Saturday, October 31, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - Eve


 
create your NaNoWriMo project page 
 
 
Click on the  "Announcing my novel" or what ever it says

It will be asking
-name of your project - that's the name of your book
- what is the project status? (prepping, in process, drafted, completed, published)
- how much privacy do you want?
- What type of project is this?
- what is the genre?
- project summary
- project excerpt
- link to your Pinterest board
- link to your project's playlist (I don't believe in playlists, or listening to music while I write, but you might do.)
- cover
 
If you have followed this blog this whole month, this will be an easy peasy thing to do for you :-D

No, go and celebrate Halloween, sleep well, wake up early and go write!

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Top 5... creepy characters


Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme that explores different topics.

Originally created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, it is now hosted by Meeghan at Meeghan Reads.

For a list of October topics you can click here.

To participate, link your post back to Meeghan's blog or leave a comment on her weekly post.

 

Creepy characters... this is hard, I usually don't read books with creepy characters...

I think the creepiest character I know is Scorpion from Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke.

Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs was creepy as well.

Grandmother Kennedy from Jane of the Lantern Hill was pretty creepy...

The Man in Black from The Dark Tower.

The Black Riders from Lord of the Ring

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Top 5... witches

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme that explores different topics.

Originally created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, it is now hosted by Meeghan at Meeghan Reads.

For a list of October topics you can click here.

To participate, link your post back to Meeghan's blog or leave a comment on her weekly post.

There really is only one. Esmerelda Weatherwax by Terry Pratchett. He has a lot of good witches. 

So does Eva Ibbotson and Diana Wynne Jones. Let's say Millie Chant for Diana and Heckie for Eva. If you like witches, do read all their books, they are delightful.

Flaxa Mildväder from The Glassblower's Children by Maria Gripe

Morwen from Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles

Sunny Nwazue by Nnedi Okorafor (Akata Witch)

Extra mention to Circe from Odysseus (and her name is pronounced Keer-keh, not Sersei) Because of this I'm scared to read Circe.



Monday, October 19, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - Example

 Idea:


When this popped up on my Pinterest, I had just seen the Eurovision Song Contest. The winner was Conchita Wurst. The latest tv series I watched was Miss Fisher Investigates, and right before that Firefly. So - I'm a singing cross-dressing lady sleuth in Firefly world. Huh. I kind of like that.

I know painfully little about ANYTHING associated to this!

I don't know how to write mysteries, so I'll research that.

Writing a Mystery Novel - 7 Elements Your Story Needs

Notes from "The Agatha Christie Code" 

Essential elements of a mystery story

So... the characters... the sleuth, of course. Miss Firefly. He is not a transwoman, he is a crossdresser. Or... maybe in future that is not a thing. I mean, it's a man who likes dressing up in beautiful dresses, jewelry, make-up and likes having his hair pretty. Maybe in the future people have stopped assigning gender to clothes.

The setting - Firefly world. Now, the Firefly is about the ship, but I would set my lady sleuth on a city on some planet, like New Melbourne?

I know nothing about Australia. So, maybe not New Melbourne. Just a random space city, somewhat placed in Firefly universe. 

Firefly is a space Western - everything is sort of set in 19th century "wild west", even cities, though... this is Persephone City...

I suppose I don't much need to care about that. Just set it in a futuristic city with Wild West influences. 

So... how can I show it's Firefly universe without it being that, because I don't have the right to use that world? If I wrote Firefly fan fiction, it would have the characters from Firefly. I could do that, and then change enough details to make them "not theft"... though it would be that anyway. *I* would know it's a theft. I would need to remove it at least twice. Also because I really like Firefly and the characters.
With "twice removed" I mean, that miss Firefly cannot know any of the characters, cannot meet any of them, but could know someone who does. Like Kaylee's sister's friend, or doing business with someone who has done business with Malcolm, knows an old soldier, something like that. 

Now, this isn't that important. I can change the setting to something I like better, that's easier to write about, that supports my story, but so far this is what we work with.

So, every mystery works the same, despite of setting and characters.
There is a crime, and then the crime is being solved. The reader is solving the crime together with the detective, and the author gives all these clues and red herrings and tries to make it interesting...

Hmm... what would be an interesting crime for our lady detective to solve? I could make it easy for me and rewrite an Agatha Christie... instead of Hercule Poirot, we have our Curtisanne Luciole. 

How will a transvestite heroine change the things? I would like the world to have evolved so that people don't care what other people are wearing, and in fact the transvestite heroine would have no what so ever effect on anything. I suppose it would be mostly because they prefer using high heels and it's not quite functional and practical always... and skirts and long hair and all that. Women's glamorous clothing isn't meant for anything but looking glamorous. So... stopping to curse her shoes, hitching up the skirt to be able to climb over a fence, and so on.
Miss Fisher was supposed to be very interested in fashion, but she was wearing pants most of the time. Miss Luciole could be using their "vanity" as a disguise and distraction. If you correct your makeup all the time, no-one notices that you are using the mirror to see what happens behind your back. And if you are a ditzy blonde, people won't take you seriously.

So... I took a couple of old mysteries, and here's my thoughts about the plot.

- Mika Waltari: Who Killed Mrs. Skrof? (1939)
- Agatha Christie: Flock of Geryon (1939-42?)
- G. K. Chesterton: The Eye of Apollo (1911)
- Dorothy L. Sayers, Whose Body? (1923)

the victim: an old religious woman, a bitch, she lives with a grand-daughter, who is really badly beaten, forced to live ascetically. The old woman is rich and owns a rental house, and lives in the highest floor. Nobody lives in the floor below her, because she wants privacy.
At the night she dies, the grand-daughter is not home.
The home is very minimally decorated, but there are some very expensive artwork on the walls and some expensive sculptures and such. A few, very few.
The apartment is very clean, the sculptures have left spots on the surface after dusting.
The bitch is a combination of Carrie's mother and Mother Dearest.

She has a nephew, the last living relative (not the grand-daughter, she is a girl and our bitch is misogynist. God made women to make babies.) She thinks family is important, so she leaves her riches to her nephew and grand-daughter IF they get married. If not, everything goes to the religious cult.

That's sort of the Father Brown story with the sun cult person.

That person is charismatic but like dough. With cold, dead fish hands. Cold, blue eyes. No sense of humor. 

