shoot-the-wizard - Tumblr blog

[shoot-the-wizard]

So, The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi is pretty fab huh?

An even *more* woke Six of Crows, with a bunch of (queer disaster) misfits reverse Indiana-Jonesing a bunch of magics artefacts a European secret society has stolen from other cultures? Postcolonial shade on practically every page? A bisexual love triangle between an Autistic Jewish girl and two men of colour, with one of said men of colour being the centre of the love triangle in question? The amount of yearning between our two main characters….?

I want The Silvered Serpents, like, yesterday.

[shoot-the-wizard]

[shoot-the-wizard]

Signed Saturday

The World That We Knew is a gorgeous novel about motherhood and rebellion. It’s an immersive work about Lea, a young girl who escapes Nazi Berlin with the help of a golem named Ava. The golem was created by Ettie, a Rabbi’s daughter who sets off to France with her sister, determined to escape persecution and perhaps even rebel against it. I’m so glad that I was able to meet Alice Hoffman at BookExpo, and get a signed review copy of this book, because it’s astonishing. Historical fiction mixed with the fantastic, it’s a novel about Ettie’s fire, Lea’s heartbreak, and Ava’s humanity. It sweeps across so many perspectives and takes without ever losing its emotional center. And I’m obsessed with the silver, reflective crane on its cover.

Signed Saturdays is a weekly series at While Reading and Walking. I’m an avid book collector, and each Saturday, I’ll tell the story of one of my signed books. Feel free to join in at #SignedSaturdays.

[shoot-the-wizard]

Oh. My. God. This book......*incoherent fangirl screeching and flailing*. I loved this book with my whole heart. There’s just no other way to say it. This went some unexpected directions and I can’t wait to see how it all plays out in the rest of the series.

The Hanged Man is filled with some of the most lovable characters. From Rune and Band, to Max and Quinn, to the Dawncreeks and all the rest. There is just no way that you couldn’t fall in love with them. Edwards really knows how to pull on your heartstrings. And damn, did he ever! Also! Quinn is one of my favorite characters from this series. He’s precious and just needs a hug.

There were so many amazing moments in this book! Soft moments with the kids and connecting as a ragtag found family. WTF moments filled with hideous and dark forbidden magic. Totally badass moments filled with new found powers and the claiming of birthrights. But there were also hilarious moments to balance everything out. It was all so good and I don’t think there was anything I didn’t like about this book.

Honestly, this book was amazing. I was totally blown away by it and I can’t wait to get my hand on the next book....and all short stories. The Hanged Man is getting a solid five stars.

[shoot-the-wizard]

I just read a 400+ pages book in less than one day for the first time in forever and it feels so good ^^ It's been ages since I've been that invested in a book! (The book was Cryptos by Ursula Poznanski, it's probably only available in german, but for you germans out there: get it, it's amazing!)

That's lovely, I'm happy for you 😊😊

[shoot-the-wizard]

I’ve been doing lots of editing, so here’s four of the many ways you can care for a bad sentence! 🤓✨

TRIM - The easiest way to make a sentence feel a lot less clunky is to trim any unnecessary words. What are you really trying to say? There is a lot of flexibility with prose, and sometimes just removing one word is all you need. Trimming can also help remove ambiguity in your language.

SPLIT - Are you trying to shove too much into just one sentence? I know I’m guilty of that! I love my comas and semicolons (and those tasty, tasty em dashes), but you really have to ask yourself: is this too much? Is your message clear? If not, split the sentence into two. There is no complex sentence so perfect that it wouldn’t be improved (even if just a little) by being split into two sentences.

REPHRASE - I’m SO GUILTY of putting the focus of the sentence at the very end. That’s not where you want the focus to be. That’s a recipe for confused readers. Sometimes the easiest way to fix a sentence you LOVE is by moving the pieces around (usually putting the focus at the start). I can tell you with certainty that this may seem like the hardest and most daunting way to fix a sentence—but it feels SO GOOD to turn a 1/10 sentence into a 10/10 by just moving the focus around.

CUT - Yup. You saw it coming. Sometimes the best way to care for a bad sentence is to let it go. Does this sentence add anything to the story? Does it say something worthwhile? Sometimes the answer is NO. And that’s okay! Sure, writing a book is hard, and it sucks to cut the words you stressed over—but if you’ve tried everything and the sentence doesn’t do anything, why is it there? I’ve famously cut the entire opening chapter of a novel because I realized how slow it was—and you know what? Everyone loved the opening to that book, and none of them knew the 3-4 pages that I killed with one swift press of the delete key.

My brain is in Super Edit mode, so I’ve been thinking a lot about this. I hope this post helps!

