So, pretty much every YA reader out there knows what is happening August 24th…MOCKINGJAY!! Finally, we get to find out what happens. Did Peeta survive? What is the fabled District 13 like? Who will triumph—Katniss or The Capitol? (My money is on Katniss all the way!)
I haven’t met a single person who has not loved these books. They are fast paced, the stakes couldn’t be any higher, and they are full of characters we love and and villians we despise. The Hunger Games series is an excellent example of what I was talking about a few blogs ago—great writing we can all aspire to!
So, now I need you guys to give me your opinions, so I have a way to pass these last antagonizing days until the book comes out!!
Answer any or all of the questions below and you’ll be automatically entered to win an awesome glow-the-dark Mockingjay sticker, four amazing buttons from the series and a free critique of your first chapter/5,000 words, query or synopsis!
Who will win Katniss in the end? Gale–the steadfast bestfriend who helped her survive or Peeta–the boy who has repeatedly risked his life to save hers?
The series is full of colorful, larger-than-life characters. Who is your favorite?
Who will get killed in this final book? (PLEASE NOT CINNA—if he even survived the last one. Sniff.)
Who would you cast as Katniss, Gale, Peeta and Haymitch?
Let me know guys—remember, all it takes is your opinion on any/all of the questions for a chance to win! Good luck everyone! Down below are pictures of your fabulous pins–I will post the picture of the sticker soon, I’m having a problem with my computer. Lastly, here are a few links to reviews we’ve received for our critiques at CC. REVIEW ONETWOTHREE
I’m going to re-read my fave parts of Catching Fire now…
I’m so excited for this book! I think I was supposed to add the widget to the side somewhere…but I don’t know how, so here it is…haha…Also, make sure to check out this awesome CONTEST that the authors are running!
Beautiful Creatures was an excellent book and we’ll be interviewing the authors and running a contest for a signed copy of it at some time in the near future, so make sure to keep coming back and checking. In the meantime, there are more contests, prizes and–most importantly–a new post from Professor Rutabaga in the works. I know everyone is waiting for that, so I’ll get on him to work harder!
So, I know I’m not technically a “teen” haha, but…I’m still very excited about the Teen Read Awards. With all the movie award shows it’s really nice to see some books being honored. So, I shot over to the site and went to cast my votes.
I found that I was disappointed in some of the nominees. I guess it’s going to be that way for everyone. But, I believe—as a writer and an adult– it’s more prevalent for me. I don’t know if I’ve learned to think too much like a writer and I can’t turn it off—but some of the books teens really like I’m only so-so on. A huge pet peeve is how many characters in YA fall in love for no reason. I especially don’t understand why all these immortal guys who have been around a billion ordinary girls fall for these ordinary girls with no explanation WHY. Anyone else have this problem?
I think the characters are a little boring or immature sometimes, or that the book doesn’t have a strong enough plot arc. Some of the newer trilogies seem like the first book is nothing but a set up for the next one. I also notice if the writer uses a lot of directional phrasing, clichés, adverbs etc…Sometimes I wish I could turn off the editor in me and just read the books. Haha.
As much as I LOVE YA I guess I am a little too old for some of it, because I know if I was a teenager I probably wouldn’t be asking the questions I ask, I’d probably just enjoy the book. Do any of you guys find that you have that problem?
So, given all of that, in honor of the Teen Readers Awards, we thought we could have our own awards here on Chimera Critiques. The nominees are carefully chosen books that are for teens and UP!
We’ll put up a five in each category and leave you guys to nominate a wild card for each category. Feel free to nominate books out of the paranormal realm—sorry, but that’s what we read, so that will have to be what we stick to. Oh, we also left out Harry Potter and The Twilight Books because we wanted to make room for other stuff—not because they aren’t great. In order to not have an over-abundance of material to choose from we’ve only listed books that were written in the last few years. So, without further ado:
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR NOMINATION FOR BEST WRITING IN THE COMMENTS!
