#I couldn’t decide which character would best fit the 'in kindness there's evil' category

[itsamenickname]

There are two ways I can describe each of the 5 main characters in TBTBWTK.

The first way is by aligning them with the D&D alignment chart (and be on the lookout for that in the next few days because I will create a separate post that will go into a deeper dive on this).

And the second way is with this specific meme right here.

[septembercfawkes]

How to Come up with Great Titles

A follower recently asked me if I had a post about coming up with titles, and since I didn't, I decided to write one.

Coming up with titles is weird sometimes.

For example, I have had stories where the title simply "came to me" before I'd even started writing it.

Other times I couldn't come up with or even consider a title until the story was essentially completed.

You can also throw working titles in there--titles you slap onto a WIP until you get further along and really consider it (or until an editor wants to call it something different).

If a title just "came to you," that's great, but you also might want to double check that it is really the best title for the work.

Other than the cover art, the title is perhaps the most important selling point on the book itself. It might be what gets a reader to pick up the novel to look at. (After that, the back cover copy obviously becomes important.) Unfortunately as writers, most of us have no say in what the cover art is--if we are publishing traditionally. But we do have some say in the title.

Often, the best titles capture an interesting image/concept, promises what kind of story the book is, or both. Genre may also factor in.

It's usually better to be more specific than vague. Remember that whole post I did on vagueness? And also this whole post I did on not picking generic details? As a reminder, if something is too vague, the audience doesn't get enough context, and therefore can't care about the story. If something is too generic, it leaves no impression and is forgettable.

One time in my writing group years ago, we decided to go through the bookshelf (near where we met in a library) and find the worst title we could. To this day, some of us still remember that meeting because of that. The worst?

The Land

That was a title. (And the cover art was equally boring.) This is a horrible title, in part because of the points I just made. "The Land" is very vague and very generic. I have no clue what land we are talking about or why I should care about it--I have zero interest in this book (other than the fact the title is so awful). I have no idea what genre it is. Is this something geographical? A Land Before Time wannabe? Who knows.

Now, because I know people are going to go search that title on Amazon, I want you to know that this book did not have a subtitle. It did not have a cover image that conveyed a story. It was just The Land.

aka, THE WORST.

So lets talk about some examples that fit into the two categories I named.

1. Captures an interesting (and specific) image or concept.

2. Promises an interesting or specific kind of story

Also, probably worth mentioning is that just because I refer to the title as an example, it does not necessarily mean I have read or watched it--just grabbing examples, some I know, some came up in searches.

Interesting (and Specific) Image or Concept

Mistborn is a good example of this. It takes two images or concepts we are familiar with and smashes them together. We know what mist is. And we know what it means to be born. These are concepts and images that are specific. However, we don't know what it means to be or act Mistborn, so it's intriguing. Maybe this is why we pick up the book. Because we understand enough about those two concepts, but we want to know what this concept means.

Well, next thing you know, you are reading the back cover (which is equally interesting) and then opening the book.

Notice too, that the word mist is something that is associated with mystery and maybe even eeriness. In thick mist, we can't clearly see what's in front of us. It's also a word that has some association with the otherworldly, whether it's from Stephen King's The Mist, or someone in Middle-earth talking about The Misty Mountains.

"Mist" creates a sort of buzz because of its associations and connotations--like those "buzzwords" I talked about in my post, 5 Tricks that Help with Hooks.

Here are some other examples that use this technique:

The Runelords Lord of the Rings Night Circus Jurassic Park The Raven Boys The Book Thief The Hunger Games  Ghost in the Shell Legally Blonde Phantom of the Opera Death Note 

Other times, the title may capture a more specific image:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo The Day the Earth Stood Still A Princess in Theory Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus The Time Traveler's Wife Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie To Kill a Mockingbird

Remember, it is not required that you are highly specific, you just need to be specific enough.

Promises an Interesting or Specific Kind of Story 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, this is a title that promises that this story is about Harry. I know that sounds obvious, but it's more than that. This story isn't just about some amazing plot. It's about the daily life of Harry Potter, too. What it's like going to a magical school. It's not always about fighting dark wizards or saving the world. Sometimes it's about dealing with your awful aunt, friends, and schoolwork.

I believe the title was changed to Sorcerer's Stone here in the U.S. because that's better for marketing. A philosopher may be interesting to kids. But from a marketing standpoint, a sorcerer is more interesting, because it implies there will be magic in the book, not philosophy.

So we know that this is a series about a person, but also has fantastical elements or some adventure to it: Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban (again, notice specific images).

Likewise, Diary of a Wimpy Kid immediately conveys what kind of story this is. Like Harry Potter, it's about a person. "Wimpy kid" is interesting because no kids would typically describe themselves as that. "Diary" tells us this is a slice-of-life story, but it's also interesting, because what boy would say they own a "diary"?

Here are some others.

The Kiss Quotient (Romance) Austenland (this will be about Jane Austen--also, notice the unique concept) Sherlock Holmes (this is a series about following the intelligent detective, the character) The President is Missing (pretty obvious, but immediately tells you what kind of story it is) The Da Vinci Code National Treasure Hamilton War of the Worlds Sixth Sense Cowboys and Aliens Lost in Space A Series of Unfortunate Events Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Little House on the Prairie The Little Mermaid Goosebumps Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

These all make promises, about the genre, story structure, emotional appeals, plot, or whatever else.

