Book Club Start – The Wen by Nyall Robert Frye

Our next read is actually a novella – The Wen by Nyall R. Frye (you can get your Kindle copy here). Things are getting busy job-wise for me and my husband, and I’m starting back on Write Night podcast now that it has a slightly different taping schedule (hosted by Travis Tavern Talk; find all his streaming info here).

I have read this author before – he seems to specialize in shorter formats – and enjoy his work immensely (yes – I have also acted as his editor). But I don’t edit stuff I can’t get behind or don’t enjoy. Even if we’re bound by blood.

I hope you enjoy this quick read, and meet me back here on March 6 for my take on his characterization and wade into the horror genre.

Book Club Finish: A Timely Revolution

I hope you got to finish book 1 in this series by Tempie W. Wade. Alert, there may be spoilers here if you haven’t, so proceed with caution.

Let’s continue discussing character; especially the advice that you have to like a main character from the beginning to keep reading.

I didn’t like Maggie. She is young and a bit selfish when the book starts, and frankly, she pisses me off. However, the time travel aspect kept me reading long enough to discover that Maggie grows and develops into someone I start to like by the end.

Writing wisdom states that a reader needs to connect with a character and like them to keep reading. This is an example of how to not do that, and succeed. Maggie matures in this book, and though is sometimes a bit of a “Mary-Sue”, in the end that makes her mistakes much worse.

This is an author who did her research into history, but then gives us characters that our modern sensibilities can relate to. Hint hint: I mean Gabe. You want to know more about Gabe, read the book.

Not just the main character, but side characters (like Gabe) who I hope will stay with us through the series. I mean, there are 5 more books after this one!

I hope Maggie keeps developing and growing, and that I learn to not just like her as a character, but grow to love her. I think that is definitely in the cards.

Did you like Maggie from the start? Why? Or why not? Let me know in the comments.