Revisions

Oh, that dreaded step in the long process of writing. Is anything more tedious, more annoying, more painstakingly frustrating, than the process of revisiting and checking over your work? You spend hours going over work only to change two things, yet still when the moment comes to present your story, you see things that make you think, "How the hell could I have possibly missed that?"

That's one of the cons that comes with being a writer, having to deal with the hair tearing out anger of not being able to check your own work. But, hopefully, I can teach you a few of my methods for checking and revising, and that can ease the process for you!

One of the first things I do after finishing is just read the whole thing to myself, checking to make sure there aren't any holes. No sentences I left out, gaps in the story, blatantly obvious content mistakes, etc. After that, I reread one more time, instead looking at individual sentences in particular, just to try to catch any punctuation or grammar mistakes. Personally, that's the end of my step one, because I know from there that there's not much more I'm going to catch myself without wasting tons of time.

Side note; another good strategy I've heard of is reading your story backwards, from the last sentence to the first. I don't do this myself, but it's supposed to be good as far as working on sentence structure and grammar.

After that I usually take a break, one or two days off where you can clear your mind and not think about the writing. The reason for this is so that when you look at it next you have a slightly different perspective and are more prone to catch things. How I normally do it from there though is I'll find somewhere quiet and just read to myself out loud, as if I was presenting it. Again, this'll just help provide a different perspective and just make you much more prone to catching things, especially when it comes to smoothing it out and making it flow better.

The last thing I usually do then is probably the most uncommon. A lot of authors, especially quieter ones who don't exactly like publicity, will only rely on themselves for revision, as well as maybe one other trusted person. However I think for the best revisions I think you should be open with your writing! Share it with friends and family, or really anyone you know who has any kind of writing or reading interests. You'll get a lot of solid feedback, as well as get a feel for how people will receive your writing and whether or not you should change it accordingly.

Anyway guys, that's about all I got for this topic. Until next time, peace.

-Ink

B.R. of A Fine Balance

Coming into this book, I really wasn’t too excited. I knew it was about India, and that it was historical fiction, and those two combined just really didn’t peak my interest much. However when I started getting into it I had an odd feeling. Something about it was just different. The way it flowed, the dynamics of the characters, the realism and historical context; all of it just created such a surreal story, something I hardly ever experience while reading historical fiction.

It was real. A true depiction of Indian struggle that hit me much harder than I could’ve ever expected. As someone who enjoys writing their own stories, I LOVED the character development in this book. Every single one was interesting and unique with their own strengths and weaknesses. That’s what made this book so hard hitting really, that although the context and struggles make the setting seem very real, it was the good characters, the ones that felt more like real people than characters, that made it relatable and so emotional.

That being said, I really have nothing bad to say about the book. The plot is lackluster, but that can be expected when a book is shooting for realism rather than entertainment. The flow of the story was simply artful; the way it would ebb and flow between the present and the past as new characters are introduced and interesting backstories are presented. Granted, it was a bit confusing at first, because you don’t really see the relation between the characters initially, so it feels like you’re just being thrown back and forth, but once you catch the pattern it becomes really quite enjoyable.

                I’m no fan of this genre typically, but after reading it I would still recommend it to anyone looking for a good eye-opener. It really does give you a good dose of reality check, reminding you why we should be grateful and how people can be strong, even in the face of poverty and chaos.

Long story short, this was simply amazing, and I'd give this a solid nine out of ten. Until next time guys, peace.

-Ink

P.S.

                Might I add that I was really having some flashbacks to Pursuit of Happiness starring Will Smith? I mean seriously, it’s great and all, but every time, every single time, something good happens, we just have to get knocked right back down. Cut us a break, will you? I mean we readers can only take so much! Kind of inconsiderate, I know, but man this was such a sad story. I just wanted the characters, at least one, to get a happy ending. Sorry for the informality, but I had to throw that out there. 

B.R. of To Kill A Mockingbird

If you have never read To Kill A Mockingbird, I would advise you to stop reading this review immediately, and go and buy yourself a copy.

