Book Review: Prince Lestat by Anne Rice

Hi readers, 

I'm opening my new book reviewing with probably one of the most anticipated novels for horror, supernatural and vampire fans from last year. Being the massive Anne Rice and Vampire Chronicles fan that I am, I couldn't wait to read this and finally in the small hours of last night I finished it, almost two months after having started it. It be honest, I was a little disappointed. To make matters worse, it wasn't just one thing that I had issues with and right now I'm not going to be able to explain all the whys and hows, so, lets look at the key points. 

The first thing, was the segmentation of the novel. I understand that Rice's writing technique has improved over the many years she has been working and this was her first vampire story after fifteen years. However, unlike the plot and narrative structure of her other novels this one didn't have a linear feel to it, even though it was meant to be and I think this is because of the way the novel is divided up. 

Secondly, there is no real focus on one or a few characters, instead you get a lot of characters telling you different parts of the narrative, which sometimes shows their lives and other times gives you the bigger picture. There is also the switch between first person and third person narrative. For me this didn't actually work and maybe its because I'm a bit of an old fashioned reader, but I like my novels not to switch the narrative voice around and not to focus on such a large number of characters telling the story. The flow of things ends up becoming a bit lost and I felt distracted by this.    

Thirdly, the problem with there being so many characters, that you can become lost and start to forget who's who. Normally, I have good mind for that kind of thing, but towards the end of the novel, I was questioning if all the characters had really been necessary. I get part of the plot was to draw all these ancient vampires together to form a council and royal court, but many just seemed to faded into the background. Clearly, they all have their stories to tell and maybe Rice's next books will focus on them, but for me it was a case of character over-saturation.

Fourthly, I felt that parts of the story dragged on or weren't necessary. I know that Rice's writing can often be over descriptive and in the early Vampire Chronicles books I did enjoy this, but this time round, things felt repetitive and for me the last few chapters felt a bit useless. At other points the characters went over things the reader already knew and things the characters should have already known and I felt that maybe this was a bit of bad writing. 

Overall, my first impressions of Prince Lestat are mixed. The characters are well written and they still feel like themselves from the past books. The plot is interesting and does keep your attention, it feels 'new' too and it does tie in nicely with the series. However, it really is let down by the narrative structure and too many characters. If you are an Rice fan and have read the other books, than I'd recommend you give it a try, for anyone else and specially if you are new to Rice's books, you will need to have read some of the others before attempted this one because I don't think some of the characters and themes will be understandable. 

Hopefully, you've found that useful and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this novel. I'm not sure what I'm going to be looking at next week as I've got a few books lined up. Over on my other blog right now I'm looking for short story submissions, so please check that out at; http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/submission-guidelines/  

     

Links and images: 

 http://bookriot.com/2014/11/10/excited-prince-lestat/

Writing Techniques : Writing Prompts

Hi readers, 

Today and to kick off the new ideas I've had for my blog, I'm going to look at writing prompts and how they can be useful to us writers. I'm sure that many people are already aware of them and for me in the last few months they have become something of a reliable source for generating ideas and starting my creative writing pieces for my short story blog. For those that don't know about them, prompts can take many different forms including single words, whole sentences, dialogue and images, (all of which sometimes come with instructions) and you can use them to inspire you to write.

There is no right or wrong way when using prompts and no one is going to judge you for using one! I normally start my opening line or paragraph with the word or sentence or dialogue, then continue the story from there. With image prompts I normally start with introducing the setting or the character, before trying to include as much as the image as possible. One of my favorite examples of this comes from a short story I wrote about a piano in the woods and it can be read on my other blog, here:     http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/the-soldiers-piano/ One of the best things I have also found about using prompts is that you don't have to begin the story with them, you could have them appear at anytime or not at all. For example, removing them in the finally draft or just not including the prompt at all. 

Let's now look at some actual prompts. The first one I chose was a written prompt and these kinds seem very popular. There are so many pages and websites out there that list a whole load of these and they can be so useful for starting off imagination and writing.   