If I'm a huge Jane Austen fan, I might be immediately drawn to picking up a book called Austenland, out of curiosity, at least. This title helps you find the right audience.

Notice, though, that if The Kiss Quotient was a political thriller, then that's going to be a bit trickier to market, because the title has "kiss" in it. (However, in some cases, if you handle it right, that makes it more interesting).

Images and concepts can make promises too. Jurassic Park because of what those words are associated with, promises dinosaurs and theme parks. I immediately get an idea for what kind of story this is.

Worth noting, is this sort of thing is also why people advise in the industry that you use a different pen name for each genre you write in. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton is a different story than Jurassic Park by Roald Dahl. Same topic. But completely different stories. And Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Stephen King would be something totally different.

Daniel Handler writes both under his real name and his pen name Lemony Snicket for two different storytelling approaches.

Some titles use a play on words or a familiar phrase to make a promise.

The Fault in Our Stars - This title comes from a line in Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar (notice how that title tells us what it's about too) where Cassius and Brutus are speaking about how their problems and faults come from within, and not from without--fate or the universe. The Fault in Our Stars implies this is a story about characters dealing with problems and fates that are largely what the universe/fate gave them (in this case, cancer), and not problems from within or brought upon themselves.

There are some benefits for doing this sort of thing. For John Green, using a title that references Shakespeare instantly elevates his persona and his novel. It becomes more important. It sounds scholarly and educated. If you are going to invoke Shakespeare, you must be one of those two things or you must be a pretty good writer (at least that's the impression you give). You know what you are talking about. It still tells us what kind of story this is.

I've seen some people actually take titles of famous works and try to do this sort of thing. It's that association. There are some pros and cons to this. For one, your book might show up in search results for that title, which gives it more exposure, and probably exposure to the right audience. However, it can cause problems because it is the exact same title, sometimes because you are right next to the famous text. How does yours compare? Are people looking for new reading material when they are searching the famous text? Or do they just want the famous text? Also, it can be confusing when people talk about your book.

The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells, a science fiction novel, is very different than Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, which is about social issues concerning African Americans. Both are famous, so you almost always have to specify by author.

Here are some (less highbrow) examples of using a play on words or phrase:

Ready Player One My Little Brony See No Evil Dead Men Tell No Tales

Almost always the title gains significance and more meaning as the audiences reads or watches the story, whether it's because they learn what a Mistborn is or they appreciate more the issues that can come from letting a pigeon drive the bus. Some titles work on multiple levels in this way.

Let's look at M. Night Shyamalan's Signs as an example (I can already hear the booing, but I totally love that movie and many of his others).

"Signs" is one of those buzzwords, because it's associated with a hidden meaning.

But once you see the cover or trailer, you realize it's referring to crop circles. Those are signs left by aliens. We know what the story is about.

But once you watch the movie, you realize that signs also (and actually) refers more to spiritual signs of a higher power, and despite being an alien movie, the protagonist's character arc (and by relation, theme) relates to moving from believing in no meaning of life and no God to believing there are no coincidences and there is a higher power. Mel Gibson's character realizes that what he thought was totally meaningless in one context is actually a sign in a higher, bigger context.

This is a great example of how a title relates to a plot, character arc, and theme.

There are some cases where a book has a title that does not seem to capture an interesting image or concept, nor does it make a clear promise for what kind of story it will be, so you do not have to follow these guidelines, however, I would argue that following them results in more effective titles.

A Word on Working Titles

As I mentioned at the starting, working titles are temporary titles for a project, placeholders for something better. In some situations, you could argue that every title is a working title until it gets published. Editors may decide to change your title.

Working titles can have their own side effects. For one, you might start writing toward it. For example, if your story has "Monkey" in it, you might start incorporating more monkeys. That may or may not be a good thing.

In His Dark Materials, the title of the first book (in the U.S.), The Golden Compass, was actually the novel's working title. The real title became Northern Lights. However, when still writing the novel, Philip Pullman was working with his U.S. editor. When he put the real title on, Northern Lights, his U.S. editor felt cheated in a sense. To him it was The Golden Compass--what it had been through all their communications. This is why the first book has two different titles, depending on where you live. (And while I love the northern lights, honestly, the compass seems to fit the rest of the titles of the trilogy, which reference concepts of magical objects: The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass.)

So that's a unique story of how an editor chose the working title over what became the real title.

In Poetry

Other than the other ways I've mentioned titles can be used, in poetry in particular, titles may work to give additional context--whether it's telling us where the poem takes place, what is concretely happening in the poem, or how to interpret it.

Here is a short one from poet Jack Gilbert as an example.

Divorce Woke up suddenly thinking I heard crying. Rushed through the dark house. Stopped, remembering. Stood looking out at the bright moonlight concrete.

Without the title "Divorce," we don't get a lot of context for what this poem is really about. But with the title, we understand that Gilbert is capturing an image, a moment, a concept, of what it's like being recently divorced. Notice how the speaker ultimately looks outside at the concrete, touching on the idea of someone having left.

So titles can also give you context too, though most novel titles probably don't pull off context in this same way.

And there you have it! Probably way more than you wanted to know about titles, but hopefully that helps you guys come up with some good ones!

[reddiesporcle]

Faceclaim Sporcle Quiz FAQ/Director’s Commentary

Hello, I’m back to once again post a Sporcle quiz for a day on Twitter before I disappear off into the ether (the ether is locking my Twitter account again). How are you? Great. Let’s get the questions that I always see pop up whenever I post a quiz out of way first.

