Amy Laurens's Blog, page 65

Made It Monday: Mermaid Cake for #Mermay!

Welcome to #MadeItMonday, where I post something I’ve made in the previous week, and where you can join in and post something you made too! The rules are easy: post a pic somewhere of something you’ve made in the last week (ish; let’s say in the last month as the hard-and-fast) and tag it. Sit back and enjoy scrolling through all the beautiful things we’ve collectively created, and celebrate the fact that humans can be awesome!

GIANT PUPPIES

A random compilation of giant puppydogs for your personal edification, because when do puppies NOT make everything better?

How To Theme: Chapter Two – Thesis Statements (Part 2)

 Welcome to How To Theme, chapters posting Tuesday/Thursday weekly, available now for pre-order in print, in ebook, and on Amazon. All chapters are also up on Patreon, including the bonus information on genre-specific themes that’s in the final book, but won’t be appearing here on the blog.

Chapter Two Part 2

If you’re happy enough with this, feel free to move on to chapter three now. But if you’d like to consolidate your understanding even further, have a look at the sample introduction belo...

We All Need Stories

The common misery of the world feels overwhelming. Petty cruelty; major abominations; selfishness, thoughtlessness; slavery, abandonment, abduction, discrimination, hatred, you know the list, it goes on and on and on and on, and this is one of those weeks where it’s been grating on my soul more than usual, one of those months, one of those years.

It occurs to me that I also haven’t been reading as much as I usually do. I haven’t read as many books this term as I usually would have. And althou...

How To Theme: Chapter Two – Thesis Statements (Part 1)

 Welcome to How To Theme, chapters posting Tuesday/Thursday weekly, available now for pre-order in print, in ebook, and on Amazon. All chapters are also up on Patreon, including the bonus information on genre-specific themes that’s in the final book, but won’t be appearing here on the blog.

 

Chapter Two Part 1

Wait, what’s a thesis* again?

* Remember, thesis is singular, theses is plural.

If it’s been a while since you last wrote an essay, or if you’ve somehow been writing essays all this t...

Made It Monday: Non-Cake Food!

Welcome to #MadeItMonday, where I post something I’ve made in the previous week, and where you can join in and post something you made too! The rules are easy: post a pic somewhere of something you’ve made in the last week (ish; let’s say in the last month as the hard-and-fast) and tag it. Sit back and enjoy scrolling through all the beautiful things we’ve collectively created, and celebrate the fact that humans can be awesome!

The Scorpio Races, One of My Favourite Books

This is the book that made me fall in love with Maggie Stiefvater as a reader. I really enjoyed the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, but Scorpio Races melted my heart and reforged into something bigger, brighter and stronger. So I LOVED that I got to teach it at school last year–and in that process, I found this super cool fan-made trailer for it that I think really captures the soul and spirit of the book.

It’s SUCH a good book. Do check it out, if you haven’t already. I love how Maggie’s wor...

How To Theme: Chapter One – The Point of a Text

 Welcome to How To Theme, chapters posting Tuesday/Thursday weekly, available now for pre-order in print, in ebook, and on Amazon. All chapters are also up on Patreon, including the bonus information on genre-specific themes that’s in the final book, but won’t be appearing here on the blog.

 

 

 

PART ONE

 Before we get to talking about what exactly a theme is, it helps to have a refresher about things like theses. If you’re super comfortable already with the idea of a thesis statement, let m...

How To Theme: Introduction

 Welcome to How To Theme, chapters posting Tuesday/Thursday weekly, available now for pre-order in print, in ebook, and on Amazon. All chapters are also up on Patreon, including the bonus information on genre-specific themes that’s in the final book, but won’t be appearing here on the blog.

 

Introduction

 

Theme.

Apparently, it’s a scary word, one that sends students, readers and authors alike into fearful fits, remembering the Bad Old Days of high-school English. (And if this doesn’t apply...

Starting Tomorrow, How To Theme!

How To Theme is HERE! With epic thanks to both Krista Ball and Liana Brooks for prodding me into this via social media late last year. Chapters will be coming out twice weekly (Wed/Thurs this week, Tues/Thurs subsequently) here on the blog, or you can read it all immediately (in draft form) on Patreon, or you can pre-order the final book below (releasing June 28/29). The final book + Patreon chapters include the information on specific genres; that won’t be available here on the blog