where words light up the night
Honesty in my reviews and interaction is something I have always strived for as a book blogger. As a community, book bloggers seem to value sincerity above all. With so many factors potentially influencing our opinion of a book, I personally find it easy to lose sight of my own opinion on a book. I’ll be working through my thought processes in this post, and I hope you can help me! Continue reading “Discussion: The Integrity of Book Blogging”
In some ways, thus post is a continuation of the one I wrote last week regarding blog posts I enjoyed as a non-blogger. Writing it made me re-evaluate why I started and continue to blog. According to WordPress, this will be my 100th post on the blog, so I wanted to recap and review my own journey as a blogger. As with all my discussion posts, I don’t have a concrete answer – but would love to hear your side of things, too!
It goes without saying that I blog for myself first and foremost. I initially started this blog as more of a book journal, one that I never expected or wanted anyone to read. It meant that most of what I wrote was book reviews, they were a way for me to keep track of the books I read. It also helped motivated me to read more books – I went from someone who read maybe 2 books a month to a crazed devourer of 4 books a week! Continue reading “Discussion Post: Who Am I Blogging For?”
Hello class,
This is the third class in our BBCreativityProject’s Hogwarts School of Blogcraft and Bookistry series.
Although people like Miss Granger may try to dismiss my classes as hodge podge instead of real magic – I’ll prove disbelievers wrong with these set of predictions today.
As 2016 quickly approaches, one of the questions on everyone’s mind is ‘Which books should I preorder?’. In today’s class, we’ll look at forecasting the future bestsellers that you should add to your shopping cart promptly!
The new year also brings a new crop of bloggers. Our class will tell you the rising stars you should follow as soon as possible! Continue reading “Hogwarts School Of Blogcraft and Bookistry: Divination”
Although I began blogging four months ago, it feels a lot longer, and the direction of my blog has changed a little. There are a lot of dialogue floating around about ‘blogging niche’ and ‘finding your target audience’. I’ve always written about things that directly interested me, which I find is increasingly more blogging-related rather than bookish-related. I started wondering if my past self, the non blogger – would even bother reading my blog if she stumbled upon it?
As bloggers, it’s very easy to get caught up in our little circle and forget about other potential audience. Today, I take a step back, for the sake of my past self! Continue reading “Discussion: Posts I Loved Reading As A Non Blogger”
You guessed right, this post is partially inspired by the immature Teen ‘article’ condemning Teen Wolf fanfiction that made its way across twitter yesterday. It’s also an issue that’s crossed my mind in a few times during my recent reads, especially ‘Fangirl’ by Rainbow Rowell.
This is a question that we as fans debate again and again, whether it’s about a new or ongoing series, whether it’s books or other forms of media. Once an author has placed their book out there into the world, they cannot control how readers react, nor can they stop their fandom from coming up with head canons, from dreaming up subtexts and themes.
As a reader, I used to feel bad about ‘going against’ the author’s wishes. While I accepted that other fans may have different opinions and will always respect them for it, I viewed the canon as ‘law’. My thoughts on the matter has changed a bit lately.
Characters & Their Development
This is more obvious with series, where characters grow and change with each book (as they should!) When I was younger, I often rolled with it when characters changed – even if it was not in a direction I particularly liked. For example, Harry of Book Five bugged a lot of people, myself included – but I recognised why JKR took him in that direction.
However, there are two recent examples of character development that have bafffled me. Firstly, Chaol of Throne of Glass – and secondly, Theron of Snow Like Ashes. I won’t elaborate on how they have changed, to spare you all spoilers – but I know I’m amongst the majority when I say that they feel like completely different people. Is it still good development when I can’t see HOW they became who they are? Yet, who would understand a character better than their own creator – who spend years in their head space? As fans, are we right to feel disappointed when the characters we love end up unrecognisable? Continue reading “Discussion: Authorial Intent VS Reader’s Interpretation”
Joey promised me a couple of months back that my boundless enthusiasm for blogging was destined to wane. While I initially dismissed this as one of those crazy, irreverent fiction he likes to spout – I have to admit he’s right! My honeymoon period is coming to an end – no longer is blogging filled with all things shiny and good. I have to -gasp- put effort into my hobby now. Do you suffer from the post-honeymoon blues? Check below for the symptoms.
