Forever Fictional's Fourth Birthday!!!

Another year has passed and Forever Fictional is now four years old- my baby blog is getting well through it's toddler years!
Like always, I wanted to look back over the year and mention my favourite moments and posts! It's also a nice time to thank everyone who follows, likes and comments on my blog. I appreciate everyone's support and love so much and I'm super grateful for the bookish friends I've met online.

Favourite Posts: (linked)

Favourite TV Females
I wrote this post at the very beginning of the year and I still love it. It details my four favourite females in TV shows and... my choices have not changed in the slightest. I'm all about feminism and female empowerment so this post was really cool and fun for me to write.

Escapril 2019
I participated in 'escapril' last year- an instagram challenge where you write and post a poem every single day based on a prompt. I created an instagram account specifically for this because I'd never had one before and I really loved doing this. Sure, some of my poems were downright crappy but it's good practice of sharing your work.

The Rise of Bookstagram

Lately, I've really struggled keeping up with my blog and there are many factors contributing to this. Firstly, I'm super busy. I've just started a full-time apprenticeship which is a lot of hours and a lot of work, meaning that I don't have as much free time to blog like I used to.

Secondly, I'm prioritising my writing. As you may or may not know, I'm an aspiring writer and I've just started a brand new project that needs a lot of time and work. I've just started the first draft and I've set myself a lot of deadlines and targets when it comes to this manuscript. This just means that, when I do have spare time to write/blog, I choose to write. All this meaning that my blog has been very unloved, lately.

And then there's been my venture into Bookstagram. I've always been a little behind on social media platforms so only just got Instagram this year but... I'm loving it. It's so much fun creating bookish images and interacting with so many more book lovers.

In terms of time, it can take me a couple of hours to write, edit and proof-read a blog post. But, with Bookstagram, it takes me a couple of hours to shoot, edit and caption images for an entire month. So, with the same amount of time, I can have content posted every day for a month, compared to a single post a month. It just means that I can still be creative and interact with other book lovers but much more frequently.

Now, this isn't to say I'll stop blogging, because I won't. I love the community and sharing my opinions of books. But.... posts may not be as frequent as they once were ( I don't even know how I was posting three times a week at one point).

One of my new years resolutions for next year is to step up on blogging again so, while I can't promise consistent content, I can promise that I'm going to try my hardest.

Thanks for reading! What are some of your 2020 resolutions?
Stay amazing!
Chloe

Comeback!! (Hopefully...)

I'm fully aware that I've been AWOL for the last couple of months- the last time I posted was early September!! It's safe to say that I've fallen spectacularly behind but I really want to get back to blogging!

There's been a few reasons why I haven't had time to blog as much:

1. I left college this year and now I've started an apprenticeship which means I have so much less free time to actually do anything!

2. A lot of my creative time has gone towards my Bookstagram account! I've actually written a full post on the pros and cons of Bookstagram and why it's taken up more of my time so stay tuned for that!

3. My other creative time has been spent outlining! Recently, I've decided to push aside the writing project I've spent the last two years (for various reasons) and start a new novel. I also have a full post explaining this development so stay tuned for that too!

Growing Up...

It's been a while since I've written a proper discussion post so here we are... existential crises and personal anecdotes just the way you like em ;)

And the topic is... growing up (which you probably already guessed from the title)
I turned 18 in January and I've had a startling realisation that's kind of sad to think about. Yes, I'm talking about the existential crisis of growing up.... but I'm relating it to books!
I've loved books from a very young age and have naturally always read books with older protagonists (generally 16 or 18). And when I was, like, 10, these characters seemed so much older and cooler than me and I aspired to be like them- they were my role models. And now... I'm realising that I'm the same age or even older than all the characters I used to look up to... which makes me feel relatively boring and unremarkable, to be honest (if you haven't slayed a dragon or fought demons before the age of 18, what are you even doing with your life?).

