Corinne Morier's Blog, page 9

Book Review–Drama

Read This, Not That!

On Sunday, I reviewed Simon vs the Homosapiens Agenda, which is marketed as a YA contemporary romance but which should be renamed to “Biggest Waste of Time Ever.” So now I present to you an actual GOOD YA contemporary romance, this time in graphic novel format.

Drama by Raina Telgemeier

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

OHMIGOD THIS STORY YOU GUYS. THIS STORY.

As a former high school drama geek, I was completely sold on this premise before picking up this book. And it did not disappoint. Callie is such a cute, realistic young woman just trying to make her way through the hellish maze that is middle school relationships. Her crush on her best guy friend is obviously not going anywhere, especially when he’s already dating another girl. His girlfriend’s a b*tch but he doesn’t see it.

Then she meets drama geek Justin and his nerdy twin Jesse. Justin is psyched about being in the school’s performance of Moon Over Mississippi, and Callie convinces Jesse to help with the backstage preparation. Until shit hits the fan fifteen minutes before the curtain opens.

I won’t say any more than that–I don’t want to spoil it–but if you are a graphic novel enthusiast, a current or former drama or stagecraft geek, or just looking for a cute rom-com with adorkable characters and a lovely story, YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW. Telgemeier brings another amazing standalone and wows with beautiful artwork paired with a great story.

If you’re interested in a cute rom-com LGBTQ+ story featuring a bunch of drama geeks, you can follow Raina on Twitter and buy Drama on Amazon!

Follow me on Twitter and subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss any of my reviews!

What other LGBTQ+ books are out there? Recommend them to me in the comments below, and I hope to see you back Sunday for another book review!

View all my reviews

We’re Moving!

Happy New Year, dear readers! I hope all is well with you.

I have an announcement to make. The Pink Notebook will now be located at a new URL!

http://corinnejet.wordpress.com

All the posts on this blog will be archived and I’ll be slowly moving things over there and consolidating, and any new posts/updates will be strictly on my JET blog. So hop on over to the new and improved Pink Notebook!

 

Elise Edmonds Interview

Hello, everyone! I’m here today to announce the publication of a much-anticipated YA fantasy adventure with Arabian tendencies. Where Carpets Fly, by Elise Edmonds!

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Elina Faramar finally leaves her family’s flying carpet shop when her father reluctantly agrees she can take magic lessons in nearby Kamikan. Urban life promises adventure, and new friend Kara shows her the sights.

However, Elina soon sees a darker side of life: a foreigner arrested at the circus, forbidden schoolhouse rooms with odd comings and goings, and unsociable pupil Simeon’s shady deals at the docks. Everything seems connected to the volatile neighbouring country of Pallexon, but no one will tell her why.

When Elina and Simeon develop a magical mind link, he seems close to confiding in her. But an unexpected voyage takes Elina and Kara away from answers and towards unknown danger in Pallexon.

Alone in a strange country, with no identity papers, the situation rapidly turns into a nightmare when Kara is mistaken for a spy. With her own freedom at stake, Elina must rely on her wits and magic to save her friend and unravel the secrets of Pallexon.

Corinne: So let’s get on with the interview! Heya, Elise!

Elise: Wahey, Corinne! Thanks for hosting me today.

Getting Back Into Poetry

A long time ago, used to write poetry. I stopped sometime in high school after I got into writing novels and screenplays. Today, I tried writing poetry for the first time in a while. A few haikus. And in Japanese, too. ^^

If you’re unfamiliar with the format of a haiku, it’s basically a short poem that’s five syllables one line, followed by seven syllables the second line, followed by five syllables in the third line. And that’s it.

I wrote these in Japanese, but I wanted to share these here anyway because I thought they were pretty good.

A Friendship Is

I wrote this short story on a whim and thought I’d share it here. Happy Valentine’s Day!

A Friendship Is

There once was a girl who didn’t understand the concept of friendship. She couldn’t touch, see, smell, or observe it using any of her senses. It wasn’t a concrete thing, so it was a mystery to her. She would become friendly with people in school, but then stopped seeing her classmates every day after graduation, so she assumed that they’d forgotten about her, because after all, she was starting to forget about them. Years later, at reunions and chance meetings, she would see them again, and be confused when they were happy to see her and asked after her and her family. She thought that if you didn’t see or talk to someone every day, you were no longer friends.

