“The #1 mistake authors make when querying,” the video promises. Like millions of teenagers somehow captivated by these short videos that don’t add much to our lives, I tap the caption.
“Not sticking to the market.” It explains that a pitch that doesn’t seem like it could be sold will be rejected. And if your pitch isn’t sellable, your book isn’t either. Well, no harm for me, right? I’m not at the publishing stage. I’m not ready for my work to see the light of day. A big part of writing is connecting with others through your work and publication is the chance to connect with the world. But is following the market the best way to do that?
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Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating7/22/2022 1. Review by Ella Zare
Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar is one of the most well known young adult sapphic romances. With two perspectives—Hani, a girl whose parents are accepting of her sexuality but her friends are not, and Ishu, who has a solitary school life and parents with high expectations—this novel follows the traditional coming of age dynamic many young adult novels do. It is a representation of how queer identities can intersect with different ethnicities and the impacts of acceptance (or the lack thereof) on teenagers. One of the most impactful factors in this story is the setting. Hani and Ishu attend an all girls Catholic school in Ireland. They are constantly surrounded by white Irish girls, many of which are uninformed about their Bengali and Muslim cultures and unwilling to learn about them. Watching the girls interact with their peers provided a window into what it would be like to face casual microaggressions every day on both the basis of race and sexuality. Jaigirdar uses this environment to show that despite the incredible progress toward widespread acceptance, racism and homophobia are still very present issues. Issues that greatly affect their victims. The Daughter of the Pirate King7/21/2022 1. Review by Gunita Singh
When a person enters booktok, they are expected to read some notable books in order to join the club. Apart from The Selections Series and ACOTAR, The Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller has also carved its mark. It is often recommended to someone who loves the enemies to lovers trope. So when I picked up this book to review for TYWI’s Summer Book Review, it was understandable that I had high expectations from it. The title is self-explanatory and reveals what the book has in store for the reader while its cover reinforces the idea of the protagonist being a sassy and self-sufficient woman. This book follows Alosa Kalligan, daughter of the ruthless Pirate King, who in order to earn her father’s respect takes on a dangerous mission of finding the Final Piece of a Treasure Hunt Map. She is one of those pirates who are undermined because of her gender and are always able to prove them wrong. The book starts with the successful execution of her kidnapping so that she has a better opportunity to find the map. She hilariously describes Riden as a “cocky bastard” and she constantly makes him lose his patience by trying to understand him. Break Up Your Schedule With Poems7/18/2022 Often, writers tend to box themselves into a particular genre or format, leaning into the common phrase, “write what you know”. Be it short stories or novels, people like routines. Mixing it up once in a while never hurts, though. Throwing some poetry into your given routine can strengthen your writing and get those creative juices flowing, even if you don’t consider yourself a poet.
Writing poetry can provide excellent practice for a number of different literary techniques. Poems let you experiment with language and lyricism. With their smaller formats, you can practice honing your imagery. And of course, you can have fun diverging from your usual writing style with poetry. Here’s a few ways to incorporate poetry into your writing schedule to not only stimulate your creativity, but enhance it. The clock hits 1 AM, and there we are: a heap of friends lounging in the basement re-watching Pride and Prejudice just over 200 years after its original publication.
The cheap nightstand to my right is caving under the weight of Pride: A Pride and Prejudice Remix by Ibi Zoboi, Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding, Longbourn by Joe Baker, and Emma: A Modern Retelling by Alexander McCall Smith. Although I’ve forgotten about it, the drawer holds an early birthday present for my cooking-obsessed friend: the well-known Jane Austen Cookbook by Deirdre Le Faye and Maggie Black chosen randomly over similar works called Dinner with Darcy and Jane Austen’s Table. My basement begs the question: who is this writer who’s inspired books about body insecurity and gentrification alike? Who has cookbooks with her name in the title instead of as the author? Whose legacy, unlike other writers of her time, continues not just in school curriculums, but in popular entertainment? Well, we’re all writers here, so let’s analyze and understand her work from a writing lens, dig into her world, and then, as a treat, take a look at my ranking of her novels. A new show has come to rescue the fans of western animation. After the end of Amphibia and with The Owl House in hiatus, Dead End: Paranormal Park arrives to the silver-screen to take away our hearts, maybe literally.
Created by Hamish Steele. It is an adaptation from a graphic novel that was an adaptation from a Tapas comic which was an adaptation from a YouTube short that he had worked on. After pitching it to several networks, Netflix accepted the idea to then leave Hamish and his team at Blink Industries (a development and production studio based in London) all on their own. With a writers room of all walks of life and experience they created a story about teenagers working at a haunted Disney Land. One thing about me is that I have always loved vampires. Since I found a copy of Twilight in my Nana’s basement at the ripe old age of eleven, I have been absolutely obsessed.
In honor of this, I have decided to combine my two favorite things: Vampires and lists. So, I will be ranking different vampire media according to a very specific tier list of my own creation. Before I get into explaining the tiers, I would just like give a quick disclaimer: I am objectively correct and right all the time. Imposter Syndrome As A Writer7/16/2022 The feeling when you know that you have worked hard to achieve your goals and yet, somehow, there is a voice inside your head telling you that you do not deserve it. It might say that you were merely lucky, that you cheated or fooled others. The term itself was established by Pauline Clance back in 1985, and Healthline describes it as “feelings of self-doubt and personal incompetence that persist despite your education, experience, and accomplishments”.
Let me tell you right now, this voice is flat-out lying. However, it can also be surprisingly persuasive. It is easy to be swayed by this negative train of thoughts. Many writers struggle with imposter syndrome at one point or another. Whether they have just finished the first draft, won a writing competition, or received praise from their peers, once you get used to thinking this way, it is a tough struggle to stop. There are many metaphors to describe the process of creating a character, from building a house to peeling an onion, but instead of adding layers to a blank canvas, I want to show you how to create the core of your character. I believe every character has a core, and it’s this essence that guides who they are and reveals who they’ve been. Something so vital must be engaging or else a reader will 1) not connect with the character and/or 2) put the book down. In this article I’m giving you five core elements to make memorable, engaging characters by keeping it weird.
The ocean is an excellent setting for horror novels, though it can sometimes be overlooked by modern authors who are searching for a setting for their next story. Sure, there are many iconic ocean-themed horror movies (like Jaws), but I find horror like that barely scratches the surface of all the terror that the ocean can hold.
First of all, let’s forget about sharks. For the love of God, nobody wants to see anymore shark movies. Sharks are more afraid of you than you are of them, and movies that tell you otherwise are just anti-shark propaganda. Anyways, shark rant aside, I still think that the ocean is one of the best horror settings available, and here’s why. Categories
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