Keep writing (and editing), writerly friend~ ✍️💕

[shoot-the-wizard]

This week I started reading Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince, which has been so hyped up along with her other books and, while I have been enjoying it, it’s been making me think on the “enemies-to-lovers” trope. We all like to see it, two people being catty and rude to each other only to find they really had the hots for the other person all this time. But I started to wonder, how much bad behavior do we the readers excuse in order to make this relationship believable?

I know The Cruel Prince has gotten some flack from readers on how unapologetically, well, cruel the main love interest is to the heroine, how he’s too toxic and too downright initially horrible to be believable or worthy to be her love interest. So I have to ask all of you out there: where do you draw the line when it comes to the “enemies to lovers” trope? What actions are you able to excuse in order to buy into a relationship using this trope? When does it go too far to the point where we call foul?

[shoot-the-wizard]

Do you have any tips on how to write fight scenes? I’m okay with most other types of writing, but for some reason I really struggle to describe action. Thank you! :)

I don’t write a lot of fight scenes, but I do write a lot of sex scenes and they’re very similar in a lot of ways. I’ll give you a few tips that work for me, and then hand it off to the blog to give more suggestions!

- remember that you don’t need your readers to have the same picture in your head that you do. They need to know the general contours of the fight, but when it comes down to details like right versus left hand and things like that, you only need to include them if they’re relevant. Does it matter which hand is doing the punching? No? Then skip it. 

- use verbs that include movement in them. Running and jumping are obvious, but you can mix it up with other words too. Just like up above, if you don’t have to explain how someone got from point A to B in detail, just say they moved and get back to the fight.

- you also don’t need to describe each individual hit or shot etc. Which ones lead to a change in who’s winning? Which ones lead to an injury or a loss of balance or something else that could tip the fight one way or the other. Those are the ones to focus on.

My writing style tends to skip the details in order to keep things moving, so these suggestions might not work for you, but if you check the notes I’m sure you’ll see more.

[shoot-the-wizard]

Archery information for writers that no one asked for but probably some of you need and I like talking about archery, so here it is.

when you put an arrow on the string, the verb is called “nocking” i.e. eyes glued on the target, he nocked the arrow

also the part of the arrow that gets put onto the string is called the nock. depending on the type of arrow this can be a piece of plastic glued into the arrow, or with wood or bamboo arrows it can be carved into the shaft of the arrow itself

you do not close an eye when aiming or shooting; you see better with both eyes open.

everyone has a dominant eye that more naturally your brain focuses with. that determines whether you are right or left handed when shooting, and doesn’t necessarily correlate to whether the person is right or left handed in anything else

so if you’re writing a character who has difficulty seeing out of one eye, take that into account when they are shooting

if they are right eye dominant, they hold the bow with their left hand and draw the string with their right. if they are left eye dominant, they hold the bow with their right hand and draw the string with their left

if they shoot left, the quiver sits on their left side/hip/thigh. shoot right - right side quiver.

there are several different ways to draw, if you are writing something historical or in a specific region, then do research on that style of archery. but for a generic place to start that is a more universal way of drawing a bow, here are some things to include

the chin stays down. raising your chin will fuck up your aim

the pointer finger on your draw hand rests on the side of your chin/jaw, and the string of the bow will touch the tip of the archer’s nose

weight is on the balls of your feet, leaning slightly forward off your heels

if it is an older bow/barebow, there is not usually a place for the arrow to rest on the bow. this means the arrow rests on the archer’s hand. if they are not wearing a glove on that hand, the fletchings (that’s the feathers on the arrow) will more than likely slice their hand when firing. this scars.

so if you’re wanting to describe someone observing and archer’s hands (hands are hot, don’t @ me) they would see a silver scar about halfway between the pointer finger knuckle and palm of the person’s hand. (turn your hand vertical and trace down the length of your pointer toward your thumb and stop next to the knuckle. that spot there.)

most archers wear something to protect their fingers on the hand that draws the bow. even with that, they have callouses. without it, a lot of callouses, scars, and blisters.

most common draw uses three fingers on the string: pointer, middle, ring. the arrow sits between the pointer and middle. just like where the draw point is, this is not universal and do research if you’re doing something culturally important.

barebow means that the bow is bare of any instruments. no sight, no weights, etc. the most basic/traditional form of bow

a recurve bow is anything where the tips of the bow curve back around forward, away from the archer

a compound is what you think of as a modern hunting bow, and is recognisable by having wheels at the ends and three strings

arrows have three fletchings that form a triangle, the point faces the archer so that the flat of the arrow will pass the flat of the bow on release. the arrow sits on the side of the bow facing the archer

archers with a larger/raised chest will sometimes where a chest protect so that the string does not catch when firing (this is regardless of gender, i know several cis-men who need it as well)

string can also catch on the forearm that is holding the bow and creates bruises and welts if you don’t wear a protector. modern ones are small plastic and cover just the spot, with elastic holding it in place. traditional ones are leather and wrap all the way around, lacing up on the back of your arm like a corset.

there is literally so much more, but i feel like this is plenty to get you started, and as always, feel free to drop an ask in my box if you need something more!

