Narrator Fun Facts

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Sorry for the super late post, everyone. I completely forgot yesterday!

Have you ever had a discussion with your friends that ends up in a really wacky place, and then you try to trace your path back through all the conversation topics to what you were talking about first? I was doing that, but with Narrator. I thought it was fun to see how far the story’s come, so I’ll share some facts with you:

  1. The idea for Narrator was born from – I kid you not – a writing exercise. A teacher had said that if we described a setting for long enough, characters would emerge. So I tried it out. I got so bored of describing a desert at night, the narration picked up a sardonic tone and quickly became a real character – complete with narrator powers.
  2. When I started writing, I didn’t have names I liked for most of the characters. I stole Calder and Tayryn’s names from two other stories. Surprisingly, they adapted, and the names became theirs – so now I have to find other names for the old characters.
  3. As you may remember, I based Saydie on my dog of the same name. They share similar traits: quickness to bite (although my Saydie uses steel), fear of fire, being too clever to be good.
  4. In the original draft, Arianna – the princess Calder is trying to rescue – was turned into a five-year-old by Pennington. I worked very hard to make sure the reader couldn’t tell until Calder saw her in person.
  5. The first draft also had an OCD dragon.
  6. Tayryn’s real name Thom is an homage to both the twin brother of Alanna in Tamora Pierce’s books, and to Tom Riddle.
  7. Writing Narrator is the only time I’ve won NaNoWriMo, though I’ve been trying every year since my second in college.

Writing Weekend

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Even though I did my taxes this weekend, I still managed to get a lot done on Narrator. The problem with revising is that it’s so slow. Analyzing every sentence, every word. Fixing mistakes, adding new plants and payoffs, cleaning up the language.

There are a bunch of new scenes I need to add and I’m going to – again – change up the ending. I guess I’m just better at writing my way to perfection than planning it all out beforehand.

Do you find revising to be more difficult than writing, or just another type of challenge?

A Novel Soundtrack

Filed Under Inspiring, Music | 5 Comments

If you’re like me, you like to pair up the songs you hear with characters in your works in progress. No Air fits the main character in Rumpelstiltskin, and My Life Would Suck Without You fits Fragment of the Moon. It’s a fun way to pass the time if you’re doing something tedious like driving or work.

And, if you’re like me, you like to play music while you write. So why not play songs that match your story? Make a soundtrack for your novel. Maybe some songs set the mood and some remind you of certain characters. The connection between the music and your writing should help you focus and create.

Poisonous Intrigue

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A Review of Poison Study, by Maria V. Snyder

“To Yelena, our newest food taster. May you last longer than your predecessor.”
- Valek

Yelena is a prisoner on death row when she’s offered the chance to become the Commander’s food taster. Valek, the Commander’s right-hand man and top assassin, teaches her to survive, but her life is in danger from more than poison. Her past tormentors are close – in more ways than one – and illegal magicians from the south have marked her as their next target.

I could not put this book down. Or at least, only when I had to. It’s a unique and promising premise, and complicated when Yelena is poisoned herself and forced to return to her poisoner every day for the antidote.

The characters are complicated and interesting. With such a cesspool of ambition and secrecy, the intrigue develops with every conversation.

The only problem I had was anticipating different plot twists. I’m not sure if it’s because they were easy to figure out or I’m just improving at recognizing what would make a good conflict. There was, however, one twist I did not anticipate – you’ll just have to read it yourself to find out!

My Rating (out of five stars)
★★★★

Weekend Update

Filed Under Updates | 2 Comments

Narrator: Been working on revisions all weekend. The beginning doesn’t need as much work as the end, but I do need to plant a lot of new plot points.

Rumpelstiltskin: Made good progress on Friday.

Fragment of the Moon and The Gatekeepers: Since these are both Asian-based fantasies, I’m wondering if I can make them in the same world. If not, that’s cool too, but I’ve been thinking lately how I don’t have a world that is mine, like Tamora Pierce’s Tortall (and surrounding countries).

I think it would be nice to be able to create a world where I can explore all these different aspects of it. But right now my stories seem to be so disjointed, so separate from each other: time period, culture, magic, etc.

Do your stories all occur in the same world, or do you like to experiment? For those of you that have done both, which do you prefer?

