tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65713143482197832011-04-21T11:01:59.861-07:00Slinging ink onto paper. A mission to break into children's book publishing, and more importantly, to understand and improve writing.Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.comBlogger111100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6571314348219783.post-91716952143784804782008-11-30T16:42:00.000-08:002008-11-30T17:27:32.153-08:00

I recently read Stardust by Neil Gaiman, who apparently is a fairly famous fellow. I haven't seen the movie of this book--mostly because I have an aversion to book to film projects--but I rather enjoy it. I heard that another one of his books was becoming a film and decided to read that as well. Here's the jacket copy:"When Coraline steps through a door to find another house strangely similar to

Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6571314348219783.post-13251937692711633692008-11-25T09:35:00.001-08:002008-11-28T18:13:57.078-08:00

I recently went to the public library, and as usual, I picked up several books. Typically, I pick some from the young adult section, a few from the juvenile fiction, and some from the adult fiction bookshelves. One of my adult books was Through Violet Eyes by Stephen Woodworth. It's his debut novel, so I suppose he needs a bit of leeway, but having read the first chapters of book, I cannot say

Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6571314348219783.post-71953213075591606482008-06-29T09:28:00.000-07:002008-07-06T11:38:59.462-07:00

I'm a big fan of the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. Her books are what YA is all about. Originally, I had an intense aversion to this book. I mean, it is a vampire romance, but it's much better than you'd expect. Anyway, I decided to buy her next book, The Host. It is the first of her novels to be printed as an adult novel. In my opinion, it feels very much like her YA novels, and I don't

Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6571314348219783.post-12053787612022360912008-06-27T18:42:00.000-07:002008-06-27T19:04:28.315-07:00

I've been reading this series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and it's a bit addictive. I can see why it has been on the New York Times best-seller's list. It isn't so much about the turn of phases or the development of the characters that makes these books interesting. It's the action. These books have a back-to-back action scene sort of pace. It feels... very American, very action movie, very

Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6571314348219783.post-68712618560492111302008-06-27T17:50:00.000-07:002008-06-27T18:02:12.050-07:00

This is the eighth chapter of the Wormwood Prophet. Though it is rather short, it is one of my favorites thus far.The Queen walked on the path beaten by the mourners of the past thirteen days, beaten by her frequent trips to the King's tomb, and she sighed as she went. Her lantern dangled, ringing against the rod she held it by, and she stepped softly. To a watchful eye, the blades of grass bent

Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6571314348219783.post-18347188210597968682008-06-22T20:56:00.001-07:002008-06-22T21:11:59.171-07:00

I'm editing my novel, (I'm about a third of the way through) and it's amazing the tendencies you find in your own writing when you have your words printed before you. A list of words I'm beginning to loathe:1. Suddenly. This word makes me sound as though I don't know how it came about. Suddenly, he jumped. Doesn't that sound like even he didn't know why he jumped?2. Seemed. Either something is or

Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6571314348219783.post-90494038277835066892008-06-22T20:02:00.000-07:002008-06-22T20:53:21.459-07:00

I was surfing the net the other day, and I happened upon an article about a woman suing a publisher for classifying her book as African American Literature, which would reduce the readership of the material. If I recall, the publisher was Penguin Books and the author was Millenia Black. Well, I don't really see why any publisher would try to reduce the readership of any book (After all, isn't

Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6571314348219783.post-34285662911213040252008-06-17T17:59:00.000-07:002008-06-17T18:28:08.201-07:00

I've just finished reading Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules; Prior to this, I read Diary of A Wimpy Kid. RR has been on NY Times' Bestseller list for 21 weeks, and the original book has been on for 60 weeks (Yeah, that's more than a year.)If you have kids (I have younger siblings) who do not like to read, you may be able to push these books on them without too much fuss. Half of the book is

Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6571314348219783.post-87733623972513710012008-06-16T20:46:00.000-07:002008-06-16T22:12:43.769-07:00

1. The first paragraphs of your novel describe your main character preparing for their day. This is especially bad if these rituals tell us nothing about the character--that they hate how they look, that that don't care how they look, that they are irresponsible, whatever.2. In your story's synopsis, you describe your work as being in between the style of fabulously famous authors: Stephen King,

Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6571314348219783.post-60199117884020158272008-06-11T18:20:00.000-07:002008-06-12T10:17:55.997-07:00

I've been scanning some entries on fiction press and critique circle. The majority of the writing is terrible. The funny thing is this one person kept complaining about not getting comments on their work. To this person, there is a reason for this. People don't comment on stories they haven't read (usually). Here are some reasons why I read the first paragraph of your story, hit the back button,

Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6571314348219783.post-42939216225854251492008-06-10T17:40:00.000-07:002008-06-10T17:42:37.127-07:00

Dying wasn't hard. There was a flash of light as the truck collided, a surge of pain, and then nothing. I don't remember hitting the ground, or maybe that was wrapped in with the rest of the pain. My last thought was that I was awfully glad I had clean underwear on.------ My name is not Frankenstein, however once you get ran over by truck, threaded back together, strapped to a table, and struck

Ink Slingernoreply@blogger.com0