Where are your quizzes?

Faceclaims Quiz Media Properties That Have Been the Basis of SMAU Quiz Friends Episode Title as SMAU Quizzes: Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4

Do you have a list of references for the quizzes used? 

The quizzes used in my summary quizzes are all I have. Most of them are abandoned or deleted, but the remnant links can be found here. Feel free to hum a Sarah McLachlan song as you hum through them. The more recent quizzes were done in a fun and fancy free style where I kept track of no specifics because I am here for a good time, not a useful time. Sorry to not be of any help!

Why are your quizzes not publicly available?

If the quizzes aren’t private, then that means they are available to the Sprocle community at large to be verified or added to the random play a quiz generator. The idea of a fifty-year old film bro trying to guess all the Oscar Best Picture winners he knows in ten minutes and then being faced with a Reddie SMAU quiz makes me want to roll down a hill in anguish. The idea of a thirty-year old film bro deciding to fact check my Reddie SMAU quizzes makes me want to roll down seven hills in anguish. So they remain private. You can find them in the links on this page. As noted above!

Why didn’t you include ______ faceclaim? 

There are many reasons for why a certain faceclaim wasn’t included. I may not have seen it because it was further into the narrative of a story or I have not read it recently enough to have the faceclaim stick in my memory! I may not have recognized it from the tiny contact picture and couldn’t easily find a tweet verifying the name! He was a Connor Bowers faceclaim and every blonde white guy in Hollywood looks exactly the same to me and no, I do not have the technology to reverse google image search a tiny contact photo. There are over-200 faceclaims in here. There are probably more. I don’t get paid for this, please cut me some slack.

Your quiz has a typo!

As previously stated, I do not get paid for this. Please cut me some slack. 

Director’s Commentary

I understand nobody cares about this part, so I put the process behind making this quiz behind a cut. It also has the answers. It’s basically my evil villain monologuing moment.

Every quiz I have ever made in life is basically the result of my life philosophy which is the wolfpupy tweet, “well it made me laugh and that’s the most important thing, my feelings”. The Friends Episode Title summary quizzes started because I think it’s hilarious that the original title for Turtle Creek was Still Waters (it is always Still Waters to me). The “Has This Media Property Been the Basis of a Reddie AU Tweet?” quiz started because I was bewildered at just how many different, incredibly varying media properties had inspired SMAUs. I don’t have a wide audience so the only person I’m trying to impress is myself and so, I make myself laugh.

Anyway, the Faceclaim Quiz idea first came about when I was doing those summary quizzes and I realized just how many Patty faceclaims there were. I thought that a fun quiz would be “Match the Patty Faceclaim to the SMAU”, but that would have taken too much work while I was also doing the summary quizzes. By the time I finished those, the idea had become too unwieldy. There were too many Patty faceclaims to match to too many SMAUs. 

Eventually, the idea transferred to a simpler concept which was “What if I made a faceclaim quiz and every answer was correct except one?” The idea seemed so stupid, and I figured nobody would seriously play it and it would make me laugh. And that’s what is important! So that’s what I set out to do.

The trouble is that coming up with only one wrong answer was giving me hives because I knew if that faceclaim was used in a SMAU someone would be dying to point it out to me. So my brain started this new game of “Name an actor, name how they could possibly be used in a SMAU.” Any relatively famous male actor who I didn’t remember in a SMAU became a potential Connor Bowers. Leonardo DiCaprio. Brad Pitt. Chris Evans. Chris Pratt. Chris Hemsworth. Chris Messina. Chris Hayes from MSNBC. Other famous people in the last 30 years also got weirdly cast in things. Oh, Jennifer Aniston could be a Maggie Tozier. Oh, Kelsey Grammer could be a Pennywise. Will Smith probably worked with Richie on a movie. Taylor Swift may have worked with Eddie on his taxes. I was not going to risk it.

Then I considered doing Old Hollywood actors, but my brain went “Katharine Hepburn played Patty in an On Golden Pond SMAU!” and that was the end of that. I also considered just being completely obvious and doing like Abraham Lincoln because nobody was going to cast him as Wentworth Tozier, probably, but that wasn’t funny to me. And that was what was important my feelings.

In the end, the answer came somewhere in between. Currently, I am working my way through the AFI 100 Movie’s list, which has been a horrible calvacade of one examination of toxic masculinity after another. One of the most excruciating films to sit through was called Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages. It is a three-hour silent film by the director of Birth of a Nation where he argues that the NAACP saying that Birth of a Nation was racist was intolerant. The same kind of intolerance that got Jesus killed. It’s terrible. But the director of Birth of a Nation invented crane shots, so it had to make the AFI list, I guess. I’m getting distracted though.

Intolerance was terrible, but it was old, obscure and poorly restored which meant that nobody was going to use it as the source of faceclaims for anything. Even more amusing was that all the characters didn’t really have names but vague descriptions. “Princess Beloved”, “The Kindly Officer”, etc. etc. So in a bit of amusing myself I made a decision. I decided to group the characters into general groups.

