this has basically no significance. i just thought it was really cool that a wikipedia cake exists. [via]

*glances up at title* Um, basically everything, but we won't remark on that.

Who's brought this nefarious but undeniably brilliant combination to Christina's blog, you may ask? (I think we all know the answer at this point. HUMOR ME.) That would be the equally nefarious and even more brilliant Alyssa Carlier of The Devil Orders Takeout. She's tagged me for the Cake Book Tag and the Addictive Blog Award - my thanks as always! And if you're not devotedly following her takeout, I'd recommend it. There is much science and snark and writerly witchcraft to be had (sometimes all at the same time).

But let's get down to what you're all *really* here for: dessert.

Cake Book Tag

I think I can present this tag basically without comment and proceed, so I'll do just that.

Flour: A book that started slowly but turned out amazing.

still don't love any of the covers for this series. *sigh*

Honestly, this entire series started out slowly but turned out to be MIND-BLOWING. When I first read Throne of Glass, I was pretty 'meh' about it—I enjoyed the experience but it was nothing that I hadn't really seen before. But then I read Crown of Midnight. It was better, so I figured I'd stay with the series. And then Heir of Fire came along and IT SLAYED ME, YOU GUYS. IT... BROKE ME. The Assassin's Blade had an equally debilitating yet wonderful effect on my feels. If any of you are considering the Throne of Glass series, DO. IT. Although it may not seem amazing at first, DO NOT BE FOOLED. THERE WILL BE EMOTIONS EVERYWHERE.

Butter: A book that had a thick, rich plot.

i still don't know how i feel about these covers. i'll never know.

I mean, this series had a thick, rich EVERYTHING, not just the plot. Laini Taylor brings colorful characters and lush, vibrant settings to life with supernatural grace and power. Her writing just slides into you, settles over you like a second skin. I feel so at home in her worlds and her characters' minds, but at the same time, I'm exploring something real and new and radiant. This trilogy is such an original and powerful fantasy, fearless and gorgeous and earth-shattering. READ. IT.

Eggs: A book you thought would be bad but turned out great.

(First of all, I love eggs through and through, so I kind of take issue with this heading. But I digress.)

stop elizabeth wein 2k15

A really good IRL writer friend of mine read this book and enthusiastically recommended it to me. I super super respect her as a reader and writer to the highest power, and our tastes are usually pretty similar, so I figured I should trust her and go for it. So I borrowed the hardcover from the library and promptly decided that it just didn't click with me. The tone felt juvenile, the characters felt forced, etc. I returned it and told her that I didn't manage to finish it.

Fast forward to a deal I found for a free audiobook of Code Name Verity. Fast forward to when I decided to give it a chance.

GOODBYE, BLITHE IGNORANCE. Cue gross sobbing at the beauty and tragedy and absolute gold that is this book.

Sugar: A sugary, sweet book.

okay, fine. so this is sweet but not necessarily 'sugary'. but i am ignoring that so hard right now.

I don't really read a lot of books that could be described as 'sugary', so I'm going to have to go with Ella Enchanted. I am, as a whole, a HUGE Gail Carson Levine fan (actually, I'd say Fairest is my favorite book of hers), but I guess Ella Enchanted is the real 'classic' that she's written, and there are definitely sweet moments. And AHH THE NOSTALGIA.

And anyway, those of you who haven't read this book clearly missed out on an essential part of your childhoods. Rectify this error immediately. I promise it will help you grow up to be a more well-adjusted, awesome human being.

Icing: A book that covered every single element that you enjoy about a book.

no i will never stop book-pushing this series. #sorrynotsorry

I have squealed about this series on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS, I'm certain. But I need to bring it up again because it's one of my favorites of all time and it is so horrifically underrated. There is DIVERSITY. There is BANTER. There are COMPLEX, LAYERED, STRONG FEMALE CHARACTERS EVERYWHERE. There is BEAUTIFUL WRITING. There is BRILLIANT WORLDBUILDING. This is one of my most treasured fantasy series ever to exist and I need EVERYONE TO READ IT. YOU MUST ALL READ IT. I WILL NOT STOP UNTIL YOU HAVE. I enjoyed every bit of it and it contained basically 'every single element' I love in books. Truly the perfectly sweet icing on the literary cake. 

