The Immorality of Immortality: The Blog Posts

As a mere mortal when it comes to technology, I've reached my limit with what I can achieve with my website. It was extremely stressful to make and it's infuriating that I don't think anyone's ever visited it.

Here's the link if you were wondering: http://theimmoralityofimmortalitytrilogy.yolasite.com/

And here's a little screen shot for you to enjoy.

It's so much easier for me to just run my Facebook page instead of the website because I know what I'm doing with Facebook.

Again, here's a link to the Immorality of Immortality Facebook page: http://on.fb.me/1cpMwEc

I don't mind that much because the website doesn't really have much to offer anyone apart from my descriptions of each book in the trilogy and what it was like to write them. I was reading them a few weeks ago and it really is a shame that no one's really read them. I mean, I'd completely forgotten they existed so how would anyone else know?

They're actually really interesting, as hilarious as that is coming from me. But I really can't remember writing Playing with Reality as well as myself in the past can, so it's brilliant that I spent the time to write it down, if only for me to wonder at it a couple of years later.

So, editing them a bit and cutting out the spoilers I seemed to have written in for Chancing the Truth for some reason, I have decided to share them with you on here where, let's face it, not many people come, but it's more than my website by a long shot.

I hope you enjoy the next few weeks of stepping into my writing process and hearing all about what it was like to write a trilogy before the age of eighteen.

Molly Looby

Author of the Immorality of Immortality Trilogy

Shadows - Paula Weston

Blurb

It's been almost a year since the car crash that killed Gaby's twin brother.

Across a crowded bar Gaby sees the man of her dreams, literally. Rafa not only looks exactly like the guy who's been appearing in her dreams, he claims a history with her brother that makes no sense.

Now Gaby is forced to accept that what she thought she knew about herself is just a shadow of the truth - and the truth is more likely to be found in her nightmares.

My Review

Shadows was just what I was looking for. It is a typical teen fiction book that I just fell all over. Realistic, funny characters, a serious plot that's complicated but I can still follow it and a kick-ass protagonist who I fell in love with at once. And to top it all off a supernatural element. Yes please.

First of all, while I was looking through my bookshelf deciding what to read next, my plan was to just read the blurb and the first paragraph. Then based on that I was going to decide which sounded the most exciting and read that. However, I picked up Shadows and the first paragraph wasn't enough. I sat and read the whole first chapter and decided all my other books could wait.

This didn't really change the whole way through the book. I could hardly put the thing down. I read chapter after chapter after chapter, having no desire whatsoever to put it down. It was just so easy to read and so difficult to only read the one chapter. Every character, every line of dialogue, every action intrigued me. I just couldn't get enough of Gaby, who I fell in love with instantly. She was so real and relatable and not at all annoying in any shape or form.

Shadows was a total joy to read. I just connected with this book entirely and had a blast! I hadn't realised how much I missed reading books written in the first person present tense and I think that made the whole thing even more enjoyable. I can't remember the last book I read that was written in this way, and it's one of my favourite styles too!

The only possible thing I have to say about Shadows that is negative is that if you put it down for too long - I put it down for a week while I spent time with my cousins - once you come back to it, there seems to be too many characters and too much gong on that you don't know about. Gaby spends the majority of the book having no idea what's going on or why for most things. This is fine up until you take a break and then have no idea what to think when you come back. I even had to backtrack to remember who some people were and I hate doing that. But even so, I couldn't stop reading.

Evaluation

I give this book an overall 9/10.

Would I recommend it? Yes. It was brilliant and I enjoyed every page.

Would I look up the author? Yes. I'm definitely going to read the other books in the series!

Molly Looby

Author / Ghostwriter / Editor / Blogger / Reviewer / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly.looby@hotmail.com

Anthology 2013 - Chelmsford Writers

A Spoiler Free Bit About The Book

This anthology was put together by the people of Chelmsford Writers' Group, the writing group I belong to. We put it together for Christmas 2013 and it's taken me this long to read it! It's filled with short stories and poems about varying different things. Although for some reason, most of them are very dark.

My Review

It's not fair for me to write a proper review as each story and poem is different. Not to mention that I don't know a thing about poetry and that I myself am a stranger to short story writing as a craft.

But if you want something that's easy to pick up for a few minutes and put down again, this is the book for you. Because there are so many different stories and poems, if you're busy you can just pick it up, read a poem and put it down again in a very non-committing kind of way that I think we need sometimes in a book.

I read it in one day, almost in one sitting. It's great if you have an afternoon or evening you don't know what to do with.

