What Makes a Good Villain?

I've seen some posts discussing what makes a good villain and I decided to make my post about it to share my thoughts. I will be telling you what makes a good villain and how you know a villain has been well written. I might even tell you my all time favourite villain at the end.

1) A Hated Villain is a Good Villain

Bit of a weird statement to write but makes sense when you think about it. If a villain is completely and utterly despised by readers then that is how the author knows he or she has done a good job. Sure the goal of a villain is to be twisted and have goals that are wrong or dangerous.

2) If the Villain Succeeds  

A good villain has to succeed in some of his or her goals. Think about it; if the good guys beat the villain in every fight then there is no danger. Readers will not feel anything towards the villain and will not worry about what the villain is threatening as it is unlikely to become a reality.

3) A Reason to be Evil 

A villains evil has to be in some way justified. Readers will want to know why the character is the way he or she is. The reason doesn't have to be mind blowing. It can be small but I think us readers need to believe the characters evil.

4) Actions or Words?

Actions and words can both be used as weapons but which is better? I think a balance of both make a good villain. If there is to many actions the villain can start to be viewed as a machine and not a person. Words and threats can be used to show that the villain is a person (I assume) and remind readers that their choices are often unpredictable.

5) Please, Villain be Smart! 

If the villain appears to be stupid then I don't think readers will take him or her very seriously. I know I wouldn't. It is an absolute necessity that the villain shows some initiative and brains. A villain can do this by careful planning and not rushing into situations head first.

6) Manipulative 

A villain must be manipulative. There is nothing more I can say. It's just a key villain personality trait.

My Favourite Villain! 

My favourite villain of all time is Sebastian Morgenstern from Cassandra Clares, The Mortal Instruments because he ticks all the above boxes. He's smart, manipulative and I absolutely HATED him. Yay! I also could not see a way in which he did not succeed because he was just SO good at being a villain. Go Sebastian!  

I want to know your opinions! Do you agree with my points? Is there anything you would add? Let me know in the comments!

Why I Never Bothered With Historical Fiction?

You probably came here for a lovely little answer on why I never bothered with historical fiction. That is what it says it the title after all. To be honest with you though there is only one very short answer which is the fact that I just don't know. It was actually extremely stupid of me to overlook historical fiction considering history is one of my favourite subjects in school.

So now I find myself asking, why did I not think historical fiction might be for me? Still I can't give you an answer but at the very least I have come to the conclusion that I will not look past it any longer.

What drew my attention to the historical genre after all this time, you ask? After being a book lover practically all my life, why now? Well, it all started with one simple video. It sparked my interest you see. It was a video of a BookTuber discussing her favourite historical reads. How I ended up watching this particular video is a little fuzzy but I'm super glad I did because she recommended some really great stuff.

As a result, I can now that I am the very proud owner of two novels set in the world war two time period. These books are none other than Prisoner of Night and Fog by Anne Blankman and All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.

I flew through both these books and I would recommend them to anyone. In fact I would recommend them to you reading this. These books provide an insight into World War Two and the effects it had on different people everywhere. Both books provided the attitudes and opinions of the time representing the period as accurately as a work of fiction can. They truly provide us with a snippet of history and represent great significance.

In future I will read more historical fiction as to further educate myself about the past. As well as being educational and informative historical books are believe it or not designed for entertainment. Yes, some hold a bigger message but the authors aim will likely be to provide information in an interesting way.

So let me know, do you read historical fiction? If not, would you consider reading some now?

The Problems of a Reader

As much as reading books is one of the best possible hobbies it doesn't come without its problems. Here is as list of just five of the problems (well, they aren't really problems) that I noticed.

1) TBR piles otherwise known as the dreaded to be read pile

Every single reader that I've ever met faces the problem of the ever growing to be read pile but we readers know how to solve this problem, yes, a book buying ban except... they don't really work. As soon as we're anywhere near a book shop, in we go and when we come out, we come with another fifty books or so in hand. 