Escapril 2019 || Part 3

Another week has gone by and Escapril is still going strong! Essentially, Escapril is where you write a poem or piece of flash fiction or song every day throughout the month of April. I've been following the daily prompts which has resulted in some interesting and questionable poems...
I'll link my previous posts and poems down below in case you missed them!
Days 1-2
Days 3-10

day 11 - not from your perspective
This was a total cop out. It was late, I'd been busy the whole day so this was me being... creative in my choice of poem. (Trust me, if you spoke 'Groot', you'd realise that this is actually a very poignant and deep masterpiece).

Escapril 2019 Part 2!!!

A full week has gone by and Escapril is still going strong! Essentially, Escapril is where you write a peom (or small piece or fiction/ song/etc) every single day in April. I've been positing mine to my Instagram (@chloe_a_harris) but I'm also going to compile them into weekly blog posts!
I've been keeping to the official escapril prompts this month, made by Savannah Brown, and I've really been enjoying it! It's fun to stretch my poetry into new topics and themes that I haven't necessarily thought of before.

Day 3- incorporate music

Escapril 2019!!!

Because I don't have enough on my plate with revision for exams... (*questions all life decisions*), I decided I wanted to participate in Escapril!
Escapril is an idea created by Youtuber, Poet and Novelist, Savannah Brown, who does some of the best poetry ever. Escapril is basically like Inktober but for writers. The aim is to write a poem or even a short piece of fiction every single day and post it through Instagram. I've decided to write a poem every day so, if you want to check them out, follow me on Instagram at @chloe_a_harris to get all the daily updates. But... if you don't want to do that (which I totally don't blame you for) I'll also be posting weekly blog posts with a compilation of the poems that week.
As it's currently the 2nd of April, I've already posted two poems so, I'll give you those and then continue from there every Tuesday in April! Warming: the poem quality will seriously decrease over the course of the month....
I ignored the prompt for Day One (a fresh start) and just did my own thing...

Forever Fictional is Three Years Old!!!

It's that time of year again when Forever Fictional is officially a year older!!! We've sped through the terrible twos and now we're three years old!! My baby's growing up so fast *wipes away stray tear*
So, like always, I wanted to look back over the year and check out my highlights and favourite posts!

As always, thank you so much to every person who follows, likes and comments on my blog! I love you all so much!!!

Strings- Original Poetry
I didn't post as much poetry as I wanted to last year but I'm really happy with the pieces that I did. Yes, there are many other poems that I wrote last year but... maybe a little too personal to post. Sorry, not sorry.

World Book Day Baking w/ Kailtin
Like always, World Book Day is a great highlight of every year and last year was super fun as me and Kailtin (Liber Amoris) made bookish cupcakes!! Honestly, we're running out of fun bookish activities to do every year so, if you have any suggestions, we're all ears! But this ended up being super fun and the cupcakes looked amazing by the end (maybe a baking career will be a fallback if I don't become a writer... but let's hope not).

Writing Diary #18- A Successful Babywrimo?

So, last month, I tried to do my own little version of Nanowrimo to get myself into writing consistently again. It was an easier version of the writing challenge- a baby challenge, shall we say- and, mostly, I'll say I was successful.
My goal was essentially to write every single day of the month no matter what just to get writing into my daily routine once more and, on the whole, I achieved that. I've written more in last month than I had in the previous three before that so I'm very happy with the progress I made.
Unfortunately, I didn't end up writing every single day in November but I only missed a day or two due to unforeseeable events that just meant writing was impossible to manage in those days. But that happens! And I'm not going to take it too much to heart because I'm otherwise super happy with how much I've done.
From here, I'm hoping to keep up the momentum and just keep writing!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment your thought. Stay amazing!
Chloe

Writing Diary #17- Nano-for-the-love-of-gods-just-write

This is a new, personal twist on the Nanowrimo craze, brought by yours truly.
Now I participated and completed Nanowrimo last year and it was a lot of work, a lot of stress and a lot of fun. But because this year I'm not actually working on the first draft of anything and don't want to start anything new. I'm not going to be doing the traditional Nanowrimo but my own, warped version. Just so I can be doing something.
I finished editing my first draft in September, creating a lovely (and I'm very loose on that word), second draft that I've since been reading through and taking notes on. But, other than that, I've been doing absolutely nothing and it's so creatively frustrating! It doesn't help that my timetable is crazy busy this year and will no doubt get even busier which leaves me little time to write but, alas, I can't keep using that as an excuse comfort blanket.
So, I'm going to use November and Nanowrimo to get me back into writing because, dammit, I'm not gonna sit and later regret all the time wasted. And I also thought it'd be good to post my progress on the internet for everyone to see as a bit of extra incentive (because if internet shaming won't do it, nothing can).

