When coming up with profiles for your Characters

Throughout my life as a writer, I always fell in love with the characters like many of you out there. When it came to stuff like video games, anime, etc-- I wanted to know more about the character in the most in depth way possible just to understand them personally so I can connect at a deeper level. (And also find myself a few other fangirls that will agree with me on some of the topics). So being a nerd and a person who loves her precious laptop (Jiraya), I went to sites like Wikipedia, fan based pages on were create for people like me, and even when to bookstores just to figure out more about the stuff I became obsess with at the time.

So like them, I wanted to try out a profile for my characters. Wanna know the issues for that? Well I'll give you a couple of reasons.

1.) You have to get to know your characters.
2.) There are so, so, so many examples of profile formats everywhere (books, online)
3.) Things will rapidly change when you keep writing.

Most of my attempts have been successful, but sometimes I have a difficult time coming up with back stories and how to keep the profile 'original' with much depth my characters needs so I can get a better idea of my story. However, you know how sometimes writers discuss how they can't get along with most of their characters in their head or you have random bursts of imaginations for other stories or you loose confidence in your current project? Honestly, I deal with that every single day, and I'm pretty sure you guys do as well.

So my advice to all of us here, just keep working on it. Make your characters so realistic for the readers, and their profiles similar criminal background ones with so much information about their personal, social, mental, physical (etc) status and personal family history. And also do find a few examples to assist you when starting your character profiles. It will be like creating your own child or some form of imaginary friend that can help you write your stories. You can show people the profiles of your characters, but just reveal the short versions and pictures that inspired the character only. It's one of the only ways you can hide some of great detail about your stories. If you have people questioning you about what people you're talking about and calling you weird, shrug it off or say 'yes I'm crazy, but its the new norm.'.

Enjoy yourselves and have fun creating the characters that are ready to take over the fictional world!

Some links for you guys:

• http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/jun98/lazy2.htm
• http://www.epiguide.com/ep101/writing/charchart.html
• http://www.creative-writing-now.com/writing-character-profiles.html
• http://nanowrimo.org/forums/character-cafe/threads/125155

Book Review: Give a Boy a Gun

Give a Boy a Gun written by Todd Strasser
Release Date: April 1st, 2002
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Format of Novel: Paperback
Summary (from goodreads.com): For as long as they can remember, Brendan and Gary have been mercilessly teased and harassed by the jocks who rule Middletown High. But not anymore. Stealing a small arsenal of guns from a neighbor, they take their classmates hostage at a school dance. In the panic of this desperate situation, it soon becomes clear that only one thing matters to Brendan and Gary: revenge.

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Ever since I was in the sixth and eight grade, this book was something that took my heart right away out of fear and sympathy for Brendan and Gary. As a person who was bullied throughout middle and high school, Strasser's story touched me. In the story, readers learn about the hardships from the outcasts from the two protagonists. During this time, we learn about the psychological damage it did to the bullying victims and the dangerous outcomes of what could happen if things went too far. You can personally feel the emotional outtake of everything. From the bully victims, to the other students, readers are able to the see the entire plot in a whole entire eye view like as if you were personally there to witness the events unfolding like crazy.

I don't want to spoil this story because of how powerful it is, but I believe this book brings awareness to bullying within younger teenagers. In the recent years, there has been a major increase of school shootings and most of them were due to either a child becoming so tired of being bullied to the point where they snapped or a child that may have a possible mental disorder that causes them to have random thoughts of doing the horrific crimes. Teachers, I beg of you as a reader and a victim of bullying that made it further than the rest, please let your students read this book at a young age and other books related to this one. If children read this book, then perhaps they will become aware of these outcomes and maybe decrease bullying for the children that are victims of it. As a reader, I do want to see more of these type of books in the library, bookstores, and anywhere that is accessible to everyone. Bullying needs to end and these outcomes are only going to get worse if people don't notice the signs right away.

Book Review: The Assassin's Blade

The Assassin's Blade written by Sarah J. Maas
Release Date: March 4th, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury's children
Format of Novel: Hardcover
Summary (From Goodreads.com): Contains all five novellas.
Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

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I will like to make notice that the novellas are also sold as separate e-books for nooks/kindles for anyone that is on the look out for these stories. (Now on to the review).

