Writer for Young Adults
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee Katherine Tegen Books, October 2018 Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh and enroll… Continue reading Book Talk: The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee
Invictus by Ryan Graudin Little, Brown, September 2017 Genre: YA, Historical Fiction, Historical Fantasy (Time Travel) Farway Gaius McCarthy was born outside of time. The son of a time traveler from 2354 AD and a gladiator living in ancient Rome, Far's very existence defies the laws of nature. All he's ever wanted was to explore history… Continue reading Book Review: Invictus by Ryan Graudin
In September I wrote about Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn book, The Final Empire, and what it taught me about introducing a complex magic system in fiction. Today I want to examine how Sanderson builds his fantasy world. When you're devising a fantasy world, you're filled with so many ideas that it's so tempting to throw in everything but… Continue reading Lessons in Fantasy World-Building: Creating the Magical World
Josh is a HUGE fantasy fan. As in, we call the books he reads "brick-a-books" (because they're all doorstoppers). As in, he's keeping a list of all the series he's in the middle of (because the writers take an understandably long time to finish the next installments of said brick-a-book series). So now that I'm working on… Continue reading Lessons in Fantasy World-Building: Introducing the Magic
About a month ago I posted about some of the mentor texts I've been reading in preparation for a YA historical fantasy I want to write. I've tried to read a wide range of books, as I figure out exactly how much fantasy I like in my history. Today I'm going to share some books that travel down… Continue reading Mentor Texts: Steampunk and Alternate History
This fall I've been mulling over an idea for a YA historical fantasy and doing some research (my favorite) in between working on my current WIP. I've also been reading a bucketload of mentor texts to help me hone my vision for the book. This means luxuriating in historical fantasy, paranormal, and steampunk novels to my… Continue reading Mentor Texts: Historical Fantasy
Abby Murphy 