SparkaTale

Sparkatale

Talented, Dedicated, but Undiscovered

Even on such a relatively small site as SparkATale, there are countless undiscovered writers. This is for them, and the people who would help them. We are a community that encourages and aids other writers, whether it be through simple chats, reviews, or recommendations. We help in any way we can, and are a kind and welcoming group. Read, write, discover!

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The Writing Corner

This is a topic mostly like the coffee shop, but different in one main way. Here, the conversation will stay centered on books and writing. Same rules, such as the typical "no cussing" and "no mature content." You can discuss others' writing, your own writing, or outside books here. This is the TDU's Writing Corner, so have fun!

by Nicole Raine | Nov 16th 2014, 13:41


  • Plops down on a cushion, clutching a gigantic book.

    Hey, guys! I guess I'll get us started here...

    What's your favorite book?

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | November 18, 2014


  • One of my favotire books is White Fang by Jack London, and I'm also a fan of the Uglies series. :)

    Reply

    The Tigress | November 19, 2014


  • I have read both of those! Both great books/series. Actually, Jack London's Call of the Wild was a favorite when I was younger, as well, and Scott Westerfeld is an author I search for with every visit to the library.

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | November 19, 2014


  • Oh yes I love Call of the Wild as well! I need to get back into reading... I haven't had a lot of time lately. I've read the first two books in the Divergent series and it seems to be pretty good (I have a few minor complaints on the plot pacing but otherwise it's a good story). And I've started to read this series but I don't know the name of it, but the first book is called Legend and the second one is Prodigy.

    Reply

    The Tigress | November 20, 2014


  • Same, actually I went to the library the other day and now have somewhere around a dozen books sitting on my dresser and taunting me. And I just don't have time....

    Divergent was pretty good...it maybe wasn't an absolute favorite, but I did like it. Never saw the movie, though.

    I've also read that one! I think the trilogy's just called Legend. Actually, that same author just recently came out with the first book in a new series that I've been meaning to pick up...

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | November 20, 2014


  • Oh wow I can't remember the last time I've been to a library and I live right around the corner from one!! But ours is very small and doesn't have a huge selection. Still, I should stop by it again sometime.

    I never watched the Divergent movie either. I heard that it didn't really match the book and that really bothers me. Plus, the trailer itself seemed a little cheesy, some of the lines they gave to the characters I KNOW were not in the book.

    I need to finish reading the Legend series then! So much to do...

    On another note I just came back from watching MOCKING JAY omg it was so good. I'm a fan of both the Hunger Games books and movies. It's so rare to find a story done so well on both paper and the big screen.

    Reply

    The Tigress | November 21, 2014


  • Haha! Mine is a network of libraries that share books, but usually mine doesn't have a great selection, either. Thankfully, they added a new section for all the "new" books, which definitely made my day.

    Yeah, there are some pretty weird lines in the movie that Veronica Roth definitely didn't write.

    Yes! With books, there's ALWAYS a bunch to do...

    I liked the Hunger Games, but I was quite young when I first read them, and I haven't reread, which might be helpful. I don't remember a whole lot. I can't wait to see Mockingjay, though. Did they follow the book?

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | November 22, 2014


  • Yes they have followed the book amazingly well in all of the movies so far. I mean yeah there were a few little details here and there (mostly in the first movie) but those little details were insignificant and honestly it was amazing and I have no complaints (and I'm a HARSH critic when it comes to book-to-movie transitions). 

    I read the series at least three times. I go back to it every few years just to relive it. It's one of my favorite series. Not to sound snobbish, but I liked it before it was so popular lol.

    Reply

    The Tigress | November 23, 2014


  • Good! I actually read Susanne Collins' other series, Gregor, before the Hunger Games series was popular.

    Haha; we all have those series, right?

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | November 25, 2014


  • Hmm I've never heard of that series. Is it as good as the other one? I may be interested in reading it.

    Reply

    The Tigress | November 26, 2014


  • From what I remember, it was very good! It was an even longer time ago, though, haha. My brother read the first book recently, though, and he loved it.

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | November 28, 2014


  • Cool- I'll look into it when I get the chance. If I ever get the chance... lol my life is so busy and I have so many things on my to-do list that I actually have to write a list or else I'll forget. XD

    Reply

    The Tigress | December 8, 2014


  • Oh my gosh, yes. It's terrible, is it not? Life getting in the way of everything, absolutely everything...

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | December 9, 2014


  • The problem with life is that I want to do too many things!! Lol I get bored if I only concentrate on one thing / hobby at a time. Even with my jobs, I feel like I can't stay at the same job too long or else I get bored. I'm so glad I don't work full time because that would kill me.

    Then there's the things that you HAVE to do... like pay bills and go to the doctor and stuff... ew. Yeah that's boring stuff that takes up my time.

     

    Reply

    The Tigress | December 10, 2014


  • Question: Does anyone know what passive voice is? And if so, do you think I use it too much in my writing? I'm having trouble pin-pointing where it is exactly that I allegedly use it.

    Reply

    The Tigress | December 13, 2014


  • Haha, exactly. I swear we're all ADD to some point.

    And an answer to your question: passive voice mostly deals with use of verbs. In passive voice, "being" verbs and basically verbs that don't deal with actions ( verbs that aren't action verbs) are used a lot. It is the opposite of active voice, which is where action verbs are used a lot. It's been a long time since I had the time to read your works, so I can't veritably answer that right now, but I hope I helped at least a little bit!

