Review Wednesday – Erin Grace's The Indefatigable Wright Brothers

"I’m still too afraid to sleep with a psychopath in the room."

Jeremiah Meza, a ball shagger at the local driving range, has just been dumped by his girlfriend.  He normally wouldn't care but she left him with the one insult he can't get over; she called him a psychopath. After doing some research and worrying a lot, Jeremiah soon becomes convinced he is indeed in a psychopath.  This realization scares him until he meet Bonnie (Just Bonnie), who persuades  him he needs to take things to the next level. Now that he knows what he is, he should strive to become the best of them all.  What follows is a crazy adventure, only made possible by the (un)predicted fall of a meteorite.

The indefatigable Wright Brothers, Erin Graces' first book, starts with a bang,  We meet Jeremiah who is trying to handle his (ex)girlfried as she is breaking up with him.  Although he is presented as a somewhat insensitive boyfriend,  I immediately sided with him. Regardless of the trouble he was in, I grew fonder of him with every page.  I didn't like Bonnie as much.  In fact, I liked some of the other members of the brethren more than I did her.  I wish she hadn't taken the backseat of the story and had had a bigger presence in the latter part of the story. Nonetheless, I feel Grace has a great understanding of human emotions and  knows how to make them lovable and realistic without the need of extensive description.  The same goes for her settings.  I could easily picture the different places where the characters interacted.

The premise of the story is amazing, the idea being original and unusual ( to be quite honest, I had been expecting a story about the real Wright brothers.) I enjoyed it very much.  I felt however that I had been cheated of part of the story when, after the fall of the meteorite and the creation of the Brotherhood, the pace suddenly picked up to take the allure of a rocky-esque montage.  Although key information was provided, I would have liked to see the evolution of the group at a slower pace.  The book being fairly short, a chapter or two more wouldn't have hurt. Plus, it would have contributed to strengthen the relationships between the characters. This change of pace led also me to me utterly confused when we flashed forward and all the characters suddenly had codenames.  I caught on later, but some I still wasn't sure about, even as I reached the end of the book.  Speaking of which, the open ending couldn't have been more appropriate.  The reader can't help but wonder what will be Jeremiah's next move.

Grace's style is rich but simple. The language is accessible yet filled with little jems such as the opening quote of this review and as "We’re both a little dubious about our abilities to handle machinery larger than mechanical pencils." The book reads easily, which is great because you don't want to be hindered: the author keeps you wanting to know what is going to happen next.  The usage of first person narrative  was perfect for this story; a third person narrative would have dulled it greatly.

All in all, The Indefatigable Wright Brothers does a good job of showing the potential and talent of  author Erin Grace.  It is a novel bound to please anyone with a good sense of humour and a taste for the incredible.

Tune in tomorrow for an interview with Erin Grace and a chance to win a copy of the book!

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Writing Prompt Tuesday – Salt or ice?

Sometimes it seems our brain is flooding us with a torrent of ideas; they keep on coming and coming so fast we barely have time to jot them down before they escape us.  Then, there are those other times when our mind is as dry as the Sahara. Luckily, I'm here to help!

Writing Challenge!

Source: Personal collection

This week, inspire yourself from the above picture. What is this cartwheel doing stuck in the middle of a salt lake?  Who put it there?  What's your character's reaction to this strange discovery?

Share your story or excerpt in the comment section or link back to your blog. 

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Hipster Word of the Week– Absquatulate

People talk about the inner child all the time – listen to, heal, feed, (smother) your inner child – but what about our little less known but as (if not more) tyrannical  inner hipster?  

An inner what?  Don't be ridiculous, I'm NOT a hipster!  

There, there.  No need to deny it.  I bet you've felt that smug smile creep on your face after impressing someone with the extent of your knowledge at least once. So here is my weekly contribution of words so underground they'll make your inner hipster spill his fair trade coffee all over his ipad as he squeals in glee .

ABSQUATULATE

v. - to leave hurriedly, suddenly, or secretly

After hearing about the Apple Store sale, Atticus absquatulated.

Your turn!  Leave your sentences in the comment section!

  

 Source: Luciferous Logolepsy

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Writer's toolbox

This week's 5 most interesting posts. Feel free to add more in the comment section.