For anyone who is interested, here is why I made the choices for best writing:Feel Free to Skip this and Shoot Down to the Next Poll
The Mortal Instruments:Cassandra Clare is the queen of metaphors, and I just love how alive she makes the story come. Her plot arc through the series was awesome, with the characters learning lessons and changing as the story grew. She’s also absolutely hilarious and the throw away lines by Jace and Simon were some of the highlights of the book.
Shiver:Maggie Stiefvater’s writing is like poetry at points. Her prose is absolutely beautiful to read. Sam is the moody, poetic guy that actually has a reason to be moody and poetic. His fight to hang onto his humanity is what sets this book far apart from the rest of the werewolf/vampire crowd.
The Hunger Games:Fast Paced!! This book is the best example of pacing I’ve ever seen. You barely ever have a minute to catch your breath. The story hooks you immediately and never lets that hook waver for even a second. Katniss is a strong heroine, who is actually someone young girls can look up to and admire.
Beautiful Creatures:This book is so vibrant! It’s set in the deep south and I can almost feel the humidity dripping off the words. Even the side-characters are hilarious and animated. Literally everything about that book LEAPS off the page. I also loved the fact that it was written from a teenage boys POV. Despite being written by two different authors, the writing is completely seamless. This is absolutely one of the best YA books out there!
Going Bovine: This story twisted my brain when I read it. It was different than anything I’d ever read before and when I put it down I was like, “Wow! How did she come up with that?” The writing is hilarious and Libba Bray might as well be a teenager, because she has the voice of Cameron down perfectly. This is one of the most original, poignant, most well-written YA books I’ve ever read.
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR NOMINATION FOR BEST CONCEPT IN THE COMMENTS!
For anyone not familiar with the above story concepts:
The Hunger Games: Dystopian Fantasy that pits teenagers against each other in a death-trap filled arena, until only one is left standing.
The Body Finder: A young girl has the ability to sense dead bodies and uses it to stalk a serial killer.
Going Bovine:A disaffected teen catches Mad Cow disease and goes on an epic journey to find the cure with a punk rock angel as a guide. Keeping him company on his trip are a talking gnome and a hypochondriac dwarf.
Wake:Janie Hannigan is cursed with the ability to fall into anyone’s dream if they happen to go to sleep in the same room.
Before I Fall When Samantha is killed in a car crash she somehow wakes up the next morning and finds it’s the day of her death. Now she must relive that day seven times. It will keep repeating until she can figure out how to fix the mistakes she made that day and finally find peace.
PLEASE LEAVE YOUR NOMINATION FOR BEST MALE/FEMALE IN THE COMMENTS!
Last but not least, we need a BEST OVERALL READ. Rather than making any suggestions ourselves, we’re leaving this strictly up to our readers—you guys! The only rule is to please nominate books written in the last five years in order to avoid having too wide a range to choose from. We’ll need five nominations for this category and we’ll post the poll on Thurs. for people to vote. Feel free to nominate the same book somebody else does, that way we’ll know which ones people really love. Thurs. blog will also contain the wildcard polls–so be sure to swing by!
Whoever’s book nomination wins for best overall read will win a guaranteed critique of their first five-thousand words/query letter or synopsis—so get commenting!
Let them know in a comment that you have given them this award.
Professor Rutabaga speaking here…I finally got an award! I can’t imagine what took so long for my magnificence to be acknowledged. Now, to the joy of all those reading, I shall share seven things about myself that you don’t know yet.
1. First of all, there has been some confusion as to my appearance. Personally, I’m not sure why. I feel my picture is perfectly clear, but Callie promised to help me insert it into the post for those of you who somehow need to see it again. Here it is:
HOW PROFESSOR RUTABAGA VIEWS HIMSELF:
HOW PROFESSOR RUTABAGA ACTUALLY LOOKS: (Shhhhhh!)
