Sassy Paranormalcy

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A Review of Paranormalcy, by Kiersten White

“I hate the vamp jobs. They think they’re so suave. It’s not enough for them to slaughter and eat you like a zombie would. No, they want it to be all sexy, too. And, trust me: vampires? Not. Sexy.”
- Evie

Evie has the unique ability to see through glamours, which means she gets sent on missions to bag and tag vampires, werewolves, and other paranormals. Events take a twist far from normal however: she catches an intruder who can take on the shape of any person he wants, and something is out there killing paranormals. And if it’s killing paranormals, there’s no way Evie can stop it.

If I hadn’t fallen in love with this book by page one, I had by page two. Evie is a fantastic character. I love her attitude, and her fascination with Lend (the intruder) was nearly as high as mine.

The plot and characters kept me turning pages long into the night, hoping I could just answer that one question – only to have three more pop up.

I’m normally not a fan of faeries, but Kiersten handled them perfectly for me. Mysterious, tricky, and dangerous. And as you can tell by the quote I picked, the vampires are made fun of. Couldn’t agree more with you, Evie.

Interestingly, I followed Kiersten’s blog long before I picked up this book. She always had helpful posts, and they were a blast to read, so I thought it was about time I gave her book a chance – and I’m so glad I did. Can’t wait for the sequel!

My Rating (out of five stars)
★★★★★

Money or Bookshelves?

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My friend Lauren drew my attention to an article about Amanda Hocking, a very rich self-published author.

She sells her books on Kindle for small bucks ($0.99 – $5). People buy the books because they sound interesting and are super cheap, which means that she sells over a hundred thousand copies per month.

This is amazing. Simply amazing. E-publishing is making it possible for writers’ dreams to come true with the click of a button.

I’m not sure if I would take the chance though. I’ve heard some publishers are less likely to take you on if you’ve self-published. And my dream is more about seeing my book on a bookshelf than in someone’s Droid.

But maybe my dream of having lots of teens read and enjoy my books will win out over the bookshelf dream. We’ll have to see.

Where do you stand? Now that you know it’s possible to publish your own e-books and make tons of money, would you? Will you?

Back on Track

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I’ve been having trouble with Gatekeepers ever since NaNoWriMo. I just couldn’t seem to get it together.

I had forgotten one of my most important tenets: Writer’s block is a sign that you’re writing the wrong thing.

So I took another look at what I had planned. It was a quest novel, pure and simple: Lita travels around the country, joining forces with the other zodiacs so they can defeat the Big Bad. I hate quest novels.

But I did love writing in the Spirit World, as I had done with several Avatar the Last Airbender fanfics. So with a few tweaks, Gatekeepers is less questy and more urban fantasy (with a few more spirits than usual). My mind is spinning with ideas again!

Now if only I knew how to deal with Narrator…

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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