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scritch-scratches · 3 years

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Hi! I have questions about Dominoes, if you're comfortable with them. 1. Has your opinion and perspective on your plot outline and characters changed at all since you began writing them? 2. What was the most fun/interesting part about designing Dominoes' world and characters? 3. Have there been any reader feedback and/or reactions that surprised you as the project's come along?

1. Has your opinion and perspective on your plot outline and characters changed at all since you began writing them?

This is something I’ve given a lot of thought to myself!

While Part 1 has stuck to its emotional plot points really well, it is completely different from what I originally outlined. Some of the original scenes I wrote made it in, such as Ran’s encounter with KID, Kaito tackling Shinichi of the rooftop, the ShinRan breakup, but many, many others were cut. I still have a bunch of them in the original draft of Dominoes. Part 1 was originally going to have three completely separate plot lines: the bomb, KID, and the BO. But once it started dawning on me how massive this project was becoming, I knew I had to streamline it and get the plot lines to converge and work together. I’m pretty pleased with the result, because I feel like the resulting plot line is much more complex and less cliche than any of the originals. It was a lot of work, and really frustrating at times, but I think it worked out.

My perspective of Part 1 has really changed; setting out, I knew I was challenging myself with this sort of teen drama set up, which really isn’t my thing, and I kind of wasn’t looking forward to it. Part 1 was a means to an end, something I had to get through to tell Part 2 and 3, the stories I really wanted to tell. But everyone’s reactions have really changed my viewpoint, so much so that now I’m worried that part 2 and part 3 won’t appeal to the same audience that part 1 gripped, because they’re quite a bit different. Nevertheless, I decided a while ago that I wanted to stay true to the story I set out to write all those years ago, so regardless of reception, I’m going to power through.

2. What was the most fun/interesting part about designing Dominoes' world and characters?

I love brainstorming powers and codenames for all the characters—I spend ages lovingly agonizing over them! I have a whole google doc just for a breakdown of each of the characters’ abilities and affiliations.

But the most interesting part for me is thinking about how I can turn canon on its head. Dominoes started with a few vague questions I have had a lot of fun answering:

What if, instead of Shinichi keeping secrets from everyone, everyone was keeping secrets for him?

What would Kaito do if Toichi was killed by law enforcement, not criminals?

What if there is a reason all these murders happen?

What if Aoko finds out, and doesn’t forgive?

What if there was a problem that the infallible Yuusaku couldn’t solve? Something that no matter what he did, the answer he came to was wrong?

Plus several more that are a bit too spoilery to be discussed at this time.

I also love coming up with the story’s twists and turns. There’s nothing quite like being struck with an idea you know is going to blow away the reader, it always makes me full-on villain cackle.

3. Have there been any reader feedback and/or reactions that surprised you as the project's come along?

Just about all reader’s reactions have caught me by surprise in some form or another—I never expected the sort of emotional investment readers have poured into the story. Going in, I very much wanted to try my hand at fiction sensationalism; I wanted to write the sort of dramatic teenage soap opera that was so common in television in the 2000s, like Gossip Girl or the OC. Something that really captures that “everything is the end of the world” feeling you have as a teenager, with each chapter being punchy at the time you read it but vacating your head the moment you finish until the next update. The goal was to create what I affectionately refer to as a “Super Opera”.

But I may have failed. I may have created something very different, because this story...it seems to haunt some people. It stressed them out, or provokes extreme emotions I didn’t know it was capable of pulling out.

When people started bringing up child abuse in the comments, for some reason, I was really surprised. Especially when people started saying the depiction of it in Dominoes is realistic. I never expected any of it to resonate with people so much, or even intended it. It makes me kind of anxious, so since the first few chapters, I’ve become much more cautious and careful when it comes to writing those scenes.

I did not expect the intensity of hate for Dominoes!Yuusaku. I didn’t expect anyone to like him, hell, I wanted readers to dislike him. The story is designed to bias the reader towards Shinichi, so that the reader is inclined to stick with him later on, no matter what. That plan might have worked too well.

I was even more surprised by the reactions to the small throwaway line from Kazuha when she heard about the breakup—it is a pretty common reactionary attitude among teenagers, and I can’t tell you how many times I heard similar things from my friends or reacted similarly to breakups. It is just a brief momentary attempt at supporting a friend, but everyone reacted like they thought Kazuha actually meant it. Which was not at all what I intended.

Also! Some people seem confused as to why Yuusaku revealed Kaito’s identity to Aoko, despite Kaito’s threats, but I thought the conversation between Hakuba and him beforehand made it pretty obvious. I guess some readers are coming at it from the perspective that Yuusaku did it to, I don’t know, hurt Kaito or something, but Yuusaku did it for Aoko’s sake. Kaito was using her, and it was going to end disastrously for her and many others if it continued. As for Kaito’s threat, well, Yuusaku weighed his options and the risks and decided helping Aoko was more important.

“But Scratchie, Yuusaku clearly prioritized keeping his identity from Shinichi—“

Has he? Has he?

Yuusaku in Dominoes is not an easy nut to crack, especially not when I, the author, am deliberately biasing the reader against him. That’s purposeful; I wanted to make it as difficult as possible for the reader to get in the right mindset to figure him out.

For anyone dubious about Yuusaku’s choices so far, I’d really recommend rereading his and Hakuba’s scenes with fresh eyes. Put aside everything characters say about each other and focus on what the things they say tell you about themselves. Who seems most concerned with keeping the identities secret? Who doesn’t seem as concerned about it as you might expect? What is each character really worried about hiding, as opposed to what they want the other characters to think they’re worried about?

What makes Dominoes such a long project is the complexity and duplicity I have to try and work into each scene. The unreliable narrator tag isn’t a joke! If you want to solve the mysteries, you can’t get caught up in each character’s head, you gotta stay objective!

I’m gonna stop here ‘cause I’ve agonized over the answers to these questions for a silly amount of time. Thanks so much for sending them it, I love seeing people interested in the sort of meta behind Dominoes!

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a-duck-with-a-book · 3 years

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REVIEW // Lorden Awakening by Krislee Ellsworth

★★☆☆☆

🌟 HIDDEN GEM 🌟

** I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway

I was very disappointed with this novel, especially considering the numerous glowing reviews. Overall, it really just didn’t feel like anything special, and the enjoyable elements of the story were dragged down by clunky and repetitive writing, forced and superficial exposition, and cookie-cutter characters.

Here are a few of the issues I had with this novel:

// image: official cover art by Nicole Deal //

The Exposition

The world building and lore are just shoved down our throats. The majority of the exposition in the first few chapters is provided through info dumps that completely interrupt the flow of the narrative. The story simply stops for a paragraph or more so that the author can inform us of some custom or history. It is extremely jarring and completely halts all of the forward movement of the book. We are teased with extensive world-building without actually getting any of it. There are snippets here and there (primarily through the aforementioned info dumps) that make it seem like this could be a very fleshed-out world, but then the story reverts to the immediate surroundings of our characters and leaves us with very superficial descriptions and lore.

The Relationships

All interactions and relationships among the characters feel extremely forced and superficial. The friendship and subsequent attraction between Anaver and Rothrin is so sudden and unnatural. Imagine being shipwrecked in a foreign land that you never imagined you would see, after a traumatic accident where everyone around you likely died, and then being rescued by a stranger and taken to his home. I think traumatized or terrified would be apt descriptions for anyone in this situation. We are told from time to time that this is really hard for Anaver or that she is affected by the events, but the actual character development just shows her becoming immediately comfortable with Rothrin and his uncle. I mean, they are immediately best buddies, and they even reminisce after some disagreements later on that they wish they could return to their easy, fun interactions at the cottage. This was so unbelievable because they literally knew each other for a few days and they’re acting like they are missing their childhood best friend???

Then, of course, there is the obligatory attraction between the two protagonists because they are main boy and main girl, and thus they must fall in love. I didn’t feel like they had any chemistry, and their interactions didn’t really reveal any attachment beyond basic friendship. Again, we are TOLD they are developing feelings without actually seeing it in the story itself. This telling without showing extends to the friendships and alliances-at one point Rothrin and Quin are working together and we get this description:

“The two had developed a brotherly companionship after Quin’s earthsinging ability had been revealed.”

Okay, but you can’t just SAY that. You need to develop a relationship beforehand. Imagine how much better this would have been if instead of inserting a sentence telling the reader that the two had a blooming bromance, Ellsworth had simply added a scene where we saw them bonding over a shared interest, like feeding the refugees forced to live in misery outside the walls, or even the mismanagement of the king that they both seemingly dislike.

The Writing

One more aspect that took away from the story is the clunky and repetitive writing. Look at the sentence structure in this paragraph:

“He set the hot kettle aside and bounded to the front door, keeping his senses focused on the wind movement as he made his way around to the back of the dwelling. He dodged the flower bushes and vegetable plants that populated the garden around the dwelling, letting his Windsoul flare to help him navigate his way. He stepped lightly, not wanting to alert the lone guard that stood watch on the street corner a couple dwellings down.”

He set…keeping his senses.. He dodged… letting his Windsoul... He stepped… not wanting to alert...

Just changing how you organize your sentences could have made that a lot more fun to read. The story is rife with repetition, both in the word choice and the structure.

“It will be hard to keep it a secret.” “We really do have to keep it a secret,” Rothrin asserted, “at least for now. Maybe one day we won’t have to be so careful about it, but for now...”

The Story

The plot is really nothing new, and I found it to be slightly predictable. There’s nothing wrong with rehashing ideas and tropes-that’s basically all we do in fiction, really. But the development here is surface level and uninspired. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: “chosen one” character, elemental magic, evil ruler, established government refusing to do the right/good thing in order to maintain power…

Again, there is nothing inherently bad with using these ideas. You can write a fantastic, gripping novel with tropes and structures that have been rehashed thousands of times. The issue is when you rely on these old ideas and present them with poor writing and organization. Unfortunately, there is really nothing particularly special to make the tropes and storyline memorable.

One of my biggest pet peeves in fiction is when a character is just naturally a master of reading body language. To me, anytime someone determines exactly what a character is thinking just by gaging the “sparkle in the eye”, it simply feels like the author really wanted us to know something the non-narrative character was thinking, or further their character development, but did so in a very lazy and, again, forced way.

Then, of course, we have the quintessential:

“Rothrin released a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.”

Finally, there is a reveal about halfway through the book that I thought was so blatantly obvious. from the moment the mystery is set up in the first few chapters I could already see the entire build-up and reveal, simply because I had already seen it a thousand times.

