Welcome to The Blog!

Monday, November 25, 2013

Book Review: Swipe

Swipe by Evan Angler

Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic books are some of my favorite, but it can be hard to come across a true dystopian novel. However, Swipe is one of them: all remnants of an old life have disappeared for a corrupt, totalitarian government.

Swipe is set in a future North America where the current country is struggling to recover after war and famine. In this society everyone gets the Mark—a symbol of citizenship—at the age of 13; this allows every citizen to reap the benefits of being a citizen. The tattoo allows citizens to do everything from getting a job to shopping. However, ever since Logan (the main character the book opens with) witnessed his sister go in for the Mark and never come back, he’s had doubts about going in for his. And when Logan befriends the new girl in town, they begin on a journey to answer all his questions.

Why Interning In Educational Publishing Is Really Important

Educational Publishing from an Intern's Perspective

This summer, I had the pleasure of interning with a great company called Publishing Solutions Group based in Woburn, MA. As I finished my freshman year at Emerson, I was at the cusp of my career; I had no experience except for the minimal work I had done for a few campus organizations and I had a lot to learn.


PSG is a full production publishing company that takes on projects involving writing, editorial work, art production and management, design, and translation. They handle assignments in educational publishing and work with sectors of companies like McDougal-Littell, Pearson, and Harcourt. It is a small company with less than fifteen full-time employees, so as an intern I was trusted with a lot of work that was important to the company. I never felt like I was just a decoration or formality as some interns at other companies may feel. 

A Magical Idea

Delusion by Laura Sullivan
**Spoilers**


When I picked up Laura L. Sullivan’s Delusion, I was genuinely excited to start it.  The book appeared to combine two of my favorite things: historical fiction and magic.  Set in World War II England, Delusion follows twin sisters and stage magicians Phil and Fee Albion as the bombs of the London Blitz send them to the safety of the England countryside.  Phil is set on continuing to help the war effort despite the reluctance of the citizens of Bittersweet.  Her twin sister Fee, always the romantic, is caught up in the ambiance of the countryside and is looking for a romance of her own.  However, when Phil discovers a castle in the countryside full of real magicians, all of the twins’ ideas of what their time in the countryside will constitute changes. 

A Dystopian Review

“Slated” by Teri Terry
Rating: 4.5/5
Genre: YA, science fiction, dystopian literature 


Teri Terry really brings the thrills in the start of this new series. In a futuristic dystopian U.K, the government has a way of dealing with young criminals: giving them a fresh start. In other words, they slate them. Kyla has recently been slated, all memories of her past life—and past crimes—have been erased. After an entirely new family adopts her, Kyla is faced with the challenge of reintegrating into society, while Lorders (the new U.K. police), her new family, and other government agents watch her closely for any signs of relapse. And as if that wasn’t enough, Kyla is also forced to wear a Levo, a bracelet connected to a chip in her brain that will stun or even kill her if her anger or violence levels rise too high. However, Kyla is not like other slateds. She has the capacity to dream; she’s simply unsure as to whether these are her real memories or merely fantasy. She is forced to face loaded questions such as, “Why are innocent people vanishing?” and, “Who are the AGT (anti-government terrorists), exactly and what do they want?” With only she and her fellow slated Ben to rely upon, Kyla begins to peel back layers upon layers of mystery, endangering her own life, and the lives of those she has come to love.


This story has several strengths, the first being it’s world building. This is one terrible future that is frighteningly plausible. Teri Terry has created a stifling and repressed dystopia that is reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984. Simply saying the wrong thing against the new Coalition can be cause enough for disappearance. Although the exact ways in which this dystopia came about are not fully explained, they are alluded to enough to make it convincing. 

Friday, November 15, 2013

A Trip to Remember


Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hyde

***Spoilers Below***

One of my all-time favorite books is Becoming Chloe, by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I first read it a few years ago after borrowing it from a friend for the ride home from a school trip. What was supposed to be a borrowed book quickly became a you-aren't-getting-this-back-till-I-get-my-own-copy book. The book is short and simple, but it makes you stop and really look at and appreciate the world around you.