He has moved to the apartment house and visits the old lady often. The girl is not often home, she goes to school, and when she comes home, she basically closes herself in her room to study.

Flock of Geryon? (Agatha Christie: Labours of Hercules)

Now, the grand-daughter and nephew aren't that far apart in age. He is just a couple of years older than she is. The old witch's sister was almost 20 years younger than she was, about the same age as the old witch's son, the father of the girl.

The nephew is an artist, perhaps even a drag queen, and lives with someone else... miss Firefly? This could be how she gets involved...

Lets make it into a closed room mystery... How? I need to somehow limit the suspects into the people who live in the house. What if the doors are locked during the night, what if everyone entering is registered into a computer, what if there are bars in front of the windows, that can be opened only by a special key, for cleaning, so no-one can enter or exit through the windows without the key? What about balconies? What if the city is so dirty no-one uses balconies in the city? 

Let's say the granddaughter has one of these window keys, because she isn't only the student, she is also her grandmother's housekeeper, and responsible for cleaning the windows, and she sneaks out at night to meet her beau. She doesn't want to marry the nephew.

Let's say the nephew is the murderer, and he tried to murder everyone in the apartment, both the old lady and the girl, to inherit the old witch's money. He didn't know the girl wasn't in the apartment, because the door was closed and she hadn't left the room through it, and he didn't know she had the key to the window.

Let's say that he was visiting his aunt at evening, and left the gas on, when he left the apartment. The old lady didn't notice anything, and died, and the girl was gone and then slept with window open, so she didn't get as much gas, and survived. I need to check if that theory works.

The red herring is the cult leader. I need to put in enough evidence to incriminate him. Maybe he even planned killing her. Maybe he even did something to kill her, like give her something poisoned, but she didn't eat it, because stoicism or something.

Maybe someone else ate it and was killed? That would be another red herring. Who?

What if the nephew took the delicious thing with him, not wanting it to go to waste, and that's how he's caught.

So... my biggest problem is the writing. I'm really good at ideas and developing and planning and all this, but writing itself... *sigh*
So, I'll just take the beginning of the Lord Peter Whimsey novel, and run with it. Because it fits.

CHAPTER I    

“OH, DAMN!” SAID LORD Peter Wimsey at Piccadilly Circus.
“Hi, driver!”  
The taxi man, irritated at receiving this appeal while negotiating the intricacies  of turning into Lower Regent Street across the route of a 19 ’bus, a 38-B and a bicycle, bent an unwilling ear.  
“I’ve left the catalogue behind,” said Lord Peter deprecatingly. “Uncommonly  careless of me. D’you mind puttin’ back to where we came from?”  
“To the Savile Club, sir?”  
“No—110 Piccadilly—just beyond—thank you.”  
“Thought you was in a hurry,” said the man, overcome with a sense of injury.  
“I’m afraid it’s an awkward place to turn in,” said Lord Peter, answering the  thought rather than the words. His long, amiable face looked as if it had generated  spontaneously from his top hat, as white maggots breed from Gorgonzola.  The taxi, under the severe eye of a policeman, revolved by slow jerks, with a  noise like the grinding of teeth.
The block of new, perfect and expensive flats in which Lord Peter dwelt upon the second floor, stood directly opposite the Green Park, in a spot for many years
occupied by the skeleton of a frustrate commercial enterprise.

Our lady Firefly sits in the taxi on their way somewhere, they have their arms full of things, like wigs, and bags and shoes and clothes and things, and they go through them the last time in the taxi, and notices that something is missing. So she tells the taxi driver to turn around and go back so that they can get what they forgot.

 

Sunday, October 18, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - create the cover of your book

Find 10 best book covers you know. Analyze them.
What are the most common colors?
Is there some shapes that are shared? Elements of composition, like the name is off-center, or framed, or in the center?
illustration style?
graphical or realistic?
Font? Calligraphy? Composition, position, size? Where is the title compared to the author name?

I like blue covers, preferably slate blue and teal, ornamental, and calligraphy. And circles and silhouettes. And curlicues. And woodcuts. And... :-D


Book cover typography

Book cover design 
How to nail your book cover 

Saturday, October 17, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - Soundtrack

 I don't usually do this, I like to read and write in silence, but some people do, and you might find it inspiring as well. So I did this for this year.

I chose the soundtrack from a movie that is similar to what I am writing, and start playing that, saving the songs that fit the writing on a separate playlist, saved songs and music pieces that I came to think about, looked at the recommendations of similar pieces, listened to other soundtracks, and this is what I ended up with. I look at it a bit like a soundtrack of the movie my book will become :-D

How to make a writing playlist for your novel

How to Create a Novel Soundtrack for your Book

How To Create an Awesome Music Playlist For Your Novel

A Personalized Soundtrack for Your Novel: Creating Writing Playlists

How (and Why) to Make a Book Playlist 



Thursday, October 15, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - Story Structure

 You have to remember that story structure exists just in case you don't know what to write. You shouldn't force an existing story into any kind of structure. Trust your sense, and remember that storytellers always beat writers. Always.

E.A.Deverell has explained it all very nicely: Plot Structure by Lady Writers
She has done a very thorough job by collecting all the story structures she found in one place, and explaining them a little as well.

She has a nice plotting tool called "One Page Novel"
It is based on the idea of that you start at the ending.
You write the beginning as sort of a mirror image of the end.
Then you write the middle point, called "shift", which is about the shift (duh) of the MC from the person they were in the beginning to the person they are going to be in the end.
then you write the trigger, or the inciting incidence, which kicks the MC on the road of changing
The Quest tells about "giving" them what they need to become the person they will be in the end - they will meet the necessary people, they will learn the necessary skills, they will be met with events that force them to change their thinking, attitudes, priorities and all that.
After that you'll write The Power, which is sort of the mirror image of The Quest - whereas in The Quest the character was pursuing what they THOUGHT they needed and wanted, in The Power they are using what they KNOW they need and want.
After that you write The Bolt, which is sort of what is needed to happen to kick some sense to the MC, to shake off the illusion of control, knowledge and confidence. At that point the MC will be deceived, distracted, diverted, the plans they made during the Quest phase are spoiled, foiled and destroyed, proven not to work, because they were built on false premises. Think that this is what leads you from The Quest to The Shift. This is what makes them realize what they need to realize to be able to shift.
Then you write The Defeat, which is the "all is lost" moment. The story forces the MC to sacrifice something to burn away the illusion that made them lose in The Bolt. This is The Phoenix moment. You will die, a painful, horrifying death, you will be hanged from the meat hooks at Underworld and skinned alive, you have to shed your armor and be completely naked to the meat and bones, completely open, to be able to be born again.