Sprinkles: A book that always cheers you up.

unrelated note: why are the covers for every single edition of this series so unashamedly horrible? they remake the covers over and over again and they're all absolutely terrible. this series deserves better, random house. really, it does.

John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series never fails to pick up my mood. I can flip to any page in pretty much any of the books and be completely sucked in within a few sentences of skimming. The effortless and intelligent yet hilarious Ranger snark, the gloriously played-out fight scenes, the general kick-butt everything about the series (highly skilled and awesome women! diverse characters! rich worldbuilding! detailed descriptions of weapons!)—this is the good stuff, right here. My memories of this series are immeasurably fond, since I first picked it up in the fifth grade and never looked back. It's a staggering twelve books long, so I have lots and lots to choose from if I ever need a comfort read.

The Cherry on Top: Best book of the year so far.

actual gift from the cover design gods, clearly.

(I think the fact that Alyssa and I both put this particular book in this particular spot says a lot about our friendship.)

I mean, everyone was expecting this to be here, right? V.E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic sounded fantastic, yes—I even spotlighted it for Waiting on Wednesday once—but I was so not ready for THIS LEVEL OF PERFECTION. I think I was operating on some kind of book-induced high for the entirety of this reading experience. CROSS-DRESSING LADY THIEF LILA BARD! KELL, THE DASHING BLOOD MAGICIAN WITH A FABULOUS COAT! ASTRID AND ATHOS DANE! HOLLAND! PRINCE RHY! I mean, it just doesn't get much better than this.

Cupcakes: An awesome short with the epicness of a book.

also LOOK GORGEOUS ART

This is a really inventive and beautifully written reinterpretation of Penelope's side of the Odyssey, with a pretty darn wonderful twist. (What can I say? I'm a sucker for the mortal women in Greek mythology, and Penelope is one of my favorites.) It is truly epic—and look! The story is available to read for free here.

Addictive Blog Award

Rules:

1. Thank the person awarding you.
2. Share a little about why you blog and how the journey started.
3. Paste the blog award on your page.
4. Nominate 10 other bloggers you feel deserve the award.

Why I blog

My reasons for blogging have definitely evolved over the past three-odd years. At first, it functioned as my excuse for playing with Blogger and trying to sound sophisticated. But soon it became a great kind of outlet for me, allowing me to express opinions about things I was passionate about, explore new areas of interest, and just generally be unashamedly me on my own little corner of the Internet. The friends that I've made here, the memories I've squealed about here, the fun I've had here—that's all thanks to this good old blog. And that's really what it's all about for me; I'd like to thank you all for making this such a great space for me and hopefully for anyone else who takes the time to stop by.

How the, er, 'journey' began

The rather humdrum and somewhat embarrassing Fairy Skeletons origin story: I was young(er). I thought I was good at writing. (Every day I argue with myself over whether or not this is true. I'll get back to you when I've decided, which will probably be never.) I could clearly see that Wordpress was not going to take me anywhere at that point, which is what I was using at the time, and so I stumbled upon Blogger one day and was immediately seized by the desire to try it out.

After over three years of 'trying it out', I think I'm finally starting to get it right. Kind of.

I'm tagging/nominating

Adelyn @ Fable and Fancy

Anna @ Bookshores

Morning @ The Ups and Downs of My Not-So-Average Life

AnQi @ Berries and Dust

Taylor @ Paper Daydreams
...so I'm totally blanking on more nominees. But! If you were awesome enough to read down to the bottom of this post, consider yourself tagged/nominated! 

Thanks again, Alyssa, and I hope you all enjoyed reading my answers!

Read More

Hello, everyone, and happy Fiction Friday! (What are you talking about? It's totally a real Thing with a Capital T. Go with it.)

