Fangirl Frenzy: Shadow and Bone

It's no secret my favorite book is SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo, so when the paperback was released a while back, I double-back-flipped over a little homage to the fans--an awesome "word drawing" of some of the blogs who reviewed the book. And Purdie Writing was on there! Check it out...

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Coolest fangirl moment of the universe!

So...if you haven't read SHADOW AND BONE, do it! (Here's my spoiler-free review.) The sequel, SIEGE AND STORM, is also awesomesauce. And Leigh Bardugo is one ultra cool and gracious lady.

If you want the latest on all things S&B, check out and like its official Facebook Fan Page.

What is your biggest fangirl (or fanboy) moment?

The Next Big Thing

My critique partner, Taryn Albright, tagged me for "The Next Big Thing" blog interview hop. Since I've already blogged a lot about The Rowaness of Shalott, I thought I'd answer questions about my work-in-progress instead.

What is your working title of your book? 
The Lovely Invisible

Where did the idea come from for the book?
This is a very loose retelling of the Cupid & Psyche myth, but still set in ancient Greece. I don't like how Psyche is a "wussy" in the myth, however. My Psyche, "Isidora," is much different. Her weakness is her intelligence, which leads to a lack of faith.

What genre does your book fall under?
YA fantasy

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Ooh, my favorite question! I can't think of the right actress to play Isidora yet, but she will look something like this...

 
And the PERFECT actor to play Eros (Cupid) is Douglas Booth. If you saw him in the recent TV miniseries, Great Expectations, you'd know he's not only is he swoonworthy, but also an amazing actor!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? (I'm cheating with two.)
To regain her right to rule, eighteen-year-old Queen Isidora must marry one of three preselected suitors; however, the man she is drawn to isn't one of the three--or like them at all. He is invisible.


How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? May we see an intro?
I started writing it in July, and I'm about halfway through. I'm hoping to finish the draft by November. (This story requires LOTS of research.)

Intro:

I stared at the face of the god of love, not the polished bronze mirror balanced on his wings.

“You will look,” Nuri, said as she tilted up my chin with her small brown fingers.

I kept my eyes fastened on the marble god. His mouth was sculpted in such a way I couldn’t determine whether he was scowling or smirking at me.

Shaking her head, Nuri clucked her tongue. “You shame the patron goddess.”

I wriggled my chin from her grasp. “I thought the virginal white was an appropriate choice.”

“Don’t try and fool me, Isidora. I’ve been in your service since the day you were weaned. You chose the white because it’s plain.” Nuri grabbed a fistful of my long robe as if it were evidence worthy of banishment.

I sighed and glanced at the foot of the mirror, where three rolls of newly delivered papyri lay waiting to be read. I wanted this day to be over. I wanted to curl into a quiet corner of the palace and read about the strange fire and water machine that opened temple doors in Athens, the paved slipway near Corinth, the controversial prose of the female poet, Sappho. “Why should I draw attention to myself on Procession Day?” I asked Nuri. “The glory should go to the goddess.”

The marble god below the mirror was definitely scowling at me now. He heard my lie as well as my maid: I cared nothing for the glory of Aphrodite.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Ha! I have no idea. It's a character-driven fantasy in the vein of Kristin Cashore, Leigh Bardugo, and Cinda Williams Chima.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My longtime love of Greek mythology, and the themes of faith and doubt in the Cupid & Psyche myth--mixed with falling in love, of course. :-) I also drew from stories of strong historical young queens, especially Elizabeth I, Victoria, and Jane, the nine-days queen of England. And when I visited France, I saw the statue, Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, by the sculptor, Canova. It was my favorite piece of art in the Louvre, and one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. This picture does not do justice!

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
One of my critique partners said my story was like The Bachelorette, but set in ancient Greece. :-)

The Magical Middle

I'm still drafting my new novel and am currently in the throngs of my happy place--the middle of the story. For many (I'd dare to say most) writers I've talked to, the "muddling middle" is the most frustrating part of their novel. The excitement of establishing their premise and their characters has worn off, and they feel overwhelmed with this massive sea they need to travel to reach the end of their story. So as I've been writing, I've paid close attention to why I love this section, and I thought I'd share with you what I've observed. And don't worry, if you're not converted to the Cult of Magical Middles when I'm finished, I'll still be your friend. Perhaps you can help me enjoy beginnings and endings more. :-)


1. It's play time! For me, the beginning of a novel is more technical. So many things need to be established to get the beginning right. I'm constantly playing a game of plunging full-steam into story vs. the exposition necessary before I get too carried away. With middles, the stage it set, the inciting incident has happened, I am now in the full-blown story where anything can happen. I embrace that liberating feeling!

2. The characters take the reigns. Their flaws, conflict and goals have been established. All I have to do is stick them in the same confined space with an initial nudge of direction, and they go at it. For the middle of the story to work for me, ALL of my characters have to have opposing goals--even people in love, even best friends. That conflict drives the story forward, creates complications, weaves in surprising twists and turns. With the story I have on submission right now, The Rowaness of Shalott, all of the plot twists (besides one) came by my giving more control to the characters--letting them tell their stories to me. I didn't "pants" my way through Rowaness. I knew the ending, I knew the big important events along the way, but my favorite parts of that novel are the layers my characters seemed to create on their own.