Can the Movie Match the Book?


Upcoming Adaptations

Adaptation of books into movies often cause a split amongst book fans. Some fans hate them, claiming that the movies never live up to the expectations set by the books; however, other fans love them, as they are visual representations of some of their most beloved characters and story-lines. In the remainder of 2013 alone, many of these movies are scheduled to come out.

November 8th: Great Expectations
            Based on "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens

This movie is being remade... Again. But with Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Robbie Coltrane and more, it'll he sure to draw attention back to Pip's classic story.

http://www.movieinsider.com/m9846/great-expectations/#.UnQtJJm9LCQ

November 8th: The Book Thief
            Based on "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak

A Promise to Keep


Serafina's Promise

In her latest work, Serafina’s Promise, Anne E. Berg (author of ALA Best Book for Young Adults and 2010 Jefferson award winner All The Broken Pieces) has masterfully created a stunning and lyrical depiction of both the hardship and hope within the heart of one Latin American girl and her impoverished family. Written entirely in poetic verse, this work is a quick read that leaves a lasting impression.

www.goodreads.com
Serafina, a young girl in the midst of seemingly insurmountable circumstance, strives to defy her societal restrictions and become a doctor. In order to do so, she finds she must discover a way to attend a school because her family can’t afford it. Finally she finds the courage to assert herself, informing her father that she has promises to keep: a promise to a late grandfather who emphatically dubbed education the road to freedom, and to a late little brother whom had needed a doctor like the one she hoped to become. With the dream of a crisp school uniform constantly on her mind, Serafina works tirelessly to ensure the health of her household and to save enough money to attend school in the fall. With the impending arrival of a new baby brother, Serafina finds a new source of motivation, quickly achieving what her mother initially dubbed impossible. However, when disaster strikes, Serafina must learn to take hardship in stride and to fight for something that so many take for granted, the opportunity to gain an education.

This story is enriched indefinitely by Berg’s poetic writing style and its distinctly poetic structure. Each concise verse is loaded both with unflagging hope and with insightful wisdom in the face of adversity, creating an impactful emphasis on vast and important ideas in few words. A narrative abound with hope, and still strikingly realistic, this book has been expertly crafted in such a manner that I believe it may truly hold the power to offer an enduring impact on young readers.

Addressing such issues as lack of education and opportunity alongside devastating and uncontrollable natural disasters, Berg writes genuinely in the innocent voice of Serafina, and just as deftly in the sagacious riddles of her elders. Simple enough for its target audience (10-14) but still complex and filled with wisdom, Serafina’s Promise is of the rare breed that can transcend age and touch all.

By: Ellie Mitchell

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Book Review: The Hynotists

The Hypnotists by Gordon Korman
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: middle grade, fiction, supernatural

In the beginning of his new series, Gordon Korman introduces readers to a young man whose color changing eyes can make others do anything. Jackson “Jax” Opus is an ordinary twelve year old boy who learns he is a descendant of a long line of hypnotists after he accidentally hypnotizes those around him. As soon as he discovers this, Doctor Elias Mako, the head of the Sentia institute, contacts him with an invitation to join their groundbreaking research. At an institute where Jax is surrounded by mindbenders like himself, he soon discovers that everything is not as it seems. Sentia has a much darker purpose, and Jax is the key to its success. Soon, Jax has to use his power to protect himself and those he loves from people who will do anything to possess his power.

Book Review: Escape From Eden

www.goodreads.com
Escape From Eden is not your typical YA novel - and thank goodness for that. While the cover and summary may lead you to believe that you’re holding just another dystopian teen romance, from the first page Elisa Nader creates a world unlike any other currently on the market. This fast-paced thriller will take you on a page-turning ride that you won’t want to put down.