I. Most books you read seem a little lacklustre
Last week I DNF-d three books and wrote two 3-stars review. Now, my 3-stars reviews are usually quite positive, I aim to be nice and diplomatic – but I found myself exceedingly critical. I also felt I had little patience for less than stellar reads. I confess to having spent more time complaining about books on twitter, DM and Gchat than actually reading or reviewing them,
HOW I HANDLE IT: I stopped reading review copies for a week and started reading books I’ve had lying around on my Kindle for a while. Sometimes I even read with no intentions of reviewing the book, which takes the pressure of needing to commentate on every plot point a bit more bearable. Once my reading diet is healthy with 4 to 5 stars reads, I’d go back to conquering that ARC TBR. I want to put myself in a frame of mind where I am constantly grateful about reviewing, rather than seeing it as a chore. Continue reading “5 Signs Your Blogging Honeymoon Is Over (And How To Deal!)”
Is It Possible To Measure Blogging Success?
Short answer? Yes, to a degree. BUT A successful blog is one with a happy/fulfilled owner.
Long answer? It’s complicated, and we shall delve into it below!
I think I will be amongst the majority if I admitted that my blogging started out as a hobby – and then evolved into a passion. However, with the more time I spend on it, the more I wonder how do I really know if my blog is progressing or growing? What even counts as a successful blog? Does it even matter? (Probably Not!). Here are my thoughts, I would love to hear yours at the end! Continue reading “Discussion: Is It Possible To Measure Blogging Success?”
Before I started writing book reviews, a quick browse on Goodreads assured past-me that it would be easy *laughs hysterically* What could be so hard about writing out your own feelings and opinion, after all?
Then I started blogging and was introduced to a new world of pain. While there were a couple of reviews that came to me very easily; for every one of those, there’s three that took me half of forever to type up. While I’m relatively new, so I only have about 40 reviews under my belt, here are some reasons why I find certain books more difficult to write about! (Also some suggestions on how to get over the writer’s block, for those who suffer the same predicament)
Continue reading “Discussion: The Key To Beating Writer’s Block – The Book Reviewer’s Edition”
The review rating is something that still flummoxes me. Most books I’ve read thankfully falls into rather black/white category: I either love them or I don’t. BUT! There are times when I read a book where I can appreciate that the quality of the writing is great, though my heart is just not in it. Do I rate it a 5? Or a 3? On the other side of the spectrum, there are books I know to be middling in quality, but I still read the heck out of it and lapped up every word like candy! So do I give it a perfect score? Or do I recognise it’s flaws and drop a star?
What do I do to stay true to my audience? I have so many questions and uncertainties! So today I break down the factors that influences my final rating. Continue reading “Discussion: Are You Review Ratings Objective or Subjective?”
Disclaimer: This post is not meant to be taken too seriously.
I think every blogger have their own distinctive voice, but I also think that I can identify all the most common review styles in this post. I feel that as reviewers, sometimes we are afraid the insurmountable wall of text we type up will turn off our reader, and I certainly employ all of these strategies below to keep reader’s attention. Is it necessary? Probably not. Is it fun? Heck yes!
Do you fit into any of the categories below?
A picture can tell a thousand words, but a gif can convey all those feelings and emotions you can’t even bear to put into words! These bloggers employ the genius use of gif to break up walls of text and keep my attention. I admire and envy bloggers that can find an appropriate gif for all occasions whether it’s sad, glad, and everything in between, you must teach me your ways! Furthermore, gif also shows me a glimpse what the blogger is intereted in outside of reading: whether it be Disney, anime or a South Korean drama – these things almost guarantee it makes me like the blogger even more!
Variants of this are: The Graphics Maker, The Book Photographer.
Read at Midnight 