#book creation

[wlwbookshelf]

IRIS KELLY DOESN'T DATE - ASHLEY HERRING BLAKE Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ashley Herring Blake has written another sapphic romance that I was barely able to out down until it was finished. Iris and Stevie are incredibly cute. The book is really successful take on fake dating that actually seems like a plausible reason two people could fake date! 

I loved seeing Bright Falls one last time, although I do wish there was two epilogues one for the Iris/Stevie and one for the whole cast! 

Based on this trilogy, any sapphic story Ashley Herring Blake writes will be an auto-buy for me. 

Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group for an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. Iris Kelly is released today (Oct 24th) in the US!

[troythecatfish]

[meolol]

Writing a book 2

Hello I'm Meolol, currently a college student who is focusing on writing a book. This is all mostly a small project that I will be hosting but I could use some help with creating a book, I could use help with creating characters, coming up with general lore, the general theme of the story, ect. But I am mostly looking for

An Editor

A CoAuthor

An Book cover designer

Once again, this is just a small project that I am hosting, nothing really serious but if you would like to participate, then feel welcome to submit your requests.

[raptorrobot]

...like antennas to heaven

link to the full image

[shisasan]

June, 1936 Journals of Anais Nin 1934-1939 [volume 2]

[marywoodartdept]

Star Book

Our Printmaking blogger, Rebecca, shows us a wonderful book that she created. She runs us through the steps that she took to create this book, and all of the different materials that she used to create it. Take a look at this fun, interactive book!

This was one of my favorite books to create. Not only was the process of this book fun, but there were so many steps to release built up creative freedom! I First made two linocuts of two frogs for the insides, and covers of my star book. The front and back cover have a dark sage green fabric binded onto the cover, with a mix of three colored strings twisted for a visual interest, and to tie the…

[bloseroseone]

What is a Dummy Book ?

So, you’ve got an incredible story or idea for a book, and you’re ready to bring it to life. But where do you start? Enter the book dummy, a crucial tool in the world of publishing. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore what a book dummy is, why it’s important, and how you can create one to turn your literary dreams into reality.....Read more

[astrhae]

crowley used the metal tool in season 1 to start time, and we learn that he's used it first to start space. to create the stars -- he still remembers how. he still remembers all of heaven's passwords: in the book crowley is described as an optimist because he has the "utter surety... that the universe would look after him". not god, but the universe. and of course he does: he helped create it and he's looking after it, too.

think about it: aziraphale had a sword, but crowley is about to face satan who wants to destroy the world, and crowley's only weapon is a tool of creation

[aethersea]

another thing fantasy writers should keep track of is how much of their worldbuilding is aesthetic-based. it's not unlike the sci-fi hardness scale, which measures how closely a story holds to known, real principles of science. The Martian is extremely hard sci-fi, with nearly every detail being grounded in realistic fact as we know it; Star Trek is extremely soft sci-fi, with a vaguely plausible "space travel and no resource scarcity" premise used as a foundation for the wildest ideas the writers' room could come up with. and much as Star Trek fuckin rules, there's nothing wrong with aesthetic-based fantasy worldbuilding!

(sidenote we're not calling this 'soft fantasy' bc there's already a hard/soft divide in fantasy: hard magic follows consistent rules, like "earthbenders can always and only bend earth", and soft magic follows vague rules that often just ~feel right~, like the Force. this frankly kinda maps, but I'm not talking about just the magic, I'm talking about the worldbuilding as a whole.

actually for the purposes of this post we're calling it grounded vs airy fantasy, bc that's succinct and sounds cool.)

a great example of grounded fantasy is Dungeon Meshi: the dungeon ecosystem is meticulously thought out, the plot is driven by the very realistic need to eat well while adventuring, the story touches on both social and psychological effects of the whole 'no one dies forever down here' situation, the list goes on. the worldbuilding wants to be engaged with on a mechanical level and it rewards that engagement.

deliberately airy fantasy is less common, because in a funny way it's much harder to do. people tend to like explanations. it takes skill to pull off "the world is this way because I said so." Narnia manages: these kids fall into a magic world through the back of a wardrobe, befriend talking beavers who drink tea, get weapons from Santa Claus, dance with Bacchus and his maenads, and sail to the edge of the world, without ever breaking suspension of disbelief. it works because every new thing that happens fits the vibes. it's all just vibes! engaging with the worldbuilding on a mechanical level wouldn't just be futile, it'd be missing the point entirely.