The Magic System

The magic system could be interesting but the characters become experts so immediately that it makes sit incredibly unnatural and lazy. I know that the “soul” is like a part of the character, or an extension of their body, but that doesn’t mean they should be able to wield it five minutes after finding out it exists. If you grew a third leg you would struggle to walk, even if that leg was part of your body and under your control. You still have to get used to it. The characters often say that they need to master their power or learn how to use it, but, again, only TELLING us instead of SHOWING isn’t going to work when every time they try to use the they excel immediately.

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sparklyjojos · 4 years

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THE SAIMON FAMILY CASE recaps [5/13]

In which magic routines are explained and Kirigirisu tries his hand at solving the mysteries of the show.

The next morning, Ajiro and Kirigirisu have some time to kill before the show, so they take a walk through the famous Joue-ji Garden. Apparently Ajiro is interested in traditional gardens, which similarly to his interest in magic was jump-started when he visited the splendid grounds by the Saimon family’s residence. It’s interesting to see Ajiro’s another side—not just a hard-working boss, but a man appreciating beauty.

Looking at the temple’s five-storied pagoda, Kirigirisu thinks of one of his fellow detectives, whose real name is Gojuunotou Fudou (五重塔不動, gojuunotou meaning a five-storied pagoda). No wonder the man prefers a slightly less weirder pseudonym Gotou Fudou.

Now that he thinks about it, there’s quite a lot of strangely named detectives in the Club, many using nicknames. [These detectives don’t matter that much in the overall plot, but the author’s note at the end of the book mentions they were in part inspired by all these cool ideas for detectives the fans keep sending him. Wholesome].

There’s Raiouji Rokenrou (雷王寺路拳郎), his real name being Terada Ichijirou (寺田一次郎), that delinquent punkish detective we already met.

There’s Mikuruma Noritaka (御車法隆), real name Gosha Noritaka (五車法隆), whose reasoning method revolves around him convincing himself through self-hypnosis that he’s a genius and can solve anything, and who loves to think about cases while riding his bike at breakneck speed. (Apparently he and Raiouji love to go on rides together.)

There’s Yakushiji Saiten (薬師寺祭天), actually Yakushiji Kinta (薬師寺金太), who’s the kind of guy to spend half a day admiring himself in the mirror.

Together, these four—Gotou, Raiouji, Mikuruma and Yakushiji—make a fine team sometimes called the Young Four Heavenly Kings, or Young Shitennou (ヤング四天王).

And that’s just a few of the Club’s detectives. It’s… kind of weird how many strangely-named members the organization has. (Although some have more normal names, like Arito Tarou, a guy who doesn’t like our two main detectives all that much.)

Kirigirisu’s name is also extremely unusual, but to be fair, he doesn’t even know if it’s his real name. It may have well been a nickname. He wonders if having a weird name isn’t more likely to make someone a detective, considering that it may lead to bad experiences in childhood, or something. Maybe taking on nicknames reveals a desire to become someone you’re not?

Anyway… returning his thoughts to the upcoming show, Kirigirisu remembers yesterday evening’s conversation with Ajiro.

“Most tricks fall into one of three categories,” Ajiro said back then. “Production, vanish, transformation. You can demonstrate all three with a commonplace object like a cigarette.”

He let Kirigirisu take one more look at the trick with snapping the cigarette in half, but from another angle, revealing that no actual snapping occured, the cigarette was just cleverly half hidden in Ajiro’s hand. The trick was aided by acting out a forceful movement and making a tough face while “snapping”. The next part of the trick was playing catch ball with what seemed like a torn half, but was actually the intact cigarette. The illusion worked because Kirigirisu was already convinced that the snapping had occurred, and Ajiro’s hands moved too quickly for him to realize the truth.

While Kirigirisu understood the need for the rule about never showing the same trick twice to someone, he didn’t feel at all like learning the truth ruined the magic for him. On the contrary, he felt even more emotionally moved and fired up. He would compare that feeling to the catharsis caused by solving a tough case, that emotion of finally attaching a logical explanation to something that seemed unsolvable.

Seeing his enthusiasm made Ajiro even more eager to serve as a lecturer, so he quickly explained another trick. It looked like he was pushing the cigarette into his left fist using his right hand… but in actuality he just pretended to do it while hiding the object in his right hand, where Kirigirisu couldn’t see. Then it was simply a matter of keeping the Kirigirisu's eyes on the fist—in other words, making use of misdirection—which let Ajiro withdraw his right hand with the hidden cigarette and drop it onto his lap (an action magicians know simply as “lapping”).

Next, Ajiro showed the part of the routine where he seemed to be pointing to something invisible in the air and catching it. These movements were meant to misdirect attention; while Kirigirisu was looking at Ajiro's pointing and catching left hand, his right hand could do whatever it wanted without being seen—perform a so-called “secret move”. In this case, the secret move was picking up the cigarette from his lap and hiding it in his palm.

When Ajiro earlier demanded that Kirigirisu followed his movements, this too served as misdirection pulling attention away from the act of lapping.

That's all fine and well, but how could a lit cigarette have been hidden in his hand at the very beginning? Ajiro explained that while magicians usually use a "pull"—a metal tube slightly bigger than the cigarette in which it can be safely hidden—he used a simpler method called "the throwing vanish". He acted like he's throwing the cigarette towards his left hand, but it actually stayed in his right.

But how could he lap it without it giving off visible smoke? He didn't; instead he put it between his crossed legs under the low table, so smoke couldn't rise freely. This trick could only really work in a place like the inn where customers sat on the ground.

Okay, but if the cigarette never entered his left hand, why was there smoke rising from within it? Well, Ajiro simply moved the hidden-in-right-hand cigarette below his left fist, let the smoke rise up, and only then retreated his right hand, once the viewer's attention was firmly on the fist. He did something similar later when Kirigirisu was holding his hand closed. He retrieved the cigarette from its hiding place, then—moving his right hand fast enough that smoke would dissipate in the air fast and wouldn’t be seen—moved it under his fist, letting smoke rise.

That was the end of explanations, so Kirigirisu asked about Gensui's tricks from earlier. Did Ajiro understand the secrets behind them too?

"I do. The truth is, he showed me the same routine when we met for the first time. But it's still his secret, and besides, I wouldn't be able to explain and show it as well as he would. After we talk about the case tomorrow, maybe you'll have a chance to learn about it from him." That maybe doesn't sound optimistic, and seeing Kirigirisu's saddened face, Ajiro adds, "Gensui didn't actually tell me the method, you know. I studied some magic and figured it out by myself later. Maybe after the lecture I just gave you, you can try to uncover the secret yourself?"

Kirigirisu's detective brain attempts to figure it out.

There were eight or so individual illusions to Gensui's routine. Putting his card into Kirigirisu's hand out of nowhere. Having Kirigirisu's name already printed out despite not knowing him. Changing Kirigirisu's card into his own. Pulling Kirigirisu's card out of an empty pocket. Making an orange silk handkerchief appear. Turning it into a ball. Turning the ball into a mandarin orange. Somehow making half his card appear inside that orange.

How Gensui slipped him the card is unknown. He could have learned Kirigirisu's name beforehand from Ajiro, but Ajiro denied that he had told him. Besides, it's improbable that he would have the card printed so fast, unless he was ready to pay good money (it’s 1977 and word processors are only now beginning to crop up). Where Kirigirisu's card disappeared to was unknown, as Gensui couldn't exactly lap it, and a secret move was out of a question when Kirigirisu could see both his hands. Was it then hidden in some secret compartment inside his pocket? Or maybe the card he pulled out of there wasn't even the same one, but a copy he had received beforehand from Ajiro (who denied this as well). The silk handkerchief probably had been hidden somewhere, the problem was where. The transformations into a ball and an orange were mistifying, and finding the torn half of the card inside the orange truly seemed like pure magic.

Ajiro's demonstration should have given him a hint, but he still had no idea how to explain the routine. He kept thinking about it so hard he couldn't sleep well that night.

Before the show, the two detectives go to the employee area once more. While most the performers are hanging out talking in a group, there's no Gensui or his brother anywhere. Perhaps they prefer to stay out of sight to make sure no one spots both of them at once.

When they meet Gensui in his trailer house, he's wearing a tailcoat that matches his imposing figure much better than the staff jacket from yesterday. He makes that unemotional face again when others can see him, but as soon as the door closes behind them he's back to a gentle smile. (Both expressions look perfectly natural. Well, as a magician he's probably been learning acting since childhood.)

Ajiro tells him about his and Kirigirisu's conversation. Gensui listens closely, smiling the entire time, though at the same time he’s carefully regarding Kirigirisu with his eyes.

"I'm always happy to witness the birth of a new magician friend," he says finally. "If Souji approves of you, then I shall give you my trust as well. If it's not a problem, I could give you a lecture on yesterday's routine after the afternoon show…" Gensui's comforting smile almost seems like that of a Buddha statue surrounded by a halo of light.

Kirigirisu can't believe his own luck and immediately decides in his heart that he’s going to work his hardest on the case, as he can't possibly let this wonderful man come to harm.

"Actually, I had a great idea right now," Gensui adds. "I'd like you to take part in the show. Is that alright?"

“You’d like to… me…!”

“That’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Kirigirisu,” Ajiro prodes him on.

“But… what would someone like me even do?”

“Please do not worry. It’s something even a child could do.” He explains some more and indeed, it’s something easy: Kirigirisu will be chosen from the audience to assist the performers and just has to follow the script.

“I promise you I will do my best, Mr. Soga!”

“I’m glad to hear it. Please call me Gensui… or Tensui, when people are watching.”

It’s amazing to think that if Kirigirisu made a different impression on Gensui, he’d never get to see this gentle, smiling side of him, just the emotionless imposing act. He has half the mind to shout “please call me Tarou!”, but it can’t get through his throat. (Tarou is a really common name. There’s that detective in the organization called Arito Tarou who always calls Kirigirisu “the fake Tarou”, and he doesn’t like to remember that.)

Later that morning, the two detectives finally enter the circus tent with other spectators.

Ajiro has a nostalgic look on his face; while a busy man, he always makes sure to see the family's show whenever it comes to Fukui prefecture near Kyoto. The last time he saw it was just that summer, in fact.

Kirigirisu looks around astounded, having never seen something like this before and already anticipating something marvelous. If a single cigarette was enough for such a wonderful show yesterday, how grand an illusion using that giant bell is going to be? It feels like entering a dream or another world altogether, or even like stepping outside his own body. (Which is maybe a good thing; Kirigirisu isn’t fully sure what his reasoning method is yet, but it seems to have something to do with thinking better when he relaxes and gets this sort of detached feeling.)

And so, the two detectives watch the wonderful magic show. [The narration tells us that it was the very same show that was described earlier in details.]