I'm sure many people from the fiction press community have heard of Sarah J Maas and her epic tale of Celaena Sardothein right? Well, to be frank I never read the first ever draft of that story till her book came out right before my birthday, so reading Throne of Glass was a huge turn around for me back in 2012, and I will review that book tomorrow evening. Sarah J. Maas does not disappoint. For these particulars novellas, they were based on Celanea's time before the first book of the series takes place. From what I can tell with Celanea, she is a fresh character Young adult fiction needed to get back into the spin of literature. She is witty, girly, and a major bad ass to boot. Now I'm not going to spoil anything that is related to the story itself and Throne of Glass, so as a result to this review-- I will be focusing on the plot, pace, characters, and overall thought of the five novellas.

The pace of the story felt like it was dragging in a couple of areas within the novellas, but I can forgive the author for building up the tension to the right moments. I liked how she developed the plots, Sarah J Maas brought out different issues to get Celaena to act more human in a way instead of the cold-hearted assassin that she was trained to be. They tied to the titles of the novellas and she was able to deliver the emotional outcome right into a reader's heart. 

As for the characters, while I do like Celaena, my two favorite characters that continually popped out within the stories were Sam Courtland and Arobynn Hamel. The two men were very foiled with each other in terms of personality and sense of morale. I loved Sam because he brought out the softer and caring side of Celaena (even though she was a smart-ass at times) that made her wonder about having a life outside of the assassin guild. On the other hand, I loved Arobynn mainly because he brought out the fear into the story, and in a weird way-- I sorta noticed that he may of developed feelings for Celaena, but that could be me thinking of it. Either way, he was necessary for the five stories since he is the leader of the guild and he has raised Celaena for a while now.

Plot wise, all five stories were a excellent read. I enjoyed all of them, but my favorite one at the moment would have to be The Assassin and the Desert. This one in particular became my favorite since this is where I mostly saw Celaena grow as a character and we get to see pirates. Who the hell doesn't love some pirates and the silent assassins?! Any who, compare to the other stories, this one was a shiner for me. All in all, Sarah J. Maas is a fantastic writer, and if you guys want to read some prequels before the main series, pick up this book or get the books separate in e-book formats. :)

Book Review: Prophecy of the Sisters

Prophecy of the Sisters Written by Michelle Zink
Release date: August 1st, 2009
Publisher: Little Brown
Format of Novel: Hardcover
Summary (from goodreads.com): An ancient prophecy divides two sisters- 
One good... 
One evil... 
Who will prevail? 
Twin sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe have just become orphans. They have also become enemies. As they discover their roles in a prophecy that has turned generations of sisters against each other, the girls find themselves entangled in a mystery that involves a tattoo-like mark, their parents' deaths, a boy, a book, and a lifetime of secrets. 
Lia and Alice don't know whom they can trust. 
They just know they can't trust each other

~Book one to the trilogy~

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I picked up this fine book in my high school's first ever book festival when I had to take my young sister to it four years ago. I even met the author in person and got my copy signed. I gotta say, this debut book was a nice read. I remember the plot and the growing tension between the two sisters Lia and Alice Milthorpe very well and the setting was beautiful to image. I'm sad at the moment to not being able to read the two sequels that go along with this one, but considering the review, its better if I haven't right? Alright, let's get down to the review.

I felt that the plot at first was going to be a bittersweet rivalry between the two sisters considering that we are reading this from Lia's point of view. However, considering the idea that this story takes place in a gothic based alternative world with its paranormal undertones, it was really different in a unique way. Readers are brought up to wonder about the mystery of this great prophecy the sisters become a part of through Lia's eyes. The people she meets along the way and how her twin sister's attitude changes in a dark way its truly a good thing for the elements of suspense. It brought readers like me to their feet, wondering what will happen next. Yes I will have to agree about the pacing being slow, but you know what?  I think it was a good thing. 

Another good thing I thought Michelle Zink's did for her debut, was the character growth between the focused characters. I fell in love with Lia mainly because while she was going through of these changes, she also stuck true to her original self when it came to dealing her love for her remaining family and James, her love interest.

I recommend this book to readers that enjoy the paranormal-romance genre. Since I haven't read the other two books, there is not much I can say about this book, but it was Michelle Zink did a wonderful job for her debut. When I can, I will buy the two other books and the other ones Michelle had written as well. So happy reading and pick up this book!