All these stages are mirroring and connecting each other. The beginning and the end mirror each other, The Bolt mirrors the ending, The Quest The Power, everything is connected, everything causes everything else, it's a dance of repeating and reflecting movements, all focused on the main character's growth and change... The bigger the ante, challenge, suffering, the bigger the impact.

You have a character to whom things happen.
This character goes on with their life. Everyday normal. Often there's something about this life they aren't quite happy about - often they are not at all happy about it, and want it to change. Sometimes they are quite happy about it.
Then something happens. Something that forces them out of the "everyday normal", whether they want or not. This force has to be characteristic for your character, and show the reader what makes your character special. You can't just throw an earthquake on your character, because some would just lay down and die if something so devastating happened to them. What would make your character react and leave the safety of familiarity? You use either the carrot and lure them out of the safety with an opportunity they can't resist, or the stick, and make it clear they have to act or die, lose what they most want forever.
Make them want something so bad they will act to get or to keep it.
So, they act and things happen because of that.
Here we get into the character development area. You do as you will. It isn't necessary, but it gives depth to your story. The idea is that during the first half of your story, the character is innocent, well-meaning, full of beliefs, ideas, preconceived notions, prejudices, theories, all that, and these get tried, tested, experimented upon, and all the false ones will prove to be false, all the sound ones will be confirmed.
This part is also about teaching your character what they need to get what they really want. Which might be different from what they think they want.
They will try to get what they want, and depending on what kind of a story you are writing, the things go wrong until they try to get what they really want, in an authenthic, genuine, true manner, being true to themselves, their values, using what they have learned in a way only they could.
The punishment for wrong answer should be bad, to make the reward for right answer better.
Make the solution, answer, supportive of your chosen theme. If you want to write a book about the power of friendship, make it so that friendship is the reason why they win.
Then they return to the Everyday Normal, but they have changed, they have grown, and Everyday Normal is now something quite different from what it was in the beginning of the story.




Wednesday, October 14, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - goals and targets

With NaNoWriMo, the goal is easy. You are to write 50.000 words in 30 days. That's 1667 words a day, or 11669 words in a week. Or 10.000 words a day, and then you're done in 5 days.

Now, my experience is that it's best to put most work in the beginning of the month, when you have most enthusiasm, and least work in the end, when you find it all just boring and bothersome. :-D
So
1. -8.11 - 20000 words
9.-15.11 - 15000 words
16.-22.11 - 10000 words
23.-30.11 - 5000 words

Or, do how ever you want. This is what this day is for.

So, in a novel there's approximately 250 words on a page, and let's say about 8 pages in a chapter. Of course, your chapters are as long or short as you like, but that's for the calculating purposes. So, if you write 1667 words in a day, that's about 7 pages... about a chapter a day. (There are some tricks about writing and pacing, for example the chapters get shorter to the end of the book, but you don't need to think about that right now.) Anyway, you need to decide how many words you want to write each day and put that on a calendar of some sort.

There are free NaNoWriMo calendars out there, where someone has already done the job.

It is good if you plan in some freetime, leisure, relax, when you just read books or watch series or do something else that has nothing to do with your writing.

Setting up your NaNoWriMo goals



Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Top 5... Ghosts

 Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme that explores different topics.

Originally created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, it is now hosted by Meeghan at Meeghan Reads.

For a list of October topics you can click here.

To participate, link your post back to Meeghan's blog or leave a comment on her weekly post.

 My favorite ghost in books is

Humphrey the Horrible by Eva Ibbotson, The Great Ghost Rescue. She has a lot of amazing characters, of whom some are ghosts... so just fill up with her ghosts :-)

Humphrey is lovely. A little boy ghost, kind, loves animals, loves his family, even though he is a bit intimidated by it, because it's the best, mostest, ghastliest ghost family ever, and he himself isn't even scary. But he is the bravest ghost ever.

Ghost of Christmas Present by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, especially as portrayed by Carol Kane in Scrooged :-) (I mean, the Spirit of Christmas... could it get any better? :-D)

Adopta Ghost from Dial-a-Ghost by Eva Ibbotson - I blame Eva for having given me high expectations when it comes to strong female leads. Adopta is a willful little poltergeist who has temper tantrums, and loves animals.


Uncle Abraham's Ghost bride from Edith Nesbit's gothic tales

Many, many years ago I read a book (or perhaps it was just a collection of ghost stories) about a little boy who was painted fluorescent and who died of phosphorus poisoning, but I don't remember much about that story except that he was another brave little boy ghost. I like brave little boys and girls.

The Fifth Ghost... Uh... I'm sure there are ghosts I love, but of course I cannot remember one of them right now! I just remember ghosts I don't like :-D I mean, Penelope Lively's The Ghost of Thomas Kempe was an amazing book and a ghost story I recommend, but I hate Thomas Kempe :-D

So, let's say The Queen of the Black Coast

NaNoPrepMo - Pinterest

 Well... some time ago I loved a site called Polyvore. Then, one morning, there was no Polyvore. They had sold the site, and the new owner took over and made it into something totally new, with nothing from the site I had loved left. There was no warning, no change to let us prepare, everything was ruined and destroyed over night... so I am very afraid of that Pinterest - another site I love. Or loved - is going to go the same route. They have been changing things a lot these last 9 years I've been a member... and perhaps 9 years is very long time for any site to exist. Most sites I have enjoyed have vanished.

Anyway, NaNoWriMo asks your Pinterest board URL on the site when you are to announce your new project, so let's give them one. 

There are three different boards that can help you with your NaNoWriMo

1) novel board, visual storyboard

You do this by collecting images that remind you of your story; characters, environment, historical reference, inspiring quotes, lyrics... At the time I am writing this, you can have sections on your boards, so you could have all the characters in one section, setting in another, reference in third and so on, or have a section for each of your characters.

You can find examples by searching "my novel", "nanowrimo novel", "novel storyboard" on Pinterest.

