books
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Tropes can vary wildly—from soft and cuddly interactions like “grumpy x sunshine,” to the infamous “enemies to lovers,” where authors will tout all sorts of disturbed interactions we’re supposed to find “appealing” or “romantic.” MCs can be “cinnamon rolls,” or “unhinged and morally gray.” Romance can be sweet to “dark”—like your favorite brew of coffee.
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The Cane house—the stuff of small-town legends. A wreck that had been condemned long before all but the town’s oldest residents had been born. Misguided souls sometimes attempted to arrange a petition to have the site preserved; but they were always mocked out of possibility, and their efforts faded to be recycled when the town
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A good villain doesn’t need the most tragic backstory and sympathetic motivations—they just need to feel like a believable person. But how do you determine if your villain passes the test? * * * What is Evil? Every villain is lemons, obviously. But on a serious note—the main element that separates your villains from the
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He flicked the pen in his hands, as carelessly as if it were just a cheap device purchased at the dollar store. Which it might’ve been. Despite the whispers Joel had heard, the pen had yet to exhibit any special abilities, other than the ability to dispense ink. The neon light of the passing signs
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I’ve long toyed with the idea of an audacious Harry Potter fic, where I attempt to fix all the plot holes and whip the characters into something resembling a consistent shape. Or, at the least, just re-plot all seven books so they make more sense. I haven’t quite gotten around to that yet; but amid
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You’ve all heard of the typical five-act plot structure—exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. And it’s an excellent structure—bare-bones enough to apply to just about any story, while providing enough of a framework to fit your elements inside. But there’s another structure that comes in handy, especially when you’re dealing with a work
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Full name: Elodie Sweeney Powers: not awakened yet Dedicated and poised, Elodie is a hard worker and a caring friend. Though she’s about to receive the most stringent test of her loyalties upon starting at the House of the Scroll… Her family descends from old Castillan nobility, bestowing upon her the title of Viscountess. EXCERPT
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The horse came back alone. The stable hand stuttered to a stop. Was that the prince’s horse all by itself? Grady never dismounted before reaching the stables. He always walked Benny back to his stall, or at least into the care of a hand. The saddle was still attached, and none of the affectations had
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Check out the corresponding Goodreads post here! I was pretty tame in my analysis over there; but I had a lot more (admittedly salty and spoiler-laden) thoughts–so I figured, what better use than to commission them for my blog? Obligatory disclaimer: these are my opinions. This is in no way a commentary on anything other
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Harry Potter features the outright or implied redemptions of several characters—most notably Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, and Regulus Black. But, even in the cases where the character is supposed to have made a complete switch, their motivations and behaviors still don’t make complete sense with someone who’s begun to understood the evil they’ve committed, and