Onto more amazing facts:
2. I Adore Ice Cream in all flavors–but my favorite is Birthday Party–cause I’m a party animal!
3. I once saved the planet from certain destruction by flying into space on my magnificent wings and blowing up an asteroid with my dragon flame. It’s true. I swear.
4. My lion’s mane was grown from a part of Aslan’s fur that was planted in Narnia, thereby giving me Godlike powers.
5. I own many leather bound books that smell of rich mahogany.
6. I was the Horntail “dragon” Harry Potter fought in the movie. (Remember, I’m a chimera, I can change my appearance at will)I actually kicked Harry’s butt–but they edited that part out for the film. Such is the story of my life. Never given due credit for my amazing awesomeness.
You can still clearly tell it’s me, even though I took dragon form for the role:
7. The sparkles on my fish fin were the driving force behind Stephanie Meyer adding sparkles to Edward Cullen.
Check out my sparkly fin:
The resemblance here is uncanny:
****
Now…although it is just sad that you have to stop reading about me, I will turn the blog over to my friend Callie, who also received this award. Seven things about her:
1. Hmmm…I live with a horribly conceited, delusional stuffed animal who is my muse. You may have heard of him? He’s kind of a big deal around here….
2.My original draft was 400,000 words because I was going by pages instead of word count and figured around six-hundred pages was a good thing to shoot for. hehe…oops.
3.When I was six years old I participated in ruining my parents couch when my sisters and I decided to get a large bucket of soapy water and “wash” it.
4. I have a side business as a clown/professional face-painter/balloon artist. I love it!
5.When I was seventeen I hitchhiked from New Jersey to Florida. I thought I lived in the sixties–I was a hippy twenty years too late. Luckily, I got a ride almost the whole way by a really cool trucker.
6. I met my husband when I was fifteen years old. Started dating him when I was sixteen. Moved in with him when I was seventeen. Married him when I was eighteen. We are coming up on our 23 yr. anniversary at the end of this month and couldn’t be happier together. He’s my proof that soul-mates actually exist–and my hero because he works to support us all while I try to write a book.
7. I have four kids who are all amazing in different ways. Cait–(20) my excellent musician who has a voice like an angel and is a brand-new wonderful mommy to the cutest baby in the world. Meggie (19)–my photographer/comedian who keeps us all laughing and takes pictures that actually manage to look like small moments of time. No idea how she does it, but something magical happens when she picks up a camera. Chance-(14) my other writer in the house who is currently 30,000 words into his first book and a few pages into another recently started project–he’s brilliant!! Last (but never least) Kassidy-Rose,(11) my little pony girl who loves to ride horses and just filmed a commercial for Paula Dean sausage that comes out in August. It was her first commercial but we’re pretty sure she’s going to be a star–along with Chance who loves to act when he isn’t writing.And, even though he’s not mine, I have to mention my grandson Jace, who–at three months old–is the cutest, sturdiest baby ever–he loves water more than anything is clearly the next Michael Phelps.
My Family being silly at Disneyworld–pre Jace days
JUST JACE:
I’ll turn this over to my other partner in crime, the amazing and extraordinary ZELLIE BLAKE!
1. Like Callie, I tried to help clean once…. I shampooed the carpet….with Pert Plus.
2. I love dogs and can talk your ear off with random trivia and anecdotes from my time working at Pantops Pet Salon. I still do their computer work, newsletter, and library updates remotely. I’m pining for a Bearded Collie but right now all I’ve got is a glowy skeleton lhasa apso named Bones.
3. Two weeks ago, I got diagnosed with cancer. It’s surreal. I feel like my love of sci-fi/fantasy prepared me to be a fighter. I’ve always been drawn to those empowered characters struggling in life or death battles.
4. I love adventure travel! I’ve been to New Zealand, Puerto Rico, and Mexico so far with plenty more on my To Do list. My latest point of pride is a rapell down a 90-foot waterfall with delicious mango waiting at the bottom.
