10 Freaky Facts about TMI!

1. Hollywood studios were initially hesitant to produce a film version of The Mortal Instruments because the book features a female lead.                                             Several studios actually asked TMI author Cassandra Clare to allow them to make the lead character a male. However, she refused to agree to this change.
2.  The same executive producer who worked on The Lord of the Rings movies is the executive producer of The Mortal Instruments.                                                          Cassandra Clare was so very impressed with what Robert Shaye did with The Lord of the Rings that she handpicked him to work on TMI as well. Well, that’s worked out pretty well, don’t you think, TMI fans?
3. Vampire Academy alumni Dominic Sherwood, who last year played fire-wielding Moroi, Christian Ozera, is taking the leap over from film to television to star as main character, and core cast member, Jace Wayland, in the Shadowhunter TV series.                                                                                                                                                                   I did not know that. But when I actually looked at him, it was so painfully obvious, that I was cringing at my stupidity.
4. Fans played a large part in the designs of the gear in the movie.                                    All the fan art and other stuff were inspirations for the designs of the gear in the movie. The producer and even Cassandra Clare admitted that some designs were indeed some of their starting points. Go TMI fandom!
5. Twilight is indeed everywhere.                                                                                                       Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays the dreamy Jace, played Caius in The Twilight Saga. A member of the Volturi – the largest and most powerful coven of vampires around – his job was all about enforcing the laws of the vampire world. 
6. It might be common knowledge that the cast members did most of their own stunts, but you might not know that when Lily’s character screams it is because she was actually hurt!                                                                                                                        When Clary burns the rune into her hand, there was actually smoke coming out of the device that burned Lily, so the “Ow, ow, ow” you hear is really her reaction. Ouch!
7. There was going to be a sequel, but since there wasn’t a very good reaction to the first movie, they delayed it.                                                                                                         Can you believe that there was going to be a movie? I was searching like crazy all over the I eternity before I found this news article about City of Ashes, and then I was like, oh sad, I won’t be able to see it ever.
8. The soundtrack for The Mortal Instruments features Demi Lovato, Colbie Caillat, and Ariana Grande.                                                                                                                                                         Have you heard the songs? They rock, man! Especially ‘When the Darkness Comes’.
9. Lily Collins was a huge fan of The Mortal Instruments book series long before she agreed to play Clary Fray.                                                                                                                                                                 Collins didn’t accept the role of Fray simply for the paycheck that comes along with it. She accepted it because she’s a big fan of fantasy books and read the entire series long before she was cast as Clary Fray. She actually retread the first book as prep before the movie!
10. Two good reasons why Hodge Starkweather looks so much like Albus Dumbledore.      One, Cassandra Clare shot to online fame as a Harry Potter fan fiction writer. Meaning, she got her start writing original stories based on J.K. Rowling’s books and using her characters. It’s a label that’s followed her around for a while and her critics repeatedly point out the similarities between her original works and her fan fiction. So, Hodge is the stand-in for Dumbledore. Two, Hodge is played by Jared Harris. As in Sir Richard Harris’s son. As in Sir Richard Harris…the guy who played Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films. Meaning, Hodge is Dumbledore’s in real life son. That is so freaky I can not even begin to contemplate it.

So there you have it, ten freaky and cool facts about the TMI series! If you have any others, then tell us about them in the comments.

Keep Shadowhunting, 

Helly Luv: Newest Pop Sensation

Okay, I am ashamed to say that my sense of news and happenings around the world is so less that you could put it on a pinhead and still have space left. I have been too much into my novels, I guess. So I’m sorry if you’ve already heard about her. But I’m still going to talk about her. 