Nader grants us a strong and interesting female protagonist, Mia Eden, who gets to be her own hero by the end of the book, a feat so rare in YA literature. I spent the whole time waiting for her love interest, Gabriel, to swoop in and save the day. Escape From Eden does not fall prey to the patterns most YA books do. The premise of a religious cult sequestered in the jungles of South America is both refreshingly new and intriguing. Mia’s story is action-packed and suspenseful from the very beginning where we are introduced to a religious cult that resides in Edenton called “The Flock.”

Book Review: Inhuman

When I first started Kat Falls’s book, Inhuman, I couldn’t get the futuristic, post-apocalyptic vibe out of my head. In the book, a virus that mutates the human population into savage cannibals causes a seven hundred foot wall to be erected in order to separate the infected from the non-infected. Reminiscent of The Walking Dead and Game of Throne series, Falls takes familiar elements and makes them her own with her descriptions of two isolated societes who have been faced with the “Ferae Naturae” virus in her latest series.

Imagine a society obsessed with cleanliness: everyone is constantly sanitizing their hands, there is little physical contact to avoid germs, and kids go to school online to, well, avoid spreading those germs. Okay, that’s not too far off from the society we know now, but imagine if we became this way because a virus had turned half the population into cannibalistic human-animal hybrids. That’s the society that Delany Park McEvoy comes from on the western side of the wall. Thrown into the zone just east of the Mississippi, she aims to find her father and send him on a secret mission. We can see through her eyes what the virus has done.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Book Review: Goblins by Philip Reeve

Skarper isn’t like the other goblins. Well, he does have the same love of treasure and the tendency to steal to accumulate more treasure. But unlike others of his kind, he has intelligence and a thirst for knowledge. In Philip Reeve’s Goblins, it is this brain that gets him into trouble – very amusing, imaginative trouble.

Along with Skarper, the book focuses on Henwyn, a young man who dreams of something bigger than cheese (he is apprenticed as a cheesewright in his father’s cheesery). When Skarper is kicked out of the goblin tower - or more accurately, catapulted out- for questioning the goblin king, and Henwyn is driven out of his town after an unfortunate incident with a magical cheese monster, the two misfits find each other. And soon, adventure finds them. There is old magic awakening in the land of Clovenstone, and it could spell danger if that power falls into the wrong hands.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Books

Who here has read Ann Brashares’ Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series? (*Proceeds to raise hand*) The concept is really quite simple: four friends are preparing to spend their first summer apart when they discover a pair of jeans that happens to fit each of them perfectly. The friends decide to share the pants over the summer. Each time a girl mails them to the next friend, they send an accompanying letter about all of the adventures the “traveling pants” have blessed them with. This summer, three friends, Hayley, Natalie, Caroline, and I decided to do something similar and formed The Sisterhood of the Traveling Books. Each of us selected a book and wrote a letter detailing our reasons for picking it. On the tenth of each month, we rotated books, so I shipped one to Natalie who shipped one to Caroline who shipped one to Hayley who shipped one to me. At the end of each book, the reader also wrote a new letter about how the book has influenced her, just like in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Realistic Fiction


Hold Fast by Blue Balliett

Langston Hughes wrote “Hold fast to dreams/For if dreams die/Life is a broken-winged bird/That cannot fly.” As one of the most influential American poets, Hughes weaves words that make the heart soar and weep simultaneously, two qualities shared with Blue Balliett’s new YA book Hold Fast. Balliett illuminates the sad but ultimately hopeful world of Chicago’s homeless shelters through the eyes of one poetry lover, eleven-year-old Early Pearl.

Early’s father, an aide at the Chicago Public Library, has disappeared under the most mysterious circumstances, leaving Early, her younger brother Jubie, and their mother Summer to fend for themselves. With no money and no clue as to the location of Dash, the Pearl family must assimilate into the claustrophobic world of the Chicago shelters. Balliett, author of the award-winning novel Chasing Vermeer, employs her trademark mystery and problem-solving in Early’s quest to deduce the location of her father through the poems of Hughes he loved to share.