5. I’m a theatre geek but plays bore me. I’m a geek, I want fireballs! So in addition to recording sample chapters of Lightning Spliced, I voice roles in radioplays, machinimas, and whatever else I can get.
6. I bellydance. Badly. But I really like those jingly skirts ;_;
7. I have trouble sitting still long enough to watch a movie. (Unless it’s Iron Man. I freaking LOVE Iron Man and not just because I’ve got a mini arc reactor.) I much prefer the interaction offered by video games. Right now I’m playing: Mario Galaxy, Bioshock, Psychonauts, Metal Gear Solid 3, and daydreaming about Portal 2 and The Secret World.
It doesn’t seem fair to leave out the third member of our trio here–who’s post/award inspired this entire blog and who is an invaluable member of our team. To read seven things about the incredibly talented, Erica Spickard, click HERE. Thanks Erica–You’re the BEST!
To wrap this up, here are the people Chimera Critiques would like to pass this award to. Thank-you for many fun days of blogging, you guys are all great and have entertained all of us immensely!!!
1. First we are excited to announce that our Chimera has a name. He has approved and will now be addressed as Professor Rutabaga! Thank you all for all the great name suggestions. The winner of this contest is GIRL W1i and the Professor has some great prizes for you.
2. A critique of your first chapter up to 5,000 words by the majority of our staff.
Congratulations! We will contact you today with further information about the prizes and how to submit work.
2. Second Contest/Challenge: The Lyrical Letter. The winner chosen at random is Tara!
We had such a great time hosting this challenge and all of you stepped up to the plate with really awesome lyrical posts. In fact, we had so much fun we are planning another musical challenge in the near future! Tara please email me, erica(at)chimeracritiques(dot)com so that I can arrange with you the best way to send you your 25.00 iTunes gift card.
Congratulations again to both Girl W1i and Tara!
Here is the Lyrical Letter, below it are the names of the bands/musicians/artists. If you would like to see the individual entries go here. The letter is a little bi-polar but isn’t that how love is? Haha! This is Jude’s response to a letter Caroline left him… until she calls. Caroline has the last word, well, at least for now Feel free to continue to add even though the contest is over.
Sweet Caroline,
It’s 8 a.m and I got your letter. My mouth is dry, with words I cannot verbalize. Tell me why we live like this. I need you to hear, I need you to see that I have had all I can take and exploding seems like a definite possibility to me. You are my only embrace. You are the light that lights my face. Any fool would do the same. I see the world has fallen in your heart.
Okay, leave now leave now if you just can’t stay, because there’s nothing worse than somebody pretending away the years of their youth they will never get back. So I’ll go home and practice the traits you said I lacked.
I feel the waves crash down inside and they pull me under. Just stay. Stay. Come on. I’ve been waiting for you. If I drown tonight, bring me back to life. Breathe your breath in me, the only thing that I still believe in is you. So skyscrapers please forgive me. I’m standing here repentative man. Oh, skyscrapers I’ll never look down again, again. Oh ’cause I guess all I ever loved was standing right before my eyes.
I’m sorry that I hurt you. It’s something I must live with everyday. And all the pain I put you through, I wish that I could take it all away and be the one who catches all your tears. That’s why I need you to hear if you’re looking for love in a looking glass word it’s pretty hard to find. Oh mother of pearl, I wouldn’t trade you for another girl.
Don’t just turn and walk away. I can learn from my mistakes. Don’t throw everything away. If my voice could reach back through the past, I would whisper in your ear, ” You can hide ‘neath your covers and study your pain. Make crosses from your lovers. Throw roses in the rain. Waste your summer praying in vain for a savior to rise from these streets. Well now I’m no hero.”But you have suffered enough and warred with yourself. It’s time that you won. Take this sinking boat and point it home. We still have time.
Twelve pm and my dusty telephone rings. I get up from my pillow. Could it be? I hope it’s you. It’s you, oh.
“Hey Jude? Pick up the phone.”
