Top Ten Tuesday: Fairytale Retellings

  It's been a couple weeks since my last post, but I'll have another one up pretty soon to answer Bridger's questions. Today I am excited to take part in Top Ten Tuesday! It's a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. While Tuesdays used to be my day for talking about normal life, I think I'm going to mix it up a bit, because for one, this meme looks like fun. Today's topic? Top Ten Fairytale Retellings.

 Now, I love fairy tale retellings. They're one of my favorite type of story. Sadly I haven't read all of them, but I have attempted to write a few. So here are my top ten retellings. Not necessarily in order of favorites.

10. Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

 Not technically a 'fairytale' retelling, this is a retelling of Peter Pan, so I'm counting it. A bit on the stranger side, but still enjoyable, providing interesting reasons for Peter not growing up, etc

9. The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson

 Dickerson makes my list a lot for her Christian retellings. This one is a retelling of both Robin Hood and Swan Lake so I'm counting it. I have a review of this one coming soon.

8. Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey

 

Retelling of Cinderella with a twist. I like it. 

7. The Merchant's Daughter by Melanie Dickerson

Historical retelling of Beauty and the Beast. First book I read by this author.

 6. Golden by Cameron Dokey

 Featuring one of my favorite fairytale retelling twists, in this Rapunzel story, the known lady of long hair is bald. Makes for some interesting narration.

5. The Fairest Beauty by Melanie Dickerson

This historical retelling is about as chilling as the original fairytale of Snow White with an interesting cast of characters.

4. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

 

 Eastern inspired retelling of little-known fairytale Maid Maleen. Written in diary format, it is actually the story of the maid's servant, Dashti, and it is extremely well-written.

3. Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George

 

A captivating retelling of Twelve Dancing Princesses, this book kept me turning the pages.

2. The Captive Maiden by Melanie Dickerson

My favorite Dickerson story is actually another Cinderella retelling. Add in a misunderstood prince and a creepy villain (and I'm not even talking about the stepmother) and you've got an intriguing historical retelling. 

1. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

When I first read the fairytale, The Goose Girl, as a child I was both horrified and intrigued. This retelling that expounds upon that classic fairytale takes my top spot for taking small details from the story and using that to create an entire original series after this book. Hale masterfully spins the tale of the princess who experiences betrayal by those closest to her as she journeys to be married to a foreign prince, instead becoming a servant while her waiting woman masquerades as her. Great story, with a wonderful original series following.

BONUS

Wild Orchid by Cameron Dokey 

A retelling of the historic tale of the warrior Mulan, this couldn't technically be counted as a fairytale, but I love this story, so decided to include it as a bonus. 

Finally, here are three books I need to read.  (There are more, but.)

1. Doon  

A retelling of Brigadoon, it's on this month's to-read list.

2. Cinderella

Cyborg Cinderella???

3. Ella Enchanted

 

 

Like the movie, need to read the book.

And you can add all the Melanie Dickerson and Cameron Dokey books to this list as well, as well as any sequels to the above books I didn't mention. Also, there are many more I want to read. Do you have any suggestions for me to add to my list? 

~ a rambling author

Tea Review!

  I'm still waiting on more questions on Ask Bridger (see the post before this one) but tonight I have a review. Writers love hot beverages. It makes things feel more... official? Or something? Either way, we love boasting about drinking hot cocoa or tea in teacups. *Shrug* So today I'm reviewing Energy Tea from Total Tea. I received this product in exchange for my honest review.

 

Unfortunately, although I enjoy drinking tea, I haven't had the chance to try this particular tea yet. Rather, I haven't made it for myself yet. You see, I often drink tea for the purpose of helping my voice as well and I've just not taken the time. Which is my loss. My mother on the other hand has been drinking a cup faithfully almost every day ever since we got it.

  This tea is for weight loss and energy. It is a herbal tea with lots of green tea in it. It's all natural being kosher and gluten free. Here are some of the ingredients: guayusa, green tea, cinnamon bark, eleuthero root, and ginseng root. All of these ingredients do fantastic things for your body like sooth the nervous system and increase the metabolism.

  Here's what my mother has to say about the tea:

My beautiful Mom.

 I love it! Not only is it good for you but it tastes good too. Another thing I love is that one teabag brews a nice big cup. I leave the teabag in the cup as I sip with pleasure and it never gets that too strong bitterness. I haven't really paid that much attention to the claims for weight loss and energy as I have just enjoyed a great cup of herbal tea.

 When she says a big cup, I mean big. Look at this thing. Whew. Also, though she said she didn't notice much weight loss stuff, I did hear her mention losing about five pounds the other day, so... who knows? I just had a sip and it tastes pretty yummy. Perhaps the next ingredient to continue my writerly perseverance? We'll see. Find it here.

~ a rambling author

Meet Bridger

  So heyyy. It's been a bit since my last post and I figured it was about time to get writing again on here! So I'm going to get things started by talking about the story I'm writing for Camp NaNoWriMo and start a new character interview. Whoot whoot!

  For NaNo, I'm writing a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I included elements from the story, but it's wayyyyy different than the original fairy tale. Way different. During NaNo I'm actually sharing it on Wattpad because somehow that helps me, but here it is if you would like to read. The story is called Wayward Path.

