ICEFALL by Matthew J. Kirby

Some time ago, I read THE CLOCKWORK THREE by Matthew Kirby and enjoyed it. It was a charming and beautifully written story and I was excited to see what he did with his second book, ICEFALL, which I heard was about a Viking princess. How could I not want to read a book about a Viking princess?

I fully intended to go to the book launch for ICEFALL, but I came down with a cold that pretty much destroyed all my mental capacity for a couple weeks and I missed it. I hear that there were Viking swordsmen, too. So sad!

Anyway, I finally had the chance to read ICEFALL over the Thanksgiving break and have been telling everyone I know that they should read this book.

So. You should read this book.

It's amazing. One of the very best I've read in a long time. If you combined KETURAH AND LORD DEATH by Martine Leavitt with THE THIEF by Megan Whalen Turner (both of which I love), I think you'd get something like this book. But there were Vikings, too, which just puts this into a whole new realm of awesomeness. I stayed up far, far too late reading it.

From the cover:

Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig, along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors, anxiously awaits news of her father's victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. A malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.


Those charged with protecting the king's children are all suspect, and the siblings must choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father's watchful eye? Can Solveig and her siblings survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom?


There are so many things about this story that I want to rave about, but I also don't want to say too much about it. To be honest, I didn't even read the cover before starting this book. "Viking princess" was enough to make me want to try it, but if that's not enough for you, check out the music that helped inspire the story, as well as some of the pictures of what the setting looked like. And then go read the book.

What about you? Have you read anything amazing recently?

Tips on Writing Fight Scenes

I wrote this post about a year ago as a guest post for a friend. Her life went a bit crazy and it never got posted so, with her permission, I'm posting this here. Enjoy!

Stories are all about conflict. But what happens when the conflict turns into a physical fight during a story? I used to teach martial arts and I’m pretty picky about reading fight scenes. Here are some tips I’ve come up with to help write fight scenes.

1.       Do NOT describe every single movement. Really. Fights happen very fast, but if you take the time to describe everything, it will take forever. Instead, focus on the beginning of the fight, the outcome of the fight, and any important bits, when something changed for the character.

For example, in The Lion King, when Scar confesses to Simba that he killed Mufasa. That’s a crucial part of the fight scene, so include things like that.

2.       Know your setting. Setting plays a huge role in fight scenes. A fight in a classroom with desks is going to be very different than a fight scene in a parking lot. Know your setting. Know what is going to help the fight and what will hinder the fight.

For example, in our martial arts class, we do lots of “no holds barred” sparring. That means that anything goes—there are no rules and there is no official sparring ring. The fighters use the walls all the time to balance off of and to trap their sparring partner.

We changed the rules one day so that anyone who stepped out of the ring lost. That COMPLETELY changed the fighting styles. Kicking and punching became pretty much useless. Instead, it turned into a contest between stances and pushing, with some ground fighting thrown in.

Things also change when weapons are involved. Or on a hill. Or on a roof. Or pretty much any variation in setting, so think about the advantages and disadvantages a setting would have on a character.

3.       Know your character. Know their strengths and weaknesses. For example, I am 5’ 5”, I have short legs and a long torso. Most of the guys I work out with are over 6’, which means I have a definite disadvantage when it comes to traditional sparring. I just don’t have the reach that they do.

I do have an advantage, though, if I can get in close and use elbows and knees. In other words, I can hit them, but they can’t hit me because they have too long of a reach. I also have an advantage in ground fighting because my center of gravity is in my hips (like most girls), which makes me harder throw. I also have some extra weight that helps out there. :)

As with character traits, every fighter will have some strengths and some weaknesses. We as writers just need to figure out what they are and figure out how our characters can use them.

4.       Have fun with it. Really. Some of the most painful fight scenes I’ve read have been overly serious descriptions that made me cringe. A lighter touch is usually better.

An example of this is The Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan, which are a lot of fun.

Happy writing fighting! 

Cliffhangers

I've heard the advice before that you should try to end your chapters with a cliffhanger so your readers will want to keep reading. I have to admit that, while this makes sense, the practical application wasn't really working for me. After all, my stories aren't thrillers and my characters don't find themselves in life threatening situations that often. So I stuffed that bit of advice in the back of my brain to be used only when applicable.

But this past week I've been obsessed watching this Korean drama called Boys over Flowers. I put it in my queue months ago because it looked like something I'd enjoy, but didn't end up watching it that night because I was supposed to be folding laundry and subtitled shows often distract me from the actual business of folding. Anyway, Natalie Whipple mentioned it on Twitter and on her blog last week and I'd just finished watching Season 3 of Merlin and was looking for something, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I could go on and on about what I love about it, but I'll spare you and try to get to my point. One of the things the show does SO well is the cliffhangers at the end of each episode. Now, these aren't often physical cliffhangers (although they sometimes are) but they're mainly emotional cliffhangers. The characters have a decision to make or something has happened to shake the way they view their world...and then the episode ends. And it gets me every time.

I'm now rethinking my own chapter endings and what I can do to up the stakes for the characters emotionally.
Because, really, being emotionally invested in characters is one of the most important things. I know when I'm reading (or watching a show) I can overlook all kinds of flaws when I care about the characters.

What about you? What have you learned recently? Any other good shows out there that I should be watching?

Querying Survival Tips

A couple weeks ago, I found myself at the same event as several other authors, including Sara Zarr. She found out I'd just started querying and, very sympathetically, she put her hand on my shoulder and told me I needed to find a new hobby. I'd previously read the highlights of her keynote address from the SCBWI conference earlier this year and it was obvious that she understands.

Querying is hard. And miserable. But through trial and many, many errors, I've learned a few things that make it a little less miserable.

First of all, Patricia Wrede, one of my favorite authors, has some excellent advice on her blog in what she calls "The Hat Lecture," and I definitely recommend reading that.

So. The things I've learned:

-Don't query during times of emotional stress, if at all possible. Don't query when you're dealing with unemployment, or trying to sell a house, or have a newborn and haven't slept in weeks. And definitely don't do it if you have more than one stressful thing going on. It just makes it that much harder to deal with rejection.

-Read outside your genre while querying. I've found that if I read something in the genre I'm trying to be published in, I'll either be annoyed because mine is obviously much better (I wish!) or flop on the couch in despair because I will never, ever be that good. Either way, it's pretty miserable. I've found that I can still enjoy reading when I read something different, something where I'm not constantly comparing myself to them.

-Get out of the house and spend some time in the sunshine and away from your email. It doesn't need to be checked every five minutes. I promise.

-Find writer friends who understand and will let you whine.

-Find non-writer friends who share other interests. Don't let the writing and querying become your whole life.

-Write something new, something that you're so in love with that the old project, the one you're querying, isn't so important to you. But whatever you do, DON'T think about the possibility of publishing the new project. Just don't even go there. Just write for the love of writing.

-And, of course, lots and lots of chocolate.

What about you? What are some tips you've discovered to help during querying?