The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

 

See that book above? Yeah? Well, if you see it anywhere in book stores, I recomend you read it. My mum bought it a couple months ago when she read in her magazine that it was amazing. She started to read it, but couldn't get into it so she gave it to me. How nice of her.

 

Anyway, when I first started reading it, I was not impressed. I was confused, and the writing was different to what I was used to. But I really, really wanted to know the end, so I carried on reading, and am I glad I did! It wasn't really a story about a circus, it's about a game. Well, it's all about a circus, but the story revolves around a game. Oh, it's so hard to explain without giving anything away!

 

All I can say, is that I wish I was a magician, and that I lived in a circus that only played at night.

 

Five stars!

Novel Endings

Last night, at about half midnight, I finished Rapture by Lauren Kate, and like every book in her Fallen series, I loved it. The characters were absolutely wonderful and relatable, the writing was immaculate and hooked me in, and of course, the love story couldn't have been better. But, I found myself disappointed with the end. Don't read on if you haven't read Rapture, by the way: *SPOILER ALERT* The ending, I found, was what had me disappointed. It had nothing to do with the any of my favourite characters dying (Gabbe!) or that another of my favourite characters seemed to disappear (Cam...) or even that I actually felt pity for the baddie (Lucifer). It was because after all Luce and Daniel went through, all the memories Luce had to go through and watch all over again and remember, they still managed to lose their memories and be put on Earth as mortals.

Okay, yeah, it was refreshing to have a new and totally not predictable ending, but I felt that it made the series pointless. What was the point of going through all of that if they weren't going to remember it anyway? What was the point in Gabbe and Molly dying if all that Luce and Daniel did was forget everything?

I guess you could say the ending didn't satisfy me, but whatever. There's another book to read now about Shelby and Miles, Roland, Arriane and Luce and Daniel again, so my 'un-satisfaction' would probably be gone by then. Still, it was a pretty pointless ending to an otherwise perfect series.

Then after coming to that solution, this morning after reminiscing about it, I thought about all the other novels I'd read, and their endings. Some of them were amazing, and I felt like they fit the series or book perfectly, like The Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead. Yeah, it left a few questions about the future - What will happen to Adrian and his broken heart? Will Lissa succeed being the Queen? And what of Rose and Demetri? Is their relationship going to last? - but for some reason I felt like it ended the series wonderfully. I somehow knew that that was the end of Rose and Demetri's story. 

It turned out all right for my questions, anyway, since the lovely Richelle Mead ended up doing a spin-off series about Sydney (one of my favourite characters) and Adrian (my favourite character of all time) and Jill and Eddie, so everything turned out all right in the end. 

Some endings made me thirsty for more. For example, The Host by Stephanie Meyer. If you've read this novel, then you'll probably know exactly what I mean. I wanted to read more after I read the last word, I wanted to know what happened after Wanderer got given her new body. Whether her love life continued with Ian. And what of Burns? The ending just made me crave for a sequel, and yet none has come. Maybe in the future. Although, the book is being turned into a film, for all you Host lovers.

Rapture wasn't the only ending that disappointed me, however. I found that, personally, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins wasn't that good. Actually, I was disappointed with that series. After the first book, the series kind of went downhill. But, anyway, the ending disappointed me because of the slow ending, I guess. However, I had hated that Finnick was dead, and that had probably clouded my opinion of the ending. That was the first time I actually hated the author for killing off a character. I mean, I was fine with Prim, maybe a little sad, but Finnick? That was just... ugh. Not right.

Anyway, the ending - I keep getting side-tracked - was too... complete? for my tastes. It's hard to explain. Basically, I thought that the ending could have been better. I didn't like the whole ending with Peeta and their kids. I think that Katniss was too sad, too robotic near the end. Well, I suppose I would if I had gone through all of what she'd been through, but she'd got what she'd wanted in the end: Peeta. Freedom. She should have been happier, even if she lost people along the way.

So, that's the end of my rant about endings. What about you guys? Is there any endings you hated, or particularly liked? Which endings, if you're an author, would you change in your own books, and why?

Oh Dear God, Why Did I Let Them Move In?

So, yesterday, I finally let my wall down and let my main characters (MCs) move into my head.  Together. All of them. In my brain. Basically, what happened after that, is that two of my main characters from different novels of mine (Alaska and Lucy) seemed to have an intense dislike for each other straight away, and seemed to argue all the time.

To be honest, I don't really mind it. I learnt lots of stuff about their personalities that I didn't know before, but then my other MCs started getting annoyed with it. So, to keep all of my other MCs happy, I got Alaska and Lucy twitter, so they could carry on their argument online and not annoy the others by it.

It sounds crazy, but I've got another really cool Twitter/Blogger friend (http://cupsandmuses.blogspot.co.uk/ or https://twitter.com/#!/mariellacecilia) to join in too, and her character Julian (https://twitter.com/#!/JulianTheMuse) who is so adorable, and, as Alaska called him, really, really awesome. 