The key to these prompts is that it gets your mind asking questions, which hopefully will make you want to write in order to get answers. So, for example this prompt makes you ask: who is he? Why is he knocking on doors? What happened at the other doors? What is going to happen next? This really does kick start your brain into wanting to find out and from there you should be able to write a story all around this prompt. 

My next prompt is an image one. I'm a visual person, it's how I learn and think best, so I love image prompts more because I find I get a really good use out of them and can create much deeper stories. This is one my newest images on my Pinterest board (Pinterest is a great website by the way and it lets you group things together under different sections. I've included the link to mine below). So, if I'm going to use this image I'd start my story by describing a character walking down this road and coming across this gate. The image, like the word writing prompt, helps to raise questions, for example: where is this place? what's beyond the gates? what's going to happen, if anything at all? 

The last thing I want to look at is physical writing prompt books, like the 642 Things To Write About one below. I own this book and have found it useful, though I just enjoy looking through it and giggling to myself more then actually using it for writing. There is a number of books and also ebooks available now packed with prompts similar to the ones above and they do work in the same way - get your mind and writing going-. Some of them even have blank spaces or pages which you can write in, so you don't feel stuck to your computer and notebook all the time. Some of the ebooks are even free to download like this one;  

Four Seasons of Creative Writing: 1,000 Prompts to Stop Writer's Block (Story Prompts for Journaling, Blogging and Beating Writer's Block) [Kindle Edition] by Bryan Cohen. (linked below) I recently downloaded this myself and though I've not used any of the prompts, most of them look really interesting and do most of the setting up of the story for you.

Overall, writing and image prompts can be great tools to help with any writer's writing. They can get your mind and imagination working and your fingers typing. They can be used in a number of ways; as warm up exercises, the opening line of your story or perhaps in a group or teaching situation. There seems to be an endless supply of them too, so you are always sure to find one that you can use. Also genre and themes are always nearly neutral and you can use them how you want to. If you are just starting out using prompts I'd recommend searching around on the internet first and gathering lots of free ones - in fact I'd recommend that to anyone. Having the prompts in a physical book or ebook which you have to pay for can be useful if you aren't near technology, or you like your breaks from it. I'd never tell anyone not to buy a book, but in this case and with so much being free online, I'd recommend going down that route instead. 

I hope this has been a useful post and you can let me know by commenting if you wish. Also, if you have any other writing techniques you'd like me to look at and try out. You can follow me in a number of different places and these were linked in my last post, so feel free to check it out. Up next in a few days is my book review on Prince Lestat, so I'll see you all then.

Links and Images:

http://www.invyn.com/category/writing-is-like-quotes/

http://thesarcasticmuse.tumblr.com/post/82864997733

http://www.pinterest.com/hails9/fantastical-stories/

http://www.amazon.com/Four-Seasons-Creative-Writing-Journaling-ebook/dp/B009GLMF7U/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1420493456&sr=1-3&keywords=writing+prompts

http://poetryismedicine.wordpress.com/

A New Year, A New Start

Hi readers,

It's been a long time since I last wrote on here. I've been mega busy and this blog just fell to the side. I guess part of the problem was that I didn't seem to be getting much interested and I wasn't having fun any more reviewing books. That in a way is my own fault though, because I'm highly educated and wanted to review books in an essay style way, which just doesn't work that well with a blogging format. So, now I've decided to try and have another go at doing that, but compacting my book reviews to a limit of 500 words. I'll still be looking at the normal things of character, plot, writing style and my evaluation though.

I also want to do a new publishing schedule and for now it looks something like this:

• A book review, once a week, (though not necessarily the current book I'm reading).
• A review of writing technique(s) etc, at the start of each month, (how to and examining usefulness).
• Creative writing piece, once a month, (see below about my sister blog). 
• A monthly update, at the end of each month, (on what I've been doing and what's coming up).