This week's rec was published by Literary Orphans, a magazine that's known for publishing some pretty top-notch material despite its comparatively generous acceptance rates. I had vaguely heard of the publication before around the online lit sphere, but I hadn't really delved into it until I stumbled upon its archives by accident.

(Let's face it; the entirety of the Internet is composed of fortuitous accidents and we all like it that way.)

Anyway, I took one look at the magazine's 'mission statement' of sorts and I was absolutely intrigued. It's a gorgeous idea captured in equally gorgeous language:

It’s the nervous glances back at your apartment when you go for a walk without your cell phone. It’s the nostalgia you have for squeaking cassette tapes and Soviet ICBMs. It’s an analog dream in a digital era. The writing on Literary Orphans is an exorcism of the mind of its contributors, and reading the work here is putting up your fists and getting confrontational with solitude–solitude in a world where neon signs are out and LCD billboards are in, a world where you can’t think for following because everyone is doing all the thinking for you.

The Lit Orphans story that I read was "Gray Girls" by Tess Walsh. This is a rich and reflective short story about two sisters, Harper and Ophelia Gray. Its greatest strength lies in its characterization; Harper and Ophelia are polar opposites, and that's evident in the mood, the tone, the taste of the entire piece. Walsh explores how we don't really realize how tightly intertwined our selves and souls are with those of our siblings until it's almost too late to fix any damage each of us has done to the other. We're shown that our siblings can be our lifelines and our weaknesses all at once. It seems ordinary, and maybe on some level all of it is, but Walsh's writing tells us the truth: deep down, it's anything but.

It helps that the writing is really elegant and wonderful, too:

The girl in the bed looked like Ophelia’s corpse, bones and wires glued to the skin as if there were nothing left inside anymore but parts and strings. Unnatural. Something dug up from a grave and scrubbed over. She looked even worse than their dead father had in the casket, and Harper could hear the breath shaking in her own lungs as panic crested inside her, lots of foam and the sensation of drowning.

You can read the full story here.

Enjoy! (Anyway, ahh! Thank goodness it's Friday, right?)

Read More

Hey everyone! My apologies for kind of falling off the face of the earth this blog. For the first time ever, I'm linking up with Beautiful People, hosted by amazing blogger/writers Cait (of Paper Fury) and Sky (of Further Up and Further In)! I've been meaning to do this for a while, but I've never really had the time to sit down and do it until now.

You may remember my gigantic WIP spew post back in November, when I participated in Beautiful Books (a variation of this very linkup!). So I guess this is kind of an extension of that—you guessed it; I'm talking about On the Midnight Streets! Again! Because let's face it, my life revolves around this book!

Essentially, what makes Beautiful People different from Beautiful Books is that this linkup focuses exclusively on characters, meant to help us get to know these people better. This month's topic is one especially near and dear to my heart: siblings!

This month I'm featuring Chantilly Rosewater, the heroine of OtMS, alongside her two little sisters, Chamomile and Velvet. The girls are seventeen, fifteen, and thirteen years old, respectively. They've got a mostly incredibly positive and supportive sibling dynamic that I am so, so excited about, and I'm so thrilled to introduce it to you all!

1. What is the first memory they have of each other?

For Chantilly, it's her sisters' births. She has, in most cases, an uncannily good, near-photographic, highly visual memory, so she remembers those two days in particularly crisp, lucid detail. She remembers being terrified for her mother but struck with a strange, immense kind of joy when her sisters were finally born.

Chamomile also remembers Velvet's birth startlingly well, as she was with Chantilly the whole time and they were both kind of freaking out. But her first memory of Chantilly is weirdly quiet: Chantilly curled up in the corner by the single window in their boardinghouse room, deep in thought. Chantilly didn't develop her protective, smart, older-sister edge until she was around eight or nine, so she was very nervous and soft-spoken as a younger child; Chamomile just barely remembers that side of her.

Velvet's first memory of her sisters involves all three of them together—Chantilly is telling a story, as she's wont to do, and little Chamomile is trying to listen, though she's clearly nodding off. Velvet herself doesn't remember quite what the story was about, but she likes to think it was an especially good one.