Helly Luv, whose real name is Helan Abdulla, has released two singles, ‘Risk It All’ in 2013 and ‘Revolution’ in 2015. I’ve heard that ‘Revolution’ got seven million views in just three days. That’s pretty impressive. Her lyrics are meaningful, rhythm catchy, and tempo exhilarating. I personally love the song, and the reason behind it. I mean, I don’t love the terrorist group, obviously, but the idea that a woman could stand up against the face of terror and urge people to fight is amazing. Still, I’ve seen so many rumours about her that point to her being fake, or lying, stuff like that. I tell you,many did she go all the way near ISIS, if she wanted fame? People do crazy things to obtain their fifteen seconds of fame, I know that, but that’s a little too extreme for anyone, don’t you think? She’s very talented, if the Wikipedia page and her p1c page are anything to go by. #hellyluv #stoptheviolence

Helly Luv Wikipedia page
Helly Luv p1c page
Remember:

Stop the violence. Before it stops us.

Keep fighting and stay hopeful, 

The Benefits of Deep PoV

Deep PoV is amazing! World shattering amazing. It rocks.

Forgive my gushing. Deep PoV is this really unheard PoV. It’s basically getting into the head of your character and writing dwn their thoughts. It’s like a record of their thoughts.For example,

Out of Deep PoV 

“The bag.”, he asks. Evangeline hands it over to him. She wonders how she would survive if he took all her cash. She would have to get a job. He shuffles the ought he different items in the bag, then tosses it back to me.  “Sorry for judging you. Not too many frendlies out here. But too many pretty girls looking for shelter. They seem harmless, but then Boom, the next day, all your things are gone.”, he growls.  She notices that the fire in his eyes simmers brighter as he says this. She wondered if he had personal experience. “Can I stay here for the night?”, Evangeline asks.”Fine.”, he finally manages. She nods and gives him a grateful smile. He gives an endearing half-smile, and her stomach flops. Her expression suddenly turns to bewilderment, and just as quickly morphs into chastisement. “Are you going anywhere in particular?”, she asks, ignoring her whirlwind of emotions. “No, why?”, he asks, a bit cautiously, she observes.”Cause, you know, I’m a girl, and I’m not that safe here, and I was hoping that we could pool our resources and stay together, so it will be better for both of us.”, she blabbers and then cringes. She thought that it must have sounded as awkward as it felt, seeing his stony face. “I’ll see.”, he says, with a note of finality in it. She knew it was the best she could hope for, but still felt anger deep inside.

The next morning, Evangeline wakes up to see her head on top of the bag, and everything in neat piles inside. She grinned in triumph. Now she wouldn’t have to worry about being alone.

Deep PoV

     “The bag.” I hand it over to him. If he takes the cash, I don’t know how I’m gonna survive. I’ll have to get a job real soon. He shuffles through the different items in the bag. He tosses it back to me. “Sorry for judging you. Not too many frendlies out here. But too many pretty girls looking for shelter. They seem harmless, but then Boom, the next day, all your things are gone.” The fire in his eyes simmers brighter as he says this. As if he has had personal experience. “Can I stay here for the night?” “Fine.” I nod and smile gratefully. He gives an endearing half-smile, and my stomach flops. What? No, it can’t be. Don’t think. “Are you going anywhere in particular?” “No, why?” Now, Evelyn, now. “‘Cause, you know, I’m a girl, and I’m not that safe here, and I was hoping that we could pool our resources and stay together, so it will be better for both of us.” Eek. I hope it didn’t come out as awkward as I felt it did. His face turns stony, and I cringe. “I’ll see.” That’s the best I can hope for.

The next morning, I wake up to see my head on top of the bag, and everything in neat piles inside. Somehow, I know my answer. Yes.

Okay, so I hope my out of deep PoV thing was okay. It’s been a long time since I used anything else than deep PoV, I’ve forgotten how to use them. This is an excerpt from one of the novels I’m currently writing, Inked with Danger. So, whatever.

Deep PoV is so addicting that you can’t help yourself once you start using it.

Deep PoV, I should warn you, is very difficult to write in, and maintain. It’s very hard making the transition from first person or third person and then to deep  pov. If you feel like you can’t, don’t. It’s fine. There are many novels that have been successful without using this method. Ernest Hemingway certainly never did.

But if you want to try something new, and feel like you want to give deep PoV a shot, then read on.