ACTUAL CAST MEMBERS OF AN IT PROJECT PATTY REDDIE NON-MYRA LOVE INTERESTS OF VARYING DEGREES FAKE REDDIE SIBLINGS/COUSINS/WHATEVER GEORGIES LOSER DADS LOSER MOMS MYRA AUDRA/KAY MOVIE-BASED MALE VILLAINS/PENNYWISE MISCELLEANOUS

Then I organized the faceclaims into the highest category they fit into on that list (that I was aware of). So for example, let’s say there was a SMAU where Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was the faceclaim of Rob Tozier, Richie’s brother. Rob also works with Eddie at Justice clothing store, and he and Eddie hook up in an supply closet one time. In this scenario, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson would fit into the miscellaneous category (as Eddie’s coworker), and the fake siblings category (as Richie’s brother). However, he would be put into the love interest section based upon hooking up with Eddie in that supply closet. Good for him! Good for organization!

Once everyone was organized, I put the wrong answers in based on their character names in Intolerance. They are as follows:

Mae Marsh plays “The Dear One”, she was placed as the wrong answer in the Patty section. Robert Harron plays “The Boy”, and he was the wrong answer in the Love Interests section. Spottiswoode Aitken plays “Brown Eyes’ Father”, and he went with the Loser Dads. Lillian Gish plays “The Eternal Motherhood”, and unsurprisingly, she went with the Loser Moms. Miriam Cooper plays “The Friendless One”, and she goes with the Myras. Finally, my personal favorite, Walter Long plays “The Musketeer of the Slums” and he goes with the villains.

If anyone wants to see where the groups start and end that may be able to help you out. It’s kind of ridiculous, but I found it funny! And, well, that’s the important thing. It made me laugh. 

Happy playing.

[madsigano]

Because you Love to Hate me- Book review

Warning: May contain spoilers!

Because you Love to Hate me was a book I had been dying to get a hold of ever since a few of my favourite Booktubers mentioned this collaboration. 

The book contains 13 short stories of villains, each author paired with a Booktuber to give them a prompt for said short story. I have to admit, some stories I absolutely loved... others I either had a neutral or slightly negative opinion of. Let’s go through them:

The Blood of Imuriv by Renee Ahdieh, prompt by Christine Riccio:

This short story prompt was “The Grandson of an Evil, Matriarchal Dictator who tried to rule over the universe wants to follow in her footsteps and accidentally loses his temper, killing his sibling in a game of chess”. Wow, Christine. That’s a prompt and a half. 

The thing about this story was that although it was very good, there was too much content for the reader to fully grasp the storyline itself. This would make for a good book, but the shortened version left my head thinking the story lacked, simply from the amount of information that had to be thrown at the reader for the story to make sense. Christine- although I love her- could have maybe made the prompt a little easier for Renee to write something readers would appreciate more. That said, if this short was made into a novel, I can guarantee I would enjoy it more. 

3/5 stars.

Jack by Ameriie, prompt by Tina Burke:

The prompt given for this story was “Jack and the Beanstalk meets Phalaris of Agrigento”. One of the more well thought out ideas for a prompt, I’ll give you that, Tina.

However this was one of the stories I didn’t enjoy as much. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good “take a childhood classic and remake it”... but this just didn’t grab me. I rarely find a book I struggle to read through, but this was one. The character to me didn’t feel villain-y, and I also struggled to connect with her. 

The friendship between man and giant didn’t really feel like that, which is probably why the ending didn’t shock me as much as I think Ameriie was intending. 

It shocked me, but only in the way that there was no build up. Had I been given hints to this happening it may have affected me, but I personally felt it was a bit hit-and-miss.

2/5 stars.

Gwen and Art and Lance by Soman Chainani, prompt by Samantha Lane:

The prompt for this story was “A modern-day mash-up of the King Arthur Legend and Persephone-Hades Myth”. As someone who avidly loves all things myth and legend, I had high hopes for this one, Samantha.

However, this didn’t feel evil. I loved the context and the layout of text-style storytelling, I thought this was pretty creative actually. But this didn’t fit with the book for me. I was expecting one of the boys to act more like Hades and be cunning in his pursuit of Gwen, or for Gwen herself to feel a bit more villain-y. But I just got that High School not even the meanest of mean girl vibe.

2/5 stars.

Shirley and Jim by Susan Dennard, prompt by Sasha Alsberg:

“A young Moriarty”. Many things to be done with that prompt. I maybe would have expected the story to just be about Moriarty and his psychopathic ways coming to the surface, like a true origin story. But I got a gender-bent Sherlock and John. As teenage girls swooning over teenage-hottie-new-guy Jim Moriarty. 

Okay... I was actually surprised at how much I ended up liking this one. Sherlock is one of my favourite shows, and yes I am one of those people who ship Johnlock and/or Jimlock. So for Moriarty and Shirley to be a kind-of couple warmed my little shipper heart. 

But the end. It was so well done. The twists and the explanations just... Ah! 

4/5 stars.

The Blessing of Little Wants by Sarah Enni, prompt by Sophia Lee:

The author’s prompt for this story was “ A Dark Sorcerer’s motives for seeking immortality or Omnipotence”. First thing you think is, “Voldemort!” right? (If you haven’t figured already I skipped to the prompt before reading the story itself). But alas, no Tom Riddle for us.

I got serious Magneto vibes instead, and I’m not complaining. I was confused to the extreme; WAS HE REAL?! I thought he was part of her imagination but then her reaction confused me even further. Definitely well written on Sarah’s part. This seriously needs to be a book just so I can find out answers.

4/5 stars.

