Books I've read

I decided to start a list of books I've read recently. I'm doing the 101 in 1001 challenge, and as part of that I'm aiming to read 101 books in 1001 days. This is basically a big list of books with links if I've done a review on this blog. Titles in green were hard copy editions, everything in black I read on my Kindle.

February 2014:
1. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
2. Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
3. Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
4. Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

March 2014:
5. Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
6. Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
7. Heroes of Olympus: The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
8. Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

9. Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades by Rick Riordan
10. The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan
11. The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan

April 2014:
12. Down and Out in Beverly Heels by Kathryn Leigh Scott
13. Son of Sobek by Rick Riordan
14. Staff of Serapis by Rick Riodan
15. Dark Passages by Kathryn Leigh Scott

May 2014: 
16. Mars Evacuees by Sophia McDougall - review
17. Other Worlds - 10 amazing fantasy stories by Rick Riordan and others

 June 2014
18. Playing the Odds by Nora Roberts
19. The Blue by Stephanie Void
20. Across the Universe with a Giant Housecat by Stephanie Void
21. Formula for a Galactic Conquest by Stephanie Void

July 2014
22. Music of the Spheres by Stephanie Void
23. Halfway by Stephanie Void
24. Wanderer's Shadow by Stephanie Void
25. Running from Secrets by Stephanie Void

I forgot to update this list throughout the last half of 2014 and 2015... oops... On to 2016!

March/April 2016
26. Divergent by Veronica Roth
27. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
28. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
29. Four by Veronica Roth - review of all four Divergent books
30. The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan - review
31. Jinxed by by Kathryn Leigh Scott

May/June 2016

32.The Siren by Kiera Cass - review

July/August 2016

33. The Little Bookshop of Lonely Hearts by Annie Darling - review
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.

41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.

In progress and may never be finished...
Silence by Natasha Preston (in progress)
Twenty Eight and a Half Reasons by Denise Grover Swank (in progress)

51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
58.
59.

60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
101.

Review - What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton

The easier way to describe this is as a book of book reviews, but it's much more than that. Jo Walton' s love of sci-fi and fantasy was clear in her award-winning novel Among Others, and this book expands on the brief discussions of those authors and stories. Walton's excitement for the genre and for books in general leaps of the pages as she works her way through topics ranging from different uses of time travel and genre, to old classics and Walton' s own guilty sci-fi pleasures.

Works by Ursula K Le Guin and Salmon Rushdie are talked about alongside lesser known authors, and with more than 130 reviews of varying lengths the book is perfect for dipping into in a spare 10 minutes. If you need a recommendation to help choose another book to read, Walton is never short on suggestions, and she is careful to warn readers about spoilers when she talks about plots.

The book is compiled of a selection of the hundreds of blog posts made by Walton on Tor.com over the past five years, meaning the entries are easily digested while still being entertaining and packing ideas, thoughts, praise and questions into each short piece.

• What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton
• RRP £25 (hardcover), £8.99 (Kindle)
• Published by Corsair
• ISBN 0765331934

WriYe - Character Relationships

How hard is it for you to create character relationships? Do you pre-plan them or do you end up letting them develop as the novel goes on? Have your characters betrayed you and paired up with someone you didn't expect?
My relationships in stories tend to be pre-planned in the first plotting stage. For example, in Thief I knew that Dawn would have a boyfriend that she'd leave behind when she ran away and he'd come after her. I knew Lois's parents were married happily and that she didn't have a boyfriend. I knew that both Callahan sisters were flirts but that there were no serious relationships going on (and it would take a very dedicated man to have a relationship with Morgan when she turns into a man herself every so often...)

I've never had a character do something completely unexpected with regards to relationships, although occasionally they will say something which then makes me think they could do with a pairing somewhere.

Give us the story of how your favorite written characters got together and what makes their relationships strongest.
I honestly can't think of any! I don't really write romance, and the relationships that are in my stories tend to be pre-existing without any back story to them. I suppose if I had to choose, I'd say Lois's parents in Witness. I have no idea how they got together, but they complement each other very well - she's soft and comforting and he's practical and full of useful (useless?!) advice. They also foster kids and still manage to raise Lois as a fairly normal teenager. I think I really should flesh out their characters and back story more in a short story some time...

Bonus: Give us a picture of your planning process when it comes to characters!

