Category: Road Trip Wednesday

Book Review, Road Trip Wednesday

The one with my favorite books (read in February)

Elodie

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic

What was the best book you read in February?

I am going to cheat a little on this month’s Road Trip Wednesday. I read a lot of books in February (a grand total of 11 novels) and I cannot only pick one. While I am choosing more than 1, I am still narrowing it down and it’s a tough exercise 🙂

The one where we believe in hope as magic

 The Daughter Of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor: “Laini Taylor has a way with words, she makes magic with them and spreads hope while touching your heart (…) The story of Karou and Akiva is not just another star-crossed love story. It takes your heart, breaks it and tries to mend it as it goes. ” (for my full review, you can click here)

 The one with the roller coaster of emotions

The Fault in Our Stars by John Greene  which I read for Tracey’s wonderful YA Book Club: “this book is not a “sad book”. John Green did not show us mopey, he introduced us to fun, loving, funny, quirky, witty, strong, weak, flawed, lovable, smart characters. He introduced us to “people”. And that is where the magic of this book is. (…) It is a book full of emotions. It´s a roller coaster. It´s life and it´s beautiful.” (for my full review, you can click here)

The one where we realize growing up is hard to do but worth it

The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour which I picked up thanks to Katy’s recommendation. It´s the type of book which is at times hard to read because it pinpoints so well that difficult/exciting/scary part between staying and leaving, how to move on without losing oneself and the ones we love. I found myself really falling into the book at times while trying to pull myself away from it because it was so powerful. Hmm not sure if I make sense 🙂

The one which gave me butterflies

Forget you by Jennifer Echols which I picked up thanks to Jessica : Hot, hot and can I say: hot?  This book definitely holds steamy scenes, the kind that makes you read them again because Jennifer does not write them in an obviously graphic manner but in a suggestive tone. She does that very very well! 😀  Ok now that the gushing of those scenes is out of the way, I need to tell you about how I enjoyed the characters.  They´re not perfect. None of them are. Zoey does what many girls do when they want to keep control of something (I´ve done it as well) or at least give themselves the illusion of controlling: they pretend. They pretend they´re happy, they pretend they´re in love and loved in return…because sometimes it appears easier that way.  Zoey does not necessarily realizes that she´s doing this even though she can be manipulative on other fronts. She grows throughout the novel and that´s what made me root for her. Plus, there is Doug and he´s quite the guy 😀

So, tell me which book was your favorite “February read”?

Road Trip Wednesday, writing

Dear Idea: are YOU a keeper?

Elodie

I’ve been a bit out of the blogosphere and twitter the past days cos’ I’ve been a tad sick…I’ll be back full speed soon though 😀

Now, on to Road Trip Wednesday (get ready for a long post!)…

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This Week’s Topic: What Shiny New Idea were you psyched to work on, but discovered it was too close to something already done?

I finished my first draft of my first-ever-finished-draft last month so I don’t have a lot of experience on this and I have plenty of ideas for my second/third/and upcoming WIPs…none of them I am tossing aside yet.

The question would be: How close is too close for comfort?

Let’s say I am writing a dystopian book and my new shiny idea is: a world where each year tributes from different sectors fight to death until only one stays alive.

This may sound a tad too close to something already published (*cough* The Hunger Games)…unless…it takes place in an avatar-like world and it’s beasts vs humans and we see the perspective of the monster and it’s in an arena where everybody can cheer them on and nobody volunteers for somebody else and the humans become more monstruous than the beast and a beast rescues a human and they flee the game and the winner of the game needs to kill them both if he wants to survive and it’s her brother and the monster and the beast discover they have more things in common and….the story is actually different. 

  • Does my actual draft (the one I wrote, not the imaginary one I just made up above) have similarities to something already published?

Yes.

  • Is it a bad thing?

I don’t think so.

My book has witches in them. It also has love, steamy kisses, sad moments and learning to know oneself. 

Plenty of books have witches and love, just like plenty of books had vampires before Twilight. And don’t get me started about books where love plays a role in…

  • Would you pick my draft  up and think: wow, wait a second, I read this and this French lady should totally be sued for copyrights’ infringement, like Deforges for Gone with the wind? (by the way I love the Bicyclette bleue series)?

No

I will not toss my idea aside for two reasons:

  1. By the time I am actually done with the process of seeing my book on shelves: revising, sending it to my beta-readers, making changes, querying, getting-the-agent-who-loves-my-story-and-the-way-I-tell-it, making changes, landing the contract with amazing-publisher,  possibly making more changes…, the market may be curious for new stories about witches.
  2. The story will be different. Let’s take another example the fairy tales re-telling…they have the same idea in them but the way they are told make them stand apart,

Let’s talk movies.

See, I love that movie!

And I love that one too 😀 (not ashamed to admit it)

And wow, Drew Barrymore in that one? (amazing…)

Ok to get back to point 2) 🙂 The story will be different because this is the one I wrote. We all bring ourselves to the paper, one way or another, if we recognize it or not. Books are not written in a vacuum – New Historicism amongst other literary theories help us to see this.  I get inspired by other people’s writings, by the sun, by the clouds, by music, by a certain light, by a smile…by many things. I get better thanks to other people’s writings but the story I am telling is still my own.

Sometimes, as a reader, we see story lines which ring a bell but we still dive into a novel because of the craft of the writer, because the characters become endearing, because this story becomes fresh in our eyes when we do so.

My story is original and I certainly hope that it will get the chance to see the wild wild world…And if it does not, it might get tossed aside for awhile but it will always hold a special place in my heart!

Wow…this was a looong post 🙂

I cannot wait to read your thoughts on this!

Road Trip Wednesday, writing

Two worlds collide…

Elodie

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway’s contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

This week’s topic: Write a dialogue between two of your favorite YA characters

Two worlds collide in my imagination even though they may have more in common than what they think: Sean from the Scorpio Races meets Anna & Etienne from Anna and The French Kiss.

Or where a boy from the Island ends up in Paris…

I know it has to be a dream. Puck always sleeps right next to me but as I extend my arm, I realize she is gone and I hear whispers above my head.

“Do you think he is awake?” A girl’s voice fills my ears. I open my eyes slowly and I am taken aback. Nothing seems familiar. My soul needs to venture where the salty air can steady my breath so that I know I am alive.

“Hello mate, are you alright?” Another unfamiliar voice, this one coming from a man with a strange accent…Maybe they took me to the mainland, maybe Puck is around somewhere, waiting for me to wake up.

“Where is she?” I finally manage to ask.

“Who are you talking about? I remember when I first arrived, I cried a lot but you’ll get used to it. I mean it’s not all that bad. You’re in Paris after all…and if you like movies, you’re in the right place. Etienne and I are will go see one tonight. You’re more than welcome to join”

My eyes widen as I slowly process what she is telling me. I try my best not to stare at the blonde streak inside her brown hair. I notice the way she says the boy’s name. A caress to him.  The way he looks at her tells me all I need to know.

“It cannot be.” I do not say another word. They cannot know that my heart is longing for the one I know will share my life. She and I do not question our future; we found each other and ourselves at the same time.

I block out the noise and as darkness surrounds me, I simply wish to be back where I belong.

The End

Do you sometimes wonder what a character from one novel would say to a character from another novel?

What did you think about Sean’s encounter with Anna and Etienne?

Looking forward to your comments 🙂