2) Shelf Space

 That feeling we readers get when we get a new bookshelf and we get to start filling it up with our rapidly growing book collection. We're proud of it because it looks so pretty but then what happens? Yep, we run out of space. Then we have to begin the process all over again of trying to find somewhere you can put the new bookcase you really need to buy.

3) Book Series 

Do you ever accidentally buy the sequel to a book thinking it was the first in the series? It is a recurring problem in the bookish world. Why can't the book just specify that it is not the first book? Some do but others don't which make it super hard to figure out sometimes.

4) Money

 A large amount of readers money goes towards books because they are just really expensive and lets face it when we're at a book shop we can't just pick one book, we have to get them all, well as many as we can carry anyway. Sometimes we even go as far as wasting our money on a book we already have at home except it has a different cover so we're not really wasting our money, are we?

5) Choosing a Book

We readers find it impossible to just choose one book when shopping in a book shop - it really is a hard task. This therefore means that readers end up spending hours just staring at the shelves of books. We spend so long that our friends get fed up waiting on us and tell us that they are never ever setting foot in a book shop with us again.

But we readers are happy to be readers... 

These are just some of the problems that come with being a lover of books but there are obviously lots of great things as well. Such as book signings/ events. It always such a great thing to go to events and listen to your favourite authors chatting about their writing experiences and even if you can't make it to an event there is usually some author interviews on YouTube. There is also loads of BookTubers to watch. I love watching BookTube videos because it's great to watch people who share your love and enthusiasm for books.

However taking in all of the above one of the greatest things about being a reader is the stories it unlocks.

What's your reader problems? What is your favourite thing about reading? Let me know!


  

Book to Movie Adaptations

Everyone who enjoys reading books has at some point been excited about a book they have read being adapted for film but do we end up being disappointed?

I always read the book before I watch the film because if you read the book first you get to imagine for yourself the world the author has created and imagine the character's appearances for yourself because everyone will imagine things in a different way than you do. Then when you watch the film you will get to see how somebody else has imagined the world because that is what an adaptation is: somebody's interpretation of a book.

There have been some great adaptations that have been very successful and widely enjoyed.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner is an example of a great adaptation, one that I really enjoyed. James Dashner created a great idea and story line, one that I was really interested in but I found his writing style was quite hard to understand at times which made it difficult for me to fully enjoy the story at times. When the film came out I really enjoyed it and I felt that although there was differences to the book a really good job had been done adapting it for the big screen.

Harry Potter by J.K Rowling is a great example of a successful book to movie adaptation. I do prefer the books (no surprise!) but I really like how they brought the story to life. It satisfied fans of the books and it also brought new fans, encouraging reading.

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness which only came to cinemas at the start of this month is another one of my favourite adaptations so if you haven't seen it yet make sure you do, but read the book first! This was just a great adaptation because not a lot changed but I think this was down to the fact that Patrick Ness wrote the screenplay which not a lot of authors do but they should if they have the option.

Of course there are millions more adaptations that I could list here but if I did then this post would go on forever! Although,  I will tell you what book I would love to be adapted for film which is Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices series. This would be great because there is the Shadowhunters TV show which is doing well.

The only problem I used to have with film adaptations is the fact that some events that happened in the book version either happened differently in the film or didn't happen at all. This is partly down to the tight time frames that films have to fit an entire book into but also due to what I wrote earlier about interpretations. How I fixed this problem because for me it was a big one, was that I viewed both the book and the film as different things entirely.

So to answer the question at the start of this post, I think an adaptation can only disappoint you if you let it disappoint you. I mean there will obviously be times when an adaptation doesn't turn out to make a good movie but mostly your love for how you see the book in your head is contributing to any negative thoughts you may have about the film. 

What's your most anticipated adaptation coming out this year? 

Spoilers, Spoilers, Spoilers

Hello!

So, this post is all about... Spoilers!

Everyone I think has had their favourite books spoiled for them at some point whether it be the death of a favourite character or whatever but if you are this thinking well, I haven't had my favourite book spoiled then please feel free to comment below and tell your secrets! How do you manage it?

