Storytelling and the Art of the Netflix Binge: Part One (Method Mondays)

Not my image, but come on, who doesn't love a good Boromir meme?

    I bet no one ever thought they'd see Netflix bingeing referred to as an art. Maybe it's not, but some people I know (okay, and maybe me too) certainly have it down to a science. I believe the equation is (Netflix + snacks + blanket - sleep - things you actually have to do). But that's not what we're here to discuss today, unfortunately. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, I actually do have a point to this post, which I'm going to get to eventually.
    One of the most frequent pieces of advice any writer will hear is to "hook" the reader. Hook them on the first page, in the first chapter, and don't let them off that hook until the end. Basically, you want to toss your reader from hook to hook like... something. I don't have any good analogies for that, all I can think of is fishing and I don't think anyone throws fish hooks (at least hopefully not on purpose). But basically, your aim is to let the reader almost wiggle off the hook, only to catch them on another one just as they've gotten free.
     What do I mean by that? I mean that, in my opinion at least, you have to let a little something go right for your characters, and by extension your readers, so they don't get too frustrated. But you don't ever want a reader to think "well, that's sorted!" at the end of a chapter, because then they'll put the book down and maybe not come back to it. Remember being so engrossed in a book when you were a kid that you couldn't say "just one more chapter" and you stayed up too late reading it with a flashlight? Whether the last time you did that was years ago or last week, chances are its because the author made sure to leave a thread at the end of the chapter, a little hook that grabbed you and made sure you just HAD to find out what happened next.
    In a way, make it so your characters get one step forward and then knocked three steps back, so your reader doesn't get frustrated by the lack of progress, but they still want to find out how it's going to happen, how your characters are going to get to their final goal. Of course, you have to alter that formula so you eventually get to an ending, but as the descending action occurs, that will likely be enough to keep your reader rushing to the finish (if you set it up well, of course), so this formula doesn't stand so much then. It's slightly different if you have a series on your hands, but that can be a discussion for another post.
    So! Back to the whole Netflix theme I had going back there. What the heck does that have to do with anything? Well, the best way I can think of to explain whatever it was I was trying to explain with fish hooks and steps and reading under the covers, is actually quite simple: Think of a Netflix show you love, and then follow along with me.
    Question time (yay, work to do! Don't worry, it's easy)

1. Think about the first episode of the show (resist the urge to rewatch it!). What drew you in? What made you want to keep watching?
2. Think about some of the other episodes, maybe around the middle of the series (if you spend all day watching to this point, don't blame me!). Think specifically about the endings of the episodes. What made you click on the next episode, or if you had to wait, what made you come back to watch the next one? (Alternatively, what made you pretend you didn't notice the timer ticking down to the next episode so now you HAVE to watch the next one?). 
3. Now, the tricky part: apply that to your novel or writing project. No, don't copy the plot of the show. What I mean is, lay out your project like each chapter is an episode. Episode one is vital, of course, so make sure something really good happens there. But what about the other episodes? What will make your reader really want to keep going and continue with the next episode. Make each one like a mini story arc, in a way; it's got it's own small "inciting incident", of sorts, where something can go well for the characters, and then it's own mini climax where there's another obstacle. These can be as large or as small as you want them to be.

    Once you've done that for one chapter, do it for another. And another. And before you know it, you'll have at least a rough plan for your project. Alternatively, if you aren't the planning type or if your novel is already written, go back through it and try to identify what these mini-arcs are. Beta readers will help with this as well of course, but try to give your novel some time sitting alone, work on something else or just take some time off for a few days or weeks, and then come back and read it. The less you remember of it, the better, but try to note whether or not you want to stop at the ends of chapters, whether or not you feel you can stop without wondering what happens next. This isn't something you can rely on yourself 100% for, because obviously you know what happens next, you wrote it (congratulations on that, by the way)! Don't panic if it seems like you can stop at any point without being curious; again, beta readers are your best tool for this part. Ask them specifically to note if there's any part where they feel like they could put the book down and not be curious or want to pick it back up again. 

    And now, for my own hook, of sorts. I'm sure you saw this coming based on the "part one" in the title, but I'm going to say it anyway: you can read part two of this post here, on series and how to keep the reader satisfied with the ending but still wanting to come back for a second book. 

    See you all next time! Happy writing, and thanks for reading!

The Golden Rule of Writing: There Are No Real Rules (Method Mondays)

Start off on a light note; thanks, Internet.