2. Describe their relationship in 3 words.

Good-natured, protective, unbreakable.

3. What kind of things do they like to do together?

Chantilly and Velvet are both partial to stories, though Velvet struggles a bit with reading at times, so Chantilly makes up tales to lull her little sister to sleep. (She's basically rubbish at it, but she tries so hard that Velvet hasn't the heart to tell her so. And Chantilly's voice is so comforting that it doesn't much matter either way.)

The girls' mother, Diane, works as a washerwoman to support the family (or at least she does before they all have to haul themselves over to the Upper City), and Velvet and Chamomile help her out. They started work when they were both really little (Chantilly managed to snap up a job at a bookshop, which was just about the best job in the world for her), and they were constantly making up little games to make the chores less tedious. They still do it, giving each other small dares and making the time go by quickly. Simply working together amiably is one of their favorite things to spend time doing with each other. Unfortunately, now that they're in the Upper City, there's really no opportunity for them to do that.

Chamomile and Chantilly don't like to admit that they love each other, so they're not doing things together as much. But when they do? They like to just talk and take comfort in the knowledge that while their relationship gets strained sometimes, it'll never fall apart. Never.

4. What was their biggest fight?

When Chamomile was fourteen, she declared that she was going to find the girls' father, Robert, and make him answer for what he'd done to their family. He was an abusive, misogynistic poor excuse for a human being, and she was planning on making him pay. Chantilly immediately shot down any such ideas, saying he was probably dead anyway, and it was best to let such things lie. Velvet didn't remember their father much at all, but she was terrified by what she'd managed to piece together, so she begged Chamomile not to go through with it. Chamomile was so determined and angry that she ran away from home. She nearly got away with it, too, but Chantilly found her shivering and sad in a Middle City alley two days after she'd gone missing. None of the girls really spoke to each other for about a week afterwards.

5. How far would they go to save each other?

Chantilly would, without hesitation, die to save her sisters. She would, in most cases, kill for them as well. Chamomile is much the same, though she's constantly pretending that she doesn't care nearly as much as she actually does. Velvet would unquestionably suffer fates worse than death to save her sisters, but she would be more hesitant about the moral implications of, say, killing.

Basically: great lengths. These girls love each other to the moon and back.

6. What are their pet peeves about each other?

Chantilly: Chantilly is annoyed to no end by how brash and impetuous Chamomile is, and she spends a lot of time and effort trying to make up for this perceived fault. However, she's a little sweeter on her youngest sister, Velvet. Velvet's so kind that it's hard to think anything against her. Sometimes, though, she can't help but think that Velvet could be a little more practical.

Chamomile: She hates the fact that Chantilly always feels the need to rein her in and question her judgment. She loathes acknowledging her own mistakes; she wants to be self-reliant, but her impulsiveness undermines that. She doesn't like admitting that a lot of the time, she acts without thinking things through. Chantilly points that out for her and tries her best to keep her out of trouble, and Chamomile resents her supposed 'inability to mind her own business'. As for Velvet—well, just like Chantilly, she finds it difficult to find fault in her lovely younger sister. But sometimes she wishes that Velvet would just snap and speak up for herself instead of being so quiet and obliging all the time.

Velvet: She's a little peeved by Chantilly's tendency to try and soften the harsher truths of life. Basically, Chantilly's overprotective of her youngest sister, and it shows. Velvet thinks she can very well handle any difficulties that come her way, but Chantilly tries to shield her from it. Chamomile is also inclined to coddle Velvet, and she's not too enthusiastic about that.

7. What are their favorite things about each other?

Chantilly: Chantilly most loves Chamomile's deeply emotional core, although there are admittedly many, many layers of tough-girl bravado hiding Chamomile's vulnerability. It's that part of her that gives Chantilly faith that Chamomile will always pull through, no matter the circumstances. Chantilly also loves how Velvet can find beauty and grace in anything and everything, whether that's the overcast sky outside or the rough clothes they wear.

Chamomile: Chamomile secretly loves Chantilly's selflessness and unfailing ability to catch her loved ones when they fall and make mistakes and mess things up. She also is—yes, she admits it—a little jealous of Velvet's unconditional kindness and caring.

