#Neverworld

[firstagent]

Adapting Neverworld- Part One (Characters)

Earlier I’d mentioned that I’m currently adapting Neverworld to be an original story. This was a story where everyone from every season was locked in the Digital World together, focused more on their interactions than their struggle for survival. So the challenge is taking a story so reliant on familiar characters and so entrenched in Digital World logic (and its creatures) and making it work on its own.

Neverworld had 36 kids by the end of the first book, and one of its best features is the way it bounced between all of them at some point, with a dozen-ish subplots that wove their way around everybody. So yeah… that’s buttload of OCs. Not 36, that would be insane, plus I suppose I have to keep an eye on word count. But 24, plus the two beloved missing dudes, is plenty when we get all of their perspectives, and required some creativity to diversity a little beyond all Japanese and 69% male. We’re looking at a proportional cross-section of the English speaking world, and even if many of the storylines hit familiar notes, the new characters bring a whole new life to them. So the new story might turn Tai into a woman, Takato into a Canadian, and Zoe into a goth, but I swear you’ll barely notice. The idea of a timeless world where the characters neither age nor have anything particular to strive for still offers so much story potential, with the goal to narrow in the focus to dwell on its impact to the drama everyone gets themselves into.

I’ll chime in from time to time with updates on how things are going, what’s going on with the world, and eventually samples!

[knightofslime]

🏰 𝔓𝔬𝔴𝔢𝔯 𝔔𝔲𝔢𝔰𝔱 - 'Temple of Fire' 🏰

[hauntedwhispers]

❅ 10 Songs, 10 Years Old ❅ 2012 - 2022 ❅

Band: Xandria Song: Valentine Album: Neverwold’s End

[libertyreads]

May TBR--

Thanks to my newly minted library card, this is not all of my TBR for the month of May. Just the books I currently physically own. I’m so excited for the reads for the month of May. I get to start my Murderbot Diaries reread and I get to check out some books that have caught my eye but not held enough interest for me to actually go out and purchase them for myself.

1. Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney (Library)-- This is a Murder Mystery set on an isolated island. Daisy Darker’s family has never been what one would call functional. After years of avoiding each other, the family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday at the crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. When the tide comes in, they’ll be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours. Each family member arrives while harboring secrets and then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later the next family member follows. This is a retelling of sorts of the Agatha Christie story ‘And Then There Were None.’

2. Rookie Move by Sarina Bowen (Library)-- Leo Trevi has spent the last six years trying to do two things: get over the girl who broke his heart and succeed in the NHL. But, on the first day he’s called up to the show, Leo gets checked on both sides. First, by the team’s coach who has a grudge; second, by the team’s sexy, icy publicist--his former girlfriend Georgia Worthington.

3. Greenglass House by Kate Milford (Library)-- This one seems to be a Middle Grade Mystery/Fantasy novel about a place called Greenglass House. It’s a creaky smuggler’s inn that’s always quiet during the wintertime. While Milo, the innkeepers’ adopted son, planned on relaxing during his holidays, things get thrown off course by the ring of the guest bell. It rings again and again. Soon, Milo’s home is bursting with odd and secretive guests who each bring a strange story that’s connected to the old house.

4. Demon in the Wood by Leigh Bardugo (Library)-- This one seems to be a graphic novel version of the Darkling’s history and backstory. I think it’s the only Grishaverse thing I have yet to read. I was never interested in buying it so I’m glad I finally have my library card and can read it for free.

5. Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl (Kindle)-- This is a YA Mystery following a group of friends a year after the death of their friend Jim. His girlfriend Beatrice has questions she wants answered and their meeting again gives her that chance. And then a mysterious man knocks on the door and announces the impossible: time for them has become stuck, snagged on a splinter that can only be removed if the former friends make the harshest of decisions.

