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Storytelling is a talent passed down through the generations in my family. It is a way of life in that the more you live, the better the story; the deeper the experience, the broader the plain to connect with readers. Just like life is about people so writing is about people - about their love, their loss, their triumphs, their failures, and their x ever after. I write to understand myself and make sense of life. I share my work in order to find others who can relate to my characters, or their lives, or the moral of the story.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

R&W

Listening to: Lose Control - Evanescence
Reading: Wicked Lovely - Melissa Marr



A blog about writing and reading? For real? Gah, imagine that, I'm actually blogging about what the blog is meant to be focussed on!

I'm reading Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, which was suggested to me by a fellow fan of Ms. L.J. Smith's work. The dialogue seems a bit strained and curt, and it feels like the characters are well developed but the author is not forthcoming on sharing their personalities that much. This might just be me, though, but it takes me a while to warm up to the different author voices out there.Or rather the writing style, I should say. If it doesn't flow as easily and seemingly naturally as that of L.J. Smith or J.K. Rowling, then I battle to keep myself from pulling out of new water.

New styles aside, the author did a splendid job at weaving together the fates of all her characters. It's just a matter of what one will do, or won't do, that will set off a domino effect on all the others, and so change the world they are in. I'm only halfway into the book but I already love the characters to death. Except the mother. Gosh, what a dog. Even the supposedly 'bad' characters speak to the reader, and makes you sympathise with them even though you'd really rather just see them as the bad guys. It's complicated to explain unless you read it yourself.

I'm not going to give a review for the book, I'll wait until I've read the whole thing before I do that. But I did want to blog about the similarities there are between this book, and the novel I'm currently (supposedly) rewriting, Shadow Legacy.

1. There's a new guy at school that has every girl falling for him without even trying.
2. The new guy is not human.
3. The new guy is very temperamental.
4. He's royalty.

If you're a writer you'll completely understand where I'm coming from with this. You know those times when you think you have a unique idea, and you work at it, and you decide to take a break and read the latest bestseller or go watch the newest blockbuster at the cinemas and you come off outraged going 'I'm gonna sue!' because they have the exact same ideas as yours. To the creepy extent that you become paranoid that somebody snooped through your writer notes and actually stole your concepts? You know?

This is basically what just happened to me. Note: it is just paranoia.
What this means is that, that book you've always wanted to read but never found so decided to write yourself, has already been written and you've been a bit slow on the uptake.

So, I'm happy I'm reading that book now. It means I can still change some of my now somewhat stereo-type concepts to something that is unique and new. Any decent writer knows just how disappointing it is to write something that has already been done.

2 comments:

  1. Funny story. The whole reason I decided to play FFXIII is because the main character sounded similar to my favorite OCs and that made me mad. I just HAD to see for myself.

    Ironically, not only do they have almost nothing in common (besides a few broad similarities) but said FFXIII is actually cooler and I like her more than my OC. (But you probably already knew that XDDD)

    Note to self: Don't play FF games. They mess with you.

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  2. Always important to not omit important words. Place the word "character" after "but said FFXIII" and in "between is actually."

    I tell ya, they really need to let ya edit your posts.

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