    There are a lot of writing "rules" floating around out there, in books, on the Internet, from well-meaning strangers. Lots of people can and will give you advice; the question is whether or not you follow it.
    The way I see it, there are plenty of things people can say about writing, but most of those things are things that work for them. They're usually good to know, but they might not work for you, or they might.
    This is not an original thing to say, at all, but the only real writing "rule" is this: Write.
    That's it.
    Writing a certain number of words per day, or writing at certain times, or wearing a tinfoil helmet while you write so aliens don't steal your ideas, none of those things make you a writer. If setting a word goal works for you, do it. If a schedule works, make one. If a tinfoil helmet somehow seems to make you write better, then heck, go for it. I'm sure there's writers out there with weirder habits.
    The point is, you'll always read advice and "rules" for writing. I've given some advice on this blog, and I'll probably continue to do so. If it works for you, great! Glad to help. If it doesn't, then what does it matter? Something that works for me might not work for you.
    In some cases, following advice from those with experience can be a good idea. If you want to publish, either self-publish or traditionally publish, then it may be a good idea to get advice from people who have experience in the business, because in those pursuits there is, arguably, a "right" way to do things and a "wrong" way to do them. In the actual writing of the book, however, as long as you're following basic rules of grammar and spelling to make it legible, there are no real rules. You can do basically whatever you want to do with your writing, and if you've got the determination to make it work and get those words on the page, chances are it'll work out.
    It doesn't matter how prolific or successful an author is; no one's word is gospel when it comes to writing. It is tempting to emulate our favourite authors and try to follow every bit of advice they've ever given, but that's unrealistic, frankly. I highly doubt that I'll still agree with all of the advice I've given in the past within a few years, and while I can't speak for any other authors, I think it's likely to be the same case for many others.
    So if my advice or anyone else's advice works for you? Great, follow it for as long as it works! If it doesn't? Who cares? It doesn't make you any less or any worse of a writer, just like following any advice or rules you see online or in books makes you any better of a writer.
    In the end, there's only one rule to writing: write. If you do that, you are a writer, no matter what other advice or "rules" you do or do not follow.

Book Review: Butterfly Chaos by Melinda R. Cordell

(Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this novel in exchange for a review; however, I was not obligated to review favourably)

About the Book:
Three months after her cousin Toni died, Cassie is still reeling. Toni's best friend now ignores her in the halls. Cassie's cousin is dating the girl who torments her in gym. And Cassie has maybe a teeny-tiny crush on the boy who found Toni in the river. Then Toni's ghost visits Cassie and reveals that in two nights, a powerful EF3 tornado will rip into a dance hall, killing those three kids. Cassie sets out to keep everyone from going to the dance. As she argues and cajoles (and stockpiles minor munitions to clear the building, just in case) she uncovers stories about her friends' connections with Toni - and all the reasons they refuse to skip this awesome dance. Why does everyone have to be so bullheaded! Despite everything Cassie does to change their destiny, they find themselves directly in the killer tornado's path. In those last moments as the tornado bears down on them, Cassie must find a rock to cling to as the whole world is torn to pieces around her.

Here's a link to the Amazon page, if anyone is interesting in buying the book and/or seeing a sample!

    Butterfly Chaos follows Cassie, a young girl who is struggling to cope with the drowning death of her cousin, Toni. Cassie's family is extremely close, and her and her cousins seem to have a more sibling-like relationship. Toni was older than Cassie, and as such Cassie looks up to her and is racked by guilt over her death. I found the title of this book very interesting; it's mentioned in the book, and refers to the idea that tiny decisions affect the future, so if a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, the air movement can cause a tornado in Texas.
    This idea is played with very interestingly throughout the novel; Cassie dreams of the tornado multiple times, and sees how her actions throughout the novel affect the events of that night.
    Another aspect of the novel that I enjoyed was the characterization. While there were some minor characters who remained very one-dimensional that I think could have been better fleshed-out and given better motivation, but Cassie herself was a very interesting character. She did not fall into many stereotypes many YA heroines often do, and her narration was relatable and made her seem very real.
    I also thought that the town the author placed her story in was well-written; Cordell works in enough detail for readers to understand the culture of the town and Cassie's family, without being bogged down in unnecessary details and "info dumping".
    This book was a fairly quick read for me; when I found the time to read it, I devoured most of it in one sitting. The story was fast-paced and heart-pounding, and I found the ending was quite a twist. I didn't love everything about the book, of course, but I think it was a very worthwhile read.
    I'd say this book would be appropriate for middle grade or young adult readers; it's classified on Amazon as a teen book, but it could definitely be good for middle grade readers as well due to the age of the characters and the plot of the book.
    4/5 stars!