Track this Twitter Tag!


How to make #MSWL work for you.


When I accidentally stumbled across the Manuscript Wishlist tag (#MSWL) on Twitter a few weeks ago, I immediately got really excited. This is the kind of information that can really help ambitious publishers and writers. September 24th was the official #MSWL day, but agents and editors are still posting more wish list items and information, making this tag a treasure trove of information about the kinds of manuscripts that people in the industry are personally looking for.

Thieving Teens


Money Run by Jack Health
Rating 4/5 stars

This book had everything you could possibly want: action, adventure, mystery, assassins, thieves, billionaires, gadgets, and humor. The novel tells the story of fifteen year old thief Ashley "Ash" Arthur and her friend Benjamin. Ash and Ben are professional thieves who receive mysterious tips from someone known as "the source" who tells them when and where valuable things will be the most easy to steal. But when they take on the job of robbing Hammond Buckland, one of American's richest men, they have no idea what they've gotten themselves into. Ash, you see, is not the only person with an interest in Buckland. Peachey the assassin wants to put a bullet in Buckland, and he won't let anyone stand in his way. In one night, Ash is thrust into the fight of her life and she has to decide what kind of thief she will be. Along the way she is swept up into a whirlwind of action, suspense, and conspiracies.

www.goodreads.com
First off, Ash is a great protagonist. She's smart, sarcastic, and insensibly likable. She's a thief with a conscious, and she's just 15, so she's struggling like any teenager in finding what it is she wants to do and what she's good at. In her case, it turns out being a thief is what she's very good at. Right alongside Ash is her tech support Benjamin, who, although never actually present during the story, is made very real by his snarky dialogue. Then of course, we have our villain: Peachey. Once you get passed the name, he turns out to be a likable villain, which is not always an easy thing to accomplish. These are the main characters, but several others appear and all are well written, like the millionaire Hammond Buckland and Detective Damion Wright. Admittedly, some of the characters are a little one dimensional. But in the case of many of them, the one dimensionality is exactly what is needed.


Superhuman


Blackout by Robison Wells

In Robison Wells’s Blackout, a virus is spreading across the United States, but for some reason this mysterious disease affects only teens. The symptoms? Strange superpowers that range from invisibility to super-strength to mind control. Add in some terrorist attacks, several destroyed monuments, and a paranoid military force, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a post-apocalyptic story that keeps you turning those pages.

Laura and Alec are trained, lethal terrorists, while Jack and Aubrey were two average high school students. They come from extremely different backgrounds yet, as a result of this new virus, their lives become connected in a way that no one could have foreseen. Now they must work together to survive in this strange, new world.

Use the Force: Star Wars Through Comics


Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown

Jeffrey Brown caught the world’s attention with his first Star Wars themed book, Darth Vader and Son.  Now he introduces us to Roan, a young comic artist living on Tatooine in the first book of his new series, Jedi Academy. He lives in a galaxy far, far away, but similar to kids here on Earth, he aspires to be like his big brother, who is at Pilot Academy School for what feels like eons.

When Roan isn’t accepted it seems like the world is going to end. An acceptance letter from the Jedi Academy comes, and that’s at least better than the Tatooine Agricultural Academy where you have to shovel Bantha fertilizer, so he packs his bags. But Roan isn’t quite sure what a Jedi is, let alone that he wants to be one. We get a peek into Roans life at Jedi school through journal entries and comics, and find that the start of school is pretty rough. From deciphering Yoda’s lessons to the struggles of making friends, Roan spills it all in an endearing and relatable way.

The Dreams Continue


The Dream Thieves (Book II in the Raven Boys Cycle) by Maggie Stiefvater

Last year, I was fortunate enough to review the first book in the Raven Boys Cycle. At the end, I was so wrapped up in the suspense that I couldn’t believe the book was over. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to review the second book, and it does not disappoint by any stretch of the imagination.

