Showing posts with label wattpad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wattpad. Show all posts

Monday, March 26, 2012

Cliffhangers


What's your opinion on cliffhangers?
Fun to write, a pain to read. 

Cliffhangers, I think they’re amazing to keep people interested, or rather curious, about a story. It’s the cliffhangers that keep me reading chapter after chapter when I’m reading a book. Every single time I’m reading, I tell myself I’m going to stop once I finish the chapter I am on, but over and over again I find myself reading the next chapter as well. And then when I’m at that chapter, again I decide to stop when I finish that one, but then the same happens and so on and on. I’m hopeless when it comes to putting a book aside when it has cliffhangers at the end of each chapter. 

I don’t mind cliffhangers in a book not as much as the ones on Wattpad. That’s for the sole reason that in a book-book, you can read the next chapter right away whereas you have to wait when it’s a story you’re reading on Wattpad – unless it’s a finished story of course. 

Cliffhangers are important, necessary even, but it’s not good either when there are too many of them. I know that I hate it when every single chapter ends with a cliffhanger. 

Then there’s also the question of what a good cliffhanger is. To me, a good cliffhanger is one that keeps you wondering what will happen - but not like when a sentence just has been cut off, I really hate those endings. Throughout the whole chapter there’ll be this building up to something you really want to know, and then just when you think you’ll find out, it ends and you have to read the next chapter to find out – that’s a good cliffhanger to me. It’s also way better when a cliffhanger isn’t just put there because the author wanted to end with a cliffhanger. I think you can see a reasonable difference between the cliffhangers that have use, and the ones that are only there because the author thinks it’ll keep the readers more interested. 

Personally, I like to add a cliffhanger to my stories as well, because sometimes it just makes the story more interesting. Sometimes a chapter just ‘begs’ for a cliffhanger and it wouldn’t be fair not to add it. Plus, I think it’s always fun to read the comments to a chapter that ends with a cliffhanger – even when it’s not my story. 

To tell it in short, cliffhangers can be useful and are necessary from time to time, but I’d rather not read them when I know I’ll have to wait for the next chapter – I’m just impatient like that when it comes to reading.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Getting My Book Out There #2


Step 1: Write (read

Step 2: Save it for later


Here’s what I did once I finished writing the epilogue. 

I did a quick spell-check in Word to catch some of the most obvious mistakes and then I didn’t read it again. The story was finished and I didn’t want to ruin that feeling of achievement. I had finished a book and it felt great. Starting to dissect my own writing in search for ways to improve the story would’ve killed my euphoria, so I didn’t do such a thing.  I still read and enjoyed the comments I received on my story, but I didn’t really do anything with the story itself. 

After a few weeks, I realized that the comments I received actually made me want to read my own story. I wanted to know what the story was like when you read it as a ‘reader’ instead of the ‘writer’ but this turned out to be more difficult than expected. To me, it was surprisingly hard to let myself get sucked into the story without noticing small mistakes here and there, to want to make small changes to the way I worded things. I attempted this several times, but in the end I knew it wasn’t going to work. So, until I came up with a solution, I would save my story for later and get back to it when it wasn’t as fresh in my mind anymore. 

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Getting My Book Out There #1


Step 1: Write


The first step was, is and always will be writing a story. For me, this started with a dream that I couldn’t get off my mind. It had shaken me so badly that I had to share it with people; one thing led to another, and that same dream turned into a full-length story.

As I wrote Absolute Contamination, I also shared it on Wattpad, and I think that the comments I received with each chapter I uploaded really gave me that extra bit of motivation to keep writing. Writing is something you should do for yourself, but it’s undeniably true that it’s extra motivating when other people read and comment, and thus ‘live’ the story together with you. Just talking about your characters, the events that take place, etc… can inspire you to write. Not only did I want to write Absolute Contamination for myself, but I also wanted to share Keara’s journey with the readers. I wanted her to be able to tell her story, the whole story, no matter how painful it was. This was the most important to me and I am glad I was able to finish Keara’s story.  