To write in deep PoV, you have to really get into your character’s head. Really, really fdeep. This means that you should know their worst fears to their most embarassing moments to why they have that scar on top of their left eyebrow, or why they don’t eat lettuce, things like that. I mean everything. Literally.

I understand, it can be quite exhausting. But all the hard work will pay off in the end, atleast that’s what I believe. The easiest way for me was to write a scene in first person, then change it into deep PoV. It was exhausting, but eventually I got the hang of it. When I was researching more about how to make writing in this style easier for me (I am a big couch potato), I found some techniques, which are the ebasics, but are a huge help.

1. Cut out filter words: Filter words mark this sort of boundary between the reader and the character. To truly write in deep PoV, you need to remove the filter words. A character  doesn’t use filter words when  they re thinking, and neither do you. If you get confused, just remind yourself of how you think. Or better still, imagine yourself in that situation, and write down whatever comes into your mind.
2. Limit the knowledge of your character: When you go to  fair, do you immediately know all the decorations, all the people, all the games? No, right? So how do you expect your character to? Your character will not know some incidents, simply because haven’t heard of them. But you need to be careful with this as well. Make sure that your reader only knows what your character does. That was they’ll stay connected to the story, and won’t get bored out of their minds.
3. Limit  your Dialogue Tags: Just like  filter tags, dialogue tags are like a border. To get into deep PoV, you need to break that border down. Remove all the dialogue tags.For example:
   

   He tosses it back to me. “Sorry for judging you. Not too many frendlies out here. But too many pretty girls looking for shelter. They seem harmless, but then Boom, the next day, all your things are gone.” The fire in his eyes simmers brighter as he says this. As if he has had personal experience.

   Do you observe the use of sentences that indicate the person before or after the dialogue? This way, the readers know who’s talking, and we don’t have to add the unnecessary dialogue tags either.

4. Identifying Characters: In this style, you need to be careful that your readers know who you’re talking about. You can’t just say, “Maverick, her best friend, was standing by the pole, looking bored.” Your PoV character won’t say that in their heads, will they? They already know them. So you can have a dialogue like, “Evelyn, this is Maverick. He’s the best friend I was talking about.” Or you could have a memory flashback: “She remembered their days of hiding from their elders, who would never allowed them to be friend otherwise.” Something like that.
5. No Passive Voice: Never ever use passive voice in deep PoV. If you want to tell the readers about an action that has occurred, then use active voice. For example, “I picked up the pen.” instead of “The pen was picked up by me.” Which one would you actually think in your mind?
6. Show, don’t Tell: Since you’re in your character’s mind, don’t ‘tell’ things. Show the readers the lemon yellow sofa, make them feel the texture, the smell. As for the flashbacks, you cant just pop up random flashbacks in the middle of nowhere. You have to be very careful to make sure that your flashbacks are in the right places, at the right time, so your readers know why a certain thing is happening.

There are several benefits of using deep PoV as well:

1. Memories are so much easier to write: Memories can be put into the story at relative moments, since you’re in your character’s mind. We constantly remember certain memories throughout the day, s why shouldn’t your character too?
2. Distance your character mentally: When your character undergoes torture, or a very emotional moment, such as grieving at the death of a loved one, you can switch PoVs. This makes the moment even more bold, and thus makes it echo in your reader’s mind. When we’re stressed, or grieving, our minds don’t run along a single train of thought. They’re scattered. So to make sure your readers don’t get confused, feel free to change PoVs,  at an intense moment. But make sure not to keep switching, or your novel will fall into disarray.

So there you have it! A 1474-word long blog post on my favourite type of PoV! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, I’d like to help anyone crossing this long path.

Love always,

 

Writing Tip #1: #nodistraction

You know when you’re writing, and suddenly you see something interesting? Oh come on, just a few seconds of freedom, before I have bind myself again. So you check it out, then another thing comes, and another, and suddenly, it’s time to stop writing. But I haven’t even started! 

This happens to every writer in the planet. Distractions are our foe. So how to overcome them? 

