Writing Tip #5

Book Review 1: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

I (again) apologize, as I've never done an official review or anything. Since that's out of the way I'll do my best to bring forward a decent amount of points on both ends. If I need to improve, please tell me. On to the review!

I'm a huge fan of the YA fantasy genre, if there isn't some fantasy in it then I'm likely to not even pick it up. Safe to say, Seraphina is fantasy through and through. Rachel Hartman brings in refreshing elements to a subject over-done in every form of media/genre: Dragons.

As a short summary, the story follows the young protagonist: Seraphina. She's delved out of her comfort-zone (and guiltily ignoring her father's wishes) and begun working at the palace. Before she moved in, the crown prince is killed and everyone believes it was the dragons that did it. Seraphina finds herself pulled into the mystery with the help of Lucian Kiggs, captain of the guard and nephew of the killed prince. The treaty between the dragons and humans hangs in the balance.

Without spoiling the plot too much, let's just say that the dragons (who we see mostly in compressed human forms) are a wonderful relief. They definitely don't feel human and don't have a perfect peace with the humans. The tension and distrust is felt from cover-to-cover, it's honestly wonderful because it isn't a stagnant world and its future doesn't depend on the protagonist to fix or cause trouble. For a fantasy world, it come off as extremely realistic.The world itself is a mix of medieval European and fantasy setting that pulls you right in. Nothing felt awkward or out of place.

Seraphina, herself, is also a well rounded character. She's not beautiful, socially exceptional, or even well known. She enjoys being in the background and prefers it. Granted, like most YA protagonists, she certainly could benefit from a few more flaws, but she's a model for many of the Mary-Sue cut outs being sold on the shelves. I'm also not one really for first-person in stories, but I actually enjoyed being in her head.

On the opposing end, the plot is a bit overused. Hero/heroine gets involved when country's peace is threatened and heads off to fix it. I personally felt like I had too many characters thrust at me at the beginning, it was hard to keep track of at first. And there were certainly a few scenes that didn't need to be in the novel at all (sadly they're spoilers so I can't mention them), but they only succeeded in making the novel longer rather than pushing the plot along.

As a final comment, I would certainly recommend it. I love it as a whole, which makes it easy to ignore the bad points. I'm certainly keeping my fingers crossed for a sequel and will probably read it again.

Hey all! Becky here with a quick reminder that we do accept and post story submissions. We mods aren’t just promoting our own writing but others as well. The only major requirement is that you have a specific inspiration for your story or snippet and that you duly credit it in your submission. Check out our submission page for more info. Thanks for all your support so far and here’s to more great stories.

I love these two so much, I remember creating Sadira back in middle school. Then I forgot her and she just kinda faded and was forgotten. Now she's back and hot dang she has never looked better. She's the oldest character out of any I've ever made that I remember and her progression and new maturity has proved how much I've grown as a writer. As a person. Ulyesses as well, kinda, he's grown but his vocabulary of curse words just grew. Anyway, these two are my otp and thus piece was very ambitious. I waited months and every minute, day, was worth it. They look so amazing and that word doesn't even cover it. This is my background for every electronical device I have. Thank you, for making them look better than ever, for accepting this commission when it rejected by a few others. You have done them a great honor and I love it so much. I keep noticing new details every time I look at it. P.s. @janeopries your tags are gold

Finished commission for @sinedra! ♡ This is their character Sadira and @janeopries’ character Ulyesses. I loved their story and had a lot of fun drawing them (while listening to sad florence + the machine songs of course). Thank you so much for commissioning me!

[fullview] ✧ [commission info]

thank you

I'm not exactly sure what I'm being thanked for, but you are most certainly welcome! Keep writing lovelies.

The internet could change next week, and not in a good way

You may have heard about the efforts in Europe to reform copyright law. The debate has been ongoing in the European Parliament for months. If approved next week, these new regulations would require us to automatically filter and block content that you upload without meaningful consideration of your right to free expression. 

We respect the copyrights and trademarks of others, and we take all reports seriously to ensure that your creative expression is protected. We make this clear in our Community Guidelines. There’s already a legal framework that works and is fair: Today we take down posts and media that contain allegedly infringing content when we receive a valid DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown request. We also provide clear-cut ways for people to fight back if they believe their removed content was not a true violation. These instances are monitored and reported and live in our biannual transparency report. 

The suggestion to use automated filters for issues of copyright is short-sighted at best and harmful at worst. Automated filters are unable to determine whether a use should be considered “fair use” under the law and are unable to determine whether a use is authorized by a license agreement. They are unable to distinguish legitimate parody, satire, or even your own personal pictures that could be matched with similar photographs that have been protected by someone else. We don’t believe that technology should replace human judgment. Tumblr is and always has been a place for creative expression, and these new regulations would only make it harder for you to express yourself with the freedom and clarity you do so now. 

If you access Tumblr from Europe and want to act, you can find more information on saveyourinternet.eu. 

I try to keep this just writing, and this is a little late, but holy cow do they not look amazing. @janeopries look at our dorks! It’s perfect.

Sadira and Ulyesses commissioned by @sinedra

Words to use instead of “Very”!

👎🏼 Very simple             👍🏼 Basic 👎🏼 Very shy                  👍🏼 Timid 👎🏼 Very short                👍🏼 Brief  👎🏼 Very shiny                👍🏼 Gleaming  👎🏼 Very sharp               👍🏼 Keen 👎🏼 Very serious             👍🏼 Grave 👎🏼 Very scary                👍🏼 Chilling  👎🏼 Very scared              👍🏼 Petrified  👎🏼 Very sad                   👍🏼 Sorrowful 👎🏼 Very rich                   👍🏼 Wealthy  👎🏼 Very rainy                 👍🏼 Pouring  👎🏼 Very quiet                 👍🏼 Hushed 👎🏼 Very quick                👍🏼 Rapid 👎🏼 Very pretty                👍🏼 Beautiful  👎🏼 Very powerful           👍🏼 Compelling 👎🏼 Very poor                 👍🏼 Destitute  👎🏼 Very perfect             👍🏼 Flawless 👎🏼 Very pale                  👍🏼 Ashen  👎🏼 Very painful              👍🏼 Excruciating  👎🏼 Very open                 👍🏼 Transparent 👎🏼 Very old-fashioned   👍🏼 Archaic  👎🏼 Very old                    👍🏼 Ancient  👎🏼 Very often                 👍🏼 Frequently  👎🏼 Very noisy                👍🏼Deafening 

There is this website called Thrift Books and I just got $66.90 worth of books for $19.93 (five books). Shipping was free. You’re welcome.

I barely go here, but the love story between Veilguard's two Grey Warden contacts is NUTS. What do you mean Evka found Antoine dying in a pool of Darkspawn blood and administered an emergency Joining in hopes of maybe saving his life, and it worked, and then they fell in love, and by the time of the game they're very happily married? What do you mean they each wrote the other a letter to be read in the case of the writer being Called, and in Antoine's he admits life as a Grey Warden has been worth it because it gave him Evka? And he ends the letter with "Je t'aimerai toujours" (I will always love you) making that the last thing she'd ever hear from him? While Evka's letter is in a cypher and thusly only for Antoine? Couple of all time I swear.