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Book Review: "Love Me Dead - Awakened" by Emma Lowe


"Love Me Dead – Awakened" is about Chloe who discovers her powers as a witch. For many years, she has been kept at a distance from the real world, a world in which witches, warlocks, vampires and possibly other creatures as well, are very much existent.  She discovers many truths that had been kept from her, for her own safety – or so she has been told. Just like with every new thing we learn, Chloe makes mistakes… irreversible mistakes, but she is determined to undo her wrongs and if this deems impossible, she is willing to pay for them.

An interesting fact, perhaps, is that "Love Me Dead" takes place in the same world as "The Not So Secret Life Of Helena Callahan" and "Suicidal Dreams" – but at different times. To me, it felt as though it isn’t necessary to have read the other books first, especially the ones that involved Helena Callahan, but I think it’s a plus if you do - especially if you want some more background information.

1. The characters

Emma portrayed the characters realistically, as realistically as it gets in a world of fiction of course. Pretty much all the characters have their good and bad qualities, no flawless people, something I love about this book. To me, a character that makes mistakes is more real to me. I’m not too much into the almost angelic-like flawless people who are on top of the world and have everything they want, etc… This is something you don’t find in the real world either, and therefore I find it important that characters in a book have to struggle every now and then as well. 

Chloe Faulkner’s transformation is very clear throughout the story. At first, she’s just a clueless girl, but the more she gets to know the real world,  the more she seems to find her true self, the more she tries to find out who she is, what she is, who she’s supposed to be and what she wants in life.

My favorite character must have been Knox, because compared to Ace, he just seems a tad more sincere when it comes to Chloe. Although, as mentioned before, Knox isn’t picture perfect either. You could say that Knox – to me – is the best choice out of two ‘wrongs’.

But, of course, Love Me Dead has many more characters that each in their own way play their part in Chloe’s story.

2. The Story

I loved the story, mainly because I loved The Not So Secret Life Of Helena Callahan and I was really interested to read Chloe’s side of the story. Another reason why I read this story is because I was interested to read more from Emma Lowe. I loved her other stories so far, each different but you could say similar too. Similar as in, when you read the story, you sort of feel that it has been written by Emma.

Love Me Dead existed of parts that had me laughing, but other times the story was able to get more serious. It held some of the basic and most common teenage issues, yet, at the same time, this didn’t interfere at all with the bigger storyline. The story pulled me right in from the start and I found myself reading everywhere and every time I found even as little as five minutes of free time.

3. Rating

I’d rate "Love Me Dead" 4/5.

Not the full 5 because as it is, the story still needs some editing. [Important: I read Love Me Dead on Wattpad, where it was clearly stated that it was only a first draft.] Sometimes I felt like I missed a little information here and there, but not in a way that it interfered the reading experience. And I think these are pretty much the only negative things about the story.

What I loved about the story was Chloe’s transformation, the way Chloe was ‘trapped’ under Ace’s spell and how that was described in the story. As a reader, it was easy to feel Chloe’s confusion at times and how at other times she wasn’t aware of any of it at all.

4. Recommendations

I recommend this story to everyone who enjoys a good fiction story and isn’t afraid of witches, vampires and other supernatural beings. I’d recommend this story to the people who loved The Not So Secret Life Of Helena Callahan, but I’m quite certain they already have read this story.

5. Extra

Description of "Love Me Dead - Awakened" by Emma Lowe: 

You live. You learn. You die.

Growing up is always difficult. First you have to teach yourself to walk then talk, and finally how to fit into high school when you are practically invisible. Life’s all about finding your place, deciding who you’re going to date next, and discovering your inner self. Teenage years are particularly important, because they are the years you find yourself. They’re the years you mould yourself into whoever you are going to be for the rest of your life. Too bad no one ever warned Chloe Faulkner that once you start to change, it’s hard to change back – because some scars don’t heal.


What happens when this glamorous little life you have aimed for turns out to be not so perfect after all? When you end up being a little freakier than everyone thought you were, you start to lose everything you’ve worked so hard for, and your precious boyfriend’s closet isn’t as empty as you thought? Social suicide.

