What Advice Should We Really Give Writers?

Since the beginning of time — okay, within the last 75 years — we have been told that are ways “to write” and “not to write.” Lots of editors, publishers, and even some authors, are pushing the idea that there aren’t just guidelines, but actually very strict rules for how to create a novel that “the whole world” will be guaranteed to like.

Personally, I take major issue with this.

Number one — not everybody is going to like your book. Sorry, but it is just the truth. Maybe they won’t like it because you simply write outside of the genres they’re most interested in, or you happened to create a novel a bit too long/short for their taste, or maybe you wrote it in Elvish and they don’t speak the language. Anyway, it is quite important to remember this very wise saying: “You cannot please all of the people all the time.”

And there is no reason to consider yourself a “bad” writer if you don’t fit into the pigeon-holes of the current creative writing industry.

I’m a self-published author. One of the major reasons I chose to go this route is because I received positive feedback from my submissions to traditional publishers, but they weren’t going to pursue my work because it didn’t fit certain pigeon-hole criteria. So, I got fed up with waiting for somebody to break the mold and decide to accept work that was “outside of the box.”

Hence, I paid for my work to be printed. But I also retained the copyright, and complete control over editing, cover selection, marketing, distribution methods, and pricing.

Is it worth it? I say yes, because now I’m making sales, my novel is being well-received (already with cries for the immediate sequel), and I firmly believe that this is only the beginning.

And I don’t have any issues with my agent/editor not seeing eye to eye with my vision, or feeling that I’m not getting enough money/appreciation/time to write how I want to.

Too many authors have complained that what they felt was their masterpiece was butchered by publishers who were more concerned with the almighty dollar than with the quality of their art. I refuse to be one of them.

So, what advice would I actually give to writers, hoping to get sales and loyal readers?

Here are some things I’ve learned so far on my journey:

Don’t worry too much about making it perfect. There will always be a few things that may bug you about your finished product. But over-editing and constantly second-guessing yourself is not healthy.

Listen to your beta readers/early reviewers. This is especially important when attempting the final draft, or crafting a sequel (as I presently am). Now, you don’t have to take every piece of feedback into consideration. But do pay attention. If several people recommend something, seriously think about it. Maybe even write a draft of how a chapter would look with that change or direction.

Be true to the voice of your story above all else. Don’t listen to the “creative writing rules.” Some readers honestly like novels that are 400 pages long and heavy on exposition. If you truly feel parts of your story need to be told in song, or with flashbacks, or including illustrations, do it.

Remember what the point of your story is. I don’t mean in terms of themes or messages; I mean in staying true to what has to happen to/for the characters and with the plot. Everybody think of JK Rowling, how she apologized for killing off so many of people’s favorite characters, but how she also stands by those decisions, for the sake of what would happen to her protagonist and the conclusion of his tale.

Since different people enjoy different sorts of writing styles, feel free to revel in yours. Again, your genre/style won’t be for everybody, and that truly is all right. Do I expect folks who normally gravitate towards historical fiction,biographies, murder mysteries to be interested in The Order of the Twelve Tribes? No. Do I hold it against them? No.

When your loyal reader base becomes established, thank them. Don’t forget that your Goodreads giveaway may be receiving so many entries because of that great review somebody put on their blog. Thank your fans (yes, fans!), not just with a note to that effect, but with occasional prize packages, or putting your work on sale, or promoting their blog/new video/Wattpadproject.

Be aware that if what you’re doing is working, there isn’t much reason to change it. Too many authors (I feel) get into the “must select the most dramatic/shocking/inappropriate ending for this series” syndrome, and it loses them a lot of readers. If you’ve built your fan base on having certain elements continue through your trilogy/quad/whatever it’s becoming, then leave that alone.

And even though we’re seriously trying to make a living off our art, the fact that it is art should never be forgotten. We write because we want to write, we feel a calling to it, we know we can’t give up on it. Keeping our original intention and purpose in mind is essential.