If your anything like me then you probably don't like spoilers or maybe you do. I have a friend and she literally checks for spoilers before she watches an episode of whatever TV show she is watching. I don't know how or rather why she does that!

It's why I always have specific spoiler section on my blog because I really hate anything that spoils even the smallest little detail. This is also why my introductions are so short because although I want you to go away and read the book, I don't want you to know much about because then it won't be as enjoyable for you.

Now then, I think we have gathered now that I really don't like spoilers, so now I am going to give you three hopefully useful ways of avoiding spoilers!

1) Avoid the Internet 

Now, I don't mean that you have to literally not go on the internet whilst you're reading a book (because in my case that would mean I would have to avoid it forever!) but rather avoid searching for anything to do with the book. Also, try and avoid the authors' websites and social media accounts.
 

2) Don't Tell Your Friends You Like Something If You Know They Like It Too

Basically, if you know that your friends really like a certain book series and you have just recently started it, don't tell them until after you've finished it because then it's less likely that your friend will accidentally spoil anything for you.


3) Read and Read Fast

Get your hands on a book as soon as it comes out and then read it as fast as you possibly can. Make sure you are one of the first to finish!


Finally, you don't want to spoil something for anyone else so here is a piece of advice so that you don't spoil a book for someone else without meaning too!

1) Warnings

If you are writing a blog post about a book always make sure you label spoilers before you write them!

I hope you enjoyed this nice and short post about spoilers.

Bye for now!

A Guide for Non-Readers- What to Read?

Hi non-readers!

So welcome back to my guide for non-readers! This time I am going to be talking to you about what exactly you should read if your just getting started.

For those of you who haven't been here before I have two previous posts in this little series.

Why should you read?
http://youneedtoreadthese.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/a-guide-for-non-readers-why-should-you.html

And also, How to find the time to read.
http://youneedtoreadthese.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/a-guide-for-non-readers-how-to-find.html

I definitely don't want to offend anyone by naming a particular genre or age group of books. What I want to help you to do is narrow a specific group of books for you so that you can discover the joy of reading.

So, What type of shows do you watch on TV? This is the first step, narrowing down a genre specific to your interests. Think about what you like to watch on TV and what your hobbies/interests are. Once you have discovered a genre you like whether this be horror, fantasy or contemporary you have completed step one and already you have narrowed down your options which will lead to you hopefully finding your ideal book.

Step two is to select a handful of books from the genre and read its synopsis then choose the one you think you will like the most.

This is all there is to it really however piece of advice. It probably isn't the best idea if your just getting started reading to read a 600 page book, start with something smaller.

For my recommendations section I will select some genres and recommend some books from them. Sorry, if I leave out your genre.

Fantasy: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (this is quite lengthy but it is very addictive.)
Horror: Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan
Contemporary: Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

That's all for now, Bye! 

A guide for non readers- how to find the time to read

Hi everyone!!

So I haven't done one of these in a while but for anyone that doesn't know this is a guide that I hope will help encourage you to read if your not a massive fan of books.

Here is a link to my last post which outlines why you should read (sorry I haven't updated in so long):
http://youneedtoreadthese.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/a-guide-for-non-readers-why-should-you.html?m=1

So this time I thought I'd write about how to find the time to read. The first piece of advice I will give you is to bring a book everywhere and I mean everywhere. You never know when your going to get the chance to read, you might get a five minute break or a free period where your able to read.

Another idea is to plan when you are going to read such as before bedtime or after dinner. Put aside an hour or half an hour where you know that during that time you are going to read.  

That's all I can really say so I hoped it helped. This time I am going to recommend you to read Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas because the fifth book in the series is coming out this September. I have reviewed this book although it isn't very good because it is my first ever review.

Throne of Glass review-
http://youneedtoreadthese.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/fantasy-corner-throne-of-glass-review.html?m=1

Buy Throne of Glass-
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/140883233X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471466781&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=throne+of+glass&dpPl=1&dpID=51765NmOIvL&ref=plSrch

Bye for now!

A guide for non readers- why should you read?