For any that don’t know what the book is about, I’m going to describe it briefly, because the beauty of the book is that the reader follows the story with the characters. It’s set in the 1930s, when America was hit by the Great Depression, and filled with prejudice. It’s told in the voice of Scout. Being in the voice of a young girl made a story about such brutal prejudice and discrimination different: it was youthful, it was playful, it was innocent, and to see such innocence corrupted by a genuine sense of reality throughout the novel was one of the most worthwhile parts of the book. Scout has an older brother, Jem, and they live with their father, Atticus: Atticus is a lawyer, and possibly one of my favourite characters of all time. I feel like often writers feel their characters need a defining trait, a fatal flaw: but Atticus was just genuinely a good person. He wasn’t a hero, he wasn’t this macho and masculine protagonist that some books seem to need. He was moral, he was good, he was inspirational, just because he was such a good person. His wisdom gave a sense of continuity throughout the novel, and seeing how his words impacted his children, and how subtly in awe they were of his presence was done with a skill I rarely see in fiction. Atticus Finch is wonderful. He viewed the world in a way that didn’t judge people, and this translated perfectly through the pages of the book.

I found this review almost impossible to write. I don’t want to tell you the plot, to list every character, every theme tackled in it: dive straight in, and discover it for yourself.

If you are a human being with emotions, this book will impact you, regardless of age, gender or background. This book makes you FEEL: that’s the best way to describe it. Ultimately, there’s a reason why people still read this book. It’s a reason you won’t understand until you pick up the book, and feel the words speak to you.

Until you see this for yourself, you’ll just have to trust my rating, which I give a solid nine out of ten. It really doesn’t get much better than this one. Until next time guys, peace.

-Ink

B.R. of The Giver

The Giver is a morally driven and interesting story about a young boy called Jonas who lives in a society free of crime and sadness. At the age of 12, children are assigned their jobs, which they will train for and do for the rest of their lives. Everything is chosen; from your parents to your partner.

Society has been kept free of all the negative aspects of life because for as long as it has been formed, there has been someone who holds all the bad and good memories of the past within them. This is both bad and good for the inhabitants because, although they are protected from harm, they are also not exposed to the wonderful aspects of life.

Throughout the book, Jonas' loss of trust in his parents is important in communicating the morals of the story. At the beginning, when Jonas is a normal child in the community, he trusts his parents completely as is expected. However, after The Giver shows Jonas the tape of his Father "releasing" a new born child, a process in which the child is killed and disposed of, Jonas ultimately loses his trust and admiration of his father. This moment is what forces Jonas to leave the community, even before The Giver has planned for him to. I enjoyed this transition in Jonas because he begins to defy the life which is set out for him. It is symbolic of the change from the innocent mind of a child into the questioning and educated mind of an adult.

The ambiguity of the ending is also another aspect which makes this book interesting to read. There are two possible meanings behind the ending; either Jonas and Gabriel freeze to death together on the sled, or they have really found "Elsewhere". Ultimately, the ending still shows us that, whatever happens, Jonas has made choices for himself rather than being told what to do. Whatever happens to him, it is still better than his life in the community would ever have been.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book because, even though it is supposed to be more of a children's book than young adult, the storyline is complex enough to hold the attention of older readers. I really enjoyed Jonas as a character because his character development from a scared boy, to someone willing to risk his future to save the community, is enjoyable to follow. This book shows the path of growing up; at first we are scared to accept that there are new responsibilities, but as we slowly get used to it we want to move more and more away from childhood.

Overall it’s a great book about a classic archetype, and I’d give it an eight out of ten. Until next time guys, peace.

-Ink

B.R. of Left Behind

Wow. So this book.

I know I normally do these reviews on books I like, but this one. Wow.

I’m going to try my hardest not to just be all negative on this book, but I really did not enjoy this one.

So, this is a religious fiction novel, which I feel kind of offensive saying, about the end of days. All the true followers of Christ are lifted off the Earth and disappear into heaven, leaving the non-believers and sinners behind as the Earth is ravaged by trials, as well as a reincarnated Satan. I’m not very religious myself, but I do find the plot of this book really interesting actually. Although I don’t like this authors writing, I think this idea could spawn some really amazing stories, and I’m sure there are some out there I don’t know of.

But anyway the plot follows an airline pilot who has been having faith issues, not only in God, but in his marriage, as he has been having lustful thoughts about one of his coworkers. From there he discovers the absence of his wife and quickly recommits himself to the Church, leading on down his path of redemption.

Again, the plot is interesting and has some good emotional and spiritual variables, but none of this is approached very well. The events are quite predictable, a true stereotype, in my opinion. Man loses faith, man is punished, man regains faith, and man goes for redemption. Little to no varying, all unsurprising as can be. The characters are flat with little variation or conflict. Even the main character is surprisingly stale with almost no redeeming qualities.