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That girl grew up and entered high school, living a rather carefree life after a sudden transfer in sophomore year. One day in senior year, her carefree life was thrown into chaos. Someone she considered a good friend hurt her, both physically and emotionally. It shook her confidence as to what friends really were. She continued to try to get her so-called “friend” to understand her pain, but to no avail. That pain evolved into anger, which she carried with her for years after that. That anger made it hard for her to trust people. She graduated from high school and entered college, and for the first two years of her college career, she did not make a single friend. She was friendly with various classmates from her major, but she did not consider any of them her friends. And because she carried so much baggage from high school, a similar thing happened to her in freshman year. She made friends with another girl in her class, but this other girl hurt her very badly, and this only compounded the problem. She had only a few friends, ones from her childhood who had never given her any reason to doubt them in the decade she’d known them.

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Late into her sophomore year of college, she finally was able to break this vicious cycle. By chance, she met another girl in the hallway, and they got to chatting about shared interests in anime and creative writing. The girl also started working for the orientation program at her university. She met a lot of great people who appreciated her for who she was: passionate and loyal and caring and a bit kooky. She made some amazing friends in that program, and finally felt as if she had healed from her traumatic high school experience.

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After graduating, she worked a gig as a summer camp counselor, but various problems happened during that summer, and the scars upon her heart that she thought had vanished years ago reopened. Right after finishing that job, she joined an online writing group, but wasn’t sure if she had crossed the line from “acquaintances” to “friends” with the other members of the group.

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It took a single line from a Youtube video to change her entire view on this subject.

A friendship is when two people have mutual affection for each other and enjoy each others’ company.

The girl shared the Youtube video with one of the members of her writing group, who said the exact words to the girl that she needed to hear: that they were, indeed, friends, and best friends at that. After that, the girl realized that friendship was just that simple. She gained the ability to cut toxic people out of her own life, to appreciate the people who loved her, and to dismiss all the haters with her favorite six-word saying. And though she still occasionally struggled with doubts about whether or not the people she considered to be her friends really did view her as such, she went on to chase her dreams, surrounding herself with people who appreciated her for the geeky, awkward soul she was.

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That girl was me.

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Krystal-Ann Melbourne Interview

Happy February, everyone! Today I’m having a chat with Krystal-Ann Melbourne, an artist and an author both.

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Which writers inspire you?

Scott Lynch. Not only because his books are my absolute favourite, but also because he was picked up by an agent so early, and while breaking a ton of the rules us aspiring authors consider concrete. Similarly, I’m also inspired by Sarah J. Maas. I remember reading her debut when it was still a Cinderella fanfic floating around the internet. To see her do so well for herself gives the rest of us hope.

Do you write part-time or full-time?

Part-time, because I work full-time at a job I absolutely love. Even were I to become incredibly rich and successful, I would still work my job at least part-time. In all, I spend about 10 hours a week writing and 5 hours a week with organizing/outlining future projects or maintaining my website and blog. I think about my story all the time though, and am constantly sending myself reminder emails about spontaneous ideas.

Do you think that the cover plays a part in the buying process?

Definitely. People say not to judge a book by its cover, but the artist in me just can’t let that fly. Visual art says a lot about a person’s creative intuition. If a book’s cover is lacking, the writing will need to work much harder to get me to buy it. I judge first by a book’s title, then the cover, then the blurb at the back. If I’m still on the fence after those, I will open it up and read a random dialogue page.

What drew you to write fantasy?

Fantasy is the genre I read most. I love magic, thievery, murder, mythology, tragedy, dark humour, and horror. I wrote A Balance of Souls to incorporate all these things that I enjoy reading, and that’s what keeps me passionate about it through all the rewrites and editing. My next two works skip around genre a bit, but still staying within the frame of what I love to read: Claudian’s Keys, a surrealist YA with a bit of piracy and steampunk undertones, and Hesitation, a choose-your-own-adventure adult horror fashioned after 90’s rpg-horror video games.

What are your ambitions for your writing career?

I’d like to be able to survive off my writing, keep the income from my dayjob for savings, and have time to invest in my other crafts. Project wise, I would really love to be able to turn A Balance of Souls into a manga. I feel the story’s timeline and formatting would really fit well into an episodic medium, and with manga I can combine both my writing, and my artwork.

Thank you so much to Krystal-Ann for letting me interview you today.

Keep up with her latest by visiting her website and

Reading Challenge Update

Holy guacamole, it’s 2017 already? Where does the time go??

Happy New Year, everyone! I’ve been staying away from blogging since the new year began, but I’m back to report on the progress I made during last year’s reading challenge!

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Click here to see my original blog post announcing the challenge!

1. A book published this year (2016) – DONE! I read Heart of the Winterland by Kristen Kooistra.

Heart of the Winterland review

2. A book you can finish in a day – DONE! I read A Year in Japan by Kate T Williamson.

Finished my first book!