I'm hoping that this will help and encourage me to write more on this blog and also all my readers will find it useful. You can also connect me if you have an suggestions or other comments. I have a number of ideas for this month already such as looking at writing prompts (probably my next blog post), reviewing Anne Rice's Prince Lestat and things I could write about for my monthly update.

I'm currently still writing and publishing daily my own short stories on my sister blog at: http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/ This is where all my creative writing will now take place and it just makes it easier for me to have two separate blogs instead of trying to mash everything together. Though, I might publish my most read story of the month up on here to try and generate some more interested in my writing. I should add that to the schedule. Please check it out. It's growing fast, but I could still use help to spread the word and gain more followers.  

Also, I have decided to try and do a reading challenge. I've posted the list below and also the link to it. I saw this on Facebook and thought I'd give it ago. It's a good way to expend my reading and book reviews. I believe I have got a lot of books that would qualify, which is great news because once again I'm watching my money this year. Even though, I now have a job! I finally got offered a paid position at the youth center I've been volunteering at for two years now. It's doing the same thing I was doing before - helping and running arts and crafts activities for 8-12 year olds- which is really great. I'm only doing one day/three hours at the minute, but hopefully that'll increase once I've done my trial period and finished my teaching course, which I'm currently doing on Thursday. I'll be writing more about these things in my monthly update post.

For now, I'll leave you reading through the reading challenge list.    

You can also follow on me on:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thestoryfiles
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ironmaidenfan9
Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/user?u=327832
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=208056472&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile
Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/hails9/
Readwave :http://www.readwave.com/hayley.hardman.7/
Wordpress: http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

Thanks for reading and your support. 

• Public Profile

Images and Links Used:

http://videohive.net/item/new-year-countdown-clock-2015-v2/6417745

http://writerswrite.co.za/50-lyric-titles-as-writing-prompts

http://tammarawebber.blogspot.com/2014/12/favorite-novels-of-2013-and-2014.html

Dust Review: Every Beginning Has An End

Hi readers,

Sorry its' taken me awhile to get this post up, but I've been ill, dealing with family matters and been busy keeping up with my new blog. Finally though, I can write about Dust and finish off the Silo series. I'd recommend reading the other two reviews first, because there will be possible spoils in this review. I also plan to keep this short, but also compared to the other books, this one is on the small side. I guess that's understandable though, because it's function is to bring the other two stories together in a dramatic final.

The book is well written and feels very pacey. Unlike the other two, there isn't much scene or background settings because its been covered in the other books and this actually works because it doesn't feel repetitive.  The characters are really good and realistic. Their actions and dialogue also feel really real and the reader can really connect with the characters. It was also nice that we were back with my favorite character, Juliette, and her friends from the first book.

The narrative switches between Juliette's point of view and that of Donald's and his sister's. This works well though because everything is kept on the same timeline and a nice tension is created between the characters. It also becomes clear that all the characters want the best for each other and Donald especially wants Juliette and her people to know the truth about things. Of course this does actually happen and allows the ending of the series to take place. 

Speaking of the plot; Juliette has encouraged her Silo to dig across to the other one she stumbled upon in the first book as she wants to rescue Solo and the kids. Their digging uncovers a machine, which they then use to help finish off the digging. With the silos joined a little bit of hell breaks loose-which is expected. Then Juliette starts to figure more things out, but before she can really plan her next step, she learns that silo 1 is going to shut them down. She tries to get as many people into the other silo as possible and they seal themselves in. 

Meanwhile, in silo 1, Donald is standing against all of this and he is still being mistaken as someone else with more power. He wakes is sister up and they try to find out if there is more outside then they can see. This they actually do, though Donald is taken down and his sister is left to try and pass the message on to Juliette, which helps the survivors escape the silo and go back to living on the surface. 

The plot does work really well and its a great ending to the series. The conclusion is rounded off and even though I know that there might not be any more books, I was hoping there might be! I could see some stories coming from the other silos and I'd love to read them. 

