whirlwind, and the last line, which was clearly supposed to end the book on a dramatic note, simply made me roll my eyes. There's also the case of the typical 'forbidden love'/insta-love that unfortunately seems to happen so often in YA literature these days; Nathan's love interest, Annalise, comes from the purest White witch family around - although naturally she rebels and decides to follow Nathan instead. To me, I think this aspect of the story could've been written slightly differently to make in more intriguing, as it's completely obvious from the moment Nathan first meets Annalise what's going to happen. Saying that, Half Bad a good start to the series and I'll definitely be checking out the second book when it arrives next year – I just won't be rushing out to buy it like I did with this one.

Final comments: A good solid debut, but a couple of slices short of a full cake I'm afraid.

3/5 cupcakes

Book reviews and other exciting news...

I'm a poet and I didn't know it! Hahaha...ahem....

Moving on...

I think it's time I started blogging a bit more regularly - I always mean to post about some topic or other, but then I end up forgetting/procrastinating/falling asleep instead. So, I am very excited to announce that from now on, I will be posting regular book reviews! I'm aiming to post these up every Friday - with the exception of this week, which I'll be posting up today instead...

Just a couple of things to mention about my reviews - please bear with me while I get the hang of it - I'll probably ramble on for a while until I get into a rhythm and realise what's important and what's not! Also, I'll be rating my reviews out of 5 cupcakes instead of 5 stars - simply because I love cake and I'm desperate to find a legitimate way to incorporate it into this blog ;). Also, while I won't be sticking to a definite category of books (because I do love to read most genres), there probably will be more YA reviews on here than any others, simply because that's what I love to read :). But I am open to any and all suggestions, so please let me know if you think there's an amazing book I should check out!

In other news - this isn't that exciting (sorry, I lied in the title - BUT IT GOT YOUR ATTENTION DIDN'T IT! HAHAHA! Ahem...) but I'm going to be updating this blog over the next couple of weeks - my WIPs have changed completely since I last wrote that page, and I'm currently looking around for different backgrounds etc, just to make my blog look a bit more interesting :).

I'm also toying with the idea of bringing back my author interviews...if I can remember how to get into my Authonomy account that is! But if you can think of anyone you think I should interview/if you're an author and you wanna be featured, please just drop me an email :)!

So that's all for today! Have a great weekend, folks!