1. Write in a journal: Don’t use your laptop for writing. When I use my iPad, I take a five minute break to check Pinterest, and then boom! My mom’s calling me down to start my homework. So write in a journal. There are multiple benefits to this. You can take it everywhere, even to school (if you’re a student like me). It can’t crash. You dint have that annoying word count feature which continuously stresses you out. You actually get into it, you feel like you’re doing something productive.
2. Pick a corner of the house that doesn’t have wifi connectivity: Interrnet is your enemy. I cannot stress more on that. If you’re doing research, don’t browse social media. If you’re writing, type those words onto the page.
3. Sprint: There’s something called a word sprint, it’s basically like a competition with yourself. You set your timer for say, like 20 min, and then write as much as you can. Then take a 5-10 min break and then try to write more than you did last time. This way, you’ll have much more to read than you ever did!

I write in a journal, since I can take it to school, the mall, everywhere. It’s small, so it can fit in any bag I like. And the feeling of writing words on a page and looking at them afterwards is just so awesome, I can’t describe it. So do you have any writing tips that you swear by? Tell us in the comments! And yes, I will ask (read: force) my friends to input on this website. So don’t get bored of me and my writing tips just yet!

How to Create a Real Character

You know, sometimes, when we read a novel, a character just seems kind of fake? I’m sure that you must have seen fake people in real life too, and while some people are better at sensing it then others, eventually everyone realises the shallowness of the person. The same is with a character. We all want our characters to be the best they can be, better than us, or sometimes we model our characters after ourselves, and want us to look good. So we add very few flaws, or flaws that don’t seem consequential. Like clumsiness, awkwardness, bad social skills, etc etc. Then we always have the underdog. The  girl or boy who is the laughingstock of the entire high school, or workplace, whatever, and then they get these awesome powers or are part of a prophecy or something like that, and they become heroes, blah blah blah. Why can’t your protagonist be one of the popular kids? Someone who fits right in, until they get these powers, or are part of this ancient prophecy? Suddenly they’re struggling to keep up with their social lives while they’re out saving the world? Then they achieve self-realisation and think, what are they doing with this group of jerks? Something like that. But, I’m getting off the topic. 

So this a list of things you should make sure are finished:

1. Flaws: This is probably one of the most important things that your character needs to have. And they can’t be a lack of social skills or clumsiness or anything else that I may have mentioned above! They need to be flaws in the way of the character’s journey. Like, a very bad habit of shutting down when threatened, or running away from their fears, etc etc. Some thing that stops your character from being perfect. We all need to relate to the protagonist, and we can’t do that if they’re godlike, can we?
2. Fears and Weaknesses: They need to have something they are afraid of. Not just afraid, but terrified, frightened afraid. That can cause them to freeze up or faint. They can have small fears, like arachnophobia or hydrophobia, but unless these play a large part in your story’s conflict, they do not count. 
3. Goals: The character needs to have a major goal and a few minor goals. He major goal should be the opposite of what their nemesis wants, while the minor goals can be simple, like buying a microscope, acing a test, etc. They need to be part of the story. The protagonist can be toiling towards reaching their major goal, but the novel needs substance. If there was only one goal, the story would fall flat, don’t you think? There need to be some minor successes and defeats, which can later play a major part in the confidence of the character. Like, after finishing a minor goal successfully, they become reckless. And they do something they will regret later, which makes the ball fall a little more in their nemesis’s court?
4. Backstory: They need to have a completing backstory. Of course, the whole backstory of the character shouldn’t be written in the novel, but it should be the reason they are what they are. If they’re overlingly suspicious of everyone, why? If they’re short-tempered, why? This will give your character depth. 
5. Use real life: Sometimes, whatever we do, we can’t seem to get that prefer feel of the character. It’s fine, it happens to me all the time. So, look at people in real life, and draw characteristics from them. Of course, don’t make them too much like the person, or you might be facing a nasty reader later. And, sometimes, people are too bland. Boring, kind of? If these people are there in the novel, people are going to get bored pretty soon. Why do people read novels? Because they feel that their lives are too boring to spend time in, and that’s want to feel the feelings of others, go on adventures in places have never seen. So the character needs to be exciting.
6. Understand your character: Why do they do what they do? What makes them tick? Unless you become the character, you can never hope to create a compelling character. They’ll always sound detached. And we writerswant our readers to get sucked in, right? The best way to be sure of this is to sit and imagine yourself as that person, talking on their traits, their peronsality, their behaviour. Then imagine yourself in that situation. What would you do? How would you do it? Would you regret something later? My friends seem to think that I take this point a little too seriously, since whenever I’m explaining the plot to them, I’m always saying, “Then I did this… And then he came and did this and I was so scared…”, you probably catch my drift, I wasn’t able to get myself out of her head!
7. Motivation: Why does  the character want it so badly? What is so compelling about the goal that the character can do anything to obtain it?
8. High stakes: What is going to happen if they lose? Something more than their own life please. Unless they’re overlingly seflish. The stakes can be global or personal. Anything you want.
9. How does the character change: There’s a fancy term for this, called character arc. It basically means the journey of the character from the beginning to the end. Everyone changes, can you recognise the person you were last year? They both aren’t the same, are they? The same thing goes for your characters as well.
10. A Secret: Someing that can get revealed if they fail. Something that is going to ruin their lives forever. Or maybe something that gets in the way of their journey. This is optional, but it provides an aura of mystery to the story.
11. Vulnerability: The character may be strong, but they need to be vulnerable. Vulnerability brings out a sense of protectiveness in us-it’s basic human nature-and compels us to continue reading.

