Kagerou's Journal 1

(I've gotten very, very behind on writing this, but, here's the first small bit I have written.)
Update: You can find all parts linked here.

Day 1

I arrived in Sandpoint the morning of the Swallowtail festival as ordered by the Magnamar Lodge. As a trainee I had no choice in the matter even though I was sure the main event of the festival, the consecration of the Cathedral would be dull and uninteresting. I thought perhaps, though, I might glean a few interesting scraps of information from the gossip in the taverns and inns and resolved to spend most of my time in those locations discreetly eavesdroping.

The square outside the Cathedral was packed with people. Some hawked their wares while others hungrily eyed the feast that was laid out on a long row of tables. In one corner a brightly dressed Varisian dancer swirled her scarf while she danced. I thought I saw more than one coin disppear from a watcher's pocket into hers and not all were willingly proferred. A tall man, possibly Shoanti by the look of him, strode closer to the Varisian dancer. I was sure that he had spotted her pickpocketing as well. However, a gray cat came flying out of nowhere and landed on his head. Mayhem ensued as it hissed, spit and clawed at the dancer's pet cat while the man swatted at the cat to get it off his head. In all commotion he seemed to forget the Varisian pickpocket.

At that moment another male voice called out drawing our attention to the Cathedral steps. He introduced himself as Father Zantus, the local priest. I started digging in my pack for pen, ink and paper to take notes with on the ceremony. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary but I felt that notes would help jog my memory later on when I was writing my report.

That when I heard a strange sound. It emanated from the wagon in the right hand corner near the cathedral. To me it sounded like a dog's yelp cut short.

CSFF Blog Tour: The Telling - A Review

(Pardon for posting this a little late. A bout of sickness knocked me off my feet and computer for a few days.)



Welcome to this month's CSFF Blog tour! The book this time is "The Telling" by Mike Duran. I don't normally read supernatural suspense thrillers so this one was definitely in a genre I'm not too familiar with. But, here are my thoughts.

True to the horror/suspense genre Duran doles out the hints and clues in small doses. Even the details of the main character's, Zephaniah Walker's, face aren't totally revealed until several chapters in. I found this to be an interesting approach to take, with regard to details, because it was attempting to dangle a hook to lead readers along. True, the whole history behind the scar on Zeph's face is important to his backstory and the book's plot, however it wasn't quite the revelation that I thought it would be after being dragged along for that length of time.

The whole book was like this. Small details being trickled here or there, in a very obvious fashion I might add, leading up to an unsatisfactorily small reveal or climax. Not that the book wasn't interesting. It was a fun read and kept me reading, though I wouldn't describe it as a page turner. I'm not quite sure whether I, as the reader, should feel insulted by how obvious all the clues were or whether that was just a result of the author not being the most adept at hiding the clues. The ending was fairly easy to guess and many pieces were overly easy to connect. The fragmented nature of the book seemed to be the author's method of hiding the clues, but it didn't completely work.

If you like the genre, then I'd suggest you read it. It's fun, a fairly unique take on demons and hell, and something you can justify spending an afternoon on. However, it's not a masterpiece so don't expect masterful red herrings and twists and turns you don't see coming. To the astute reader, the ending is easily discernible from a ways off.

Want to read it? Buy here: The Telling.
Or, visit Mike Duran's website or Facebook page.

Other tour participants can be found my CSFF Blog Tour page as well as links to past tour related posts.

Disclaimer: As part of the CSFF Blog Tour I received a free copy of this book to review.

Weekly Roundup

A piece of good advice to start us off:

"Beware of clichés. Not just the ­clichés that Martin Amis is at war with. There are clichés of response as well as expression. There are clichés of observation and of thought – even of conception. Many novels, even quite a few adequately written ones, are ­clichés of form which conform to clichés of expectation." - Geoff Dyer

Now for the links:

One of the ever present questions in the publishing world is how long should your manuscript be? Arthur Plotnik gives his opinion on the matter over at Query Tracker.

Also at Query Tracker, Ash Krafton gives advice on how to craft well-rounded villains and the Zen of Backstory.

While writing, how do you keep all those bits and pieces organized? Michelle Rafter's advice is especially relevant for freelancers.

So now that you've written that perfect short story, how can you lengthen it into a longer piece without filling it with fluff? Guest blogger Liese Sherwood-Fabre gives a practical 4 step method.