 

Top 10 Tuesday: Upcoming Summer Reads

For me, this will be a different sort of list. Partly because I recently destroyed my TBR (yup, you read that right — more on that in a minute); also because I’m kind of cheating on how I’m counting this top 10. Confused yet? All right, I’ll get to the explanations…

First, I officially decided to demolish my TBR on Goodreads. Purely because it was stressing me out. The most complex TBR method I’ve ever had before joining Goodreads was to simply write down on a scrap piece of paper a title and author of a pending or recent release that sounded fun. Usually that ensured that I requested it from the library, read it, and it was mission accomplished. And then…I joined Goodreads. And it was almost becoming an obsession — searching for what my community was reading and reviewing, frantically clicking the “want to read” button (even if I wasn’t honestly interested in the particular work).

So, I took the radical route — I erased everything from my GR “to read” page, made a physical note of certain titles that I’m truly anticipating, and totally started over. So, here’s what I realistically plan to read before September.

1-5: Finish the Dawn of the Clans series

          

White Fang owns all of these, so I no longer have the excuse of “But they don’t have the full set in the library yet” that I was using for a while. Ages ago (probably about 8 months), I read the first in this Warriors prequel, and got no further. At the time, there were too many other things clamoring for my attention. Now that’s less the case, so I’m going back to book 2, and taking it from there.

6: Chivalry’s Children

Part of my resolution to read more indie authors (after all, this is my territory, so showing support for others in the same boat is important) includes awaiting the July release of Chivalry’s Children by Alexis P. Johnson.

7: The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart

I haven’t come across such a fun-sounding MG fantasy read in a while. My library system has it, but I have to wait for it, and lately I am not being so patient with the waiting. Hopefully it will come in soon…

8: The Songweaver’s Vow

Another self-published author, and this sounds like a very interesting twist on Norse mythology, of which I have not read very much.

9: Apprentice Cat

White Fang owns this one as well, and when it first arrived in our home (Christmas), I intended to read it and never did. It’s about a cat studying to be the magical companion to a human wizard. How could I not want to read this?

10: A Dog’s Purpose

This was a gift to White Fang (see, I am apparently ravaging his bookshelves), and usually I don’t read books told from the point of view of animals (Warriors being the exception), but lately I’m not finding a lot of books told from a human POV that are really doing it for me. Hence, I’ll give this one a go.

What are you looking forward to reading this summer? Do you have trouble keeping on top of your TBR, or are you attacking it with a purposeful vengence?

 

 

Featuring Indie Authors

Yeah, I kind of have to mention myself, since I am a self-published author. But, while including myself in this list, I want to take today to focus on those of us who work really hard to produce good quality fiction for the public to consume, often while holding down a day job or going to school, raising a family, living a non-writing life at the same time. And most of us do our own editing and marketing as well, and trust me, this is no easy task, either. Anyway, my point today is — just because we don’t have a team of editors/designers/advertisers paid big bucks behind us doesn’t mean our work isn’t worth reading. And I’m going to spotlight some of the indie authors I’ve read that prove this.

This author is American but currently resides in Spain, and he’s a teacher, and managed, on top of all this busy real-life stuff, to create a very well-thought-out and interesting world and premise. The editing is superb — in looks alone, this novel is professional in every way. The writing is thorough, the content is appropriate for teen readers as well as adults, and for fans of Narnia, Middle Earth, and Wonderland, Where the Woods Grow Wild feels like a fun romp across all of them. Nate Philbrick is now putting up a new novel on Wattpad.

You can visit him at: https://youwritefiction.wordpress.com/

The Assassin’s Daughter is another prime example of an indie author taking great care and effort with her manuscript. The finished product is beautifully clean on the page, and the writing and character development shows the time and passion she poured into creating this fictional world and growing close to her narrators. The world in this novel feels familiar, yet has its own twists and is a unique, fitting setting to the story. Jameson C. Smith has plans for a sequel as well.

You can find her at: https://www.jamesoncsmith.com/

The first in the Beaumont and Beasley series, The Beast of Talesend is a great amount of fun, with a really clever sense of humor and a twist on the idea of fairytales and magic being real or not. Kyle Shultz has plans for more books set in this world, and he’s currently working on an audio version of the first release.

You can visit him at: http://kylerobertshultz.com/

I’d also like to try releases by Ichabod Temperance (https://www.amazon.com/Ichabod-Temperance/e/B00J71862M/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1), Alexis P. Johnson (http://www.phoenicianrises.com/), and Nadine Brandes (http://nadinebrandes.com/). All of these authors maintain a social media presence, they’re very approachable and won’t bite, and their work sounds very interesting, refreshing, just fun, or all of the above.

