Sarah Pennington's Blog, page 29

What Makes a Villain? (Favorite Villain Tropes!)

Villains. You can't have a story without one . . . Well, not if you're writing fantasy or speculative fiction, anyway. I talked a long time ago about my favorite villains (though I'm not linking the post; my opinions have changed somewhat since then). Today, however, I'm talking about the things that make me like a villain — in the as a villain sense; not in the 2012-Loki-fangirls sense. In short, I'm discussing my favorite villain tropes. (Many thanks to my sister for requesting the topic!)

L...

May 2019 Doings!

Ahhhh. Finally a quiet month. It's so nice to be back home, away from classes and constant stress — even if I do miss my friends. That said, a quiet month doesn't mean there are no Doings at all, so let's get started!
Writing!The last major round of edits on Mechanical Heart is done! Finally!Ok, technically, I haven't been working on it that long; only since February. But the fact that I've been working on only Mechanical Heart edits, and the fact that I didn't have much of a break between the...

Books I've Lost Interest In

As a general rule, I don't like to leave things unfinished — especially not when the thing in question is a book or a series of books. Once I've gotten semi-attached to a group of characters or a world or especially an author, not finishing seems disloyal. And that means that I've read more than a few books that I'd lost interest in, but which I felt I ought to read because I'd enjoyed other books in that series or by that author. Lately, however, I've become more willing to drop books I don'...

My Thoughts on Avengers: Endgame (No Spoilers!)

Usually, I'm the last one to see any given MCU film — mostly because I insist on waiting until it comes out on DVD and I can get it at the library. But, having more or less caught up on the MCU for once in my life, and having found a theater with $5 tickets on Tuesdays, I decided to make an exception for once and go see Endgame in theaters. And oh stars was it worth it!

Endgame is best watched unspoiled (or at least minimally spoiled), so I'm going to do my best to keep this post spoiler-free....

April 2019 Doings! (Plus the first third of May . . . oops)

Behold! I return!

So, yeah. April was super busy and I basically did all the things and then semi-collapsed. But I'm back now! And in case you think I was joking about "all the things", I have a Doings! post to show just how crazy this month was.
Writing!Obviously, the main writing thing of the month (and the reason I haven't posted but once since my last Doings!) was Camp NaNoWriMo. For those who missed it, I was continuing my rewrite/edit of Mechanical Heart: adding new scenes and reworking e...

No Doings; Have a Snippet!

Hey'a, y'all. First thing: I won Camp NaNoWriMo! I validated my count at, like, twenty minutes to midnight, but it's fine. Second, due to a busier-than-expected finals week and a more-tired-than-expected me, I will be pushing the April Doings! post until next Friday. (Hey, I've put Doings! posts up later . . .) To make up for this, I'm sharing some snippets from Mechanical Heart. Enjoy!
First: in which Breen is every sleep-deprived college student (but with higher stakes):

Why had she stayed aw...

March 2019 Doings! (Is It Spring Yet?)

Hey'a, everyone! So, March has now been over for almost a week, but today's the scheduled day for Doings, and we're going with it. (Plus, the alternative is that I leave it until the end of April, and that'll just be a bad idea all 'round.) For those curious: Camp NaNoWriMo is going reasonably well. I started off the month with one chapter that I was excited to rewrite and another few that needed relatively few changes, so that helped a lot. Thus why I was able to get this post up at a reason...

Camp NaNoWriMo Encouragement

Hello, friends! In case you haven't noticed, the month of March is almost over, and April is almost here. And that means . . . you know it . . .


I've participated in every Camp NaNoWriMo event I could since 2012 or 2011, one of the two, and I'm not about to stop now — especially since I need the extra motivation to finish certain projects. (Mechanical Heart edits/rewrites are taking so storming long. I blame politics.) However, I'm also pretty sure that this round of NaNo-ing will be more diff...

Spring 2019 Reads!

Hello, everyone! Spring is finally here (and the weather's actually cooperating with that statement), which means it's time for another season of reads! Now, I'm still way behind on my winter releases (and I'm sure I'm not the only one), but that's no reason not to be excited for more new books. After all, you can never have too many books. And this season actually has a lot of pretty promising releases, so let's get started!
Spring 2019 Reads!
1. The Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds (M...

Let's Talk About Pie.

So, in case you didn't notice, yesterday was Pi Day. And while I may not be a STEM major, I still enjoy the holiday because it's an excuse to eat pie, which happens to be one of my favorite food types in the world. A well-made pie is on level with a well-made cake . . . and a poorly-made pie is far superior to a poorly-made cake, at least if you ask me. Pie also happens to bear the distinction of being both a dinner food and a dessert food, so you really can't go wrong.

Now, my college, d...