Category Archives: Writing

TUCK EVERLASTING – Review

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TUCK EVERLASTING

Review by

Natalie Bright

This classic novel by Natalie Babbitt tells the story about a young girl who stumbles upon a family’s stunning secret. If you could live forever, would you?  This book has always been a favorite of mine since an early age, but have you re-read any books from your childhood lately? The writing absolutely blew me away. The setting is stunning, the characters are perfection, and the emotion packs a punch. The story lingers in your head for weeks after. Don’t you love it when that happens?  As a writer, I have discovered a whole new appreciation for the children’s literature. TUCK EVERLASTING is as entertaining for adults as well as kids. Watch the movie too, but the book is worth your time and study of story craft.

Now you have homework: pick up one of your favorite childhood book and savor the greatness with a completely new mindset as an adult.

Happy writing!

RESERVE CHAMPION

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RESERVE CHAMPION

Lynnette Jalufka

 

Last week, I wrote that The Lion Kingsolidified its place as my favorite movie after I watched it in 3D. This happened shortly after I saw the last Harry Potter film, also in 3D. I’m referring to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, my reserve champion of movies.To be fair, it is only half a movie. You had to have seen Part 1 first to follow the story. And none of it makes any sense unless you’ve watched the other six films, because important things from them show up in these two movies.

Both parts of Deathly Hallows are amazing when put together. They tell the story of Harry’s final showdown with his enemy, Voldemort, who has taken over the magical world. Harry goes on a difficult journey with his friends to find and destroy objects called Horcruxes, which, once all are destroyed, will be the end of Voldemort. That is, if he can do it before the Dark Lord kills him.

Part 2 is the more action-packed and emotional of the two movies. It contains a huge battle at Harry’s school, Hogwarts. I love this line from Harry as he argues with Hermione about returning to the school. He says, “Hermione, when have our plans ever actually worked? We plan, we get there, and all hell breaks loose.” It summarizes what has happened before and foreshadows what is to come.

I read the book before and after I saw the films. I’m glad the novel was made into two movies, because they contain all the emotion from the book. (I have shed tears in Part 2 ever since I watched it in 3D, which is incredible since I don’t usually cry in movies, and this is an action-packed film.) In my opinion, these movies are as close to the book as films can get.

“The Dark Tower” Movie Review

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“The Dark Tower” Movie Review

by Adam Huddleston

So, I attended the premiere of “The Dark Tower” last night, and I wanted to throw my two cents in about the movie.  Due to the fact that there are many who have not read the source material, and I absolutely loathe folks who spoil the story for others, I will do my best not to ruin the plot for you.

Ok, after months and months (years actually) of speculation and chatting on Reddit about the movie, I went in cautiously optimistic.  If you read online reviews of the film, you will see a myriad of responses; some constructive, most destructive.  My overall impression was this: it was mediocre.

I understand that, when trying to appeal to a wide audience (most of whom have never read the novels), you have to make the story interesting without overwhelming people with exposition.  The filmmakers included a good mix of several of the books and most of the performances were great.  I felt that Matthew McConaughey’s portrayal of the Man in Black was sufficiently menacing.  Isris Elba and Tom Taylor did a respectable job as Roland and Jake, respectively.  

The action was probably the best part of the film, even if it did border on absurd a few times.  The dialogue was hit and miss, mostly miss (it seemed like sometimes they were just throwing in phrases from the books to try to make the “Constant Reader” happy).  I’m hoping that the movie will make enough to allow them to proceed with a television series.  According to the filmmakers, the series would be closer to the canon of the novels.

Anyway, whether or not you are a fan of Stephen King or have read the novels, I suggest you at least give the film one viewing.  You just might like it!

CHARACTER TRAITS

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CHARACTER TRAITS

Natalie Bright

 

 

Whether you craft detailed character profiles or you let the character take you on their journey, it is helpful to really KNOW your character’s personality. By understanding the inner core of your characters, you understand their personalities, motivations, and how they will react to conflict and to each other. There are several books that make your job easier.

Writer’s Guide to Character Traits by Dr. Linda Edelstein

From Sex to Schizophrenia: Everything you need to develop your characters! As a psychology-based book for writers, this is an excellent addition for your reference library. With insightful summaries, you can dig deep into motivation and conflict, and create complex characters that readers love.

45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt

This book explores the common male and female archetypes that have been used in story-telling for centuries. This gives you ideas for traits, habits, hidden secrets, desires and greatest fears as a foundation for creating compelling characters and storylines. Dig deep and ask why. This will help you understand your characters’ motivation, making them intriguing and realistic. And added bonus are the examples for each archetype drawn from literature, television and movies. This is a great book.

Happy Writing!