Overall, I would so recommend this series and these books to everyone. It has an original feel to the plot and characters, as well as the setting, which I love. even if you don't like dystopia or don't understand it, I would still suggest giving it a try. The plot isn't bogged down by the genre or the technical aspects and it is very character led. I still believe that the first book is the best novel I've read of this year and I'll be sad to move on from it. However, I'm now back to reading The Black Dagger Brotherhood and I shall be posting up that review next week. Thanks for reading and please feel free to follow this blog and check out my new one where I'm publishing daily short stories: http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

Life Update #2

Hi readers,

My review of Dust will be up in the next few days, I just need to finish the last novella. Until then, I thought I'd post another life update. This is because I've started a new blog. Well, its been up for three weeks or so now, but its' still early days. I decided that I would like a clean space to post up some of the short stories I've written and others that I want to write. Also I decided to challenge myself and to write/post a story a day. I'd love it if my followers and anyone else who readers my blog would check out it. Here's the address: http://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

I'll still be writing this one as I only post a few times a month and I do enjoy reviewing books and looked at writing techniques. I just thought having two separate blogs would be easier and also I seem to have more interest on Wordpress then I've ever had using blogger.com. I'm not sure why this is and I don't really have a preference. At least nothing will change on this blog anyway. My new blog so far has a whole range of different themes and genres on it. Also the word count for each story varies a lot. I also have many different ideas of how I want to display my stories too. So, every story is unique!

My second piece of news is that a job I was guaranteed to get as a receptionist and customer service helper,  last week, I didn't get. It went to someone higher up to decided over me and someone else and they give her the job because she had more experience. I've been really upset and frustrated since Monday. I understand there wasn't a lot I could do, but I was looking forward to starting the next chapter of my life and moving on. I've got another interview for a different job tomorrow and though I'm not as guaranteed to get this one as much, I plan to give it my best shot. Tomorrow, I'll also get to see another area of Manchester and I love exploring my city. I'm still hopeful that something is out there for me and I'll find my path soon enough. Though it feels like I've been waiting an age already.

One of my plans this month is get the first chapters of my novel sorted and send it off to a few agents and publishers. It's something people have been bugging me to do for awhile, but I've not felt ready and nor has the novel. The problem is I'm not sure if the right time will ever come if I don't start acting upon it. So, I'm planing this weekend to start editing and getting it in preparation to be sent it. It can be a long process this and doing the research to find places to send it can take up so much time. I've all the tools and knowledge I need to do this though and I'm sure once I make the first step it'll be easier. As everything turns out to be.

Next, I need to start revising again for my theory driving test. I'm taking it the first week of October. I'm sure most of the stuff has stuck with me, I just need to get into practice with it again and remind my mind about some of the stuff. I want to pass first time because then I can try and do the practical and get a car soon after- around Christmas time, if I can sort out the insurance etc. That's my rest of year plan at the minute.

Lastly, I've been playing Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition at my local gaming shop. I played my 3rd game last night and I'm enjoying it. I've finding it slightly difficult to get the rules in my head as things aren't the same as 4th edition and I've become far too use to have that works. I'm also liking meeting the flurry of new people that have been turning up to play. This is because for the last few months Encounters has just been one table and 5-7 people and I got to know them really well. I actually preferred that, but mostly because I've social and trust issues and it can take me while to get to know people and feel okay to show my true nature, which also seems to be the opposite of my shy front! However, I'm growing use to more people and have started to make friends with some of them.

I think even though I'm a bit bad at playing and remembering things, I still like going to DD for the social aspect of it. Geeks, Nerds and Role Players/ Gamers are some of the nicest people. Granted they do take while to use to new people, but after that they have habit of become your friend for life. Also doing RP gets you a chance to explore different sides of yourself and others. I think for a writer this can be very useful and also the stories that come out from being around a table too! I'm looking forward to every Wednesday evening now.

So, once again I'm really busy and have so many plans! Like I said at the start, Dust review will be up soon and so until then please check out my new blog. Thanks.

