In these new strange times of lockdown and distancing, book launches have gone virtual! Which is great for me, and great for you, as now we can celebrate fantastic books from the comfort of our couches! And I’m thrilled to introduce this absolute corker to Book Monsters. This is The Book of Mysteries, written by J.R. Wallis and published by Simon & Schuster Children’s UK. I am thrilled to be sharing a reading from the first chapter of the book along with writing tips from the author himself.
This is the 3rd book in the series Tales from the Badlands, which I have to say are absolutely fantastic reads. They are incredibly well written stories which from the first page sucked me in and took me on a fantastic journey of interesting strong characters, the supernatural, strange goings on and magical tales. I know a really good children’s fiction story when it has me captivated, so much so that I forget I’m even reading a children’s book. The writing is pitched beautifully for the age range, and the storytelling here is second to none. I desperately wanted to know what would happen with every page turn, and isn’t that what makes the very best kind of pure escapist reading?
The third book in this compelling series is released on Thursday 28th May, 2020 and from listening to this first part, I’m incredibly excited.
Over the coming week to celebrate the book’s launch, J.R. Wallis will be reading an extract from his book covering the first two chapters, and I’m absolutely thrilled to be launching the first reading today. So sit back, and listen to this fabulous first reading from The Book of Mysteries and for budding writers we have a fantastic bundle of writing tips for you below, so you can set sail on your own writing adventure.
Tomorrow’s reading will take place over on Mr Ripley’s Enchanted Books Blog so be sure to visit for the next part in the story.
https://www.mrripleysenchantedbooks.com
Ideas For Stories
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world…”
What Albert Einstein meant by this is that one’s knowledge is limited but one’s imagination isn’t. In your imagination, anything is possible. Einstein’s imagination was important in helping him ‘see’ the world in a way others hadn’t before. In the same way the inventor, Nikola Tesla, ‘imagined’ many of his inventions in detail before creating them. So, it’s interesting to note that the muscle in our heads we use for imagining things can be important in lots of different ways. But, of course, it’s particularly important for writing stories, imagining characters, places and particularly worlds that readers can immerse themselves in. But you need ideas for stories.
You may be worried about coming up with an idea for a story, especially If you’re young, because it might seem like you haven’t lived long enough yet or done enough interesting things or been to enough different places. But you don’t need to have done lots of things. Just look at the world around you. I get a lot of my ideas for stories that way, looking at people, watching them, listening to what they say. I let my mind wander, imagining who someone really is when I see them on a bus or on the street, and what their lives might be like. I can make up whole stories about them……I daydream.
if you find it difficult watch the world for stories then I’d recommend doing something boring. Being bored doesn’t mean your mind is switched off. Not at all. It means it can start to wander. Sometimes my best ideas for stories come to me exactly when I’m ironing my shirts or brushing my teeth or cleaning the house. (Some parents might be pleased about this!).
Sometimes, an idea can seem like a brilliant one for a story but it’s not always clear how to approach it. I’d advise letting it compost in your head. Come back to it at later date and you might see something different about it. Often, really good ideas can take a long time to germinate.
If you find yourself really stuck for ideas then here’s another piece of advice for you. I like to think of our imaginations being like bank accounts. Whatever you take out of a bank account you need to put back in otherwise you’ll have no money left – you need to have credit – and it’s the same with imagination. Whenever you take something out of your imagination, you need to put something back into it to top it up. The best way I’ve found to do this is to read books, watch films, go to art galleries and museums or listen to music. You’ll soon realise there are lots of other people’s ideas everywhere. And the more you interact with them, the more they’ll energize your imagination, topping it up, and help it come up with your own ideas. So go and fill up your imaginations until they’re stuffed with the things you’ve seen and heard and listened to.
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Huge thanks to J.R. Wallis for visiting the blog with his new series. I urge you to go and check out all three books, which are available now from all good book shops and libraries.
To find out more about the author please visit his online writing corner
https://www.jrwallis.com
Simon & Schuster can be found here
https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk
And don’t forget to visit tomorrow’s blog for the next exciting part of the story
https://www.mrripleysenchantedbooks.com
And FINALLY, yes there’s more! pop over to my Facebook page, twitter account, or instagram page to be in with a chance of winning a copy of The Book of Mysteries.
Thank you for reading this Book Monster review.