2) Writing advice, tips, inspiration, articles, etc. I have been working on this for a couple of years now, and I have learned a LOT of useful things.

3) Reference and research

Because it's often not visually inspiring, I don't want to put it on the visual storyboard. You might want to do it differently.

Monday, October 12, 2020

NaNoPrepMo- NaNoWriMo Survival Kit

 put together a NaNoWriMo survival kit






Sunday, October 11, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - getting unstuck and unblocked

The thing is that there is no such thing. You just don't feel like writing. But - how to write when you really don't want to?


Take a pause and read something, or watch something. Just remind you of the fact that you love stories and writing.

Write something that has nothing to do with anything. Find writing prompts. Write fan fiction. Write letters to your favorite dead authors. Write an opinion about something you are very passionate about. Write about writing. You have to write when you think you can't, to be able to write, because Writer's Block is a lie, and an illusion.

Work with the background information, world building, character development. Answer all the questionnaires you can find about your character.

For example, some 10 years ago I did this with one of my characters
(Emily Hanlon's interview questions are not available any longer, but there's plenty of questions. I didn't follow her questions 100%, I did it more like a journalist interviewing a person, asking additional questions, and writing down details that weren't asked. That interview inspires me still to write the rest of that story (which I still haven't written)
I interviewed my husband's original character as well, and it turned the book into something quite different from what it was. :-D
Don't forget to interview also your villain and the secondary characters, you will find out a lot more about your story that way, and hopefully also want to write about some of that stuff.)

Go take a walk

Change your environment.

Brew a cup of hot beverage. Or cold. 

Create a daily routine and hang on to it. Get up the same time every morning, and go write. Write a couple of hours. If you do this every day, you won't be having that many doubts.

Write Morning Pages.

See writing as your job, not as art.  

Clean your writing area

Take a shower

Create an outline of scene cards

Research a bit more - sometimes you don't know how to write something because you don't know enough about it. Look at how other writers solved the problem.

Start working from ending to beginning. What is the end of your story? What leads to that? And what made that happen? What caused it, then?

Break the chore into smaller parts - don't think it as you need to finish the book, or edit it, or market it, or if anyone is going to want to read it, or like it, think about next scene, next sentence, next word... if you need to rewrite everything when you edit, it's OK. You have to write something to have something to edit, don't you? :-D

Explain your story to your younger self. Or imaginary friend. Or an existing friend, though imagine them if they can't be physically present.

Add ninjas. 

Set a timer to 15 minutes and go check social media. Remember to set the timer, and when it rings, go back to writing.

Remind yourself of why you are doing this. (So write down why you want to write. "To be famous and rich" is as good a reason as any other. Then remember that for you to become famous and rich, you have to write the book.)

Remember, it doesn't need to be perfect. It doesn't need to be good. It just needs to be.



Saturday, October 10, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - practical stuffs

So, what are you going to use to write your book with? Is your Scrivener in order? Do you have enough paper and ink? Is your typewriter fitted with fresh ink tape? Maybe not that, but you need to have a fresh backup system, memory card, stick, what ever you plan using. Are your charging cords and other such apparatus in order? Clean up your harddrive and folders. Prepare Pinterest. Set up the cork board and whiteboard and all that jazz.
Because you have had a couple of test drives, you know how you prefer to write, with what, when, where, and what you want to have. Now it's time to see that you have that.
If you can't get that right now, write it on to-do list and shopping list, so that you have it done before November.
Everything has to be ready on 30st of October, so that you can just sit down at midnight and start writing. (Or get up at 5 A.M. on November 1st, give yourself a cuppa and go write. What ever works for you.)

It's also time to start training your body to do the physical work needed. If you need to get up at 5 A.M. start now. Don't wait until November. If you need to take a walk in the middle of the day, start training so that you know you have good shoes, adequate clothing, and are fit enough for the walk to have the desired effect. 

Take care of any work you can do in advance.
- schedule blog posts
- clean the house properly, so that maintaining is just some five minutes here and five minutes there. Like, you get the kitchen cleaned when you prepare the breakfast, you get the bathroom cleaned when you brush your teeth, and so on, so that you don't need to care about the house when you write, without it meaning you need to clean a huge mess the first week of December.
- plan the meals for the whole November and make freezer meals.


Friday, October 9, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - World building

World building, building the set up, setting the rules of how the world functions, natural laws, how magic works, landscape, cultures, politics, religion, cities, countryside, poor people, rich people, all that kind of things. Not just drawing maps, even though that helps a lot.
 
 

 

Thursday, October 8, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - build a reward box or wishlist

Now, actually I don't believe in reward systems, but what ever encourages and enables you to write your 50.000 words is good, so try this. It might work.

Christy Kimmerly's reward surprises


This is what BrightlyK said about rewards:

I’ve been thinking a lot about what rewards might be helpful. I’m steering clear of food-based rewards.
Some rewards I gave myself in October:
Some rewards I’ve lined up for myself in November:
- how to thrive in November
 This is what Emma Kate did:


 NaNoWriMo Reward Calendar - here's you get something small every day when you have finished the day's work, with specials for the end of every week.

5 Ways to Reward Yourself During NaNoWriMo
 
I think I'd like to have some sort of DIY "book subscription box" for ever 10.000 words
 

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - Research

You have heard the "write what you know". It doesn't mean that you should only write about things you know right now, it means that you should learn to know things you want to write about.

One of my biggest problems with  Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness is the sloppy (or nonexisting) research. It is especially important when one writes historical novels, or novels set in history. It is really easy to find out what people wore, how they lived, what they ate, and all that kind of stuff, so it's inexcusable to make stupid mistakes in this. You can bet some of your readers (not just one!) will know about these things. Don't write about how corsets are awful if you have never worn a corset (and a corset that has been fitted to you, put on and used properly). Don't say people can't move or bend or breathe in corset, because people can. The easiest way to "research" about history is to find a SCA or another historical re-enactment group close to you and discuss with people. Let them revise your draft, ideas, thoughts and prejudices.

The same goes with everything else in your book. You can, of course, just copy an exciting description of a battle, if you don't know anything about a battle, but you can also count on that you will get caught. Someone will know exactly where you copied it from, and what's the problem with it. Research is your friend. Research everything you don't know. Just think about something you love doing, something you are good at, and how people can mess it up in books. Like knitting, baking, riding, archery, dancing, hunting, running... what ever it is. You know exactly what I'm talking about.
(Unless you don't, in which case, just ignore research and write what ever you want. It works for a lot of popular authors, so why would you need to bother.)