But, before you send it out, name check! Do all your character's names sound like they belong in the same universe? Janice Hardy shares her experiences with the name game.

Once you've sent that manuscript out and it's been accepted (yay!) and you can't go five minutes without telling someone, how do you prevent yourself from being creepy on social media while trying to promote your book?

On a final note, Megan Bostic shares 7 things she's learned so far during her career as a writer.

Until next time!

CSFF Blog Tour: The Eye of the Sword - A Review

Welcome to the August CSFF Blog Tour! This time around, the featured book is Eye of the Sword by Karyn Henley. (Doesn't the cover look great at right? And it reflects the main character and turning point in the book too. More on that below.) I decided to jump into this, my first blog tour, head first thus I ended up reading the book and crafting a review. So, without ado, I present my review of Eye of the Sword.

First, I must make something clear. This book is book 2 in what looks to me will be a fantasy trilogy. I was not able to read book 1, Breath of Angel, beforehand so I made do with summaries online. Book 3 (which I'm assuming will be titled Blood of Man due to the advertisement in the back of Eye of Sword) has not been released yet and I have no idea when it will be published.

Plot and Universe

I shall focus first on the plotline and construction of the world. This book, in my opinion, is well written and well paced. The plot is engaging and just when you think you've figured out what's going to happen, Henley throws in a twist to keep you off balance. The outward plot is fairly straightforward though. It is constructed around a quest archetype where the lowly knight must prove his worth by seeking firstly an oracle (at the king's command) and secondly the two remaining harps (at the princess' request). However, the quest could be seen as having a deeper meaning because the main character, Comain Trevin, discovers more than an oracle or harps. He discovers himself. I won't say too much more because that would give away the biggest plot twist in the whole book.

The pacing of the plot kept me eagerly turning the pages to read what happened next. The first few pages were an excellent hook, not because of surprising characters or twists, but because the universe or storyworld was well painted in a few strokes with well chosen world specific words. I don't know whether this hook would have been as effective as if I'd read Breath of Angel because the term that intrigued me was, to my knowledge, explained in the first book. But coming into the second book with no previous introduction left me curious as to how the world was built and kept me reading. I wish, though, that the author had included some form of summary of book 1. It would have helped in establishing what events had preceded book 2 and also what had been "discovered" by the characters by that point in time.

This lack of summary led to my not quite being sure of many of the universe's constructions and systems. For example, the opening pages give a list of characters and, also, the ranks of angels in this world. However, the latter was only briefly touched upon in Eye of the Sword leading me to believe that the full description of the angels was found in book 1 and Henley assumed the readers would be familiar with it. I wasn't, so I ended the book with very little enlightening as to how the system worked or was constructed. This was also true of other things mentioned like the Draks.

The Christian Perspective

Good wins over evil and the lesson of forgiveness is well expounded in this book. Therefore you can tell it was written by someone who holds to the values of Christianity. However, the part with the angels bugged me. I hate to use the word, but the only one that comes to mind is 'heretical'. I've read several stories before where the concept of angels and demons are twisted into a fantasy which doesn't mirror reality, but I never expected to see it used in a book by a Christian. It read to me like a half-hearted attempt to insert God into a fantasy world and modify Him and his angels to fit the world. I didn't like it. I wouldn't have minded as much if the author hadn't used Biblical terms to suit her fancy. If, let's say, Henley had created a different term for the angels and not claimed that that they had any relation to the angels in the Bible then I would have been perfectly fine with it. However, the angels turned into an odd fantasy device which distorted reality. This was the one sour bit in the whole book. The rest I loved.

Overall, I liked this book. I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in YA fantasy that is based in a Christian worldview. The virtues taught are of forgiveness, bravery, courage, righteousness, and the consequences of actions which are good and useful for the teaching of children. Read it, read book 1 if you feel like it, and join me in waiting for book 3. I really want to know what happens!

Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this book by the publisher for the purpose of reviewing it.

Book sold here: Eye of the Sword (Angelaeon Circle Series #2)
Author’s Web site
Author's Blog
Author's Facebook page

CSFF Website
CSFF Blog Tour Participants

Until next time!

Weekly Roundup

Photo Credit

To start off, advice for self-editing your own writing and the top 10 tips for self-editing.

What's the value of adversity in a writer's life?

