Scookie Reviews

It turns out you have to work pretty hard at your last year of uni. I really should have seen this coming, but I don't think I'll be able to keep blogging until late December. I may post here and there if I do manage to squeeze some time out, otherwise I'll be back at Christmas with more tips, featured novels, and lots of free critiques!

You can always go one step back or forward along the show/tell spectrum. Sentences aren’t dichotomous . It isn’t as simple as one sentence shows and the other tells, but more to do with how much a sentence shows and how much it tells. For example: He was angry -> he frowned -> his eyebrows pulled together into an angry look. Where you need to be on the spectrum depends on the importance of the imagery. Is the character’s ghastly frown a pivotal moments or a strong feature of characterisation? Or is it just a quick frown like a passing thought which adds to the scene in a less imposing manor? Sometimes you may feel like you’ve already gone as far down the spectrum as needed and someone will tell you to go further – you need to decide how much showing adds to the story and if it can be told better. ----- On a side note, the workload for my degree is getting pretty heavy right now. I’ll aim to put out one post a week until it loosens up, although I already have a few more ‘s...

Today I’ve reached 21 years of bobbing along on this planet. I’m somewhat hung-over from my party last night (if 'somewhat' means 'very'), and I’m spending the day learning how to use an eye-tracking machine for my third year project at university. The eye-tracker is worth £30,000 and you can break it by touching its mirror... Don’t touch the mirror. Anyway, as it’s my birthday, I’m going to give you guys a mini present. Have you heard of a competition called ‘Pitch Wars’? Anyone who has a completed manuscript can choose 4 out of 47 writing mentors to send their pitch to. These writing geniuses will pick one novel each to help polish up before submitting it participating agents. So basically, there’s a chance to have your novel looked at by someone who knows how to make it perfect, and then a chance to test out the polished novel.  Fancy a go? The best bit is that it’s not for another month. If you’re novel isn’t quite there, then spend the whole of November re...

Hands up if a critic has told you ‘show don’t tell’ (SDT). Keep that hand up if you found it rather unhelpful at the time or if that critic didn’t elaborate much. Yes, it’s a pesky phrase. Showing rather than telling can be a pretty powerful tool, and here's what it really means: Showing brings your words to life, creates imagery, and lets the reader know exactly what’s going on. It doesn’t tell you facts explicitly, but builds an idea in your head so that usually you understand it in far more detail than you would have. Good writing makes you realise a fact without being told it straight. As a writer it forces you to explore your imagination further really think about your story and your characters. It adds depth. *But showing is not always better than telling.* Telling adds pace. It moves the story along and sums up ideas that may be unclear if let to just showing. It doesn’t try to add detail to a relatively boring fact. It lets you know what piece of information is imp...

Last month I posted up a competition to find an amazing opening chapter. I can tell you now, there were some strong contestants. I definitely wasn’t expecting to read something as polished as A Song Of Steel by Alyssa Carlier. Title: A song of Steel: I, Players and Pieces Username: Queen of Starlight Site: Figment I have yet to read more chapters, but the opening is well crafted, intriguing, and you can tell it was written with passion and edited a thousand times. I won’t give too much away, but if you like the sound of an assassin story that dives straight into the action, then take a read of this. The best feature is definitely the main character, Serilda. I love a dark character, someone who is far from average and has a unique view on life. I want a character to think differently to me, to act in ways that challenge my expectations, and ultimately entice me to read what they will do next. Serilda is exactly that. I will definitely be reading more soon. Here’s the li...

Sometimes it because of a blind spot. Other times, it because your typing-brain want to make you look silly. Either way, be aware of different words which sound similar (homophones), especially in your internal monologue which lets you know what to type.  It’s hard to write a first draft without having at least one of these hiding in that particular chapter. The aim of the game is to spot it before anyone else does. Here are a few that are commonly written but not commonly spotted, or so it seems: Dessert – A tasty pudding. Desert – A not so tasty vast area of sand and heat and sand... Wary – Concern, worry, cautiousness. Weary – Tired from physically activity or lack of sleep. Storey – A level in a building, like your bedroom is probably on the second storey. This is a British preference. Story – A wonderful tale. Perhaps take a read of my newest story, The Clearing ? No? Well, I tried. Compliment – A polite, usually positive comment. Complement – A positive a...