Blue and her friends are back again, picking up where the last book left off. Gansey is continuing his search for Glendower, the old Welsh king, trying to deny his unusual attraction to Blue. Blue is trying to keep Gansey at bay, knowing all too well his fate –  Blue comes from a family of psychics (but possesses no psychic ability herself), and it has been predicted that he is her true love, and if he is to kiss her, he will die. Adam, the boy who has worked hard for everything he has (overcoming an abusive home in the last book) has made an unusual sacrifice that causes him to become more important to the quest than he ever dreamed he would be. And Ronan, the underplayed character in the first novel, becomes crucial.

www.goodreads.com

Ronan has the ability to steal objects from dreams. While not quite understanding himself, Ronan comes to realize that he is not only important to Gansey’s quest, but also is being targeted by several who are searching the ley lines (the sources of magical energy which are being used to find Glendower) as well. The possibility of murder and a desperate sense of urgency underlie this book, leaving the readers scrambling toward the finish line, only to be left with a new series of questions that beg to be answered in book three.

Stiefvater has done it again. Her writing pulls the reader in, engrossing them in the story so completely that the book becomes impossible to put down. The dialogue sounds so realistic, and there are some quips that make the reader laugh out loud. The complex plot line is woven in such a detailed manner that forces the reader to pay attention to even the slightest details. In short, it is a work that should definitely be considered one of the greatest in current YA fiction. The plot is unlike anything else on the market, yet plays into the themes that are so hot right now – the sense of a ticking time-bomb, a hint of magic, and a dash of romance combine to create the second in a series that leaves readers begging for more.


By: Natalie Hamil

Volki



The Wolf Princess by Cathryn Constable

When I first saw this book by Cathryn Constable, I couldn’t help but snatch it up. The word “Russia” in its summary made my heart skip a beat. I am far from just a fan of the country—I am Russian. I grew up speaking the language and enjoying its food and dealing with my babushkas (meaning “grandmothers” for those who might not know) have not yet read the book and experienced its delightfully flawed Russian-English glossary). While that made it appealing, I also had to keep in mind that it could be slightly disappointing. And to be honest, at first, it was.

Friday, September 13, 2013

PubClub Series: What We Do and How We Do It

The Blog

Over the next few weeks, the blog will be featuring a series of posts about the different ways to get involved in Pubclub. If you enjoyed our informational meeting (or if you weren't able to attend), this is the perfect place to find details about our organization!

Today's post:  The Blog.

If you're interested in writing or editing (or even design) with a more relaxed schedule, this is the place to look. Each member of the blog only has to write one article a month, unless they want to write more! The blog works in a system of fifteen days, twice a month. 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

First Official PubClub Meeting!

New Semester, New Projects, and Fun

Learn about all the different events that Undergraduate Students for Publishing organizes, and learn about the process of not only making Emerson's genre fiction literary magazine Generic, but two student published manuscripts. 

The meeting will take place Thursday (Tonight!!!) September 12, 2013 at 8 p.m. 

Stay tuned for a post tomorrow describing the various ways to get involved in the club!


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The House of YA


Loge of Lies
 Book Review of Hover by Melissa West

Hover is the second book in “The Taking” series. The story picks up after Ari was taken to Loge when a neurotoxin was released on earth. Ari Alexander and Jackson Castello, the grandson of Zeus, must save the Ancients and the humans by trying to get them back to earth. However, this entails a dangerous mission that is put in Ari’s hands. She must kill Zeus, the ruler of Loge. Will she succeed or not? Will her relationship with Jackson make it through his secrets and lies?

www.goodreads.com
I read this book without reading the first one, except for the summary, and honestly was expecting to be lost in the book. I don’t mean being lost as in attention but as in not understanding. However, that wasn’t the case. Throughout the story I discovered bits and pieces from the previous book and was able to follow along clearly through the story. This second book was so captivating there is a lot of action going on and I was able to learn a lot about the world of Loge, including the unrest of some Logean people against Zeus.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Tips for Writers and Workshoppers!


