Monthly Wanderings: March 2020

March 2020 has sucked. There's no way around it. It hasn't sucked not just for me but for the whole world. It's been a month of destroyed dreams and lost lives. I've tried to stay positive about it but it feels like every string of hope I latch onto gets taken away. 

ScribeTunes: Somber

The newest ScribeTunes is here! American and Canadian powers combine in a collaborative project between me and Cassia Schaar to help writers have the best music for their writing. Have you ever spent half an hour or more trying to find the right mood music when you should be writing? Then this project is for you! Every other week we will be releasing playlists on Spotify and Apple Music that are themed for any writing scene you can think of! 

Advanced Description: Take Your Prose to the Next Level

In the past year, I've learned that description is a lot more complicated than you think. It's not just using the five senses. It's about invoking emotion with your description as well. 

A Book Review of The Progeny by Tosca Lee

Emily Jacobs is the descendant of a serial killer. Now, she’s become the hunted.

She’s on a quest that will take her to the secret underground of Europe and the inner circles of three ancient orders—one determined to kill her, one devoted to keeping her alive, and one she must ultimately save.

Filled with adrenaline, romance, and reversals, The Progeny is the present-day saga of a 400-year-old war between the uncanny descendants of “Blood Countess” Elizabeth Bathory, the most prolific female serial killer of all time, and a secret society dedicated to erasing every one of her descendants. It is a story about the search for self filled with centuries-old intrigues against the backdrop of atrocity and hope.

Series: Descents of the House of Bathory (Book 1)
Genre: Adult Thriller
Publisher: Howard Books; Reprint edition (March 7, 2017)
Page Count: 352 pages

Ever since I attended Realm Makers for the first time I've heard people rant and rave about the awesomeness of Tosca Lee. I'm so excited to finally read one of her novels!

Five Tips on Designing Book Covers for Indie Authors Featuring TerriblyBadBookCovers

I am so excited to have TerriblyBadBookCovers on the blog today! Their cover finds have had me in stitches, so I am so happy to learn tips on how to actually make a good cover! Please welcome them to the blog!

ScribeTunes: Soft-Action

The newest ScribeTunes is here! American and Canadian powers combine in a collaborative project between me and Cassia Schaar to help writers have the best music for their writing. Have you ever spent half an hour or more trying to find the right mood music when you should be writing? Then this project is for you! Every other week we will be releasing playlists on Spotify and Apple Music that are themed for any writing scene you can think of! 

A Book Review of the Queen's Resistance by Rebecca Ross

Brienna is a mistress of knowledge and is beginning to settle into her role as the daughter of the once disgraced lord, Davin MacQuinn. Though she’d just survived a revolution that will return a queen to the throne, she faces yet another challenge: acceptance by the MacQuinns.

But as Queen Isolde Kavanagh’s closest confidant, she’ll have to balance serving her father’s House as well as her country.

Then there’s Aodhan Morgan, formerly known as Cartier Évariste, who is adjusting to the stark contrast between his pre-rebellion life in Valenia and his current one as lord of a fallen House. As he attempts to restore the Morgane name, he let his mind wander—what if he doesn’t have to raise his House alone? What if Brienna could stand by his side?

But Brienna and Cartier must put their feelings aside, as there are more vital tasks at hand—the Lannons' trial, forging alliances, and ensuring that no one halts the queen’s coronation. Resistance is rumbling among the old regime’s supporters, who are desperate to find a weakness in the rebels’ forces.

And what makes one more vulnerable than love?

Series: The Queen's Rising (Book 2)
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: HarperTeen (March 5, 2019)
Page Count: 481 pages

Ever since Rebecca Ross announced this sequel to Queen’s Rising I knew I wanted to read it but it’s taken me almost a year to finally get around to it. Some may say that this book was an unnecessary sequel, but honestly, this completed the duology in a more satisfying way than the original book did. It’s a wonderful sequel!

Writing Lessons from Video Games: The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess vs. Okami

Twilight Princess is my favorite Legend of Zelda game, but one other game that was recommended to me because I like that one is Okami. Both are very similar in concept. They both have wolf protagonists with plucky companions who want to save the world from a great darkness. I've wanted to play Okami for over ten years and then I finally got it on my Nintendo Switch last year. Though it has a lot of interesting elements like fighting with a paintbrush, a unique art style, and Japanese lore, it falls a good deal farther back than Twilight Princess. And I'm going to explain why in this comparison edition of Writing Lessons. 

But in case you haven't played both of these Japanese games ...

In Twilight Princess Link is just a simple farm boy with a knack with swordsmanship. When great darkness sweeps over the land and curses him in the form of a wolf, he must travel through Hyrule and beyond to regain his human form and save all he loves from a life of torment. Midna, mysterious imp, accompanies him on this quest, but Link is unsure if she is truly helping him save the world or just using him for her own means.

In Okami, you are Amaterasu the goddess of the sun bound to a wolf form, but you've lost all of your memories and with it your powers. Issun, a tiny "wandering artist," travels with you on a quest to regain your divine abilities of the brush and defeat the eight-headed demon Orochi who wishes the bring the whole world into shadow. 

Warning: Spoilers for both games. 

A Book Review of The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal

It’s 1992 in Bleak Creek, North Carolina—a sleepy little place with all the trappings of an ordinary Southern town: two Baptist churches, friendly smiles coupled with silent judgments, and an unquenchable appetite for pork products. Beneath the town’s cheerful façade, however, Bleak Creek teens live in constant fear of being sent to the Whitewood School, a local reformatory with a history of putting unruly youths back on the straight and narrow—a record so impeccable that almost everyone is willing to ignore the suspicious deaths that have occurred there over the past decade.

At first, high school freshmen Rex McClendon and Leif Nelson believe what they’ve been told: that the students’ strange demises were all just tragic accidents, the unfortunate consequence of succumbing to vices like Marlboro Lights and Nirvana. But when the shoot for their low-budget horror masterpiece, PolterDog, goes horribly awry—and their best friend, Alicia Boykins, is sent to Whitewood as punishment—Rex and Leif are forced to question everything they know about their unassuming hometown and its cherished school for delinquents.

Eager to rescue their friend, Rex and Leif pair up with recent NYU film school graduate Janine Blitstein to begin piecing together the unsettling truth of the school and its mysterious founder, Wayne Whitewood. What they find will leave them battling an evil beyond their wildest imaginations—one that will shake Bleak Creek to its core.

Genre: Supernatural
Publisher: Crown (October 29, 2019)
Page Count: 336 pages

Ever since Rhett and Link announced in Good Mythical Morning that they were writing a novel, I knew I had to get it. However, I was a little skeptical about how good this novel would be. I love these two comedians (I mean they are completely part of my daily routine) but Buddy System attested that their storytelling needed a little work. They have hilarious characters and they’d have a good beginning then it would go off the rails at the end. So I was a little nervous I wouldn’t like their novel but I love these guys so much I had to give them a chance.