Heart Full of Ink

A snippet that was difficult to write (define 'difficult' as you like!)
or

A snippet you had a lot of fun writing
or

A snippet you plan to delete/significantly revise

A snippet that was difficult to write

Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. (Summary from Amazon)

It's rare for me to read a graphic novel. To date, I do believe Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang are the only two I've ever read. I usually prefer to read traditional novels. That being said, I do think Persepolis was well written.

I teach a contemporary literature class and decided I wanted my students to read a graphic novel because I view them as being contemporary. I chose Persepolis because I wanted to broaden my students' view of the world, especially of the Middle East. With all of the news coverage on what the US should do about the situation in Iran, I think it is important for my students to know the history of how Iran came to be the place it is today. In the introduction of the book, author Satrapi explains that she wrote Persepolis to show the world that Iran is not full of extremist terrorists.

Along with being one of the few graphic novels I've read, Persepolis also happens to be the first memoir I've read. Satrapi pulls no punches and doesn't hide anything about what life was like growing up as a child and teenager in Iran. She mixes humor with the stark realities of regime changes and the Iran-Iraq war. Her childlike innocent retelling of historical events highlights the often senseless violence and cruelties of the world in which we live. 

If you're interested in learning more about Iran's history, Persepolis is the book for you.

Post-apocalyptic and/or dystopian books, movies, and TV shows have become very popular in the last few years. With the success of The Hunger Games series, The Divergent series, and The Walking Dead, more and more authors have been drawn to pen their own version of what life on Earth would be like after a major catastrophic event. After a while, I got a little tired of reading these books and decided to take a break from them. My sister recommended Angelfall to me months ago, and I finally picked it up and read it. I am so glad I did. Angelfall had a realistic setting, an endearing main character, and a plot that kept me turning the pages as fast as I could.

• Plot Whisperer Workbook: Step-by-Step Exercises to Help You Create Compelling Stories by Martha Alderson
• The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler
• Thief of Lies by Brenda Drake
• On Writing by Stephen King
• The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

From second grade all the way to about last year, I'd alway been a panster when it came to writing. I never planned out what I was  going to write and instead relied on inspiration. Well, this resulted in a lot of unfinished stories. The only stories I ever did finish were writing assignments for school, and, even then, they were short stories and never a full length novel. Though I was able to write a novel by the seat of my pants during NaNoWriMo a few years ago (a manuscript which was so terrible I'm glad I lost it when my computer died), last August I decided to try plotting my current WIP (Work in Progress) before I began writing it. As both a teacher and a Ravenclaw, it's hardly any surprise that I want to learn as much as I can about plotting. The Plot Whisperer Workbook was recommended by Monica B. Sanz—one of four lovely writers who lead the #Wattpad4 Twitter chat every Monday night at 8PM Eastern Time—so I decided to check it out. Though I haven't had time to do any of the exercises in the book, I'm excited to use them this June to help me plan out my next NaNo project which I plan to start writing in July.


The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers was also recommended by a member of the Wattpad4 writer group on Twitter. Erin Latimer writes and reads a lot of fantasy, and as I do as well, so I was happy to take her word for it that I should add this book to my small yet growing collection of writing books. I remember reading portions of Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey back in college when I was writing a paper  for one of my literature classes. It will be cool to revisit Campbell's ideas again through the lens of a writer.


I first learned of Brenda Drake when I heard about #PitMad, one of several book pitching contests she hosts on Twitter in an attempt to connect writers with agents. After interacting with her through an interview for Wattpad4, I decided to check out her work to see if I'd like it. When I saw Thief of Lies was about to be published and it was about characters who traveled through portals from one library to the next all over the world, I knew I had to read it. Libraries are some of my favorites places in the entire world.


On Writing by Stephen King has been recommended to me time and time again. So when Rebecca Sky of Wattpad4 also raved about it, I decided it was about time I finally did.


The last book I bought was recommended by all four of the #Wattpad4 hosts. Though I've only paged through it, I know I'm going to use The Emotion Thesaurus a lot, especially when editing. Let's face it, you can only have your character roll her eyes to show her annoyance so many times before readers begin to wonder if it's the only range of motion of which she's capable.

Looking back at what I've written, I could've called this post #Wattpad4 book recommendations:)