Are Outlines a Blessing or a Curse? (Method Mondays)

    I'm going to be 100% honest here. I hate outlining. I absolutely despise it. I would much rather dive head-first into a story and just start writing than sit down and plot out what's going to happen. I will also admit, though, when I sit down to write and have no clue what needs to happen to bridge event A with event B, I really wish I'd sat down and taken the time to write an outline.
    This isn't really going to be a tutorial on how to write an outline, because outlines can take any form you want them to, depending on what suits you. What I want to do with this is more of a discussion about outlining as a practice and why I would or wouldn't do it.
    I really only learned to outline in my last two years of high school, mostly because I had to for English classes. Has it come in handy? Yes, definitely. Am I 100% willing to admit that I complained about it for nothing? Not quite.
   Contrary to how I've made it sound, I do outline from time to time. Most of the time it's for blog posts or something similar, but I often do it for short stories too, especially if I want to get the ideas down before I forget them. For example, for the sequel to "What's a Princess to Do?", I wrote an outline when the idea for the story came into my head. It's just 17 bullet points, each one of them a short sentence. Some of them are only fragments of sentences.
   I'm not usually a very detailed outliner (for stories, at least; when it comes to more academic writing, sometimes that changes); if I come up with a particularly good line of dialogue or a little bit a scene, I'll put it in the outline as I come up with it, but most of the time it's just a sequence of events. Character A does this, so that happens, so B has to do this, and so on. That's a bit of an oversimplification, but for the purposes of not having spoilers or sharing plot points that will end up edited out or changed, that's what I'll say.
    I know plenty of people who have much more detailed outlines than that, and if that's what you like and what works for you, then go for it! I'm not big on detailed outlines because I'll just end up writing the full scene instead and then my "outline" will just be the book or story itself.
    I think the only "danger", if you can call it that, to outlining is that it is possible to become too dependant on an outline and forget to let the story "breathe", so to speak, and adapt as you continue writing. If I use an outline, I follow it when I don't know what needs to happen and when I need to make sure certain events take place for the plot to make sense.
    What do you all think of outlining? Do you do it, and if so, what does your normal outline look like?
   Thanks for reading!

Book Review: Perchance to Dream (Short Story Anthology) edited by Lyssa Chiavari

Disclaimer: I was provided a free e-book copy of this anthology in exchange for reviewing it; however, I was not obligated to give a favourable review.

ABOUT THE ANTHOLOGY:
Title: Perchance to Dream
Edited by: Lyssa Chiavari
Publisher: Snowy Wings Publishing

Romeo and Juliet. Hamlet. Macbeth. Everyone has heard their names. Everyone knows their stories. But you've never seen them like this.
In this collection, some of the hottest names in YA today—including bestselling authors Alicia Michaels (author of BELLAMY AND THE BRUTE) and Heather Dixon (author of ENTWINED)—reimagine ten of Shakespeare's best-known plays and sonnets for a new audience. From sci-fi adventures on distant moons to modern magic found in everyday places, these updated myths pay homage to the Bard's timeless storytelling while spinning fresh and original tales that will captivate readers all over again.

If you're interested in buying this anthology, here's a link to the editor's website where there are links to various places you can download it, as well as a free sample to try.
http://www.lyssachiavari.com/books/ptd-anthology/

   This anthology was very interesting to me. I've always been a theatre nerd, and I've loved Shakespeare's plays since I was first forced able to read one in the ninth grade (the first one I read was The Merchant of Venice, if anyone is curious). When I saw this book available for review, I was intrigued and excited to read it. It took me a lot longer to read and write this review than I anticipated; the book is over 1000 pages altogether (although I did read it on my iPhone through iBooks, so it may be fewer pages on a larger screen). Don't let that scare you away, though; most of the stories range under 200 pages, many of them under 100. They're all quick, fascinating reads and really adapt Shakespeare's classic plays (and a sonnet!) into wonderful, relatable stories. Even if you don't like Shakespeare, give this book a try; it's excellent!
   Averaging my ratings of the individual stories in this anthology (reviewed below in as spoiler-free of a way as I could), I give this anthology 4/5 stars!

