Friday, July 23, 2010

New Books!

As my mom aaand thousands of other people say so frequently: I like new books.

So, with no plans for this particular Friday, I set out with a small list of books and the hunt was afoot. Alas, though I went to four bookstores, it wasn’t until I broke down and went to Half Price Books that I actually found any of the books I was looking for (at a price I was willing to pay, at least). College students don’t have money. I’m allowed to be nitpicky about cost.

Out of four books, I got two. One, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, was a suggestion of a friend. Its also some critically acclaimed piece of literature that I’ve yet to read. The other was City of Ashes, the second book of the Mortal Instruments series. It’s got potential, although I didn’t like how the first ended, I liked the mythology enough to give it another shot. (The illusive, need be fair priced Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Hunger Games remain on the list.)

In addition to getting new books, I found that paroosing around bookstores and reading the back cover synopses offered lots of inspiration. After coming across stacks upon stacks of Twilight books, I kept thinking, I can do this. I can write, hell I can write better than a lot of the people published. I also find it said that about half of the YA fiction is flooded with vampire novels. It’s sad that vampires are now overrated. It makes me want to write something that throws back to how they used to be or how they should be (monsters, truly dead beings with rotting flesh, etc), but at the same time the new vampires do have a certain amount of charm. But the nice gentlemanly vampire has been done and its time to move beyond it.

So yes, reading the synopses of non-vampire books, I was constantly drawn to a number of books… The cliffhangers and mysteries the synopses provide really do get you/me/audiences. I truly appreciate those authors who are striving to be different. Though not so different as to be unfamiliar, Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver) is one of my new favorites because she does turn the werewolf lore into something her very own. I think this is really necessary for the paranormal stories today. It’s not enough to have a brooding vampire or a hunk of a werewolf hanging around. They need to be really, completely different from anything we’ve ever seen! We need wonder and mystery—vampires and werewolves were thought up because we used to be afraid of the unknown and to create said myths were ways of coping with the unknown.

In short, book synopses often inspire me, especially if they’re from an author I’ve never heard of. Makes me think I’m perfectly capable of doing the same and inspiring someone else.

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