Book Three!

OK, so Wayne Thomas Batson (one of the BEST authors out there) teamed up with Christopher Hopper (author/musician) to write the Berinfall Prophesy Series.

Except, when I started reading the series, there were only two books out of the 3(+) to be published. But, Mr. Batson just announced today on his blog (click here to view the official post) that the next book is coming on May 15th!!! I'll put the cover on here as soon as it is revealed. And it is going to be called (drum roll please...)...

The Tide of Unmaking! 

So, anyway, it should be epic. And if you haven't started the series yet--you should seriously start because they are some awesome books.

 ~Elizabeth

A is for Amazing

So, Leslie and I are signed up for the A-Z Blog-fest (click the picture for more info). Essentially, every day of the week except Sunday (with today being the only exception, considering that it is the 1st of the month) Leslie and myself will be going through the alphabet with our posts.

A is for Amazing!

Why would we, as writers (or as anything) settle for something that is just "OK", "Good Enough", and "Fine"?

Why wouldn't we want to shoot for the extraordinary?  I mean, honestly, why write anything at all if you aren't going to make it your very best?

A speaker at a conference I went to (Alex Kendrick) said that we must, "Choose what is best over what is good." Now, even though he was talking about our morals at that point, I think it is an excellent quote that can apply to any and everything.

So, today, instead of settling, shoot higher. Do your best, and you may be surprised how far you come.

~Elizabeth

Elemental Trailer Reveal!

So, today is the official release of Elemental's book trailer! So, without further ado, here's the link!

http://emilytwhite.blogspot.com/2012/03/elemental-book-trailer-is-here.html?m=1

~Elizabeth

Pi Day!

Today is (officially) Pi Day!!! Alright, so maybe this is a little dorky, but I like it...

 ~Elizabeth

Alright, so for those of you who have been following for a while, you would know that for a while now I've been posting bits and pieces of the book I'm attempting to write. Well, I completely re-wrote the beginning of it--tell me what you think!

---

I held the silver butterfly on my necklace up off of my neck so that I could view its intricate features. I looked at the old elven writing that went along the border of its wings. . .I still had no idea what it said.

I stood up and walked towards the windows, placing my hand upon the stained glass. I longed to go outside, longed to feel the fresh air. To run. . .to be free.

Ever since my mother died, my father had refused to let me go outside. After all, that was how she died.

I had gone outside one day, running in the fields and picking dandelions. Then, I decided to go into the woods. But I wound up going deeper into them than I had originally planned.

As dusk arrived, my father sent a search party out for me. They found me well into the night and carried me back.

I caught a terrible, unknown disease from those woods. And it was contagious.

For weeks, I saw the disease slowly choke the life out of both my mother and myself. Over half of the guards didn’t survive it.

I lived, my mother didn’t, and my father’s heart began to have a sudden aloofness towards me.

I wanted so desperately to have the courage to someday break through that window, to live each moment to the hilt.

But it took me over three years to finally work up the guts to actually leave. 
 
~Elizabeth

Perfect?

So lately, I've been struggling with a perfect character. The thing is, I don't want him to be perfect.

But what can I do to change him?

Basically, he is the older brother of my MC, and his main goal is to protect her, keep her safe, and give her the life he could never have--that and, of course, search to the corners of the earth when she runs away. I almost feel like he cares about her too much. So, I have made a personal list of bad character traits I am going to apply to him.

I think it's important to keep our characters real and give them flaws--because we want them to be relatable, and people are not perfect.

So, that's my goal for the next week. Have you this issue? Was there anything that helped you with it?

~Elizabeth

Spooky Awesomeness

OK, so this is Taylor Swift singing Safe and Sound, which was done for The Hunger Games movie.

By the way--for those of you who asked, the movie has been rated PG-13.

~Elizabeth

The mystery of character

Hi! Leslie here. Wow! I am actually keeping up with my posts! Well, anyway, today I am going to talk about characters. You know, that person you came up with, the one your whole story revolves around, that person who you are giving life to. It can be really tricky to get a person to stay the way you want them to. For example, take my main character, Dana. She started out as a grown woman who was outspoken and a little crazy but a genius all the same. Now, she has turned into a sixteen year old who is an introvert and very quiet. I did not do that on purpose. She turned into a completely different character. There is another author who wrote the Bayern series who talked about a character of hers who managed to get from being a minor character to having his own book. (Shannon Hale talking about Razo) There is a warning in this as well. As much as letting your characters develop is a good thing, you need to be careful to keep them consistant. A character who is constantly jumping from one type of person to another is often confusing. One tip I learned is to write your book in parts, comparing each part to the ones before. I hope this helps!
Leslie

Beastly--A Book Review

Beastly, by Alex Flinn 

Quote: "I'm not frightened of you, Kyle. I'm frightened for you."
Summery:

Kyle Kingsbury has got it all. With his dad being a news reporter, he has access to riches that are practically un-limited. Sure, it might make it so he only sees his dad--on the television aside--for less then ten minutes a day, but isn't money all that matters?

Plus, Kyle is beautiful. As in, practically every girl in his private high school (the best New York City has to offer, of course) is drooling over him. But his current girl is Sloane--hot, popular, seductive Sloane. He gives her what she wants, and she gives him what he wants. And, of course, all of his other friends come from the group of "cool" people.  But they are just superficial, bratty, selfish bullies.

And so is he.

Kendra, the ugly school witch, knows this. She has been observing him his whole life, and has decided it is time for a change.

As a prank, Kyle invites Kendra to go to a dance with her, planning to show up with Sloane and leave Kendra mortified.