It is unlike anything Kirigirisu has seen before, and his emotions are best described as similar to falling in love and going on a honeymoon. He is firmly set on doing his best to make Gensui happy, but still dreads the moment he will have to come on stage and anxiety almost gets the most of him (what if Gensui wanted him to catch that rose that didn’t land anywhere near him, what if he wanted him to recognize all these flags, oh God).

His turn comes when little Koyomi announces she’s going to pick one of the spectators by listing “random” personal attributes: someone who hasn’t brought any family along, who is a man in his forties, who does not wear glasses, who thinks his name is unusual, and who came to Yamaguchi from a prefecture far away.

Koyomi seems genuinely surprised when he says he came here all the way from Kyoto, making him wonder whether Gensui didn’t tell her the details, or whether she’s just a really good actor. He follows the previously agreed script (the drawing is just a normal circle, no, it’s the flag of Japan; now it’s a clock or a scale; let’s say it’s a clock). Asked for current time, he gives a half-scripted answer, pretending that his watch is a little early and telling Koyomi the current time plus five minutes (Gensui himself made sure his watch worked correctly beforehand).

Thankfully, everything goes well… though as soon as he sits down, Koyomi asks him to pick the next person, which was not a part of the plan, and he panics a little. It’s a strange feeling when a girl over thirty years your junior has to give you an encouraging look. It’s even stranger when a thousand and five hundred people are, if just for a moment, hanging onto your every word.

As soon as the guests leave the tent, another surprise awaits them. Where there should be just empty space, now stretches a vast flower field, their petals wet with rain. Ajiro explains that it’s trompe-l'œil, a painting technique that uses forced perspective to create the illusion of depth. Indeed, up close the flower field is clearly just a picture, a strangely deformed one at that. Just like many other illusions, this one works only as long as the spectators can’t take a closer look.

They meet with Gensui, who has apparently just changed from the black diving suit into the usual tailcoat. His hair is still a little wet. He thanks Kirigirisu for cooperation and is in turn thanked for such an amazing show.

“Well then, it’s time to keep my own promise,” Gensui says. “Let’s start the lecture on yesterday’s routine. First, how I was able to learn your name. It’s very simple—perhaps disappointingly so, for which you’ll have to forgive me. After Souji told me he would take a coworker along, I simply called the organization’s secretary and asked for your name.”

“I see… but you must have learned about it not even a day before we met. How did you manage to get a card printed out so fast?”

“The secret here is likewise very simple. All the cards weren’t printed at all, but handwritten by a talented member of my staff. All those giant signs you see around were made by them as well. As long as you have access to the right ink, it’s possible to make your handwriting look like print.”

“You said all the cards just now…” Kirigirisu is slowly starting to understand. Multiple cards. One had to say Tensui, another Gensui...

Gensui nods, then shows them how he prepared the orange. He takes a pre-torn half of a card that has I’m Soga Gensui written on it, rolls it up, then carefully inserts it inside the fruit by removing and replacing the stem. This is apparently a variation of a widely known illusion, Bill in Lemon.

Next, Gensui repeats the first part of yesterday’s routine: he takes the intact card with I’m Soga Tensui on it, which seems to magically disappear in his hand, only to return when he gives Kirigirisu a handshake. Confused Kirigirisu passes the card to Ajiro, who also makes it disappear in his hand… but once Kirigirisu can take a look from another angle, he realizes that the card was just moved to the back of his hand.

“The act of hiding an object in your hand is what we call “palming”,” Ajiro explains. “This particular variation is known as the back palm.” He gives Kirigirisu a handshake and swiftly moves the card to its previous position, so it stays in Kirigirisu’s palm once he withdraws.

But what if the other person attempted to look at the back of his outstretched hand? This is also not a problem, as Ajiro demonstrates: one just has to move the card into another hidden position inside one’s palm. His moves are ridiculously fast. Even Gensui seems impressed.

Next question: how did Gensui change Kirigirisu’s card into his own just by moving his right hand over it? The truth is, that right hand had the Tensui card hidden in it using what’s called a “classic palm”. First, he inserted that hidden Tensui card underneath Kirigirisu’s card. Then he palmed Kirigirisu’s card and took it away, revealing the Tensui card underneath. This may be complicated, but Gensui’s skills made it seem like a single fluid move. With Kirigirisu’s card still palmed in his right hand, he then pretended to pull it out from the empty pocket.

The secrets really are so simple once you learn them, though they do require mastering the palming techniques. As Gensui points out, it’s not an easy feat to make your hand look naturally positioned while you’re secretly holding something with it. (Kirigirisu does wonder when busy Ajiro would have time to train something like that.)

Next question: okay, we know that the torn half of the Gensui card was hidden in the orange beforehand… but then why would its edge perfectly fit the Nice to meet you part from the Tensui card, the one that was torn in half with Kirigirisu watching? This also is very simple: because what Kirigirisu was handed was not one half of the Tensui card, but of the Gensui card.

The magician sneaked the remaining Nice to meet you fragment of Gensui into his hands together with the intact Tensui. Then he torn Tensui in half. The Nice to meet you fragment of Tensui was promptly palmed, and Kirigirisu took that sneaky little Nice to meet you fragment of Gensui instead.

This wasn’t the only thing the magician had kept palmed at the time, either: he was already holding the orange silk handkerchief in his right hand. After he lit the torn Tensui part on fire and let it burn to ashes, he simply let the silk fall out of its hiding place.

In order to magically transform the silk into the ball, Gensui then performed what’s known as a “switch”. He pretended to insert the handkerchief into his left fist, but what he actually put inside was a small orange ball, which had been previously palmed in his right hand along with the silk.

Transforming the ball into an orange was based on a similar switch. When the ball was thrown high in the air, Kirigirisu’s eyes naturally followed it, allowing Gensui to casually pull out the prepared orange out of his pocket. While holding it, Gensui caught the falling ball, palmed it, and presented just the orange to Kirigirisu.

With this, the entire routine is now explained.

Kirigirisu (whose eyes are shining with awe at this point) inspects the orange ball, which turns out to be very soft. According to Ajiro, it’s a Goshman sponge ball.

Gensui seems eager to show more magic, so he takes the ball from Kirigirisu, presses it with his finger, returns it… and the ball in Kirigirisu’s hands has magically divided into two, each somehow the original’s size.

“Sponge balls like this one are very popular, since they allow the magic to happen in the spectator’s own hands,” Ajiro explains. “Let me handle that for a bit, Kirigirisu.” He takes the two balls for just a second, puts them back into Kirigirisu’s hand, gently pushes his fist closed…

...and Kirigirisu realizes with a start that there is now a good ten sponge balls inside his own hand, so many he can’t even get a grip on them, resulting in them falling to the ground while he fumbles in complete shock.

“Wh… how… I...?!”

“Aw, Souji, how awful of you,” Gensui teases. “You overdid it and scared poor Kirigirisu into shock.”

“Awful of me? It’s your own fault that he’s in shock.” Ajiro finally takes mercy on dumbfounded Kirigirisu and explains what just happened. “You may want to remember what I’m going to tell you now, Kirigirisu: illusion is all about showing the audience impossible things. Since those things are impossible, they can’t have actually happened, it just looks like they did. You can solve the secret by process of elimination. Look at all the distinct processes that make up the effect, reject what must be impossible, and what remains in the end will lead you to the method.”

Like the classic process of elimination used in solving cases. Spurn by those words, Kirigirisu attempts to figure out the solution.

It was certainly impossible to divide a sponge ball into ten parts while still keeping the same size and texture. Therefore, the ten sponge balls had to have all existed from the beginning.

How could one make it seem like the sponge ball was multiplying? Since the effect was shown right after Gensui’s lecture, it probably had something to do with what he had said. Both Gensui and Ajiro took the objects into their own hands before returning them. Therefore… Gensui almost certainly had another sponge ball already palmed, and gave it to Kirigirisu together with the original. Perhaps the soft material allowed for easy compressing and hiding of even ten of them at once.

But why on earth would Ajiro randomly keep eight sponge balls on his person? That seemed improbable. If so...

“Boss, when did Gensui give you eight of these sponge balls?”

Gensui and Ajiro both look happy and proud hearing this.

“That is a very good question,” Ajiro says. “While Gensui was showing you the miraculous dividing sponge ball, he sent me a look and secretly passed eight more balls to me. That was enough for me to guess what he wanted me to do.” And so Ajiro became Gensui’s partner in crime, so to speak.

Once all the explanations are done, Gensui gives Kirigirisu a little challenge: to watch the evening show and using his new knowledge try guessing the secrets behind the illusions.

“But—I certainly won’t be able to see through something as amazing and polished as that show!”

“There’s no need to be humble. You are a capable detective. Even if an illusion isn’t quite the same thing as a murder case, wouldn’t you still be able to grasp the solution?”

“Speaking of murder cases,” Ajiro interrupts, “you wanted us to see the show before talking about the case at hand. Are the two connected?”

“They are,” Gensui admits with a serious expression.

“Then—then I’ll do my best to solve the show,” Kirigirisu decides. “Even if I’m not really confident I can do it.”

Sensing that the mood is getting too dark, Gensui announces he’s going to show them one last trick for now. This one he won’t explain yet in order to pique Kirigirisu’s curiosity for later.

“Unfortunately I don’t have playing cards with me right now, so I’ll make do with this,” Gensui says and gives Kirigirisu a familiar business card to inspect. Nice to meet you, I’m Soga Tensui. Nice to meet you, Kirigirisu Tarou. “There are countless variations of card magic. I hope I will have an opportunity to show you Paul Curry’s Out of This World one day, the illusion that the great magician Dai Vernon once called “the card trick of the century”. But today, instead of the flashy Out of This World, I want to show you its polar opposite I devised: Change The World. The simplest card magic possible, stripped of all unnecessary decorations, using only one card.”

“It’s been a few years since I’ve last seen it,” Ajiro says, visibly expecting something amazing to happen.

Gensui puts the card on his open left palm.

“Keep your eyes on it… it’s going to be over in a flash.” He reaches out with his right hand, then moves it fast as lightning, making it pass a good ten centimeters above the card. It really is over in a flash. The card was hidden from the detectives’ sight for just a split of a second, and yet… it has been transformed into Kirigirisu’s business card.

If you ask Kirigirisu, this entire day full of illusion seemed to Change the World for him.

And so, Ajiro and Kirigirisu prepare to watch the last show of the season.

Nobody could guess that it would end up being the Saimon family’s last public performance.

The evening show follows the same programme as the afternoon one. Using his new magic knowledge, Kirigirisu is able to figure out some things.