6. A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid (NetGalley)-- A Fantastical Dark Academia novel that looks like it will be everything fans of Dark Academia could ever want. Since childhood, Effy Sayre has been haunted by visions of the Fairy King. She’s found solace only in the pages of Angharad--author Emrys Myrddin’s beloved epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King and then destroys him. Effy’s tattered copy is all that keeps her afloat through her stifling first term at Llyr’s prestigious architecture college. So when Myddin’s family announces a contest to design the late author’s house, Effy feels certain this is her destiny. 

7. The Marriage Act by John Marrs (New Release)-- From the author who brought us the insanity that was The One, comes a new Mystery/Thriller. What if marriage was the law? Dare you disobey? In near-future Britain, a right-wing government believes it has the answer to society’s ills--the Sanctity of Marriage Act, which actively encourages marriage and punishes those who choose to remain single. But four couples are about to discover just how impossible relationships can be when the government is monitoring every aspect of our personal lives and will use every tool in its arsenal to ensure everyone will love, honor, and obey.

8. All Systems Red by Martha Wells-- I’m finally starting my reread of The Murderbot Diaries! I cannot explain my excitement. I’ll just quote the GR synopsis since there’s so much I could just burst forth with already. “In a corporate-dominated space-faring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. For their own safety, exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids. But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern. On a distant planet, a team of scientists is conduction surface tests, shadowed by their Company supplied ‘droid--a self-away SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module and refers to itself as ‘Murderbot.’ Scornful of humans, Murderbot wants to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is, but when a neighboring mission goes dark, it’s up to the scientists and Murderbot to get to the truth.”

9. The Beauty and the Beast (Minalima edition) by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve-- I’m so excited to read this interactive, illustrated version of the original story. The epic love story follows a beautiful young girl imprisoned in the magical castle of a monstrous beast.

10. The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas-- This is a standalone romance novel that is set after The Spanish Love Deception. But I’ve been reassured that I don’t need to read that one first. In this novel, we follow aspiring romance author Rosie Graham whose life is a little up in the air following her quitting her well paying job. But through a misunderstanding Rosie and Lucas both end up staying at her friend Lina’s apartment. They end up trying to break Rosie’s writer’s block in some unexpected ways.

[shit-people-probably-didnt-say]

I was asked to keep a secret, I agreed because I literally couldn’t remember the secret

[flowersandfilth]

What’s your favorite very specific book genre?

I’ll go first. Mine is “ Weird academic leaning group of friends at boarding school have to come to grips with the death of one of their own whom one of them most likely murdered.”

[brightbeautifulthings]

Happy Groundhog Day! I hope you're not repeating it over and over...

Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl & The Echo Room by Parker Peevyhouse

WHY:

YA science fiction

Morally ambiguous characters

Stuck in a time loop

[sunflowerius]

currently going insane over the fact that there seems to be little to absolutely no fandom for Neverworld Wake (amazing book by Marisha Pessl please go read it you Will Not be disappointed).

like what am i supposed to do now huh

[myfriendthedictionary]

have been doing mini’s femslashfeb prompts for 2024… smiling ! i haven’t posted anything for them because all ive been doing is messy sketches to get the day by day prompts but it’s honestly been really fun… and also helpful to my art process. and i get to revisit a lot of my fav ships from over the years !! so a double win !

[smurf-myoun]

First Smut Scene Ever Written

I hope y'all are ready, because I was not.

-------

[forbannelsez]

the biggest mistake my brain made while i was in a process of reading the neverworld wake was drawing an analogy between jim and james potter because my boy WOULD NEVER

[firstagent]

Neverworld Update- Tense Issues

Every so often I remember to offer updates on Neverworld!

When I started this project, I didn’t think much about tense. The fic was third-person omniscient-ish, usually focusing on one character. But it was a little loose, so something a little more geared towards getting each character’s perspective was warranted. So third-person limited, right? Seemed like a good idea, especially as it was clear whose perspective we’re in early in each segment. I’m still doing that thing where I start every scene with a character’s full name. I loved that. Even if I stole it from Desperate Housewives of all places.