But I’m too shy. Can’t speak.
You say, “I don’t understand what happened between you and me but, you will probably end up with someone half as good as me so, I don’t care if you want to look in my eyes and say, ”hello.” You were blind to me and now I’m blind to you.”
The Musicians in order:
1. Neil Diamond (Sweet Caroline) 2. The Summer Obsession( 8 am) 3.Paramore( We are broken) 4. Incubus (Pardon me) 5. Civil Twilight (Next to Me) 6. Slow Club (It Doesn’t Have to be Beautiful) 7. Remy Zero (Save Me) 8. Shinedown (If You Only Knew) 9. OK Go (Skyscrapers) 10. Hoobastank (The Reason) 11. Roxy Music (Mother of Pearl) 12. Three Days Grace (Running Away) 13. Owl City (Vanilla Twilight) 14. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band (Thunder Road) 15.Glen Hansard (Falling Slowly) 16. Incubus (11 am) 17. The Beatles (Hey Jude) 18.Whitney Houston( How Will I Know) 19. Stay( Lisa Loeb) 20.Life Left To Go (The Moment)
We hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! We have a great interactive Monday blog so thank you for coming over and helping us with this challenge it should be a lot of fun. No, it WILL be a lot of fun. I’ve done it countless times and know for a fact it does work and the result is always both surprising and awesome. However, before I get to the rules of the challenge and the prize for this contest I wanted to discuss music.
I am not a natural born poet nor lyricist. My hat’s off to those who are lyrically inclined, I genuinely suck at it. I remember my first experience with a group whose lyrics just absolutely blew me away. A little band that I am sure no one has ever heard of, with a strange name. Nonetheless, they were able to wrap up a moment in time, a full story within three minutes. There name, The Judybats. (Anyone have a clue as to what a Judybat is? I actually don’t) Amongst the countless lyrics from a multitude of songs I have chosen just a small sample of why I fell in love with their music.
From the song “What We Loose”
When we walk this morning I hear you say,
“Don’t pick the flowers for me – they die.”
All wilted recollection to reckon with,
like legendary lovers, you sigh.
Like us when we were younger, you broke my heart,
blooming for a moment, then gone.
And now I’m so much like you, I leave too soon.
You laugh and pick a flower, walk on, and we walk on.
So, it’s a bit on the morbidly sad side of lyrics but they managed to capture a moment, a conversation, a visual of where these two lovers (ex or otherwise) were, a character dynamic, history between these two etc. You get my point, they capture what most writers strive for in 8 lines. A beginning, middle and end. This is when I fell in love with the lyrical aspect of music and not just the beat.
On a different note, HA a pun, music can play an integral part of our own writing. We can draw upon certain music to get us in the mood to write. I tend to lean towards Trance music when I plot or need fast paced action scenes. Then I have specific songs that I will play when I need a certain emotion. You know what I’m talking about. The song that spoke to you at a certain time in your life, the one played over and over to let the world know just how you were feeling. That’s the beauty of these three to four minute stories. They provoke emotion, nostalgia and maybe best of all in regards to writing, they set a rhythm that speaks to us. I have heard various opinions on music when it comes right down to putting words on the paper (screen). The spectrum varies from hard rock to classical to no music at all. So in honor of music, to lyricists and to have some interactive Monday fun we are presenting a mini-challenge/contest called the “Lyrical Letter.”
This was a game I played in school where my best friend and I would get so bored in virtually each class that we would write stories such as “The Next Line.” Then we challenged ourselves to only write a story using lyrics (not our own). The outcome was like Mad-Libs on steroids. Sure they were a bit disjointed and sometimes a tad funky but they were also sometimes the most beautiful stories. The last one I did came out like a really bad emo-country “letter” so consider this challenge tried and true. It will just take a little more thought. Hey, we like a challenge here. None of which we could take full credit for, and for obvious reasons. But it was fun to see just how far we could take the story. So we present you all with the challenge of helping us write (for fun) the “Lyrical Letter”. Here are the rules and prizes!