This is a kitten randomly booping a dog on the nose. My character relationship planning is often rather like this - it just suddenly happens. I'll suddenly think of a character and then realise they need a significant other, or evil ex, or a crush, or someone else to make them more of a fully rounded character.

WriYe - Planning part 2

The bonus challenge: Show us a screenshot, picture, or draw us something that represents you planning! So for you pantsers, I expect some funny stuff.

Okay, so here's a screenshot of my latest work in progress. (I don't usually write with this many pages on view, but I wanted to show all the different things I do.)

The different parts are colour coded; black is the story I've written so far, red is bits that are ideas that need fleshing out, blue is background research and purple is a list of characters with very short descriptions. I keep my longer character profiles in a different file.

I often have pictures in my documents while I'm writing as well to give me ideas and help me keep an ideas of who my character is in my head. In this case I'd been writing about Martha Pemberton, the heroine of a story set in the Regency period.

WriYe planning part 1

WriYe - Planning part 1

What's your favorite planning method? Do you prefer to plot by hand or use the computer? What part of planning do you hate the absolute most? Or do you hate all of planning and you'd rather pants your novels? Why?

Sometimes I will go off without a master plan... Actually quite often I go off without a master plan... But usually I'll have some sort of plan even if it's just a very basic outline of a character and a challenge for them to overcome.

I actually really enjoy the planning stage and find that because of the way I go about it, it usually merges very easily into the writing of the story. I don't usually use paper notes and I haven't really got my head around the specialist story-writing software, so most of my planning is done in Word, which is where I write the vast majority of my stories. I start with an idea, then flesh that out a bit, then take each bit of that and flesh that out, and usually while I'm doing that I'll write one or two scenes that jump out at me. When I'm developing characters I usually find myself writing a scene as well so that I get their voice fixed in my head. The scene might not make it into the finished story, but quite often at least some bits of it do.

So the short answer is I love planning, there's nothing about it I hate, and although sometimes I do pants it, I'm much more of a planner.

WriYe - Planning part 2

WriYe - Seasonal stories

Everyone has their favorite: the heat of summer, the beauty of spring, the cool winds of autumn or the quiet frozen landscapes of winter. And because we have our favorite, we most likely have a set of favorite things we do during those seasons. But how does that affect your writing? Do you write more during your favorite season, or do you prefer to do things that are not related to writing?


I love autumn - swishing leaves, the gorgeous colours,seeing the sunrise without having to get up at silly o'clock, the crispness in the air without it being too cold, and the excuse to wear boots with skirts! I love winter, too, especially when it has been or is snowing. There's something about frosty mornings that's very exciting, and noticing that the light coming through the curtains is just that bit brighter than usual, hinting that just maybe it's snowed overnight. But I think, just about, that my favourite season is autumn.

I like writing about autumn as well, and I find that most of my favourite scenes that I write are set in autumn, although that's only something I realised when I was thinking about seasons to write this blog post.

I don't know if I write more in the autumn - I think I tend to write most in the winter, but that may be because of NaNoWriMo acting as an incentive. The rest of the year my writing seems to plod along quite steadily with increased spurts of activity if I start something that really catches my imagination.

WriYe - Distractio... ooh, squirrel!

Those Pesky Flies - Distractions
We all have them, whether they are living, mandatory, optional or fun. How do you work around your distractions? Do you separate time out or do you let the distractions come as they may? Are you one of the lucky ones that can shut it all out and write for as long as you'd like?

I'm quite good at procrastinating, but that's different from genuine distractions. When I'm writing at home the distractions usually come in the form of the postman wanting to deliver a parcel, the cat wanting attention in the form of cuddles, food, or to be let out, or phone calls.

Fortunately, my method of writing can cope quite well with distractions. I tend to write in 20 minute bursts unless I'm really caught up in a story, and so if a distraction comes I just stop where I've got to and start another 20 minute session when the distraction's passed and I've taken the opportunity to refill my mug or pop to the loo. I suppose that means I fall into the category of letting the distractions come what may.

I'm not someone who can shut out all distractions, but even if I could I don't think my writing would be any more productive than my 20-minute-at-a-time method. I know it works (and I managed to write 10k in a day on November 30, 2011 using that method!) and if I try to write for longer I find myself getting distracted by researching things that I really don't need to research, or looking at pictures for inspiration, or playing games.