3. A book you’ve been meaning to read – DONE! I read Eve: The Awakening by Jenna Moreci.

Finished the fourth book!

4. A book recommended by a librarian or bookseller – DONE! I read Hannah’s Winter by Kierin Meehan.

Hannah’s Winter Review (2016 RC Book 6)

5. A book you should have read in school – This one is a big fat FAIL. I was supposed to have read Wuthering Heights, but never finished it. I feel really bad for saying this because a certain writer friend of mine likes this book a lot, but I just couldn’t get into it. I tried reading it, but I just couldn’t finish it. It wasn’t entertaining enough. The classics aren’t for everyone, and in this case, it just wasn’t my kind of book. I’ve DNF’ed my fair share of books, but I’m declaring this one a fail because I didn’t write a blog post declaring it a DNF.

6. A book chosen by a spouse, partner, sibling, or BFF – DONE! I read Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger, chosen for me by my BFF.

Eleanor Konik Interview

Happy New Year, everyone! Today, I got the chance to interview Eleanor Konik, blogger extraordinaire.

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Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?

The first “real” book I ever read was Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey. A friend saw the cover on my dad’s bookshelf and suggested I might like it. Writing Pern fanfiction was some of the first writing I ever showed anyone, and the complex history and politics of Pern really impacted me. I always loved the idea that there could be an overarching menace that wasn’t another person — though of course there were often human obstacles to overcome — and it remains one of the few series about a colonization effort that doesn’t end in war or conflict with natives or invaders.

What is your favorite sequel? 

I’m not sure if it’s the best sequel I’ve ever read, but The Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven is definitely my favorite, probably because of the backstory. He wasn’t planning to write it, but between the popularity of Ringworld and the MIT students confronting him at conventions about how his math was wrong, he felt compelled to go back and write a follow-up dealing with the flaws that fans had pointed out. I think it’s amazing that his fans were so passionate about his work that they actually ran the numbers, in such a large group that they disrupted events with their chanting.

The Ringworld is unstable! 

What made you decide to write fantasy, as opposed to another genre?

I think fantasy is more flexible than most other genres, which is something I value. It gives me a bigger toolkit of things I can accomplish, and ways I can make the points I’m interested in making. I enjoy reading a lot of other genres, but despite my occasional forays into writing other types of speculative fiction, my heart belongs to fantasy.

Besides, fantasy readers aren’t quite as judgmental as the science-y folks.

When you develop characters do you already know who they are before you begin writing or do you let them develop as you go?

Pre-planning my characters is not one of my strengths, unfortunately. It takes a lot of words before I start to feel like I really know a character, no matter how many character sheets I put together or how much I explain my intentions. My characters grow and change as I write them, depending on the circumstances they face, and it can be tough to know how they’ll be impacted by those situations until I know all of the details of their story.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

One pretty common refrain of mine in my writing group is “if your characters are bored, so are your readers.” There’s nothing worse than reading, say, a young adult novel where the teenage protagonist is sitting in class twiddling their thumbs waiting for the action to start. If a character is yawning their way through a lecture about something “important” for the sake of worldbuilding, chances are I’m already skimming.

What do you struggle with most in your writing?

I have a hard time showing my characters’ emotional state, sometimes. I try to be a very calm, contained person — you can’t let your students know when they get to you — so a lot of the time, my emotional “tells” are subtle and that is true of my characters as well, at least on the first draft. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in having good worldbuilding that I forget to show how my characters are feeling, because it seems so obvious to me. Thankfully, I have beta readers and critique partners to keep me on the straight-and-narrow.

Some people say they hear their characters’ voices in their heads, telling them what is happening in the story. I hear my friends’ voices whispering things like “where is your tension?” and “What are the characters’ motivations?” instead.

Thank you so much, Eleanor, for the great interview.

Be sure to follow Eleanor’s blog because she blogs about all sorts of interesting things, like folktales and legends and she really knows her stuff!

Eleanor Konik was born and raised in a close-knit neighborhood just outside of Baltimore, where she is putting the final touches on her teaching certification. She spends her free time gardening and playing cards with coworkers. She also enjoys fishing, hiking, and visiting attractions around the city. Her blog showcases insights she’s gleaned while researching THE LAST COLLARED MAGE, a fantasy mashup of Rome’s greatest defeats.

The Naughty List–Writing Tag

In celebration of the holiday season, I’m participating in the wonderful Jenna Moreci’s writing tag!

Jenna Moreci’s blog

The tag is “The Naughty List.” I have to answer the questions on the tag using the characters from my current WIP, and not use a character more than twice.