There are many more, but these are the ones that were in my mind. I have a worksheet type of thing I use too, whenever I’m creating my characters. It covers the basics of their personality, and the rest can be added later. I’ve taken inspiration from other stuff like this, and improved in them to make my very own. Most of this stuff is irrelevant, so you can remove it if you want to.

Character Development Worksheet (If you can’t view the PDF, then here’s a picture:

Book Review #8: Linked

When I read the summary, I was interested. Twins are not an everyday subject, are they? Especially an unknown twin. So I started reading. And reading and reading. I was HOOKED!

Linked, the first book of the Linked Series, by Imogen Howson, is a book about a girl, Elissa Ivory, who is a daughter of a pretty rich family, in a world set in the future. Where there are ways to repair inhabitable planets and interplanetary communication and things we humans now can only imagine of. She was popular, pretty, rich, pretty smart, until not. Suddenly she suffers from bruises whose origin is unknown, flashes of a horrifying world, of a girl whose world is dominated by pain. But she believes these to be hallucinations. When she finds a doctor whose treatment sounds like it could help, she jumps at the opportunity, even though it involves burning a part of her brain. Suddenly, she finds news about a fire that seems identical to her dream, she rushes to the spot where she saw the girl in her dreams, and finds a girl, identical to the very crooked bent of their nose. Turns out, people are searching for this girl, and Lissa will do anything to stop them. She and her twin run from the government, and together they travel a journey like no other. This book is awesome. Normally, if a book doesn’t interest me, I stop reading before the first chapter gets over. And even though there was something off in the beginning, something in me told me to go on, and I don’t regret it (I don’t regret my mother’s screaming either.) This book also deals with slight racism and discrimination, which is a very brave thing for the author to do.

The Linked Series

1. Linked
2. Unravel

Book Review #7: Unspoken

Okay, I do not know what exactly made me sorta addicted to this book. I was hooked, but when I tried to pinpoint the exact reason, I was blank. This book is a trilogy, thank god, not like TMI, where my mom was screaming at me every single day.

Unspoken is the first book of the Lynburn Legacy series, by Sarah Rees Brennan. It’s about this Japanese-American girl, Kami Glass, who has a telepathic connection with her imaginary friend, who suddenly becomes so very not imaginary. When the Lynburns, the founder family shrouded in mysteries and secrets, returns to the town, she finds that the Jared in her head was actually Jared Lynburn. She meets his entire family, and together, Jared and Kami find some very extraordingry secrets. Kami, being the investigative reporter that she is, plunders through the clues without worrying about the circumstances, and her investigations make her stumble upon a secret older than the town itself! It has many twists and turns, and I would recommend this book to people who are slightly insane, you are gonna identify with Kami, since she’s also insane. 

