'The Hunger Games' (Book 1)

Over the course of the past week, I've read the first installment of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. Wow, what an adventure that was! A few people told me, when I mentioned I was reading it, that I wouldn't be able to put it down, and I have to admit, they weren't wrong. In all honesty, I couldn't sleep last night and ended up reading it from about 2:00AM until around 4:15AM.

While I agree it was a good book, I can't say I ended up as excited about it as I was hoping to be. I had too many issues, not so much with the story itself, but with the writing. Somebody told me, before I started reading it, that books written very simplistically are proof that you don't have to write very well to be a bestseller. I can't say I exactly agree with them, because I don't think simplistic is the same as not being able to write very well. But Suzanne Collins kept a very simplistic style of writing throughout The Hunger Games, and I felt that it was TOO simplistic, considering the themes it was carrying and the complexity of the situation and the characters. I understood what was going on perfectly, but I found myself disliking how easy it was to understand, because sometimes it felt like I was being told in dot-points. I believe that certain points in the story could have been more meaningful if the style of the writing had been a little less simplistic, such as character relationships. We kept getting the idea that Rue reminds Katniss of her little sister Prim told to us, but I didn't feel it being shown as well as it could have been. I don't mean that the author should have used every big words in the dictionary she possibly could. I just feel that the simplistic style of writing against the dark and complicated plot and back-story made it sound very childish, when the protagonist isn't so.

Go ahead, crucify me for criticizing a bestseller if you must. Go on, get it over with.

The other issue I found with this book could probably be credited to whoever did the proofreading and editing. As I want to be an editor myself, one thing I can't stand is continuity issues within the writing. And I notice them without meaning to. There was a point where Katniss was counting, and it was written, 'One, 2, 3' and I almost lost my shit. One moment, tracker-jacker was hyphenated. Suddenly tracker jacker was not hyphenated. I found myself criticizing sentences as I read them, for being clunky or poorly worded. Maybe it's my own fault for having such a good eye for catching such things, but it really bugged me!

Are you all gathered around my house with torches and pitch forks yet?

Please don't kill me. I promise that overall, I really did enjoy reading The Hunger Games, and intend to continue reading the sequels, although I've been warned it goes downhill after the first book. Katniss has done things in book one that cannot allow her to live the rest of her life without some sort of serious repercussions  and I do want to see how the reunion with her family and Gale goes, and how the romances play out in the long run. I've been forewarned *SPOILER ALTER* that some tragedy occurs regarding Prim and that Katniss isn't going to end up with who I want her to end up with *SPOILER OVER*. 

Am I dead yet? Well, I hope not, because I'm still typing and I don't want to be a zombie, so...

Thoughts, debates, arguments for or against my opinion of The Hunger Games? Talk to me in the comments, and please keep your deadly farming equipment away from me.

- Bonnee.

The Perks of being a Wallflower (Movie)

I sat down to watch this movie with my boyfriend, thinking it was going to be some cheesy flick to pass the time, and he can get over it because Emma Watson is hot (he admitted it!).

Well...

It wasn't long before we figured out that this was not a movie made for the sake of entertainment. It was definitely a movie made for the sake of itself. By which I mean that it's complex, suspenseful and very real and honest in the themes and issues it deals with.

A troubled young boy named Charlie is starting high-school and hating it. One way or another, he befriends a group of kids who are in their final year, and learns how to accept love from other people and be himself. Of course there are the issues of what teenagers do when they're curious about things, and the mysterious pasts of the characters. But Charlie is a wallflower: somebody who can look at a situation and just understand it. And he's slowly learning to understand himself.

Basically, throughout the whole movie, I was hanging onto the edge of my seat, waiting for something horrible to happen. Because it really did give the feeling that something was going to go wrong. And maybe it did. Maybe it didn't. I'm not going to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it. What I will say was that it was an intense and moving story, and extremely stressful to watch. It left plenty to think about, and plenty to consider whilst watching it. I absolutely loved it.

Has anybody else seen this awesome movie, or read the book? I must get my hands on the book. Thoughts?

- Bonnee.

WIP: Walls

Some of you might remember me talking about a fanfiction I was writing in the later half of last year, the general plot of which I wanted to turn into my own original story. Now, I don't want to compare my book to 50 Shades of Grey, but I'm just going to say, I know of at least three author's who started off writing fanfictions, and I intend to become one of them. Fear not! My new work in progress is NOT going to fall under the category of erotica... or literary pornography, depending how you want to look at it.

As we have entered 2013, I thought I'd look back and see what work I've already done on the new WIP. Along with it's working title, WALLS, I have written out sixteen character profiles (it's okay, most of them are minor characters and some might not even make an appearance), and I've done some world building, though I really need to find a name for the city where the story takes place. Aside from this, I have planned out four chapters (and the prologue which I will most likely cut, as the information it contains will be repeated elsewhere in the manuscript anyway, and I hear that agents, editors and publishers generally discourage prologues anyway). In other words, I'm putting a lot more detail into the planning than what I'll put into the story, for the simple fact that I feel I need to know my characters and the plot better than the book will when it's finished.

Just for fun, I've started some writing. Namely the prologue, which you all read an excerpt of some weeks ago, and a short story based on the prologue which I still haven't decided whether or not I like. But as I said, the prologue will become non-existent by the time the rest of the manuscript is complete. Writing those things was purely for the sake of getting a feel of the world and the characters... and for fun.

