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Hello, world! We have Lizzie, over at Starlight and Saucepans, to thank for this tag! Thank you, Lizzie!
Let's get into it!
The Outline
1. Link back to who tagged you
2. Share the Graphic on your blog
3. Share the Outline on your post
4. Share a detail you love about the season of summer into fall
5. List at least 7 random/ specific things YOU love to read about in books, big or small
6. Tag 7 people who would enjoy taking part/whose answers you are curious to read!
Since we're basically in winter now, I'll copy Lizzie with the seasons answer. There's just so much beautiful excitement that comes with the end of the year. There are breaks to plan for, holidays to celebrate, and goals to lock in on—since there's only a couple weeks left to achieve whatever New Year's goals you set earlier in the year.
Now, on to the seven things!
1. A MC starts out evil and turns good
Tell me a story of a dark, secret organization, and a child who grew up in the midst of it all. Tell me how, through a crazy inciting incident, they end up meeting the good guys and spending time with these people who live lives so, so wildly different from anything they've ever dreamed was possible. Tell me how they wrestle with these two conflicting realities, and tell me they choose good in the end, even if it costs them everything.
Example: I have a book series, a film series, and a show as examples for this, but I don't want to give spoilers so you'll just have to trust me. This trope is AMAZING!!
(Since the characters turn good within the first book/film/season, this trope isn't a major spoiler for the series as wholes, so if you want the recommendations, shoot me an email through my contact page and I'll give you the list!)
2. A MC as the leader of the friend group + the found family trope
I love to see a group of misfits rally around an even bigger misfit to accomplish something grand. Maybe it’s saving the universe, maybe it’s getting through the school year. But I want to see them led by someone who is heroic and kind and strong. And, oh my goodness, the friendships that form in groups like these are so precious. 🥹 Also, watching the side characters grow to respect and trust the MC as they show time and time again that they can be respected and trusted, is just one of my favorite things! *sighs happily*
Example: Michael Vey from the Michael Vey series by Richard Paul Evans.
Michael's crew would follow him anywhere, and several of his most loyal team members are former antagonists, another one of my favorite tropes of all time!! 🥹
3. Matured MC giving advice
By the last one or two books of the series, I LOVE to see the main character stepping into a role of mentorship for others. I wanna hear them softly speak a truth to another that I watched them bleed to learn in earlier books. It’s just a really beautiful way to redeem pain in a story, by letting it serve other/younger characters who are coming up and struggling with the same things. I love to see it. But I do not love to wait until any sequels to see it. Have it in the original series, I beg of you.
Example: Keith from Voltron: Legendary Defender (TV show, because I couldn't think of a great example from a book).
The pep talks my boy Keith was dishing out in the last couple seasons were just so encouraging!! 🥹
4. Clear and concise prose
I love when inner dialogue, character dialogue, and descriptions can convey ideas without long paragraphs of explanation. I'd rather the plot is moved along from beginning though the middle and to the end. Tell me information only as I need to know it.
Example: The Blades of Acktar series by Tricia Mingerink.
I absolutely loved the pacing and exposition in this series! I never felt like a scene was useless, and info about the world and characters was revealed as it became relevant for me to know it.
5. Deep themes on love, friendship, faith, and suffering (i.e. life)
Intense, I know. But I need soul in my stories. I need them to mean something. Whatever we're battling externally in the plot is, of course, important, but what are we battling internally? What are we trying to overcome there? Loneliness? Resentment? Hopelessness? Fear? What's the brokenness inside that we're setting out to heal? I'm telling you, if the internal conflict is internal conflicting, I am going to love the book.
Example: A Silent Voice (Again, couldn't think of a great example from a book).
This movie... It is beautiful. It's quite painful to watch because of what the characters are going through and how intense the themes are, but it is the tackling of these intense themes that make the film so powerful. I've only watched it a handful of times over the past 7 or so years, but even so, I can remember almost every scene.
6. Excellent quotes
Speaking of themes, if you can tie yours up into lines that a character actually says, either out loud or within their inner dialogue (but bonus points if it’s spoken aloud!), I will be so happy with you! Give me something I can repeat to myself in hard times. Something I can pin on Pinterest. Something I can tape to my wall or write down in my journal. Something I can keep with me long after I've put down your book.
Example: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The books are huge, and I know that's a deterrent for some, but my goodness, are the quotes in this series beautiful!
7. Fun!!
If we are to go on such an adventure, where heavy topics and difficult themes abound, please, please make me laugh. Give me a MC who is funny, whose inner dialogue and interpretations of events has me giggling. Give me humorous situations and inside jokes and laugh-out-loud banter!
Example: The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen.
Sage (the main character) is a national treasure!
Alright, everyone, I tag:
Miranda from from Nie
Rachel from Hamlette's Soliloquy
Nicole Dust from Legend of a Writer
Jameson C. Smith from Lovely Whatsoevers
and Ivy Miranda from Revealed in Time
(I think most people have already been tagged, so I'll stop there)
~ ~ ~
Here's a silly Christmas MV from Stray Kids!
(Turn on subs!)
Also, I just wanted to briefly say, if you’re going through something hard right now, please don’t give up yet on the last few days of 2025. Good things can still happen before the year comes to a close. So please keep stepping out. Keep doing good. Keep going! End 2025 strong!! You’ve got this, and God’s got you!
Have a merry Christmas, everyone!!
May the rest of your year see numerous blessings!
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