Yet Kyle's maid doesn't buy the exact flower that Sloane demanded, and Sloane refuses it. So Kyle gives it to Linda, a dork he would've otherwise ignored or had been cruel to, yet slipped two petals into his pocket before he gave it to her.

Kendra doesn't get upset, only angry. She tells Kyle that there will be consequences.

Kendra's words haunt Kyle as he goes home to his apartment. Even though it is the middle of the night, Kendra is there in his room, wide awake.

She tells him that she is sick of him only thinking of outer beauty. Sick of him using his beauty to bring others down.

Kendra turns him into a beast--fur, claws and all. But because of the two petals that he kept from Linda's rose, she gives him two years to make a girl fall in love with him (and for him to fall in love with her), and if she kisses him, the spell would be broken. She also gave him a magical mirror that allows him to see anyone he wants, wherever they are.

He tries shaving--it doesn't work. He kisses Sloane in the dark, so she can't see him--it doesn't work. His dad takes him to surgeons and doctors around the world--they tell them that it's hopeless. No surgery could ever fix him--he has to fall in love.

Embarrassed, Kyle's father stashes him away in a mansion and leaves him with a blind tutor and Kyle's maid as caretakers, never bothering to visit himself.

Kyle Kingsbury decides to change his name to Adrian King to help put his past behind him. He does tutoring lessons with Will, his tutor, reads and discusses books like crazy, and he watches people. Every day on the fifth floor on his house, Adrian sits on an old couch and stares at people going about their business from a window.

And Adrian discovers a love for something he never thought twice about before: roses. Will shows him how to care for them, and together they plant a beautiful garden, where Adrian often spends his time. Where he expresses himself. Where he can be himself.

He looks into the mirror more and more often, staring at people.

Eventually, he stumbles upon Linda. He watches her read. Feed her sick, drug addicted father. Be helpless when he, in a drunken state, tried to beat her up. Watches her as she studies so that she can continue going to her school on scholarship.

And one night, he gets a visit from her father as he attempted to rob his house to get drug money. Then, to save himself from getting arrested, he offers Adrian his daughter: Linda.

Adrian greedily accepts her as payment and spends the full next week buying her everything she could ever want in time for her arrival, convinced that she is the one. Books, clothes, decorations. . .

But when she shows up, Adrian is in for a shock.  She hates him, and rightly so.

Yet, over the months, everyone watches as all of the remains of Kyle Kingsbury's shell of ice melt away, revealing Adrian King.

Violence/Romance: 

Linda's dad sounds abusive and is an abuse scene is described somewhat vaguely. Kyle is described as hearing someone's bone break behind him as he pulled himself away. There is some violence in the scene where Linda's dad breaks into Kyle's house. Adrian is described as going through the subway, not caring if he harmed anyone in his way. Towards the end, Adrian fights someone is a scene that is described in a way that, though isn't gruesome in any way, I wouldn't reccomend younger children to read. 

Sloane is described as trying to grope Kyle in front of a huge party ( and this is refrenced to later). Kyle also uses his mirror to view camp shower houses. Sloane braggs to Kyle about how she would be wearing a dress with very little material. There are things that reference to Kyle and Sloane having pre-marital relations. 

Kyle (or rather, Adrian)'s relationship with Linda is touching. He realizes that he can't win her over with material objects, nor can he seduce her. He becomes her friend, and slowly more. He learns to be delicate with her, and learns what true love is. How much better it was that way then before.

He talks to her and gets to know her. He reads what she reads, does what she does. Adrian does whatever he can to be close to her--to show her that he isn't completely a monster.

Drugs/Alchohal:

Sloane and Kyle are referenced as drinking at Sloane's apartment when her mom isn't home. Linda's dad is shown many times as being a drug addict and as being drunk. 

Spirituality:

Well, obviously, Kendra is a witch. Normally, I would mind this a lot more then I did with this book, because it was meant to be a modern-day Beauty and the Beast, and there was a witch in that. But she still is there, and is definitely something to be wary of.

There are some great morals in this book--looking at the heart, past what someone looks like.

There are some uses of swear words, more in the beginning of the book then towards the end. I can't pinpoint exactly how many of each one, but they are there.

Overall:

I LOVED the romance between Linda and Adrian. I love how they bond with the roses, I love how he respects her space, how he tries to connect with her. . . it's inspiring. All of it.

Though there are some inappropriate things towards the beginning, but Alex (the author) doesn't get overly graphic; and they show just how deep into sin Kyle was, just how amazing his transformation was. I don't mind it because it contributes to the story and is necessary later on, but I also believe that there should be some cautions.

My over all rating is .....

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 

I think that, though it is an excellent read, it definately belongs in the YA genre--as in, I wouldn't reccomend it to those under 12 for obvious reasons. And, if you are under 12, you should seriously get some parental permission first--maybe have them read this review.

~Elizabeth

Music and my muse

Hey y'all! Leslie here. So at this very moment I am listening to My Deliverer by dc Talk. It started me thinking about music and my use of music while I'm writing. Whenever I write I always have music from somewhere; usually on my iPod. My playlist contains a mix of pop, 80's tunes(Liz teases me about that particular genre), christian, rock, even a tiny bit of rap and classical. The reason for the large variety? I love the way that the different genres become my muse. When I write a fight scene, i usually break out the minor chords and Lotd of the Rings soundtrack. If its a sad tear-jerking part, bring on Lo Que Mas or Kryptonite or some slow minor music. Of course when I want people to laugh, I turn to happy music like Who's in the House by Carman. I've noticed other authors who give part of their success to the bands in their playlist.
So do I have a true piont to this post? I guess its that music is powerful. My (rather strong) imagination is sparked by music. A really good song can start me pretending. It inspires me to write. What do you do when you write? What is your muse?