I don't own the original image.

Description:

  Prince Bridger hates his name... and the plans his parents have for him. As the fifth son he has only one duty: to marry well. But his parent's choice for bride is a girl whose family line leads back to piracy and many mysterious deaths. Bridger retaliates by boycotting the marriage and borrowing one of his father's ships to search for the myth of a sleeping princess he heard long ago.

   His pirate bride chases after him, for a woman spurned is a dangerous thing. As he avoids cuthroats, sea monsters, and other dangers, Bridger is left to wonder if the lure of a sleeping princess is worth every obstacle he faces.

   When one sets out for adventure, a bit of peace and quiet is sometimes appreciated.


  I'm really excited and having fun with this project. I only want it to end up being about 20,000 words as it is a novella, and the words are stacking up pretty nicely. I already have nearly 8,000. If I can keep up this rate, the rest of camp should be a breeze, although I will be going to an actual camp and won't be able to write next week...

  Anyway, I thought it would be fun to introduce some of my characters. I was really tempted to
introduce you to Eliysa, my spurned pirate lady, but decided you should meet Bridger first. The photos I have chosen for Bridger were the best I could find in a pinch, though not quite what I imagine. Still... Here he is. If the synopsis wasn't enough info, he's a stubborn dreamer who wants to believe in fairy tales. This idea gets him into trouble a lot, especially when the wrong kind of fairy tales come true. He has brown, feathery hair, and an eye color I can never settle on. Green, perhaps. He's thin and wiry and somewhat clumsy. And... I'll let you get to know him yourself.


 Ask him some questions!!! :)

WARNING: Do Not Engage {Writing Advice}

 Hello friends. Life is smashing right now. I've finished up shows (a post on that soon) and my writing is coming along. But today's post isn't about my writing, or about my life. Today's post is on a topic that every writer should know about, and understand the proper response to.

 I try to avoid confrontation online. Sometimes I post on something that I disagree with, but I try to do so in a manner that is not rude or thoughtless. People are more likely to respect what you have to say if you respect them too. I am also not likely to post about anything like such on this blog, but today I am making an exception. What I am about to write about has nothing to do with me, really. The only reason it means anything to me is because I am a writer and I see something to learn from it. So today I am going to talk a little about what I like to think of as a writer's rule. DO NOT ENGAGE.

 Whether you are writing stories on a fanfiction website, publishing your poem in a local newspaper, or writing a blog post like this one, you are opening yourself up to criticism. Some criticism can be kind, something that will encourage you and is relevant to your writing. Some criticism can be painful, but every type will help turn you into the writer you are meant to be.

There is only one way to avoid criticism, and that is to not write at all. So you have the choice of not doing the thing you love, or experiencing some criticizing words. 

 The DO NOT ENGAGE rule is the best protection you have as a writer. An author who accepts criticism graciously is one to be admired. They are willing to grow. In reviews and life, the best course of action is usually to not say anything, or if you do, to be kind with your words. Your actions will show who you are better than any words you can think up to defend yourself. 

 I'm acquainted with many writers, and many have said that they don't even read reviews of their works anymore. This is actually a wise act of letting go, but one I imagine is incredibly hard to do. To let go does not mean you don't care about your readers. You just want to stay your best self and not be upset about bad reviews, etc. 

 Why am I discussing this of all topics? Today I saw a post in a couple of my writing groups about how not to respond to reviewers. The link attached led to a goodreads review by a girl who happened to rate a book one star. You can read the review and following conversation here.

 In case you aren't aware, goodreads is a social media site for readers (and authors to an extent.) It is a fun site that I truly enjoy. It gives you the opportunity to have lists of books that you want to read, are currently reading, or have read. You can also rate and give short reviews on those books. Authors can connect with readers who fan or friend them, and you can have your own friends on there as well. It gives you the opportunity to see what your friends are reading and what they think. I love it.

 The reader has the chance to express their true feelings about something in as few or many words as they desire. The above mentioned reviewer wrote this review:


 "This was just...so unnecessarily wordy and pretentious. I just did not enjoy it at all. Which makes me sad because the summary says it's for fans of Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and World of Warcraft. Aka three of my favorite things. So how did I loathe this so entirely from page one? I don't know."

  I mean... OUCH. That was probably pretty painful to the author. One star reviews are no fun, but I'm sure we've all given them or thought of giving them. As a writer I try to avoid them simply because I know how much work can go into a book. I think the lowest I've given is two stars. But that doesn't mean a person doesn't have the right to give a one star, and really this review wasn't as scathing as it could have been. I think it was just the reviewer's own opinions, which goodreads gives her the safety to show.

 Until... The author decided to break the rule of engagement. I mean, sure, it's not an official rule written down in the ultimate handbook for writers or something, but it is a mostly unspoken rule that most authors live by. 

 Now, my first advice for you, if you are going to break this rule and refuse to back down... Be civil in your response. The author did okay at this, if some of his phrases were a bit... passive aggressive. 