"Rosemary for Remembrance", a Hamlet adaptation by Jess R. Sutton
    "Rosemary for Remembrance" brings the classic plot line of Hamlet to a modern world, with a magical twist. The story follows 16-year-old Mel in the aftermath of her mother Rosemary's apparent suicide. Mel's aunt and uncle move into the house she shared with her mother, and Mel is convinced she's seen her mother's ghost telling her that her Aunt Clara murdered her. Mel's obsession with proving this drives wedges into her relationships and threatens to derail her life.
    I love Hamlet; one of my fondest memories is reading it in my twelfth grade English class - is that weird? Probably. But this story has all the things you expect from Hamlet, set in a modern-feeling society that just so happens to have magic. The way magic is incorporated into the story and the setting is masterful; Sutton weaves it seamlessly into everyday life. Protagonist Mel works for an art studio where kids come after school to use kinetic paints that bring art to life on the page, and in the back of the studio she brews potions to do things like increase energy, and, quite notable in the plot, a new, untested potion to reduce the physical symptoms of grief.
    One of the things I loved the most about this story is how Sutton incorporates Hamlet's breakdown in the play into Mel's character. It's not quite as extreme as Hamlet's in the play, nor does it have quite the same disastrous results (although having two characters in a modern day setting just whip out swords for a duel would be hilarious - just me? Okay.). But I enjoyed it nonetheless. The characters aren't quite as developed as I think they could become in a longer work, but that's to be expected in a story of this length. There also isn't a character in this story to match up with every character in Hamlet, because if there were, my goodness this would be a crowded short story. It's fairly obvious who some characters stand in for, and others who could be different characters or multiple rolled into one. I won't speak to that, because I think that removes some of the fun of reading the story itself.
    Overall, I give this story 4/5 stars!

"Shoulders of Giants", a Titus Andronicus adaptation by Jon Garett and Richard Walsh
    "Shoulders of Giants" sets the plot of Titus Andronicus to a futuristic, possibly alien (I wasn't sure if it was meant to be an alien world or just a futuristic version of earth, but perhaps I didn't pick up on something) world. The main characters are two brilliant young people from the rival nations of Basland and East Albion; Bridget and Hank, a scientist and a soldier.
   I will admit, I've never read Titus Andronicus, but I did read the SparkNotes (I'm sorry, I know, I hated the kids who did that in high school too, but I haven't had the time to get my hands on a copy of the play a read it yet, so I'll have to do that when I get the chance. I loved the nod to the title of the play in the names of the mech-suits the rival nations create near the end of the story, though.
    Let me just say: this is a massively toned-down version of the plot; it keeps the basic "cycle of revenge" plot with significantly mellowed violence. The revenge is mostly between the two nations rather than between two people, which makes the plot very interesting but makes it difficult to identify characters from the book specifically as characters from the play. I did find it very interesting how Bridget and Hank are both, to me at least, helpless in the hands of their respective nations, but think themselves independent. I can't say much more without spoiling, but the ending I found kept the spirit of the original play but commuted it wonderfully to the world Garett and Walsh chose for their story.
    3.5/5 stars for this one!

"Lisbeth", a Macbeth adaptation by Selenia Paz
    "Lisbeth" adapts the plot of Macbeth to a modern world. The story follows Lisbeth and Bianca, two young Mexican girls. On the Dia de los Muertos when they're 10 years old, they go into a tent at the cemetery and meet three fortune-tellers, who give them a prophecy that they will do great things. As they get older, Lisbeth remains obsessed with finding out the end of the prophecy; she glimpsed it on the scroll but could not read it. The girls' grandparents send them to live in America with Lisbeth's aunt, Lenna, and the girls work hard to become the best they can be in their classes. They both are accepted for a prestigious program that will send them into space as part of Operation Hecate.
    May I first say: I am a massive Macbeth nerd. Is that a weird sentence? Probably. I still have trouble forcing myself to say the word Macbeth, because of the curse (short version: don't say Macbeth in a theatre unless you're saying dialogue from the play, or else something bad will happen. If you mess up, go outside as fast as you can, spin around 3 times and spit. I say go outside because don't spit in a theatre, that's nasty.) I was in a production of Macbeth in grade 10 - maybe I'll do a blog post on it sometime, it was a good time. The curse is totally real, though, that's all I'm gonna say right now. But I digress. I absolutely loved how Paz adapted the plot of the play to her characters and setting. The ending is wonderfully done; I found the entire story to be done very well. It was a riveting read overall, and the characters were well-written as well. This was one of my favourite stories in the anthology.
    5/5 stars!