While building a social media presence as an author, a facebook page is becoming essential. But how do you build one that works?

A warning for bloggers: be careful which pictures you use.

And lastly few fun and hopefully inspiring videos:

Alas the sorry state of our English language in the present day. John Branyan tries to illustrate what we've lost.

What a breathtaking and inspiring video! (Enlarge to full screen for maximum effect.)

Until next time!

Have I Gone Insane to Try Pathfinders?

Perhaps I have gone off the deep end to consider stepping into the world of D&D (Pathfinders is an offshoot game from D&D) but the improbable has happened. Three weeks ago on a Wednesday, I found myself at a group with four others, character sheet in hand, ready to play. And it's been surprisingly fun.

But I digress slightly. Why did I, a non-gamer, decide to join in? Because the format of a typical D&D game forces the participants to focus on character building (and to some extent world building) while leaving the plot completely in the hands of the DM. And those areas happen to be my weak spots. Therefore, I joined the group to force myself to exercise those ill used writing muscles. Creating a character from scratch before the plot begins has illustrated just how bad I am at the whole process when separated from interesting events I can throw them into and see how they react.

So, what is the end result of this experiment? The answer to that lies in the second blog feature I mentioned a few posts ago. My character is, in-game, the chronicler (pathfinder). Therefore, my job is to write up the events of each week's adventure. And, those "journals" will be posted here, once a week on Wednesday, as a blog serial.

Yes, the second feature I mentioned is a blog serial which will run until my character finishes the Pathfinders campaign or until I can no longer participate. The first installment will go up next Wednesday. Hopefully you'll see how my character building skills improve over time. Comments would be highly appreciated as I blaze this new uncertain trail.

Until next time!

CSFF Feature

Last post I mentioned two features which will be starting on this blog. This is an elaboration on the first feature I mentioned.

A few months ago I discovered CSFF and decided to join. What is it? Well, the full title of the site should explain it: Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Blog Tour. It is a site where bloggers gather to promote Christian books that are Sci-fi and Fantasy which is a genre that is shockingly under represented in the publishing world. More information on how it works can be found on the CSFF website, but the general overview is as follows: once a month a book tours (is featured on) all the participants' blogs for three days. At least one post is required from each participant over the three day tour.

A clue! (photo credit)

The next tour will take place in late August. Since I'm new, I'm not quite sure when the dates will be, but it'll probably take place the third week. I won't say which book is on tour yet, except that it is fantasy and I requested a review copy so I'll be posting a review for one of my three posts. Look forward to it!

Until next time!

Where I've Been (and Links to Prove it!)

As you may have noticed, I've been rather silent for the past, oh, around 1 1/2 months? So, some explanations are in order.

Photo Credit

Firstly, I know several of you have commented on the fact that I stopped Camp NaNoWriMo last month. This is because we went on a vacation for a week and I was thrown off track by shiny other projects (non-writing) I've been meaning to get done. In my defense, I did and still have been plugging away at writing the new plot-line featuring the 2nd POV of Lia, but at a very slow pace. The point is that I never ground to a complete stop. However the initial torrent of Camp turned into a trickle.

Secondly, there will be a new feature appearing on this blog on a monthly basis. The first appearance will be late in August. More on this in a later post.

Thirdly, another feature! Maybe. This one might be a weekly/bi-monthly blog serial...Once again, more info later. Stay tuned!

And now onto the links! I've still continued to read and collect links in the meantime so here's a list:

Patricia C. Wrede on whether or not to preach in one's writing.

Rayne Hall lists 13 mistakes writers make in fight scenes.

Query Tracker's Ash Krafton gives tips to conquer cliches and how to use writing contests to improve one's game.

Inkpunk's Andrew Romine tells how he applied gesture drawing to writing to capture the essence of ideas.

John Yeoman reveals the secrets of Kathy Reich's excellent writing.

Do short stories have a higher payout than novels in the long run?

David Sims guests posts a series on structure featuring the heroic journey (20 posts in the series to date).

When should one kill their story darlings? Natalie J. Damschroder helps unravel the how and when.

K M Weiland lists the top 25 ways to blow a book and suggestions for fixing and avoiding the problems.

How does one define success as a writer? (with a Weird Al Yankovic illustration!)

And finally, a cute (but relevant) poem going around on tumblr: I Once Dated a Writer and

Until next time!