#novelizing

it's not hard to rank high right now, but it is nice to see :)

Me at 9 am: My goal as a writer today is 1000 words. I can type 65 words per minute. Therefore I will be done by 9:17 and can spend the rest of the day on healthful habits and a thriving social life.

I know a lot of people remember the Cluefinders games. They were a great way for kids to learn, and they were REALLY fun and funny at the same time. It's sad that they're so hard to play now, if you can do it at all.

Still, people have managed to do Let's Plays, and I watch them a lot when I want something in the background, much like today. And that led to a really strange thought. Any fanfic writers out there every thought about doing a novelization of the Cluefinders games?

It's kind of a thing. Books and reading and novelizing and stuff. Most of you don't follow me for that, which is whatever. Pictures are cool, too. Some of those coming that have to do with my book. 

They'll be groovy.

But while I'm here, I'd like to talk about a book. I'll tell you the title at the end. if you guess it along the way, way to go Sherlock. Tell John you're alive. 

And now, the review.

I loved the book. From paragraph one, it felt cool. Historical, clever, story. The heroine started in a cliche trope, and I suppose remained there, getting stronger along the way. But an interesting take on things. the Fantasy elements were clever and though not entirely unique, it was interesting. 

At some level, nothing is unique, not even our favorite and best loved things. That being said, the better done something is, the broader the comparisons have to become in order to find an umbrella to put them under. 

In theory. It might not hold up when it's being used, rather than a metaphor I just thought of. Moving on.

The book remained fast paced. The love triangle appeared, but wasn't IN YOUR FACE ROMANCE. I liked that the Heroine seemed disinterested in the jock. That struck me as groovy. 

The book rattles along, plot goes well, many things are clever and interesting, and slightly steampunkish. 

And Then We Come To The End. 

(Warning: I am going to shout here. This really, really pissed me off. I read the book six months ago, and now feel relatively calm enough to explain why it's taken so long.)

IF YOU'RE GOING TO END A BOOK, RESOLVE THINGS! or LEAVE US KNOWING WHY YOU CHOSE NOT TO RESOLVE ANYTHING!

DO. NOT. END. IT. JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN AND SAY, 'IT'S ALL PART OF A SERIES, FOLKS, STAY TUNED FOR BOOK TWO!"

Enough shouting.

If you're going to write a story with a recurring antagonist, that's fine. Look to Harry Potter. BUT! While Voldemort was the recurring baddie, there were secondary bad guys to overcome for the extent of each individual book. 

In the novel I speak of, even that didn't happen. In point of fact, the book ended right around the time I would've said, this is the Dark Night of the Soul, where the heroine digs deep and pulls out the gumption for the Final Battle and the Win. 

But that didn't happen. It just said, "THE END," and shoved on for a short story that was more of a chapter excerpt than a story in and of itself. 

Time for the title. 

Clockwork Angel, by Cassandra Clare. 

And we come to the end of my rant. The book was so good overall. It did so many things right. And then the ball dropped so catastrophically that it just made me want to cry and write something better. 

The short of it is this; series are good. I like series. Keeps me hunting through the book-shelves. It's a reliable source of reading material from someone I like.

But when books like this, especially the first of a series, no less, let me down so enormously, it gives me no faith that the writer will do any better with the next one, and leaves me jaded and unwilling to try another of their books.