Writing Diary #16- I Love Editing???

I've never properly edited a manuscript before. Sure, I've written two first drafts in my life but the first one was so awful that I discarded it immediately (when you know, you just know). But, with my current first draft, I've been editing my heart out and have surprisingly found that I enjoy it!
At the moment I've been sticking to the major edits- big plot line issues, scenes that need to be changed or chunks of dialogue that need to be re-written. And I thought this would be a super painful process because looking back at your awful and sloppy work is always a bit of confidence beater. But I'm really enjoying taking scenes and improving them- it feels so rewarding! I love finishing a scene and knowing it's so much better than before.
I've also been able to expand plot points as I've gone along too. Re-reading the whole thing with such fresh and close eyes has also helped me come up with new things to add to the story and to make the plot a bit more complex and deep.

Writing Diary #15- Finishing Another First Draft!!

Side note: All previous writing diaries are linked in my Personal Writing page which can be found on the bar at the top of this blog. 

It's always such an accomplishment to finally finish a first draft and I'm so happy for getting through it! In total, this is the third first draft I've ever completed (if you count my Nanowrimo Novel last year) and it's definitely the one I'm most proud of.
My first novel which I wrote back in 2016 was my first ever go at writing a novel... which explains why it was so terrible. That first project only took me around eight months to finish which was significantly quicker than the time it took me to write this one. However, this one is a lot better so I don't mind that it took me longer. My first novel came in at roughly 130,000 words so.... it was long even though it had no character development or interesting plot points whatsoever. Go figure.

A Late Apology- Original Poetry

It's been a while since I posted a poem even though I've been writing a lot lately. I thought I'd share a poem I wrote back in November. Again, it's depressing because that's all I can seem to write but I hope you enjoy it!


A Late Apology

I'm sorry
that
for all those years
I saw you as a safety net
not on purpose
but a harness
allowing me to jump for newer
higher things
knowing that if I failed
you'd still be there

I saw Hamilton at the West End!!!

Last weekend I was the luckiest person in the world and finally got to see Hamilton at Victoria Palace at the West End!! We got the tickets in January 2017 so I've waited over a year but I was definitely willing to wait for it. It was so worth the wait and will always be my favourite ever show.
I decided to document the whole day but I will be posting a full musical review soon where I go into depth about my opinions of the casting, choreography and the songs.
The entire day was so much fun and, even thought I was shattered by the end of it, I loved every second.
If you ever have the chance to see Hamilton at the West End, I'd immediately say go for it! Do not throw away your shot! The West End cast were amazing and it was a surreal experience getting to see it live.

They day started with a long long train journey but I was so damn energised!! I went to see Hamilton with my mum and, as she'd never heard the musical all the way through and only knew snippets of what it was about, I gave her a "quick" summary on the journey over. This got me super excited to watch it and... I think you can tell how excited I got.

Strings- Original Poetry

Sorry for yet another depressing poem... I can't seem to channel any positive emotions in my writing...

strings

we tied a knot
a piece of string
and wrapped it round out wrists

a friendship bracelet, we said
to keep each other close
and wear our memories proud

but our wrists have changed
grown bigger with the weight of the world
swollen with plans that aren't our own

Forever Fictional's Second Birthday!!!!

Another year has gone by and it's been a great one! A lot has happened over the past year and I'm gonna go over my personal highlights and favourite posts! Thanks to everyone who follows, comments and supports my blog!!!
(Links to each post are on subheadings)

Mystery Blogger Award
I was nominated for this award not once but twice and I appreciated each nomination so much!! I did two different posts answering questions and it was a lot of fun to complete.

