Shade

This morning I finished yet another excellent book. I've been blogging about books much more often since I stopped having a book-centric blog...perhaps I should try again with that, make this my "random bits of a teenage writer's life" and then have another blog that's just about books. Thoughts?

But back to the amazing book I was reading. I actually found it through the Simon & Schuster PulseIT website, a program that lets teens read books online for free in exchange for feedback about the books. They used to send out free books once a month, but then they switched to the e-books program to save money. Honestly, it made me kind of sad, because I really don't like e-books - I can't carry them to school or read them at the dinner table or curl up on the sofa with them, I have to sit in front of my computer with internet access. But my rant about e-books is for a different time.

Anyway, so I went on the website, saw a book that looked interesting, opened the e-book to read the inside jacket and see what it was about. I swear I never meant to get sucked into it and just keep reading...but I did.

The book about which I am speaking is SHADE by Jeri Smith-Ready. It's an absolutely fantastic book and you will not - repeat, will not - want to put it down. The premise is this: Almost seventeen years ago, on the night of Aura Salvatore's birth, a mysterious event called the Shift occurred. Everyone born after the Shift - "post-Shifters" can see ghosts. Ghosts can only interact with the living, and they contact post-Shifters so that they can accomplish whatever they need to do to be at peace. Most of the post-Shifters are more annoyed and/or frightened by their violet visions than interested in helping. Aura included. Until her boyfriend, Logan, dies.

While Aura is mourning Logan's death and attempting to carry on a relationship with ghost-Logan, exchange student Zachary Moore arrives and is assigned to be Aura's partner on her thesis project (another school that requires senior thesis projects! Yay for relating to the characters!), which is about megaliths. Aura wants to find out more about the Shift. Which means finding out more about Zachary as well. Throughout SHADE, Aura struggles to balance her relationships with the living and the dead, all while searching for clues to the event that has made her and all the other under-seventeens of the world able to see the dead.

I think what I really loved about this book were the characters. While the premise is blatantly fictional - people don't see ghosts, definitely not everyone under seventeen - the characters were hauntingly (haha, bad pun) real. Aura's grief, Logan's frustration, Zachary's frustration, Aura and Megan's friendship - all of it is wonderfully, painfully real. I also love that the readers aren't being hit over the head with the fact that "YES. THIS WORLD IS WEIRD. THERE ARE GHOSTS." The ghosts and the supernatural aspects of it figure in significantly to the major plot - there'd be no book without the Shift and the ghosts - but it's all just there. It's part of the world. There are no lengthy explanations of why this world is so different; it just is, and we understand that.

And then there's the fact that I am now desperate for a sequel, which considering this one just came out is not a good thing. I don't wanna have to wait!!! SHADE does wrap up a complete storyline in and of itself, but it also leaves a lot of unanswered questions about the Shift and Aura's past that could(/should) lead to a sequel. Plus I really don't want to give up Aura and Zach and Logan just yet. So - please, Jeri, can we have another one? :)

Definitely read SHADE if you get the chance. It's a wonderful, well-written book that I absolutely recommend. I will caution you that there is some strong language, but I think it only makes sense for the story and I don't think it distracts from the rest of the book at all. Readreadread, people. It's awesome. Find out more at author Jeri Smith-Ready's website (her blog is pretty cool too). 

Catch ya later, interwebs! Love,

Bex

Mini-Blog: Friends

I know I posted something somewhat similar to this a while ago, but I just want to say it again: I really think I have the best friends in the entire world ever. Not gonna name names (er, initials, because I don't do people's names on the internet) because I'd accidentally not list someone and that would be bad, but you guys know who you are.

I love you guys. I really do. I honestly don't know where I'd be without you. ♥ ♥ ♥

And to the rest of you out there who maybe read this blog, I apologize for my atypical sappiness. It's just that my friends are really really awesome....if you've got someone out there who's really really awesome for you, maybe you should let them know, too.

G'night, everybody. Much love,
Bex

BooksBooksBooks

I'm kind of torn. I know I promised to blog about THE RECKONING ages ago, and then I kind of forgot, so really I should talk about that one first. But I finished this other amazing book today (BEFORE I FALL) and I kind of really want to talk about that one too. I want to talk about both of them, but I suspect that would take up a lot of room and I'd hate to go on for so long that I get boring and fail to interest you in these awesome books.

So I propose the following solution: A COMPROMISE! I'll try to be brief, if you'll keep reading and trust me that these books are worth it. Kay? Kay.

First up, THE RECKONING by Kelley Armstrong. I should start off by telling you that it's the third book in a trilogy, so please please please don't just go out and pick up this book from the shelves of your library or Barnes & Noble unless you've already read THE SUMMONING and THE AWAKENING.