Shift Review: “Some Things Are Better Off Back In The Past"

Hi readers,

I managed to finish reading Shift this afternoon and thought since I'd not got around to writing about Batman, that I'd put this one up now. Shift is the second book in the Silo series and contains the novellas six to eight. In away this sort of feels like the middle books in most trilogies and series because it focuses on filling in the gaps and questions raised in the first stories. I really loved reading Wool and was looking forward to reading Shift. However, I felt a bit disappointed at first because I really wasn't interested in how creations of the silos and life within them during the first years.

Then again, I quickly got into it and started to enjoy Howey's writing. He really has a way with words and is able to tell a very fast pace and gripping story. I think also that his writing his this open quality to it, that allows everyone to read it. Also it feels like honest writing, he's clearly enjoying the stories of the characters and wants to share them with others.

I found the characters this time around where just as good as the ones before. They all come across as being realistic and you can connect them to real people you know or did know, because they all have some very clear traits. They all individuals though and you get drawn in to wanting to know more about their lives- even the background characters. The felt the move to focus on more male characters also helped to balance out the female focus in the first book. The dialogues are to the point and care so much emotion, you can really hear them speaking from within the pages.

Opening with Legacy, we are introduced to Donald and his life. He's a young congressman who has connections via his ex-girlfriend and gets involved in creating and building the silos. Of course he doesn't really understand what's going on and he seems even blind to other happens in his live. He doesn't come across as strongly as Jules did and he seems very much like a puppet until the eightieth novella. The story switches between Donald at the beginning of the silos and during his first time living within the silo. He, like the everyone else in silo one goes through a pattern of being cryogenically frozen and then woken up to do some work.

For someone who's not good at keeping up with dates, this can be a bit confusing. Actually, though out the whole book trying to keep up with the time can be a bit tricky and it does take awhile to figure the time lines out.

Order is the seventh book and it follows most of the characters from six as they are awakened from cryogenic sleep. They face new problems and Donald learns a lot more about himself and the ideas/workings behind the silo. This is in between cuts to silo 18 and the story of Mission. He's a teenage boy with a trouble past, working as a porter. His silo is under threat of revolution and has he fights for survival, it becomes clear that his fate is actually being controlled.

Pact rounds everything off and finishes where things begin with Jules in silo 17. Before hand, we get the story of Solo and the fall of that silo. I think this had to be my favorite part because there was a lot of dystopia and a lot more straight forward action happening. There is also an ending that feels a lot more resolved then the first book. I think that for trilogies and series, the ending is still important to get right and it should feel like an actually ending.

Overall, this was another great book. It was nice to feel in the gaps left by the first one, but I still would have liked the focus to have stayed with the present of the first one. I'm really hopeful about the last one now!


Image from;
http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Life Update #1

Hi readers,

I've been so busy this week and last week I was on holiday, so I've not had a chance to put together a review yet. It'll probably be the first Batman and Dracula comic book that I'll review next week, as I'm currently reading Shift, the second Silo book and I don't think I'll have it finished anytime soon. It's been awhile since I last wrote a diary/life update post. I guess because I've found that people are more interested in reading my reviews then reading what I've been up to. I had the need to post up something though!

It seems I've been really busy over the last few weeks. I was on holiday with my boyfriend last week and we were in the Lake District. It was really nice and the house we stayed in was awesome. The weather was very typical British Summer! The first half of the week was reasonably. There was some sun and it was warm enough, however it was nothing like the heatwave that we'd had the week before. The rest of the week it rained, luckily it wasn't wet all the time, but Friday and Saturday were the worse. We went out on a steamboat ride and got drenched. The river which ran behind the house changed dramatically too. It was low and slow at the start of the week and then became  fast moving, roaring and flooding the bank at the end of the week. As much as I love the Lakes, I was glad to get home!