So, I'm going to continue my planning - my goal is to plan the whole thing before I start writing the actual story - and I'm going to read The Hunger Games when I'm not otherwise occupied, because I've got the trilogy sitting next to me as I type.

What is everybody out there up to with their planning, writing, editing, querying, etc? 

- Bonnee.

Happy New Year: Australiana

Happy New Year to one and all!

Now this is going to be a bit different from my usual blog entries... But as a writer, I love words. Big words, little words, serious words and funny words. I also love it when you can twist words. So here's a little video I'd like to share with you, filled to the brim with Aussie humour... Keep an eye on the pictures, they might help you out a bit.

Is it scary to all of you non-Australian people that I understood the majority of what just happened? Fair dinkum, I understood a lot of that.

Happy 2013 from Australia.
- Bonnee.

As 2013 Approaches

This is Katherine.
She is currently on the other side of the country.

Merry Christmas all! Or whatever else you might celebrate out there. 

As 2013 approaches, I think it is important that all us writers take a moment to think about our goals. Actually, New Years tends to be a good time for everybody to think about their goals. But because I'm a writer and this is my blog, of course my goals are going to focus on writing. 

I'm hoping to start and complete at least one if not two bigger writing projects in the new year. What is everybody else aiming for? 

- Bonnee. 

The LOOK Meme: Snippet from my new WiP

My apologies to followers: this blog was meant to be posted over 10 days ago, before I went on a little holiday. But knowing that I wasn't going to have time to post it manually, I tried to schedule it to post itself and it didn't work. Hmph... Well, here you go anyawy! 

It might no longer be November, but that certainly isn't going to stop me from writing. So after printing off Katherine and express posting her to the other side of the country in time to enter the novella competition, I started planning out my next WiP. The working title of this one is Walls, and it's going to be a Young Adult/Dystopian. As I struggled along with the planning, I felt the need to take a break and write something... so I cranked out what would be the prologue, except that I know it's just a huge stupid info-dump that I'll end up deleting in the very first revision.

That said, JeffO from The Doubting Writer tagged me in the LOOK Meme, the idea of which is to find the first use of the word 'look' in your WiP and share it along with with some of its surrounding text. I decide to search the measly 796 words I'd written to see if I'd used it, and sure enough, word 357...

    In Lani’s absence, Mildred leaned into her brother again. “Jonah, what if they don’t let us through?”

    “They have to, Mil,” he said, rubbing her arm. “We’re good people looking for safety. They have to help us.” Their small family was processed along with every other family without identification. Jonah had to let her go to put an arm around their mother when she started weeping. “It’s okay, Mum. We’re safe here.” Mildred knew as well as her brother that his words would not console her. Their father was the only one who ever could when she lost her grip, and he had left The South before them to help keep the peace elsewhere.

Yeah, yeah, I know it sucks. Like I said; I already know I'm going to end up deleting what I have so far... most likely anyway.

Tagging time: 

1. Giora who always shares so much info about his book's setting, but who I would love to see an except from.

2. EJ, my fellow Aussie who recently mentioned that she needed a spark to get her back into writing. It would be awesome to see someone else who writes with Australianisms (mum instead of mom, colour instead of color, etc.) even if there's none in the excerpt.

3. Fiona, who's current WiP I believe is called Erase. I'd love to see a little snippet from you as you hurtle towards the finish-line.

Of course, I'd love to see something from EVERYONE, so feel free to participate anyway, and let me know so that I can check it out! And of course, if those tagged didn't want to share anything, that's okay too.

- Bonnee.

Thoughts: 'Paper Menagerie' by Ken Liu

First of all, NaNoWriMo is coming to an end! I reached my goals. Did you? That's great if you did, and better luck next time if you didn't. What happens next though? I think Chuck Wendig answers that question rather... colourfully... over at his blog in the post about wasting your efforts.

But on another note, today I wanted to talk about a short story that has won all three of Science-Fiction's major awards: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy Award. I just so happen to be talking about Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu. I'll thank Nathan Bransford for the link to the story he left on his blog, where I read it just minutes ago.

First of all, let me just say that I have a soft-spot for sad stories. The themes presented somewhat reminded me of the stories in Haruki Murakami's after the quake, which you've heard me gushing over plenty of times before. However, at the same time, it was a completely different experience. I really loved the story overall. My only issue was the (SPOILER ALERT) long letter at the end from Jack's mother, giving her life story. It seemed like an info-dump to me, but placing it at the very end of the story resolved some unanswered questions and tied things up nicely. Paper Menagerie is well written, heavily sentimental and presents real issues faced by some children from interracial families, whilst weaving the scenes with a touch of Chinese magic.

After reading the story, I continued to read the comments left by other readers. I was SHOCKED to see so many negative reviews slamming it! Initially, it really pissed me off and I sat there thinking what a bunch of thoughtless, narrow-minded pigs. And while I still hold some of that resentment, I've taken a step back to consider why those people reacted that way. Yes, it was a very sentimental and melodramatic story. That's part of why I enjoyed it, but I guess other people have different preferences to me.

Although I really did love this story, admittedly, I am among those who are surprised that it won all three of those awards. I didn't feel it represented the genre of science-fiction as well as the winner of those awards should have. Science-fiction isn't really my genre though (yet fantasy is? Is that weird?), so I probably ought not be the judge of it.

So there's two things we can all discuss in the comments: How did your NaNoWriMo go and what is your take on Paper Menageries? 

- Bonnee.