Top 7 Tips For Researching Your Novel

How To Research Your Novel … And When To Stop

How to Research Your Novel Effectively

How to Research a Novel: 7 Tips 
 
*Print or prep any research and notes you'll need

*Bookmark useful sites and hashtags for quick reference

Tuesday, October 6, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - Characters

Write character sheets for your characters.

The character’s name
A one-sentence summary of the character’s storyline
The character’s motivation (what does he/she want abstractly?)
The character’s goal (what does he/she want concretely?)
The character’s conflict (what prevents him/her from reaching this goal?)
The character’s epiphany (what will he/she learn, how will he/she change?
Expand the one-sentence summary into a one-paragraph summary of the character’s storyline

What you love about characters? Who are your favorite characters and why?
 
What do you hate about characters? Who are your least favorite characters and why? 
(And I don't mean your favorite characters to hate, but the characters you find boring, uninteresting, you wish didn't exist. Find out why, so that you can avoid making that mistake.)

Remember the characters' development arcs.

I seriously recommend Randy Ingermanson's How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method, if you can find it. The homepage gives you all the necessary information, but the book really made me understand what he means. He explains his method as a story of Goldilocks who wanted to write a novel, but all she had was "The", so she went to a writing convention and joined a class lead by Baby Bear - he leads you through all the steps using Goldilocks' novel as the example, and it's so inspiring and informative - works for me :-D








Top 5... Orange And Black Books

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme that explores different topics.

Originally created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, it is now hosted by Meeghan at Meeghan Reads.

For a list of October topics you can click here.

To participate, link your post back to Meeghan's blog or leave a comment on her weekly post.

So, this week's prompt is "orange and black books". 

These five are picked from my favorite books with orange and black covers

These five are picked from my collection of covers I find beautiful



Monday, October 5, 2020

NaNoPrepMo - Synopsis

What ever you call them, synopsis, summary, blurb, logline, one-sentence pitch... I want you to know your story so well that you can write all and any of these quickly and easily, that you have this clear for you. Use this day to play with this. Google "how to write..." all of these, and test the advice.

The 20 word synopsis from the Snowflake method
The full paragraph synopsis from the Snowflake method
You write the book synopsis these links are talking about.

"A 500-word long spoiler for your entire novel. Every major plot twist. Every major character. Any big turning point. Your big climactic scenes. They’re all there, briefly, succinctly and (yes) a little drily narrated."

7 Keys to a Great Pitch

How to Write an Elevator Pitch


Sunday, October 4, 2020

Kirjahaaste: 100 kirjaa ennen kuolemaa

Nämä 100 kirjaa tulisi jokaisen suomalaisen lukea ennen kuolemaansa:
Keskisuomalaisen versio BBC:n listasta