But now that I’m a few scenes in, I’m finding it’s still not personal enough. Funny thing about Neverworld is it feels like things are happening right away. No matter how light and breezy an individual moment might be (there’s a lot more going on in the new D&D scene!), it still starts with people getting thrown into a foreign world and that’s a big deal. And since these are new characters, you need to get to know them fast. I’m realizing that means each character has to use their own voice to narrate their scene. Plus I’ve always been praised for my dialogue making characters sound like themselves. So I’m taking full advantage of that and broadening it out to the narration as well.

The current idea is a short introductory paragraph in third person omniscient to define who’s narrating and set the scene a little bit, maybe a sly comment here and there:

Derek Camden, Arrival Team Epsilon, tore down the dirt path toward the rhetter nest with Tyrell and Owen alongside him. Would it have been faster with Bonnie, the usual driver, the true master of the UTV? Yes. Would it also have been faster if Derek focused entirely on working the bumpy road and less on chatting up Tyrell? Also yes: Don’t get me wrong: heading out to hunt Norvic’s always a good time, especially with Hannah on Comms. Not that I ever missed an opening day back home, but we never got to say the deer deserved it. Still, everyone upstairs made this one out to be personal, like raiding a rhetter nest wasn’t past them. It didn’t happen often: rhetters were tricky buggers and a Norvic had easier ways to get food. But it wasn’t unheard of, I wasn’t about to pretend this was anything more than a routine deployment, and I sure as hell wasn’t doing it to avenge Little Miss Evelyn.

See, you’re already making some judgements about Derek’s character based on how he’s telling the story.

I… swear he’s cool. Mostly.

This isn’t the first time I’ve wavered between first and third person, but the little intro paragraph fixes a lot of the issues I had with clarity. I look forward to my next crisis when I have to write from the perspective of my Australian girl.

[a-deadly-serenade]

this is still such a serve. i hope lisa middelhauve is having a good day

[evilvillainapologist]

I still think Lord Yunzhong should have been the end boss, btw.

Tai Sui, Shmai Sui, who cares, but that guy needed to be taken down a peg.

You don't go, "Yeah, just let my little brother die forever, that's a risk I'm willing to take" and get to be one of the good guys.

Team Orchid Should Have Slapped Yunzhong Into The Neverworld

[libertyreads]

Book Review #64 of 2023--

Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl. Rating: 2 stars.

Read from May 24th to 25th.

I struggle to find a way to discuss this novel. The premise is that following a car accident, five friends are stuck in a form of purgatory until they can make a choice. Only one person can survive and make it back to reality while the other four must die. And it must be a unanimous decision. But in order to get to that decision truths must come out and the group must face the reality that they’re all responsible in one way or another for a trauma in their shared past. But the premise is the strongest part of the whole novel which made this one of my most disappointing read in 2023.

I found the writing to be really stilted. A lot of it was overwrought and hard to press through. It felt like the author was trying way too hard to make this a story with A Message. It also didn’t help that the pacing was so off. The author would tell, not show a lot of things and suddenly months have passed in the course of 3 or 4 pages. Then other moments would take chapters. It was frustrating to read. We also had moments where the author would use mental illness in a way that’s just unnecessary and unacceptable. Examples include moments when the narrator suggests someone has schizophrenia because they can do voice acting, or when the narrator jokes that someone has multiple personality disorder.  The book came in 2018 which means there’s no excuse.

I liked the way the mystery was uncovered. I didn't like the answer to the mystery as a whole, but I loved seeing the characters in this purgatory of sorts and finding ways to investigate. I also enjoyed the variety in these characters. They were all unique and different and it was fun to see how those different personalities both worked together and broke down the longer they stayed in this purgatory of sorts.

[beheadedtheatrekid]

And what if Lydia from Beetlejuice the musical jumped of that roof?

Yeah, she'd become receptionist in the Neverworld, like Miss Argentina did.

So what about Dead Lydia AU?

It's sad, but I think I like this idea. Also I'm sorry if someone already done this.