And now, because, I’m sorry, but it is my blog, here’s a moment of shameless self-promotion:

Not to toot my own horn too much, but Masters and Beginners, the first in my YA fantasy series The Order of the Twelve Tribes is receiving very good support/acclaim on Goodreads, and for this I am intensely grateful and humbled. If you’d like to purchase a copy, please contact me (details can be found under my header or in the sidebar). I have a paperback for sale, as well as a digital edition, and there are still the limited edition mini-subscription boxes available.

Okay, I won’t ramble on about myself too much. Do check out all these other authors, and support their art!

How to Make Those Pesky Tropes Work for You

Yes, you read that right. For those of us in the know, we cringe when we see the word “trope” in a book review. For those of us scratching our heads and wondering what the heck I’m going on about, a “trope” simply means an overused theme in fiction, and some authors apparently devote entire series to using as many of them as possible. And they are more prevalent in certain genres than others (YA, anybody?), and fantasy fiction has been falling prey to them lately.

But just the existence of a trope isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Generally it indicates that a particular theme or idea is popular, so, as an author, you may consider including popular things that your audience may be asking for. (If, you know, you want to actually sell your work.) However, this can also backfire very easily, when too many people write a trope in too short a span of time, and then the audience gets tired of it.

So, how can we authors take advantage of some tropes that may actually a) fit our story, b) we in fact like them? Here are a few thoughts on how to shake it up and stay true to our cause of producing unique work.

To begin with, remember that no one’s book is truly original, and that’s totally okay. We’re all influenced by the storytellers to come before us. We’re living in an advanced age of humanity, there’s a lot of influence to draw on. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t seem to come up with something that hasn’t been seen on this planet yet. It depends on what you do with your influences, as to how unique your writing is.

Tried-and-true tropes that just need a different spin to still be successful:

Examples: the love triangle, insta-“love”, the chosen one (or, the “special snowflake”), bad/absent parents, and throwing every kind of tragedy conceivable at the hero/heroine.

Okay, let’s start with the love triangle and “insta-love.” When it comes to YA fic, these can be dangerous if portrayed in a way that suggests falling into complete love with the first person you lock eyes with at a party is normal, or that not only will you have one potential boy/girlfriend but you’ll fact have 5, all fighting over you. Is it impossible to believe that — especially in close social circles, as teens tend to have — more than one person would have a crush on the same girl/boy? Nope, not at all. But does this inevitably result in pistols at dawn? Good grief, no. We’re in the 21st century here. And might you be at a party only because your friend begged you to go, and over by the punch bowl you see a totally attractive person with a great smile and a fantastic dress sense, and in your head go, “OH MY GOSH, I LOVE THEM”? Yeah, of course. But that does not mean they’re about to propose and buy you a sailboat and pounds of chocolate and novels. And it is very important to make the difference clear to impressionable young people.

In The Order of the Twelve Tribes, I included romantic situations that the adolescents involved are possibly over-thinking how serious it is, and that’s actually quite a healthy lesson for teens. (Being the parent of a 14-year-old myself, I am definitely concerned with him not planning on marrying his very first crush.) Through the rest of the series, I’ll be exploring how the couples grow as individuals, learning about themselves and what they want, along with how to be a good partner. (Which should lead to a lot less dysfunction in their adult lives…)

Anyway, so how about instead of always having one girl and two boys making fools of themselves for her affection, let’s try — a) the girl tells both of them to go away, b) after she strings them along, the guys tell her to shove off, c) it’s two girls after the same boy who ultimately decide being friends with each other is more valuable.

Moving on to the dreaded chosen one, aka the special snowflake. It became a big deal with Harry Potter, and therefore a bit jaded soon after, as there were a plethora of trilogies or series (The Maze Runner, Divergent, Legend, Percy Jackson) released in quick succession focusing a variation on that theme. The unique thing about Harry Potter was that he didn’t know he was considered the “chosen one,” and had never thought of himself as anything special. Then he rose to the challenge, anyway — even though we found out in book 7 that it was never confirmed Harry was the chosen one.

Now, that’s a twist. So, how about more twists? Instead of the chosen one being groomed from birth (think King Arthur), he/she — a) avoids their “destiny” at all costs, by running away to a far land to herd llamas, b) turns out not to be amazing and powerful but really rubbish, c) was mistaken for the real fated hero, but decides to give it all they’ve got.