"A Midsummer Night's Brainwashing", a Midsummer Night's Dream adaptation by Allan Davis
    "A Midsummer Night's Brainwashing" brings the basic idea of A Midsummer Night's Dream to a world where complex virtual reality simulations are a, well, a reality. The plot follows Robin Goodfellow Tucker, or Tuck, as he's called by friends, in his quest to make his crush, Heather, love him by giving her a love potion in the simulation.
    If you know A Midsummer Night's Dream, you can probably guess how well that goes. The answer: it doesn't. Tuck manages to make two of his friends fall in love, though. I found this story kept the spirit of the original play, and it was a very short and quick read. I feel like it could have been expanded on more, however; I enjoyed it, but I would've liked some more context as to the nature of the internship that lets Tuck access the simulations, which apparently are owned by the government and allow some kind of mind-control. I like the ending where it was, but the 180 Tuck seems to pull confused me, although again it's possible I missed something critical. I think this story was good as-is, but it definitely would have had potential to grow into something more.
    3/5 stars!

"Mark Corey", a Coriolanus adaptation by Patricia Scott
    Mark Corey adapts the plot of Coriolanus to a modern day world, and makes it much more accessible to a modern audience. The main character, Mark Corey, is a high school senior obsessed with baseball. He lives, eats, and breathes the sport, in his own words. His only goal in life is to play baseball at the college level, and then move on to become professional. He knows everything about every team in the area, and strategizes his pitches to invariably defeat them all.
    Coriolanus is another of Shakespeare's plays I haven't yet had the chance to read, but from what I understand about the play, this story brings the essence of the plot to a modern world and context almost effortlessly. Mark reads as a cocky - perhaps overly so - teenager, and although the ending is obvious nearly from the beginning, the writing keeps the reader from losing interest. I greatly enjoyed the parallels to the play, as well as the way Scott makes it much more relatable and modernizes it well.
    4.5/5 stars!

"Angel and Demon", a Romeo and Juliet adaptation by Heather Dixon
    Angel and Demon adapts the star-crossed lovers plot of Romeo and Juliet to a fascinating world where angels and demons are sent on missions by Heaven and Hell, respectively. The story jumps between places and time periods as the angel Julianne and the demon Rubix compete against one another to save or condemn people.
    Romeo and Juliet is one of the most, not over-done, but the most commonly done plots out there. I'm not saying that's a bad thing; the tale of star-crossed lovers is so prevalent in literature and film that I doubt anyone could trace it back to where it started. This rendition of the plot, however, was one of the freshest and most inventive I've ever encountered, and I loved it. I devoured the story in one sitting; the historical aspects of it were fascinating to me, as was Dixon's depiction of the main characters. The ending, as well, was touching. It's a very feel-good story, rather in contrast to the original Romeo and Juliet.
    5/5 stars!

"Onyx", an Othello adaptation by Alicia Michaels
    Onyx takes the tragedy of Othello, and puts it into space. That's the simplest way to explain it, but this story is so much more. It is set in a post-apocalyptic future, where humanity's population has dwindled to around a million people, all of whom live on space stations after the destruction of Earth. The space stations are under constant attack by hostile alien species. Onyx himself is an alien, an Ethellien, and the last of his kind. He's married to Dia Tian, the daughter of a colonel aboard the station, and faces discrimination due to his alien heritage.
    The story more or less follows the basic plot of Othello, but slightly shortened and tweaked to fit the world Michaels has created. Othello is another one of my favourite Shakespearean plays, and I think this story really did it justice. The characters stayed true to their inspirations, but still came across as believable and real for a modern/futuristic setting.
    5/5 stars!

