Hmm…

Author: harmamae

  • Top 5 Literary Couples

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    harmamae
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    So if I complain about Romeo and Juliet, Twilight, et al., what literary couple do I think worthy of being in the “top five”? Clearly, ones with some sort of strong personality types, and some sort of relationship journey. I don’t necessarily think these couples have to be in “romance books,” because sometimes the best…

  • How To Describe Betrayal

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    harmamae
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    “Maybe you can help me pull the knife out of my back. I can’t quite reach it.” – Lily Margolis in Lillies in Moonlight, by Allison Pittman  A very subtle way for Lily Margolis to announce her betrayal, isn’t it? I love how this quote characterizes her as hurt, quick-witted and a little over-dramatic, all…

  • Let’s Just Blame the Plot on Someone’s Sex Drive

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    harmamae
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    The Problems with Leaving Romance up to “Overwhelming Attraction” You know what I hate? I hate when romantic comedies or romance novels set up a perfectly good antagonistic relationship between two main characters (you know, where they take an instant dislike to each other, like in the beginning of Pride and Prejudice), and then easily…

  • A Dilemma – A Thought From Betsy Ray (Quotables)

    A Dilemma – A Thought From Betsy Ray (Quotables)

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    harmamae
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    I decided my ‘Quotables‘ posts will take over for my fiction posts for a little while – I left off posting ‘Quotables’ a few months back because of school pressures, but they’re back now! Fiction will return when I have something new written to post. 🙂 Today is a quote from Betsy Ray, the protagonist…

  • The Dangerous Business of Recommending Novels

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    harmamae
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    And the Dangerous Business of Reading Recommendations Someone lends you a book, telling you it’s “fantastic,” “will change your life forever,” or that you “have to read it.” You take and swear you’ll read it. Then it sits on your bookshelf for the next twelve months, while you stare at it and promise yourself you…

  • Reactions to an Engagement – ‘Mansfield Park’ fanfiction

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    harmamae
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    No, ‘Jane Austen fanfiction’ is not my new replacement for Why Polly?, but it is for this week. I wrote this quite a while ago, but I held off on posting it so it wouldn’t interrupt Why Polly?. This is a short fanfiction of Mansfield Park, from Mary Crawford’s point-of-view (remember – the girl who…

  • Just Write What You Mean

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    harmamae
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    There’s Got to be a Common-Sense Approach to the Language Rules Presciptivists vs. Descriptivists – apparently these are two sides of a lingual battle that involves literary theorists, writers and all-around grammar nazis. The New Yorker magazine (that bastion of literary prestige!) kicked things off by describing an old conflict between those who want to…

  • Is the World Ruled by Extroverts?

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    harmamae
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    Extroverts are stimulated by being around other people, while introverts are re-energized by being alone, or so the common definitions go. And that seems pretty accurate – I fit right into the definition of introvert. Then I ran across this article, which argues that our modern world actively filters out the introverts, and even worse,…

  • Why Some Girls Like Mr. Darcy

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    harmamae
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    Maybe this post should actually be called ‘why I like Mr. Darcy,’ but I flatter myself these reasons might be shared by other females. Mr. Darcy gets a lot of flak from guys. He’s just some woman’s imagination of the perfect guy, no real guy acts like that, women in general should just grow up…

  • Another E-book Prediction Link

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    harmamae
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    So I’ve spent the last three days trying to fight off a nasty virus of some kind, and though my head is swimming with all kinds of great ideas for blog posts (thanks to the stress of exams finally being over), I have almost no energy to write them. Therefore, I will follow up on…