1.Mika Waltari – Sinuhe Egyptiläinen 

2.J.R.R. Tolkien – Taru sormusten herrasta

3.Väinö Linna – Tuntematon sotilas 

4.Aleksis Kivi – Seitsemän veljestä

5.Väinö Linna – Täällä Pohjantähden alla 1-3

6.Agatha Christie – 10 pientä neekeripoikaa

7.Fjodor Dostojevski – Rikos ja rangaistus

8.Anne Frank – Nuoren tytön päiväkirja

9.Douglas Adams – Linnunradan käsikirja liftareille

10.Astrid Lindgren – Veljeni Leijonamieli

11.Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – Pikku Prinssi

12.J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter -sarja

13.Gabriel García Márquez – Sadan vuoden yksinäisyys

14.George Orwell – Vuonna 1984

15.Veikko Huovinen – Havukka-ahon ajattelija

16.Elias Lönnrot – Kalevala

17.Jane Austen – Ylpeys ja ennakkoluulo

18.Sofi Oksanen – Puhdistus

19.Astrid Lindgren – Peppi Pitkätossu

20.Mihail Bulgakov – Saatana saapuu Moskovaan

21.Richard Bach – Lokki Joonatan

22.Umberto Eco – Ruusun nimi

23.Tove Jansson – Muumipeikko ja pyrstötähti

24.J. & W. Grimm – Grimmin sadut I-III

25.Dan Brown – Da Vinci -koodi

26.Enid Blyton – Viisikko-sarja

27.Anna-Leena Härkönen – Häräntappoase

28.Ernest Hemingway – Vanhus ja meri

29.Goscinny – Uderzo – Asterix-sarja

30.John Irving – Garpin maailma

31.Louisa May Alcott – Pikku naisia

32.Victor Hugo – Kurjat

33.C.S. Lewis – Narnian tarinat

34.A.A. Milne – Nalle Puh

35.Henri Charriete – Vanki nimeltä Papillon

36.Alexandre Dumas – Kolme muskettisoturia

37.Emily Bronte – Humiseva harju

38.William Golding – Kärpästen herra

39.Juhani Aho – Rautatie

40.Leo Tolstoi – Anna Karenina

41.Frank McCourt – Seitsemännen portaan enkeli

42.Arthur C. Clarke – Avaruusseikkailu 2001

43.J.D. Salinger – Sieppari ruispellossa

44.Charlotte Brontë – Kotiopettajattaren romaani

45.Kurt Vonnegut – Teurastamo 5

46.Isaac Asimov – Säätiö

47.Aapeli – Pikku Pietarin piha

48.Leo Tolstoi – Sota ja rauha

49.Mauri Kunnas – Koiramäen talossa

50.Margaret Mitchell – Tuulen viemää

51.Nikolai Gogol – Kuolleet sielut

52.Albert Camus – Sivullinen

53.Kirsi Kunnas – Tiitiäisen satupuu

54.Hergé – Tintti-sarja

55.Miquel Cervantes – Don Quijote

56.Eduard Uspenski – Fedja-setä, kissa ja koira

57.Mark Twain – Huckleberry Finnin seikkailut

58.Johanna Sinisalo – Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi

59.Herman Hesse – Lasihelmipeli

60.Günther Grass – Peltirumpu

61.Jostein Gaarder – Sofian maailma

62.Leon Uris – Exodus

63.Lucy M. Montgomery – Pieni runotyttö

64.Ilmari Kianto – Punainen viiva

65.Franz Kafka – Oikeusjuttu

66.Guareschi Giovanni – Isä Camillon kylä

67.Lewis Caroll – Liisan seikkailut ihmemaassa

68.John Steinbeck – Eedenistä itään

69.Kari Hotakainen – Juoksuhaudantie

70.Paulo Coelho – Istuin Piedrajoen rannalla ja itkin

71.Jules Verne – Maailman ympäri 80 päivässä

72.Risto Isomäki – Sarasvatin hiekkaa

73.Jaroslav Hasek – Kunnon sotamies Svejk maailmansodassa

74.Giovanni Boccaccio – Decamerone

75.Oscar Wilde – Dorian Grayn muotokuva

76.Milan Kundera – Olemisen sietämätön keveys

77.Homeros – Odysseia

78.Peter Hoeg – Lumen taju

79.Arthur Conan Doyle – Baskervillen koira

80.William Shakespeare – Hamlet 

81.Eino Leino – Helkavirsiä-sarja

82.Stieg Larsson – Miehet, jotka vihaavat naisia

83.Yrjö Kokko – Pessi ja Illusia

84.Thomas Harris – Uhrilampaat

85.Raymond Chandler – Syvä uni

86.Jean M. Untinen-Auel – Luolakarhun klaani

87.Deborah Spungen – Nancy

88.Stephen King – Hohto

89.Laura Ingalls Wilder – Pieni talo preerialla

90.Laila Hietamies – Hylätyt talot, autiot pihat

91.Aino Suhola – Rakasta minut vahvaksi

92.Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – Vankileirien saaristo

93.Mikael Niemi – Populäärimusiikkia Vittulajänkältä

94.Timo K. Mukka – Maa on syntinen laulu

95.Juha Vuorinen – Juoppohullun päiväkirja

96.Kjell Westö – Missä kuljimme kerran

97.Veijo Meri – Manillaköysi

98.Maria Jotuni – Huojuva talo

99.Juha Itkonen – Anna minun rakastaa enemmän

100.Jan Guillou – Pahuus

Saturday, October 3, 2020

October read-a-thons and autumn reading challenges

 I'm participating in the House Cup reading challenge, again :-)

The best thing to get a lot of books read is to follow a reading challenge prompt. (Yes, yes, you know I love those things.)

So, here's some:


PROMPTS:
1. "life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall" - read a book with an autumnal cover
2. candles, crumbles and cocoa - do something cosy that brings you joy
3. spooky or cosy?! read a book which represents your autumn aesthetic
4. pics or it didn't happen - take an autumnal photo (and share it on social media using the hashtag
#fallintoautumnreadathon )
5. pumpkin spice and all things nice - make your favourite autumnal drink

Pumpkin spice mix: mix equal amounts of ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice or cloves. Or vary the portions according to your preferences. You can for example have 1 part cinnamon to 1 part of the other spices. Cloves and ginger often have an overpowering sting. I prefer allspice to cloves, because it's a softer and more flavorful spice. Just put it in everything, and enjoy pumpkin spice everything :-D


READING CHALLENGES:
COSTUME PARTY:
Scary Costume: Read a Horror
Silly Costume: Read a book you think will make you laugh
Fantasy Costume: Read a Fantasy
Couples Costume: Read a Romance
Besties Costume: Buddy Read a book

REFRESHMENTS:
Punch Bowl: A book with a character who fights
Eyeball Soup: A cover you can’t stop eyeballing
Mrs. Lovett’s Meat Pies: A book with a character you think will be unlikable
Devil’s Food Cake: A black cover
Candy Bowl: Take a small piece and read a novella or graphic novel

DANCE FLOOR PLAYLIST:
Monster Mash: A book with a monster (literally or figuratively)
I Put a Spell on You: A book with magic
Time Warp: Set in a different time
Superstition: Based on folklore/mythology
Thriller: A thriller

FESTIVITIES:
Carve Jack O Lanterns: A face on the cover
Bob for Apples: Sink your teeth in and read a tome
Hang Out With The Pets: Animal on the cover
Trick or Treat: Choose a book you think you’ll love + a book you think you’ll hate. Flip a coin to decide which you’ll read. 

I'm going to hate The Beekeeper's Apprentice - tails
I'm going to love Dark Lord of Derkholm - heads

PHOTO CHALLENGES:
OCT 1: October reads
OCT 2: A photo you took the night of the full moon
OCT 3: October Craft
OCT 4: October Decor
OCT 5: Books and Candy
OCT 6: Something that scares you
OCT 7: Blackout poetry
OCT 8: Favorite October treat
OCT 9: Fall Aesthetic
OCT 10: Spring Aesthetic (in honor of our southern hemisphere friends)
OCT 11: Continue a book cover
OCT 12: Reading Spot
OCT 13: Bookish Costume

 

Bookishfirst at instagram


Characters:
Buffy: The Hero – Read a book featuring a badass female protagonist
Benefit: Skip Prompt # 10

Willow: The Wicca – Read a witchy Read
Benefit: Change one prompt to a prompt of your choosing. (Aside from Prompt #9)

Xander: The Loyal Sidekick – Read a book by your favorite author or re-read a favorite.
Benefit: Save Dark Willow, bringing her back from the brink. Skip prompt #9

Giles: The Mentor – Read a non-fiction or historical fiction. Something you can learn from.
Benefit: You can complete the prompts in whatever order you choose.

Spike: The Bad Boy – Hate to Love Trope
Benefit: You can read one book to fulfill more than one prompt (Aside from Prompt #2).

Angel: - The Redeemed: Read a book with a second chance romance.
Benefit: Sacrifice Yourself in Prompt #4, saving us the hassle of killing you. Skip this prompt.

Cordelia: The Mean Girl – Read a book with a beautiful cover or a cover buy
Benefit: Skip Prompt #2

Dawn: The Key – Read a book with a strong focus on a sibling relationship
Benefit: Skip Prompt #7

Tara: The Lost Lover – Read a book featuring a LGBTQ Character or a character with diverse representation.
Benefit: Remove the challenge of your choice aside from the final battle.

Oz: The Werewolf –  Read a book featuring shapeshifting/transfiguration
Benefit: Oz is the WILDcard. If you read his prompt, you can choose whatever benefit you want

LOCATIONS:

#1 Starting Location: The Bronze: Read a light and fluffy read.  Or a highlight anticipated read.

