Verity's Book

Catch-Up Time

KatJEnersen95 tagged me in a personalized tag! I feel special now ^.^

1. I know the order of the Ceristen series, which by the way is amazing so far, but in what order would you suggest that I read the others? For instance, Swirls of Sand, A Cold Cry, Flare in the Darkness, etc.?

Great question, and one I'm sure a lot of other people have wondered as well! They are all standalone stories, but since you're asking for my personal recommendation I'll give you my suggestion plan.

A Cold Cry looks formidable, with 37 parts, but it is actually the best one to start with if you're short on reading time. The chapters range from 200-400 words long, and the whole book is only about 12,000. After that, Flare in the Darkness, A Farseeing Flame(my two-part short), and finally Swirls of Sand.

2. I happened to notice by reading the description of A Cold Cry that you have created a Legean language. Which country is it for?  

The language in A Cold Cry's description is for the country of Enydhwyn, usually spelled and pronounced Enedhwin by foreigners. Though the main character is from Dirion, the story takes place in Enydhwyn.

3. You mentioned in your bio that you are a "pianist and amateur composer," assuming that I remember the quote correctly. What is one song that you have written, and do you enjoy playing it?

One of my more recent compositions is the tune for"Tall Trees Rising" a song that appears in Part 2 of The Claw. I do indeed enjoy playing it!

4. In Verity's Book, you told us that The War is "a monster." I'm super excited to read that one as soon as I get through The Village and The Claw. What is your current word count on The War?

The War is currently sitting at 23 consecutive chapters, with a word count of 80,000. In addition I have several pre-written chapters that are not yet attached to the main body, which total 26,000 words and bring the total word count up to a solid 106,000.

I'm hazarding that I have another 16-17 chapters left to write(not counting, of course, the pre-written ones).

5. How is publishing going with The Journey? (I seriously don't understand why agents are giving you such a hard time with it. It's really great!)  

Not too great currently! I am looking increasingly towards the realm of self-publishing, actually. I don't want to be a quitter, but I also don't want to stick to a plan because I feel like I "have to", and there's benefits to self-publishing that are growing increasingly apparent(especially with a staggeringly wonderful fanbase like you guys!).

Thanks, Kat, for those really fun questions!

Now for nightwraith17, who wanted to know the books that moved me the most. There is no required number. While I know there's probably others that deserve to be mentioned here, I can't spend another week scrounging for them, so here are six of the best.

In no particular ranking...

The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff

This is the third book in the Dolphin Ring series and it is honestly so good. My sister got it for her birthday last fall and of course I DEVOURED IT, and when I got to the end I was in a total hangover. I reread the last couple paragraphs ten times, kept paging through the book, and mooned over it in general. I had to find my only Wattpad friend who has read it and fangirl to her. It stirred my heart, stretched my heart, and broke it just the tiniest bit.

Just... bitterness, and brokenness, and crossing loyalties, and symbolism, and learning to love.

Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman

If you have never read this book, go read it. Now. Now. If you like adventure, mountains, keeping faith, and burning courage, read this book. If you don't like those things read it anyway. Moments of exquisite humor; bold, soul-stirring moments. Tension, grandeur and pathos.

The denouement is not what you think it will be, yet there is nothing lacking in it. The end, a poignant, beautiful end, closes with a line to make you laugh in the midst of tumultuous emotion. Read it.

The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope

*scratches head* How do I begin? This is an unutterably satisfying book. It just touches all the right spots. Romance, undeniably prominent and yet worked so delightfully into the plot. Two storylines mirroring one another across a hundred fifty years. Priceless humor, sly and witty, carried along to fresh heights by characters' excellent voices. And a surprisingly emotional climax.

It's not a heavy book, but it is a moving book.

Johnny Tremain by Elizabeth Forbes

I can't tell you how many times I've read this book. I LOVE IT. It was first a Read-Aloud book for school when I was seven or eight, but I've read it dozens of times since then. But eventually it got dragged into the depths of our closet to await another generation of eight-year-olds, and just got revived last year. I sat down on the couch a couple months ago and read it in a single morning. Maybe it was the long absence, but I actually felt like crying when I finished. I kind of wandered downstairs, and mumbled at least three times in the course of the day, "Johnny Tremain is a beautiful book."

Baby by Patricia MacLachlan

If you've ever read Sarah, Plain and Tall you know that MacLachlan has a very simple, almost poetic style that can tell so, so much with so little. Baby is heartbreaking and wonderful, with prose like jewels, and emotion of every deep spectrum carried on the crest of the simple words. Tears, every time.

The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson

Thanks to the insistence of the inventor of the tag, nightwraith17, I have now read all of the Wingfeather Saga. She said that the final book would break my heart with its beauty, and she was not wrong. GAAAAHHHHHhh and sorry I can't be very coherent but for one I don't want to let slip any spoilers and for another I've read it too recently to condense my thoughts.

There you are... six moving books. Again, there are others that deserve to be here, but we shall have to leave them in the depths of my overtaxed brain.

One final note... I had to get most of the second tag out of my memory because Wattpad GLITCHED right as I posted and didn't save anything from today. That's why you got a notification for a chapter which I promptly unpublished.

And if anyone is asking, yes, I have been tagged at least four times in that pernicious ten-facts tag-twenty-eight people tag. And no, I am not doing it.