The Lynburn Legacy series

0.25. The Spring Before I Met You

0.50. The Summer Before I Met You

1.        Unspoken

1.50. The Night After I Lost You

2.       Untold

3.        Unmade

Writing Prompt #4 (Not much of a prompt though)

Okay, this isn’t much of a prompt, but why not write a story where the PoV is the villain. Except the reader nor the PoV know that they are he villain, but by the end of the story, it becomes clear? I’d like to read something like that. In which there was a PoV of the villain, just a few chapters, but something nonetheless? It would give us fellow readers an insight into the mind of the villain, and somehow I would like to believe that this would made me understand the villain even more. Like in my novel, I had a few chapters written from my villain’s side, who is a little not right in the head, so it was an interesting and new experience for me. I think it would change the way my readers (if I ever do have some) think about him. I personally love him, a little, even more than the protag’s favourite. We all have different views after all, don’t we?

So just remember what I said. This may go a long way. Since many novels don’t have a villain PoV. 

Book Review #6: The Star-Touched Queen

This is…elegant. There are no other words which can be used to describe it. The language, the descriptions, the characters, everything is so sophisticated yet simple, I can just marvel over the beauty of it.The Star-Touched Queen, by Roshani Chokshi, is a novel about a seventeen year-old girl named Mayavati. It’s set in ancient India, in a kingdom called Bharata. Her horoscope speaks of her being partnered with death, due to which everyone avoids her. They think that she brings death on everyone. She has a half-sister she treasures dearly, Gauri, who is the only one who does not stay away from her. Yet, one day, her father, the King of Bharata, decides to hold a swayamvara for her. Yet, the night before, he gives her a bottle of mandrake poison, and asks her to drink it as soon as she chooses her groom form fifteen of their enemies. That fateful day, when everyone leaves her alone to make her decision, war breaks out, and a stranger, who introduces him as King Amar, asks her to follow him to safety. She impulsively puts the garland on him, and thus proclaims him as her groom. After a few days of bliss and peace, she stumbles upon a secret, which changes her world, and makes her doubt her own husband, she escapes, but to what? When she realises what she’s done, she’s in a race with time to find her husband and make him remember her, or the world as she knows it will come to an end. What is so special about her? Get to know in this twisting Indian mythology! 

Book Review #5: Of Metal and Wishes

I found the YASH website (for those of you who don’t know it, it’s yash.rocks) and it has the best list of books ever! I found Of Metal and Wishes, and found the cover very intriguing, so I decided to give it a go! I only finished it yesterday, so I decided to tell you all about it today. 
Of Metal and Wishes, a novel by Sarah Fine, set in industrial Asia, is about a young girl named Wen, who is an Itanyai, in a world surrounded by factories. She lives in Gochan One, a factory which makes meat-related products. Her father is a doctor in the factory, and they live comfortably, but not too comfortably. Her mother died of cancer, but when Wen lived with her, she was well off, going to school, and stitching dresses. Some of these dresses she still has, and eve though they hold huge sentimental value to her, she sells the dresses to pay off the debts of the new stranger tribe, the Noors, who have come to work here. There’s a brewing romance between Melik and Wen, but not too sweet and sugary to make you vomit, it seems like a real relationship, one they can’t pursue due to their being of different tribes. There is a legend of the Ghost of Gochan One, who fulfils favours for the people of the factory in exchange for something. One day, after an humiliating incident in the cafeteria, she decided to see just how real this ghost is and tells him to do something in order to prove himself. But no one could have imagined what happened next. This a story which seems like so much more, brimming with life, and makes you believe that this place really exists. It’s avert good read, and I promise you won’t regret it!

Of Metal and Wishes series:

0.5. Of Shadows and Obsession 

1.     Of Metal and Wishes

2.     Of Dreams and Rust