"The Taming of the Dudebro", a The Taming of the Shrew adaptation by Jane Watson
    "The Taming of the Dudebro" brings the plot of The Taming of the Shrew to a relatable modern setting, and honestly it's a really funny story. I haven't read The Taming of the Shrew yet, but I understand the basic plot, and I think this story did it justice. Main character Patricia and her best friend Grizz are putting on a play Grizz wrote for a student festival, and their teacher assigns "surfer-boy" Kurt to their group, to save his grades and his chances at college and playing water polo.
    The story follows the basic plot of the play, but updates it for a modern setting and the concerns that a high-school senior would have. Part of the reason why I loved this story so much is because I was very much one of the "theatre kids" in high school, and it drove me crazy when people who didn't care about the plays got roles just to fulfill the "Creativity" hours we needed for the International Baccalaureate program (not that I'm still bitter, or anything). Between that and being the one everyone wanted to be paired up with in group projects (because I would do everything myself to avoid a poor grade, if my group members refused to work), I found this story very relatable. I wish that those situations had ended as well for me as they did for Patricia and Grizz, but hey, I survived anyway.
    This story was humorous and light-hearted, and, to me, very relatable.
    5/5 stars!

"Star Walker", a Hamlet adaptation by Alex Irwin
    "Star Walker" brings the plot of Hamlet to a futuristic world where humanity lives on space stations. The story begins with the funeral of the main character Letta's mother. Letta's mother was the captain of the ship, and Letta assumes she will take over from her mother. Her aunt, Claudia, is selected instead. Letta is devastated, and she becomes convinced that Claudia murdered her mother.
    Like I've said before, I'm a sucker for anything related to Hamlet. This story was one of the most creative adaptations I've ever seen of the story, and I especially liked how Irwin adapted the "play" scene from the play where Hamlet tries to expose his uncle as a murderer; in this case, the way Letta tries to expose her aunt. It's one of the harder scenes to adapt, I would think, because it's a scene that needs to keep a certain spirit but without being a carbon copy of the original scene from the play.
    The ending itself is also heart-wrenching, and it keeps the dark themes from the play, which I find a lot of people who adapt the story for different characters and setting tend to shy away from.
    5/5 stars!

"The Desperate Warrior and the Beast Who Walks Without Sound", a Sonnet 25 adaptation by T. Damon
    "The Desperate Warrior and the Beast Who Walks Without Sound" draws inspiration from Shakespeare's Sonnet 25 and adapts it into an incredible short story. I honestly have no idea how Damon would have developed this entire rich world from just the few lines of that sonnet, and I am absolutely in awe. This story was incredible. I never would have thought to adapt a Shakespearean sonnet into the short story, and while I can definitely see how it inspired this story, I find it mind-boggling that such a short, vague poem could inspire something like this.
    The main character, Wakisa, is a member of the Thunder tribe that have long been at war with the Sun tribe. His name translates to "desperate warrior" - that was a feature I loved about this story; all the characters had meanings to their names that often foreshadowed their role. He is charged with the mission to kill the "Beast that Walks Without Sound". That's about all I can say without spoiling, but I absolutely adored this story.
    Honestly, I would definitely read a novel that was set in this world. The story itself is perfect as-is; it has a lovely plot that ties up neatly and gives a satisfying ending. There is more I would love to know about the world; backstory, where "the Beast" came from, even what happens to Wakiza after the story. I think it's definitely something that could be expanded wonderfully, but it's also excellent as-is without anymore expansion.
    5/5 stars!

"Gale", a Tempest adaptation by Lyssa Chiavari
    "Gale" draws ideas from Shakespeare's The Tempest and adapts them to an incredible fantasy world. Gale is the name of a small planet, the moon of a larger planet called Orbe that supposedly houses monsters and gods that "The Brotherhood", the rulers of Gale, banished in the past, but which wish to retake Gale and threaten the lives of everyone. "The Brotherhood" watches the people through the aptly-named "Watch", which monitors everyone for conformity. Main character Miranda has fits, which frightens her parents as it is not an ailment the Healers find treatable, so if they are discovered Miranda could be killed. Miranda then begins having visions of a girl named Ferda, and discovers a deep secret in herself, her family, and Gale itself.
    This story was hugely inventive. I loved the world and the concept, and I especially loved the nods to the original play, both in the names and in some of the events of the story. I read The Tempest in the tenth grade, and this brought a pleasant sort of nostalgia with it. I was immediately drawn in by the world building and by the first-person voice of Miranda, and I finished the story in one sitting.
    "Gale" is a wonderful, inventive adaptation of The Tempest; it holds enough of a resemblance to the play to invoke that kind of nostalgic connection to those who have read it, without alienating those who haven't or following the plot too closely.
    5/5 stars!

  And now we've come to the end of the review! If you pick this book up for yourself, I hope you enjoy it, and if you do, please consider leaving a review of your own on the book's Goodreads and/or Amazon pages.