For example, the three Courtisanes couldn’t just produce their smoking pipes out of thin air—that was impossible—so they had to have them hidden somewhere. Knowing where to look now, Kirigirisu notices the moment they pull the pipes out of their long sleeves. When the Courtisanes throw the pipes in the air, he knows better than to follow the objects with his sight, and can easily see the women retrieving the umbrellas from their sleeves and opening them; it seems those umbrellas can be folded into a tiny size and loaded up their sleeves in large numbers. The umbrellas also have barely noticeable tiny pockets in them, where the confetti falls from when shaken. (It’s not really that Kirigirisu figures the solution out, as much as just knows where to look, and starts to understand why you shouldn’t show the same trick twice to the same person.) The umbrellas must also have some sort of a thin tube inside to pump water through, and strategic lighting creates the rainbows.

Tensui then shows up from inside the bell somehow. He couldn’t have hid inside beforehand, considering that the stagehands ring the bell at the beginning, and the resulting vibration and noise would render anyone inside deaf, if not kill them. If Tensui couldn’t appear from within the bell… then he must have appeared from below. Was there some sort of a hidden trap door in the floor, like in a kabuki theater?

Now that he thinks about it, is this newly appeared warrior actually Tensui, or maybe Gensui? Well, whichever brother it is, he is certainly "Soga Tensui" as far as the world at large is concerned.

How Tensui lights his left hand on fire without getting burned and how he disappears behind the big screen are mysteries Kirigirisu can’t solve. The two bells seemingly hitting each other and merging into one, which then disappears, just seem like pure magic; you can’t exactly palm a giant bell like a sponge ball.

The beginning of the mirror illusion is obviously just a pantomime that Tensui and Gensui are acting out. The problem is how one of them can get safely stabbed with a sword. The suddenly appearing glass pane in the frame can be easily explained if one notices a subtle change of lighting inside it. The frame probably has a similarly sized piece of glass attached on hinges at a 90 degree angle, so it can be moved to fit into the frame while the audience is distracted by the two warriors. Who moves the frame and how they do that, and how they manage to put a mirror inside later in half a second, is a mystery.

The flying bowtie is just baffling, as is Tensui’s manner of zooming off-stage without moving any of his limbs, or the way he appears from underneath that black cloth on the wooden cross that is kept above the ground at all times (although it is now obvious that what was inside was not a demon, but Tensui making the “horns” using his arms).

How the pictures on the origami doll box change remains a mystery, but the assistant appearing inside and Tensui’s switch with Kotensui can both be explained if they are able to enter and leave the box from below through a trap door… though the Tensui-Kotensui switch must require a lot of skill, considering how the tied hands under the cloth seem to move the entire time. Perhaps they perform the switch one hand at a time?

Kirigirisu already knows the secret behind Kotensui. It’s interesting how drastically the impression he gets changes now that he knows there’s a real boy inside, perfectly acting out stiff, jerky movements of a marionette.

Next comes the switch between adult Koyomi and little Koyomi; while tricky in execution, it can certainly be possible if the tunnel is placed over a trap door, and the big capes both Koyomis are wearing probably help hide the switch a little.

Kotensui’s walk in the air is actually way more impressive now that Kirigirisu knows it’s not actually a marionette. Even assuming the boy is lifted by means of invisible suspension cords, it wouldn’t explain how he walks through the tunnel without those cords catching on the ceiling.

The three members of the audience chosen by throwing a rose around turn out to really be random. It's fascinating how small Koyomi can ad-lib on the spot when talking with them. Maybe she's actually much older than she looks, who knows.

Next come the origami doves that grow twice in size when Koyomi blows on them. That seems impossible. And since it's impossible… Kirigirisu remembers Gensui's lecture and realizes that Koyomi probably performs a switch: the big doves she seems to inflate by blowing are distinct from the ones she and the spectators fold together. That would also explains how the inflated doves seem to grow little "legs".

How Koyomi's hat is able to make a paper dove disappear and a real one appear is still a mystery.

Kirigirisu already knows the outcome of the entire rock-paper-scissors routine and is a bit tempted to show stone against Kotensui's surprise scissors (which are easily made with a Magic Arm), but that wouldn't be fun, so in the end he shows paper like everyone else.

It's unknown how the Arm Guillotine doesn't cut through something in its upper hole. Later, the disembodied gloved hand (obviously fake) is thrown in the air and transforms into a dove… which is impossible. That glove had to already have the bird hidden inside somehow, and Koyomi just released it while pretending she's throwing the glove.

The Magic Hands act doesn't really have a secret involved, instead being a show of engineering and physical skill. Kirigirisu can't help but be deeply moved by the spectacle. A marionette performing dangerous acrobatics is one thing, but a small boy doing the same makes Kirigirisu develop sudden parental feelings, an urge to leap onto the stage and protect that little child somehow.

Next are the many tricks performed by the three girls and the clowns, all miraculous. How can the ribbons change into hula hoops? How can the hoops be linked together? When Kotensui drops the previously light globe, why does it hit the ground with a thud and doesn't bounce? And then there’s the floating, burning ball that zips all around and finally disappears when the clown catches it… at least Kirigirisu can guess that the cape covering the ball must be switched with an already prepared big flag of Japan at some point.

No idea about the secrets behind the next part: the clown pulling out red balls from within the flag, the girl turning them white, turning those balls into juggling pins using a tube, making the pins and balls switch colors, somehow stuffing all of them inside the tube. Then pouring seemingly infinite genuine beer out of an empty bottle and shaking candy out of a hat. Kirigirisu's confusion is amplified by the way these tricks are performed in quick succession, with lots of chaos on stage.

The man chosen through the flag quiz this time is a journalist, clearly different than the teacher from earlier, though he also chooses the flag of Japan. Once again Koyomi makes an intentional mistake, only to magically turn the Korean flags into Japanese ones. The flag card in her hand is probably switched when everyone's attention is on the giant card. But if she already has the Japan card prepared, then… does she know for certain that the spectator will always choose the flag of Japan? Neither man seemed like a planted stooge.

Next is the trick that Kirigirisu himself took part in, Watch & Sketch Control. The woman chosen instead of him gives very natural answers about the drawing (it's a ball, now it's a clock), then gives Koyomi the current time—which in the evening show is of course different: 6:54 PM. The next spectator chooses 3:00 as their favorite hour, and when the last spectator says stop, the magically moving drawn clock does stop on exactly 3:00.

A drawing starting to move is of course impossible. The only explanation Kirigirisu can think of is that what looks like a blank page actually has two white paper “clock hands” prepared beforehand, which—judging by the the way Koyomi supports the sketchbook with her arm behind it—can be moved by stealthily handling them from behind. Koyomi simply draws the arrows on top of these two prepared hands. This moment would always happen at around the same time into the show, so one could predict from what position the clock hands would begin their journey and set them beforehand.

In the same vein, Koyomi must then secretly set the right time on the real clock she has hidden behind the sketchbook, although how she knows when to stop without looking at the clock's face is anyone's guess. The circle was already red beforehand, and Koyomi just removes another piece of white paper that hides that color. All of this seems improbable considering the audience is able to examine the paper she used after the show… but only after the show. The staff can easily prepare a convincing fake in the meanwhile.

Finally, the "last illusion" from Koyomi. Kirigirisu suspects that the liquid inside the pitcher is not actually water, and that both the milk bottle and the wine glass aren’t as empty as they look, but a detailed explanation escapes him. Making a fish appear out of nowhere is impossible, so it must have been hidden somewhere.

Transforming a fish into a dragon is likewise impossible. The only explanation is that the giant writhing shadow isn’t actually a shadow, but a pre-recorded projection, and what seems like rain is delivered by a system of sprinklers. While everyone pays attention to the “dragon”, the stagehands quickly switch what’s behind the screen: the small tank to the giant tank, the plain black backdrop to the black-and-white funeral curtain. The projection trick would also help explain the earlier illusion with the warrior disappearing behind the screen.

While Koyomi and Kotensui hide under her umbrella, the clock on the table shows fast-forwarded time, probably with use of some timed mechanical device that Kirigirisu doesn’t know. The switch from little Koyomi to big Koyomi most likely uses the trapdoor again; the cape is held up in the air so that it acts as a “wall” that doesn’t let the audience notice the switch, the umbrella providing an additional shield. A trap door must be also how a chair magically shows up behind the umbrella set on the ground. The one thing a very convenient trap door does not explain is how adult Koyomi then disappears while sitting in a chair without visibly reaching the floor.

Kotensui’s acrobatic act—fully deserving its title of a Swing without a String—looks just plain terrifying now that Kirigirisu knows there’s an actual child in there. Just like before, Kotensui falls seemingly to his death, but is caught by Tensui and carried down to the stage. How Tensui performs Sea Walk and Sky Walk is not an easy mystery to solve, as expected of his signature acts.

Finally, the underwater escape. Watching the illusion a second time makes it painfully obvious that Tensui is just pretending to desperately struggle, but has it all under control. He gets out of the handcuffs and the chains with the same timing as before, swims around the cage searching for a way out in roughly the same manner, and just like before the Press Hammer seems to crush him at the end. How exactly he can get out of there in time and reappear in the auditorium, Kirigirisu can’t guess.

Though Kirigirisu managed to figure out some of the methods, the sheer number of remaining mysteries proves that magic really is an art full of secrets. When he and Ajiro leave the tent, they’re greeted by snow, swirling beautifully in the evening air like yet another wondrous illusion.

[>>>NEXT PART>>>]

#sparkly reads the saimon family case #maijo and jdc stuff

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a-man-for-hire-and-his-archives · 4 years

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Q&A: Luke Arnold, Author of ‘The Last Smile In Sunder City’

Luke Arnold may be better known to some as a veteran performer on film, TV, as well as theater, but now he’s turned his creative energies towards a new career as a writer. His debut novel, The Last Smile In Sunder City, published on January 28th (Australia) and February 6th (UK) with it to be released February 25th in the US, so we took the opportunity to chat to him about the inspiration for his story, how he manages to balance two careers, and discovering a new love for the fantasy genre.

Thanks for taking the time to talk to us! Firstly, can you tell us a bit about yourself?

For the last decade or so I’ve been lucky enough to work as an actor on a bunch of great projects in Australia (my home) and around the world. Some people might know me as John Silver on a show called Black Sails. One of the quirks of being an actor is that every job ends so you often end up with huge chunks of time while you wait for the next gig. After finishing my work on Black Sails, I used that downtime to write my debut novel The Last Smile in Sunder City.

Has writing always been a passion and how does it fit in with your acting career?

