Critiquing Critiques

Many literary agents use Query Tracker to accept submissions. I ended up making an account there after I realized how commonly it's used. It helps keep track of my submissions better. 

At the bottom of submission pages is a little notice. It says to sign up for QTcritique if you want to get your query letter critiqued. Even though it's apparently run by Query Tracker, you have to create a separate account for QTcritique. I hate having 2 million accounts, so I stalled for a long time. But I really wanted a critique on my query letter, so I caved and made an account. I assumed the feedback would come from people who know what they're talking about. 

It doesn't. It's only average writers providing feedback. And considering how specific a query letter is, it's pretty meaningless. You can be a good writer, and still know nothing about what makes a good critique. So, yeah. I was disappointed. You can also use the website to get ordinary writing critiqued. Maybe I'll try that instead. I trust average writers to critique fiction more than I trust them to rate a query letter. But you have to earn points if you want to submit your own work, so it will probably take me a while to get around to that. I have too many things I want to write. My motivation for reading the stuff of strangers is quite low. 

Plum Blossoms

I just finished a short story last night. It features a girl who has a part in the history of many of the stories. And the Nowhere King. I mean, a demon from Chinese mythology who's a lot like the Nowhere King. 

The thing that seems to snag me the most in short stories is naming all the characters. I kept trying to cheat in this one, to see how few characters I could get away with using. Since it takes place so far in the past, I couldn't reuse any characters that I already have developed. But I couldn't get away with it. I still needed a bunch of names. 

I actually asked Mom to help me think of names. She rattled through a few, and I picked a couple for the kids. Heheh, I feel like I cheated. 

And the main character had no character for about 2/3 of the story. She was just a scared little girl. So I started to fix her, and she ended up being pretty much the exact opposite. But I still have a ways to go to make her a good character. 

 

Basically, when I started designing the world for my stories, there wasn't really much in the way of... culture. Later on, after my world started feeling more real, I had to examine elements that I added, and see if they fit anymore. For example, the "magic school" is surrounded by a grove of plum trees. Only because I loved the idea of standing in a grove of plum trees in full bloom - it would be like standing in a cloud. 

 (Okay, this picture of of cherry trees. But still). 

But plum trees aren't native to the area. So how did they get there? I could have just gotten rid of them, of course. But I still kinda like them there. And there aren't too many original elements of the school's design left. So this story explains why there's a grove of plum trees around the temple. 

One of my poems just got featured in a newsletter. 

Man, I hardly spent any time writing it either. I just kind of went with the flow. 

I'm kinda embarrassed about it. XD 

 My friend telling me to use AI to write a query letter. Or at least edit it. 

Me: "Yeah, I love you, but that will never happen."

Singing Stars

The star spirit in my story is named Solisaenen. Which is a mouthful. And Evva loves nicknames, so she wanted something shorter to call him. I originally resisted calling him Sol. Partly because it sounds like "soul." But "sol" means sun in Spanish. Which seems rather blunt, since he's a star spirit. But I went with Sol anyway.  

 Then I went to a museum and saw this. 

So for the Maidu people, sol means song. 

Sol means sun, which is a star. And it means song. And the title of the story is "Starsung." 

So his name translates into both parts of the title. Who would have thought? 

Love It or Leave It

A movie I should have loved, but didn't: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

I had the book as a kid and probably still have it somewhere. I loved it (just like I loved my book about Star Wars creatures), and had the goal of drawing the creatures in it, because not all of them had illustrations. I never got very far in that drawing project though. I wasn't very good at drawing then. And one of the first ones - the acromantula, was just a giant spider. I didn't know how to draw something like that and actually make it interesting. 

I already liked the main actor from other things I'd seen him in, and he was just the kind of character I usually love. 

Plus, I was crazy about Harry Potter while growing up. 

And despite all of these things, I could never get excited about the Fantastic Beasts movie (let alone the sequels).  

A movie I should have hated, but ended up being crazy about: Spider-man No Way Home. 

I never got hooked on the MCU films to begin with. Altering timelines and multiverse stuff usually drives me crazy. And bringing back old actors into newer movies feels like a gimmick now. I didn't even like all of the characters they brought back - at least at the time. They've been growing on me though. And their interactions are just a lot of fun. Anyone who's read my blog this year knows that I couldn't stop thinking about No Way Home. 