The premise of the series is that Chloe Saunders sees dead people. She gets put into a group home for troubled children. But Lyle House turns out to be a home for supernaturals - kids with magical powers. Supernatural powers are hereditary in this world that Armstrong has created, but Chloe, Simon, Derek, Liz, Tori, and Rae (among others) are special. And the Edison Group made them that way through genetic experimentation. The kids' superpowers scare them - and so they want them gone.

I'm really not sure how much more I can say without providing way more spoilers than I am remotely willing to give, but you'll just have to trust me that the fast-moving storyline and incredibly well-developed characters make these novels compelling and interesting and lots of fun to read. I absolutely recommend them. But please read them in order. Also definitely check out Kelley Armstrong's website and the Darkest Powers trilogy website.

Now I'm worried that I didn't do a good enough job pitching them. They're awesome, guys. Readreadread.

And now I get to talk about BEFORE I FALL by Lauren Oliver. Oh my gosh, you guys. It was amazing.

So, I have to confess, for the first quarter, maybe the first third of the book, I didn't like it at all. I was reading it because my dad (who read it for a YA lit class that he teaches) asked me what I thought of it (IknowIknow - reading chick lit because my dad told me to? Weird, right?), and what I thought of it was "typical trash novel. Sex, alcohol, pot, the popular crowd. Yuck."

I was wrong. Yes, at the beginning of the novel, Samantha ("Sam") Kingston and her friends, Lindsay, Ally, and Elody, are - there's no other word for it - bitchy. They're mean to everyone, they're bullies just because they can be, they can get away with anything and do whatever they want. They talk about sex a lot, and they drink a lot just because they can, and they smoke and cut class and all that other stuff that gives teenagers a bad reputation.

But then Sam dies. And after her nightmarish last day, she wakes up again the same morning. She relives her last day seven times over. During this miraculous final week, she changes. Sam starts to understand things about the world around her, and about herself. The question is, will one day be enough to change everything?

By the end of the novel, I didn't hate Sam or her friends. I will confess that there were a couple of parts near the end that almost made me cry. I sat down and read the entire second half of the novel this afternoon, even though I had(/still have) a DBQ to do for APUSH. It was fantastic. Lauren Oliver has some kind of magic with storytelling, to be able to create a character so real and to change the reader's attitude toward her so completely. It is absolutely worth suffering through the first couple of long chapters (although the prologue may be compelling enough on its own; very well set up) to get to the rest of the story. READ IT. Please.

You can find out more about the author and the book on Lauren Oliver's website. You guys, I cannot get this story out of my head. Read it. It's fantastic.

Love,
Bex

College Searching: Sewanee

I have now returned from Sewanee, Tennessee. As I mentioned, I was there to visit The University of the South, aka Sewanee. I can tell you right now that the campus is gorgeous. So much nature! As much time as I spend in front of my laptop or on my couch with various books, I love nature. And the architecture is lovely. Here are a few pictures, to prove my point:

The All Saints Chapel

McClurg Dining Hall

Another view of the chapel

Another building. And grass. And trees.

The stone architecture and the arches and towers and everything is very castle-like. And the trees and grass and everything, and you could see stars at night...it was beautiful. Which is definitely a strong selling point. Plus it looks like Hogwarts and if you have a high enough GPA you get to wear a black Harry-Potter-like robe ("gown") to class. Which for a Potternerd like me is pretty awesome.

Other pluses included:

-the dorms/rooming situation. The dorms were nice, and after your freshman year you get to pick your roommate, and the students said that freshman roommates are usually matched up really well.

-the size. It's a pretty small school, and I like that. Everyone knows everyone, and you get to know/work with your teachers pretty closely, and it seemed like a really close-knit community.

-the theater program. Oh my gosh. I have fallen in love with the theater program. Acting + playwriting and screenwriting + directing + set design + costume design + lighting + learning how to dance (including ballet, which I've always wanted to do) + it's mostly applied to film and TV, which is definitely an area I'm interested in.

-the sciences. The impression I got was that I could fill the general distribution science requirements with astronomy and a lab course involving exploring plant life in the forest. Stars + nature + significant lack of chemistry = YAY.

-they'll teach you how to ride a horse.

-the fact that they have PE credits that I would take even if it weren't required. Sewanee requires two PE credits (one freshman year, one sophomore year), which would normally not be a good thing since I'm ridiculously uninterested in sports, but you can earn PE credits through courses like fencing, beginning riding, beginning ballet/tap/jazz, and principles of aviation. Umm, yes please.

