Siblinghood of the World Blogger Award

I was nominated for the Siblinghood of The World Blogger Award by the lovely Nicolette Elzie which is an honour as I’m pretty new to all of this, and frankly, I am Winging It!

Rules:

~ Thank the blogger who nominated you, and provide a link back to their site

~ Answer the ten questions sent to you

~ Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer

~ Nominate ten blogs

Gosh, some of these were *hard*, but fun. They certainly made my brain cells work a little faster. So, without further ado, here are my answers to Nicolette’s questions.

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1.What are some of the common tropes in books that you are tired of seeing? What are some that you absolutely will never get tired of seeing?

I think we’re all guilty of falling into the trope trap at some point in our writing so I try not to be too judgemental. But I’m a bit fed up of the one where the plain girl adores the gorgeous hero from afar and The Something happens to make them fall in love. Seriously, can’t we have all that without one of them having the physical attributes of a Greek God?

I never get tired of the prince riding in to rescue another prince, especially if he didn’t want rescuing in the first place 😉

2.There is a new law coming into effect. It bans (insert genre here) genre from ever being read/written again. Which genre would you choose?

Ouch. This one is hard. Because even if I dislike a genre I would hate for it to be banned because I would know other people love it. If I had to choose, it would be westerns (sorry western lovers..) but I’d make sure that copies were buried all over the globe so people could go on quests to discover them 😉

3. Books have some of the most wonderful quotes among them. Which is one of your favorite quotes, and why does it resonate with you?

This, apart from being a lovely illustration, is such a truth. We spend our whole lives rushing around, sometimes trying to be something that we’re not, and flailing around in our own aftermath that we forget to believe in our own self-worth. We are braver, stronger and smarter, despite all the voices telling us we aren’t, that somehow we are failing to tick all of the boxes. This is doubly true for writers who spend so much time wondering if we’ll ever be able to pull off whatever we are writing. Self belief isn’t narcissist, it’s a mechanism we need to nurture, because if we can’t believe in ourselves how can we ask others to?

4. What is a book you had such high hopes for but ultimately disappointed you?

I’m sorry to say that this year that would be The Three by Sarah Lotz. It came with such iron clad reviews and possibilities. The premise of the book was exciting, the format of it fresh and modern, but I just felt let down by a lot of the story and I didn’t like the ending at all

5. Your favorite author is going to call you for a once in a lifetime chance to talk. You can only ask them one question. Who is the author and what is the question? Why?

First of all I’d probably be a heap of tongue tied jelly 😉 So I would pick Neil Gaiman (as one of my faves) and ask him which one of his characters he would like to be stranded on a desert island with. Because it would be interesting to discover if it would be one that automatically springs to mind, Shadow from American Gods or Door from Neverwhere, or someone completely different.

6. Pick one of your favorite books, and construct a playlist for it. Try to choose between 5-8 songs that fit the theme and tone of this book.

(Hard, hard question!)

I chose The Death House by Sarah Pinborough. Seriously, this book, READ IT. The ending will rip your heart out with a spoon.

A little bit of spoiler free blurb – Toby’s life was normal until it was unravelled by a simple blood test.

Taken from his family, Toby now lives in the Death House, an out of time existence far away from the modern world. He, and others like him, are studied by a team of nurses, looking for any signs of sickness. When that comes they are taken to the sanatorium. No one ever comes back from there.

Toby withdraws from his house mates and spends his days fighting the fear, until a new arrival shatters the fragile peace, and everything changes.

I’ve tried to capture Toby’s feelings as he negotiates the tightrope of his new life.

Passenger – Deftones

Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day

Breathe Me –Sia

Counting Stars – One Republic

Born to Die – Lana Del Ray

The Power of Love – Gabrielle Aplin

7. What book/series do you believe is highly overrated?Underrated?

Overrated – 50 Shades of Grey

Underrated – ‘Salem’s Lot. This was truly the scariest book I’ve ever read and it doesn’t often come up in the top 3 of King’s listed work.

8. What is a theme/motif that you love reading about?

It might be cliché but I love reading about good v evil and how it co-exists in a story and moulds the characters. Exploring the fine blurred line between the two and between the light and the darkness always grabs me, and it’s probably why that is the theme of my book!

9. Pick three characters from your favorite book and play the F*ck, Marry, Kill game.

I had to look this one up *laughs*  I chose The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice.

F*ck – Lestat, of course, because who doesn’t love an anti hero?. That’s a no brainer 😉

Marry – David Talbot (because I secretly would love his job as Superior General of an organisation that researches the supernatural ) and because he ends up as chief documenter for the vampires. You know, the word thing 😉

Kill – Akasha. Queen of the Damned. Mother of All Vampires. Because she is empty, selfish and nihilistic.

10. If you could have one fictional animal as a pet, what would it be?

I have a soft spot for Oy from Stephen King’s Dark Tower universe. He is a billy bumbler, a creature with black and grey striped fur, a spiral tail and gold ringed eyes, although in my mind’s eye he looked more like an anteater! Oy can mimic, forming a close bond with the boy, Jake Chambers, who he calls ‘Ake.’ Anyway, I want one!

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And my questions for my nominees are –

1. Your favorite author is going to call you for a once in a lifetime chance to talk. You can only ask them one question. Who is the author and what is the question? Why?
2. Which fictional character would you want as a friend, and why?
3. List three books you’ve read more than three times.
4. Who would you say is your greatest writing influence in terms of your own style?
5. What are you working on at the minute?
6. Which actor/actress would you like to see playing the lead character from your most recent book?
7. How important is a book cover to you? Would it influence you over the back blurb?
8. If you could live in one fictional world, where would you live?
9. Do you let other people borrow your books?
10. Books have some of the most wonderful quotes among them. Which is one of your favorite quotes, and why does it resonate with you?

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Here is my list of victims nominees 😉 Don’t worry if you haven’t time to complete this, just know that I was thinking of you!

I couldn’t quite come up with ten but the talent here makes up for that.

A. J. Lundetrae

Madeleine Deste

Aura Eadon

Memopip

Erin Cochran

Breeanna Pierce

Melanie Noell Bernard

Aubrey Meeks