And lastly, and oh man is this the killer, the dialogue is seriously terrible. Have you ever been playing a video game and maybe ran into some other characters who talked but in a terrible, off putting, computer-like fashion? Cause that is this book’s dialogue. Have you ever left a piece of bread in a tub of cookies, just to take it out two weeks later and be like, ‘man, this is super stale,’? Because that is this book’s dialogue. Have you ever watched a terrible documentary and constantly wondered if this person is trying to sound boring or if it’s just natural? That is this book. I’ve talked about dialogue and how important it is, it’s often ultimately what makes or breaks a book, and does it break this book. I really don’t know how I got through it to be honest, considering I was face palming at just about every serious dialogue scene.

Overall, all though it does have a few good qualities about it, there are just too many thing in my opinion that ruin this book. For that, I give it a four out of ten. Sorry Left Behind fans. Until next time guys, peace.

-Ink

Balancing Action

I think one of the most important aspects of writing that determine whether we like a book or not is the pacing and balance of action; what happens, how often action occurs, how long does it last, etc. It can be pretty hard to control your pacing in a book, as often we just want to follow the original idea and write it in a way that just naturally just flows this way or that.

What we have to realize though, is that at the end of the day we really are just entertainers. You should write a story so that it appeals to not only you, but to the reader. If a part of the story is too slow or boring, then you need to revise it, and there are several ways you can do this.

First, put some new minor conflicts in. Give your protagonists some new problems to conquer and beat. It doesn't have to be anything new about the plot line or provide any new major ideas, just a little something to provide a hill to get over. It keeps your readers more interested (and can also keep you more interested while writing) and provides an opportunity to learn something new about your characters.

That leads into my second point, which would be to make sure and constantly provide new information. Often times the best, "boring parts," can teach you a lot about your characters and how they think. Also, it can often work as a time to build relationships between them. NEVER just assume the reader will understand the relationship between your characters. You have to demonstrate it through their actions, their dialogue, and their descriptions/thoughts (depending on point of view.). These down moments between events is the perfect time to show this, that way your climaxes are better and your readers get more attached to the characters.

The last thing that I would say is pretty simple. Involve humor in your piece. Although humor isn't often something that's needed in a story, it does a great job of keeping readers intrigued and more into your story. It can be used in lots of situations, can help create or show relationships, can give you insight on a character, and so many other things. It really is just great to have humor involved in your writing.

I've already talked a little about this series, but I'm gonna rave a bit more about my favorite series, the Game of Thrones franchise. It's known for having only one or two major events in the books as well as long breaks in between where not much happens, however he uses these three strategies to always keep you addicted to the books. I'm usually not to much of a stickler on how slow or fast paced a books story line is as long as it's good, but man, I felt like I read that book cover to cover without setting it down. You can't get a much better example of balancing action then those. Anyway guys, I hope you learned a little something today, until next time, peace.

-Ink

B.R. of Eragon

So, I've talked a lot now about different methods and skills when it comes to writing, so now I'm gonna do what I can to put these skills into practice by reviewing some of my favorite books for these different qualities.

The first on the list, 'Eragon.'

It's a clear fantasy tale that follows in the footsteps set by Tolkien, creating a personalized fantasy world with it's own map, people, and species, that follows the tale of farmer boy Eragon as he begins his journey. While hunting, he stumbles upon a strange and extremely smooth stone, which he brings home in hopes to pawn off. To his bewilderment, the stone cracks open, hatching a baby dragon, and from there the story takes off on a adventure as he must learn the powers that come with this new baby.

Some pros about this story; it has absolutely great tone and descriptions. Its one of those writing styles that will get you hooked just through pure description. The action scenes are crisp and clear, with little confusion or muddling, and the characters are well defined with good dialogue and personalities. If you wanna see some straight up grade A writing, I would suggest this in a heartbeat. Some more good things though, it has a really good story line and world. The whole thing really just sucks you in and holds you, with twists and turns along the way through a well thought out and differentiating environment

Now, what do I think it could improve on? Not much, to be honest, however I do think it has one of the slowest opening chapters I've ever read. The language and dialogue are great, but the first three or four chapters are pretty much uneventful besides setting up for future events and characters. Besides that, I'd say its almost a little to straight forward, although that is more of a preference. What I mean is that although the story line is entertaining and fulfilling, it is rather predictable at part. A real classic fantasy plot really.

Overall, I love the book though. The rating I'd give it is an seven and a half out of ten, pretty good, but room for improvement. Until next time guys, peace.

-Ink