I must mention my favourites because I think it would be rude not to:

Cuck00 - Jerry Beckett

Elizabeth - Paul Ebbs

Through the Looking Glass - Jane Bowers

Old Pals - Raymond Wallace

The Knowing - Dot Gumbi

Would I recommend it? Yes! Of course I would! Support us! I have a story in it as well and if anyone's interested. My entry is called Life's a Game and is very dark indeed.

It's on Amazon for only £4.99

I look forward to next year's! Though I don't have a clue what I'm going to put in . . .

Molly Looby

Author / Ghostwriter / Editor / Blogger / Reviewer / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly.looby@hotmail.com

Write a Blockbuster and Get it Published - Lee Weatherly and Helen Corner

This is going to be slightly different from my normal book reviews as this is a non-fiction book and I wouldn't call myself an expert in non-fiction. I'm afraid it's going to be quite short because I loved this book!

Write a Blockbuster and Get it Published is a book that gives you great advice about both the writing and publishing process.

Blockbuster shocked me in how easy it was to read. Usually books like this are full of jargon and it makes you nervous, but not this book. It was so easy to understand, even if you don't know what all these literary terms mean, making it accessible to everyone.

It was crammed with great tips and I particularly liked the 10 things to Remember at the end of each chapter. It's a brilliant way to sum up and drive the points home. It's also a good reference point to read back on when you need some advice or you're stuck. I have a feeling I'm going to pick this book up over and over again just to read specific parts I might need help on.

Most importantly it reminded me that I don't know everything about writing. No one does. It's a craft you never stop learning.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and will pick it up again and again. I recommend it for anyone who's written anything.

Molly Looby

Author / Ghostwriter / Editor / Blogger / Reviewer / Movellian / ZA Ready

Contact me with any questions or chatter here: molly.looby@hotmail.com

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

A Spoiler Free Bit About The Book

The man and the boy journey along the road, headed south, trying everything they can to stay alive in the grey surroundings left by the apocalypse. 

My Review

Before I start, I don't think I fully 'got' this book. I think I was reading far too shallow and if I'd gone deeper I would've enjoyed the whole thing a lot more. I understand why this book is so famous and acclaimed but it wasn't for me.

I loved how the two characters were simply 'the man' and 'the boy' and how they could've been anyone. It set the sad tone for the book. Though they could've been anyone, I found it surprisingly easy to get to know the two characters.

The Road was just full of the most beautiful descriptions but they just went over my head. It seemed too much and it was too heavy. I really struggled to picture anything because of the amount of description. Saying this though, the sentences flowed altogether in the most magnificent way. But because of the repetitiveness of the book I felt like I'd read the same description over and over. I'm sure it's meant to feel like that but I didn't enjoy the sensation, I just got bored.

Not enough was going on for my taste. I don't need action jam packed into every page but I do need a bit of something. I was thrilled every time they spoke but even then I wasn't sure what was going on and who was speaking because there are no paragraph breaks. I know it's supposed to be ambiguous but it was really difficult for me to follow at all.

I suppose I just didn't get on with the style at all.

I must also mention that this is the first book I've read all the way through on the Kindle and I didn't like it. I want to see the pages and know how far I am through by looking, rather than the percentage at the bottom. I like turning pages and physically progressing. I can't believe how much I struggled with the Kindle but it just really isn't for me.

After everything, the ending was so powerful and brilliant it brought a tear to my eye even though I'm pretty sure I missed the point to the whole novel.

Evaluation

Plot - 9/10 - there was nothing wrong with the idea at all

Way Plot Was Pursued - 7/10 - I felt a little more could've happened

Characters - 7/10 - it was hard to work out who was doing what

Style - 7/10 - just because I didn't get on with it doesn't make it bad

Pace - 8/10 - the pace was okay, sped up towards the end

Would I recommend it? No. I would end up putting someone off by trying to explain it and I don't want to do that.

Would I look up the author? No. I didn't get on with his style enough.

The Road is a book I would've enjoyed much more had I analysed every sentence. It's a book to study rather than read.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor / Ghostwriter / Blogger / Reviewer / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly.looby@hotmail.com

Chancing the Truth is almost here . . .

I think it's about time we all got ridiculously excited about Chancing the Truth, the third book in my Immorality of Immortality trilogy!

Check out my blurb:

We'll never be free. Only the end can release us.

Forget Adelina, Stephan's the real god of this castle. You disobey and you're plunged into hell and there's nothing you can do about it.