Looking for Group

Filed Under Writing Group | 2 Comments

So my writing group spontaneously combusted – well, maybe not spontaneously. But it’s definitely in pieces and I am currently looking for a new writing group.

Does anyone know where I can find a group? I’m looking locally and online to try to find a good fit. I think it would be best if the group was fantasy and/or YA oriented, since that’s what I write and they’d understand those styles. Other than that, I’m pretty flexible!

Critiquer Countdown

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It’s tough to give your baby to the sharks. You might be tempted to scoff at your critiquers’ comments and suggestions, confident that you’ve written the greatest novel ever.

That would be a big mistake. Planet-sized.

Unless your critiquers are complete idiots – which if they are, why did you bother asking them for advice? – they can spot flaws in your writing you never even thought of because you’re simply too close to it. You need to listen to your critiquers if you want to improve – that doesn’t always mean doing exactly what they suggest, but you need to consider their opinions.

There are, however, a few times you can ignore your critiquers:

3. When they’re clueless. This doesn’t happen often, but sometimes readers simply won’t get your story. They don’t know what you’re going for, so their comments and observations are going to be useless. This usually happens if they don’t read your genre. Imagine someone who likes biographies trying to advise a sci-fi paranormal epic.

2. When they make stylistic changes. It’s a basic fact of life: people write differently. Some phrases sound better to my ear than they will to yours. Give their suggestions some thought, but if they mess up your voice, don’t worry about changing it back.

1. When their suggestions will not help your story. Only you know what will help improve your story. Your critiquers can make suggestions on where they think you should take this, but you alone have the final say on where that is.

Do What You Love

Filed Under Inspiring | 2 Comments

The other day I had a conversation with someone who was trying to figure out what to do with her life. She couldn’t decide between nursing school, culinary school, or some third option. She loves cooking, but doesn’t want to work hundreds of hours for pittance.

It’s the same with writing. People love writing, but don’t want to risk putting in all the work with only slim chances at rewards.

But you need to have enough courage to go for your dreams.

For example, I’m finally seriously pursuing my dream of being a novelist. But my back up plan for noveling is working in publishing. It’s nice to have a steady job, so I don’t have to worry about living off my writing (or not).

It’s said that if you do something you love, you never work a day in your life. And you only have one life, so why not spend it doing something you love?

Don’t be afraid to do what you love, no matter what the risks.

Dances with Storms

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A Review of Storm Glass, by Maria V. Snyder

“My skill. Singular. The One-Trick Wonder.”- Opal

Opal can only perform one trick: breathing magic into her glasswork. So when it’s discovered that someone has sabotaged the glass orbs that Stormdancers fill with storms, she’s called on to solve the problem. One adventure leads to another as she deals with kidnappers, diamond counterfeiters, ghosts from her past, and blood magic.

Aside from the few times I got annoyed at Opal, this was a great book. This had a different style of magic than I was used to, and it was very interesting to see how it worked. The pacing was a little unusual, because it felt more like three books tied together than one.

I bought this book because I had picked up its sequel at the used bookstore (without realizing it was a sequel) and was intrigued by the magic. Her other books seem good too. I already know I’ll like the characters, because they feature prominently in the Glass series.

Snyder has joined my list of authors to watch!

My Rating (out of five stars)
★★★★

Tweet Away

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Hello, dear readers. I would like to announce that I am now making the blog Twitter account (ASingleBell) my personal account as well. This way the tweets will be more than just update notifications, and hopefully I can chat with all of you there!

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  • Welcome

    new haircut

    Hi, I'm Jenn, new grad student and old YA fantasy writer. I've long dreamed of being a novelist, and I bet you have too. I hope you find my blog helpful, inspiring, and maybe just a little bit fun. (But not too much fun. Writing is serious business, you know.)

    You can follow me on Twitter or Facebook, or email me at:
    jennifer.a.johnson7 at gmail dot com

  • Official Progress


    4/21 segments

    A narrator hijacks a cliche fantasy story, much to the chagrin of its characters.

    Status: Second revision



    1,639/70,000 words
    A young noblewoman with strange powers must choose: her king or her soul.

    Status: First draft



    1,087/70,000 words
    When a girl's heart is stolen, she's plunged into a world of magic and shadows - but can she get her heart back before she loses it completely?

    Status: First draft





  • All writing, unless otherwise specified, is the property of
    Jennifer Johnson © 2010