the reason I started off calling this aesthetic-based is that an airy story will usually lean hard on an existing aesthetic, ideally one that's widely known by the target audience. Lewis was drawing on fables, fairy tales, myths, children's stories, and the vague idea of ~medieval europe~ that is to this day our most generic fantasy setting. when a prince falls in love with a fallen star, when there are giants who welcome lost children warmly and fatten them up for the feast, it all fits because these are things we'd expect to find in this story. none of this jars against what we've already seen.

and the point of it is to be wondrous and whimsical, to set the tone for the story Lewis wants to tell. and it does a great job! the airy worldbuilding serves the purposes of the story, and it's no less elegant than Ryōko Kui's elaborately grounded dungeon. neither kind of worldbuilding is better than the other.

however.

you do have to know which one you're doing.

the whole reason I'm writing this is that I saw yet another long, entertaining post dragging GRRM for absolute filth. asoiaf is a fun one because on some axes it's pretty grounded (political fuck-around-and-find-out, rumors spread farther than fact, fastest way to lose a war is to let your people starve, etc), but on others it's entirely airy (some people have magic Just Cause, the various peoples are each based on an aesthetic/stereotype/cliché with no real thought to how they influence each other as neighbors, the super-long seasons have no effect on ecology, etc).

and again! none of this is actually bad! (well ok some of those stereotypes are quite bigoted. but other than that this isn't bad.) there's nothing wrong with the season thing being there to highlight how the nobles are focused on short-sighted wars for power instead of storing up resources for the extremely dangerous and inevitable winter, that's a nice allegory, and the looming threat of many harsh years set the narrative tone. and you can always mix and match airy and grounded worldbuilding – everyone does it, frankly it's a necessity, because sooner or later the answer to every worldbuilding question is "because the author wanted it to be that way." the only completely grounded writing is nonfiction.

the problem is when you pretend that your entirely airy worldbuilding is actually super duper grounded. like, for instance, claiming that your vibes-based depiction of Medieval Europe (Gritty Edition) is completely historical, and then never even showing anyone spinning. or sniffing dismissively at Tolkien for not detailing Aragorn's tax policy, and then never addressing how a pre-industrial grain-based agricultural society is going years without harvesting any crops. (stored grain goes bad! you can't even mouse-proof your silos, how are you going to deal with mold?) and the list goes on.

the man went up on national television and invited us to engage with his worldbuilding mechanically, and then if you actually do that, it shatters like spun sugar under the pressure. doesn't he realize that's not the part of the story that's load-bearing! he should've directed our focus to the political machinations and extensive trope deconstruction, not the handwavey bit.

point is, as a fantasy writer there will always be some amount of your worldbuilding that boils down to 'because I said so,' and there's nothing wrong with that. nor is there anything wrong with making that your whole thing – airy worldbuilding can be beautiful and inspiring. but you have to be aware of what you're doing, because if you ask your readers to engage with the worldbuilding in gritty mechanical detail, you had better have some actual mechanics to show them.

[flowerytale]

Léon Comerre (1850–1916), La Belle Liseuse (detail)

[wlwbookshelf]

GWEN AND ART ARE NOT IN LOVE - LEX CROUCHER Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 Gwen and Art Are Not In Love tells a tale as old as time - boy meets girl, both are gay, and a little queer clique is formed. 

The writing is funny, and all the characters are loveable. It features a lesbian knight! Watching the friendships and romances develop with a backdrop of court intrigue and knight tourneys was perfect. 

I assumed this was going to be a King Arthur retelling, it’s not at all. But it is set at Camelot a few hundred years from the actual events. Although it is an alternative history, social pushback still exists against defying gender norms (i.e., being a lady knight) and same-sex relationships. 

I will re-read this when I get my hands on a physical copy in November (for UK people, I think it came out in May, go read it now!!) 