Velvet: Velvet loves Chantilly because she has an unassuming but undeniable backbone to her, and it shows up in everything she says or does. It's a quiet strength that Velvet wishes she could draw from. She also has a huge admiration for Chamomile's fearless way of speaking her mind and being assertive about her own wishes. 

8. What traits do they share? Mannerisms, clothing, quirks, looks, etc?

via

All three of them have the trademark 'Rosewater hair', passed straight down to them from their mother, Diane: strawberry blonde, easily tossed about, sometimes unruly. They're also all pretty smallish in terms of build—though Chamomile is easily taller than Chantilly now—and they have a habit of fiddling with their hair when they're nervous, possibly because it subconsciously reminds them of the bonds that tie them back to their family. They're also (probably due to their mother's experiences with their abusive father, and the fact that they were raised by a single mother) somewhat disinclined to trust boys, with their hearts or anything else. Other than that, though, they're all very different personality-wise, except for the deep-seated, awkward current of bravery running through them all. They like to say they inherited it from their mother; she's probably the person all three of them respect most in the world.

In addition, Chamomile and Velvet both got their mother's green eyes. Chantilly's unsettling purple eyes make her the odd duck.

via

9. Who has the strongest personality?

To a stranger, I'd say it would look like Chamomile has the strongest personality, and maybe that stranger would be right. She's certainly the loudest, most outspoken one of the three, and she has a more immediate presence than either of her sisters. She's a little commanding, a little rude, and a lot protective of her own ideas and her loved ones. But Chantilly's personality comes out really forcefully at certain times—when she feels like she should be the 'glue' holding her family together, for instance. Velvet's personality isn't weak, per se, but it's a lot more subdued.

10. How does their relationship change throughout your story?

It never once weakens—their strong sisterly bond is, in fact, one of the only constants throughout OtMS—but they grow to understand a lot more about each other as they each go through their own trials and tribulations. They each change individually in often-painful ways, but they always have their sisters to fall back on.

And that's the Rosewater girls for you! What do you think? Did you link up with Beautiful Books?

Read More

"Scribbler School" is my new occasional post series where I share my ruminations and ramblings on any and all aspects of writing, partially inspired by my good friend Alyssa's Noveling 101. There's no rhyme, reason, or semblance of sequence other than some honest thoughts. While I don't pretend to be teaching surefire writing methods—heck, I'm still that awkward kid in the back corner of the classroom and probably will be for a very long time—I'll use what little creative fairy dust I've picked up on my journey so far and great literary examples to try and help others out. (And, as you can see, some pretty amazing alliteration.)

For this first edition of "Scribbler School", we have a special guest—Alyssa from The Devil Orders Takeout! She and I are good friends (obviously) as well as graphic design buddies! This basically means we share a passion for procrastinating on our WIPs by making pretty images.

We're each guest posting on each other's blogs today as we both look into our own specialties when it comes to design as a writerly skill. I'll be talking about book cover design, so be sure to check that out here!

