Category Archives: #am writing (and all things writing related)
Spellbound – Guide to the Online Book Community
Just like writing, reading can feel like a very solitary experience. If you are anything like me, when you get to the end of a book, you probably have all sorts of thoughts and feelings that you want to discuss with someone. Short of persuading all of your friends to read the book where do you go?
Online of course
Today I am Talbot Health School in Bournemouth talking at their Spellbound Literature Convention about the online book community.
Book Blogging – WordPress, Blogger
Book Vlogging – YouTube
Bookish Images – Instagram using the #bookstagram
Book Reviews – Goodreads and Litsy
Chats and Groups – Twitter and Facebook and Goodreads
A few examples of teen bloggers
I curated a small list of YA bloggers who are teens that you can follow on twitter. https://mobile.twitter.com/kirstyes/lists/uk-teen-book-bloggers
The Mile Long Bookshelf aka Amber Kirk-Ford is a book blogger and vlogger who has written for the Guardian and Penguin Books Blog.
https://youtu.be/OSpWiBrMj9E
Queen of Contemporary/@LucyTheReader AKA Lucy Powrie is also a book blogger and vlogger who set up the hugely successful twitter chat using the hashtag #ukyachat
http://queenofcontemporary.com/ukyachat
How to be a good blogger by Jenny in Neverland. This popped up on my twitter timeline this morning and I had to share because it just says what I wanted to say.
https://t.co/LwDRphtYl4?amp=1
How to review
Goodreads Reviews
https://www.goodreads.com/review/guidelines
Uses a 5 star rating system
1 star – didn’t like it
2 stars – it was ok
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing
But. Everyone uses it differently and you can create your own rating system on your blog. Or you don’t have to rate at all. I use half stars and I generally round down not up.
Find your own style
Activity – post it note review
Activity – Instagram pictures
Activity – Features and Challenges
Side note about safety
Note most online forums require you to be 13 to use.
Remember that anything you say online can always be found.
Be cautious – occasionally people aren’t who they say they are. If you ever arrange to meet with someone who you have met online don’t go alone and tell someone.
Side note about your TBR and budget
Joining the online book community will exponentially increase the size of your TBR piles and see you wanting to spend more money than you have. Join a library. Budget. Ask for Bookish goodies for gifts.
If you do prefer to meet up with people in real life make sure to follow your favourite bookshops and check out events they might host. Waterstones will be hosting a whole range of YA author events over the summer.
Every summer there is now a Young Adult Literature Convention (YALC) as part of London Film and Comic Con (LFCC). This year it runs from Friday 28th – Sunday 30th July and there will be around 90 authors in attendance. There are author panels, signings, workshops, stands, cosplay and just generally hanging around with fellow book worms.
Activity – Q&A e.g. Picking a platform, setting up a blog, interacting with authors and others, ARCs etc.
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The Deepest Cut by Natalie Flynn – Blog Tour (Author Interview)
I picked up a copy of The Deepest Cut by Natalie Flynn at YALC (the Young Adult Literature Convention that takes place at London Film and Comic Con) last year. When the lovely Karen at Accent Press told me that it had been nominated for The Lancashire Book of the Year Award I jumped at the chance to find out what such a nomination meant to the author.
Interview with Natalie Flynn
For me, there were certain milestones that I’d always dreamed about in my writing career: Finishing a book, finding an agent, getting a book deal, being reviewed. There’s one I’d always thought I’d like to happen, but didn’t let myself think about too much, and that was being nominated/shortlisted for an award.
When I heard from my lovely publicist Karen about the LBOY shortlisting, it was late on a Friday afternoon and I didn’t take it all in straight away. Over the weekend, I kept randomly bursting out “I’ve been shortlisted for an award” in utter amazement. It is amazing. It’s the ultimate seal of approval.
The Deepest Cut is a story that will always mean a lot to me. It began its life as a play in 2011. The novel adaptation wasn’t easy to write. It went through lots of ideas and lots of drafts before it became what it is today. But in all those drafts, I was always writing with my audience in mind – teenagers. Adam’s story is for them. To inspire them, give them hope, make them laugh and, hopefully, raise awareness of the tragic consequences of knife crime.
The LBOY awards are decided on solely by the teens I wrote this story for, so the fact they’ve connected with it deeply enough to shortlist me for their award is the best feeling in the world. It makes all those late nights, frustrating editing days, moments of almost giving up on it totally worth it. I’m so proud to be on the LBOY 2017 shortlist and I can’t wait to go to Preston to meet these fantastic teens who put me there. Roll on July!
Synopsis
The opening of this story is a powerful one and does needs a trigger warning as it starts with our protagonist Adam attempting suicide. Following the event his period of recovery in a mental health unit sees him trying to find his voice after the trauma leaves him mute.
Adam is immediately engaging and evokes empathy. He thinks he is to blame for his friend’s death but we see a young man full of anguish and unable to express it.
The opening few chapters will make me even more angry if I hear the term man up being used to prevent boys and men from displaying emotion. Flynn portrays an excellent debunking of what mental health units are like.
The award ceremony is next week on 8th July and I wish Natalie all the luck. Thanks for taking the time to share with us what even the shortlisting means to you.
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From House Pride to Books with Pride
Soooo. Can you believe it. 20 years since the UK publication (or Book Birthday) of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Hands up who feels old?
I’m still waiting for my House Pride Hufflepuff edition to arrive from Bloomsbury but here’s a lovely house 🌈 while I’m waiting.
In case you didn’t know June is also Pride month.
Being involved in the Harry Potter fandom, in particular attending events at LeakyCon and with The Harry Potter Alliance I have become much more aware of LGBTQIA+ issues.
One of my favourite Harry Potter memes is this one.
Image courtesy of @Run_Read_Repeat on Instagram. Thanks Emily. T-shirt by SunFrogShirts.
Now, we all know Dumbledore is gay but, importantly, this was never stated in the actual books. In fact there’s no explicit mention of LGBTQIA+ characters. Also Cursed Child fans were itching for a romantic entanglement between Albus and Scorpius but once again – denied.
There are though, thankfully, a growing number of excellent books with good representation and I was lucky enough to interview the author of a newest addition to the set. Noah Can’t Even by Simon James Green is a witty take on a teen boy exploring first relationships, along with his sexuality. Noah’s character gave me echoes of Holly Smale’s quintessential Geek Girl Harriet Manners and that is a very good thing.
Check out my interview with Simon on Waterstones Castlepoint’s YouTube channel and hear us discuss issues such as the need for Own Voices in literature.
Do read Noah Can’t Even too and let me How what you think.
I’m a Proud Hufflepuff and a Proud Ally. I hope I do a good job at living up to the values of both.
kirstyes 