Melanie! Books! Writing! Celebration!

Yes. That.

Well, you know how, last week, I wanted to celebrate The Antepenultimate Blog Post hitting 1000 pageviews? Probably not, since I hadn't linked to it anywhere else yet. Well, I did. Want to celebrate, that is. You don't have to take my word for it, you can read the post.

Um. And you know how, when I added the list of popular posts to the sidebar, I talked about (next-to-last paragraph) how I'd thought of featuring an eleventh post every now and then, as well as a post from someone else's blog?

Let it be so!!!

Or something like that.

I will start a series. In each post in this series, I will feature a blog. And a few favorites from the blog. Because I may be the one person on the internet who doesn't particularly like reading "link roundup" posts, but one blog at a time? Okay, I can do that. Today it will be my sister Melanie! Parmandil. As you know, since you clicked on the link.

I think I will also experiment with headings today. Woo, shiny.

Parmandil: Stories and Writing

Faramir

A passionate, in-depth explanation of why, in The Lord of the Rings, the movie's version of Faramir is a mutilation. Yet she understands the difference between the book and film mediums, and loves the movies, too. This isn't crazy talk or nit-picking.

Books that have changed my perspective in important ways

An amazing list of books, and some of the best things about said books, beautifully highlighted. There are just a few on the list I haven't read yet, and I'm going to have to, now.

The Diary of Briar Rose (better draft)

A draft of the beginning of a novel she's working on. I love it. I really really want to see her finish and publish it. Especially the finishing, so I can read the whole thing, and not just be stuck with a very intriguing beginning. But publishing, while it would be wonderful for her in general, would ALSO be good for the story -- editors, and whatnot. Yay! Though I and others have given Melanie a few critiques on this draft, for it could be better, don't let that fool you. It's not at all bad now. I think you'll enjoy it. Especially if you like fairy tale retellings, as I do.

The Diary of Briar Rose

This draft, while written later, is not her favorite draft of it, as the above is. But you might be interested in reading this one if you're interested in the writing process and suchlike. Overall it isn't quite as good, but there are a few things about it I really liked and would like to see included in the final version. The worldbuilding mechanics are especially good in this one, they just need to be in a less exposition-ey form, eventually. Expository. That's the word.

Quettandil: Creative Writing?

And then there's an old favorite of mine from my own blog. I'm tagging the posts in this series as "featured," and any with my own writing as "hopefully underrated." Because I do hope they are.

Masks

My posts about my mother are some of the most popular here, though that might have a bit to do with facebook tags and such. They're... highly emotional. I'll "spoil" my "Masks" poem just a bit for you by saying outright: yes, it's about my mother. It might even be the first Mom post I put up here. If my tags can be trusted, it is.