Hello!!
So, I thought that I might perphaps start a sort of blog series to help non bookish people get into the book world. Today I thought I would focus on the importance of reading as you've more than likely guessed by the title.

So, why? Why read?

Reading is so so so important for so many different reasons. Reasons which I will outline today in this post. The first reason is education. Reading is vital for education. As I'm sure you have been told you are more likely to do well in your studies and exams if you read. Just think if you get a really good book, how much information about punctuation and grammar are you taking in without even realising it? I'm sure you've heard the saying 'you learn something new every day' but by being a reader your more likely to learn something new every day.

Now we all know that life is stressful whether your in school or university or wherever but do you know that reading can actually reduce your stress levels? Is truly can, honestly. So if your ever feeling stressed about a piece of work that you haven't started but it's due tomorrow I want you to take a set back for just five minutes and read a book, any book (as long as you like it). Five minutes is all it really takes to refresh yourself, this will also help to improve the standard of your work because after reading you should be more focused.

The third point I am going to make is experience. Books can open up your mind to whole lot of new experiences because you as reader have direct access to all these different scenarios and so you can experience things without actually having to do anything but read the words on the page. Also reading can help develop empathy because when your reading a book you tend to care for certain characters. You can also feel what your protagonist is feeling for example scared or excited depending on the situation.

I thought that also I might recommend a book each time I do this so this time I will recommend Every Day by David Levithan because it is just a fantastic book. This book tends to fall more into the contemporary genre more than any other although it could maybe be placed in another. Anyway the message of this book is fantastic and I will forever remember it. I will more than likely also put a review of this book up so stay tuned!!

All that's left for me to say now is go and pick up a book and read it! It doesn't have to be what I recommended although you should definitely read it at some stage!

Bye for now!

Next post in the series-
http://youneedtoreadthese.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/a-guide-for-non-readers-how-to-find.html?m=1

Advice for writing your own book!

So today I'm going to share my tips and advice for writing a book.

I am currently trying to write a book and it is a project that takes time and effort. I find it difficult to find the time to work on my novel. How I resolve this is to write for ten minutes every night. It doesn't have to be a lot, I tend to get about 300 words done. It's not a lot but over time this will all add up and you will have a regular writing pattern. At the weekends and holidays you can spend more time on your book.

Another problem writers face is editing their book. We all have to do it, it is unavoidable but leave it until after you have finished your novel. I tried to do it as I went along but I then realised that I was spending all my time editing and not enough time writing. So put editing out of your mind until you have completed your first draft.

If your having trouble writing you could start writing a diary as its really good practice. I met Holly Bourne author of Am I Normal Yet? (Which you should definitely go and read because it is so good) And this was her advice to me when I asked her for writing advice. I think it is a good and helpful piece of advice because it helps with your writing style and grammar etc.

Also if your school offers a writing club definitely sign up and if it doesn't perhaps you could start one up?

It is a good idea to have someone read your book. Every time I finish a chapter I give it to a few of my friends to read (it is best to have more than one person because everyone has different opinions). This will just give you somebody else's opinion on what you are writing so that you know what is good and what you can improve on. It also really helps with your grammar because your friend could pick up on an error that you maybe didn't notice.

I personally don't find a plan of my novel helpful to me. I just see a series of pictures in my head telling me where I want to go with my story and how I want to end it but if having a plan helps you definitely have one. If your unsure whether a plan will help you or not do one. That way even if it doesn't help you you'll know it's not for you, if it does help you that's great! I have found however that it is a good idea to write down key points so you don't forget anything.

It is also a good idea to buy a notebook and carry it around with you. This means that whenever you get an idea you can just scribble it down so you don't forget.

A final point from me is don't write just to get published, write for yourself! The writing process has to be enjoyable otherwise why are you writing? If your not enjoying the content your writing, write something else although it is a good idea to finish what you started and stick with your project. Definitely do not stop because your mind has gone blank, if that happens just take a break from writing and go back to your story in a few days.

Remember don't give up and believe in yourself! Writing can (and will) be a hard process but it can be fun too. Now, go and get writing! Good luck!