Book Trailer: Watch it on Youtube! 
You can read "Love Me Dead - Awakened" by Emma Lowe on Wattpad: Read it here!
 

Saturday, December 10, 2011

How I started writing

Without a problem, I can keep my thoughts to myself, but truth be told, I have always liked to give my opinion on anything and everything as well. It’s just that I wouldn’t give my opinion unless it was specifically asked for. I’m not talking about mean and hurtful comments, far from actually. When someone asks me what I think, I’ll tell them, but only in a nice, and perhaps helpful way. 

Now, when I joined Wattpad (an online eBook site where you can share your stories and get feedback) it was nice to be able to comment about the stories I read. While reading a published book, I have thoughts and comments about it, but it is not as if I can tell the author what I thought of the book, now is it? Well, on Wattpad this is exactly the opposite. I do know that nowadays many authors interact with their fans through blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc… but it isn’t quite the same. 

Uploading your own stories to Wattpad is a sign you want to receive feedback. And as a reader, you get to interact with the author of a story, letting him/her know why you did or didn’t like the book. You get to tell them whether they story or their characters had any impact on you at all. 

Just like many others, I started out as an avid reader. Talking to some of the authors on Wattpad was a bit scary at first. Not scary, actually, but more like…weird? But yes, when you receive a reply to one of the comments you made, it’s always exciting, especially when the author lets you know that your comment was actually helpful or simply made their day. 

After a couple of months of reading on Wattpad, I decided to give writing a try as well. And am I ever glad I did. I still have no idea how, when or even why I had the sudden urge to write something down as well, but if it hadn’t been for that moment, I think I still wouldn’t know that I actually quite enjoy writing.

Up until that very moment, the thought of writing a story myself had never even crossed my mind. In my eyes, you had books in bookstores and libraries, etc… but I don’t think I ever questioned where they came from. I am pretty sure that I never considered the fact that a person had to have taken the time to write down a fragment of their imagination. It’s by seeing all those ‘normal’ people writing such awesome stories on Wattpad that I realized writing was something everyone could do, or at least try. 
And this specific epiphany is what resulted in writing my own stories. 


Friday, December 9, 2011

Support Absolute Contamination in the Watty Awards 2011!


It would be super appreciated and totally awesome if you could support Absolute Contamination in the Watty Awards 2011!

Absolute Contamination has been nominated in 2 categories:

- Horror (on the rise)
- Most Imaginative Setting


Voting is very simple and can be done on www.wattpad.com/watty
[You don't even need to have an account!]


Thanks to everyone who voted already!
~Vicky


PS: you can read Absolute Contamination here: http://www.wattpad.com/1481240

PPS: Feel free to spread the word! 


Thursday, October 20, 2011

Update 20 Oct. 201



Here’s another small update on what’s been happening, or what’s going to happen soon.

I’d like to start by thanking all my new fans, I’m really glad that you liked what I wrote so far and I hope you continue to like what I’ll write in the future. 

To everyone who has read Absolute Contamination, I added a small question at the beginning of the very first part (here). Basically, I was curious as to how you found out about Absolute Contamination. Did you find it by accident, did someone recommend it to you, etc… So, if you still remember, it would be great if you wanted to share that with me. 

November is getting closer and closer, which means that soon I’ll start posting Sixteen Moons. I have no specific date yet, but I do know that it’ll be before Nov.30th 

I have started a contest as well, and the winner will get his/her poem featured at the beginning of Sixteen Moons. You can find more info here: http://www.wattpad.com/2417509

Oh, and I’m also going to translate Absolute Contamination to Dutch so don’t worry when I upload something that isn’t written in English. The translated version will be pretty much the same as the English version. Any changes that I make will later get changed in the original version as well.

Also, if you’re a writer and you want to participate in Author Revealed (more info on my blog), or if you want to suggest one of your favorite authors, just let me know in a private message.

Lastly, You can find the links to my blogs and those of Sixteen Moons and Absolute Contamination in my “About Me”  in case you’re interested. 

Have a great weekend!
~Vicky

As posted on Wattpad - http://www.wattpad.com/user/vicky_nfs