I took a bit of a reading break, but I’m back and I have more library books! I am continuing to not read the descriptions very closely, but I feel like that makes my reading list a lot more interesting. Premise only, and then I see how long I stay for the ride!
So this book follows a family of women, from mother to daughter, as they suffer tragedy after tragedy as love comes in and out of their lives. From untimely deaths and heartache caused by families being torn apart, none of the women have had a solid, lasting love life that has been able to survive. The women all have something about them and rumours about what they can do follow them around until one day the latest in the line is a baby girl born with wings.
The premise in the description is about a girl with wings venturing out into the world and, well, Ava’s story doesn’t actually start until the half way point or so. Until then it’s about her mother and her grandmother and the relationships that have fallen apart for them to set up the ongoing tragedy of the family.
Once it hits Ava’s story, you’re already primed to know that any relationship she has is going to fall apart because that’s just what happens in the book. Everything ends in tragedy, right down to the ending. It is a depressing book without much levity, but written in an almost dreamy manner so the blow doesn’t hit quite as hard.
It’s not romantic, even with the focus on the love lives of these women, and it’s full of tragedy. If you’re looking for a read that’s a bit of a downer, but has some interesting concepts, this might be a good fit for you.
Some of you may have noticed, I’m making very slow changes to the official site where the shop is! In an effort to make some changes and be more focused on making this a business rather than a hobby, I’ve been in the process of making some decisions and those decisions are now turning into action!
The short version
I’m phasing out everything that I mail out myself.
The long version
I’ve realized that regularly holding a diverse inventory is making things a lot more complicated for me. Most of my stuff is already available elsewhere that will handle the shipping, and it will ship a heck of a lot cheaper from them than it will from me. It’s really a lot better for you in that regard.
For me, I’m also just realizing I don’t have a lot of space to keep stock in general. Now that I’m back home, I’m reassessing the space I have and what I want to do with it and, well, stocking inventory and materials for packing and shipping materials isn’t really what I’m looking to do long term. Not if I can help it.
But what about the things I can’t get from the shops?
You can still get them from me at in person events! I’m planning to continue doing those, and that is honestly where the vast majority of those items that you can only get from me sell anyway. There’s just not a lot of interest in getting this stuff from my online shop.
Probably because Canadian shipping costs are pretty high.
What next?
Slowly, I’m going to be updating all of the buy links into links to the shops where you can get stuff and Scrap Paper Entertainment is going to become more of a hub of everything I do rather than a shop in and of itself.
It’s been fun. Thanks for understanding and stay tuned for what’s coming up next!
Did you know they made a book out of this? And a sequel book, no less! A new story from the world of one of my favourite Halloween movies from my childhood!
This book is told in two parts: The original movie from 1993 and the story of their children bringing the Sanderson sisters back to gain immortality and bring back more witches from the dead in order for them to have a coven that will take over and the kids must find a way to stop them before it’s too late.
The first half is exactly the movie in text form. If you have seen the movie, that’s the first half of the book. It felt off simply because it was in the wrong format, and it made me want to watch the movie.
The second half reads exactly like a 90s movie, but set in modern day. From the structure of the insults to the way everything falls neatly into place and gets resolved at the end, and there’s even a musical number in the middle which was… weird. I did ultimately feel nostalgic reading it, even while the Sanderson sisters were using smart phones to cast spells on the population, and it was surprisingly fun.
While I liked it, though, I would only recommend this if you were a fan of the original. The experience is very similar, if not identical, with a different plot. It’s fun and nostalgic, but it is also cheesy in the same way as the original.
I’m doing a lot of world building right now with my current project and that means one of my go to scenes has been heavily impacting: The info dump while people are cooking scene. ((No, I don’t know why I keep doing this. It just happens.)) Since this is a fantasy world, I have spent a decent amount of time trying to think about what cooking might look like and if it would be any different.
What is available?
If your story takes place in the mountains with harsh, cold weather, the local food is going to be a lot different from what someone on a tropical island has access to. The possible meats are going to be different, since not all animals exist in all terrains.
The vegetation is also going to be considerably different! If there is no room for farming, then there may not be such a prevalence of things like flour and baked goods might look different, have a different base for the starch, or just be less common.
And then there’s the question of spices. How do they season their food and what kind of flavours might be available in that climate?
Outside of that, there’s also the question of whether that climate shifts and how that impacts what is available. What’s available all year round and what needs to be preserved in some way? How can they preserve food for times when it’s not as readily available from their environment?
It’s honestly a lot of fun to research.
What other climates are they getting food from?
Trade routes! Allies! Food can be a great way to imply how the fictional civilization is doing in relation to the countries around it. Are they able to bring in food from other regions? Are there trade routes to foreign lands? Are there people from the other lands that come with special spices or ingredients?
All of these things can be a great way to add a subtle touch to your world building, or be used to emphasize something that you are already trying to establish somewhere else.