#2 Restfield Cemetery: After a night of fun at the Bronze you head out to patrol. While on patrol, you are attacked by a Monster-of-the-Week. In order to defeat them, knock out short or quick read. If you picked Cordelia as your character, skip this prompt.

#3 The School Library -You head back to the school library to discuss the attack with Giles. That’s when he tells you about The Master: an ancient vampire who is determined to open the Hellmouth. To prevent him from succeeding, read the oldest book on your TBR (either oldest publication date, or the book that has been on your TBR the Longest).

# 4 - The Mansion – Drusilla, Spike, and Angelus are attempting to wake Acathla and destroy the world (Tsk tsk). You know you will have to stop him by making some hard choices: Challenge: Read the next book in a series you have been delayed in continuing. Or start a new series.  If you chose Angel as your character, you get to skip this round. If you chose Spike, well, your punishment for shenanigans is going to be that you CANNOT double up. You must read one book to fulfill this prompt.

#5 Sunnydale High – The Master has been defeated, and you are looking forward to a calm Senior year. But that is not to be. The new Slayer, Faith, has teamed up with the wicked Mayor, and now you have to stop them or no one will live to see graduation.  Challenge: Read a book with a school as the main setting (This can be high school, boarding school, college, etc).

#6 UC Sunnydale: After defeating the mayor, you move on to college where you hope to have normal relationships and wish that everything was less….Monstery. Unfortunately, you discover “The Initiative” ran by the demented Maggie Walsh and her Franken Pet, Adam.  Challenge: Read a book with your least favorite trope

#7 The Tower: College is just no longer in the cards. Especially with the arrival of the  Hell God trapped in a Human’s body that is trying to get back to her dimensions. Defeat Glory by sacrificing yourself: Read a book that is outside of your comfort zone.

#8. The Magic Box: The world has been saved…..again.  But shenanigans ensue when a fun-loving demon turns Sunnydale into a Broadway musical.  Read a poetry book/A book written in prose, or read a book where music is a primary Plot point

#9 – Willow has gone dark over the loss of her love.  She has flayed Warren and is hunting Andrew and Jonathan. But she has to be stopped! Read a dark or taboo book. If you chose Xander as your character, skip this round. If you chose Willow, well, there have to be some consequences. You cannot change this prompt. You must read a dark or taboo book.

#10. The Hellmouth: You’ve finally made it to your last battle. The biggest of them all. You must defeat The First Evil and banish the Hellmouth for good. In order to do this, you must battle the largest book on your TBR or a book that intimidates you. If you chose Buffy as your character, you can skip this prompt. 

 

Popsugar Fall reading challenge

A scary book
A book that was written by a woman and features a male protagonist
A book and its sequel
A celebrity memoir
A book on all the bestseller lists
A book recommended by an independent bookstore employee
A book that your book club read but you skipped
A book that you always wanted to read but never got around to reading
A book by a famous author you've never read
A book based on a historical event
A book that was published in 1995
A book that was published in 2015
A book with food in the title
A book with a pun in the title
A book that takes place during fall
A book with an orange cover

 Hocus Pocus Readathon

Team Sanderson Sisters! Prompts
 
Group Book: Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker (15pt)
Sarah: Read a book that features sisters (10pt)
Winifred: Read a book about powerful witches (10pt)
Mary: Read a book about an evil character (10pt)

Strength: You cast a spell of speed to catch those pesky children. You can skip one prompt and still get the points

Weakness: People know about the history of the Sanderson sisters, you must go into hiding. You can't read for a whole 24 hours

Team Undead! Prompts

Group Book: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (15pt)
Binx: Read a book that has to do with family (10pt)
Billy: Read a book with a morally grey character (10pt)
Emily: Read a book about ghosts or paranormal (10pt)

Strength: You are now the Ghost of Emily Binx. No one can see you, you get to be stealthy. You may double up on one prompt of your choosing.

Weakness: Unfortunately, Billy only has 24 hours until he must go back to his grave. You must have a 24-hour readathon

Team Trick or Treaters! Prompts

Group book: The Girl who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (15pt)
Max: Dress up as a character while you read a book (10pt)
Dani: Read a book about siblings (10pt)
Allison: Defeat the Sanderson witches, read a book about witches (10pt)

Team Trick or Treaters!

Strength: You deserve something sweet! You may trade a prompt with another team's prompt of your choice!

Weakness: Hurry! You have to rush back home for curfew. You must read one book only during the day time.

Bonus! Every 100 pages you finish for the readathon, you get an extra 2 points for your team!

Earn 15 points for your team simply by watching the movie!

 

Back-Oween-Athon

A fantasy novel by a Black Author
A book by a black trans, queer, or non-binary author
A book that features Black mermaids/sirens
A mystery book by a Black author
A historical fiction book by a Black author
A thriller book by a Black author
A book that discusses intersectionality by a Black author
A book that includes a Black witch
Read Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
Read a book by an underrated Black author


Everyone's Librarian fall challenge 2016

Read in your PJs
Read a Graphic Novel
Re-read a favorite
Read a book about school
Read with a flashlight
Read a cookbook
Read a book about change
Read poetry

The Gilmore Girls Readathon

A book with a school setting
A mother/daughter relationship book
Any cozy book set during fall
A book with complicated love interests
A book by an Asian author/with Asian representation
The next book in a series you haven't finished yet
A book with food on the cover, or where food is a crucial part to the storyline

A booklovers Autumn Reading Challenge


 

A book set in an era you love
A book you've owned for over a year
A book with a pretty spine
A book about school
A book featuring fancy clothes
A book concerning love
A book with an award
A book with over 40 chapters
A book with handwriting on the cover
A book you need to review
A humorous read
A book with over 200 pages
A book featuring animals
A book with a child MC
A book with your favourite colour on the cover
A historical fiction
A book containing more than one POV
A book published before 1880
A book with a cover of mostly one colour
A book with less than 25 chapters
A book with characters not of your nationality
A classic
A book taking place in your province/state
A book based on true events
A book written by an author you love
A book with over 10 letters in the title
A book you were given
A book with a character's name on the cover
A nonfiction
A book written by dual authors
A sequel


Screamathon

Gothtober

NaNoPrepMo - planning and outlining

So - yesterday we worked on the idea, the story and the plot.
Today we'll put it together.
 