Thanks to Wednesday Books for the eARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[bamsara]

I finished the Doctrine Book-bag for my Lamb cosplay! I think jt turned out pretty well, I used black foam clay for the edges and was going to carve them when dried, but I actaully?? Really like the goopy unclean look so I might keep it

I might still carve it idk, and maybe replace the strap with a chain for the whole theme

I know the Doctrine is a book in game and usually as a prop but I need something to hold my phone and wallet in easy access for when we scour the artist alley, so this idea came to be. Now it can hold my stuff AND it's in character!

I also recycled a cardboard box to put my cosplay in, made it look COTL specific:

[queenlucythevaliant]

Teams are vibes-based. Please tell me who you chose and how you think it will go in the tags!

[sad-emo-dip-dye]

The cover format is changing again

[partfae]

thinking about how the silmarillion starts with a creator god who loves making things so much that he sings other beings into creation just so they can make stuff with him. thinking about how his first god-son craves ownership over creation and that is his destruction. thinking about how the god-son’s second-in-command is also a creator spirit, one who loves art and craftsmanship so much that he longs to create something perfect and lasting, and breaks the world and himself in pursuit of it.

thinking about how the most important elf in history was a craftsman who built things of such beauty and splendor that even the god and his servant coveted them. thinking about how this elf was married to a sculptor who created statues so perfect they seemed alive. thinking about how their seven sons were driven to madness and doom trying to reclaim their father’s stolen creation. thinking about how one of those sons had a baby boy who became, like his grandparents, a smith. thinking about how the demi-god coveted the smith’s skills and would ultimately kill him in rage and greed.

thinking about how the hobbit follows a bloodline cursed by their greed. thinking about how the lord of the rings follows men who buckled and broke under the weight of their lust for the one ring, and how even the most good and true and noble people struggled to bear its weight well. thinking about how all the doom in the world stemmed from artistic hubris and how it is only conquered in the end by the act of unselfish love.

thinking about how the tolkien legendarium is a love letter to artists and the very act of creation, but also a cautionary tale against hoarding the riches of beauty and imagination. thinking about how love is the truest art, and how the art is meant to be shared.

[coffeetank]

Opposing Qualities for your Characters!

I always advocate the concept of Traits and their Inverses when making characters. If you're familiar with my blog, you'll know that in one of my posts, I've told you to use opposing qualities when you make a character to make them real. Here's a link to that post if you haven't come across it yet so you can understand this better: https://www.tumblr.com/coffeetank/747126821111447552/build-characters?source=share ~ List of more opposing qualities to give your characters: persuasive :: manipulative (your character has a way with words and sometimes uses this to get away with things)

humble :: underconfident (your character does not have an ego at all, but they are in actuality always underconfident - show how this can affect their surroundings especially in a situation where others depend on them)

independent :: alienated (your character can do everything on their own and quite literally does not need anyone around, show how this can crossover over with alienation - dig into the emotional background of this supposed crossover)

curious :: invasive (your character has an appetite for knowledge, but they forget boundaries - show how this can get them into trouble)

daring :: reckless (your character has a strong spirit and isn't scared of taking risks, but this can always incline to the bad side and cause them harm - use this to especially add event and conflict in the story)

neutral :: retracted (your character prefers to see both sides before coming to a conclusion and stays neutral 99% of the times, but then when one side needs them more than the other they refuse to acknowledge that need and pull themselves out of that situation - show how this this can affect their relationships with other people especially on a moral ground)

emotional :: irrational (it's always good for your character to have emotional capacity, but it can hinder with their practical side for sure - show how this plays out)

unique :: aberrant (your character has a very solid personality but then some their quirks are too odd to be normal - this is good for revealing an undercover villain/agent/supernatural being later in the story as a twist)

optimistic :: unserious (your character is a positive person, but they take life too lightly sometimes - play with it!)

appealing :: deceptive (your character is absolute delight to be around and wins hearts in an instant - show how they use this power of their to deceive people for their own benefit)

hopeful :: expectant (your character wishes for the bright side - show how this can transverse into having unfulfilled expectations thus making them act out wrongly due to disappointment)

clever :: cunning (as obvious as it sounds, your character uses their intelligence for the wrong - bonus if you mix this with another set of opposing qualities to add depth and layers to your characters)

short-tempered :: violent (easy, simple and impactful; your character loses temper quickly but they damage things around them with every small/big outburst)

Feel free to use these as you'd like! I'll bring you more soon.

-ashlee