Ready For Another Session!

Posted in Camp NaNo, Harry Potter by

I have a very vague idea for my August novel, so I’m just going to write and see what happens.  It’ll be fun, I think, as long as I don’t get bored or anything.  Even if I do get bored, I have a list of back-ups.  And this month, we get to be a part of cabins, which seem to be a more toned down form of the NaNo forums. 

I’m currently at 3,888 words, and I’m having no problem keeping things moving.  I doubt it’ll last very long, but if I can keep up this pace, I should be good for the rest of the week!

And Pottermore!  I got in!  On the first day!  I checked it sometime after midnight, and the clue was up, so I figured it out and got my registration email, and validated!  Now I’m waiting for the welcome email, which will come sometime this summer.  I can’t believe I finally got my letter to Hogwarts!  I’ve seen some sneak peaks of Pottermore, and it looks amazing!  I’m seriously excited about Pottermore!  I even did a happy dance after registering, and I did another one after I validated!  I’m pretty sure I’ll be talking it about it once I get my welcome letter.  I’m really excited, can you tell by all the exclamation points?  I even love my username, which is SpiritCharm15, so if anyone’s going to be doing Pottermore at some point, look me up!

I think that’s it, so have a great day!

Vampire Academy

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Book: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Pages: 332/Paperback

My Thoughts: It was really lackluster.  I loved the storyline itself, but didn’t like a lot of the characters, especially the 2 main characters, Rose and Lissa.

Lissa is a Morai princess, and is a mortal vampire with a very strong bond to the earth’s magic.  She needs to be protected from the Strigoi, who are your stereotypical vampire.  This is where Rose steps in.  She has both human and vampire blood, which makes her a Dhampir.

The Morai seemed more like glorified witches than actual vampires, because heaven forbid they become like the all-evil Strigoi.  I felt like Mead didn’t think through the Morai/Strigoi/Dhampir very well at all.  For a book set in a vampire school, you forget about the students being vampires (or the Dhampir, who protect the Morai).  I like the idea of different kinds of vampires, and one group being more powerful.  I also like the idea of the Strigoi hunting the Morai.  However, the execution of it fell flat for me- almost like Mead didn’t think it all the way through. 

As for the actual characters, Rose isn’t likeable at all, and seems to be more interested in getting drunk and making out with random guys.  Plus, she has a tendency to get into fights, and seems to be very petty.  I wasn’t impressed with the other characters either.

The writing was horrible!  The transitions were horrible, and Mead kept alluding to some event that led Lissa and Rose leaving school, which we didn’t find out about until the last third of the book.  The book was more telling then showing.  An accurate description would be that it’s like a teen telling you a story, which, in a way, is true. 

Then there’s the fact that it was really boring…there really wasn’t enough action to keep me interested, and sadly, the last 30 to 40 pages were the most interesting of the whole book.  It’s too bad that it took nearly 300 pages to get so interesting…only for it to end.

Rating: 2 out of 5.  It seriously sounds like a teen wrote it, and it definitely could have used a lot of work before being published.

Wildwood Dancing

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Book: Wildwood Dancing by Julliet Marillier

Pages and Format: 403/Hardcover

My Thoughts: Wildwood Dancing is about 5 sisters living in Transylvania, at the castle Piscul Draculi.  We have Jena, who is the second oldest, her oldest sister Tati, and her 3 younger sisters, Paula, Iulia and Stela.  Jena’s best friend is her frog Gogu, who she found in the woods.  Every Full Moon, the sisters go through a portal to the Other Kingdom, where they dance and talk with all of the different creatures of the magical realm. 

However, when their father falls ill, and travels to another town to get better, their cousin Cezar arrives to help oversee the castle.  Things quickly go downhill as Cezar takes over many of the responsibilities that were left to Tati and Jena, and goes on a hunt to get rid of the forest where the Other Kingdom is.

Honestly, I didn’t like Cezar at all, and it turned out, I had good reason not to like him.  His older brother “drowned” when Cezar, Jena, and Costi (Cezar’s brother) and Cezar did nothing to save him.  It turns out the witch of the forest saved Costi, and turned him into a frog…who happened to be named Gogu.

I also found Jena to be somewhat unlikeable too, especially with all her fights with Cezar about how she was in charge of the castle while her father was gone and could manage just fine without Cezar’s help.  She whined and complained about how she was responsible and in charge, and yet she didn’t seem to be very good at running the household in her father’s absence. 

I loved the setting, and the descriptions of the forest and area were amazing!  It started off slow, and then everything picked up. 

I liked Gogu/Costi, as well as Jena’s younger sisters, and I wished that the 3 younger sisters had more of an appearance.  She drew on the mythology and folklore of Transylvania, and she wove in elements of the frog prince as well.  The cover art is really pretty, and it definitely went well with the title of the book, and the whole Other Kingdom element of the book.

Rating: It gets a 3 out of 5, because Cezar and Jena were annoying, and I hated the fact that the family troubles were attributed to a witch, but there were a lot of other things that I really liked.