Using Pain as Fuel
           
Hi, writers. This month’s writing tip will be a bit somber, in light of the recent tragedy that has unfolded in Boston. It is difficult to detach oneself from the event, be it physically or emotionally, and I think I would be doing everyone a disservice if I chose to ignore it. I would instead like to take this article to emphasize the importance of using one’s emotions as fuel for writing. In the wake of pain and horror such as this, I believe the most comforting action we can take is to write. We may feel helpless, but it provides us with a sort of silver lining if we can write powerfully with intense emotions as our foundation; it helps us to crush the hate meant to be inspired by such acts if we can offer a greater display of power and compassion with our voices. For many of us here at Emerson, our voice comes in the form of our writing.

The House of Paranormal YA


Everneath by Brodi Ashton

“I had been in his arms, but I hadn’t seen his face for a century. It was the same…. ‘You… you’re still the same Nikki. You survived…. I mean, I’ve searched for you—for someone like you—for thousands of years…. You have no idea what this means. This. Never. Happens. Nik, you don’t have to go to the Tunnels. You can stay with me. Become an Everling.’” (Page 5)

Nikki is a seventeen-year-old girl, wrenched from her normal world into Everneath, where she must stay for a century with a guy named Cole. Everneath is a place in-between earth and hell; in this place there are immortal creatures who are called Everling. However, in order to stay immortal they must feed off the energy of humans. Most of the humans, though, do not survive, being fed off, and go to a place called the Tunnels where the humans must spend eternity suffering. However, Nikki survived, because she has special ties to the Everling. After Cole fed off her, she was given a choice: stay with Cole and become an Everling or go to the Tunnels.

Turning Pages, Changing Channels


The Vampire Diaries: Dripping with Differences
**Spoilers Alert**

The CW’s The Vampire Diaries has won multiple People’s Choice, Teen’s Choice, Do Something, and Young Hollywood Awards in its five-season run.  The television series is based on the book series of the same name written by L.J. Smith.  The original books came out in the early to mid-nineties.  Since the television show gained acclaim, however, more books have been added to the series.  The show debuted in 2009, among the vampire craze caused, in part, by the Twilight franchise.  Though both series keep you on the edge of your seat by following Elena Gilbert into a world of supernatural love triangles and plots for revenge, the books and show have substantial differences. 
www.goodreads.com
  
   
Let’s start with the characters.  Both the show and the books portray Elena Gilbert as the town’s golden girl.  In the books, however, the phrase is a bit more literal; Elena is fair with blonde hair and blue eyes.  On the show, she has dark hair and eyes.  The casting of Stefan and Damon Salvatore, the vampire brothers in love with Elena, is more accurate to their descriptions in the book.  The cast of characters, in general, is different from the original set in the books.  On the show, Elena has a teenage brother, Jeremy, but, in the books, she has a toddler sister.  Elena also has three best friends in the books: Bonnie, who has a connection to the druids, Meredith, who seems to always keep her wits when facing a crisis, and Caroline, who eventually gives in to her dark side.  In the show, Bonnie is a descendent of the Salem witches and Caroline eventually becomes a vampire.  The role of Tyler, the local teenage werewolf, is also much larger in the television show than the books.  The role of the history teacher and vampire slayer, Alaric Saltzman, is also much different in each series.  In the books, he is a mentor and friend.  He helps the group of teenagers protect the town from several supernatural threats and, eventually, dates Elena’s friend, Meredith.  On the show, he plays the role of friend and mentor, but only for a limited time.  Eventually, he is turned into something supernatural, as well, and killed.

Generic 3rd Edition Released!!! Spring 2013!

Generic Release

Emerson College's solely genre fiction literary magazine was released last week to the whole campus. The stories include all different kinds of genres including, Western, Romance, and Fairytales. During the semester, workshops were held for Emerson students to learn about these three genres and test their writing abilities, creating stories based on writing prompts and exercises. 

