World Building - The Mystical World

World building can be a deal breaker in a fantasy novel just because of this extra factor of magic. You see, magic needs to have its own set of rules and laws. You can't just put magic in your world, do nothing and expect it to work out in the end. You need some basic set of rules, and by that I mean detailed set of rules. No one is stopping you from going crazy with your imagination in trying to come up with different types of magic but you still have to write down, draw out or do whatever you can to get those basic rules crafted. 

Here are some guiding questions:

1. Does the magic in your realm have a name or is it just called magic? Does it respond to particular types of people, is it a living thing? Are there different types of magic?

2. What about the magic users? How many types of magic users are there? What kind of restrictions do they have in using magic? (They must have at least one!) 

The type of inspiration I used to create magic and label the type of magic users is by looking through some fantasy-related pictures (It's simple. Just open up google, type in fantasy picture/wallpapers and click on the image results...or you could use Pinterest) You will be amazed to see the awesome ideas that come up. For those who end up having difficulties trying to answer some questions whether it is related to sci-fi or magic, try using this website -http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com
It's easy to use too. You can either ask a question or select a tag and browse through the questions asked by others related to that tag.

If you are able to answer all these questions then well done, you have just completed the first step of integrating magic into your world. Just to give you a heads up, now that I've finished giving you tips on building the physical world which is covered here, you will have to prepare the certain extra details regarding magic for the upcoming tips on creating your world's history and society. So make sure to think through how the magic affected your world's past and how it might have impacted the society. You will need this head start as the next few posts will mostly deal with people and their surroundings, hence, you might want to have that magic part ready.

Bitter-Sweet Tales (Manga Version)

Tales can be seen everywhere, animes, movies, dramas, novels, mangas, comics... Do I have to list everything? Every medium of story telling is unique to a particular culture and can reveal more about the society and the author than we could have ever imagined. So, to expose you to the different types, we start off with manga. Manga is basically a Japanese comic. The two mangas I'm showing you come from a genre called 'shoujo' which is typically the genre meant for girls. Though not all of them are girly and pretty. There can be dark and tragedy elements too. The first one is a continuously updated manga and the second one is one-shot. Yeah, it is what it sounds like, it contains only one chapter so it is a pretty quick read. 

Manga - Last Game 

Yanagi's dad is a president of a large hotel, he himself is handsome and clever, always wins the favor of girls.Moreover, he's always on the top of class and champions in all sports meetings when he was in primary school. But after he met Kujou, a transfer student, he had never savored the taste of victory in any single match with this girl for ten years. "Let's bid for final victory, Kujou."There here comes the last game. Will Yanagi fall in love with Kujou while he hates his competitor but cares so much about this girl?

-Summary is taken from MangaFox

Last Game (Chap 43)

It has been a really long time since I last read the Last Game so I was happy that they gave a quick recap before the story started and apparently the situation that we had left off with was really embarrassing since Yanagi’s mom arrives at the same night when Kujou ends up staying over at his house. After all this, it seems really hilarious that Kujou straight away stops his mother from assuming that they are together due to all that misunderstanding. Plus, it's nice to see someone else (Yanagi’s mom XD) cheering for the Kujou-Yanagi pairing besides us. And then comes in his sister. It's like the whole family is cheering him on (despite the humiliation he has to go through in front of Kujou and its refreshing to see her enjoy it). Ganbatte Yanagi!

 Kujou seems so comfortable with Yanagi’s family that I just want to say - go get married already! It's not like Yanagi will ever give you up to anyone.

And then comes an interesting twist of events - 

The weird yet interesting chemistry these two has never failed to bore me. I guess this chapter was just a mark point where we get to have a reality check about the status of their relationship along with plenty of laughs. If you have not read this yet and are trying to look for a light-hearted shoujo then I would recommend this one.


Manga - Boku Wa Kimi No Shiro (One-Shot)

Oh God... I was crying so damn hard after reading this. Furthermore, it's a one-shot! How can a one-shot move me this much? I’m warning you now, don’t be fooled by what you see in the first few pages because once the truth is revealed the whole situation turns around. 

The characters are introduced with a light-hearted start (light-hearted compared to the end). Yuki is a snow spirit who is pretty much lonely as everyone hates snow and only those who need snow are able to see him. With no one wanting his help and everyone trying to get rid of him, he begins to question his existence. Then comes Akari who seems to be praying near the Yukino Shrine and so her prayer gives her the ability to see Yuki. Yuki finds out that just like him, she too feels lonely and hence, they keep each other company. They gradually spend more time together and become closer until it is revealed that Yuki was the one that caused the death of Akari’s boyfriend and Akari only came to the Yukino Shrine to pray for the return of her boyfriend after she heard about the superstition that if you are able to meet the snow spirit, you can bring a dead person back to life.