Make them bleed

• Titrating character's wounds to your plot – Challenge the Odds – Alex Lidell

Writer's block

• How to Transform Words Into Writing Ideas – Writing Forward – Melissa Donovan

Editing tips

• 30 Quick Editing Tips Every Content Creator Needs to Know – Copyblogger –Stefanie Flaxman

Characterization

• How to push your characters to their limits – Writer's Digest – Brian Klems

Learn something

• The enduring power of the King James Bible – CBC Books  

Image source

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Stepping off the Pedestal

Have you ever had a great idea?  An idea so cool it was going to revolutionize the world.  An idea so awesome that it made you feel that although other people had explored it, you were going to rock it so hard you would take it to the next level?  People would look in awe and venerate you for your genius.  You know the kind of idea I mean.  The type that makes you all motivated and inspired.

 I have.  I thought I was going to make ATUA the best blog about writing.  I worked and worked on plans and structure. It was going to be UNBELIEVABLE!!  (Cue the kittens, rainbows and unicorns.)

My face, exactly

Enter this.

For those of you who don't feel like clicking, the gist of this blog post by Kristen Lamb is that writers shouldn't have blogs about writing.  Wait a minute, you'll say, isn't her blog about writing?  Yes. It is about writing, but she has something I don't: experience.  Kristen is a published author and has an established platform: I don't. Setting aside the fact that I'm not a pro like her, her post points out something very important: writers who blog for writers condemn themselves to a very limited readership. 

So after I had gone through the five stages of grief, I decided I still wanted to keep ATUA alive. What was I going to write about?  I thought and thought and couldn't find anything.  I then talked to Mr. ATUA for an hour on the phone, enumerating all the things I enjoyed in life and that I could write about. We both agreed that here were enough travel and cooking blogs out there.  Then what?

That's when I came to the realization that, despite what I had believed until now, I am quite a "normal" person. Although some of my interests and tastes are not mainstream, I'm not that far from the norm that I may be called a hipster.  I'm just one slightly geeky girl who likes to write and who's not allowed to write about it. In the end, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find anything to write about.  What is wrong with me?

I'm terminally uninspired. 

There.  I've said it.  It's out in the world.  Now I could just give up and abandon ATUA but I don't want to do that.  I want to fight it!  That's right.   I'm going a quest for inspiration. I will go out into the world and I won't stop searching until I've found inspiration.

So stay tuned.  In the next few weeks you'll see changes to ATUA (layout, names and titles) but you'll also get to enjoy my adventures.

Rocking the knight uniform.  The horse costs a fortune...

Have you ever had an idea that you had to give up because it wasn't going to work?  How did you overcome the setback?  Did you end up coming up with comething even better?  Let me know!

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ATUA's first GIVEAWAY and INTERVIEW

Next thursday I'm very lucky to interview  Erin Grace, author of The IndefatigableWright Brothers.  Along with her book, we'll discuss her craft and other great topics.  Be sure to think of a question to ask her for a chance to win a digital copy of her book!

See you next week!

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Review Wednesday – Dull as Hades

Although she has previously published other material, Pluto’s Gate is L.E. Sterling’s first full-length novel.  A modern take of the famous Greek myth of the abduction of Persephone, it tells the story of Percy who finds her way to the underworld and meets with Pluto, god of Hades.   Faced with a sudden and mysterious imbalance in the land of the dead, they set out on a quest.

Pluto’s Gate is full of promises that the author fails to fulfil.  We’re shown a world filled with potential yet it is barely exploited.  Although the plot has no loose ends (everything comes together in the end), there are many useless scenes (for example the visit of Pluto’s castle during which all rooms are described) and most of the action only happens late in the book.  As for the quest, we’re not given much explanation as to why they must go to that specific place and why they are so sure they will be able to save the world by doing so.  The ending is very disappointing and left me with a “seriously?!”  I felt cheated; it was too easy.

As for the characters, I didn’t find Percy believable.  She dies and goes through the whole ordeal without even flinching.  Oh, I’m dead?  Let’s go for a walk, then.  Many of the other characters were two dimensional and I didn’t understand their motivation; they didn’t fit their personality.  The best one, by far, was Simon, although I couldn’t even get attached to him.

The quality of the prose was, however, excellent.  I especially liked her humorous comparisons and metaphors.  Unfortunately, the author often destroys an interesting build up by changing to a “looking back” narrative, which basically tells the reader that Percy is going to be alright.  The story would be much more interesting if she just let it unfold in chronological order.

All in all, Pluto’s Gate is not all that it could be.  With ten years in the making (as mentioned by the author), I would have expected a much better story.

I actually met L.E. Stine at the DC Books Launch, to know more follow the link.

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