It really is this simple: take your favorites and use them. Take you favorite genre, take your favorite characters, main, side, antagonists, protagonists, primary, secondary, tertiary characters, sidekicks, background characters, supporting, minions, what you have. Take your favorite plot, plot twists, obstacles and conflict, clichés and tropes, take your favorite dialogue and quotes, take your favorite setting, POV, style, theme, literary devices, pacing, patterns, tone, writing, language, characters, descriptions, motifs and moods, narration, exposition, action and so on. Elements of the story, how ever you define them.

This is just a list of ingredients. It is you who puts them together in the way only you can. No-one else will write the same book with these ingredients.

There is no "bad" elements. You can write a good book by doing every "don't!" thing you have ever read. You can take the most hated elements and write something good with it. A lot of people like clichés. That's safe, familiar, enjoyable, comfort food. I mean, your grilled cheese isn't gourmet food, even if one tries to make it so, and it isn't supposed to be, but it can be the best damned sandwich you've ever eaten, just the thing you want, need, grave for.

There is only one "don't" you should actually never do. Don't plagiarize. Read about the Cassandra Clare plagiarism case, and learn from that. It is totally fine to be inspired by all the amazing writing around you, in tv shows and books, it's totally fine to love quotes and want to use them. It is not fine to just take a quote and make your character say it, especially if you don't know where it came from, especially if you "find" it in your notebook and you KNOW you have been collecting quotes from books your whole life... You could make your character say "I heard someone say one day, when fighting monsters one has to be very careful not to be a monster oneself." "I used to be afraid of the dark, but then I read something like "I have loved the stars too dearly to be afraid of the dark", and after that I think of stars when I get scared, and it sooths me." Or something like that. I mean, you don't need to know where the quote comes from, just mark that it's not your words. A couple of words, a quote, a sentence is quite OK to use.

Another thing, I read somewhere about a little trick movie directors use. They "set" the imagery into music, they use some music as background of their "vision". Now, a lot of directors use existing movie soundtrack, and there famous pieces, because they work. Then they give the movie to the composer and ask them to give them music that fits the imagery, and they will expect the piece they used - which they of course cannot get, because that music is copyrighted and all that jazz. So the composer is basically forced to compose something that sounds the same but isn't the same, and that's really boring. The director should have taken a couple of music pieces, given them to the composer and asked for something similar, and then used the original composed piece as the background music to "compose" the movie.

It's fine to write "fan fiction". Someone wrote several books about Barry Trotter, where all the characters were badly disguised versions of the original ones, and he got published, and not sued for plagiarism or copyright violations, so there's that. A lot of people think this kind of "humor" is funny. I would prefer original works, when it is so easy to do, but, hey, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies exist, too, and he says he copied the original, added his own writing, changed the original to fit the zombie idea, and that's basically it. I hate that book as well, but - it's a book, it got published, go for it. Maybe someone else likes your parody of something popular as well. I know I enjoyed the YouTube spoofs of Twilight.

Anyway, the most important part of your story is the story. It's not the same thing as plot. Plot is a "story element". Plot tells what happens in the story, but it's not the story.

It is important to have a plot, and a plot helps you tell the story.

Most important element of the story are the characters, because the story is what happens to the characters, the characters drive the story, why they do what they do, how they react on what happens, how they feel and think about what happens, how the events change them, what they learn on the journey, that is what the story is. 

Take "It Happened One Night". The plot is "a rich girl tries to run away from her overprotective father, meets a journalist, they have adventures, fall in love with each other."
The story is about why this rich girl runs away, how she thinks about it, why she makes the choices she does, why the journalist happened to be in the bus, how they react on things that happen during the adventures, what made them fall in love with each other... emotions, reactions, thoughts. People. The story is what makes the reader put themselves in the shoes of the characters, put themselves in the story, feel, react and think with the characters. It is this that makes the reader love the story. It is this why "bad" books sell. 

About the other story elements. (They are all important, though if you have a good story, but the novel is lacking in other elements, you still have a story.)

Genre is important. A lot of people use the genre as some sort of a backdrop, when the genre gives you a lot more. If you choose a genre, write something that doesn't fit in any other genre. It is OK to write "romantic fantasy" or "fantasy horror", of course, but then you should have the necessary elements from both genres. And genres do have "necessary elements". I like fantasy, and to me, part of fantasy is the element of wonder. I want to be awed. I want to be fascinated, charmed, enthralled, enchanted... this is why horror fantasy doesn't quite work for me, because horror (as Stephen King said) has to horrify, terrify, and disgust, and fantasy shouldn't.
Think about this a little. Why do you classify books into genres? And what do you think is essential to make the book belong to a genre?
Diana Gabaldon says Outlander isn't Romance. I say it is, because everyone who loves the book loves it because of the love story between Claire and Jamie.
Nicholas Sparks says he doesn't write Romance. I say he does, because all his stories are about love.
Terry Goodkind said he didn't write Fantasy. I say he does, because he has a typical high fantasy setting with magic, monsters, and medieval setting.
I don't understand why authors dislike the genre they write in, that made them famous? There isn't anything wrong with any of the genres.

Genres of writing and why they matter
 
Look up the elements of a story and read about each one, and think about them a little. What do you want to do with them? You are the magician here. It's your show.

Choose a plot formula (or not. What ever suits you.) I think it's nice and helps with the writing, but a lot of people think it makes the writing formulaic and stiff.

Free fiction writing template outline by chapter



* Outline the story

Outline the story like a subway map

How to Easily Outline Your NaNoWriMo Novel During Preptober 
 
Remember that this is supposed to be YOUR story. You are not to copy your favorite, you are to use them. Do you understand the difference? You are to write a book you want to read, not a book that has already been written.

Your target reader is you.

If your favorites are all or most from one and same book, book series or author, mix it up a little and choose several favorites, from different books and authors. (Though it seemed to work fine for Cassandra Clare and E.L.James...)

(Also, try to find Story Genius by Lisa Cron, to realise that elements of the story are just the wrapping, the cherry and the bow on top of the real thing, the story. Which is why 50 Shades of Grey, Twilight, Da Vinci Code and Outlander are so big today. Storyteller will always beat the writer in selling books...)