A Book Review of The Giver by Lois Lowry

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The Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

So Your Character is From Peru ... Featuring Robb M. Mendivil & Maria Jose

It's time for this month's So Your Character is From Another Country! This is a monthly or bimonthly segment where I interview lovely volunteers from around the world to give you a firsthand account of being a citizen of their respective country. I'm hoping to encourage international diversity, break stereotypes, and give writers a crash course on how to write a character from these different places on our planet. If you haven't checked out last month's So Your Character is From Thailand ... be sure to hop on over there and give it a read!

The top things that come to my mind when I think of Peru are Machu Picchu, llamas, Incans, and Emperor's New Groove. The only connection I've had to the country are a few Peruvian coins I have. This post is enormously informative for me and let me learn so much more about this South American country!

Beautiful People #21: Silanoc

It's time for this month's Beautiful People! Yay! This is a link-up hosted by Paperfury and Further Up and Further In where you answer questions about your characters. I participated in Beautiful People #1, #2, #3 and the villain special last year. And I've done Beautiful People Author Edition, Beautiful People Valentine Edition, Beautiful People #7, Beautiful People Sibling Edition, Beautiful People #9, Beautiful People: Parental Edition, Beautiful People #11, Beautiful People: Friendship Edition, Beautiful People #13: Caleb, Beautiful People #14: Writerly Resolutions and Goals, Beautiful People: Valentine's Edition, Beautiful People #16, Beautiful People #17, Beautiful People Childhood Edition, Beautiful People #19, and Beautiful People Appearance Edition. This link-up has been just so helpful with character development. 

 This month's BP is a with a character very dear to my heart named Silanoc. He is a starblood side character from my high fantasy series Starbloods, which I'll be writing for NaNoWriMo this year. His full title is Lord Silanoc son of Rhoga of the Northern Provence. He is Elasa's twenty-three year old older brother. I haven't talked about him on the blog for a while, so it's about time he's had a post to himself. If you'd like to participate in this link-up yourself, check out either Paperfury or Further Up and Further In to see how. Here we go!

So Your Character Has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Featuring Liz @ Out of Coffee Out of Mind

After my car accident back in April, I've dealt with a little PTSD, including flashbacks, aversion to things similar to my accident, and even panic attacks. It isn't fun at all. The first I'd heard of PTSD was actually in the Hunger Games. Before that the most I'd seen as the result of trauma was nightmares in movies and books. 

The Pros and Cons of Different Types of Point of View for Your Novel

One of the most fundamental decisions you can make for you novel is what point of view you're going to write it in. Now this isn't a post about the everlasting debate of first person versus third person and this isn't about what tense your novel can be in. This is about many point of views and combinations of point of views I've observed across the many books I've read. My intent for this post is to expose you to different types of point of views and discuss the pros and cons of each point of view or combination to help you make an informed decision for your novel. With NaNoWriMo coming up in just two months, this is a good thing to be thinking about. 

We clear about what's going on?

Questions for Rouyn!

It's that time of month again! I'm calling for questions for another character! This guy is the main male character from my high fantasy series Starbloods which I'm doing for NaNoWriMo. Yay! So I'm trying to familiarize myself with all of the characters. Let me tell you a little bit about this one. 

Rouyn is a seventeen year old Starblood who has not yet acquired his abilities. He is a prince of Calsidor, a land he was only born in, but he was raised in another country for he was threatened as an infant. For years he has communicated with his royal parents by letters, but he yearns for the day he can finally meet them when he's eighteen. 

He currently lives on an island off the coast of Ibreain, a Mediterranean-like environment with his guardians and their child. The guardians, like everyone else on the island except Rouyn, are of the winged race sylphs. Until his parents sent him a pegasus as tradition of young Calsidorian princes, he always had to rely on others to get about elevated island. Landora, his pegasus, is his best friend. They are bonded by blood and able to communicate telepathically. 

Though Rouyn has been treated like a prince his whole life, he has felt like an alien among his environment, and longs to be around people like him. On the other hand, he is afraid of being a prince of a people he doesn't remember meeting. He's read so much about them, but that isn't the same as knowing them in person.