That is it. That is all I am going to reveal to you, go figure out the rest for yourselves cause I’m not going to tell you how it ends. If you feel fired up to finish reading it then I will not delay you anymore. Click on the picture, it will lead you directly to the manga. 

Since this is essentially a YA book blog, I guess you might be a bit more interested in these types of mangas:

So what do you think? Have you read any mangas before? Are there any other storytelling mediums you want to recommend? 

World Building - The Physical World

When starting to write a novel or a short story it may seem like you have all the information that you need in your head. Well, think again. Do you know where your character goes to relax or the garden that he or she likes? (If there is one.) What about the type of structures and buildings there? What about the history of the country that your character lives in? (Was it visited by aliens?)

You get my point. World building may seem something that can be conquered using an imaginative mind but as you get past that initial phase it becomes a tireless and tedious process. When most of us reach that part, we give up on filling in the blanks for the minutiae. In recent years, there has been a noticeable lack of effort regarding world building and it might be because most authors only briefly develop their worlds, just enough to make their story look seamless. This is most obvious in most fantasy and science fiction stories since a lot of world development is needed for them. However, this is where these underdeveloped stories lose out in gaining a strong readership. A strong foundation of good world building will increase the writer's chances of finding a hidden gem in that world and also allow the writer to create more sophisticated side-stories which will bring life to the original one.

So, how do you make sure that you story is not underdeveloped because of poor world building? It's simple. Before you even start writing you first chapter you should have a clear outline of the world. Ask yourself a few of these questions to get started.

1. Where does your character live? What about his or her friends/enemies? - Use this base to create a map in your head. (for fantasy and sci-fi) Or pick a location from the world map and use it as a base. (usually for contemporary novels but you can still use this technique for fantasy and sci-fi novels)

2. Once you have a geographical reference, you can start to fill in the map with the main locations and imaginary landmarks or features you intend your story to have. At the end, don't forget to create names for the extra land you might have drawn and don't be afraid to add in a bit more detail or change it a bit. Remember, you can always change the direction your story is moving in at this point. Make good use of the internet to help boost your imagination by searching for pictures. You might even want to use Pinterest. There are still other ways to arrange your ideas, like using a blog. You can even publicize your novel through it like I do.

That concludes the first step in world building and this does not only apply to fantasy but also to contemporary novels. It's almost like creating a treasure map, except that there is no treasure. (or is there?) By mapping out all the significant places your character will need to visit and also the irrelevant places (which your character might have an encounter with in the future) you can start to imagine the journey your character will have to take and what it will feel like to be in his or her shoes. 

Light and Dark - A Throne of Glass Poem

Here's a little poem I wrote after I read the Throne of Glass series. Of course, the series is far from over, so I won't be giving away any spoilers here. But for those who have read it and enjoyed it as much as I do, you might understand the strain of the poem in Celaena's POV. Enjoy!

Light and Dark

The Darkness in my heart

Untamed, wild, but caged

Like the greatest storm in a glass bottle

Threatening to bleed out

For a thousand years

'Hold it in, control it'

Feeling nothing but the pain in the storm

The Darkness longs for escape

Drop by drop, the bottle fills

The glass cracks and splinters

The storm seethes, restrained for the moment

But with every pulse: pain

The very blood in my veins

Chilled, frozen in the dark

Waves of night crash and foam on the shore

A thousand years of pain

The stake is set, the pyre alight

For the burning of love

The lighting of despair and unending sorrow

The flames rearing

The glass thins, the cracks widen

Darkness seeps through the fissures

There is nothing that can be done to hold it back

If the glass breaks, the world ends

Pain, endless pain

The Darkness is everything

I want to give in, break the glass and be free

But something always stops me

Then a wave crashes

It can hold no longer

The great storm is about to escape

As the glass shatters

Then a light shines

And lo! The glass is not glass

The light turns it into a shell of hardest diamond

Protecting both within and without

The shell is healed

But the Darkness within

Still writhes untamed and angry

The storm builds

Then a voice is heard

Out of the light

'Be free, turn to happiness and hope

Leave behind the night'

And lo! The bottle falls

The diamond holds

But the storm within escapes

A moment of despair

And it is gone

The storm drowns

The Darkness is destroyed

And hope fills the bottle

For light is always stronger than Dark

A thousand years of pain cured by love

Forgotten and forgiven, as the glass turns to diamond

Love and hope conquers all

Need bees, zombies and romance? Try Stung by Bethany Wiggins

This will be a shout out to a book that I think should have been recognised more. So, today I have a duology instead of just one book. They are Stung and Cured by Bethany Wiggins. I'm not sure how many people might have heard about these books but I only sing praises for them. Seriously, two of the coolest plots I've seen.