The writing came first. In some ways, the acting was a side-effect of the fact that I was writing things that needed to be performed. My high school principal even warned me that while my writing was impressive, my acting left a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, when I was accepted into university courses for acting, filmmaking and writing, I decided that I’d start with acting and return to writing later. I thought that I’d be a better writer after gaining a little life experience and a career in acting has certainly given me that.

For me, all the creative energy comes from the same place, it’s just expressed in different ways. I’m sit on my own, bashing out a manuscript for a few months, then get called onto set to collaborate with a bunch of other artists for a while. It’s the best of both worlds.

How would you describe your debut novel, The Last Smile in Sunder City, in one sentence?

A hard-boiled detective gets kicked around an dystopian fantasy world hunting real monsters while running from his demons.

The Last Smile in Sunder City features magical beings in a world struggling to deal with the aftermath of magic being lost, which is a very unique concept for a fantasy novel! Do you read much fantasy yourself? If so, was this a deliberate response to common fantasy tropes?

Before writing this book, my knowledge of the fantasy genre was actually pretty abysmal. I cast a wide net with what I read, and I’d had a few early experiences with the genre that kind of turned me off. I’m doing my best to catch up and have quickly realised that I’ve been missing out. It’s an exciting time for fantasy and sci-fi where a lot of writers are breaking the mould of what we thought the genre could be.

This wasn’t a response to existing tropes but I wanted this world to feel as familiar as possible, so that it feels as easy to read as a mystery set in somewhere like Los Angeles. I’m far from the first writer to create a world where the magic is missing, but I hope I’m sitting in the aftermath and examining the idea in a way that feels fresh.

Were there any intentional references to real-life issues in this book? I may be reading too much into it, but I wondered if the issue with magic being lost and its impact on all the species was an analogy for climate change?

It’s hard to avoid the link between the broken world of Sunder City and what’s happening around us, but that wasn’t the initial inspiration. For me, it represents something more internal. As we get older, life can seem less magical than it did when we were kids, even when the world isn’t actually falling to pieces like it is now.

Of course, with things the way they are, I spend a lot of time wondering how to do some good in a breaking world and those thoughts definitely add fuel to Fetch’s journey.

If this book were to be adapted, what format would you prefer it to be, and why?

I think it would really suit a television show. Mystery has always works well on TV but in this golden-era of content, I think we could make something special. Indulge in all the film-noir elements and make something really unique.

The most exciting part would be letting other characters take the story for a bit. These book are all in Fetch’s head but a series would let us wander the streets with other characters and give them time to shine.

The story is told entirely in the first person. How easy was it to get into Fetch’s head and maintain his mindset the whole time? Did you ever have difficulty separating yourself from the darker, at times depressing mood of the book?

While writing the second book, I realised that I needed to shake Fetch out of my system at the end of a writing day. I’m put a lot of my worst tendencies into him, things that I hope I’ve grown past, and spending too much time in his head can drag me backwards. Luckily, Fetch will grow over the course of the books so maybe they won’t always be such dark waters to swim in.

How does your experience with acting and portraying other characters help with creating your own original characters?

It definitely had an effect but it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how. I hope that it had an effect on the secondary characters. As an actor, you become aware of when a character is making choices aren’t organic, but just serve the plot and the needs of the protagonist. Ideally, each character has their own internal world, wants and needs, so that they would be satisfying for an actor to play.

Can you tell us a bit about your writing process? For instance, the world of Sunder City is very detailed, did you figure out the nuts & bolts of its history and workings while you were writing or was there a bible that you created beforehand to refer to?

I started with some of the broad strokes in my head, but I first discovered Sunder City by letting Fetch walk the streets. It began with a short story and I had no outline, no map, no bible. I just set him off on a case and followed him around as he kicked over stones. Of course, there were many rewrites and expansions that took me to the final manuscript, and I now have a huge document with all the species, businesses, streets, histories, technologies, etc, but Fetch came first. I try not to get ahead of him because I want to use the world to best reflect his current state of mind and challenge him in specific ways.

Aside from the sequel, would you write more books in this genre or branch out into others?

I wish I had the time to write everything I want to. I hope to branch out and write something separate the Fetch Phillips archives soon. Not necessarily fantasy, but I do always like a touch of magic realism in what a write. So it will more likely be horror or sci-fi rather than anything too naturalistic but you never know.

And finally, what are you currently reading? Do you have any recommendations?

I’ve just digging into The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker which I am loving. Very on-brand with my pirate past. Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter was brilliant. In some ways, it felt like the exact opposite kind of fantasy to The Last Smile in Sunder City and I love that.

- The Nerd Daily

#luke arnold #luke spam #interview #the last smile in sunder city

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a-ray-of-moonshine · 5 years

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11/11/11 Tag Game

threeThanks for tagging me, @storyteller-shealie and sorry for seeing this so late! My life suddenly turned into a non-stop emergency for the past week or two, so I’ve been kinda MIA (but it’s all better now).

Rules: answer 11 questions, write your own 11, tag 11 people

1. Do you ever notice that the media you consume (books, tv-shows, etc) influences your writing in some ways?

All the time. That’s why I try to match whatever I’m reading/watching to whatever I’m writing. If I’m focused on a high fantasy WIP, I mostly read fantasy books and watch fantasy anime that have similar themes and issues. That’s because if I decided to read/watch a murder mystery instead, I’d likely stop being so focused on that fantasy WIP and want to write a mystery or a thriller of my own instead.

2. What was your favorite part about the last scene or chapter you’ve written?

It wasn’t so much a scene as a random snippet? I’m planning a new WIP, and that’s the stage where I write a lot of flash fiction just to get to know all the characters. Some of this stuff might later make it into the actual WIP, reworked into proper scene, but most remains for my own reference only. I think my favorite part about that last snippet was how I finally managed to get into the villain’s head and find what makes him tick.

3. What was the most difficult part of writing that last scene or chapter?

EVERYTHING. :D Villains are often the hardest characters for me to work with, and this WIP is no exception.

4. Do you write everything in order, or do you find yourself often moving scenes around?

I usually begin writing in order, but after 10K words or so I start jumping back and forth a lot, and then moving stuff back and forth, too.

5. What’s your writing software of choice? Why do you like it?

I absolutely love Focus Writer. It’s distraction-free, it allows you to create your own themes, such as choosing colors and background pictures, and you can easily move scenes around if you give them headings. Writing got so much easier since I discovered it.

6. What’s your favorite writing environment? Do you need to be alone, or maybe you’d rather write in libraries or coffeeshops? Do you prefer silence or music?

In summer, I love writing outside in my backyard or on the balcony. In winter, the weather usually disagrees with that choice, so I stick to my room. I usually have my headphones on, listening to some instrumental music that matches the tone of whatever I’m currently writing, and I have problems maintaining focus when there are other people around, so no coffeeshops for me. :)

7. If someone distracts you in the middle of a writing session, how do you usually react?

I can get really irritable, even though of course I try not to show it. I really don’t like to be distracted, because it’s hard for me to get back on track again after the distraction has passed.

8. Do you like writing sprints?

I’m kind of indifferent to them most of the time. I guess when I’m on a roll, every writing session for me is a writing sprint of sorts: I type as fast as I can until either the scene is done or my hands are tired, I take a break, I type quickly again while I still have a clear image of whatever’s happening in the story. Deliberately setting a timer and telling myself to type fast doesn’t really change anything for me, I guess?

9. Have you ever done NaNoWriMo? Why or why not? What are your thoughts about this type of challenge?

I’ve only participated in Camp, but I’m planning to maybe try NaNoWriMo in November, too. 50K in a month is a pretty big goal for me, but I think there’s a chance it’s doable, so I want to try it once and see what happens.

10. Do you find it easier to write short stories or novels?

Something in the middle, I think. I feel the most comfortable somewhere in the 35K-60K range, depending on the story.

11. How are your WIPs born? Do you start with characters? With a plot idea? With a worldbuilding thought, like “what if there was a world with sentient dragons who were the source of magic”? Something else?

Definitely the characters. Everything I write is very character-driven, so it always starts with the MC, and then more characters show up, and then they... sort of help me figure out the world and the actual story, I guess. :)

My Questions:

1. Is there a trope you never get tired of?

2. Who is your least favorite character in your WIP? Why?

3. Let’s say I’m planning to visit the setting of your WIP for a weekend. What should I take with me? What are the most important things for me to know beforehand? Which of your characters should I ask to be my guide?

4.Beginning, middle, or end—which is the hardest for you as a writer?

5. Which is more inspiring for you: music or visual art?

6. Do you have any other creative interests and hobbies besides writing?

7. How close is your WIP now to what you were expecting it to be when you just started?

8. What are your plans for when you finish your WIP? Traditional publishing? Indie publishing? Putting it online for others to read for free?

9. Your MC is here. On your doorstep. Planning to spend the day with you. Oh, and they know you’re the author responsible for everything that’s going on in the story right now. Are you expecting it to be a nice conversation, or do you maybe want to run and hide? :D

10. Name a song that could be your villain’s personal anthem.

11. Is there anything you would never, ever write a story about, even if you were offered a large sum of money to do so?

Tagging: @sanguinewritings @celestialbunnistories @bexminx @aslanwrites @blueinkblot @fantasy-shadows @me-between-the-lines @nadiasnarrative @three-seas-writes @aurumni-writes @sundaynightnovels (No pressure! Feel free to ignore!)

#11/11/11 tag #tag game #writeblr #my writing #writing questions

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violet-bookmark · 5 years

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The devil between us, by S.C Wilson

Remember the book I was reading during the train ride and that made me finish RAR? This was it. I bought it for the same reasons as La bastarda: saw it somewhere, synopsis looked great, read the free sample of the prologue and immediately wanted it because the plot looked promising and the writing style was beautiful and captivating yet simple. A lot of people, straight people included, seemed to love it: it was one of Amazon's #1st best sellers of 2018! What could possibly go wrong?

A lot, as the first chapter showed me.

Massive trigger warnings for rape and murder. If these are things that affect you, please be cautious when reading this book, or just skip chapter five completely. I am not triggered by these things and even I had a panic attack while reading because it was fucking horrifying.

This book starts in the year 1853, during the Californian Golden Rush. It tells the story of Jessica Pratt, a young girl who lives with her lovely family near Mount Perish. This life does not last long for her, as her family is all horribly murdered during the first chapter. She manages to escape, and after being found by a mysterious woman who lives by herself in the mountains, she begins to live with her in the wilderness. After a decade, circumstances force her to leave the mountain and to seek civilization again, concretely on the town of Ely. Since it is dangerous for a young woman to travel alone, she disguises herself as Jesse, a young man who ends up catching the eye of the town's sweetheart and singer, Abby.