3. There's still structure to fall back on. The middle isn't just an abyss between the inciting incident and climax of the story. There are landmarks along the way to help you not get lost in the darkness. As dynamic as your characters may be, they still need some focus. They are the actors in your play of a novel, and they need some direction so they don't derail you into the land of indulgent writing. I'd highly recommend studying structure in novels. I think a lot of writers spend their time studying the craft of writing on the line level, but they don't study the art of plotting--of actual storytelling. Two fabulous books I've read in recent months are Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell and Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder.

From Plot & Structure, I've learned if you're middle is muddling (or even if it's not) you should:

• Raise the stakes (a character should suffer tremendous loss if she doesn't achieve her goal, and you should amp up that up even more in the middle)
• Strengthen the adhesive (the strong relationship or circumstance that holds opposing people together)
• Add another level of complication to your plot (usually comes from my #2 above)
• Add another character (this is about to happen in my WIP)
• Add another subplot (use this one with care; you want to keep focused on your main plot)

Save the Cat! includes a "beat sheet" (or road map) of important plot events that should happen (and more importantly, when they should happen) in your novel. I tried using this beat sheet (available online) before reading the book, and it didn't work. You need to read the book! I won't go into all the details of the beats, but my favorite by far is the midpoint of the novel. This should literally be smack in the middle, and, to quote from Snyder, it is "either an 'up' where the hero seemingly peaks (though it is a false peak) or a 'down' where the world collapses all around the hero (though it is a false collapse), and it can only get better from here on out." That midpoint is a lighthouse in the darkness between your beginning and end. It helps your story from that derailing I warned you about earlier.

Now before I pop in a DVD, I check it's running time and calculate when the exact middle will be. When that time comes around, I pay close attention to the story. What is happening--false hope or false failure? How does that color the characters and the remaining plot? I do the same thing when I read a book. For example, I recently finished Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo. When something CRAZY happened in the story, I stopped, stuck my finger in the page, and closed the book. Yep, this jaw-dropper happened in the perfect middle of the novel. I love the midpoint beat!

Here's hoping you and your middle become better friends. And if you're already on good terms, I'd love to hear your own tips on how you navigate the great divide between beginning and end.

Spoiler-Free Review: SHADOW & BONE

This is the first book review I've done on this blog. I never intended to do any (I have a strong opinion that writers, for the most part, should not be public reviewers), but Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo was so fabulous, I couldn't resist!

Honestly, like Veronica Roth's blurb says on the cover, I've never read anything quite like this before. A Twitter friend asked me for some recommendations in a similar vein and it took me a long time to think of any--and still they're only kinda-sorta like this book.

Here's why I loved Shadow and Bone:

Leigh Bardugo trusted the reader. She threw a ton at us in the first few chapters: a large cast of characters, an impressive vocabulary of foreign words we needed to understand, a new world, and many factions of the Grisha--the magically elite members of the Second Army and masters of the Small Science. I'll admit I was a little dizzy at times trying to absorb it all, and I questioned more than once the rate the author expected the reader to keep up. But when I really needed to understand the importance of a new term, place, or character, I did. The story kept barreling forward past all the initial setup, and in act two I was able to breathe, dig in, and feel comfortably familiar with the world. After having read the whole novel, I wouldn't change a thing the author did to get this premise-heavy story started. And she did all of this while keeping me grounded in caring about the character. A huge feat!

The prologue worked. One of the most gorgeously written sections of this novel was the prologue. And it wasn't a lazy work of convenience to drop in all the worldbuilding. In fact, the prologue didn't focus on the worldbuilding; it focused on story, character, and setting the mood for this dark and poignant novel. And the prologue tied in perfectly with the last chapter, giving the story a resonant and full-circle resolution that made me sigh with the pleasure of my reading time well spent.

The plot kept me guessing. About halfway through the novel, my jaw dropped on the floor and remained there until the end. I didn't predict any of the plot twists, but when they happened, I could see they were inevitable--which is exactly what an author should strive to do!

I got to take this ride with some awesome characters. Alina Starkhov begins the story as a weak character in many ways, but she could never be brushed off as passive. She's scrawny, but feisty. She speaks her mind, even when it puts her foot in her mouth with higher ranking individuals. She's strong and stubborn, but seeking for a place to belong. And this novel is about that in so many ways--how far someone will go to belong to someone or something, especially when they never had a home to begin with. I made the same choices along the way with Alina, felt just as justified as she did with her actions, and then I was horrified and felt just as stupid and shamed to have made the same mistakes. Reading this novel really was a roller coaster of emotions for me. Other fabulous characters were Mal, Alina's best friend and the orphan she was raised with, and the Darkling--one of my favorite characters of all time. He was subtle and sexy and primal and awe-inspiring and mysterious...and I could go on and on. All I have to say is, the author is brilliant!

This book made me think. Yes, it was page-turning and tense and conflict-ridden and commercial, but the themes behind it all were so interesting and universal and executed in a fresh way. I'm still whirling with the intellectual journey this book took me on.

That's about all I can say without spoiling this read for you. I can't recommend Shadow and Bone highly enough! It's possibly my favorite book ever. Plus, I got to meet Leigh Bardugo on the Fierce Reads tour, and she was such a genuine and kind and down-to-earth person. I loved reading this story and thinking of the author who wrote it, whose imagination stretched so deeply and whose soul lay so bare on the pages.

What are some favorite books you've read lately?