Dragon and Thief by Timothy Zahn

Genre: Fantasy – Young Adult

Series: Dragonback #1

Publisher: Tor Books (October 25, 2016)

Author Information: Facebook

Length: 240 pages

My Rating: 3 stars

Dragon and Thief is a short, scifi story based upon a really cool idea (If you – like me – think sentient, symbiotic aliens who live on your skin as tattoos, talk to you, and can turn into warrior-poet dragons is cool.), and I can see middle grade readers (the intended audience) really enjoying it.  I even believe others (who might only know Timothy Zahn from his Star Wars Expanded Universe novels) will find this straightforward tale an entertaining adventure worth their time.

The fun begins when Draycos, the aforementioned K’da symbiote, survives the destruction of the starship he is traveling on and is forced to find a new host within six hours.  This causes our alien to join…

Craig here. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the one in the group wearing a beard. I want to talk about the value of living documents as a writer.

A living document is one that lives on the hard drive, and changes over time. This could be a list, or better yet, a collection of lessons. I feel better knowing I have a quick reference point when outlining and writing a story.

I’ve been working on short form tales lately, and I keep a simple list. When I write one of the stories, I delete it off the list. When the Muse visits, I add to the list. Pretty basic stuff.

The bigger list is called Writing Lessions. I may have gotten to the writing game late in life, but I’m studious, and I put in the hours. When something clicks with me, I write it on…

Hi everyone!

Harmony here 🙂

Well, I bet that title grabbed your attention, lols. As you might have guessed already, today’s post is all about hooks and how to grab the reader’s attention as early as possible.  🙂

Usually, I know within the first two-to-three pages whether or not I want to read a novel. If I’m bored already, that is a sure sign to put the tome back on the shelf. Some hooks are better than others, and some are downright crass. Most publishers won’t look at a book beyond the beginning if the hook uses something as obvious as sex to interest the reader. I make no comment on this: it is just the way of the world.

Your strength of writing effects this too. If it is sloppy and full of errors, then you will have to produce an absolute masterpiece of imagination in order for a…

Few nights ago, almost after 20 years I watched “Dead poets society” movie again. Having poetry as  my regular friend and companion sheds completely new light not only on the understanding of the movie itself, but on the distance I made from a person I used to be to a person I believe I am today.  When I first watched movie, it was more interesting from a teenage point of view – I was in high school and it was amusing to relate to main characters’ early adolescent ups and downs. I certainly don’t attempt to analyze the movie here, but two main messages stuck to my mind after the second watch: how poetry so beautifully offers that different perspective, seeing world from another angle, through different color of lenses, walk in the shoes that can be too tight and make blisters or two big that make us feel clumsy…

by Tonya R. Moore

Are you afraid of messing around with tropes? What about your plot? Is it too dark? Too light? Is your main character too perfect? Too flawed? Are you afraid to bore, perturb, or even disgust?

Tell me the truth: how many articles did you read this week that made you look back at your own work and cringe?