The writing style was amazing; very evocative yet simple, not falling into the mistake of being too convoluted. It striked the balance between descriptive, beautiful and natural perfectly, letting the story flow at a very easy pace and trapping the reader between its pages in no time. Despite its bleak beginning I found myself reading it eagerly and not even realising how far down the story I was. I had no problem imagining the scenery, and the action was described in a very cinematic way, easy to visualize. The setting is also well done and cohesive, but I can't talk much about the realistic side of things since I am not very familiar with that time period. It was definitely detailed enough to feel like the author cared about realism.

The plot was good: I was surprised by how romantic it was, as I expected something more like "the protagonist tracks down the men who killed her family and takes her revenge, getting a girlfriend in the process", or at least something far more thriller-like, since the prologue is about the protagonist about to die from a bullet wound. Instead, the story had much less action and was more focused on Jessica/Jesse as a character and her growth as a person, her fear of her true sex being found out, her budding romantic relationship with Abby and her maternal relationship with Frieda. This disappointed me a little because I expected something else from the plot, but I also didn't like it because Jessica/Jesse's character development was not as well done as it could have been.

Let's start by her character development: her sadness felt unrealistic. She just lost her family, she had nightmares about her parents being murderer and her sister being raped, but it was all very linear before the ending. She never felt rage, or frustration, or any type of "bad" emotion outside of fear and sadness. Her trauma doesn't evolve, and I don't believe that. As a child she saw her dad and brothers die, her sister being raped and her house burning down with her mother and her sister inside. This is huge. This is no normal loss; her family was humiliated and murdered in front of her. These events should have traumatized her for life and left her with a lot of complex emotions to deal with. The way her feelings were described, you would think that she lost her parents to an illness, or perhaps to an accident, which is traumatic but at least you know they were not unnecessarily and horribly tortured before they died. I would have expected her to feel some type of anger or denial at the circumstances more often. You just don't get the feeling it impacted her character as much as it should during the book, and when everything explodes during the ending it does feel forced.

Before starting to rant again, I will give kudos where it's due: I deeply appreciated that the author acknowledged that in order to pass as a man it is necessary to have a deep voice and "manly" mannerisms. A lot of authors only make their women dress as men and bam, instant disguise. It doesn't work like that at all and for once it was very nice to read about a character putting effort in practicing the social cues that people associate with the opposite sex, that was very well done. That being said, it frustrated me how inacurate the book was in regards to chest binding. I know this book is not supposed to be "How to pass as a man 101", but since the story is about a woman who wants to disguise herself as one you should take realism into account, especially in regards to something as dangerous as chest binding. When the protagonist bandages her chest it is not hard at all for her, which is complete bullshit. Anyone that has ever tried to bandage their chest can attest to the fact that it can be quite difficult to get it right the first time. She also leaves it bandaged for several hours without feeling any pain, nor any discomfort, or having any difficulty breathing; she sleeps wearing it, performs physically exhausting tasks wearing it, goes on long walks and horse-rides wearing it with no effects whatsoever. At this point I was like "damn, this woman's ribcage and lungs are made of steel or what?". Very unrealistic, 0/10.

As for Jessica/Jesse's reaction to having to disguise herself as a man... It was badly done. The author didn't stop hitting us in the head with "she is wearing pants, but she REALLY wants to wear pretty dresses! Pants and shirts make her uncomfortable and she hates them! She is a feminine woman!" And at first I was like "eh, I thought she wore animal hides during that decade in the mountain? The last time she wore a dress was like... 10 years ago, when she was 10 years old? She didn't care before and she cares now? What? Oh well, I guess the animal hides were shaped like dresses, which doesn't seem very practical but hey, at least it makes sense". But then in a scene where she is talking to Abby about the mountain, she is like "Oh yes, you can't wear dresses or skirts in the mountain, you have to wear practical clothing like pants" and I was like ??? You have been moaning to hell and back about how you miss dresses, and now you say that you have to wear practical clothing in the mountain? So then your animal hides were not shaped like dresses? So then what you wear at Ely is really not that different to what you have been wearing during 10 damn years at Mount Perish? What are you so hard-pressed about, exactly??? There is a difference in a character just wanting to wear dresses and... This.

If she should have had to disguise herself as a man immediately after she had been wearing dresses all her life and taught that skirts are the proper thing for women to wear, I would understand her anxiety. But if she has been wearing pants during 10 years out of her own volition, why does she suddenly care the moment she goes down to the city? Especially when at times she says that she does not understand the women in Ely? It was confusing. Maybe the author had an intent there that I am not able to see, but she did not transmit it very well through her writing, in all honesty.

And then, towards the end, Jesse sees that Abby is worried about wearing pants and out of the blue she is all like "don't worry, they are just clothes." I just... What?

I did like some things about Jesse: she was a good person, she liked to travel, she was a good hunter, she helped a prostitute when she had the chance and was generally nice to everybody, but was not afraid to fight if somebody mistreated her or Abby. Overall she was not a bad protagonist, but she did not feel cohesive. Her development felt forced and not very organic.

Moving on to the romance: I disliked the scene where Abby was introduced. It was promising at first, because this author is very good at writing impactful scenes and introducing characters, and I thought that I was in for a really great moment. But then, as we are being told about the reactions that Abby awakes in all the men in the crowd, the narrator starts to describe Jesse's. And she is feeling, guess what: jealous and insecure. She is not even awestruck, or feeling even a hint of attraction to her, or feeling something that she can't determine (which we all know what would have been). But instead she wants to get dolled up like her and be as pretty as her, and she looks at her reflection with insecurity to check herself out in comparison to Abby. That is all that the author describes to us; no hint of any possible romance. If I had not known that Abby is supposed to be the love interest beforehand, I wouldn't have known from that scene. Then some moments after Abby approaches Jesse, and she notes that "he" looks at her like "a kid caught with his hand stuck in the candy jar". But then again she thinks that Jesse is a man, and it would be easy to misinterpret any other feeling that Jesse might be feeling as attraction. We certainly don't have any indicators from Jesse that point to her being attracted to the other woman. Abby's own attraction, while well described, relies on perceiving Jesse as male. This has to be the most "no homo" romantic introduction of a lesbian love interest that I have ever read.

Don't get me wrong, the romance gets better, but their first scene together didn't have any chemistry whatsoever. After that, however, their scenes together are way better written and heartwarming. Only thing I didn't like was the fact that Jesse reveals her sex way later than I expected, which made everything worse because their relationship was built on that lie. I really disliked that and I wish Abby would have found out way, way sooner.

I liked Abby more than Jesse: her character felt more coherent, she was a brave woman surviving in a harsh world, and always there to support her friends. I also found realistic that she tried to move on after Jesse had been rejecting her advances for a long time, because honestly, life is short. At first I thought she was bisexual but the story leaves it quite ambiguous; she has been with men before but wherether it was out of love/attraction or not is not clear. I loved that one of the things that made her be attracted to Jesse was the scent, which she described as being sweeter than a man's. I empathized with that, because one of the first things that made me realize I was not attracted to men, apart from the anatomical aspects, was the fact that I don't like how they smell. I am not being rude and saying that men don't wash, it is not about that; men and women smell differently per se. Men's smell does not attract me; women's smell does.

I also liked Frieda, she was a great mother figure and the relationship between her and Jessica was very beautiful and emotional. She cared for her as if she was her own daughter and made sure that she could survive in that harsh world by herself.

Which brings me to the appearance of native americans in the story: I disliked how they only appeared when the white characters needed some spiritual or physical healing. They felt like walking Deus Ex Machina instead of characters. Even the background characters from Ely felt more three-dimensional than them. I also think the book may have showed the conflict between white people and native americans through rose-tinted glasses; not in the sense of it being something to romanticize, but in the sense of painting both sides as having suffered equally, which obviously was not true.

From the prologue I imagined that this book would be bold, realistic and harsh. And it certainly was at the beginning (way more than what I would have expected) but then it just toned down and didn't live up to the expectations I had for it. The book spends so much time reminding us that Jesse is a woman (as if we would forget), that she wants to be feminine and that she is afraid to be discovered that does not develop other potential plot points that would be way more interesting, in my opinion. There is no real tension to her being discovered out, really: no character suspects anything, her ribs and lungs of steel prevent her from having any real need to remove her bandages and the only moments where characters ask her things that could potentially expose her true sex, she just refuses and they go like "Oh, alright. Tell us if you change your mind okay bye!" So there was no tension at all. It was just so easy for her to pass as a man that I didn't understand why the author insisted so much on emphasizing how afraid Jesse was of being found out. Instead of hitting me over the head with it, make me feel afraid she will be discovered! Create tension! I know you can, S.C Wilson, because you had me at the edge of the seat during the first part of the book!

During the Pratt's family manslaughter, the author was amazing at making us feel as miserable, traumatized, empty and defeated as the characters were feeling, and created a powerful scene that was very hard to read but that had a lot of merit in terms of moving the reader, all without being too graphic to the point of being distasteful. I would have expected this to extend to the rest of the book, but it was not the case; the rest of the story made me feel things, but it fell flat during the moments that mattered.

By the ending things pick up again: the plot gets back on track and the book grabs you again, making you feel the same trepidation that it made you feel at the beginning. I was grateful for that but everything was kind of rushed. Things would have felt more natural if, instead of so many romantic moments, the author had left the climax some time to build up during the middle of the story. The resolution also felt very rushed.

I think I may have bashed the romance and plot too hard; the author has obviously worked hard to write this book, it does have a good plot and the writing style is excellent, as are a lot of details from hunting, history, etc. Research was obviously done, something that a lot of authors don't do, even famous ones. But it just didn't do it for me. I expected more. I would not discourage anyone from giving it a read, but some moments are so cringey that I would not recommend it too much, either.

I recommend this book if you like stories set during the Golden Rush, with harsh conflicts, characters that are attracted to women and beautiful descriptions of american landscapes. I don't recommend it if you are searching for an exciting story, gnc characters or romances that you can ship (lying about one's sex is a deal-breaker for ships, imo).

#lesbian literature #literature #happy ending #homosexual literature #ambiguously bi love interest #The California Golden Rush #realistic fiction #Violet reviews #lesbian protagonist #crossdressing protagonist #S.C Wilson

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authorracheljoy · 6 years

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A writer's Ask Game 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49

1. Do you listen to music when you write?

Only when I’m typing up what I’ve written, honestly!

I can’t otherwise focus on the actual writing/editing if there’s music or other distracting noises so-

2. Are you a pantser or plotter?

Plotter all the way!