Stung follows the story of Fiona. Fiona doesn’t remember going to sleep. But when she opens her eyes, she discovers her entire world has been altered-her house is abandoned and broken, and the entire neighborhood is barren and dead. Even stranger is the tattoo on her right wrist-a black oval with five marks on either side-that she doesn’t remember getting but somehow knows she must cover at any cost. And she’s right. When the honeybee population collapsed, a worldwide pandemic occurred and the government tried to bio-engineer a cure. Only the solution was deadlier than the original problem-the vaccination turned people into ferocious, deadly beasts who were branded as a warning to un-vaccinated survivors. Key people needed to rebuild society are protected from disease and beasts inside a fortress-like wall. But Fiona has awakened branded, alone-and on the wrong side of the wall . . .

Then there is cured, a continuation. Now that Fiona Tarsis and her twin brother, Jonah, are no longer beasts, they set out to find their mother, with the help of Bowen and a former neighbor, Jacqui. Heading for a safe settlement rumored to be in Wyoming, they plan to spread the cure along the way—until they are attacked by raiders. Luckily, they find a new ally in Kevin, who saves them and leads them to safety in his underground shelter. But the more they get to know Kevin, the more they suspect he has ties to the raiders. He also seems to know too many details about Jacqui and her family—details that could endanger them all. For the raiders will do anything they can to destroy the cure that would bring an end to their way of life. Bethany Wiggins’s reimagining of our world after an environmental catastrophe won’t fail to stun readers.

Unfortunately, Bethany Wiggins won't be writing another book set in the Stung world but she did give me an awesome experience with these books. Hopefully they get turned into a movie! I would really recommend these thriller dystopians to those folks looking for a quick read. Each book can act as a stand alone but both are filled with romance and adventure. My personal fave? Cured. Just because the fun is doubled with both Fiona and Jacqui there.

Do you guys have any books that you think are worth reading but do not get any spotlight?

The Cassie and Evan Chemistry (Shipping Saturday)

This is the time when I fangirl all I want about a ship and by now most of you must have realised the ship of the week - Evan and Cassie! I know some of you might not have read The 5th Wave and would want to start reading it (btw one of my favourite books. Can't wait for the last book!) so I'll try to keep this one spoiler free. Ben & Cassie supporters, you will get your chance later so don't be sad.

Okay, where do I even start? Evassie. Casan. Oh. Rick Yancey did a good job at making their names incompatible for shipping purposes. I'll just call them Evie. Well, I've got to praise the author for giving Evie an adorable sizzling chemistry in the first book (just like Warner and Juliette XD) They way they met was one of the best things about the book. The way Evan just spells trouble but Cassie still... yeah.

"I'm Evan," he says next. "Evan Walker."

"Hi," I say.

He gave little laugh like I said something funny.

"Hi," he says.

All the things that build up to that moment just makes me fangirl all over again!

"I didn't save you," he whispers, lips tickling my eyelashes.

"You saved me."

Wow. The intensity in that scene. I swear I died a little there. I kind of feel that their relationship tends to be rather too fictional but it is a rather too fictional setting to - you know, alien invasion. Only if there was a guy like that in real life. *Sighs* The things that books make us expect from real life... 

My fave Evie part? Just to keep it spoiler free - pg 123 of The Infinite Sea. Though, I gotta admit that there weren't as many Evie scenes as I expected to be in The Infinite Sea.

So that rounds up the first shipping segment of the year! You are free to suggest any ships that you want me to talk about next week ;)

Cover reveal for End of Day (Angelfall book 3)

Lo and behold !!

For those Angelfall fans who missed the cover reveal for the last book! Isn't it awesome! First things first - how many of you ended up making predictions from the cover itself? See the feathers fall apart? What does it mean? Oh I hope that Raffe gets to stay with Penryn. The cover itself makes you want to think that there will be an epic ending. It's just so perfect with all its golden glory. Now there's only one thing I'm crying over - why did the series get reduced to 3 books?!

Did I forget to mention that there is an excerpt? Click Here to see it!