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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Colors Like Memories, A Review and Being God

Colors Like Memories is by Meradeth Houston, a YA fantasy about a member of the Sari, which are angels made up of babies born who never breathed before death. Julie, the Sari, struggles with her own overwhelming grief as she tries to keep a teen from suicide.

I read Colors Like Memories as a great break while I was prepping my workshop "Being God" for the Fandemonium conference. And reading it helped tremendously with the prep. Meradeth creates an excellent fantasy world with the right balance between the elements of the "real" world and the fantastic. Julie has abilities (and wings, I love wings) but she also has to eat and sleep--and has other human failings that are more important, the primary of which is that she's stuck in grief. Another excellent balance in the novel: the world was created with just enough back story and details for it to come alive, and not so much it bogged down this wonderful tale.

Reading Colors Like Memories reminded me to teach that one of the most important guidelines for being a god and creating your own world was to only provide necessary information at the point where the reader needs to know that information.This is true with whatever style of fiction you're writing.

Plus, it was an excellent read.

So, dear writers, what other ways can we be good gods (and goddesses) of our worlds?

8 comments:

Meradeth Houston said...

Thanks so much for posting this, Conda! I'm glad you enjoyed CLM!

Conda Douglas said...

Most welcome Meradeth, and yes, I really enjoyed CLM!

Kathy McIntosh said...

Sounds like a good read, with a lot of depth.

Caryn Caldwell said...

Ooh! That sounds good. I love the concept of the Sari, and what a great lesson to get from a book.

Conda Douglas said...

Yes, Caryn, it is an excellent read--Meradeth did a great job balancing the different character story arcs too!

Conda Douglas said...

Kathy, yes, and even though it's a fantasy, I was never tempted to toss the book against the wall with "That's so unrealistic!"

Life Line said...

It sounds like a good book to read. Thanks for sharing.

Conda Douglas said...

Thanks, Life Line!