Each genre brought its own challenges and PubClub has now released and online version! Enjoy here:

http://issuu.com/bookpubclub/docs/g3issuufinal

Monday, April 15, 2013

Pub Club, Pub World


Hello, and welcome to the next installment of Pub Club, Pub World! This section will update all you lovely blog readers about whats going on in the world of publishing.

Here's the latest news for this month!

The Greatest American Novel was just decided on from a poll done on PWxyz (affiliated with Publisher's Weekly). Not surprisingly, To Kill A Mockingbird tops the list, followed by The Great Gatsby, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Grapes of Wrath, Moby Dick, and Gone With The Wind. The most interesting, however, is that The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, came in seventh place, beating out The Catcher and the Rye, Fahrenheit 451, and Slaughterhouse-Five. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, published in 2000, was the only book in the top 10 to be published in the 2000s. Never fear, American Lit teachers; it looks like we'll be reading the same books for a long, long time. The classics are still relevant to the modern reader.

Aspects of Self Publishing


Disadvantages of Self-Publishing

Many authors are turning to self-publishing because it has become so accessible. While it can be appealing to go the route of self-publishing, as it is less time consuming than traditional publishing, turning to self-publishing has its disadvantages.

For one, traditional publishers already have a platform to sell your book on. They have connections to publicize your book and get it out to the masses. Going into self-publishing means you have to create your own platform to market your book on. Traditional publishers are also helpful in making your book better, through editors, marketers, and designers, who all work together to make the book the best it can be. By choosing self-publishing, you must edit, design, and market your book without an objective opinion.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Tips for Writers and Workshoppers!


How to Kill the Blank Page

Hey writers! This month’s writing tip is: to overcome writer’s block with inspiration. We’ve all been there. We’ve all felt the drive to write, we’ve all procrastinated until a deadline looms, and we’ve all wanted (needed) to write something well. But we constrain ourselves the second we sit down, pen in hand or fingers flat on the keyboard, with the pressure of needing to write a masterpiece. We think, okay, I need to start this now, and this needs to be the best thing I’ve ever written. And sure, maybe that’s true. But when something unsavory comes out instead of the beautiful words we’ve been expecting, the panic rises. And that panic can be absolutely debilitating. I believe that in order to avoid the pains of writer’s block, we have to make conscious efforts to look for inspiration wherever we can. The following suggestions can help you squeeze out the ideas spinning around in your brain and give you the peace and confidence you need to approach your writing. 


1.   Act like a kid. 

Like many people at Emerson, I’ve been in love with words since I was very young. This topic came up during a workshop of mine just last semester: kids who write do so freely. They don’t think of a grade, they don’t have expectations confining them, and they don’t try to limit themselves to demands and specifics. They are completely free to tell whatever story they want to and so, they do. It seemed everyone in my class lamented this, felt envious. This is because like most writers, we all get older and allow our freedom to get bottled up. We put so much pressure on ourselves and set rules that only serve to put more stress and anxiety on our shoulders.

What's Trending


Old School Vampires, Meet the Shiny New Ones...
And More

They are everywhere. I don’t mean in your closet or under the bed or lurking in your high school cafeteria but in movies, TV and literature. Some people might be inclined to say that people are more obsessed with vampires than ever, but this is not the first time that vampires and the supernatural have had a significant place in popular culture. Because before Edward and Bella fell in love, in fact before Edward was even fictionally born, stories of vampires and the supernatural were shocking gentlemen and ladies alike during the 19th century through Gothic literature. 

We have always been fascinated by ghost stories, but during the Gothic period, the dark and macabre was high fashion. I would go as far as to say that, at least in the world of YA, we are experiencing a Gothic revival, or perhaps more accurately, a Gothic reboot. For while the fascination is the same, the vampire obsession then and now has taken fans down different paths.