Reading/Writing Response #6

Reading/Writing Reflection #6

Reading Reflection:

            As Retribution Falls comes to a close I start to realize that man, man, maaaaan this is an awesome book. It’s the kind of book that goes down smooth, is easy to digest and doesn’t leave any messy leftovers: the perfect snack. Sure, there were times where a little more detail would be nice, but Wooding justifies the lack of detail by prefacing the ship as a place where people’s pasts don’t matter, and it really makes the few details revealed that much more impactful. There are a few characters in particular who I’d love to read a trilogy of spin off books on, but that interest is only there because Wooding left so much ‘up in the air’ (it’s funny ‘because the book takes place in an airship LOL).

            I’m now struggling with my usual issue when finishing a book: I Don’t Want It To End-it is. I get attached to the worlds created by the author, and, well, I usually don’t want to leave them. I guess it’s kind of extreme escapism, and that can’t be healthy. The first three quarters of books I read can usually be finished in 2-3 weeks, but that last quarter often times takes twice than unless I know I have another book to jump onto. I managed to crank out almost all the Song of Ice and Fire books in one summer, but I’ve still got the last third of Dance with Dragons to finish. Le sigh. That’ll most likely be my next reading project.

            Be excited!

Writing Reflection:

            Fashion Show. Oh man. This might have been one of the most intensive writing experiences of my short lifetime. Crunching out 2700+ words of golden dialogue in less than a week, well, that was something else. It was stressful and scary, but man, I could not be happier with the product. It was a good collaborative exercise as well; I found writing with Brendan and Joel to go way quicker than just writing by myself, though we did get less done that way. I could crank out page after page of script on my own no problem, but I didn’t have anyone to bounce ideas off of. There are pros and cons to both styles, but I found writing funny a lot easier in a group.

            Yeah. So that writing has been taking up about all of my writing efforts, and that’s sadly the only subject I can speak of, writing-wise at least. I might do a separate “Fashion Show” blog post. We’ll see.

Reading/Writing Reflection #5

Reading Reflection:

Book: Retribution Falls

Author: Chris Wooding

Pages Read: 180 – 249

            This book has won me over. Completely. I had a few hours of reading time over the long weekend, and I couldn’t have spent it with a better book. It’s really hard to express why I enjoy this book so much, the one thing that keeps coming to mind is; “THAT JUST HAPPENED!?” . Retribution Falls specializes in jaw dropping moments, whether it be through insane character twists, nail-biting action sequences, or even just really good poker analogies. I’m constantly on edge, and not the “Okay, let’s get this over with” on edge I experienced in Metro 2033, but one where I am legitimately curious to see how things pan out. Wooding is really good at making me care.

            What I care most about has to be the characters. Wooding does a usually awesome, sometimes disorienting, constant POV movement between all the characters aboard the Ketty Jay. You get insight into everyone, so it doesn’t feel like someone is ‘just there’; they’re all there for their own separate reasons, each with their own motivations. The POV switches are usually quite fluid, but there was one firefight that had 4+ POV switches in the span of a couple pages. That was a little disorienting. This can be forgiven though, because if Wooding feels the need to switch to a character mid head scratch there’s often a good reason. I suppose the writing style adds to the hectic nature of the plot, I just wish my head could keep up with my hands; it’s a real page turner.

Writing Reflection:

            Writing’s been very ehh lately. I’m getting some serious ‘Moment’ fatigue, and I’m ready for something new. Am I ready for fan fiction? Maybe not; I don’t have very positive connotations with the genre. Speaking personally here, fan fiction brings to mind preteen girls writing slash-fic about Harry and Ron, a very basic, kind of gross writing format. I’d rather write my own stories than work off someone else’s. Sure, I could probably write a few pages about Brienne of Tarth’s schooling misadventures, but I’d just be doing the original author an injustice, soiling Martin’s beautiful universe with my own undeveloped writing, a crime I’m not willing to commit.

Reading/Writing Reflection #4

Reading Reflection:

                Retribution Falls is opening up quite nicely. It’s such a breath of fresh air from the dank world of Metro 2033, not only in setting but in writing style. The characters are deep, but not 25 pages of exposition deep; most character development is actually done through a multitude of POVs, ranging from the protagonist Darian Frey, to the Ketty Jay’s drunken doctor, and even the ship’s cat. It really is quite entertaining.  Retribution Falls is also paced much better than Metro was; chapters are manageably long, there are twists and plot turns that don’t take centuries of pages to develop, and the author isn’t bound by any real framework. In Metro, the story was entirely Artyom’s journey, every last second of it. Retribution Falls is much, much looser. It’s about a band of sky adventurers who kind of have a goal, but it’s nothing set in stone, and never predictable. The opening twist of the book had my mouth agape for what felt like hours.  I don’t want it to sound like I didn’t like Metro, though.

                The two books are very different. Retribution is an adventure, while Metro is a trip. They each have their own ups and downs and give out their own completely opposite moods. I don’t feel defeated every time I pick up Retribution, but there’s a certain enjoyment that went with carrying the weight of Artyom’s travels. I’m glad I read Metro 2033, really I am, but I’m way more glad I picked up Retribution Falls after.

It’s like a reading vacation.

Writing Reflection:

                The writing’s been going alright, not awesome, but alright. I finished my Moment draft, despite the difficulty of it. I don’t know why it was so hard; maybe it was the shameful subject, or maybe I’m just not in the mood to write about myself (most likely the latter). This is a really polarizing piece for me. It doesn’t seem that long, but I ended up with an 1100+ word-count, and it still doesn’t feel like enough! There’s detail I have that I can’t properly articulate, which is something I’m really not used to. My biggest concern for my moment is that I come across too much as a terrible person, and that people won’t be able to relate to it because of that. It’s not a moment that makes me look good, but it’s a moment that was important to me, a moment of change.

I just hope that comes across in my writing. Le sigh.