Mischief Managed: Happy Birthday Harry Potter!

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Today is Harry Potter’s birthday (and J.K. Rowling, in case anyone is wondering).  The boy wizard himself is 31!  I wanted to give that a quick mention, as well as the fact that 1 million lucky people get to see Pottermore early!  I’m pretty excited about Pottermore, and I can’t wait until it’s open to everyone.  I think I might try and get the early access.  Whether I actually get it is another story, but since I have a lot of time on my hands, I figure I might as well try.

I thought I’d share some of my favorite moments from both the books and the movies, in no particular order.

  • Seeing Hogwarts for the first time (Movie: SS)
  • Hermione punching Draco (PoA: awesome in the book, even more awesome in the movie!)
  • Fred and George leaving Hogwarts with a bang (OoTP: awesome in the book, but they could’ve left with more of a bang in the movie)
  • “Harry, you’re a wizard.” (SS: one of the most memorable lines of the entire series)
  • “Not my daughter, you bitch!” (DH: also one of the most memorable lines from the whole series)
  • Harry, Ron, and Hermione meeting for the first time (SS)
  • Harry’s First Visit to Diagon Alley (SS- the book version was a lot better than the movie version)
  • The first quidditch match (SS)
  • The 7 Harry’s (DH- funny in the book, funnier in the movie)
  • Snape’s memories (DH- this made me cry)
  • Draco being turned into a ferret (GoF- funny in the book, just as funny in the movie)
  • Hermione, Ron and Harry taking on a troll (SS)

Have a great day!

Who’s A Winner? Me!

Posted in Camp NaNo by

I'm A Winner!

I finally got to 50k!  Which means I’m a winner!  Camp NaNo has been fun, although I did lose interest with the NCIS fanfiction I had in mind. 

I’m glad I focused on short stories, because I so rarely write them.  I didn’t want to start a longer project, only to abandon it. 

I ended up with 38,341 for my NCIS fanfic, and I was a little sad I lost interest in it.  I end up focusing on the micro-chip mystery of the season finale, but quickly got bored, and didn’t want to write it anymore.  I was really close to giving up Camp NaNo completely, but I am glad I decided to focus on short stories for the rest of the month. 

I really like having two novels, and I really prefer it too, because I can go back and forth between both.  Or if one doesn’t work out, I always have something else to fall back on.  And I’m not left wondering if I should give up, or try writing something different. 

For all the short stories I wrote, I ended up with 11,795, so my total for the month was 50,137.  I’m surprised I finished early, but it’s a relief too, since that’ll give me a couple days to figure out what I want to do for next month.

More Random Thoughts About Harry Potter

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I’ve come up with a few more thoughts about Harry Potter, so enjoy!

  • We know that Hogwarts students can’t do magic over summer breaks.  But what about when students first get their letter and later on, their wands.  Does the Trace start once they say they’re going to Hogwarts, or does it start at some later point?  I would imagine that it would have to start at some later point, because they aren’t actually students yet and are more likely to use accidental magic, so therefore, it would make no sense for them to have the trace.  And that actually brings us to our next point…
  • Why do the first years have to take the boats, while all the second years and above have to take the carriages?  I bet there are some really interesting theories out there, but I don’t really have my own thoughts.  The only thing I can think of is the first point.  Is that why the first years take the boat to Hogwarts, so that the the Trace can be put on them?  That makes the most sense, because once it’s cast, it’s there until it breaks when the witch or wizard turns 17.
  • Speaking of the trace, how does it work at Hogwarts?  I’m guessing it’s completely ignored, because there doesn’t seem to be a way to remove it.  And besides, they’re learning how to use their magic, so to monitor magical activity at Hogwarts is stupid.  And what about the use of magic on the Hogwarts Express?  Magic is used pretty freely on the train, so I’m assuming that the train is overlooked by the ministry.  Either that, or it’s considered to be an extension of Hogwarts.  In relation to Hermione practicing some spells before her 1st year, and everything I’ve already said, it’s likely students about to start at Hogwarts aren’t monitored.
  • Sorting students into their houses: How exactly is it determined what house each student goes into?  Personality traits and who the person is are clear factors, if you look at the song from Sorcerer’s Stone.  And choice is also a factor, because Harry said he didn’t want to go into Slytherin, even though that’s where the Hat wanted to put Harry.  But I find it hard to believe that each year is equally sorted into each house.  So does the sorting hat also take into account where other students have been sorted?  Like, would someone who has the clear traits of a Ravenclaw end up in Hufflepuff because there aren’t enough students in Hufflepuff?  Does it even matter if there are a few more students in one or two houses?  Unfortunately, my thoughts aren’t as nicely put as they are in this blog post, but I agree with it.

I think that wraps up this installment of random thoughts about Harry Potter, but I’m sure I’ll come up with more.

Camp Is Ending Soon!

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Alright, Camp NaNo is coming to a close.  Well, for July anyway. 