My WIP is entitled The Red Sorcerer, a trilogy of fantasy books about a young Noblain girl named Leyndray. She has always believed that she was an orphan, until one day she discovers a terrible secret about her mother. She must confront her terrifying fate in order to save all that she knows and loves, but how much will she sacrifice to do so? And who is the mysterious sorcerer controlling her from the shadows?

I’m going to do my best to limit my choices to just the characters in book one.

So here are the questions!

#1 Which character would get wasted at a holiday party and end up humping the Christmas tree?

That would be Ellaren, Leyndray’s good friend and a stable boy at the palace. He’s rather grumpy, especially when it comes to the royal couple, and is fiercely protective of Leyndray. I feel like he would be the one sitting in the corner nursing a drink the entire evening until the alcohol kicks in and he is officially drunk. Unable to hold his feelings back anymore, he inadvertently tells the Christmas tree he loves it, thinking in his drunken stupor that it’s Leyndray he’s talking to. Meanwhile, Leyndray is watching him do all this in complete shock. Then in the morning, he doesn’t remember anything he did, but everyone else does. And Leyndray is so embarrassed that she refuses to speak to him anymore.

#2 Which character deserves to get the crap beaten out of ‘em by the Krampus?

Okay, I’m going to cheat a bit here and say King Percival. He’s the king of the Gennen, who are the oldest enemies of the Noblain, and the reason this is cheating is because he doesn’t show up until book two. He’s a spoiled little brat kid who thinks he deserves everything and who throws tantrums when he doesn’t get his way. In fact, one of my critique partners mentioned that he reminded her of Joffrey from Game of Thrones. I didn’t intentionally base him off of Joffrey, but I do watch the show very religiously, and I will say that I was writing a lot of the main scenes with Percival during seasons three and four of the show.

#3 Which character is the Grinch this year?

Without a doubt, that is Slaineash, the king’s advisor and childhood friend of Cyassay. He just is never happy about anything, especially Christmas. He thinks that the holidays are frivolous and not worth his time.

#4 Which character would try to get a little too friendly while sitting on Santa’s lap?

This might be Leyndray, my protagonist. She’s pretty naive when it comes to love, and she’s never really had any sort of father figure in her life. So when she meets Slaineash, the advisor to the king, she begins to fall in love with him. I wouldn’t say she’s got so many daddy issues that she’d want to flirt with someone old enough to be her grandfather, but Slaineash is four years older than even her real father, so… there’s that.

#5 Who would your antagonist most like to tongue beneath the mistletoe?

That would most definitely be Cyassay, who is Leyndray’s mentor and King Kinaldor’s wife. My antagonist has been in love with Cyassay for years, but when Cyassay and Kinaldor fall in love, he becomes jealous and starts a war just to get Cyassay all to himself. Of course, he’s dreaming about tonguing her under the mistletoe while she’s standing under the mistletoe actually making out with her husband, the King.

#6 Which character would accidentally tip the menorah and light the house on fire?

I’m going to cheat here again and use a character from Book Two. The one who did this would most likely be Anara. She is a Gennen noblewoman and the previous queen-in-waiting. She’s a little clumsy and airheaded, and she’d definitely be the type to knock things over without realizing it.

#7 Which character is most likely to bring magic brownies to a holiday party?

Eldyina, Cyassay’s twin sister, would probably be the one to do so. She’s very naive, and although she knows a fair bit about the world, she probably wouldn’t realize that the “magic” in these brownies isn’t the same as the magic she knows how to use. LOL

#8 Which character is most likely to ring in the new year naked? And why the hell are they naked in the first place?

King Kinaldor, the king of the realm, would probably fit this description best. On New Year’s Eve, his wife Cyassay has a bit too much to drink, finds him beneath the mistletoe (that someone forgot to take down after Christmas) and gives him a really passionate kiss. Then they’d sneak away to an unused bedroom in the palace for a bit of fun. He’d be naked because he and Cyassay would be doing the deed.

#9 Which character is absolutely kidding themselves by insisting they belong on the nice list?

That would be Slaineash, the king’s chief advisor. He pretends to be a good person and acts as if he is noble and pure-hearted, but he’s got a few secrets himself, and he’s even broken the most important law of the Noblain. He would insist that no, he is a good person, but his deeds speak for themselves.

#10 Which characters would readers be most shocked to find on the naughty list?

Speaking hypothetically, that would also be Ellaren. He has done quite a few things he’s not proud of, including murdering someone in cold blood, and although he wants to be honorable and admit his mistakes, he can’t do so without people digging further into his past and thereby making all the sacrifices he’s ever made be in vain.