STILL THE KING – Movie Review

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STILL THE KING

Lynnette Jalufka

 

It’s movie review month here at Wordsmithsix, and I’m starting off with my favorite, The Lion King. I can remember the first time I saw it in the theater. The opening scene took my breath away as a cheetah stood on a rock in the glowing sunrise. Okay, I love big cats. But it’s the story that matters.

Young lion cub Simba can’t wait to grow up to be the king of the Pridelands, like his dad. When his uncle tricks him into believing he caused his father’s death, he is driven into exile. Simba meets new friends who teach him how to live without worries. Life is good until a friend from his past shows up. Great songs, awesome music, and beautiful animation aid in the telling of this story about facing the past and accepting responsibility.

I’ve seen this movie in various formats, from a VHS tape on a small TV to 3D on the big screen, and it hasn’t ceased to amaze me. I happened to catch it in 3D shortly after I watched the last Harry Potter film, also in 3D. I took a moment to compare the movies as to which one I liked more. Without a doubt, The Lion King still reigns supreme.

Favorite Works of Fiction- Book Review

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Favorite Works of Fiction

by Adam Huddleston

For our book review month, I wanted to bring back an old blog of mine concerning my favorite works of fiction.  They aren’t necessarily detailed book reviews, but rather an insight into the types of works that I enjoy.

A couple of weeks ago I published a blog concerning my favorite non-fiction books for writers.  This week, I would like to list a few of my favorite works of fiction (in no particular order).  As you can imagine, me being a life-long reader of fantasy and horror, the list is full of selections from those genres.

Stephen King has always been a “fave” of mine.  He has a plethora of thrillers and chillers.  Some works seek to get you at the “gross-out” level.  Others are more intimate examinations of the inner-self.  My favorite novel of his belongs to the latter; “The Long Walk.”  Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”, this story follows a young man as he participates in a horrific annual tradition.  The book is eerie and very well written.

Shifting to fantasy, you can’t find many works better than those of J.R.R. Tolkien.  In a world where new writers are shoveling their wares in both bookstores and electronically, this legendary author’s work stands the test of time and his “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy is, to me at least, at the top.  It is the definition of an epic fantasy with a huge cast of characters, a sprawling world, and an entire language created by the author.

The late Michael Crichton penned a ton of great science-fiction stories, many of which were adapted into motion pictures.  My favorite work of his is “Jurassic Park.”  The movie, once it gets going, travels at a break-neck pace.  Guess what?  The novel does as well.  The author even goes into great detail concerning how they manipulated the DNA to create the stories antagonists.  

The last piece I’ll mention is one by Richard Adams.  One of my earliest cinematic memories is watching “Watership Down” on a VHS player in my parent’s bedroom.  When I was older, I discovered that it was based on a novel of the same name.  The book does a great job of personifying the characters, mostly rabbits with a black-headed gull thrown in for good measure, and bringing their adventures to life.  Like Tolkien, Richard Adams gives us a healthy dose of backstory, native language, and even a form of lupine religion.  

Whatever your favorite genre might be, these novels are worth looking into.  They will give insight into proper world building, plot, dialogue, and character development.

Happy writing; and reading!

OUR TIME ON ROUTE 66 – Book Review

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Outtakes 387

OUR TIME ON ROUTE 66

By Cait Collins

Recently Wordsmith Six released an anthology OUR TIME ON ROUTE 66.  The book contained five stories with different time periods and different genres. The uniting theme was Route 66 and the U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas.

Maggie’s Betrayal by Natalie Bright is based on actual events during the Depression Era.  Maggie is given in marriage to a gangster as payment for gambling debts.  Shy and frightened, she tends to the household chores and is more a servant than a wife.  When she meets her husband’s nephew, Alex, she learns not all men are mean and abusive.  As their relationship grows and changes, Maggie must decide whether to stay in her loveless marriage or take a chance on love.

I couldn’t believe it when I realized our two guys both wrote romances.  Rory C. Keel wrote Waiting.  Set in World War II, the story traces a tale of love based on letters a newlywed couple wrote to each other.  Brennon and Patricia’s marriage grows stronger even though they are separated by war.  The story is enhanced by the inclusion of well researched facts regarding events in the Texas Panhandle and the war in Europe.  The ending will touch your heart.

Sudden Turns by Joe Nichols is a hoot. Joe has this wonderful voice that combines details of ranch life and the romance between a young widow and a Texas cowboy who has returned home following his military stint in World War II. Liz and Buster don’t start out on good terms, but she’s desperate to get her cattle to market.  For room and board plus a portion of the sales, she hires Buster to “capture” her cows.  A cowboy himself, Joe brings just the right amount of humor and “ranching” to the story.