So yeah. That's why I have my character's have twitter accounts on the side there...

My Final Decision

I know why I'm finding it so hard to write Becoming Sky. It's got nothing to do with the fact that my characters aren't talking to me - although that was a huge problem yesterday - it's to do with the fact that I'm finding it a chore to write it. 

So I looked at loads of author's blog posts and read them religiously today, practically all day, when admittedly I should have been writing. And then I read one of Maggie Stiefvater's blogs, and it changed everything I had thought of Becoming Sky.

In the blog, Maggie talks about one of her new novels: The Scorpio Races, and how it was one of those books that she wrote because she had wanted to read it when she was younger. And then she talked of how hard she worked on it - it was a work in progress for many years. And then I thought, well, would I be prepared to write for that long, edit it until I think it's perfect, and then be prepared to send it to publishers, just knowing people are going to love it? 

And I had no answer to that straight away.

So I copied the html, and then pasted it onto a word page, ready for me to rethink that question. And then I go to another blog post, by Rachel Aaron, which made me hate Becoming Sky all of a sudden. I mean, she talked about wasting precious writing time on novels that might not make it, or ones that you're not interested in anymore.

And the fact of the matter is, I'm not interested in Becoming Sky. I was, but then that changed, once I started getting more and more muddled into the world of Pelesivia.

As I read more and more of the post, I realised my planning and information on it, was all totally wrong. I didn't spend very much at all on planning, and half of the stuff I have written has bored me. Nearly all of it, and that's not good, because if the writer finds it boring, you can almost guarantee the reader finds it boring.

And so, I think I've made a good decision, by putting Becoming Sky in my Work On Later folder, ready for when I've planned it right, and when I really do want to write it. And then I can revise all the loop holes and hooks that didn't work, and maybe make it into the novel I imagined it to be all those months ago, when I thought of it in the shower. 

So, I hear you wondering, what am I writing for NaNoWriMo? Well, I have no idea is your answer. I think I need to plan very carefully the novel I'm thinking of writing, and maybe get enough time to actually write something for NaNo. Maybe.

I have no idea why I have told you my deepest thoughts on Becoming Sky, but I felt I had to get it out, and this was the first thing that springed to mind.

The websites that made me question everything I had thought about Becoming Sky:

http://maggiestiefvater.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/writing-book-i-always-meant-to.html

http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/how-i-plot-novel-in-5-steps.html

Insecurities

So, four days into NaNoWriMo, and I'm already behind some of the campers in my cabin. I mean, how the hell has one of them written 6,000 words, whilst still going to school?! I'm on holiday, and all I've written is 3,453 words. 

It's not fair how, that to get words written down, I've had to force the information out of my characters, by threatening to kill them. Seriously. Sky has had three death threats already, and all the information that she's given me is that she doesn't want to die.

How does that help me to get the words piling up? That's right, it doesn't. But, at least Gretcha's giving me information . . . too bad she's not in the scene that I'm stuck on writing. 

Grr...

This could be you, Sky, if you don't tell me what you know.

 

In other, much more happy news, Maggie Stiefvater is coming to my school for a book signing and a presentation!!! And I'm allowed to go!

 

OK, well, I might be able to go, if my teachers let me. See, she is supposed to see the year below me, but I emailed the teacher who is organizing it to ask if I could go because she is my favourite author. And she said yes!

 

But, she has to ask my teachers if I can miss their lessons to see her. I think they'll say yes, though, since they like me.

 

I'm so excited! She's coming next Monday, and I can't wait. Monday, you better come quickly!

 

Inspiration

The fish in my pond have given birth (well, their eggs have hatched) to tiny, blue, baby fish! Aw, they are so adorable! Sometimes they jump out and do little flips that are really cute. And it's given me inspiration to have actual flying fish in Pelesivia. Perhaps a land of Flying Fish?

In other news, I have now officially gotten over my cat picture obsession! Yes, joy to the world and all that. But I have now got a piano picture obsession. Yes, ever since I looked for piano pictures to put on my Booksie profile, I've become addicted to how pretty they look. 

So, be expected to be hit with beautiful piano pictures...

Games, Summer And Bees

Today in games I completely embarrassed myself. We were playing rounders, and I was on my way to getting a whole rounder, when this girl, with the ball, ran towards me (I mean, hello! Was she blind?!) and we collided into each other. I literally flew! I landed, like, two metres away. I laughed it off, but it was still so embarrassing!!

On a lighter note, it's........

Yes, the lovely sunshine has arrived. At least for a week, anyway. It was cloudy today, but all the heat stayed, and it was really stuffy and humid. Playing rounders in that is NOT fun. 

It's hot and uncomfortable.

We also have a bee infestation at school today. Someone disturbed the nest, and tons of bees came swarming out. They have to gas it tonight, to kill them off. Poor bees.