V - Very Different

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V - Very Different

About a year or so ago, I was hunting down reviewing blogs to see if any of them would be interested in reviewing Sew for me. The blogs I contacted I added to my reader so that I could keep up with them. Of course, I also read them.

One of the reviewers said something about one of the authors she read that I think is one of the highest compliments an author can be paid. She had reviewed about three or so books by this author (Sarah Beth Durst. I've actually read one of her books, Out of the Wild. It was a very interesting spin on Fairy Tales) and what she said was basically this:

"Every time I read one of Sarah's Books, it's like reading a completely new author."

You see, every budding author wants to write a book that is different from every other book that has ever been written in the history of writing. And since you're a new person with unique perspective on life, that's actually not very hard to do.

But what happens when you have finished book one and must embark onto the treacherous waters of book the second? What happens then? No longer has there never been a book written by you. Most readers don't want to read the same book just with names changed. They want to embark on a completely new journey. (They don't mind so much going on a journey with the same people, though. Family reunion, you know?)

So my aim as an author is to write like Sarah. Not her style, of course, but the fact that every book she writes is new, fresh.

Do You Take This Quest? though it was in the same series as Sew, was a very different book. The protagonists were different, offering a very different perspective. (Though, I do suspect, Madeleine did have some POV in Sew, I can't prove it, though.) The goal was different, and so was the pacing. Sew took place over the course of nearly four months, Take was crammed into a mere three weeks. Sew had no villain, only a time constraint. While there was a time constraint in Take, (as well as an overdose of thyme) a human villain was introduced.

And you can expect The Ankulen, which has no connections with Sew in the least, to be very, VERY different. There are a few puns (Sir Erran of Tree) but they aren't going to punch you in the jaw. Fairy Tales are alluded to, but they don't run around. The main characters are modern day, and have completely different ideals. I tell it in first person, not third. The villain in this book was a monster that is eating Jen's imagination. While romance was a huge theme in my Bookanias, it's barely hinted at in The Ankulen. Sure there are three kisses, but two of them are between Jen's imaginary friends (on her orders after she declares them married) the other between Jen's parents. There is one scene that is kinda romantic (and oh, so sweet) but again, it's between Jen's friends ... and she cuts it short.

I decided that now was about as good a time as any for me to announce my presence. Stepping into the chamber, I cleared my throat. “Hey,” I said, “I know this is a perfectly romantic scene and all that, and I hate to interrupt, but I'd like to talk with the two of you for a minute.”

- The Ankulen 


So ... anyways. I'm not the sort of writer who writes the same book over and over again. Oh, and the Vlog will be posted tomorrow and I have a few announcements that I'll make.