Month: August 2013

fantasy · Short Story · Writing

You know you’ve been reading too much romance when . . .

Sonia Lal6 Comments

You know you’ve been reading too much romance when that that fairy fantasy short story you are trying to write keeps trying to turn into a romance. A paranormal romance, complete with sidhe princes, sidhe court politics and star-crossed lovers. Very Romeo-and-Juliet, except for the tragic death thing.

Not that I dislike paranormal romances. I love them. Too much, as it is clearly taking over my own writing.
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Clearly, I need to read more fantasy. Not just urban fantasy, but the more traditional fantasy. Even if they are a little thin on the ground these days.

I meant to write a fantasy short story. Not a romance one. Anyone, I’ve only ever read romance short stories in anthologies.

I can’t remember the last time a character insisted on chasing another character instead of the magic, slave-ending object. Really!

I feel like shelving these two fairy princes and starting over. I want a fairy prince who won’t insist on finding the love of his life immediately.

Willful characters. Who needs them? that that fairy fantasy short story you are trying to write keeps trying to turn into a romance. A paranormal romance, complete with sidhe princes, sidhe court politics and star-crossed lovers. Very Romeo-and-Juliet, except for the tragic death thing.

Not that I dislike paranormal romances. I love them. Too much, as it is clearly taking over my own writing.

Clearly, I need to read more fantasy. Not just urban fantasy, but the more traditional fantasy. Even if they are a little thin on the ground these days.

I meant to write a fantasy short story. Not a romance one. Anyone, I’ve only ever read romance short stories in anthologies.

I can’t remember the last time a character insisted on chasing another character instead of the magic, slave-ending object. Really!

I feel like shelving these two fairy princes and starting over. I want a fairy prince who won’t insist on finding the love of his life immediately.

Willful characters. Who needs them?

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General · reading · science fiction

Does flying cars make a book science fiction?

Sonia Lal11 Comments

English: Icon from Nuvola icon theme for KDE 3...

A book has flying cars, a space resort and takes place in the future. Is it science fiction?

What if the plot has a mystery and maybe enough romance to make it the main plot line?

Maybe you could call such a book science fiction, a mystery and a romance all the same time.
What would you call it? How would describe the book to someone?

As a reader, I suppose it depends on two things.

1) Which, if any genre, dominates.
2) How strictly you define science fiction, mystery and romance.

Me? I don’t have strict definitions. As long as it meets the genre’s tropes, I’ll call it by all three genres. That doesn’t help with actually picking one.

For marketing purposes, I suppose you need only ask one question: which genre has the largest readership?

I am talking about the In Death series by JD Robb. They are marketed as romantic suspense. I’ve found them in the romance and general fiction isles.

On my nook, I have decided to go with the marketers and shelve it under romance. I am just wondering if I could also shelve them under science fiction. I can’t decide.

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General · reading

Book Hoarder and Book Lover

Sonia Lal8 Comments

@litchat had a discussion recently about book lovers and book hoarder, based on this post.

A book hoarder is someone who buys books and holds on to them. Lots of people do this, I think.

eReaders and eReader apps make this easy. But less obvious. (No rooms, tables and floors covered with books.)

A book lover is just someone who loves books. For knowledge, for pleasure, for how it feels to hold, for the words inside, for any number of reasons. But, I imagine, a book lover doesn’t necessarily hoard books.

Me, if I could, I would be book hoarder. If I had the space. A lot of book lovers would, I think.

It’s interesting, because I’ve always assumed all book lovers are also book hoarders. Or would be book hoarders, if it was possible.

Right at the moment, I have more book ARCs than normally published books. That’s because I’ve ended up donating/giving away/throwing away/selling other books. (That’s hard to do with ARCs) And textbooks. I got a few of those, too.

I guess that doesn’t make me a hoarder? But I do have an eReader and that could turn me into a hoarder. If I had actual physical copies of all the books in my eReader, every surface would be covered in books. So maybe that makes me a hoarder.

I don’t know. Do you hoard books?

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General

Friday Flash: Magic Spots

Sonia Lal17 Comments

The flash is inspired from this image.


The first spot bloomed on her knee. Bright as a rose, it grew to be the size of the giant rainforest flowers. It itched. She scratched until she bled, but to no avail.

The second was on her right palm, small and the color of the sky. The third took root on her right cheek. That one was as black as good, rich soil.

It scared away her man. The villagers thought her cursed and shied away.

They spread over her body with the speed of crawling maggots. Colored maggots.

She walked to the village witch for a cure – and found her man rutting on top of the witch.

Outraged, she beat on him with fists. And raked fingers across the witch’s lying eyes.

She watched, happily, as her face turned blue and died.

He begged her forgiveness, after. Begged on his knees, as was proper, and promised to do anything she wanted, if only she would spare him.

fantasy · work in progress · Writing

World Building and Urban Fantasy

Sonia Lal2 Comments

image

I have stopped working on my current WiP because I’ve come to a crises of world-building. It’s urban fantasy and up until now I imagined that it would take place in NYC. Different from the real city, because of what I need from the world, but still the city. The city I would recognize.

(Yeah, the city. Like there aren’t any other cities in the world. Like this is the archetype and all other cities are just pale, pathetic copies.)

Now I am not so sure. I’ve reached a point where I am questioning some of the world choices I made. I’ve realized some things about the world, about how this world works. It changes things.

I had thought originally that it was the same world, complete with the same wars and conflicts. Just with more magic. Lots more magic. And science as something that developed slightly more slowly, looked down upon, but widely used. Especially by those with weak magic.

I have a better idea now about changes I need than before I started the story. But I am not certain how to incorporate the changes. I can do one of two things:

1) change the world. Change the city’s name. Change the whole city. This would turn the story into a more traditional fantasy.

2) keep the current world, but to incorporate the changes I need, add more wars in the history. Change up national boundaries maybe, change the war outcome too maybe. Add more conflict, more tension in the present.

They would both be a lot of work. I don’t know which to choose, which would be better.

So I haven’t written anything in more than a month now.

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fantasy · General · reading · Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesday: The Great Hunt

Sonia Lal19 Comments

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!  bigcover

My teaser:

“If he hasn’t learned manners by this time, I’ll skin him alive.”

“Sometimes that’s what it takes,” Nisura said, walking quickly. “Men are never more than half-civilized until they’re wedded.“

– The Great Hunt by Robert Jordon

flash friday · Writing

Friday Flash: Respect and Loss

Sonia Lal12 Comments

Wooden swords clashed ahead of him. The dull thump of practice weapons and stamp of booted feet was loud in his ears.

He stopped. He reached out his free left hand and touched cold, smooth marble.

All sounds stopped. He walked forward, cane clicking on the salle floor. One step. Two. Three.

Chilly winter air brushed over his bare arms. No doubt the windows were open. Six steps. Seven. Eight.

He reached the slightly raised round platform in the middle of the room when he counted forty steps. He climbed on and started counting again, back from eight hundred. Time for the students, teachers and guests to gather in front of him.

Than he started his speech. A cautionary tale about how a warrior could lose his sight and yet still win.