How are they cooking?
Technology is such a big factor in cooking. The invention of the fridge did some amazing and terrifying things to cooking when it was introduced. ((Just look up some of those Jello salad recipes.)) So what do your people have access to and what of those things would make the most sense with that set of ingredients and the climate?
Some interesting things to look at is how people in similar climates have historically cooked the food available to them and take inspiration from that. Not everyone is going to be having a roast and Yorkshire puddings, after all, and other methods are fascinating.
Another thing to consider is the presence of magic in your world. Magic is a type of technology that could be used in cooking, and the kinds of magic might influence they way food is prepared and what can be done with it. Keep it in mind and see what you can do with that!
What am I doing?
So per my current project, this is what I have in my notes so far.
This takes place on a fantasy island that has been cut off from the rest of the world, with a relatively warm climate. Meat-wise, it’s a lot of fish and birds and the very occasional land animal only for very special occasions.
There is not much land left that would be used for farming, but most of the towns on the island are covered in vines that grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers that can be harvested and used to add to their food. Most buildings have a garden on the rooftop that supplies the people inside.
The majority of the cooking is done over a fire or via stove top because that seems to be the best course of action for this set of possible ingredients and generally matches what people in similar climates tend to use.
And, because it’s a magic universe, there is the ability to chill things. They prefer to have things that are frozen, though, and do a mix of sweet and savoury frozen foods as both meals and treats. Freezing to cook is considered an equivalent method to heating.
What food are you making for your fictional worlds?
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I know I read a ton of YA, but it feels like it’s been a while since I read one that really felt like it was young adult and not young adult as written for an adult audience. But I find I have a lot better luck in that regard when it comes to the random library book finds, and at last I found something!
This book follows Silva, a young woman whose age I never caught, as she returns to her grandfather’s house at a most unfortunate time. He’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and his days are numbered. At this time, Silva starts to spot a magpie and a door that leads to a library where the words come out of the books and pull you into the story. Slowly, Silva finds herself falling into these stories and realize that they are not all they appear, and she has been leaving more and more of herself behind at the library with every visit.
I really liked this one! I’m in a bit of a dour mood from the general life I’m having at the moment and that is probably what made this a good thing for me in this moment. Silva slowly coming to understand that her escape isn’t helping and realizing what the magpie is trying to do creates a really effective mood for the narrative, and nothing feels overly forced. There are some mysteries remaining at the end, but nothing that really bothered me.
I do think I’m starting to pinpoint the thing that is bothering me with modern YA and how they discuss issues, though. Silva at one point identifies her brother as having depression and there’s just something about how issues are discussed in YA that feels off.
Overall, though, it is a lot of fun! I mean, it’s a depressing story about acceptance and loss, but it’s done well and I really enjoyed watching as each of the characters learned to come to terms with the circumstances that they really shouldn’t try to control. Definitely check it out.
I’ve gotten back into D&D recently after playing a bit in Uni. And I’ve always been a fan of the fantasy and comic stuff, as those who have followed me for a while will know. And also I’ve worked in tech for the past decade. Which means every once in a while I find a book like this and it feels like someone was trying to write something specifically for someone like me.
Addie is a literature professor that is brought in by an eccentric tech CEO to help a team of mercenaries get his private island back — A private island that he his company had been using to develop a technological world that makes fantasy a reality. Like Disneyland for LARPers. But her ex is suspected of having led a revolt against the CEO and cut the island off from the rest of the world and Addie is being used as bait to lure him out, all while she is trying to not become too enamoured by the wonders of the magic that this technology has created.
I really liked Addie as a lead. She’s a woman with PTSD from a school shooting when she was younger, a thing that comes into play at the right character moments rather than the plot-relevant ones, and a penchant for escapism because of it. The way she’s written strikes a nice balance between exploring and overcoming that trauma in the moment and focusing on the story I came for, which meant I left the story satisfied. On top of that, I enjoyed the interactions between her and her ex, which felt like they reinforced why they were exes more than they were trying to create the illusion of a potential rekindling of their relationship.
Overall, it was a lot of fun! It will be fun for anyone who’s grown up into fantasy media and has a little extra sprinkled in for those who grew up to work in tech. If it sounds interesting, check it out!
There is a phenomenon where some people can actually read descriptions and actually picture it in their head. The smells, the sights, it plays for them like television or like a memory. It’s vivid and it can actually put them right in the scene. Crazy, right?
I was then informed that I have aphantasia and I am the weird one.
This does, however, explain why not only do I am so quickly bored with description, but also why I struggle with writing it. Which I know full well I need to get better at. So, in case you are like me and are looking for ways to improve as well, here’s a few strategies I’ve used to help.
