The First Sentence

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

“Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.”

Those two sentences are the first of two very popular Young Adult Fiction books: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Both are the first books out of huge series’.

As soon as you read those, you want to know more. Who are Mr and Mrs Dursley? Why do we care if they are proud to say they are perfectly normal?

Why does the narrator not want to be a half-blood, and what is a half-blood?

These sentences bring you into the story, make you curious. In a way the first sentence is one of the most important parts of a good book. If I’m not drawn in in the beginning, I don’t want to read to the end. I’m just not interested.

But then, the first sentence isn’t all you need to a story- obviously. You need plot, characters, etc. But draw your reader in. Make them want to know more. Make them curious.

After all, Mr and Mrs Dursley weren’t very ‘perfectly normal’ in the end, were they?

Website Shoutout of the Month: New Moon Girls

I’ve decided, that once a month, I’ll give one website a shoutout.  This month I decided to shoutout NewMoonGirls (NMG for short)

NMG (newmoon.com) is a safe online website for girls aged 8-14. Every post, sticker (like a little note you can send to a friend), story, etc is moderated by a parent, volunteer or staff member before it is allowed to be posted. You aren’t allowed to share any personal information (email, address, last name, etc), but that makes it safer for the girls!

To add to that, you make great friends, and there’s a girl created magazine! Each year, hundreds of girls try out to be on the Girls Editorial Board (GEB). The GEB decides what should go into the magazine, and brainstorms things, along with finding things like Concerning Content Online. (I recently made the GEB!)

To join, just go to this link: https://www.newmoon.com/customer-service/register/

It does cost money, but I think that it’s totally worth it!!

Excerpts from Red

I'm writing a novel called Red, and I thought I'd give you guys a couple excerpts. The synopsis is being worked on right now, so I'll post that next week. As for the excerpts...

Number one~ this is the prologue

Red. It’s all red. What is happening? A scream. No. Mama? Papa? Where are you? No one. Nothing. Red. Scared. Warm hands. Someone to save me? No. Gripping too hard. Let me go! Mama! Papa! Stop it! Don’t like. No. No. Stop. Red. Screams.

Red.

Red.

Black.

Number two~ this is a part of chapter two

I run up to her, and look around. I recognize the place. I haven’t been here since I was... At least eight. I look around. The sun streams through the trees, and I climb into the house, remembering all of the games Keira and I would play. Fairies, elves, princesses, mommies, and so many more. I dust off one of the small chairs, and sit down. It’s a bit cold out, but I curl up and bask myself in the memories.

When it begins to get dark out, I decide to return home. Maybe Mom will be back. Maggie is waiting obediently outside the treehouse. I walk back with her, a slight spring in my step. It was nice to be back in the treehouse. By the time I walk into the back door, it’s twilight. Mom is in the living room. I walk in and sit next to her.

“How was the treehouse, sweetie?” she asks.

“What do you mean?” I reply, confused.

“Around lunch you told me you were going to visit the old treehouse. The one your dad made you and Keira when you were little.”

I look over at her, puzzled.

“Mom... When I got home from walking Maggie no one was here. Maggie ran off, and I had to chase her. She led me into the woods, and to the treehouse. I never told you where I was.”

“Don’t be silly, Scarlette. I’ve been here the whole time. Now, dinner’s in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”

I hope you like!

Some Writing Tips!

First off, I would like to thank Pinterest.com for the pictures, because that's where I found them. And second, I would like to note, that these tips may not be perfect for you, but they help me in my writing. 

A few ideas to help with stories.

1. Every character has a back story. Add this in as you go along to make the story be more drawn out.

2. Try to get into the groove of the characters life until something crazy happens. The reader will want to know the character.

3. Write what YOU would want to read. Not anyone else. It’s your story.

4. Every first draft is gonna be terrible. Don’t give up. You can always rewrite it later.

5. Be prepared to rewrite. Don’t think about how the first draft turns out, just write it all down. As I said before, be prepared to rewrite.

And the pictures!!

                                            

Dollhouse- A Book Review

Book Name: Dollhouse

Genre: Mystery/Horror

Author: Anya Allyn

Review By: Kaia Willis

The first book in a trilogy, Dollhouse, by Anya Allyn is a not so scary, not so mysterious horror/mystery book.

I put off reading it for a while, because I don’t like scary books. It’s a good thing it wasn’t scary. If written better, it could have been terribly frightening. And don’t get me wrong, the author did an amazing job of writing, I just didn’t find any mystery or horror in it. She had a good plotline, and story theme, but there was nothing that made me feel any emotion.

Cassie Claiborne is a 15-year-old Miami girl, who is forced to move to a rural Australian town, with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend. She finds a group of friends right away. Aisha, Ethan and Lacey. One day, on a fieldtrip, Aisha runs off, and disappears without a trace. Cassie believes it’s her fault, because of the crush she has on Ethan who, along with being her friend, is Aisha’s boyfriend.

Four weeks later, Ethan leaves and camps out in the forest where Aisha disappeared, because the police are after him. They believe he killed Aisha. Cassie and Lacey get together, and decide they’ll join him, while searching for Aisha. Hopefully, it will bring them to a conclusion about what actually happened. They go for a week without finding any information. Then they accidentally wander into the cellar of the mansion, and discover a life size dollhouse.

Okay, not a literal dollhouse. But there are walking dolls, and five girls dressed up as dolls. Lacey disappears on the way in. In the dollhouse, they meet Jessamine, a controlling girl, who tells the other girls what to do, or they get severely punished.

Will Cassie and Ethan escape? Do they find Aisha? And who is the mysterious Jessamine.

I was left with quite a few questions unanswered when I finished this book, but I’m not sure if I’ll be reading the other two. It just wasn’t quite good enough.

Heya

Heya, 

Here's a little intro-duct-eeyon:

Since I'm only 13 years old, these tips may not be for you educated old people who like to write. It's more for young writers. We younger people don't always want advice from people with more experience, but want to know that we aren't alone in our struggle.

So that's why I made this blog. To help other's like me. 

Now, you may be thinking 'I don't need help from her', and if you're thinking that, go away and don't come back until you're ready to accept help.  And don't think this is all me. When I need it, I'll ask for help from some of those old people.

But trust me, that won't be often. And I'll try to give you only my advice, unless I get a comment about something that stumps me overly. 

So my friends, follow away! Or don't. I don't really care, as long as someone looks at this.