I gotta have an outline, otherwise my story loses focus and that’s NOT GOOD!

3. Computer or pen and paper?

Both, technically XD I use pen and paper for the drafting, and to get all my ideas down (and outline too of course), but then I typically use the computer for typing up what I’ve written :))

5. How much writing do you get done on an average day?

Less than I’d like to recently :/ I honestly NEED to get a better writing/editing schedule, but my days are just so consumed by other things to take away my attention, and it sucks. Both as an excuse and just a way of getting by when I have a manuscript that needs rewrites! D:

6. Single or multiple POV?

Single POV (at least for now? I’m really hoping to branch out with future WIPs)

7. Standalone or series?

Depends on the story idea, really!

If there’s enough content to expand upon after book 1, I typically will plan for sequels. I mean.. The Hunters Saga started out as just a standalone with a thought-about sequel, which turned into a trilogy, which is NOW a freaking QUADRILOGY!

So yeah, it kinda depends XD

8. Oldest WIP

As far as actual prose goes (no transcripts), my oldest WIP was called The Creatures of the Night Quartet, and… it’s TERRIBLE. Granted, I wrote it a few years before Antoinette Drake came to mind but STILL! It’s just horrible writing and the plot- what plot??

But if we’re talking WIPs that include transcript/script formats, I guess my oldest WIP would be SuperNova, which was a silly little sci-fi “story”! You can read about both of these prehistoric WIPs over on my Original Stories page!

9. Current WIP

The Hunters Saga of course! ^^

10. Do you set yourself deadlines?

Oh how I WISH I did that! >.>

11. Books and/or authors who influenced you the most

There… weren’t any really? I kinda just went with it? I mean, my first books were really heavily influenced by Twilight and vampire books in general. The Hunters Saga was slightly influenced by Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series but that’s about all that comes to mind :3

12. Describe your perfect writing space

All I need is a notebook, a pen, and a laptop!

The rest doesn’t really matter at all to me~

13. Describe your writing process from idea to polished

Well, usually my ideas come from dreams, or just scenes that come out of my head :) Then I first try to see if that certain idea/scene fits into any of my current WIPs and could be potentially included! If yes, then I do so! But if not… I typically try and write more around it :) After having an expanded idea and character list, I either develop the characters or make an outline for the story idea. Either works fine ^^ After the characters are developed enough and the outline is made, I get to writing! And after that? I edit it of course XD

14. How do you deal with self-doubts?

I try to remind my self how I became so incredibly lucky to land a publishing deal. I mean, sure, it’s not what I had planned and I have occasional doubt about my writing in general, and how people generally see and criticize my style and characters… I just gotta remind myself that I can’t please everyone. And if I have to have a goal in writing, it’s to tell a story the way I see it. Criticism is such a touchy subject, and some writers just flat out ignore that. And sometimes, that’s smart. But - and I’m getting seriously off-topic here but WELP - more often than not, that criticism turns out to be justified! I know my writing can be weak and uninteresting. But do I let that force me away from my passion? Not at all!

If you love writing and want to become a published author, you can’t do it half-assed! You have to want it wholeheartedly. You have to TRY to improve. You have to take criticism for what it is and what it might be-

OK I’m so off-topic, this is raising too much anxiety oops.. I’ll just leave it there though.. because it’s how I feel!

15. How do you deal with writer’s block?

I do something else - listen to music, draw, watch a movie, play a game- something other than writing (which is blocked, DUH) But yeah! I tend to step away from the manuscript for a bit and clear my head until ideas come rushing back :) And if I’m working through an outline, there’s a possibility of just. working on a different scene in a different chapter other than the one I’m stuck on at the moment ;3

16. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied with a project?

Usually 3 or 4, depending on how long and how detailed the drafts are :D

And if I’m REALLY lucky, I can do it in 2 but that’s actually VERY RARE for me so >.>

17. What writing habits or rituals do you have?

I have none!

I used to try (and fail) to write a page a day I guess XD

Now I just pray that I’ll be done with my current manuscript by the end of the year :X Urrggghhh

18. If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about?

My writing friend @mercurialsmile! We’ve attempted to write a crossover before but it never really went anywhere- mainly ‘cause of my focus on editing and both of our crazy work/school schedules :X Maybe that’ll change soon, though? I dunno but I hope they’d be willing to try again

19. How do you keep yourself motivated?

20. How many WIPs and story ideas do you have?

A LOT!

I may talk about my current WIP (The Hunters Saga) 24/7 on here, but I DO have other projects that have at least some ideas and characters :)

You can find them all HERE!

21. Who is/are your favorite character(s) to write?

Writing Toni is pretty much writing myself, so that’s always a fun time XD

I also like writing Gavin, Kira, Hannah and Ethan, among others ^^

22. Who is/are your favorite pairing(s) to write?

Toni and Henri aaaand Micah and Darius (which is coming soon to the series! Darius gotta be introduced first, guys!!)

23. Favorite author

I really enjoy Stephen King now that I’ve started reading his works~ Also, honorable mention to Kim Harrison for being amazing at writing about paranormal species cohabiting the earth together

24. Favorite genre to write and read

I love love LOVE writing romance and mysteries~

Aaand I pretty much like reading the things that I write so XD

25. Favorite part of writing

Getting the ideas down on paper for the first time and feeling that RELIEF!

26. Favorite writing program

Uhhhh… Microsoft Word??

27. Favorite line/scene

The Frying Pan Incident

28. Favorite side character

Dominic and Adam Hastings

29. Favorite villain

Oooh I can’t say their name but mmmmm they are BAD and I love it!!

30. Favorite idea you haven’t started on yet

A science-obsessed nerd and the head cheerleader fall for each other

Lesbians for the win!!

(basically the plot for Queen Bae, one of my WIPs!)

31. Least favorite part of writing

The EDITING!

The REWRITES!!

32. Most difficult character to write

Mmmmm probably Liz?

33. Have you ever killed a main character?

Yes (not gonna elaborate ‘cause it might count as a spoiler XD)

34. What was the hardest scene you ever had to write?

I won’t be too specific but.. it was a NSFW scene ;;;

35. What scene/story are you least looking forward to writing?

Uhhhmmm I don’t have one that I’m least looking forward to ^^

If I have a story, I write it. End of story.

Even if it might be crappy, I still love the idea.

I would never force myself to write something that I didn’t think deserved being written (if that makes sense??)

36. Last sentence you wrote

Other than a bit of knowledge beforehand, we know about the same for once.

Odd.

Unsettling.

37. First sentence or your current WIP

“I’m so sorry for your loss, my dear,” the man in black murmured to me, but I barely acknowledged his presence.

38. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had

B-but.. ALL of my story ideas are WEIRD!

How could I possibly choose?!

39. Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had

Aliens that puff up/inflate their bodies when angered XD

40. Share some backstory for one of your characters

Dru was born as an only child, which is a true rarity in the lives of lycanthropes. Perhaps it was a sign that they were meant for something truly remarkable?

41. Any advice for new/beginning/young writers?

It’s sort of what I said when I was asked about doubts?

You can’t please everyone, so don’t try to.

Don’t pander. Don’t always give the readers what they want.

Satisfy yourself.

Take criticism; don’t try to ignore all of it. Who knows, some things might actually end up helping you become a better writer ;3

42. How do you feel about love triangles?

I was WAY too attached to them back in the day so!

If I have hints at a possible love triangle, I try to make it so the center of the triangle can have a clear choice as to who they’ll eventually get with (if anyone at all)! The only case I have where the love triangle kinda become a polyamorous relationship was with Nerissa, Melissa and Sergio :) Both girls had crushes on Sergio, and when he had to face those facts, he decided to help Nerissa and Melissa become friends and later- LOVERS! But anyway yeah, love triangles are hard for me to steer clear of, but I try my best ^^’

43. What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline?

I get really angry at them and throw rocks.

But no. I either try to get them back on track OR I just.. let them do their thing. Maybe the characters know the plot better than I do! XD

44. How much research do you do?

I don’t normally dive too deep into research unless the plot demands it, of course! As for the time and depth of research, it solely depends on what exactly I’m researching actually :) If I’m simply looking up Latin phrases or the names of the most famous authors of all time, it might take me a few days to absorb the info, and a week at most! But if I’m worldbuilding and creating new places and all that, well, THAT would take me a lot longer than a few days to a week! More like a month D:

45. How much world building do you do?

Not many of my stories have worlds not set in America/Europe/EARTH! Basically, I think I only have 1 or 2 worlds that even require building, and I have so little as far as plot goes that I haven’t had the substance to work with yet :) But maybe someday!

46. Do you reread your own stories?

Mmmm I used to?

Nowadays I just don’t have the time for that :/

47. Best way to procrastinate

Drawing art of my ocs instead of writing for my ocs XD

That, or making music playlists for my WIPs :3c

48. What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written?

Toni Drake.

‘Nuff said!

As for a self-insert scene? I don’t think that’s occurred yet?

49. Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real?

Either Ethan, Clary or Hannah! ^^ They’re all such nice, friendly people~

Oh, and Kira of course! Can’t forget her XD I’d love to go shopping with her and enjoy our silly, light-hearted conversations

Thanks for the ask, Friendo ^^

A Writer’s Ask Game

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rejectedembers · 6 years

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Firebrant: American Gods

There are two things about me some of you may know. First is that I’m hypercritical, over-analytical, and often unafraid to tell people my honest thoughts. Because of this, I tend to destroy the things that people love. Second is that I’ve been actively trying for a while to enjoy Neil Gaiman’s works, and have, so far, been unsuccessful. I’ve already done a review of Stardust, and anyone who has read it can probably tell that I wasn’t a fan of the book, and now I think it’s time I sink my teeth into American Gods, a novel I read two or three years ago now, so bear with me if I can’t remember details.

As a disclaimer, this isn’t going to be a proper review or critique. These book rants, or brants (copyright pending), are mostly going to just be me venting about a book or series I have issues with which will sometimes stem from a more “educated”, writing perspective, and sometimes will just be my own personal opinion on the matter. Try not to take anything I have to say to heart.

Spoilers below, obviously.

Ninety percent of American Gods is boring. What I’m talking about is, of course, the main plot of the novel. The premise is that a man, Shadow, goes on a road trip across America with the Norse god Odin, who is disguised as an elderly but wily gentleman, and they meet up with other ancient deities as Odin attempts to recruit them for some conflict against the new American gods, telecommunications and money and other modern things. This concept is actually very intriguing and very relevant to our world today; how do we balance where we’ve come from with where we’re going, especially as the two seem to become more and more different from each other as time goes on?