The Sea Witch by Marissa Meyer, prompt by Zoe Herdt:

Zoe’s prompt was “What if the Sea Witch had previously been in the Little Mermaid’s shoes but decided to kill the love interest and turn back into a mermaid instead?”. Let me just start by saying that “what if...” is my favourite prompt for any book. Every scenario in my head is a what if of book characters. 

This story was one of my favourites in this book, simply because it was this kind of origin story I had been expecting and waiting for. The plot of an outcast mermaid who has a serious fangirl crush (let’s be real- who doesn’t have an unhealthy crush on someone famous?), gets rejected in the most awful way, gets bullied by him and his slimy girlfriend, tries to kill herself, falls in love again with a human, becomes human for him, only to get betrayed by him, then (my favourite part) lets him enjoy his wedding day until she slits his throat. Good on you girl. Promptly returning to the sea, she becomes the sea witch we all know and love to hate.

5/5 stars.

Beautiful Venom by Cindy Pon, prompt by Benjamin Alderson:

Warning: mentions of rape.

When I read the prompt “Medusa, Go!” I was not expecting to read such an amazing story. Medusa was one of my all-time favourite legends from history when I was younger, so when I say I had high expectations, I mean really high.

And I was not let down. This story features easily the most evil villain in this book, and I don’t mean Mei Du/ Jia Mei Feng. This Medusa tale has an Asian twist to it, placing the well known Greek Mythology Gods into this culture instead. Jia Mei Feng is one of the lucky girls to be chosen to be the Emperor’s new wife, but the at-first dashing Hai Xin unexpectedly comes into her life and will not leave her alone. Her path twists violently into a dark path when Hai Xin kidnaps Mei, and rapes her when she says No.

I cried so much at this story, as it truly represents victim blaming as well as the rape culture, and the Goddess of Purity (Goddess of Bitchiness as far as I’m concerned) blames Mei, asking “did you say no?” and “Did you refuse him during his first visit?”. The Goddess curses Mei to look as ugly as a serpent, becoming Medusa, for something that was not her fault.

The power this story holds is incredible, showing that we must not ignore these issues and unite against victim blaming and rape culture. It is not ok.

5/5 stars.

Death Knell by Victoria Schwab, prompt by Jesse George:

The prompt for this story was “Hades waked up after being unconscious at the bottom of a well in Ireland”. The lyrical, beautiful writing from Victoria in this story was extraordinary and had me hooked from the start.

The relationship that blossoms between Death and Grace is short and quick, which is normally something I don’t particularly like, but I found myself enjoying the rapid romance between the living girl and the boy tasked with transporting her to death. 

Although this story was very predictable- you knew as soon as she avoided him the first time that she was going to escape death at any cost. And you knew as soon as they were near the well that she wasn’t going in. Yet I wasn’t disappointed. 

4/5 stars.

Marigold by Samantha Shannon, prompt by Regan Perusse:

I have to admit, I had to re-read this one when writing my notes because I had completely forgotten about it. an “Era-Queen retelling in Nineteenth-Century London” was a very good prompt, and I’m a sucker for historical retellings. 

Yet I couldn’t remember it. And then when I read it I understood why. Nothing about this story grabbed me. Which surprises me given my previous statement about how much I love historical retellings. It wasn’t that I thought it was particularly bad, it was actually very well written, but it just didn’t grab me.

3/5 stars.

You, You, It’s all about You by Adam Silvera, prompt by Catriona Feeney:

This story’s prompt by Catriona was “A female teen crime lord concealed by a mask”.

The immediate aspect that spiked my interest was the second person point of view. Second person is always guaranteed to interest me as the character is you, which brings you even deeper into the story. The main character herself was definitely one of the most twisted villains in this book; wearing a mask made of the flesh of her abusive father. That was very disturbingly creative on Adam’s part. The storyline of the drugs being made by this crime lord was incredibly creative, not just using illegal drugs we already know about, but using the drugs to make the character even more disturbing.

4/5 stars.

Julian breaks every rule by Andrew Smith, prompt by Raeleen Lemay: 

The prompt “A psychopath in a futuristic setting” really excited me, as I have a worrying love of psychopaths. 

Andrew did not disappoint, making me laugh out loud earning strange looks from people near me, and just overall writing a very good story. 

I do want to know what Andrew has planned for Julian though, as that cliffhanger left me aching for more.

4/5 stars.

Indigo and Shade by April Genevieve Tucholke, prompt by Whitney Atkinson:

“Beauty and the Beast: Suitor’s revenge” does actually sound like the dark sequel to the classic tale, but this story strayed from the darkness it could have been. 

To be honest, I find the Beauty and the Beast story to be overused right now, as the Cinderella one was for a time. This story I’m afraid to say does slot into the overused category. The story was good, don’t get me wrong, but it was the bad side of predictable.

3/5 stars.

Sera by Nicola Yoon, prompt by Steph Sinclair and Kat Kennedy:

Congratulations Nicola, Steph and Kat- you made my favourite story in this book! Talk about saving the best for last. As previously stated, I love all things myth and legend. So the prompt “Gender-flipped God of War” is so far up my street it’s in my back garden.

I could go on forever about this short story, but I’ll dial it down as much as I can.

The writing style from Nicola was amazing; a diary documentation kind of layout, watching Sera grow and seeing from her mother’s eyes what was happening. It did make me laugh a few times throughout; especially when little Sera put up finger guns to the murderer and said “bang bang”. I thought that was just a very funny image. 