I hate the concept, but love the execution, I guess.

My Most Infuriating Cliffhanger

I just watched the first six Star Wars movies with the audio commentary. I'll have a post about some of the fun stuff I learned later (after my usual delay). George Lucas went to extreme lengths to keep the "I am your father" a secret. 

I grew up knowing who Luke's father is, because I grew up with the whole trilogy. But Everyone seeing the movies when they came out had to wait a long time to see what the next film would bring. That's obvious, of course. But the "I am your father" line shows up so much these days that I'd never really thought what it would be like to wait for it. 

The most recent movie I have to wait for part 2 is Wicked. But I know how that ends because I've seen the play. Other movies are based off of books, so anyone who read the books knows how the films will end. Except in some cases the movie changes the end of the book. Like Dan Brown's Inferno (my favorite of the Robert Langdon books, but my least favorite of the movies). 

So which cliffhanger was hardest for me? Well, I think it was waiting for the last Harry Potter book. Book six had a hell of an ending. 

Anime/Manga Update

Time to review some of the anime and manga I saw last year! 

 

Tomo-chan is a girl

There was some cute stuff in this one. But it had some perv stuff in it, which I don't tolerate.

 

Bartender drama

This might as well have been a different story than the manga. Ryu had a whole different story than the manga. 

 

Sand Chronicles

Man, I didn't realize this manga would be so sad. 

 

7^th Time Loop

I've been reading the novels for this series. I've gone through the first three, and seen the first season of the anime. It's a fascinating premise. Basically, every time the main girl dies, she's restarts back at the same point in time. She's relived this loop six times, and is now on the seventh.  Each time she died, it was because of a war, and in this loop, she's putting all of her experiences together to try to stop the war from starting.

 

Suzume

Whoa, I didn't realize this one would be about the earthquake. I also didn't realize how... different the leading guy would look during most of the show. 

Ni No Kuni

I've always wanted to play the game, because Ghibli did some of the animation. But the movie was interesting. It was a cool concept.

 

Your Lie in April

Man, another sad one. I've only read the manga so far - I need to watch the anime to get the full music experience. 

Doraemon

I've only read a little of this. I'm not a fan of gag manga, but I'll try a little more. 

 

Hana-Kimi drama (2007) 

Apparently there are a few different dramas. I love the manga. But this drama took all of the sweet innocence out of it. It was almost a different story.

Tsubasa world chronicle

It was cool to see some old friends again. 

 

Red River

I've been enjoying this one. I love how the delicate-looking teenage girl goes on to become a warrior, and symbol of a nation. I haven't finished yet, but I look forward to doing so. 

 

Youkai Watch

I still haven't played the game yet. I just read some of the manga, which is pretty dumb. Is the game on this same level? 

 

Wandering Son

The pacing started out really strange and confusing, but improved over time. I liked how sweet it was at first. But it did get more serious after a while.

 

Noragami

Hey, it's done! I was excited about this series at first, but it kind of tapered off after a while. Maybe I'll get excited again when I watch the anime (I assume there are more episodes out since I last watched it long ago). 

 

As usual, there were a few manga I tried, but quit after reading just a little. Those aren't even worth mentioning.

The Wild Thornberrys

One of my favorite cartoons as a kid was The Wild Thornberrys. I was crazy about that show. A girl that talks to animals? Sign me up! 

I recently discovered how many people cameo in that show. Jane Goodall does a voice! I've gotta see that, but it seems to be near the end of the show. I'll need to watch the whole thing to find it XD I just rented the first season from the library. Also, I never realized that Tim Curry is the dad. One of the only things I've seen where he isn't the villain (My dad likes Nigel Thornberry - though not as much as he likes Greg Universe)

I haven't seen this show in so long. I didn't realize that Eliza could be kind of a butt to Darwin. Though it is also good to see that just because Eliza can talk to animals doesn't mean that they do her bidding. They have their own agendas. 

Their art style is kinda annoying, honestly. Though their portrayal of cultures is not nearly as bad as I was afraid it might be. They have people from all over the world, but none of the glaring stereotypes you see in some other cartoons (I'm looking at you, old Disney stuff). 

It's freaking nostalgic watching this again. Especially now that I've done some of the things Eliza has done, like seeing the pink dolphins!

Meet Piper

 Meet Piper, the newest member of our family!