And that’s it for the tag! Hope you enjoyed. I’m tagging all my author friends: Kristen Kooistra, Allie May, Matt Dewar, Krisna Starr, Louise Ross, Elise Edmonds, Katelyn Barbee, Heather Hayden, B.C. Marine, J.L. Bernard, Julian Elliot, Renee Harvey, and Renee Frey! YOU BETTER DO THIS TAG YOU GUYS! ESPECIALLY YOU ELISE! YOU DIDN’T DO THE LAST ONE! *frowns menacingly at you*

Hope you all have a safe, wonderful holiday season. I’ll be traveling a bit during the winter break, so after the New Year, you can expect to see lots of posts from me with photos and stories of my vacation over on my Japan blog! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 乙女

-Corinne

Heather Hayden Interview and Announcement

You all remember Heather Hayden, whom I interviewed way back in October. Click here to read Heather’s previous interview! (opens in a new tab) Today I’m hosting Heather for another interview! This time she has a very special announcement for us!

Though a part-time editor by day, Heather Hayden’s not-so-secret identity is that of a writer—at night she pours heart and soul into science fiction and fantasy novels. In March 2015 she published her first novella, Augment, a YA science fiction story filled with excitement, danger, and the strength of friendship. She immediately began work on its sequel, Upgrade, which continues the adventures of Viki, a girl who loves to run, and her friend Halle, an AI. You can learn more about Heather and her stories through her blog and her Twitter, both of which consist of equal amounts of writerly things and random stuff she’s interested in.

C: Welcome back to my blog, Heather! Let’s get right down to it, what’s your announcement for us today?

H: Thanks for having me, Corinne! I’m here to announce my writer’s group’s fairy tale anthology, From the Stories of Old. We’ve been working hard on it for the past five months or so, and are very excited to release it on December 7th. (That’s today!)

In this international collection, new life is given to fairy tales, both classic and obscure.

Mythical creatures put the fairy in Fairy Tale. Mermaids, selkies, and ocean guardians experience the best and worst of humanity; sisters encounter an unusually friendly bear; a brave bride meets a silly goose; and a spinner of gold sets the record straight.

Urban fantasies modernize classics: a Frenchman learns the truth about magic, his past, and his girlfriend; a girl sets out to find love but receives a curse; and today’s naughty list makes Old Saint Nick not-so-jolly.

New worlds bring a fresh sense of wonder! In the future, a young woman fights for her people and herself; a bastard son finds acceptance in a world ruled by women; and a farmer’s wits win the heart of a frosty king.

Discover unexpected twists on old favorites, and fall in love with new tales and worlds to explore!

C: Wow, that’s so exciting! I’m very excited to collaborate with you on this project. You own the publishing company, Rowanwood Publishing, LLC, is that right?

H: That’s correct! My sister Heidi and I started it about a year and a half ago, when I published Augment. I did a lot of research on micropublishing (actually did a residency on it as I was still in college at the time), and we determined that a partnership would be the best way to go about creating a name under which to publish our stories.

Rowanwood’s motto is “Two Sisters, Many Stories, One Dream.” This is quoted straight from the website: We want to share the products of our imaginations with the world, and we want to have complete control over the process through which our stories are released.

Heidi designed the logo, I took care of the paperwork, and our wonderful mother helped us sort out the taxes last year. This year, I’ll be learning how to do taxes on my own.

Rowanwood will be releasing From The Stories of Old, as the ISBNs I’m donating to the anthology are in Rowanwood’s name. However, we’ve sorted out the contract and all proceeds from the anthology’s sale will be going to the authors, the illustrator, and toward future anthologies. Our website is located at http://rowanwoodpublishing.com/ if you’re interested in learning more.

C: And I’ve also heard that your sister, Heidi Hayden, is doing the illustrations for the book, as well? How long has your sister been into art?

H: Yes, she is! She’s loved art since she was a kid. Now she’s a senior at the Maine College of Art, majoring in illustration. She plans to write and illustrate children’s books when she graduates.

When she heard my writer’s group was putting together an anthology, she was very excited as she loves fairy tales! She offered to create a black-and-white ink illustration for each of the stories, and has done an amazing job. Everyone’s so delighted to see their work illustrated, and it definitely adds a nice, old-timey touch to the anthology, as anthologies such as the Grimm Brothers’ often included illustrations.

Here is one of the illustrations from the anthology:

C: Wow, your sister is so talented! Does she have a website or portfolio where my readers can see more of her work?

H: Absolutely! Her website is http://haydenillustration.wix.com/maine and she’s got examples of both paintings and soft sculptures up. You should definitely check it out!

C: Of course! That’s next on my to-do list, after we’re finished here.