What I Use to Write - WriteItNow4 (Method Mondays)

Sorry for the unexpected Method Mondays hiatus - I took one week off due to Thanksgiving, and another because this post ended up a lot bigger and more time-consuming than I expected! Sorry for the delays, and back to our regularly scheduled programming!

    So I'm just going to say it: you don't really need to invest in a fancy writing program to call yourself a writer, or to have a good chance of finishing a novel. Am I saying writing programs are useless, or pointless? No. I've got one, and I love it! I'd recommend one as an eventual investment, but if you don't have the money right now don't stress about it. Ask for one for a holiday or birthday instead, haha (but only if you want to)!
    Some time in the coming weeks I'll do a tutorial of sorts on how I organize things in Google Drive or Microsoft Word to keep everything straight for a novel, in case anyone wants to go that route and is curious of one way to organize things.
    The program I currently use (which was a gift, thanks Mom!) and have used for quite a while now, is called WriteItNow4. It's available in both digital download and physical CD form. If you look it up, there's actually a new version - WriteItNow5 - out now, but I haven't updated yet. I most likely will in the coming weeks, and when I do I'll try to do an overview of new features.
    So - I can't speak to the new features of this version, but if it builds on the version I have, I'm sure it's wonderful.
    Also helpful to note: once you've bought this program, you can use it on as many devices as you choose to.
   

     Opening up the program, this is the first screen you'll see. Right now, I have the example story that comes with the program open. In the sidebar, you can see Chapters, with scenes underneath. The way this is set up, in the chapter heading, there is a summary of what needs to happen in the chapter, while the actual writing is in the scenes. I don't use it like that, I prefer to just use the chapters space to write in (mostly because I'm bad at breaking chapters up into scenes), but it is an option. You can also see the rest of the sidebar just to the right, here.
    Below that is characters. You can colour code the characters to distinguish their icons without needing to look at the names if you choose to. Within the character tab, there are numerous options.



     For example, here you can see the Character Generator the program offers. This is one of the best ways to quickly sum up what you can do using the characters setting on this program. I used the name and personality generators, and for the timeline I chose Victorian Britain, just for kicks. This is what it gave me. Of course, you're more than able to type in your own details and forego the generator entirely, but I really like it, especially when you need names for "extras".

     Another wonderful feature of the Characters tab is the 'Relationships' option. As you can see, there are 3 separate tabs - family, personal, and other. They really help to keep your characters and their relationships straight, as they can generate this lovely and very helpful web as well, which is especially good for people who are more visual. (All the graphs can be accessed through the "Graphs" tab near the top of the screen).

     Moving down the sidebar, you have the Events tab, which opens up a screen like this. If you have definite dates for your story, you can set those, as well as what characters are involved in the specific event. This also generates this lovely timeline, which really helps to keep multiple characters in doing different things in different places at the same time straight.

      Also under the graphs tab is this, the conflict graph, which you can add things to using the buttons just along the top of it. It really forces you to think about the function of conflict in your stories and make sure you don't have too many pointless or "filler" scenes.

     Under that is the locations tab. It's pretty straightforward but useful, especially if your story requires multiple locations (ESPECIALLY if they're fantasy locations or you have a hard time keeping details straight). Locations, notes, and ideas have largely the same layout.

     This just details some of the tools you can use. Most are pretty self-explanatory. Story readability will give you an "age range" for your writing, but that's only for how simplistic the writing is and doesn't judge content (so just because your dark horror says 8.6 doesn't mean you should donate copies to the elementary school!) I find it helpful because it keeps you from getting all posh and "writerly". The story board tool is pictured below. Writing targets allows you to set a time or word-count goal, and prompts generates writing prompts to help you along.

    One of my favourite features of the program, purely for how many times it's saved my life, is the "snapshots" feature. You can access it under the file menu. Basically, it saves the entire file every few minutes (you can set how often under Tool Settings), and if, for example, your computer crashes, or you accidentally delete an important chapter, or any number of things happens, you can save your story from oblivion with minimal loss, depending on how often you have it set to take the snapshot and how fast you write. The entire program and the individual files can also be copied to a USB, if you're worried about losing things if the entire computer stops working.