-everything in the curriculum seems very writing-intensive. This is a good thing for someone who writes as much as I do.

But there were some things I was not so impressed with, as well:

-Granted, I did not eat much of the dining hall food, but I wasn't particularly impressed with what I did eat. The desserts were great, though, and there were lots of options that I didn't try which I'm sure would have been good.

-The English program was a bit of a letdown. I mean, it's kind of their big thing and it's all very writing-intensive, but creative writing courses don't count toward the major and it's a lot more focused on specific types of literature than I necessarily want. All of the English courses are literature-based. Don't get me wrong, I love literature and reading and all that, but there don't seem to be any courses that are specifically about writing. Except creative writing. Which, like I said, doesn't count toward the major.

-AP credits count as electives. You can't get out of any general distribution classes with AP classes. Which kind of sucks, because I was hoping that taking AP Calc next year would get me out of college math.

-It's kind of out in the middle of nowhere. I don't think I'm exactly a big-city kind of girl (traffic eeek), but I like to be around civilization. I love nature, but I want to be somewhere that I can do other things as well. It's heavy on the nature and significantly lacking in manmade entertainment. Which means not as much TV (probably good), but no bowling or swimming pools or anything like that (bleh).

And then some things I'm not really sure about. It was impossible to tell what the atmosphere is really like. Everyone was being really nice and friendly and all, but that's probably because for this weekend, that was their job. And academically...I'm really not sure if this is what I'm looking for.

I think it'll be easier to tell once I have something else to compare it to. I didn't fall instantly and immediately in love, but it did seem like a very nice school (and I adore the theater program, I think) and I have by no means crossed it off my list yet.

Unfortunately, I still have school tomorrow, so I need to go work on my homework. Until tomorrow, interwebs!

Love,

Bex

Two and a Half Things

Thing 1: Technology is made of evil. I was unable to blog last night because I had internet for all of maybe half an hour and the connection was sloooow. And of course last night was the one night in the last several weeks that I have really and truly needed an internet connection because of schoolwork. Go figure. Thanks, technology. Love you too. I'm only able to blog tonight because I am not at home, which leads me nicely into...

Thing 2: I am currently in a room at the Sewanee Inn. First college visit this weekend. I don't have much of an opinion yet, since it got dark before we arrived, but tomorrow I will be able to tell you all about Sewanee (aka the University of the South). I have not seen anyone in jeans yet, and that's not a good sign, but we'll see.

Thing 2.5: I have a song that I really really really want to share with all of you but it's not on YouTube yet and there's only a 30-second clip on iTunes. I haven't been able to find it on Grooveshark either. This frustrates me immensely. But I have a very awesome song recommendation for you guys once I can find it.

And now I should sleep. Because I'm tired. (Or maybe I'll just stay on the internet for a while. Whatever.)

Love,
Bex

Victory

I would like you all to know that I am officially a Script Frenzy 2010 winner. I have the icons and everything:

Aren't they lovely? Yes, I thought you'd agree. But it took some work to get there.

My final screenplay document was 106 pages (plus one line). So, when you subtract out the title page, it was really 105 pages of text. However, in order to confirm that you've won, you have to convert the file to a pdf and it counts the pages for you.

The PDF Converter decided that I only had 96 pages of material.

Grr.

So, I added some stuff and messed around with it a bit until the pdf finally admitted that I had 104 pages. A page short, but whatever. I figure it counts.

Also I have finished another book. However, I have homework that I have put off to finish Screnzy, so I should do that. Remind me to tell you all about THE RECKONING tomorrow, when I really have time to do it justice. Kelley Armstrong's work deserves a blog post of its own.

TTFN, interwebs. Love,

Bex

On Endings

I hate writing endings.

I never know how to end anything. I've finished first drafts of three novels. One of them ends with "to be continued" and two of them have ridiculously lame conclusions. I know this is something that could/should be fixed with later drafts (and/or by adding a sequel), but honestly, the two lame-conclusions ones were NaNo stories that I don't plan to redraft anyway.

I just don't know where to stop, how to wrap things up nicely without providing too much information, what should happen at the end of a story. I love playing with new ideas and characters, but finishing them is hard. I keep getting sidetracked by new ideas.

Case in point: Script Frenzy. I've written up to the climax...and now, having absolutely no idea what to write there, I have turned back to Chelsey.

I am going to finish Screnzy. I am. Possibly tonight, more likely tomorrow. Promise.

And I'm going to finish Chelsey too. Eventually.

But I hate (loathe, despise, detest) writing endings. Because I never have any idea how. You'd think I'd have a better idea, given how much I read (since all books have endings). But I don't.

Guess I'll have to figure it out as I go.

Love,
Bex