Over the course of my academic career, I’ve taken quite a number of writing classes. In one of the most memorable, the instructor began the class by laying out a list of writing rules to follow. The instructor felt particularly adamant about rule number three: no “it was all just a dream” endings.
I’d wager that most people have experienced the frustration of reading or watching something that ended with the protagonist waking up in a sweaty frenzy, then looking around their room to see certain items mirroring other characters from the story. They’re a different person from when they went to sleep. Somehow, they learned a life-changing lesson in their dreams, and they’re going to change their outlook on life, effective immediately. I don’t know about you, but whenever I read a story like that, I’m left unsatisfied. It’s a cop-out of an ending, like the author didn’t know how to wrap things up with a neat little bow so they decided to suddenly say “it was all imaginary”. Let’s unpack why this sort of ending doesn’t work.
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Characters and Their Secrets3/21/2022 Secrets, secrets are no fun… unless they're in a book. Character secrets keep things interesting – they can motivate your character, inspire their villains, and generally impact their relationships. However, as fun as they may be, overusing them can confuse your reader or make them lose interest in the story. Here’s a few things to keep in mind regarding your characters and their secrets.
Fanfiction – The Writer’s Playground3/17/2022 In addition to being a writer, I am also a musician. I enjoy playing concerts and shows, but my best performances aren’t in front of an audience. Most of my best work is played on the piano in my living room, to an audience of no one but my cats. Even though I adore performing and writing my own music, I no longer feel the need to publish my music, and I don’t really want to perform in public anymore.
I don’t feel like my music is worth any less because it isn’t performed or monetized. The fact that a song has existed in the world for a few minutes is precious, even if I’m the only one who hears it. This is also how I feel about writing, especially fanfiction. Even if something is not traditionally published, it holds value as art. Fanfiction is a wonderful genre of writing, as it is one of the only genres of writing that is almost fully separated from monetization (of course, there is a rising trend of some authors who chose to traditionally publish their fics and change the names). Mental Health and Me, by Jack Harrison3/15/2022 Review by Adrija Basani Mental Health and Me, by Jack Harrison, is a self-help book for young teenagers to help them deal with their mental health. The book takes a personal approach to the topic, employing a friendly tone and using the author’s own anecdotes to make the sensitive subject matter more accessible to its target demographic.
The author covers a diverse range of mental health ‘issues’, ranging from body image to depression, with each section of the book focusing on a specific one. The writing is conversational, like a friend writing you a letter, which aids in connecting with the average teen reader. Through stories woven into the factual content, readers are given an insight into the author’s own experiences with mental health. These bits are my personal favorites because we no longer see a nameless, faceless narrator—but a real person with a story to tell. The Second Person Narrator3/8/2022 “You read that advertisement: an offer of that nature is not made every day. You read and reread the notice. It seems directed at you, no one else.” (Fuentes, 1962)
These are the first sentences you will find if you open Aura by Carlos Fuentes. A novella that, among many other things, stands out for its second-person narrator. Like many writers (including me), you probably find the second-person narrator intimidating. As the Merriam-Webster dictionary explains, this narrator is a technique in which you ascribe the character to the reader by using second-person pronouns. Essentially, you will attribute the character’s actions, feelings, and inner monologue to the reader. On Writing Siblings2/23/2022 From the March sisters to Sadie and Carter Kane, sibling relationships can be captivating to both read and write about. However, they seem to be criminally underrated, especially in YA. Personally, this is the type of relationship I tend to gravitate towards the most, as I think there is a lot of potential in it. Sometimes, it might include tough competition and unexpected betrayals. But, in hopes that we get to see this relationship more often, I have decided to talk about how to write healthy sibling bonds.
CW: Please note that this chapbook contains stories with scenes/mentions/themes of violence, death, disordered eating, and abuse. It’s about mothers, daughters, accumulations of casual violence, and the bodily nature of family. All it took was this brief description to get me interested in reading this chapbook. I’ve developed a bit of a habit of judging books based solely on their covers or blurbs, and this short sentence was perfectly able to capture everything I could want in a book and more. Shortly after stumbling upon this description, I was able to read an ARC copy of this chapbook, written by a promising young writer in the community. Now, after having read it in its entirety, I am glad to say that I was not disappointed. With an abundance of stellar writing, gripping tales and a deep rooted theme of family bonds and connections, Stella Lei’s Inheritances of Hunger is the new book you’ll want on your shelf.
Fingers brushing, gazes holding, or inside joking… however it starts, it’s the moment when a romance takes a turn, when the reader feels a little jolt of excitement, like they know exactly where this is going. The reader is able to spot the beginning of a romance even before your characters do. And it’s this feeling, this shift and shared knowledge between writer and reader, that I live for in Romance stories. Because no gaze, hand hold, or joke is ever accidental when a writer is behind it. In this article, I’ll teach you some ways to create that spark and keep readers invested.
Trigger Warning: self-harm and suicide. Also, spoiler alert. Tis the season of romance. Whether you’re feeling the love or not, it’s a great time of year to brush up on love stories. Romances are about connection and acceptance, usually resulting in mutual attraction. But the manga and movie A Silent Voice puts a twist on the love story as we know it.
In A Silent Voice, written by Yoshitoki Oima, the protagonist Shoya Ishida grapples with guilt and shame from bullying a deaf girl Shouko in middle school. Isolating himself in high school, Shoya contemplates suicide, but instead decides to try and make amends with Shouko. He sets out to redeem himself by befriending Shouko. We’ve all heard of symbolism before. It’s the “why are the curtains blue” debate, the argument of whether or not to take the author’s word at face value or to probe deeper. This often falls in with “death of the author”, which means to divorce an author from their work completely, and draw your conclusions solely based on the text. While I don’t like to critique how people read on their own time, as it is ultimately a personal hobby that should bring you joy, I do think it is important to delve deeper into works and think critically about the author’s message.
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