Take note of your physical surroundings when they match
Going out into the world and experiencing surroundings is a great way to start trying to figure out descriptions. If I have a setting that is reasonably close to what I want, I have gone to that place and written down what I saw, heard, or generally experienced.
At one point, I was going so far as to try and recreate the scenes that I was trying to describe so that I could get a better description. I do not generally recommend this if you’re not writing contemporary settings.
I do, however, highly encourage taking phots and video along with notes so you can use them in your scenes!
Find art assets
If what I’m looking for doesn’t exist in reality, I will just look up images that get as close to that vague impression of a thing that is in my head. Once I have that, I can just talk about what it looks like.
If it’s a video, I can describe in more detail the way the winds blow or some general ambient movement in the setting. And sometimes I get really lucky and there’s a comments section about people who have experienced a setting in a video before and they will comment about it.
Or, if you’re looking for a smell to add to a scene, cooking videos and blogs will sometimes describe scents that sound interesting and can be incorporated in milder ways to help give the tone and ambiance of a scene.
Use the workbook
I use both the Storyteller’s and the Worldbuilder’s workbook a lot more now that I’ve made them because they have the structure that I need to remember some senses that I would otherwise forget to include. They help me to think of the senses that I can include when I’m doing my planning and, once they’re written down, I don’t have to think about what description to include. I just try to make sure I include all of the notes from there.
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This Workbook Contains:
Story planning spreads
Setting and location spreads
Character spreads
Writing session tracker
Focus on the feeling of the setting over the physical
Ultimately, I do still find description to be incredibly difficult and I don’t tend to remember to include anything about it in my initial drafts until a character interacts with something directly. My writing in general doesn’t rely on a lot of the five senses descriptions in general.
I tend to focus a lot more on mood and atmosphere. If the five senses description helps to enhance these elements, I have a much easier time remembering to include them in the first place, and this feels much more natural to me. Using this as a basis, I can take the notes I have from the workbooks and madlibs description into scenes and characters.
Do you have any other thoughts about writing with aphantasia? Did you even know about it?
I really liked the last Kingfisher book I read, so when I saw this one I added it to my list. It didn’t matter that it was book 3 of a series, and yet again I just barely skimmed the blurb. One of these days, I will learn to actually read the thing.
The book follows a paladin, Galen, and a gnole, Earstripe, as they try to figure out who is killing all the bodies that are washing up in town. They enlist the help of a lich-doctor named Piper, who can see the final moments of the corpses. Eventually, they find an eclectic man in a run down estate upstream who has been sending people into a death trap in order to uncover its secrets.
I liked about half of this book. The mystery wasn’t much of a mystery, but I enjoyed how gnoles were introduced as a species and how they interacted with the humans around them. The death trap maze was also in general a lot of fun, as was Piper for the first half of the book. Notably, despite this being book 3, I didn’t feel lost and it all felt pretty contained.
Unfortunately for me the book becomes very horny around the middle while they are trapped in the maze. There were mentions of attraction before this that I was skimming over, but at the half way point it is downright carnal and after that, everything is about this relationship. Everything. Somehow even the third character nearly dying and being unjustly imprisoned is still about this relationship.
That honestly killed the book for me. I finished it, mostly to just get that closure, but I did not enjoy the insistence on pining and making the relationship the central focus of the book. It might be more your style, though.
I have been wondering what exactly new adult is, so I figure I would pick up something that I think is supposed to be classified as new adult. And yes, I did forget that all new adult is romance. Sigh.
The book follow Emmy as she returns home after being away and having a whole new life in Chicago. Upon her return, her magic returns and she takes her place as the next in the Harlow line, one of the four lines of founding witch families for their town. But when she returns, we learn that her and two of the other families have had bad relationships and rough break ups with a guy from the fourth. And the three of the four families are about to compete to claim the mantle of whose family gets the power and prosperity in town, with Emmy being the impartial arbiter of it all.
The romance is, thankfully for me, not too intrusive and can be skimmed. Emmy has other traits and an arc outside of being in a relationship where she is trying to figure out if leaving the small town she loved to escape the trappings of her family name which she hated is really worth the city life she has built for herself. While they really try to make the romance a pivotal deciding factor in it, it really did feel more like it was a choice that was made for herself and the relationship was a bonus. I appreciate that.
I don’t think this is actually new adult, though. At one point they broke down everything Emmy had done since leaving and she’s close to 30. ((Early on they also mention that it’s been 9 years since high school, but I seem to have glazed over that part.)) The writing, the voice, and the choices the characters made make me think they are all in their early twenties at most. And no one has weddings or kids? You’re all conspiring to get revenge on the guy who wronged you—and one of them was wronged nearly a decade ago! These characters feel way too young.
There was a sex scene, though, so I guess it might have been new adult.
Anyway, it was overall an enjoyable read. It reads better if you imagine they are all in their early twenties and still have the energy to spend on the premise, though. Or maybe that’s just what romance is like.