But what really drew me in was: how is this author going to portray these ancient gods in the modern world? Like many people my age, I think, I grew up on mythology and folktales. I would spend hours researching Egyptian deities, Greek deities, Meso-American deities, and, yes, even Norse deities. I imagined reliving myths and going on adventures with these ancient deities, some of which did involve bringing them into the modern world, my world. Being able to read someone else’s version really captured my attention...until I realised that it just didn’t lead to anything.

Because here’s how American Gods goes down. The road trip aspect of the story is just Shadow and Wednesday going from one ancient deity’s house to another where Shadow has philosophical conversations with these deities and hears about how much they miss the old days. From what I can remember, this happens almost every time, and it gets old really fast. Ironically, the philosophy chatter doesn’t really add much character to these deities, and eventually they all just blend into a big ball of depressed has-beens. Thus, the road trip part of the road trip hardly feels like a road trip. Outside of maybe two or three events that I can recall, nothing of note ever happens in between visiting the deities. The road trip is less about the trip and more about the destinations. There’s simply not enough character given either to the secondary characters or to the places that are featured.

The main characters don’t fare much better. Wednesday’s plan is pretty ludicrous considering he barely seems to set up anything beforehand. It’s taken for granted that the ancient deities are going to show up to some great battle and fight for their place in the world, so it’s a mystery why Odin even bothers going around and talking to them to convince them at all (considering how, in the moment, he rarely seems successful). And Shadow, holy fuck, to this day I still struggle to put together the pieces of his arc. We get Shadow’s story in pieces, which is fine, but none of the tellings flow together. We get sections out of order and just whenever. If someone could actually explain to me how Shadow and his undead wife fit into the main plot and why they, specifically, need to be there, that would be great, because I can’t figure it out. Is anyone else disappointed that Shadow didn’t end up being an ancient god, or at least a demi-god of some sort, who had lost his memories in order to make Odin’s scheme work or some shit? Seriously, there’s just no reason for Shadow to be there.

All in all, I think the main plot lacks focus. The road trip idea is fine, and the battle between old and new gods idea is fine, and the Odin scheme is fine, but I don’t think all these things work together, and I especially don’t think these ideas were executed well together. A story where Odin wants to connect with his half-human son and so ropes him into a fucked up road trip to meet other deities so Shadow can learn philosophical lessons would have been interesting. A story where the two of them go around attempting to recruit deities for a battle while Shadow tries to figure out what being a demi-god is all about would have been interesting. A story where Odin’s scheme backfires onto Shadow, drawing him into the mess due to their blood tie or some bullshit, which leads to Shadow, an otherwise normal guy, suddenly being thrust into the creation of his own myth where he’s expected to be the hero would have been interesting. All three of these things together is fucken ridiculous, it’s too much. And when a story loses focus, the audience loses their motivation to stick around.

But you know what part of American Gods I did like? The B plot, the out-of-nowhere section in the middle of the book where Wednesday leaves Shadow in some random town for months. This is the only part of the book that has focus, where you know exactly why you’re reading: something mysterious and horrifying is happening in this town, and Shadow, as the main character, needs to find out what it is. It’s wonderfully paced, introduces a small cast of characters you come to both care about and suspect, and paints a clear image of a small, American town. I didn’t really expect how it was going to end, and I’m really glad I did stick around for the entire novel if only to have read the ending to the B plot. It really makes me think that Gaiman should write mysteries and thrillers instead of straight up fiction.

So, there are my thoughts on American Gods. It was the perfect storm of a bunch of really good ideas coming together through poor execution to create an aimless mess. This book is why you should always keep your stories focused and concise; writing one amazing story is better than writing many mediocre stories.

#booklr #book rants #american gods #neil gaiman #rejectedembers

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unnursvanablog · 6 years

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The books I have read so far this year.

I have read twenty-two books and it's only July! That is an accomplishment in itself (for me, a person who reads kinda slow). Last year I only read thirty-three. I also tried to challenge myself by trying to read something other than just fantasy.

Hidden Figures - Margot Lee Shetterly: ☆☆☆☆ I sometimes find it difficult to read non-fiction books. There were things like descriptions of wind-tunnels or talks about math or other technical things that were happening at NASA at the time that I just found it hard to get through, but the rest of the story was so interesting and so impactful and rich that I could not stop reading. It made me cry.

The Monkey and the Monk - Wu Cheng: ☆☆☆ This was a abridged version of the famous Chinese tale Journey to the West. And while I found the story interesting, I also found it kinda confusing and the story seemed to lose me at times.

Genuine Fraud - E. Lockhart: ☆☆☆☆ This book was so fast-paced, I loved it! I could not really stop and with every chapter I seemed to learn something new that changed my view of the story and the characters, I never knew where the books was going to take me. Overall I found it really enjoyable, very clever and a very interesting read.

The Gospel of Loki - Joanne M. Harris: ☆☆☆ I often find it difficult to read retellings of Norse mythology, because so often I find that these stories aren't really telling me anything new, or I feel like I have read this before. I know what happens and I get bored. There were chapters in the book where I did feel that way and I just sort of skimmed over them, but elsewhere I found myself just enjoying Loki's point of view of all these events from Norse mythology. And I think it was just because it was written in a very cleaver, dark-humored tone that I quite enjoyed.

Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan: ☆☆☆☆ I stumbled onto this book at the library and I knew the movie was coming out this year, so I just decided to give it a go. And it proved to be just a very fun chick-lit. Something that I don't read a lot off. It was very easy to read and it was often quite entertaining and funny, although maybe a bit shallow. But I found the main character to be a lot of fun and a lot of these absurd situations that she found herself in a very amusing. Some of the plot felt like it was right out of a kdrama (which I'm say as a compliment), and yes, I just really enjoyed myself while reading. I could see myself pick up the next books, if I find them at the library.

The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett: ☆☆ Read in Icelandic Thank the gods this book was short, because it bored me so much. I just found it very dull.

I Kill Giants - Joe Kelly: ☆☆☆ I remember finding it interesting that here was another story where the serious illness of a parent manifests or appears in the form of a monster that the kids needed to face in one way or another. I found that very interesting.

Fingersmith - Sarah Waters: ☆☆☆ There was a special screening of The Handmaiden at a local cinema and I wanted to go see it, so I decided to try reading the book that the movie was based on beforehand. The movie might have been bit too much in my head as read the book, since I was constantly doing some comparisons to the two plots. I found the start of the book really promising, I liked the Victorian setting, but the second part of the book wasn't as compelling. I did not enjoy the book as much as I had hoped and I honestly preferred the plot in The Handmaiden a lot more.

Homegoing - Yaa Gyasi: ☆☆☆☆ Read in Icelandic

Unlike anything I've read before, that is for sure. I often find stories that jump from one perspective to another a bit frustrating but surprisingly it kinda didn't bother me all that much in this one. Although the story goes from one generation to the next, there was certain cohesion in the text that really did it for me. Very impressive read and it really makes you think.

The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah: ☆☆☆☆ Over the years, I've realized that I'm a little bit fond of stories that take place in World War II, or have some links to it, for some reason. I had heard very good things about this book and I was glad to find that (to me) it was as good as people had told me it was. It's always a bit of a relief when that happens. Very interesting story. I wept a little.

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli: ☆☆☆☆ I felt like I blew through this book very quickly since I found her really fun, easy-to-read youth book and that is always a nice feeling - and a rarity for me, since I read so slow. The character were interesting and mostly likeable, the story managed to add some mystery and tension without becoming too cliché or too dramatic. Just a very fun, easy-read YA book that put a smile on my face.

Human Acts - Han Kang: ☆☆☆ Stories that talk about the same events from many different angles can be interesting, but they have a tendency to not do it for me for some reason. Human Acts was good, but I found it hard sometimes to focus on the story. I felt a bit confused or bewildered at times. Perhaps it was because the events that were unfolding in front of the eyes of the characters were confusing and sort of chaotic and the text was supposed to reflect that. Maybe it was just the translation. I don't know.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones - Seanan McGuire: ☆☆☆ I thought I would not find this book to enjoyable as I felt I like I knew the plot because I read the first book where we were sort told this back story. However, I was quite surprised to find that this story was a very fun read for me. It was short but sweet.

The Terror - Dan Simmons: ☆☆ I really needed to force myself through a good chunk of this book. Even if I found the idea and the location of the story so interesting the story itself never actually managed to hooked me so I never really felt myself in the mood to read it as I was reading it.

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle: ☆☆☆ I liked this story well enough, but I feel like I was expecting more. And it's mostly just because I felt like a good chunk of the story just felt rushed in a way or the main conflict was resolved too fast as soon as they got into the other dimensions and in a way I was just kinda expecting something grander.

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott: ☆☆☆ Without realizing I found an abridged version this book at the library and decided to read it after watching the BBC adaptation. And thank god I did watch that show because that abridged version rushed through the plot so fast that if I had not watched the BBC episodes and loved them then I would definitely not have enjoyed this book at all.

Sólhvörf - Emil Hjörvar Petersen: ☆☆☆ Read in Icelandic I found myself enjoying the first half of the books a lot more than the second half, even if almost all of the action took place in that half of the book. I found the mystery rather interesting, but the solution did not do much for me. But I still feel Petersen has done an excellent job in expanding and adding to this world that he has created and I think this mix of fantasy and nordic crime thriller works kinda well.

A State of Sorrow - Melinda Salisbury: ☆☆☆ I was surprised with how much I enjoyed the politics and that whole plot of the book, since I often do not like aspect that in YA books. I also liked Sorrow as a character, I found her and most of the characters that appeared in the book interesting or at least intriguing. The story was not free of all the clichés of other YA books and some of the story elements and mysteries I could see happening before they happened. But I liked it.

Paper Girls # 1 & # 2 - Brian K. Vaughan: ☆☆☆, ☆☆☆. Although I find the story and the style of this comic rather interesting and fun, I have to say that this story does not have the same hook as Saga does (written by the same author) so I don't feel this need to keep reading.

Space Opera - Catherynne M. Valente: ☆☆ I'm a huge Eurovision fan, so when I found a book that mixes science fiction and Eurovision I was so excited. But even with all these nods to Eurovision and some cleaver writing here and there the story never won me over. I found the main character annoying and I felt like there was spent a lot of time on world building or telling us about the galaxy and not enough time spent on the actual story.

Beyond a Darkened Shore - Jessica Leake: ☆☆☆ Despite grabbing my interest with some mix of Norse and Celtic mythology in the story did not do too much for me. I just felt like those mythology elements could have been used in a more interesting way but at the same time I found that to be the most interesting part of the story. As the story went on the main conflict seemed to have less impact on me and parts of the story felt maybe a bit simplistic.

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