I’m having to point out how to format taglines on a regular basis now, especially when the dialogue takes the form of a question. I thought I’d throw together a quick guide in hopes that everyone who was unaware will see this and instantly understand... Or even just one person. “I fancy a biscuit,” said Samantha. – And I do (how could you tell?) although that’s not the point. My point is you need a comma after biscuit and ‘said’ is in lowercase because the following words form a tagline. It’s a tagline because it refers to how the dialogue is said or who says it. “I fancy a biscuit.” Samantha grabbed the tin. – There’s no tagline. Therefore you need a full stop and to start a new sentence. “I fancy a biscuit.” She smiled. – This doesn’t refer to how the speech is said. Therefore you need a full stop. “Where are my biscuits?” shouted Samantha. – You need lowercase into the tagline. Think of it as part of the sentence. “My biscuits!” she cried. – Again, lowercase. Whether...

I have learnt a new word! Somehow it has been nestled in my blind spot, although luckily the concept hasn’t avoided me. It refers to saying the same thing twice but with different words. It reiterates an idea which you’ve just explained... see what I did? And it does so without adding anything more to the point or force. You’ll wanna avoid tautology. Make sure that every sentence – every word – adds to the description or point. If it doesn’t add, then you don’t need it. Remove it from your paragraph and either replace it with something that brings the piece to life or keep the space free so that the pace can increase. Sometimes this can relate to modifiers. For example, ‘he sprinted quickly’ has a sense of tautology to it. You don’t need to say both ‘sprinted’ and ‘quickly’. It’s superfluous description (another great word). The raw, basic form of the sentence is much stronger that the one with that extra word of description, although it’s not always felt immediately. That’s no...

Writing is subjective. There’s no way around that. Even if someone really loves your story, they may not agree with every decision you’ve made, and that can be frustrating. Here’s a few more points to consider when deciding what to do when a critique ruffles your feathers: Dissonance is that uncomfortable feeling you get when I tell you I don’t like your favourite line in your book. If you think you’re a grammar ninja, yet I pull out a list of mistakes as long as a rattlesnake, then you’ll feel dissonance. It’s a psychological process that helps protect your self-esteem and gets in the way of being objective. If you feel upset by someone’s comment, don’t make any decisions straight away. You’re likely to get defensive and will be unable to make changes that could possibly help you. Return to it once the dissonance has settled. Some critics will bunch together. ‘I agree with bookrighter046 that Tom is a pointless character’. The fact that two of them have missed the subtleness of Tom ...

The votes are in. It turns out you guys want to know more about when it’s okay to ignore critics. This is probably because we've all had bad reviews. If you've only had love for everything you write, chances are you haven’t faced the right audience yet.  However, this article is a much about when to listen to a critic as it is to ignore them. You can’t please everyone.   You’re not even meant to please everyone. A critic once told me to only listen to people who didn’t like my genre, didn’t like the first chapter, and wouldn’t have read the book after reading the blurb. This angered me because I worried she might have told others to do this too. At first, I wanted to rant back at her how absurd that was - you write for an audience, a subsection – but then I realised she’d learn that in her own time or suffer the consequences. Sure, some books are loved by all. Harry Potter is a good example. It was originally aimed at a young audience, yet it...

I’m a psychology undergraduate doing my final year project on figurative language. If I find something interesting or relative to writing (the whole reason I picked a psycholinguistic project) then I’ll post it on here for you to read. Do we have a deal? I'll start with the psychological difference between a metaphor and a smile. A simile compares two concepts using ‘like’ or ‘as’ to. A metaphor is very similar except it states that the concepts are the same despite the reader knowing they’re not. It turns out metaphors are more powerful because we can read them faster. This was discovered by measuring how long it took for a person to read a sentence written in a metaphorical form (‘jobs are jails’) compared to how long it took to read as a simile (‘jobs are like jails’). Metaphors were read faster! They also provide different types of imagery. Similes provide more basic links which are true for both items where as metaphors seem to open your mind up to further possibilitie...

A sentence is only big enough for the one sentence... When two clauses can be written as two different sentences and you’ve used a comma instead of full stop, there's a 90% chance you've made an error. Whether it’s in dialogue or not is irrelevant. I ate an orange, it was nice. This is no good, my friend – no good at all. There are two complete clauses. They may feel somewhat linked but that doesn't mean it is okay to splice them together with a comma. The fix is so simple too: I ate an orange. It was nice. That’s usually the intended structure, but it’s not the only way you can fix it. Take a look at this fancy range of comma splice fixes I have to offer you today: * Use a semicolon instead . Only do this when there's an implied link between the two sentences. * Why not throw in a coordinating conjunction? These short and simple words can link your independent clauses together, keeping your comma intact (it will still need the comma). Examples are for,...