We’re up to bad or absent parents. Come on, folks, let’s do away with the way there are never any consequences for neglectful parenting in fiction — a) the family is irresponsible, so your protagonist ends up in a loving foster care situation, b) the dysfunctional home life results in a tragedy that creates intense character growth, c) we think the parents may be dead but are in fact alive, and simply in hiding to protect their offspring.

(For The Order of the Twelve Tribes, I went with the last. And for the record, when push comes to shove, she steps up to the plate.)

And, please, let’s do stop throwing every kind of tragedy conceivable at the hero/heroine. I wrote an entire post earlier this year about how important happy endings are, even to dystopia and fantasy. (You can use the search bar to find “It Is Not Too Much To Ask For A Happy Ending” if you missed it.) Anyway, my view is that, while it’s (unfortunately) realistic to have some bad things happen to your characters, readers need to have hope and the opportunity for life to be okay for these fictional beans they’ve grown attached to. (And I will be writing this way, too. There will be losses, but not the absolute entire end to the complete and total universe. There will be love and peace as well.)

So, instead of endings like in Mockingjay and Allegiant, what about — a) broken friendships are restored, b) only half the major characters get killed (remember, most of them survived in The Deathly Hallows), c) after winning the war, rather than becoming a devastated husk of a former human being, the narrator quietly retires to a farm to raise teacup pigs and does not suffer from PTSD for the next 743 years.

Trust me, your readers will thank you.

Author Q & A

Just what it says on the tin… These are from my Goodreads author page.

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Watching too much “Supernatural” and reading too much “Warriors”. (Honestly.)

How do you get inspired to write?

Mostly by what I read and watch. But also by song lyrics and things like paintings and photographs. Visual beauty.

What are you currently working on?

Volume 2 of the series. (As yet untitled, because I have the decision-making power of a sleeping llama.)

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Just keep trying. Don’t give up. Even when you feel like everything you produce is utter rubbish, don’t doubt your ability to create something important and special. It does take a lot of literal sweat and tears (and blood if you count papercuts on your hardcopy editing manuscripts). Listen to Churchill – “Never, never, never give up.”

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Is there? Kidding. The creation of something that was in your head to page and text. Seeing your fictional world come alive.

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Scream a lot. Throw a pillow. Rue the day you decided to attempt this venture.

No, seriously, step away from your WIP. Maybe for a long time. Try writing something else, or nothing at all for a bit. Try reading new material, or watch a fun movie – distract your brain.

What mystery in your own life could be the plot for a book?

Why my husband loses his glasses so frequently, and where do they go when he’s sure he set them down elsewhere than the spot we find them in.

My Writing Influences

Good morning, everyone! Per the poll on my Twitter account, oh, only about a hundred months ago (no, really, about a week, I think), I will be selecting the next few blogging topics based on the feedback from those of you who actually read these posts!

The top choice was *my writing influences*. So, I present you with the answer to said subject. (Disclaimer: I did warn you ahead of time that you asked for this…)

Cats. And other animals, but a lot of cats. The tricky thing about trying to write about animals is that, as humans, we can only get inside their heads so much. Or, so I believed.

For a long time, I’d wanted to include talking animals in my writing, and my attempts fell flat. Then I started reading Warriors by Erin Hunter. I’ve waxed poetic plenty about that series in other posts, so I won’t go full throttle here, but suffice it (for the sake of this topic) to say that it completely changed my mind on what was possible.

Mythological creatures and tales. Since I was old enough to read on my own, I was hunting down stories of the ancient Greek legends, Grimm’s fairytales, and pretty much anything involving unicorns, dragons, and mermaids. I gobbled up almost everything I could find centering on all the species of faeries and animals that don’t exist. I’ve adapted what parts of the legends work best for my story when it comes to The Order of the Twelve Tribes.

Music. I do have a writing playlist (which changes to fit with my current WIP). As those of you who have read Masters and Beginners will know, I’ve placed song lyrics at the start of each chapter throughout the novel. These are homages to my playlist while I was writing/editing Volume 1. So, that will be different in each installment. But it gives you a pretty good idea of what I’ve been listening to.

My previous life in England, and all the English authors I’ve read since forever. Charles Dickens, Peter S. Beagle, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, JK Rowling — it’s a kind of a small miracle there are any American authors on my shelves. (And, yes, there are a few.) But these Brits developed my craft, the type of pacing I follow, the use of (hopefully) clever humor, and reinforced my passion not just to tell a story but to tell it well.  