Unless of course Stephan goes too far. Unless of course you're given something to live for. Unless of course you're strong enough to fight.

I wasn't a year ago.

I am now.

I am Felix Hesper and I am in control.

Through the eyes of Felix, Damien and Lilya, the newest addition to the Senate, Chancing the Truth takes you on a journey of survival to the heart wrenching finale of the Immorality of Immortality trilogy.

I'm struggling to squeal about it without giving anything away but trust me, you will love Chancing the Truth. It is my absolutely favourite of the Immorality of Immortality books for good reason. 

I adored writing Chancing the Truth back in 2012. By the end of it I was well surpassing 1,000 words a day with total ease. I think this was probably the easiest thing I've ever written. The story just burst out of me like I had no choice.

This trilogy taught me almost everything I know about writing and has been the single most incredible experience of my life and I have no idea how to cope now it's over. Felix Hesper and Damien Avery have been with me for four and a half years and I don't really know how to say goodbye to them. At least I don't have to for a while. As long as people are still reading about them they'll still be around. And as if I could ever stop them chattering away in my head.

I must take this opportunity to thank my amazing friends Anna and Dave for getting together with me seven times to read Chancing the Truth  from cover to cover. We overcame some weird sentence structure, some irrelevance, some down right confusion and clichés and I couldn't have done it without their support!

I cannot wait to release Chancing the Truth and our new narrator Lilya on all of you! I'm dying to know what everyone thinks!

So to celebrate, I've re-released books one and two, Playing with Reality and Gambling a Fairytale on Kindle so they're now 77p and affordable to all (who have a Kindle or the Kindle app!)

PWR: http://bit.ly/PWRKindle

 GAF: http://bit.ly/GAFKindle

The only thing left to do is a final proofread and convert this bad boy to print and digital format.

We have never been closer . . .

To make sure you don't miss a single thing, 'like' the Immorality of Immortality trilogy on Facebook! http://on.fb.me/1cpMwEc

"Life is unexplainable and unexpected – especially when you can’t take anymore. This is my story, and I’d like to end with agony."

This is really happening!

Molly Looby

Author / Ghostwriter / Editor / Blogger / Reviewer / Movellian / ZA Ready

Contact me about anything writing, books, vampires or zombies here: molly.looby@hotmail.com

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

First I'd like to thank my friend Sophie for lending me the book otherwise who knows how long it would've taken me to read this!

A Spoiler Free Bit About The Book

Socially awkward Charlie writes a series of letters as he tries to navigate high school, new friends and family conflict while all the while trying to "participate" though his natural instincts are to simply watch and listen. Charlie tries to navigate triumph, failure, friendship, sexuality, honesty, right and wrong while keeping a level head and a heart full of hopes.

My Review

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is the most perfect coming of age story I've ever read. There was so much beauty in this book I'm surprised the pages can contain it.

I was thrust straight into Wallflower by Charlie's sweet innocent voice. In mere sentences I felt like I knew him and I grew to love him more with each passing page. His letters are aimed at you, the reader, and so Charlie is speaking right to you, making it impossible to resist his friendship. The letters are so easy to read, like diaries are, so I struggled to put this book down to go to bed and to get back to work. If I'd picked this book up in the morning of a day off it would've been finished in one sitting.

I must say, I was in the book with Charlie, following him every step of the way. The other characters were all delightfully different, each having a series of good and bad points that came through to me as the reader, regardless of how Charlie viewed them which was fantastic. They were all very real people with very real problems and that made it even easier to read.

Chbosky fills Wallflower with brilliant observations that land straight in your heart and make you think about the world you inhabit.  Certain phrases made my head ring and my heart swell like: "And in that moment, I swear we were infinite." Every now and then when I stop working for a moment, this sentence just takes hold of me and it's all I can think of. That  is powerful writing.

I've got nothing bad to say because I loved this book. I read 3/4 of it in one sitting without even realising. And I would read it again.

Evaluation

Plot - 7/10 - high school's been done

Way Plot Was Pursued - 10/10 - but it's never been done like this

Characters - 10/10 - authentic and real

Style - 10/10 - the letters were honest and perfect

Pace - 10/10 - couldn't put it down

Would I recommend it? - Yes. For anyone in or out of high school.

Would I look up the author? - Yes, but sadly he mostly writes screenplays.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower was poignant, bitter-sweet, deep, moving and nostalgic. What can I say? I adored every single page.

Molly Looby

Author / Editor / Ghostwriter / Blogger / Reviewer / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready

molly.looby@hotmail.com