The opening chapter is pivotal. It needs to draw in an intended audience – it needs flare and promise of things to come, with writing that earns the reader’s trust, luring them into the next chapter.  I’ve made a quick quiz to test whether your opening has what it takes. You don’t need all of these things for a good chapter. Hell, I bet there are a few I’ve forgotten too! Answer each of the following using evidence from your opening. If you can’t, then maybe you need to spice up the chapter. 1) Is your opening line unique, scene setting, or hooking? 2) What makes your character unique? 3) Pick out your best line of description. 4) Pick out your quirkiest line. 5) Is the genre and sub-genres obvious? 6) Is it clean from silly mistakes – have you read through more than 10 times? 7) Does it end on a cliff-hanger? 8) What makes it different from other novels in that genre? 9) Does it start close to the action? 10) Are you happy with it?...

Despite basically sharing a language, there are many differences British English and American English. Some of these differences are stealthy like little grammatical ninjas. The only reason I'm aware of some of them is because they've been pointed out as mistakes when I've been certain they’re not. Turns out we’re both sorta right. It’s good to be aware of these things when critiquing work or when reading what critics have to say about your writing. So here’s yet another list. I hope it helps! #1 : Mr and Mrs. British preference is to leave out the full stop after abbreviation of titles where as American preference is to keep them in. Very simple. But wait - the plot thickens. If the abbreviation ends with the different letter as the full word, a full stop is preferred. Take professor and prof. as an example. That’s why it may feel like there’s a pick and choose situation going on, although I can assure you there isn’t. It all makes perfect sense. It does. ;) #2: s and...

I almost don’t want to talk about intentional mistakes because the whole area is a gigantic grey blob. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. You have to be careful and use your own discretion, but here’s one way I feel it does work: “Me and Kelsey...” I’ve had this phrasing in my novel for a while, but it’s finally been pointed out by a critic. I expected it to raise alarm bells for many more writers than it has because the critic was right. It isn’t grammatically correct... It is a deliberate mistake. In a normal conversation with my friends, I don’t think I’ve ever actually said ‘Kelsey and I...’ because it sounds too posh – and I’m from Oxford! Instead I worded it how I felt my character would have said the phrase in that situation. Conversations are imperfect, filled with false starts, grammatical errors, and ambiguous phrases which are nevertheless understood perfectly fine at the time. If you write dialogue the way you actually speak, it would be very confusing to rea...

This is the first of what I hope to be a regular feature to support those hoping to get published some day. Writing sites only support those who are popular and agents accept those lucky few.  But what about those who   write amazing stories and just haven’t been found or don’t have the time to promote themselves? Here I’ll feature those special stories I felt deserve more attention. Title: Curious Username: Missbaaria Site: Wattpad Simon is a happily miserable person, afraid of change and carrying a lot of baggage. When a pair of golden door in the middle of a road threaten his sanity, Simon must decide whether to leave them be or let his curiosity get the better of him. A real strength of this novel is Simon. His grumpiness is quirky, and he sees the world in a very different light to most people. Many writers tend to write themselves into the novel and the character falls flat, but I can tell that Simon has had both time and thought put into his personality a...

Critiquing is a big part of writing sites. A good way to lure people into your novel is to offer a read in return, and including a few notes of improvement can encourage others to do the same for you. Usually your instincts provide very helpful advice, but we’ve all read reviews that have made us roll our eyes rather than change our ways. Here are a few things I keep in mind when reviewing, so maybe you’ll find them useful too. Tip#1 If you’re unsure, google it. If you’re pretty sure, google it. There’s nothing worse that offering bad advice based on your own mistakes. Actually there is: finding out a week later when another critic corrects you. If you’re unsure, it’s best to either admit you’re uncertain or look it up – learn for next time so that your advice is the one to trust. Tip#2 Think of it as an opportunity to learn. We often don’t realise our blind spots until it comes to critiquing others. Don’t think of it as a chore or something that means you’ll get fewer rea...

This is part two of my 'modifying modifier usage' posts, although I decided against calling it that on the basis that I can’t say it out loud.  I’ll get straight to the point: it is better to use specific nouns and verbs than to stuff your sentence full of modifiers. If taking away every adverb and adjective in your writing leaves you with a bland story, then you’re doing it wrong. Pick interesting seed words instead. Otherwise it’s like putting lipstick on a very bland looking pig. Here are some common examples: Runs slowly --> Jogs Said quietly --> Whispered, muttered, murmured Frowned aggressively --> Growled, glared, glowered, scowled Often, reducing usage of modifiers can make a sentence feel stronger. Take taglines for example. Sometimes just ‘said’ can feel more apt, especially if you've used a lot of description in other taglines or you don’t particularly need to accentuate the way that bit’s spoken. Basically, it’s better to think about what you’re doing a...