The best part of this story was the POV flip at the end. We’d seen from Sera’s mother’s third person POV that Sera had been extremely ill, and then it had jumped to Kareena watching Callie being burned alive by Sera.

But the POV flip to Sera’s POV creates a reallllllly condensed version of the last 15 or so pages, showing the reader how she felt this entire time. She changed her appearance dramatically by dying her hair and wearing contacts because she wanted her mother to love her, and the “light” she was feeling was something she knew was dangerous so she tried to conceal it, making her ill. 

And then we find out that her sister tried to kill her while their mother stood and watched, hence why Sera killed her sister. This moment had my mouth nearly to the floor. Beautiful writing from Nicola and a perfect prompt from Steph and Kat.

5/5 stars.

If you didn’t agree with my review please feel free to comment, but please don’t write anything offensive! 

Likewise if you did agree, or enjoyed this, or want to add a bit more then please feel free to comment or message me!

[fandomriderx-1]

The Play’s The Thing

Hi all! Here's a short story I wrote for my fiction class. I’d love to hear some feedback, especially from the admittedly great writer, though thoroughly incompetent arch-nemesis, @identityconstellations

I sobbed as I held Amon’s limp body, when I heard loud footsteps just a little to my left. I wiped my tears and gazed at Amon.

“Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. Oh happy dagger!” I picked up the knife in Amon’s hand, still a little warm. I held it with both hands in front of me.

“This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.” I shouted these last words, plunging the knife into my chest. Warm red liquid poured down my chest, turning the purple of the dress black. As I collapsed next to Amon, I couldn’t help a small smile. Sometimes, friends are the greatest things in the world.

Rewind a few months. It was the second week of my senior year, and a giant banner had appeared in the main hallway. It was one of the cheap kind the school always used, made from that really big paper the school buys in huge rolls and letters in paint that would flake off if you breathed on it. Still, it did its job, proclaiming tryouts for the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet.

My friend Maddie nudged me as we walked to our first class. “We should try out, Cindy!”

I stared at the poster. Today was Monday, and the try outs were on Friday.

“I’m not sure we even have enough time. It says we have to recite a monologue.”

Maggie rolled her eyes at me. “Oh please, you’ve had ‘The V Speech’ memorized since we watched V for Vendetta last year. You made me recite Evey’s line so much when I die they will cut open my skull and find ‘Are you, like, a crazy person?’ carved into my brain.”

I chuckled. “Ok, I get your point. Still, that’s from a movie. Think Chrismon will count it?”

“Probably,” Maddie said, shifting to take her jacket off without removing her backpack. “That whole speech is basically a really long tongue twister. Get it right and he’ll know you can handle Shakespearean.”

I mulled over it for a second before nodding. “You’re probably right. Ok, I’ll try out.”

We spent the next few days rehearsing after school at Maddie’s house.

“What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe! Oh time, thou must untangle this, not I. It is too hard a knot for me to untie!” Maddie finished in her best man-voice, reciting Viola’s monologue from Twelfth Night. Putting down Maddie’s iPad with the monologue on it, I gave her a round of applause.

“Awesome! Pull back the hair, add some fake stubble, and you could totally pass for a man!” That earned me a pillow aimed at my head.

“Gee thanks, Cindy.” Maddie said, sitting down beside me. I shoved her with my shoulder, getting a shove in return.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Maddie began. “Are your sisters trying out for the play?”

My sisters, Theresa and Mildred, and yes they look just like their names sound, were notorious members of the drama club. They’d try out for every single play the school would put on, get small parts, and then throw fits if the whole family didn’t come see every single performance.

I sighed, exhausted at the thought of those two. “Of course they will. They wouldn’t miss a chance to stroke their enormous egos.” I glanced at my watch “Crap, I’ve gotta get home. Mildred has laundry duty this week, and she wants me to get my clothes together tonight.”

I grabbed my backpack and Maggie walked me outside. “We still good to go for lunch after auditions tomorrow?” Maggie asked as I got into my car.

“Yep! I already got my chores for the week done, so I should be free.” Chrismon, the drama teacher, had a small family emergency and had to reschedule the tryouts for Saturday instead of Friday, so we planned to meet at tryouts and then go for lunch afterwards. I closed my car door and pulled out of the driveway, waving to Maggie as I drove off.

The next morning, I woke up to a pile of dirty clothes landing in my face.

“Get up, Cindy. Its your turn to do the laundry.” Theresa announced.

I shot up in bed, knocking bras and skirts to the ground. “What are you talking about? It’s Mildred’s week. I vacuumed the house.”

With a smirk Theresa shook her head. “Check again.” She called, walking out of my room. I untangled my body from the sheets and dirty clothes and raced down the hall to the kitchen downstairs. My stepmother, Susanne, had instituted a chore chart that rotated every week, making sure everyone vacuumed, cooked, did the dishes, etc. When I got home last night under my name was written ‘vacuum & dishes’ in my stepmothers exquisite handwriting. Now under my name was ‘laundry & dishes,’ with ‘laundry’ written in a crude imitation. The same could be said for Mildred’s category, which now had ‘vacuum’ in the same crude handwriting.

“Midlred!” I shouted, loud enough that Susanne’s cat jumped and ran out of the room.

I stormed upstairs to Mildred’s room, throwing open the door. Mildred was sitting on her bed, reading a book I couldn’t see the title of. She turned the page before answering. “Yes, Cindy?”

