Every day before breakfast, Mariela crept out to see the fairy’s maze. She took her mother’s old mirror from the top of its mahogany dresser, blowing off the scraps of crumbling wallpaper, and swiped a scone from the cook’s first batch of the day.
Tag: protagonist
Inking Game: The Starless Sea
So here's an idea Rook and I came up sometime last year while crafting japes at the expense of overdramatic abstractions in Tahereh Mafi's "Shatter Me." Why not make questionable or out-of-context descriptions into drinks?
The Romantic Villain
I seem to be the only one who's noticed how many romantic cliches in writing can shape up into seriously great villain origin stories. Hear me out.
A Cautionary Tale: Abstraction in “Shatter Me”
I liked plenty of "Young Adult" books before genrefication and I still do now. There are a lot of hidden treasures below the stenciled garbage, and I'm on a journey to discover some. As my first step in this journey, I turned to Tahereh Mafi's popular 2011 "Shatter Me."
Character Building: The Dating Game
When I hit writer's block, seven times out of ten it means I didn't know my characters well enough. If I knew my hero, I'd know exactly what he planned to do next. If I knew my villain, I'd know exactly what he's been up to in the background. So maybe it's time we writers asked them to dinner.
Day 7: Purple Knot
Shardae Jacaranda’s cords were purple. Royal treason. Her chain locked her upright to the stained wall of the house who owned her. Dangerous. She spit at everyone who met her, when she had enough spit, and heat stuck her hair to her face in short black chunks. Not going to sell.
Writer Confessions
The writing process is certainly a process, but one the writer is only halfway in control of. There are certain things people just don't tell you about being a writer, mostly because you'll think you're being fancifully duped. For instance...