Moira O’Hara, a photo journalist spent months recovering from injuries sustained during an earthquake while embedded with troops in Afghanistan.  Much of her time in the Middle East is a distant memory she chooses not to remember; including memories of her rescuer, Aiden Thornton. When they accidentally reconnect at the Rialto Square Theater in Joliet, Illinois, they begin a journey of recovery on the road to a Showdown at the U-Drop Inn by Cait Collins.

Author Nandy Ekle set the final story, Fear of Heights, a few years in the future. Shamrock, Texas has grown.  The U-Drop Inn has reopened, and a carnival is set up close to the restaurant.  Reylene is in the process of divorcing her abusive husband, Shane.  Shane is not happy with the amount of child support Reylene is requesting, so he enlists the aid of his current squeeze, Sherry. Sherry is Reylene’s best friend. Terrified of heights, Reylene reluctantly agrees to a ride on the Ferris wheel.  But she is unaware Shane and Sherry plan to scare her into giving up on the child support. Can she forgive the betrayal?

The book gave each of us a chance to test our imaginations, research skills, and take a leap of faith. OUR TIME ON ROUTE 66 is available online or through your local Barnes and Noble Booksellers.

The ORCHARDIST – Amanda Coplin

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The ORCHARDIST – Amanda Coplin

Review by Rory C. Keel

William Talmage grows up as a gentle recluse caring for the family orchard after the death of his mother. Haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his sister, his heart of compassion is kindled when he befriends two feral girls stealing from his orchard. Talmage sets out to aid both girls who are pregnant and hungry and to redeem them from the opium controlled brothel owner named Michaelson.

The book is well written and picturesque with the details of the Pacific North West in the late 1800’s. This book is worth a read and a re-read!

Cowboys and Cattle Drives

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Cowboys and Cattle Drives

Natalie Bright

 

For western history fans, I stumbled on two excellent books that capture the spirit and hard work of cowboys who pushed herds of Longhorns north to market.

One is FREE and you can read it online now, A TEXAS COWBOY or, Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony by Charles A. Siringo. Here’s the link: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3830

This vivid, action-packed memoir begins in Dodge City, where a young Siringo grew up as the son of immigrants, an Italian father and an Irish mother. Early Texas was a dangerous and adventurous place, and Siringo lives on his own trying his hand at various jobs, always managing to send money back to his mother. His stories of the trail are amazing accounts of stampedes, weather, and hard luck. He eventually settled down to become a store merchant when he published this autobiography at the age of thirty in 1885.

The other cowboy book that has emerged somewhat as the most realistic, is WE POINTED THEM NORTH: RECOLLECTIONS OF A COWPUNCHER by E.C. “Teddy Blue” Abbott, written with Helena Huntington Smith. Published in 1939, Abbott was 78 years old and with Smith’s help, he wanted to “set the record straight” about the cattle trailing days. Arriving with his family from Norfolk, England to Nebraska, Abbott’s father was the second son of a wealthy British family, hoping to find better opportunities in America. The first thing he did was to travel to Texas and buy cattle, leaving a ten-year-old Abbott to join the outfit that brought their newly purchased herd north. Abbott’s father returned to the Nebraska frontier by train. Abbott was a friend of the western artist Charles Russell, and his life is believed to have been the inspiration for LONESOME DOVE. This is a raw, honest, bare-bones look at early Texas.

The thing that both of these accounts have in common is the practice of allowing young men to fend for  themselves in the Texas Frontier. Everyone had to work for money and food, and learn to survive. A good horse, a saddle and the clothes on their back was all they needed. Can you imagine leaving town at trails end to find more work with no money or food in your pocket? There is no whining or complaining in either of these memoirs. They faced the situation head on and did they best they could. These people were amazingly tough and resourceful.

I am deep into research about Texas history and the great Texas Longhorn migration. My next nonfiction book KEEP ‘EM FULL AND KEEP ‘EM ROLLIN’, will be out in 2020. It will feature the history of the chuck wagon and authentic recipes from the cattle drive era.

 

TAHN BY L. A. KELLY

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TAHN BY L. A. KELLY

Lynnette Jalufka

 

This novel has one of the best opening chapters I have ever read. I immediately fell in love with Tahn as he scales a wall “like a reptile” to kidnap a noble woman, whose husband he previously murdered. Why? To save her life from his cruel master and the mercenary band he belongs to.

And then there are the orphan children he tries to prevent from becoming like himself, an assassin.

It’s an exciting and unpredictable story that takes place in a medieval-like setting. Tahn is a complex character as he wrestles with his horrific past and the hope Lady Netta says can be found in God.

From the back cover: “The bravery of an unlikely hero, the love of an honorable lady, and the innocence of each wayward child resonate throughout this gripping tale of courage, faith, forgiveness, and unconditional love.”