Whilst I was there I decided to start playing Pokemon Diamond. I younger brother had passed on his DS to me and since I'd not really had a chance to use it, I thought I'd have enough time to play some games whilst I chilled out. Turned out it was useful for the rainy days too! My boyfriend had the Pearl Pokemon which is the companion to mine. So, we spent a lot of time- a lot more then I thought! Playing and battling. I'm now addicted and also determined to finish the game. I'm not doing that badly, as I'm up to the last gym leader now. Though I know there's the Elite Four and other things to do afterwards.

I was into Pokemon when I was younger too. It seems to be one of those things that's still going strong, even if the fame surrounding it has dropped off. For me it was always about capturing the Pokemon and winning the card game battles. My boyfriend and I have played them too and I'm sure he owes me another match! Hopefully, I'll have it finished soon and be able to fill more of my time with reading and writing.

This week, I also finished off my Steampunk cushion (cover photo). I had to wait to get the sewing machine out and for the glue to dry on the felt pieces. I'm really pleased with how it turned out as its my own design. It'll go really nice with my other cushions now, which seem to be multiplying! I still need to make a Bioshock one, though I think I'm going to have to simplify the design. I might have some skills, but they aren't good enough to make a Big Daddy and Little Sister out of felt. The best part of my cushion has to be the cogs and the top hat with goggles. I'm really happy with it.

The same can also be said about my other felt creations (below). I've been planning some activities at the youth center and I use this as examples for the young people. I also get to use them too! Starting from the left is a seahorse, then above is a dragon wrist band and a small zipped purse is below that, then there's the scented square butterfly and a coin purse. My addiction and love to felt just gets growing. I really wish my shop had taken off and I could have spent time making things. I might look at trying again around Christmas time. Till then it's back to making examples and things for myself.

I've got this gold fish to sew and finish tomorrow (second photo below). I made one two weeks ago and now can't find it. So, I'm going to make another and cover him in sequins to give him that shinny scale look. It's going to have awhile, but he'll turn out really nice! After that, I've no idea what I'll make, maybe I'll get start on some Halloween stuff or maybe Christmas presents!

The next big thing I've to get sorted is my driving theory test. Though I don't feel ready, I'm going to try and book the test tomorrow. I've no idea where and when I need to be, so I guess I'll find out. My driving lessons as going really well and I've had about 21 now. I think passing the practical will be a lot harder, but I so need to get the theory out of the way. I probably should spend more time studying, but I've already read the Highway Code twice now and some of the questions they could ask might be in there! I've got to do the hazard test too, though I feel more prepared for that then the questions.

I'll just have to give it a good shot and hopefully booking it will make me study harder. At least I know if I fail it I can take it again and it's not the end of the world. Still though, like with every other test you want to pass first time! Hopefully, I can get there though and going through all these should help.

On Friday, I helped my boyfriend to create the first episode of his new YouTube series using Minecraft. It was really nice and fun to be working on a project together. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of all our hard work too! The idea is to tell a story like Red Vs Blue (if you've not seen that you should check it out.) using the world of a game and Minecraft is actually very suitable for this. I think it's got something to do with the fact that you can create so much and have adventures. I don't want to give to much away about the story, which is due out next week now and can be watched on my boyfriend's YouTube channel. He's currently doing Let's Plays of varies games and making other content. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJWrkwGLBfitfNNMjHR_7tw

Taking part in this experience has given me a greater appreciation for people who make internet reviews and shows. A lot of time and hard work goes into making some of the things people are now watching online. I think that people believe that making these internet shows is easy or else people are just wasting time or its just a hobby, so it doesn't matter. But, a lot of people are now making enough money to class their internet work as a part-time or full-time job. The same can be said for self-published writers! Of course, you've got to stick with it and make a lot of great content to get people interested and watch your show. I guess though if that's what you want to do and you try hard enough, its possible! For me though, I'm not that interested in having my own show, but I love helping others to make their's and it's fun!  

Lastly, I baked these apple crumble cupcakes. They turned out good and they were tasty. Though I think I'll stick to making felt things then baking, I'm much better at that!  

Images: 

All authors own, other then the Minecraft logo.