An adventure in collaborative fiction, Author Versus Author is a tournament style competition pitting 64 authors against one another in random matches.
The winner of each match moves on to the next round until ultimately there is one overall winner!
Each match will feature a story alternating chapters by two different authors. Different styles, clashing genres and viewpoints, manic schedule.
Don't like that character? Kill them.
Don't like the genre? Change it.
However, any changes have to advance the story.
Will authors work together or sabotage one another?
Will it work or will it crash spectacularly? Let's find out.
Through the Portals by A.E. Hellstorm & Lenita Sheridan
When Sarah slashes her wrist, she has no idea of what lies in front of her. A world filled with good and evil, fairies, shapeshifters, and hard decisions. In her search to rid herself and the world of the mysterious and invasive Terellians and return home, she must go through the portals that lead to other worlds, other times.
I'm a writer and a photographer, and thus I walk in my late father's foot prints. However, instead of involving myself with the mafia, I do some less exciting things with my life than what he did. I do fun things - and less fun things - with my children, I take care of my four cats, I dance in this life long dance together with my husband, and even in the dark times I'm happy to be alive.
I like the idea of this competition although I didn't like this story.
If I'm being totally honest the blurb didn't really appeal to me and normally I'd have skipped this but since my friend is taking part in this competition I'd put myself down as a reader (although this doesn't mean I received a free copy I downloaded mine from KU) so I'll try to read as many as I can. That said this started really well and the first chapter was intriguing and so I settled down to read.
'Sarah watched the deep incision in her wrist where she’d cut herself a week ago. It had stopped bleeding after two days and she doubted that there was more blood in her body. For three days she had been so cold that not even all the blankets in her apartment could warm her. The thermostat was set on eighty-six, but it didn’t help. She had been lying in her bed, trembling, shaking, unable to sleep...'
Ok so far so good but then she gets up and cooks and then decides she needs to go shopping the next day. Would she be capable of this after losing so much blood?
This looked set to be a dark interesting read but that's the thing about these challenges they can go anywhere, this one went to Fairyland and kind of lost me there. I tried, I really did but it wasn't holding my attention and I started skimming. We had fairies, queens, goblins, trolls, ogres, shifters, magicians and while I like fantasy this just wasn't working for me. While I didn't like the direction the story took both authors did well moving the story along and they seemed to be working well together,
I’m fellow contestant in Author Versus Author Tournament 1, so in the spirit of friendly competition and comradery between authors, I’m withholding my notes on style, text, and judgement of winner. I did take notes on that stuff, but I’m keeping that private, scoping the competition. Instead I’m offering my honest opinion of the final product, the story that A.E. Hellstorm and Lenita Sheridan put together.
I paid for my copy and intend to read many more. This is such an interesting concept! Pitting two authors against one another, each jerking the reigns of the plot from the other on a chapter to chapter basis. I plot heavily as a writer, so to have the plot yanked out from under you at every turn on the laptop creates a unique challenge. Adapting to it, overcoming the unexpected, and remaining committed to the story as a whole can only enhance the writer’s skill at the craft.
Through the Portals is a story about Sarah, a girl struggling with depression and feelings of isolation. Her life crisis starts off weird and ends winds through fairy kingdoms that are weirder still. One author brings darkness into the fantasy while the other pulls for the lighter fairy tale tone we all know from childhood.
There are bugs. I was pretty grossed out reading the first chapter, but in that good way. The way that lets you know there is something fascinating and gross lurking under the surface, not gloppy.
The story’s conflict may be masked by a barrage of odd ball fantasy characters, but I think that both writers grasped that it was really a tale of a lonely girl confronting trust issues and an attempt to stoke her own compassion.
Sarah repelled me at first, I believe that was the Author A’s intention. Suicide is so foreign to a somewhat well-adjusted and productive person who strives for personal contentment. I felt compassion for her struggle and pride at how the character developed near the end.
I feel that the character we readers followed in the story developed into the caring, energetic person I hoped she would become. I won’t elaborate since I don’t want to spoil the outcome of the story. I only hint because I felt this was a tale of personal development and want to assure the timid browser that Hellstorm and Sheridan got along enough to leave this reader satisfied.
I withheld one star because I would like for some scenes to have had more imagery. Hopefully this opinion keeps me within my disclaimed perimeters, if not I claim cognitive dissonance.