Essentially, modifiers are adjectives and adverbs. They are words or phrases that change the meaning of a noun or verb. So rule 1: If the modifier doesn't modifier anything, take it out.  I'll talk more about that in a later post (these little tykes are more complicated than one post could explain). Right now, I want to talk about using them to put emphasis on a particular point. Every so often I review a story jammed packed with the little buggers, and sometimes it’s hard to explain why less is more. Surely more are better because they allow more imagery and detail! Well, not exactly. Using too many can cause the reader to take less away from the sentence than intended. The idea is to be selective. Be aware that using modifiers can bring extra emphasis to a particular feature, but know that this power has a limited usage. Here’s an example: The old gates creaked loudly as the chubby man walked through quickly. – No emphasis. The old gates creaked as the man w...

I’m fond of this piece of punctuation despite it being entirely optional. It takes the name of my hometown, and likeness breeds attraction and all. Not that I’m attracted to a comma...  Anyway, the Oxford comma is placed before the ‘and’ which introduces the last item of a list. In the following example, I’ve placed it in brackets: I saw a squirrel, a penguin[,] and a camel in the zoo. As you can see, the comma doesn’t make much of a difference to the example above. The reason I still opt in isn’t because of sentences like that. The Oxford comma is useful when the list is a little more complicated because it groups together the second to last item and separates it from the last. If you still use it when it’s not necessary, I like to think it still has a subconscious consistency effect on readers. It feels neater too, but then we know I’m biased. Take a look at this example too: I saw a squirrel with a nut, a penguin and an iceberg, and a camel in the zoo. The comma se...

After years of working on my urban fantasy novel, I’ve finally started the querying process. It's already had some mini success: an agent has requested a partial! I can’t be happier at the moment. If the agent doesn’t feel I can write a good book, well, at least they thought I could write a good query. I'll post up more about the novel soon. Here's the short pitch and a link to chapter 1 is below. Go on, give it a read. =P ASHES TO EMBERS As the power struggle between those with magic intensifies, an unsettling vision is uncovered by three young friends – good can never win, as it must become evil to do so. With Demons growing stronger, Feya and Kelsey train to harness their magic alongside their powerless friend Tristan, knowing that the harsh times will either kill them or turn them evil. Options are scarce until an exiled rogue, remembered for her inexplicable attack on Tristan, returns with a risky proposition: to become allies with a Demon, abandon their fri...

If you’ve got more than five semicolons in your opening chapter, I can guarantee you are using them wrong. No need to worry though. Delete all of them. Yes, all. Then put back in the four or five that were actually needed (and that’s per book, not chapter). Here’s a quick test for you. Do you know which of these needs a semicolon? 1) I ran to the door; keys in my hand. 2) I ran to the door; keys jingling as I went. 3) I ran to the door; I didn’t want anyone else to answer it. 4) I ran to the door; I answered it. Sentences 1 and 2 should have commas instead. Semicolons are used to join two completed sentences. If either of your sentences can’t stand alone as an independent sentence, then you shouldn’t use a semicolon. Sentence 4 is wrong for an entirely different reason. Semicolons can make a writer feel powerful. We think we’re being exciting and dramatic; readers think we’re pretentious. If nothing is implied, then nothing is added by having the punctuation there. Once u...

Here are 10 random facts about me. I like to keep things quirky.  1) I'm a blue sash at Kung Fu. 2) Light makes me sneeze. Apparently it's called a photoptarmosis. 3) I've been writing Ashes to Embers on and off for 5 years, starting when I was 16. I wrote Shadow Runner in-between and hope to see both novels published someday. 4) Sometimes I sleep with my eyes open. I've seen pictures... yes, it's creepy. 5) I sent my first novel off to literary agents when I was 14. It was a bit ambitious, I know, but I managed a partial and it taught me a lot about the publishing process. 6) I study pscyhology at univeristy (but no I can't read your mind. Yes, it's a real science.) 7) I have a poem called Corrupt published by Frontenac Publishers after winning a Wattpad contest. 8) I go by the name dreamybanana and scookie on writing sites. 9) I'm teaching myself guitar... badly (sorry, neighbours!). 10) My lovely boyfriend is also called Sam.

I’m an unpublished author, fighting the slushpile. I hope to share with you guys both my experiences at trying to get published and the writing nuggets I’ve pick up through reviewing. Here’s what the blog will hopefully include: 1) I spend a lot of time critiquing chapters and a lot of time repeating myself. I hope to post weekly tips and articles with advice based on those reviews. 2) To tell you lovely people about my manuscript: ASHES TO EMBERS. It’s an urban fantasy for young adults with a hint of romance. I’m at the stage of querying, so I’ll be posting updates on that. 3) To offer critiquing tips to those just starting out. Reviewing other manuscripts is a big part of joining a writing community but it doesn’t need to be thought of as giving and it should contain more than just ‘I love it’. 4) Finally, I have a freebie (sorta) in the form of a chapter by chapter editing service. Basically, I enjoy working with writing to help them develop their stories, so instead of po...