And without further ado, I'll have Alyssa take the stage with her brief tutorial on quote posters. *shuffles out*

~~~

Hi, I'm Alyssa from The Devil Orders Takeout, and I'm thrilled to deliver my take(out) on graphic design here on Christina's blog! By the way, I lied in the headline. I am rather an amateur in graphic design, but procrastination in writing led to many quote posters.

why this post exists.
also, thanks to anqi's
suggestion!

First of all, what are quote posters and why are they important?

Quote posters are essentially quotes arranged in pretty fonts and colours so you can stare at them and gush over your own gorgeous writing, while not actually writing. Common elements include a wide range of fonts, spaced out words, and much re-reading quote in dramatic voice.

Quote posters, whether they are physically on your wall, are mainly for inspirational purposes. Look at how prettily your words can be arranged. Feel all the angsty and philosophical feels. You can definitely write a whole book of these. If you actually remember to stop making these and go back to writing.

How to make quote posters: a three-step process

You may be thinking: but I'm a writer. I can't design for the life of me. (Okay, I know plenty of talented writers cum designers, but you may be like me.) First of all: now is the time to learn, no? Secondly, no worries. For those aesthetic-blind couch potatoes like myself, I have designed a three-step, worry-free process! For extra prettiness and procrastination, add one more step.

For all of the below, I used GIMP, a free program. However, I believe Picmonkey and Pixlr are also viable and free options. Rich persons may choose Photoshop, or preferably donate to me.

1. Choose the quote.

What? One of the steps isn't even graphic design? Yes indeed. Although your manuscript is no doubt thousands of perfect sentences, you do need to pick and choose here. It's always wise to keep a quote bank hanging around, but here are some tips from picking a quote to play with:

• not too short, but not too long — 10-15 words are ideal
• a little philosophy or metaphor would not go amiss
• do not rely on context, e.g. character names and relationships

Once you've selected a quote, then bold the words that you want to emphasise. Here's an example:

Slightly longer words are ideal for this purpose, because what you'll do is center these words on their own line. By the way, this quote is from Christina's very own On the Midnight Streets. Which is awesome and you should read it while gazing at this quote poster.

2. Lay out the words in the desired fonts.

There's no hard and fast rule for this, but do keep in mind not to cramp more than five words on one line. If your font size is below 15 px, that's a good indicator it's too small. Remember to make your bolded words larger, so that the viewer knows what's important!

Also, don't use more than three fonts, otherwise it can get distracting. Try to pick one sans serif font, e.g. Helvetica, Gill Sans, and one serif font, e.g. Times New Roman. To see if they go together, test the letters a, g, and e; those can tell you pretty quick whether the fonts match.

Let's see Christina's quote begin to flourish:

As you can see, I decided not to use 'down' as an emphasis word and use 'old' instead. Changes are perfectly okay in the process. Remember to space out your letters so that they more or less go along straight lines!

3. Change the colours. (optional)

Like with fonts, do not use too many colours. I normally use three: one for the background, one for normal words, and one for emphasis words. The 'normal' colour is normally a different shade of the background colour, while the 'emphasis' colour is wildly different; for example, if I use a cool colour for the background, the 'emphasis' colour is a warm or vibrant colour.

Remember also that the colours should reflect the theme of your work. If you're writing a snarky YA novel, maybe bright splashes of red and yellow are better than dark greens. On the Midnight Streets is a steampunk novel about politics and rebellion, so I used blue for the background/normal colour and crimson for the emphasis words.

I say this is optional because many quote posters out there, especially those on Etsy, are monochrome, a fancy word meaning 'black and white' so I seem knowledgeable about graphic design. However, if you're not planning to print it, colours add to the inspirational-ness of the quote!

4. Add decorations. (optional)

The quote poster is actually presentable now — if you look back at the first quote poster, "the element of almost" from my novel, I didn't do this step. However, you can add some decorations to spice your poster up and waste more time instead of fixing that plot hole on page 392.

For this step, remember to make use of paintbrushes that your software provides! I used the circle, square, acrylic brush and star paintbrushes, which are pretty basic. If that's too plain, you can download more from sites like DeviantArt; just be sure to follow the artist's guidelines.

The decorations shouldn't be random, however. Okay, the stars around 'promises' were a little whimsical, but see how "half-finished" is sliced in half, and "old" is crossed out with greying paint.

Just one reminder: don't skip both steps 3 and 4, otherwise your poster won't be very nice and time-wasting. These are my tips on quote poster-making — do you make quote posters, and what tricks do you have? Share with us in the comments! I'll be here to answer any questions.

~~~

Alyssa Carlier (@AlyssaC_HK) is a high school student in Hong Kong. She doesn't have a day job, but at night she breathes ink and paper and Kindle. In between bouts of writing, she dabbles with laboratory bacteria and blogs at RandomMorbidInsanity.blogspot.com. She sends exclusive content to her newsletter subscribers, because who doesn't like bonus takeout?

And that's all, folks! What do you have to say about Alyssa's pointers (I mean, they're pretty awesome)? Is this useful to you as a writer?