And since I spent 4 years in Great Britain, I’m just used to thinking in both American and the Queen’s English at the same time, and so many of my characters started morphing into people who originally came from London/Cornwall/Oxfordshire/Edinburgh, and I didn’t fight it.

Doctor Who. I would flat out be lying if I claimed my writing hadn’t been influenced by Doctor Who. (I have at least three TARDIS references in Volume 1 alone, for the love of Gallifrey.) And while it may seem a bit too ambitious, I truly hope that some day, in some way, I can create something on a parallel with the beauty of some of the early episodes of the show’s reboot.

Warehouse 13. If any of you have seen that TV show, you’ll probably recognize bits of the Warehouse in the Annex, and the sort of structure of the Regents in the idea of the Council and the Order’s hierarchy. (And this is as close to spoilers as I get, I swear.) I’ve had a few really favorite programs, but few have truly stayed in my heart as much as DW and WH 13. 

Theories on lost knowledge or cultures. Again, for those of you now familiar with the plot of Masters and Beginners, you’ll know that I’m fascinated not only with the mythology and legends of different civilizations, but you may have noticed that I’ve dug pretty deep to find some unique twists for my story. My ideas about the origin of faeries and the Nephilim are actually not completely my own; they’re developed from some very old (think the Middle Ages) and rather obscure Celtic and Hebrew lore. But I took the jist of a lot of research and bent it and molded it until it was shaped like The Order’s world.

Autism. It’s impossible for me not to see life through the lens of autism. And since I’ve read about 62% of the YA/fantasy novels ever printed, I can tell you with some authority that there really aren’t that many healthy, realistic depictions of autism out there. So I decided to write my own. In Volume 1, I’ve introduced not one but two characters on the spectrum (one it’s stated early on, the other will probably be a surprise to most of you). In Volume 2 and beyond, there will be a much greater focus on them.

My furry angel. You’ve all seen this picture by now, as Toby is my muse for the artwork on the series. (Feel free to ooh and aaw over his cuteness.) Having a real life model for cat behavior was very helpful for putting together the characters of Jules and Sammy.

Pretty pictures. It sounds almost trite, but if you think about it, it’s really important to surround yourself with beauty when you’re hoping to be creative — especially when you’re writing about really serious things like discrimination and losing loved ones and staring down your own imminent demise. (And here you thought I was just writing about fun and glittery faeries and talking cats!) It helps to remind you that — as Samwise Gamgee would say — there is good in the world, and it is worth fighting for.

So, there we are! I hope this appeals to your sensibilities of what you wanted to know about what influences my fictional work! Don’t forget to put a specific question for me in the comments for next week’s post, Author Q & A!

Top 10 Tuesday: Judging a Book by its Cover

Hello! Amazingly, here I am, on time for a top 10 Tuesday, and on the actual theme! It has to do with evaluating book covers, so this is exactly what I’m doing. And I am one of those readers that unabashedly judges by covers. (I know, not truly fair, but I am an aesthetic being.)

Today I present you with different types of covers, and whether they entice me to read the work behind it, and whether that worked out for me or not.

1. The Scorpio Races

This cover sucked me in immediately, because I like horses, and I am not that good at riding myself, but I appreciate it. And when I saw that the apparent protagonist was a little slip of a thing, up on that big animal, totally in control and at ease, that made me think, “Cooooolllll.”

Were my first impressions right?: Yes, indeed! The Scorpio Races is one of my favorite stand-alone novels.

2. Rebel of the Sands

Just look at this. The color coordination is stunning, the font is lovely, the background of the desert at night hints at adventure in faraway lands. My brain saw it and went, “Cooollll.”

Here’s my final verdict: By page 50, I was having major issues with this story. The writing style felt incoherent at times, and reading about the incredibly sexist culture depicted (without the author indicating it was truly wrong and needed to be changed) grated on me. I did finish it, but barely, and was rather disappointed.

3. Discworld printings in the UK versus in the USA

          

I love Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. But the discrepancy in the covers between countries bothers me. The illustrations on the UK paperbacks make this series look a bit, well…silly, in my opinion, like it’s based on a cheesy cartoon for kids. Which creates a sad face on this moth, because the absolutely wonderful depth and poignancy and smart humor to this series is what makes it endlessly re-readable for me. Compare to the covers of the U.S. paperbacks, which are snappy and brief and colorful but not too much.