“What do you think you’re trying to pull, changing the chore chart? It was my week to vacuum, and I already did it two days ago.”

Mildred laid her book down, still open, and dramatically raised her hand to her mouth. “What in the world are you talking about, Cindy? It’s your turn to do the laundry. I was the one who vacuumed on Thursday. Now, you better get started. Theresa couldn’t get to my or her laundry last week so you’ve got quite a lot to do.” She motioned to the huge pile sitting by her door, and handed me her book, nails perfectly manicured from their salon visit last week. “Unless you want to make something of it.”

I took the book, seeing it was the complete works of William Shakespeare book that Susanne kept in the living room to look smart. It was open to Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene II. My stomach sank. Maggie’s monologue. You could say a lot of things about my stepsisters, but three things would always be true: they were egotistical, they were overly dramatic, hence handing me the book like this, and they were cruel. I could feel Theresa grinning from the doorway.

A few hours later I pulled up to the front of the school, Theresa just exiting the building. She ran over to my car.

“Cindy, where have you been? You completely missed auditions!”

I motioned for her to get in the car. Maddie knew me well enough to know when I needed to be quiet. I drove us to Moe’s, our favorite lunch spot. We got our food and grabbed a booth in the corner. I was halfway through my burrito when I decided to talk. I gave her the short version of what happened that morning.

“Wait, they threatened me? With a book?” Maddie questioned.

I nodded. “Kinda. I don’t know how, but they found out what you were planning to do for your monologue. My stepsisters are evil, but they’re smart. They knew that Romeo and Juliet doesn’t have many female characters, just Juliet, the Nurse, and the moms really. They figured by getting rid of one of us they’d have a better shot of getting a lead role.” I took a sip of my drink, the cup crunching a little in my hand. I was pissed. “So, they rearranged the chore schedule so I’d be stuck doing laundry all morning and miss the auditions. And if I tried to do something about it, like tell Susanne or something, they’d find some way to ruin your audition instead.”

“Ok, your sisters are freaking psychos.”

I raised my cup like it was a toast. “Amen to that.”

Next Friday Chrismon had posted the cast list. I know this because the moment he taped it to the door Mildred and Theresa had taken pictures of their names and sent them to all our relatives, telling them to RSVP now for opening night, announcing that they had been cast as Lady Capulet and Lady Montague respectively. I turned off my phone and slammed my locker, marching down the hall to Biology.

“Cindy!” I heard a shout from down the hall. Maddie was running towards me with her phone in the air. Once she got close enough she shoved it in my face. “Chrismon posted the cast list.”

Barely looking at the phone, I tried to give my friend a small smile. “I know, Mildred and Theresa already messaged the whole family.”

Maddie shook her head, black curls flying everywhere. “No! I mean, yeah they were cast, but look!” She shoved her phone closer to my face, so I finally gave it a good look.

“Amon Strong is Romeo … Maddie Henson is Juliet!” I shouted, wrapping my arms around her neck. “You’re going to be Juliet! I can’t believe it!”

Maddie wrapped her arms around me too. “I know! But that’s not the biggest thing.” Maddie pulled back from me.

“I’ve got an idea about how we can get back at your sisters.”

The next few months flew by in a blur. Maddie had to go to rehearsal almost every day after school, and even a lot of Saturdays once October rolled around. I already gave Maddie I ride to and from school most days, so it was easy for me to stay behind and work on homework while they put the play together.

It was really interesting to watch. Chrismon apparently has never done Shakespeare before at our school, so he wanted to take this weird, minimalistic approach to it. Instead of a complicated, moving set, they just had this long, rising platform that curved around the stage. It was only about six inches off the ground on the left side, but on the right side it was so high that people would walk under it to get on stage. The idea was to let the context of the scene shape how people viewed the set. So, when the scene is supposed to be in a town square, the platform surrounding the middle of the stage would look like buildings. When the scenes were supposed to take place in the Capulet’s house, the highest platform would serve as Juliet’s bedroom. And when it was the final scene and Juliet was ‘dead’, the platform would feel like her tomb. It was pretty smart, especially on a high school budget.

To add to the minimalistic thing, he even had them simplify the csotumes. Everyone except Juliet, the moms, the Nurse, and Friar Laurence were wearing black dress pants and shoes, a white dress shirt, and a blue or red vest. And even then, Friar Laurence basically just had an overgrown vest on, and the girls were just wearing basic dresses. The idea was that everyone who was a part of the family feud was wearing a particular color. If you were on the Capulets side, you wore red, and if you were a Montague, you wore blue. To show their being apart, Prince Escalus, the Friar, and the Nurse all wore purple, as did Romeo and Juliet after they got married. Contrasting with the black platform and white background with shifting red, blue, and purple colors, it made a stunning display.

While I was admiring the set one day during a dress rehearsal, one guy wearing a red vest walked over to me.

I didn’t know his name, but I had scene rehearsals enough to know his role.

“Well, if it isn’t the noble County Paris. To what do I owe this pleasure?” I joked.

He made a deep, overdramatic bow. “To see why this fair maiden has dined to watch our humble practices all these weeks, with hope of learning her name.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. Nothing quite like performing Shakespeare to get you accustomed to the language.

“I’m Cindy, Cindy Todd. Maddie is my best friend.” I answered finally.

