Month in a Nutshell: May 2015

5/31/2015

Posted by Christinain may 2015monthly recapscreenself8 comments

Oh gosh, where did May go? Here's a brief recap, I guess!
on the blog For my second-ever Scribbler School post, I talked about how to make your names work for your story. I participated in the third round of #LitLove (which is an Awesome Thing that I do with the ATTAC gang), highlighting William Shakespeare and one of my favorites of his plays: Othello. I did Beautiful People again because it's fun and emotionally compromising. This time, I spotlighted Rowen Raveneye and Yvette Scarleigh. I featured Maggie

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Alas, it's been a little while since Fiction Friday has shown its face around here. But never fear! It has returned, with a pick from one of my favorite authors of all time: Maggie Stiefvater.

You may remember Maggie Stiefvater's name from somewhere around the Internet because a) it is visible on the covers of the pieces of brilliance called The Scorpio Races, The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, and Blue Lily, Lily Blue; b) it is attached to her hilarious and enlightening Tumblr; or c) it appears impossible to pronounce and therefore kind of sticks in your brain (Maggie has declared her last name is pronounced steve-otter, if you were wondering). You may also remember Maggie Stiefvater's name from somewhere around the Internet because I fangirl over her... well, often, to understate things.

Some of you may also recall that I'm a fan of Twitter fiction. I even featured it in a Fiction Friday post once. I think it's a very innovative form of storytelling full of possibility.

So when the annual Twitter Fiction Festival rolled around this year and I learned Maggie Stiefvater would be participating, I was ecstatic. And not disappointed in the least. As my fifteenth (!!) Fiction Friday feature, I'd like to present Maggie's "Stories About Gods", a hilarious and inventive tale about... yes, gods.

Instead of the usual excerpt, I'm pleased to be able to embed the entire piece in Storify form below:

Did you enjoy that? Are you a fan of Maggie Stiefvater and/or Twitter fiction? Let me know in the comments below!

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Beautiful People: The Mean Girls of OtMS

5/17/2015

Posted by Christinain beautiful peoplecreative writinglinkupon the midnight streetsrowen raveneyestoryyvette scarleigh6 comments

I'm here to do Beautiful People for the second month in a row, as I enjoyed the sibling edition so much back in April. This time around, I'm featuring two characters who I affectionately (yes, I love them, so there) term the "mean girls" of On the Midnight Streets, my WIP.

This is mainly by request of Alyssa, because HOW COULD I NOT:
@_christinaim YVETTE. PLEASE YVETTE. Or maybe Rowen. Or Finn, if we haven't seen him before. — Alyssa Carlier (@AlyssaC_HK) May 6, 2015 (I promise

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William Shakespeare #LitLove: Othello

5/06/2015

Posted by Christinain appreciationlitloveothellostorywilliam shakespeare8 comments

graphic courtesy of topaz winters so what is #litlove? It's a collaborative post series that happens every two months. It debuted in December 2014, featuring myself and four other lovely writer/bloggers, dubbed ATTAC:

Alyssa / Topaz / Taylor / AnQi / Christina (that's me!)
Officially(ish) speaking: #LitLove 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

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Scribbler School: I Won't Name Names...

5/04/2015

Posted by Christinain creative writingnamingscribbler schoolstorywriting tips6 comments

...but I will have to eventually, and so will you if you're working on a manuscript.

So continues my new post series, "Scribbler School", and my long reflection on how to make names—long or short or just goshdarn eccentric—stick to the things they're meant for.
"Scribbler School" is my 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

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