    So there you have it! This review by no means encompasses all the features of the program, nor does it cover all the features of the new program. The lovely people at Ravenshead Services were kind enough to send me the details of the new features when I contacted them about this review, so I'll include those below. I'll also link to my review of WriteItNow5 once I've upgraded and learned a bit about it so I can write the best possible review.
    Thanks for reading!

Note: the below is copied from an email from Rob Walton of Ravenshead Services; none of it is my own words.

Major Changes
--------------------

New PDF Manual

To learn more about WriteItNow 5 's capabilities download a copy of the comprehensive 300-page manual, "Up and Running with
WriteItNow 5" from our website. There is no charge for this.


New Sections

There are new sections In the Main Tabs and Tree Panel.

New sections include `Front Matter' and `Back Matter', which can be used to add an introduction, prologue, epilogue, etc.

A new background section is Props.


New Export Options


ePub export for creating e-books. Quickly create eBooks in ePub format.

Microsoft Word export. Export a project as a Microsoft Word document.


A Better Importer


WriteItNow 5 can now import Microsoft Word documents.
There is also an interactive importer that makes importing much more flexible.


Storyline Editor

A Storyline Editor. Use the storyline editor to keep track of who does what, where, and when.


Summary Editor

The scene and chapter sections now have a summary editor for recording a summary plus details of the characters, locations, events, and props.

These details are used by the new Storyline Editor.


An Improved Editor


The editor now includes colored text and background, strikethrough, subscript, and superscript.


New Editor Tools

Text Compare shows the differences between the current text and earlier versions that have been
saved as snapshots.

Use critiques to find cliches, repeated words, etc.

There is a 'tidy text' tool to quickly tidy up text.



Print and Print Preview

Select the print menu to print and preview sections directly.


New Writing Targets.

The writing targets can be shown at the bottom of the screen.

Pictures on More Sections

A picture can be added to each event, location, note, idea and prop.


Picture Links

Links to pictures can now be added anywhere in the text. On export these
can be converted to pictures.

Completion Status

Record how complete each part of the book is using completion status

Where Does Inspiration Come From? - Method Mondays

    Where does inspiration come from for my writing?
    Everywhere.
    Thanks for reading, have a good week!

    I'm kidding, of course. Well, I'm not. Inspiration can come from anywhere, and everywhere. It's actually kind of incredible, all the different places. For me, it comes especially from real life, TV and movies, music, other books, and Pinterest. This would be a massively long post if I covered all of those things in one go, so for today I'll just cover inspiration coming from books and TV/movies.
    You might be wondering how you can take inspiration from movies or TV or other books without plagiarizing. It's quite easy, in fact.
    I could take the "deep" route and argue that any story has been done before - after all, at its heart, every story is just character vs. something. Character vs. character, vs. nature, vs. society. You see where this is headed.
    Honestly, one of the most important things to do is read in the genre you write in. You don't know what's popular and what people want to read if you don't. I'm not saying you should see that, for example, books set in high schools are popular and immediately sit down and write a book that's set in a high school if that's not what the story in your head is about. If you're not passionate about your story, it won't be as good as it can be, so don't just jump on popular plots or settings just because they're popular. But reading in your chosen genre will show you what is popular and what's getting published; what types of conflicts, what sorts of characters, all kinds of abstract concepts that make novels great.
    Similarly with movies or TV shows; maybe a line of dialogue sparks a scene between two characters, or a certain character or plot idea may inspire you. Does that mean you should copy a character completely from a movie or TV show, or copy the plot of a movie? Definitely not, but taking inspiration is perfectly okay.
    I just want to stop right now and say this isn't legal advice. Don't copy the plot or characters of a movie, TV show, or another book and put it in a book, then say "well this blog said I could" if you get in trouble. I'm not saying that's what you can do. What I am saying, is that you should, basically, be looking for inspiration anywhere. The littlest thing can plant a spark in your brain and result in a subplot, a plot twist, a character trait, or maybe even more than that.
    The most important thing to remember is MAKE IT YOUR OWN. It's easy to just copy a character from here, a plot point from there, and smash them all together into a novel. But that's not really writing; that's clever plagiarism. I'm doing a terrible job of explaining this, and I'm aware of that, but hopefully you're getting the drift. Inspiration is everywhere; let it burrow into your brain (that's a disturbing way to word that) and see what comes of it.
    Bottom line: absorb ideas and let them grow within your mind; don't copy them. That's the best way I can put it, hope it makes sense to all of you!
    As always, Tweet any questions to me or comment them here!
    Thanks for reading!