Lyrical Letter Rules
1. I will start the first line
2. Next person must build on that by adding a line of lyrics. This can be a few words, or an entire chunk. It’s up to you how much you add. You may use the transitions “And, But, Or and Then” if you need help getting to the next line.
3. You MUST give the artist/band/musician credit for the lyrics at the end of your post.
4. Enter as many times as you want!
Prize
$25.00 iTunes gift card
Contest starts Monday(today) and will end Thursday (the 10th) at midnight. The winner will be chosen at random and announced here as well as on my personal blog Friday morning. We will then post the entire letter for viewing pleasure with each artist listed at the bottom J
While you’re here, we are going to be wrapping up a previous contest soon, Name the Chimera. Please feel free tovote for your favorite name! Also, there is another awesome contest over at, A Torch in the Tempest. Make sure to check that out as well.
Ready? GO! Can’t wait to see how awesome this letter will be! Thank you all for participating
Congratulations to Salirian (Galahad) , Girl W1i (Rutabega), and Yvette (Juniper) for submitting these fabulous names! At His Majesty’s request, we did spice them up with majestic titles. You have two weeks to vote for your favorite name and remember, whoever submitted the winning name will receive these prizes.
Our poll software isn’t working so please vote for your favorite name by leaving a comment on this post. We will accept votes until midnight June 16th.
Keep an eye out for our next contest–we want YOU to write the Chimera’s origin story that will be featured on his staff page. There will be some kick-ass prizes (:
I’m thrilled (and kinda terrified) to say that I won round one, heat one in Merciless Storytellers. Heat two is running right now and there are some awesome stories competing including “Handy Storm” from Laieanna, a regular on our forums.
Check out some fantastic audio fiction and vote for your favorites. They are also taking submissions for future rounds so get writing! The semifinalists get a critique from us Chimeras and there’s a budding prize pot for the winner.
Submissions closed! Keep an eye out for the poll to vote for your favorite name!
Now that you’ve all stopped by to meet me–The Magnificent Chimera–I need a name. I’m tired of being referred to as just, “The Chimera.” It makes me feel like I lack my own individuality, which–clearly–isn’t true. So, I need something which conveys my majestic presence, but also bears in mind how humble and magnanimous I am–whilst also staying true to my mind-blowing creativity.
I told Callie, Zellie and Erica that people would certainly participate for the sheer joy of having me consider taking the moniker they suggested as my name. Although they all agreed, I also decided, that–in the spirit of generosity, we should award prizes to the winner. Obviously the biggest prize would be the individual satisfaction you’ll gain by helping me, but you’ll get two other amazing prizes as well. (listed below)
So, without further ado, here are the rules. Good luck everyone!!!
Rules and Process
You’ve got two weeks to submit a name
You can submit as many names as you want, the more the better!
I’ll choose the top five most magnificent names
We’ll have two weeks of voting to determine the winner
The winner gets TWO awesome prizes!
Prizes
A guaranteed critique
*If you’re not a writer you can donate this to a friend and we’ll work something else up for you (:
*If you’ve been critiqued by us before, you can send a revised chapter or the next chapter in line
I entered an awesome audio competition! They’re taking all kinds of submissions–radio shows, short stories, songs, etc as long as the piece is under five minutes long. In the next round, you go against another writer on a topic chosen by the audience.
There’s prize money (you can donate or just click an ad!) and the semifinalists win critiques from us Chimeras!
So, pretty much every YA reader out there knows what is happening August 24th…MOCKINGJAY!! Finally, we get to find out what happens. Did Peeta survive? What is the fabled District 13 like? Who will triumph—Katniss or The Capitol? (My money is on Katniss all the way!)
REVIEW ONE TWO THREE
Awards and Contests, Fun Stuff, Reviews | Callie August 18, 2010 | 
Comments (5) 
Feel free to continue to add even though the contest is over. 