Forever Fictional #Rebranding 
Maybe the biggest change for my blog during this past year was that I changed the name! Fictional Fetish became Forever Fictional and I'm so glad I followed through with the change despite my anxieties. It took a long time to change everything in terms of other social media and all the links within posts but I managed to complete the transition and I'm so happy with it.

Bookish Pick up Lines
This was one of my favourite posts to write because I love books and I love puns... it was a match made in heaven. I had a lot of fun creating it.

Best Books of 2017

I don't feel like I read too many books this year but there are still a selection of my favourites. When I looked back over the books I reads this year, I'm quite disappointed with how little new books there were. I'm not a stranger to re-reading books but I found it really hard to comprise this list because there weren't actually that many new reads that really wowed me....  but hopefully next year will be better.

Sidenote: the books in the following list weren't necessarily released in 2017 but were read by me for the first time this year.

A Court of Wings and Ruin (ACOTAR #3)- Sarah J. Maas
These books may not be in order but this would definitely be at the top of any list. While ACOMAF still maintains my favourite, this instalment was an epic finale and, with Sarah, you can't expect anything less than perfection. I love the characters in this series with all my heart and am so happy we're getting another spin-off trilogy with them in because I was not ready to say goodbye.
A Court of Wings and Ruin Book Talk


The Struggle (Titan #3)- Jennifer L. Armentrout
I read this in the early months of the year but I can still remember how much I loved it. Jennifer L. Armentrout is one of my all-time favourite authors and this series gives me life every year. The Titan series is a spin-off of the Covenant series and they have a really big place in my heart. All of JLA's books are fantastic and this one is no exception. I can't wait for the final book in this series to come out next year.... although I'm nervous because I don't want anyone to die.
The Struggle Book Talk

Writing Diary #14 - Nanowrimo Winner!!!

I complete Nanowrimo!!! With my final word count coming to 50,524 words!!

The first half went really well but it got harder and harder from the half way point. Nevertheless, I managed to finish my novel and, as a whole, I'm really happy with it. Doing this prequel novella of my current work in progress has been so insightful as I've delved into a certain character's past and it's helping plan and plot for the future.

I'm really happy I participated in Nanowrimo even though it took a lot out of me. It got very draining and it got to a point where I'd dread writing every day. But it did push me to finish this novella and I'm pleased with how it's turned out. Currently, I don't think I'd do Nanowrimo again but... by next year I'll probably be raring to go at it again. Typical.

Book Tattoos?

I've always wanted a tattoo when I'm older and, of course, it would be book related- a tribute, of sorts, to honour my favourite books and quotes. So, I thought it'd be interesting for me to share some designs that I really love and the reason behind me maybe someday wanting them permanently inked
on my skin.

Quotes
I'll likely get a quote but the only problem is that I have a real struggle picking which one- I love so many! At the moment, my favourite is: she reads books as one would breathe air; to fill up and live. I adore this quote but maybe think it's too long? I want a small tattoo, not a giant one.

Writing Diary #13- Woooahh, We're Half Way There!!

It's all about the outline...

I thought I'd make a little update on my Nanowrimo progress because we're halfway there!!! My current word count is 26,535 which is a little ahead, thankfully. From the very beginning, I have been determined to win Nanowrimo because, even though it's my first try, I don't like failing. I will finish this novel my the end of November if it's the last thing I do.
It has been difficult but a manageable difficult. It gets harder as it goes along because you just lose steam with each day and.... I've still got 15 days to go... I write every single day anyway so it's just a matter of making sure I get the words down better than I normally do. I manage to average 1,000 words an hour so spend around 2 hours a day writing. Before Nano, my average was probably only around 500 words an hour so.... progress!!

I really think this challenge has helped me and will make me naturally write more and quicker in the future which will be great because my other book has taken me five months to get to 50,000 words and I'm halfway through....