So which do I prefer?: Definitely the USA covers. Which means I have to put up with the printing errors in the text of several of the older editions. Sigh.

4. Neil Gaiman’s books create a quandary

     

Neil Gaiman and I have an ongoing relationship that consists of the following — I find out he’s released a new title, I dash to the library to obtain it, then spend the next hour waffling over if I shall, in fact, read it depending on how scary the cover looks. Case in point: I had never seen any of the TV miniseries of Neverwhere, otherwise I would have been more aware of just how adult this book is. (And, yet, for the most part, I liked it, although it’s not my general type of thing.) On the other hand, I love the movie version of Coraline, but literally put off trying to read the novel for about 2 years because I almost had a heart attack every time I looked at the cover.

My final say: I’d read Neverwhere again, but with regards to Coraline, I’ll be sticking to the film.

5. The Trylle trilogy

This series I picked up truly based on the covers. It’s a modern spin on the ancient myth of changelings, and that’s interesting. But overall, the style focuses more on the emo stuff, and there’s not as much action (particularly in book 2 and 3) as I would’ve preferred. And it’s labeled YA, but there’s a very graphic sex scene thrown in close to the end of book 2.

What did I think in the end?: It was pretty good, even if it did have its teen soap opera moments. Is it actually for teen readers, though? No.

6. When the Moon was Ours versus Outrun the Moon

       

My issue with these two, very separate titles is this — they are so similar (and with similar covers!) that I accidentally ordered the wrong book! My plan was to read When the Moon was Ours, because I’d heard it was a new sort of fairytale re-telling. What I received was Outrun the Moon, which, it turns out, is a historical fiction about growing Asian-American culture. Not that I think this novel is rubbish, as I haven’t even read it — it was purely my own disappointment at it not being what I was expecting.

What’s my plan now?: After re-investigating When the Moon was Ours, it seems that, although the topic interests me, this particular tale may not be for me. I may actually go with Outrun the Moon, after all. I’ve been looking for a title or theme to get me interested in historical fiction again.

7. Warriors, then and now

       

On the left is one of the original paperback covers for Warriors. On the right is one of the new covers designed for the reprints that are in the new box sets. And since I love Warriors beyond all reasoning, I won’t ever say the original covers are now invalid or don’t deserve to be associated with this remarkable series. But…look at the new one. Just look at it! I am in love.

8. A Darker Shade of Magic across the pond versus in my native country

These are the covers for the famous/infamous V.E. Schwab trilogy in America. I don’t like them. They remind me a bit too much of the art deco movement, of which I am not a fan. And every time I hear more about how good this series is, I put off trying it (yet again) because the covers just make me feel so meh about it.

Here are the British covers:

Why can’t I obtain a set of these? It would make my enthusiasm for trying this series ramp right up!

The last word: I’m seriously ready to find a way to order this version, impractical as it may be.

9. I’ll Give You The Sun

Was the publisher trying to mislead readers on purpose? Based on this cover alone, I immediately swanned over to this new release and began perusing its jacket. Is it a sci-fi romance? Some ambitious, smitten, sassy young lad decides he’ll actually obtain the sun to prove his love to the witty, bright, charming heroine? Nope. It’s a contemporary dealing with “heavy stuff,” and something to do with the breakdown of a sibling relationship. As an only child, I have a really hard time relating to sibling tales, and a hard time writing believable siblings. (Hopefully I have in Volume 1.)

My determination: I just don’t care for intensely-emo contemporaries. So I’ll be giving this one a pass.

10. Legend/Prodigy/Champion

Dystopia is not on my list of “will be delving more into this soon.” I discovered that with The Hunger Games and Divergent. But there was something about Legend‘s covers that interested me. Probably the straightforward, symbolic designs, the different colors for each instalment, the idea of a changing theme throughout (hopefully indicating character growth).

The final answer: I enjoyed Day and June’s story. There were parts that I didn’t care for, but I wasn’t totally turned off, and there was enough to keep me going till the end. And I liked the ending, it felt right for the story, and still appreciated the connection the fans had made to the protagonists. Although I may not re-read it, I still recommend this series to others.