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | December 14, 2014


  • Blegh... I hate passive voice. Oh well, I'll try not to use it in the future. I think that in some cases it sounds better than active voice though, but that's my opinion.

    Reply

    The Tigress | December 14, 2014


  • Haha! It just depends on the situation; sometimes it is going to sound better than the active voice. Particularly with emotions, I believe...

    Just use whatever you think flows the best. :)

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | December 15, 2014


  • Yeah lol I'm gonna go with my gut on this one and word it how I think it sounds best.

    Reply

    The Tigress | December 16, 2014


  • Yup! I'm sure it'll sound fine. Try reading it aloud to see how it sounds if you want.

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | December 29, 2014


  • Easily "The Alchemist" by Paul Coelho. A lot of people think it is pretentious in what it is saying, but at the end of the day it is an entertaining and an informative read. This is a fiction book that manages the two things mentioned in my previous sentence, which honestly is quite impressive.

    Also a lot of the lessons within the book itself are very true based on my own personal experiences. It is a book that has taught me much, probably the most out of any book that I've ever read. Hence why I hold it so high up in respect.

    Reply

    Monty Mason | March 18, 2016


  • As corny as this is going to sound, my favorite book was actually written by an unpublished author on Wattpad. It was literally... incredible: The name of it is Remember Me, written by a man with the username RealChristopherPike.

     

    It should literally be in a store: I couldn't stop reading it.

    Reply

    Aaron L. | April 27, 2016


  • Who are some of your favourite authors? For me J.R.R Tolkien and are my top Edgar Allan Poe authors.

    Reply

    Nicole Armas | February 17, 2015


  • Hm...I bounce around a lot. But a few that've been pretty steady favorites for some time now are Ted Dekker, Lois Lowry, and Jennifer Nielsen. Recently I read Sherri Thomas's books and loved them, and now I'm going through Catherine Fisher's Incarceron. It's amazing :).

    Any specific works of theirs that you like best?

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | February 17, 2015


  • The Lord of the Rings and The Children of Hurin by Tolkien are my favourite books by him for sure. As for Edgar Allan Poe The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Masque of the Red Death are my favourites.

    How about you?

    Reply

    Nicole Armas | February 18, 2015


  • Hm–I've read the Hobbit by Tolkien, but the rest have been lingering on my to-read shelf for a while. Speaking of, I should read those. I've actually never heard of the Children of Hurin, but it sounds interesting! I have read the Tell-Tale Heart and the Cask of Amontillado by Poe, but not the Masque of Red Death. Is it a short story, like the other two?

     

    Ted Dekker's Black trilogy (with the fourth "zero" book) is definitely my favorite by him, so far. Lois Lowry's The Giver quartet as well, and as for Jennifer Nielsen, her Ascendence trilogy is amazing.

    Are you reading anything good lately?

    Reply

    Nicole Raine | February 28, 2015


  • Whoops! Sorry it took so long to reply! I completely forgot about this thread!

    Masque of the Red Death is a short story; I'd wager it's even shorter then what Poe usually writes. In a Poe book I got at home, it's only about three to four pages long.

    As for reading, I just finished Gone With the Wind which was absolutely amazing! I also got a large book from my school library which contains all 68 stories about Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle so I've been reading whatever Holmes stories I never read or simply forgot about. How about you?

    Reply

    Nicole Armas | April 28, 2015


  • I haven't read much before my college years. And now, I haven't read a lot most of the stuff I did read was manga. I did develop a liking for the writing style of Rumiko Takahashi.

    However, if there was one book that did stand out in college. It would be "The Day the Leader was Killed" by Naguib Mahfouz (An Egyptian author). It was a short read but it did interest me through its creative use of first-person perspective. It swapped between three different viewpoints. Something I would like to try in one of my stories.

    Also, I liked the poems written by Kahlil Gibran as well.
    His masterpiece is "The Prophet" which has 26 prose poetic essays.

    Reply

    Benjamin Dine | April 25, 2015


  • For me it depends on what the writer is best at. There are a lot of tricks that I've picked up from different authors over the years. Laura Whitcomb, for example, author of A Certain Slant of Light, has the most beautiful and artistic prose I have ever seen. For the best storytelling, I'd nominate Neil Gaiman and Philip Pullman. For pure mastery of suspense and plot there's Alexandre Dumas--reading The Count of Monte Cristo is like reading a magnificent game of chess. And for a writing style that is VERY hard to do correctly, in which you jump into the story assuming that the reader knows everything and giving no definitions or explanations for a very complex world, I would say Robert Jordan. But that's just my two cents. 

    Reply

    Catherine Rose Hillin | April 28, 2015


  • Hi, has anyone ever read "The Little Princess"? I first heard about it through a movie that I had watched years ago. When I read the book, it was so well done. At one point it was even hard to put down.

    Another book that had the same effect on me was called "Between the Lines." Now that's a really good book. It is basically about a special book that has characters that have a life of their own whenever it is closed. It is kind of like a Toy Story idea. It is really cool.

    Reply

    Anna Rivers | September 2, 2015


  • Has anyone read the Lorien Legacies Series? It may also be called I am Number Four. It's one of my favorite series of books and I finished the supposedly last book (There's talk of a 7th one) and I cried so much!!

    Reply

    Millicent Dagworth | September 4, 2015