The boy quirked his head. “Todd? As in-“

“Yes, as in Mildred and Theresa Todd. They’re my stepsisters.”

The boy scrunched up his lips in disgust. “Yikes. The worst I’ve got is an older brother who won’t shut up about how I’m the favorite child. Though between you and me,” He leaned down to stage whisper in my ear. “He really doesn’t make it that hard.”

I chuckled again. “Which brings the subject back to you. You know my name, so what’s yours?”

The boy extended his hand. “Jim Davis. Pleasure to meet you, Cindy.”

I shook his hand, smiling. “Pleasure to meet you, Jim.”

Over the next few weeks Jim and I ended up chatting quite a bit. As Paris he wasn’t in Acts III and IV, so he spent long stretches of rehearsal in the audience seats with me. Eventually I let him in on me and Maddie’s plan.

He frowned a little. “I get why you’d want to do it, but do you think it’s the smartest thing to do? I mean, this play isn’t just Mildred and Theresa, it’s everyone else. This is a lot of people’s senior year. If you mess the play up, you could hurt their chances at scholarships to go to acting colleges.”

“That’s why we’re only doing it for the last two performances. Our family can only come on that last night, so it’s the perfect time to strike.” I assured him.

Jim seemed to mull it over. Eventually he gave in. “Ok, fine, but you need to let me help you prepare. We did the play back in middle school, and I was Romeo then. I know all the lines, so I can make sure you don’t screw this up, no offense.”

I raised my hands in defense. “None taken. Thanks a ton!”

After that Jim would join me and Maddie at her house every night after rehearsal. We’d work together to rush through our homework, then continue working on the revenge scheme.

Opening night went off without a hitch. Susanne was busy that night, so I sat with Maddie’s parents in the front row. Her dad had even gotten a bouquet of flowers that he passed out to us. When Maddie took her bow, we threw the flowers on stage, congratulating her on a great performance.

Still, nothing could compare to what happened that Friday. Chrismon always insisted on running the play at least once before every performance. I was sitting in my usual spot in the audience while she and Amon, our Romeo, practiced the balcony scene. We had brought in Amon, who had dated Mildred last year only to discover her cheating on him, weeks before and he knew what to do. In our version of the balcony scene, Romeo climbs up the platform and spends a few lines up there with Juliet before climbing down part-ways, still holding Juliet’s hand.

Only this time, while reciting “I would I were thy bird,” Amon let his foot slip, keeping an iron grip on Maddie’s hand, who was already mostly leaning off the platform. With a shout, Amon fell to the ground, pulling Maddie with him. The two landed in a heap.

“Maddie!” I shouted, running up down the aisle and practically jumping onto the stage. Chrismon was there almost as fast.

“Ow!” Maddie shouted, peeling herself off Amon as she clutched her left arm. “I think I broke it.”

Chrismon checked on Amon while I inspected Maddie. It was well known that I had some first aid training, so he let us be.

“Nice fall.” I whispered. Maddie shot me a slightly angry glare.

“It wasn’t entirely fake.” Maddie grunted. Feeling her arm, I could defiantly tell it was messed up. Nothing broken, but her wrist and elbow were definitely sprained from Amon’s yanking.

“Crap.” I locked eyes with Maddie. She mouthed for me to stick to the plan.

Maddie turned back to our director. “Mr. Chrismon, is Amon all right?”

Chrimson nodded his head. “A little bruised, but I think he’ll be fine. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was a planned.” He gave us a wary look but didn’t say anything else about it. “What about you?”

“She definitely sprained her elbow,” I reported. “But I don’t think anything’s broken. I guess Amon broke her fall.”

Still a bit dazed, Amon gave a thumbs up.

“She’ll need to be checked out by a doctor, but either way I don’t think she can do any more show’s” I concluded.

“The who’ll play Juliet?” Jim helpfully asked. That boy should’ve gone to Julliard for that performance, you could never tell he rehearsed that line.

I could hear Mildred and Theresa shouting from the back of the crowd that had gathered, but Maddie had already grabbed my arm.

“Cindy, you can do it! You’ve been here for every rehearsal, and you helped me with memorizing all my lines. I know you can do it!” She looked to Chrismon for encouragement.

The drama teacher looked at me. “It’s last minute, but do you think you can handle it, Cindy?” Loud twin screeches could be heard in the background.

I tried my best to look conflicted before nodding.

“I’ll do it.”

We called Maddie’s mom and had her taken to see a doctor while we worked to get me into Maddie’s dresses. One thing we failed to account for was that Maddie was at least three size larger than me. Luckily Chrismon is a wizard with safety pins and soon the dress fit perfectly. An hour later and it was curtains up.

I sobbed as I held Amon’s limp body, when I heard loud footsteps just a little to my left. I wiped my tears and gazed at Amon.

“Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. Oh happy dagger!” I picked up the knife in Amon’s hand, still a little warm. I held it with both hands in front of me.

“This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.” I shouted these last words, plunging the knife into my chest. Warm red liquid poured down my chest, turning the purple of the dress black. As I collapsed next to Amon, I couldn’t help a small smile. Sometimes, friends are the greatest things in the world.

We received a standing ovation. It turned out that was the night the local paper sent over a reporter to do a piece on our play. It was a slow news day, so I took great satisfaction in throwing the paper at Mildred’s head the next morning. Under the big bold headline of “THE PLAY’S THE THING” was a picture of me, taking a bow.