I’ve been really bored with my NCIS fanfic since week 2/week 3.  I fell further and further behind, not wanting to work on it at all.  I’ve since abandoned my NCIS fanfic in favor of writing short stories for the rest of the month.  I did a couple flash fiction pieces, and I’ve done 4 Harry Potter fanfics.  They’re fairly short, but they’re not as involved as something longer. 

The only problem I’ll have is coming up with 4 more ideas, so I’ll have to give that some thought.  I’ve been sticking to 1667 per day, so I’ll need 3 more ideas if I stick to that as my goal.  Maybe a few more, just in case the three end up being a little shorter.  I’m on pace to finish early, which will be a relief. 

I’m at 45,049: 38,341 for my NCIS fanfic and 6,708 for the other stuff I’ve written.  Now I’m back on track after being behind for most of the month!

Today, I’m going to come up with some ideas for some short stories, and I’ll go from there.  And I also need to figure out what I’m writing next month, because I definitely want to do Camp NaNo again.  I have an idea, but I’m not sure what direction to take it, so I’ll need to figure that out in the next few days.

Pretty Little Liars

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Book: Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard

Pages And Format: 286/Paperback

What I Thought: This is the first book in the series.  The series is about 4 girls, Hanna, Spencer, Aria and Emily, who used to be best friends.  After the disappearance of their friend Alison, the group falls apart, and they’re no longer friends.  Three years later, the 4 girls start getting texts and emails from the mysterious A, who knows secrets that only Alison knew.  There are also references to something known as the “Jenna thing,” which is probably revealed in one of the later books. 

Alison, however, is found buried in the backyard of the house she lived in, and the book ends with a text from A, saying that she’s still here, and knows everything.

I first heard about the books when I caught one of the episodes on tv, but didn’t give it another thought until recently, when I saw a commercial for the show.  I’m definitely intrigued with the series, and I really want to know who A is, what really happened to her, and what the Jenna thing is all about.

Rating: I give it a 4 out of 5.  I love the mystery and intrigue set up in the book, plus, it’s a really fast read.

April Shadows

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Book: April Shadows by V.C. Andrews

Pages and Format: 406/Hardcover

My Thoughts: This was a hard book to get into.  Having read The Flowers In The Attic series and My Sweet Audrina, I really wanted to give some of her other books a try. 

We have April, who’s the main character in this series.  The first 2 or 3 chapters were really boring- it was all about April talking about how her dad changed from this really good dad into this awful, horrible person.  Surprise, surprise, he had a brain tumor or something, and died from it.  Then her mom kills herself, so April is left in the care of her older sister Brenda.  April, however, ends up living with her uncle Palaver.  He, very predictably, dies, and we’re left wondering what will happen with April.  Her sister drops out of college to play professional basketball, so April is supposed to go stay with one of her cousins until Brenda gets back from her trip.

It was pretty disappointing, which I think in part is because this is written by a ghost-writer, and didn’t really have the same charm that Flowers In The Attic did.  There was a certain amount of suspense, and I kept waiting for something to evil to happen…and it never did.  It definitely felt like something was lurking in the shadows, and unfortunately, that something didn’t materialize in this book.

My Rating: It gets a 2 out of 5.  It was just okay, and I’m not sure I want to give this particular series anymore of my time.

The Ominous Omnibus

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Book: The Ominous Omnibus (A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Books 1-3) by Lemony Snicket

Pages/Format: 592/Hardcover

What I Thought: I’ve been meaning to read A Series Of Unfortunate Events for ages, so when I was browsing through the children’s section at the library, I had to pick this up!

I didn’t like it as much as I thought, and if I stopped after reading the first book, I would have been fine.  For those not familiar with the series, it’s about the unfortunate lives of the Baudelaire orphans.  In the first book (The Bad Beginning), we learn that their parents died, so the 3 children go to live with Count Olaf.  He’s after their fortune, which they can’t touch until the oldest is an adult.  He tries to marry Violet, but his attempt fails, so they go off to live with a different relative in The Reptile Room.  Once again, Count Olaf tries to get a hold of their fortunate by murdering their Uncle Monty.  And naturally, this attempt fails, so in The Wide Window, they get sent to live with their Aunt Josephine, who dies in the lake. 

I got through the 1st one really fast but somewhere in the second one, it really started to get boring.  I get the whole point of the series is that all of these really bad things happen to the kids, but I started to get really annoyed with it.  The adults in the series with the exception of one or two, were either evil or completely useless.  The whole Sunny said X, which probably means Y bit got really tired, and while the definition of different words in the books are really great for the kids, I found it somewhat distracting. 

There is a certain quirkiness to the adults, though, and there is something sort of steampunk about Violet inventing things, and looking at the different gears and stuff.

I think I would have liked it a lot better if I didn’t read the 3 books back-to-back.  If I do decide to continue on with the series (it’s not going to be anytime soon), then I’ll definitely take some time in between each one. 

Rating: 2 out of 5.  I felt like I got a pretty good handle on the series just from reading the first book, and the following two were just a repetition of The Bad Beginning, with a few character changes, and a different disguise for Count Olaf.