Author: Katie Bachelder
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Setting Study: A Song Below Water
The novel A Song Below Water, by Bethany C. Morrow, is a YA urban fantasy story revolving around two young women living in Portland, Oregon. The novel creates lore that takes some liberties with real-world mythos to create a story about race and about being unashamed of one’s identity. The novel’s main allure in regards…
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The Craft of Bookish First Lines
First lines are difficult no matter the genre, and although fantasy allows for a wider range of topics to start off the book, the variety of choices can make it harder to pick which one is best. I’ve taken some of the fantasy books off of my shelf, a mix of urban fantasy, YA fantasy,…
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Book Blogger Confessions Tag!
I haven’t done a blog tag before, but what better one to start with than the confessions tag? The questions come from bookidote’s confessions post. 1. Which book, most recently, did you not finish? Like a lot of the other book bloggers that do this tag, I really hate starting a book and then not…
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The Wheel of Time and What it Has Taught Me About Reading
Wheel of Time is a massive series. I know, because I’m almost finished reading them, and adding fifteen books–none of which are thin by any means–to my bookshelf meant I needed another bookshelf. It’s a daunting task to write a series so lengthy, and that Jordan manages it so well will never cease to inspire…
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Story-Beat Study: I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal
A few nights ago, I finished reading I’m Not Dying With You Tonight. It’s the first realistic-fiction novel I’ve read since graduating college, and one of the first of which I’ve read by choice in a very long time. You guys know me. I’m a fantasy nerd. But if you only study fantasy to write…
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Eight Character Archetypes, Then and Now
Four years ago, I wrote a blog post on my old Mad Chronicler site called “Who’s Who? The 8 Character Archetypes.” I’ve been thinking about it a lot, lately. Four years is a long time for any individual writer, and even in the bookish community, our understanding of tropes and archetypes can shift in that…
Katie Bachelder 