His reply: 
 
"Sorry that my book evoked such a horrible response. May I ask how you discovered it? I'm an indie author. I work over 100 hours a week to get my books to succeed so that I don't have to be a slave anymore. This review is not good for my business, so unless your desire is to ruin my dreams, it would mean a great deal if you could remove this review from my work and forget about it. But if it's your desire to hurt me financially and ruin my business, then it's understandable why you would post such a harmful review. I'm just curious as to how you discovered the book, as most of my sales are made through people I meet on social media."

 Okay, so maybe a bit more than passive aggressive. While a few of his sentences are calm enough, some are outright whacky sounding, but just defensive. The reviewer responded again, offering to edit her review to give her reasons for disliking it, but refusing to remove it as she would feel that dishonest. She also suggested the author get used to not always getting great reviews as it is a part of life. And that is when insanity broke loose. 

 Before you could spit the author was posting an essay long comment in which he attacked the reviewer. I won't write out the entire post because of it's length, but here are a few golden bits: 

 "I'm just always amazed that someone would go out of their way to slander someone's work like this."


"I would've rather you got your money back than curse my book with your toxic opinion of it because it's "in your rights to do so."

 He went on to say many, many interesting things. In fact, here is a screen shot of most of his response to her. 
         



This is when definite alarm bells went off in my head. I won't post or discuss the rest of the thread in great length, but it continued like this. The reviewer continued attempting civility, while others rose up in support of her. The author continued to attack her AND the other commenters, accusing them all of being under the intelligence necessary to read the book and below him, etc, etc, etc. And it continued. For about six pages.

 This, my friends, is how you can irreparably injure your writing career. I did not write this blog post to attack the author, I wrote this to give example of what not to do as a professional author.

1) Do Not Engage - It isn't worth it. This author will suffer far more for replying than he would if he had just accepted this review and moved on.

2) If you do talk to readers, ask for advice on improvement, etc.

3) Never insult potential readers, or anyone for that matter. It isn't professional, and for a writer it is career suicide.

 I could probably write an even lengthier post detailing every do, do not, etc. But I don't know everything. I'm growing too. But I believe every experience is for learning and this one shows me the negative effect of thinking too highly of your own work... and of engaging with a negative reviewer.

 It isn't worth it, people. The author's book went from an average of four stars, to an average of little over one, and he made many people never want to read one of his books. These people will spread the story. The author still believes himself to be a victim, accusing the reviewer and all her supporters of bullying.

 This shows us the danger of what we could become. You are a writer. You aren't a god. Your work can always improve. If you think you are infallible, you will find yourself falling the hardest in the end. 

 This, my friends, is my own little warning. A humble spirit will get you farther in life than anything such as this author's response. 

 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. ~ Psalm 51:17 

 Your story is worth it. You are worth it. Take any critiques and use them to grow stronger. You are a writer. You are a strong creation because you were made to take the worst criticism and weave them into the greatest stories. Prove your worth. 

~ a rambling author 

The Choosing: A Book Review

 Hi guys! Today I am part of the blog tour of The Choosing by Rachelle Dekker.

Back cover: Like all citizens since the Ruining, Carrington Hale knows the importance of this day. But she never expected the moment she’d spent a lifetime preparing for―her Choosing ceremony―to end in disaster. Ripped from her family, she’ll spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of society. She knows it’s her duty to follow the true way of the Authority.

But as Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. Though the whispers contradict everything she’s been told, they resonate deep within.

Then Carrington is offered an unprecedented chance at the life she’s always dreamed of, yet she can’t shake the feeling that it may be an illusion. With a killer targeting Lints and corruption threatening the highest levels of the Authority, Carrington must uncover the truth before it destroys her.

~.~.~.

 I have mixed feelings for this little book, (it's over 400 pages, so not really little...) but they aren't necessarily /bad/ feelings. I initially thought it was a young adult book, but I believe it might be adult now after reading some of the contents. As is my tradition, I'll start with a quick survey of some of the characters.

 First there is Carrington. She was so lost, but a nice character all the same. I liked her well enough, though she was a product of the world she lives in. I enjoyed the journey she goes through within herself as well as out. Remko was just adorable. I love the idea of a character with a stutter, and what that might mean. He was one of my favorite characters. There were several other characters that were all nice and well written. Isaac Knight was written well, and was a very interesting character.

 This book wasn't your typical dystopian. It did not feature a young teenage girl attempting to overthrow a government. In fact, this book was more about inner turmoil than outer deeds, and I think that is very clever and really added to the story. I feel the book wouldn't be for everything because some might find it slow over time, but I really enjoyed it. One comment. The novel's government made me more angry than any other dystopian government... ever. I just want to give the leadership some smacks because UNGHEHFO. Anywho.

 The story is good for teens and adults alike to consider and read about self worth. The story has some mature elements, but nothing unnecessary. More just cautionary things such as violence. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next in the series. I recommend it for ages fifteen and up.

The oldest daughter of New York Times bestselling author Ted Dekker, Rachelle Dekker was inspired early on to discover truth through the avenue of storytelling. She writes full time from her home in Nashville, where she lives with her husband, Daniel, and their diva cat Blair.