[shoot-the-wizard]

The Financial Times published a list of 15 of the best history books published this year. Problem is, there were no women on the list AT ALL. In response, here are 15 of the best history books that were published this year (and that I read), all written by women: 

A Curious History of Sex // Kate Lister

African Europeans: An Untold Story // Olivette Otele

The Beauty and the Terror: An Alternative History to the Italian Renaissance // Catherine Fletcher

Mistresses: Sex and Scandal at the Court of Charles II // Linda Porter

The Fall of the House of Byron: Scandal and Seduction in Georgian England // Emily Brand

Mad and Bad: Real Heroines of the Regency // Bea Koch

Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe // Judith Herrin

The Mother of the Brontës: When Maria Met Patrick // Sharon Wright

Female Husbands: A Trans History // Jen Manion

 A Fatal Thing Happened On The Way To the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome // Emma Southon

A Black Women’s History of the United States // Daina Ramey Berry & Kali Nicole Gross

Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death, and Art // Becky Wragg Sykes

The Imprisoned Princess: The Scandalous Life of Sophia Dorothea of Celle // Catherine Curzon

The Last Libertines // Benedetta Craveri 

Secret Britain: Unearthing Our Mysterious Past // Mary-Ann Ochota

[shoot-the-wizard]

Hello! Could you tell me the most complete/essential books if one wants to study the history of ancient Rome, the Renaissance and medieval Rome? :)

Hello!  When it comes to ancient Rome, there’s only one book you need, and that’s Tom Holland’s Rubicon.  It’s the story of the transition from Republic to Empire, told with a dry sense of humour and wonderful ear for anecdote, and all in absolutely blazing prose.

But what makes it truly special is how much Tom Holland tries to get under the skin of the Romans, and look out at the world through their eyes: to understand what their priorities and values were, how they thought of themselves and others and their place in the world.  And that sensibility, that empathy, is the best gift anyone can give to a budding classicist.  Once you have that, once you know what they thought and why, you will know, instinctively, when historical fiction has got it wrong; you’ll be able to argue with other classicists who can’t/won’t make that leap.

The rest, from there, is just detail.

But if you’d like to know where to find that detail, Holland has written a sequel about the Julio-Claudian emperors (Dynasty), and for a broad overview of the whole, I’d suggest the Roman part of Richard Miles’s Ancient Worlds.  I haven’t read it myself, but his book Carthage Must Be Destroyed does an incredible job of reconstructing Carthaginian history and culture from the very little that survives, and I like its emphasis on syncretism and interchange among the peoples of the ancient Mediterranean.  The best thing I can say about it is that I know how the Second Punic War turns out, I know who wins in the end, and yet there were still points where I was in genuine terror for the Romans’ imminent and surely inevitable destruction.  It’s that vivid and gripping.  So I trust him to do a good job.

Everything from here is based completely on others’ recommendations rather than my own experience, I’m afraid!  As for medieval Rome, for the early medieval period I’d suggest Peter Brown’s The World of Late Antiquity, which is pretty old now but still, I understand, a classic of the genre; and perhaps also Peter Heather’s The Restoration of Rome, which is about how succeeding empires laid claim to Roman prestige and glory.

For the high medieval period, I can suggest a few histories of Europe, but I don’t know to what extent they cover Italy.  Robert Bartlett’s The Making of Europe is apparently on Oxbridge pre-first year reading lists, which suggests it’s a good place to start; there’s also Chris Wickham’s The Inheritance of Rome, William Chester Jordan’s Europe in the High Middle Ages, and Maurice Keen’s The Penguin History of Medieval Europe (though it’s perhaps a bit old these days).

The Renaissance, however, is totally out of my wheelhouse!  So I’m tagging some people who might know (and might be able to help with the medieval section too): @kitmarlowes, @hotelsongs, @oldshrewsburyian, @shredsandpatches, @poorshadowspaintedqueens.

I hope that’s at all helpful, and thank you so much for the ask!

[shoot-the-wizard]

Body Language Cheat Sheet for Writers

As described by Selnick’s article:

Author and doctor of clinical psychology Carolyn Kaufman has released a one-page body language cheat sheet of psychological “tells” (PDF link) fiction writers can use to dress their characters.

[shoot-the-wizard]

Making Queer History Book Club

We have already teased this a little, but I am so excited to share with y’all that we are going to be starting a Queer History Book Club in 2021!

Before anything else, let’s discuss the details of this idea. As an avid reader myself, I have many queer history books I want to share with y’all, and I think we have set up a great way to do that. First, we will have a patron-exclusive Discord server set up to talk together about our thoughts and experiences with the books as the months go on.