Read More

Long time, no Fiction Fridays! I've been neglecting this feature for entirely too long, which is lamentable, considering that it's one of my favorites to do on the blog.

This week's pick is a piece called "Five Fairytales About the End of the World", written by Chloe N. Clark. I'm just going to let that title sit in your head for a bit.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

The story was published in an online literary magazine called Gingerbread House, which publishes magical poetry and fiction. The magazine tells its submitters to "Take your fairy tale and twist it. Bend your fantasy to suit your needs. Be original and fresh, loose and lovely." And those are some pretty fabulous submission guidelines, if you ask me. I'm looking forward to reading more of Gingerbread House now that I've discovered it, and I advise you all to take a look into its archives as well!

I love this piece because it's composed of dark, magical vignettes that really give an impending sense of doom without being too forceful about it. It's absolutely exquisite, and chilling in the best sort of way. The writing is fluid and lovely and really controlled, elegant without being overdone. And the ending is perfection.

Here's my favorite sentence in the whole piece, just to give you an idea:

Death’s voice was boats breaking up in the middle of the sea and buildings crumbling in wartime and ice that cracks too soon.

But don't just let me tell you about it; see for yourself! The full story is available to read here.

(NOTE: It's Alyssa's birthday today! Go give her some virtual cake. Meanwhile, I'll be helping celebrate the birthday of one of my family members, which is also today.)

Read More

So Alyssa (I don't even need to tell you which Alyssa, come on) has once again taken note of my love for posts with questions and has tagged me for the Epic Reads Tag! Give her a round of applause for her wisdom, everyone, and off we go...

1. If you could invite one author and one of their fictional characters to tea, who would you invite and what would you serve them?

I would invite Maggie Stiefvater and Richard Campbell Gansey III. Because reasons. I would then spend the entire time trying to hypnotize Maggie into keeping Gansey alive (very discreetly so Gansey wouldn't notice) and getting very very flustered in front of Gansey because I have a huge crush on him.

(Although of course he and Blue belong together and that is that.)

I'd serve yogurt to Gansey and be delighted by his confusion, and I'd serve Maggie caffeine so she can hurry up and give me The Raven King instead of making me wait until, like, September.

(I'm only half kidding about that last bit.)

2. What book do you wish the author would write the prequel for?

GRISHA TRILOGY PREQUEL PLEASE. (I need to know about the Darkling's early life.) But I'd also love an Infernal Devices prequel about Will Herondale's parents.


3. Which two characters (NOT from the same book) do you think would make a good couple?

Zoya Nazyalensky from the Grisha trilogy and Storm from the Fire and Thorns trilogy. They're both very caustic people with hearts of gold and minds of steel. (I mean, they could end up destroying each other, but they could also end up destroying everyone else. Together. Who knows?)

4. If you ran into your favorite author on the subway and only could say one sentence to them who is it and what would it be?

What do you mean, CHOOSE ONE FAVORITE AUTHOR? I refuse. I'd probably end up saying something completely off-my-rocker like "OMG PLEASE GIVE ME YOUR BRAIN" and that'd be the one thing that the author would remember me by for the rest of their life.

5. What book made you a reader and why?

I have to respond to this question with another question: does anyone actually remember this? I'm not totally sure myself, but I had... interesting preferences when I was younger. It was probably some combination of Magic Tree House and picture books about Disney princesses and an odd fantasy series about a world called Droon. (My book taste has obviously come a long way since then.)

6. Incendio! Your bookshelf just caught fire! What is the one book you would save?

THIS IS THE MOST DIABOLICAL QUESTION I'VE EVER LAID EYES ON. Nonetheless, if I had to choose one, I'd probably end up saving my hardback copy of The Diviners by Libba Bray, because the original edition is really pretty, unlike the newer and horribly garish paperback, and isn't really around anymore. Or I'd save my extremely thick, beautiful bindup of seven of Jane Austen's novels.

