Subplots & Storylines – October 2019

I figured out a new way to tell time, and it’s not clocks. It’s Instagram. Somehow everyone on there moved from Anne Shirley’s “I’m so glad we live in a world where there are Octobers” quote, to panicked shrieks of “NANOWRIMO COMETH!!!” This all happened in a synchronized movement across my entire feed, so either every bookstagrammer is telepathic, or we all copy each other. (Which, y’know, is a valid option too.)

In actual news, October was a productive writing month, I’m still in love with Stranger Things, I celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, and got a drastic haircut!

By the way, my brother Josiah @ The Steadfast Pen had a story called From the Mind of the Dead published on Havok and it was EXCELLENT. If you’re a member, you can still read it!

Screen Storylines

STRANGER THINGS SEASON 2

Saw the first five episodes this month and it’s STILL SO GOOD. One thing I’m really appreciating is that the show is taking time to deal with the repercussions of season 1. Characters who underwent trauma are not magically okay, and there are lasting consequences for what went down. (Thank you, writers, thank you!)

Although I’m only halfway through this season, there are some characters I just want to HUG, and others that should go away to prison and never come back, haha. (Looking at you, Billy.)

ONCE UPON A TIME SEASONS 4 & 7 // THE FLASH SEASON 4 // EXO: CLIMB THE LADDER SEASON 2

I watched only one episode of each, so I’m lumping them together. All are still fun; nothing new to report on any of them!

ASSASSIN’S CREED

I haven’t played any of the games, but I adore the soundtracks, so maybe that counts for something? This was a pretty cool film. Nothing groundbreaking, but definitely fun. Lots of action, which is to be expected for an assassin story, but surprisingly little dialogue. (My theory is that it’s supposed to mirror the nature of self-insertion found in videogames.)

Page Subplots

RISE OF THE WOLF // JENNIFER A. NIELSEN // 4 STARS

I spent a month slowly audiobooking this one. It’s on par with book 1, Mark of the Thief, except characters like Auralia and Crispus have improved, and Radolf is cooler. (No spoilers, but… he was one of my favorite things about the book.)

Nic spends an annoying amount of time in the beginning repeating, “I DON’T HAVE THE KEY,” when it’s obvious to the reader that he does—he just doesn’t know it. But aside from that, this was a fun Roman adventure involving a budding Praetor war, a unicorn, another magical item from the gods, an intense chariot race (!!!), and a twisty ending where the stakes kept shifting!

CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE // TOMI ADEYEMI // 2.5 STARS

I’d heard awesome things about Children of Blood and Bone back when it released and REALLY wanted to read it to find out what all the fuss was about.

*deep breath*

Unpopular opinion time… I didn’t love it.

But first what I did like:

• The setting is African-inspired, which was a nice switch from the traditional European flavor.
• The clans and their powers/deities were interesting and not as difficult to follow as I’d expected.
• I mostly liked the animals used as ryders. (Even though I couldn’t figure out why you’d call a mount a “ryder” when they’re being ridden...)
• The map is gorgeous, okay.
• I liked the mind connection between two characters and how it made the insta-love a TINY bit more believable.

Okay, on to what didn’t work for me.

This felt (to me) like a social justice sermon. When I pick up a book, I enter it seeking a story above all. I’m not looking to be preached at. And while I’m definitely NOT downplaying real world injustices that occur, they are usually nuanced, grey, and not easy to label or explain away. What was presented in the book felt like a very one-sided, heavy-handed treatment of the topic.

On that note, the main character was incredibly bitter and angry throughout the book, and little of that was resolved in the end, except for her making others aware of alllll the reasons she had to feel that way.

The main characters rail against all the violence in their world and yet… they’re just as violent toward their enemies?? I didn’t see much of a difference between the actions of the good guys and bad guys. The heroes’ perspective was basically, “The villains won’t respect us until we have power.” And when they do regain power: “LET’S SHOW THEM WHAT THIS TREATMENT FEELS LIKE.” Which is just not the way to fix anything, folks.

There were also lots of not-so-compelling tropes, and the ending was extremely vague, relying on magic that was already fuzzy on the rules.

Sadly, I just didn’t connect to this book the way I’d hoped to. (For a few more thoughts that didn’t make it to this blog post, click the Goodreads link under the book cover!)

THE COMPLETE 101 COLLECTION: WHAT EVERY LEADER NEEDS TO KNOW // JOHN C. MAXWELL // 4.5 STARS

Well, I finally finished reading this—after ALMOST THREE YEARS. Don’t let the length of time be a reflection of the quality of this book, though! It’s because I read part of it as curriculum in leadership college… and then read the rest in bits and pieces between four very busy business college semesters.

Here, John Maxwell’s teaching is condensed into one big volume, covering:

• attitude
• self-improvement
• leadership
• relationships
• success
• teamwork
• equipping
• mentoring

This book helped me redefine what a leader is—so if you think this isn’t for you, guess again! If you influence another human being in any way, you’re a leader. That’s pretty much ALL of us, regardless of title or position.

REBIRTH // HAVOK PUBLISHING // 4 STARS

WARNING: CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE says the back cover… and for good reason! This anthology of flash fiction packs more than a few punches. There’s everything from spaceships to royalty, dragons to dinosaurs, assassins to butt-kicking grandpas.

Some of MY personal favorites are…

• Life Cycle 63 // Just B. Jordan
• Bitten // Jessi Roberts
• The Misfits // Samwise Graber
• Gilded Finality // Brianna Tibbets
• Seeing is Believing // Clarissa Ruth
• Corruption’s Kiss // Margaret Graber
• A Terrible Debtor // Savannah Grace
• Life Lessons from Grandpa // DiAnn Mills
• At Your Service // Christine Smith
• Salvage and Reclamation // Abigail Falanga
• It’s Going to be Okay // Teddi Deppner
• Dino Day // Lauren Hildebrand
• Words // Katherine Vinson
• The Pet Rock Named Dave // Justin Mynheir
• A Symphony of Words // Kerry Nietz

(Yep, I just picked 15 favorites. Whoops. I also have a little story of my own in here, as you may know, but including it as the 16th in the list would probably be in bad taste. 😉 It’s called Ordained, and I hope you enjoy it!)

As with any anthology, I liked each individual story in here to varying degrees—some more, some less—but overall, this was a fantastic book featuring themes of rebirth and reformation from cover to cover.

Written Storylines

It’s been a weird writing month for me, but a good one!

First, I edited chapters 18 to 30 of The Brightest Thread, which included pausing to untangle the timeline and plot out a few BIG changes. So that was fun. I’m a little sad to say I’ve left poor TBT hanging for a while, though, with both its beginning and ending in shambles. Because, as you know, NaNoWriMo is coming!

So I spent another chunk of October prepping for this very first NaNo project of mine, Dead Magic. Fellow NaNo-ers, let’s take this moment and SCREAM because it’s already day two and we don’t know what we’re dooooing!!! 😛 Anyway, if you missed it, my last post delved into all the juicy details about this new child book of mine.

With the help of a few writer pals, I also edited that short story I mentioned last month, called Petrichor. And with a big gulp, I submitted it to a big Canadian contest. Don’t hold your breath, though, friends. The longlist won’t be announced for another six months! Time to distract myself with other things… Like NaNo. Right.

On that note: you can expect a writing update next week!

What was your October like, Quester? Anything epic occur? (Or not-so-epic. Life isn’t always flashy.) If you’re doing NaNo, how’s it going so far? Let’s chat!