We will also be posting on social media about the books, where people are free to interact and discuss in the comments so that everyone can get involved. We will schedule these discussions and posts on the 25th of every month, but we want y’all to feel free to read these books and discuss them even after we have moved on.

To give everyone an alternative to Amazon to buy these books on, we are going to be working with Bookshop.org, which is a website where you can buy books, with some of the proceeds going to local bookstores. For all of you audiobook lovers we will be recommending Libro.fm, which is an offshoot of Bookshop.org, and you will be able to directly support a local bookshop of your choice through a membership there.

We will also be using a referral code for Libro.fm, where if you use it, our account will get a credit for a free audiobook. We will be saving these credits for anyone who doesn’t have access to one of the books throughout the year. With the credits, we will get the book in question and let them use the account until they have finished the book. So you can know if you use this link to sign up for Libro.fm you are making it possible for another person to read one of these books. We may use credits to purchase research material throughout the year, but the primary use will be to get these books into as many hands as possible.

I believe in supporting small businesses, especially book stores in light of Amazon’s continued attempts to monopolize the market, so these feel like a good fit.

It is important to note that with the physical books, we will be sharing affiliate links, which means Making Queer History will be getting a percentage of any purchases y’all make using the links. It is even more important to note that this does not mean you have to buy books to be a part of the book club; we will be encouraging people to go to their local libraries and borrow books and/or request them. We will be adding a non-affiliate link to the app Libby so that anyone who is unable to go to a library for whatever reason will also have a way to get access to these fantastic reads.

By 2021 there will be a complete list of the books we plan on reading on The Storygraph, which is another website I believe in. It is an alternative to Goodreads (which is also owned by Amazon) and, in my opinion, is a massive upgrade.

If you want to participate in this book club, we encourage you to join our Queer History 2021 Reading Challenge. There will also be trigger warnings for all the books we will be reading on The Storygraph, and we hope everyone will check out this feature before picking up any of the books we are recommending. While these are books that we are proud to share with y’all many of them will contain intense and possibly triggering content. We hope this tool will help everyone make informed and safe choices around picking these books up.

Read More

[shoot-the-wizard]

👆 A powerful denouement doesn’t just “end the story.” It validates it. This means validating changes that happened during because of the story. Show evidence of what has been lost, defeated, gained, or won. So after a romantic conflict, you may show the couple getting married. If someone died in the climax, you may show a funeral. If the protagonist completed a character arc, we need to see him acting as a changed person. Was the antagonist defeated? Show that he, she, or it is now gone from the world.

[shoot-the-wizard]

Title: The Terracotta Bride Author: Zen Cho Rating: Highly Recommended Genre/Category: Fantasy, Mythology (Buddhist), Romance, Lesbian Fiction. Steampunk, Release Date: March 10, 2016 Order Here: AMAZON (KINDLE)

I really enjoy Zen Cho’s writing style.

Her novel Sorcerer to the Crown was one of the books I spent most of 2015 waiting for and believe me, it was worth the wait. She’s just a fantastic writer who can make me ugly cry with just a few lines and her characters almost seem to leap off the page.

The Terracotta Bride was a novelette originally published in Torquere Press’s 2011’s steampunk anthology Steam-Powered 2, but Zen Cho has now self-published an ebook reprint for it with a brand new (and beautiful) cover from artist Likhain.

Siew Tsin is the second wife to Jungshen, the richest man in hell. One day her husband brings home a third wife, the beautiful and enigmatic terracotta bride that he names Yonghua. Yonghua is beautiful, elegant, and clever.

By the time I was finished reading The Terracotta Bride, I was halfway in love with her myself because she was just the ideal. It doesn’t hurt that the book, which largely looks at things from Siew Tsin’s point of view, shows you Yonghua through the eyes of someone that grows to love her. You seriously can’t help but feel the way that Siew Tsin does (or at least, you can’t help but understand her feelings).

There are so many moments that made me have to put down my kindle so I could sigh longingly or sadly and what should’ve taken me a half hour or so to read took me well over an hour. I won’t give any more serious spoilers (because y’all really need to read this story), but the ending actually made me cry. I mean, I don’t know if I’ve ever ugly cried while happy before this book, but it sure was an experience.

The Terracotta Bride ends on a note that I think is very hopeful, but even if it hadn’t, I’d still recommend it to basically everyone. It was such a treasure to read and I spent much of the day flipping through the pages on my kindle and savoring Zen Cho’s literary mastery. I love a good story about first love and this story, with its steampunk-y feel and deep female characters, left me feeling so darn happy that it existed.

Gosh!

What a good story!

[shoot-the-wizard]

Divergent is a bad book, but its accidental brilliance is that it completely mauled the YA dystopian genre by stripping it down to its barest bones for maximum marketability, utterly destroying the chances of YA dystopian literature’s long-term survival