October TBR

I was going to kick TBRs to the curb because I can’t seem to stick to them lately. There are however, a few books I want to get in before November, when I am going to be absolutely crazy, (or maybe I am already) and have intentions of again attempting NaNoWriMo.

A few of these books are to try to help prepare for NaNo. I think I’ve participated 4 or 5 times, plus I did a camp NaNo, and haven’t come close to “winning”. Some of this is due to the struggle of knowing what to write next, or how to have a scene play out, or how the heck to get a character out of a squeeze. The idea I’m hoping to write about, I’ve actually had for about 2 years now. It’s been percolating, and has changed dramatically from what I was thinking it was last year. I’d like to try to make this work, but I’m still having trouble with the motivations behind the characters and the plot. I still just have a bunch of scenes in my head, but I have no idea what is behind them. In hopes of being able to find those motivations, I have a few books I want to try reading to help.

I’ve been watching a channel on YouTube, called Hello Future Me. I found this channel by accident one day as a recommended video from another I had just watched. Tim, is the creator behind this channel, and he always gives detailed videos of how to build or write your story. To recommend a few, Magic Systems, World Building, or specifically, The Rise of an Empire. He also tries to use popular books, or shows to provide examples of what he is talking about to demonstrate his point. About a year ago, he self published a book. I have had this book now for a year, about to go into another NaNo, and wondering why I haven’t read this book yet. I figure this may help me out with some of my troubles in my storytelling, and the motivations behind the characters, and overall plot. Here’s hoping. I actually started this book in September and am 29% in.

I tried to use Save The Cat! last year for NaNo to help me outline, but I was ill prepared and didn’t start attempting the outline until November had already started. There was basically no writing of actual story last year, that I can recall. I did start attempting to set up the story in Scrivener.

Trying to be better prepared this year, I would like to go through Save The Cat! and try an outline, now that I’ve gotten a few more scenes thought out, and how to get from point a to point b in the story. Still not all the way there, but hoping this will help a little in getting me there. Hoping this with a few other books will help get me all the way there.

I found this book used at a local fundraiser a few years ago. I started reading it, I think last year, but didn’t even make it half-way through. It contains advise on researching and structure of your novel. Probably needed to remember I had this one sooner, since it contains help on researching for your novel, and it’s probably a lot to research and outline your novel in one month with a full-time job. Alas, here I am.

I received this book a while back as a gift. I’ve been interested for a while in Pagan and Wiccan rituals. Now, I am trying to study them more thoroughly, and I think this will also count as research for my NaNo novel.

An ARC I requested and received a couple years ago. I keep putting it on TBRs, even some not posted, but can’t seem to get the time. I am still interested in reading this though, and think it may be a good autumn read.

This book is about 3 sisters. One goes missing while looking for their lost father, and the other then go to find their missing sister. The search takes them to the Dublin criminal underground. There is a reference to circles of hell in the summary, and one of the sisters is a Demon Hunter so of course there are demons. I can probably do better at explaining after I read the book. I just checked the author’s website and the ebook is now also available for this book.

These books I’m prioritizing for October, and I’m worried Fire is going to get pushed to next month again, but if I can…I also have several books I’ve started, but not finished. A few I am reading and enjoying are…

I’m listening to The Poppy War, and reading Black Leopard Red Wolf, both I started during the last round of Tome Topple back in August. City of Brass I started, I don’t even know when, over on Scribd. Reading, maybe a page or two, every so often. Yes, it is an annoying way to read, but it’s also about the only way I can read. The City We Became, I don’t remember when I started this one exactly, sometime in September. I received a digital copy from my library, but wasn’t able to make it far before it was coming due. I returned it a day or two early knowing if I got much farther it was only going to drive me nuts if I had to return it. Turns out the person waiting wasn’t ready, because I put a hold on it again after returning it and received it back a few hours after I had returned it. I suspect something happened though in the coding that messed up the new loan since I received it before my first loan was technically due. This is my best guess anyway, because when I tried opening the book, I could no longer open it in Kindle, and could only open as a Libby book. Returned it again, waited a bit, then requested again. Again, could not open in Kindle. I eventually gave up with the library copy, and bought myself a copy. While I’ve technically read what I suspect may be considered Act 1, I may start over guessing Kindle won’t see the highlights I had in the library copy. I’ve been scared to try opening it, but I’m also anxious to get back to this since I was really enjoying the story. I was sad when I had to give it up.

What books are you reading this month? Are you reading anything in preparation for NaNoWriMo?