7. Which dystopian world would you want to live in and why?

Okay, so the entire reason why worlds are dystopian is because they are TERRIBLE to live in. 100% horrible. But if I had to choose one... it'd probably be the world of The Selection because apparently the biggest problems in that world are who gets to wear which dress. Sounds pretty un-dystopian to me, but I'll take it.

8. What is your most Epic Read of all time?

Oh, the cruelty.

Okay, that's it, I seriously can't answer this. DO NOT MAKE ME.

I tag:

Anyone who'd like to do this! I've done several other tags in the past, so I don't want to get annoying with tagging the same people over and over again, but if anyone would like to do this, feel free to! Consider yourself tagged.

What do you consider your "epic reads"? Do we have similar tastes? Sound off in the comments!

Read More

I'm so excited to announce that another one of my stories is forthcoming in a literary magazine!

Quail Bell Magazine has accepted my piece "Vixen" for publication, and I'm thrilled to be able to share this utterly weird short story with you all. This is a magazine that's run and read by self-described "fairy punks", which is one of the greatest labels I've ever seen.

"Vixen" was originally written for—believe it or not—a school assignment. We were told to write stories with such-and-such elements as part of our gothic literature unit, and being the eccentric, curriculum-hating student I am, I decided that I wanted to subvert the 'traditional' gothic mold that our teacher intended for us.

Enter the strange but awfully cool notion of the Asian gothic aesthetic. Think about it: don't other cultures have just as much room for the macabre and spectral? Just let the idea simmer in your head; it gets pretty darn awesome.

Specifically, I wanted to work with Korean gothic.

I started playing around with this straightaway, and before long I'd come up with a spooky little tale about a kumiho (a Korean nine-tailed fox), a girl, and the village they prey on. It's basically my exploration of the boundary between girl and monster, and whether that boundary can start to blur and warp until it's barely there at all.

(One of my favorite subjects to write about, if you haven't all noticed already.)

Anyway, please do keep an eye out for the piece, and I hope you enjoy it! Happy reading.

Read More

...or, my miserable attempt at giving this blog hop post a nice title.

I'm all about helping out fellow bloggers I love, and one way of doing that is spreading the word when they switch sites and make an important move! You may remember I did a similar post for Cait when she moved to the epicawesome Paper Fury a little while back.

This time, I'm helping Emily (who previously blogged at The Loony Teen Writer) celebrate the launch of her new site, Loony Literate. Emily's a wonderful, enthusiastic Aussie teen blogger who talks books, writing, and everything in between, and I highly encourage you to go give her some love. It'll be more than worth it.

Read More

what is this #litlove thing?

It's a collaborative post series that debuted two months ago, featuring myself and four other lovely writer/bloggers:

Alyssa / Topaz / AnQi / Taylor

(So all together, you can call us CATAT, or CAATT, or—my personal favorite—ATTAC.)

Basically, this series is our chance to spout our love for the written word in all its forms, and it happens once every two months. It was born from a feverish Twitter fangirling session (as so many good things are) and then put into action. We've got a veritable army of ideas cooking, and we plan to spotlight everything from authors to tropes in the future. 

The original kick-off was our feature on brilliant middle-grade author Kate DiCamillo, in which I talked everyone's ears off about Because of Winn-Dixie. 

This time around, we're all featuring our shared love of Roald Dahl!

Read More

For this week's Music Monday, I'm hitting two birds with one stone and completing the Lyric Medley Tag on my Monday feature—for which I was tagged by Alyssa (I'm obviously running out of laudatory adjectives to describe her). 

Anyway, into the mess that is my music taste!

Read More

My first-ever contribution to a real anthology is out in the world today, and I'm completely over the moon - plus, I can't wait to read the rest of the winners' stories in the Freshman Fifteens COMMON ROOM collection.

Read More

A very belated happy 2015 to you all! I hope your resolutions (or pseudo-resolutions, or lack thereof) are chugging along nicely—I myself have settled quite nicely into this new year.

To start off the new blogging year on Fairy Skeletons on a thoroughly positive note, Alyssa @ Insanity Inc. has been kind enough to nominate me for a blogging award (again!), and I'm writing up my response post!

Read More