Book review: “Screamcatcher: Dream Chasers" by Chris Stevenson

“Screamcatcher: Dream Chasers" by Chris Stevenson 

 ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 

This is a good start to the book, but in the UK everything is metric measurements now, so I very much doubt that the readers this book is aimed at will understand what the author means with the “nearly three foot in diameter” means getting on for a metre… even older teens are unlikely to be able to imagine it!

Same with the word choices of “fetid odor emanating” too! I’m already thinking that the readers will need a dictionary or a parent/carer/teacher to understand some of the word choices and I’m only a few pages into it so far!

I hope the author has permission from Wikipedia, Benadryl and Motrin to use their brand names in the novel!!

It’s getting better the further you read, so it’s worth sticking by it if you want to… it’s just way too telling, too many characters and using too many brand names which could get the author into legal hot water if they haven’t got permission to use them.

The author is really into their stride now! There could still be improvements and speech instead of descriptions but so far so good with this now!

The last chapter is a bit confusing… it’s just copied and pasted from the start of the book, isn’t it??

Not sure if it’s been copied and pasted word for word, but the last few paragraphs of the book make sense and it’s a positive ending.

There have been a few dull, boring bits throughout the book, but it definitely deserves the four stars I’m giving it now that I’ve finished reading it!

Aaaaand it's finished!

50k words written in exactly two weeks ain't bad going and I've already forgiven myself for my JanNo mistake now that it's finished.  Means I can spend the day actually living and talking to Steve now lol

Onto my final chapter of the MS now

Just got 898 words left to write then it's finished and I can finally stop guilt-tripping myself about my JanNo mistake!

After that, I've got a novel to read and review and another one waiting for me too.

Achieved 6 chapters today, which means...

...I've just got the final 5 chapters to write tomorrow then it's finished in exactly 2 weeks, including technical issues meaning that I couldn't write for two of 'em at least... not my best ever, but still pretty impressive I reckon❗

That's my target achieved now, so...

...I'm gonna aim for 6 chapters today so that I can hopefully finish the entire manuscript tomorrow evening instead of Sunday morning.  It's within touching distance now though and will be finished in two and a bit weeks instead of the month I challenged myself to after the mistake, thanks to my memory/brain damage issues, of JanNo.

Hopefully be able to have an early-ish night tonight too, so that I can wake up, take the puppy for her stroll and make a start on finishing up the manuscript.

👍

I've already written the same in 3 hours than...

...I did during the entire day yesterday, so I'm right on track for hitting the 5 chapters today, especially 'cos I'm having soup for lunch so I don't need to put my laptop on the floor today, which gives me an extra half an hour that I didn't have yesterday too.

Gonna take the puppy for her stroll then come back, have my celebratory J2O for finishing chapter 40, then get straight back to writing again.

That's chapter 38 written now, so my current plan is to...

...write 5 chapters tomorrow, 5 on Saturday and the final two on Sunday.  Keep your fingers crossed 🤞 that I manage it please❓❗

Currently writing chapter 38 and hoping to...

...finish chapter 39 by the time I go to bed, write 6 chapters tomorrow to take me up to chapter 45 then finish the final 5 chapters on Saturday.  Slower than I was hoping for, but still well within the month I'd set myself, considering I've had technical issues and had to do a system restore on Monday afternoon that lasted until Tuesday morning and decided to go wrong so I had to deal with that and could only start writing again yesterday.  Not bad going though, I don't reckon.

I'm gonna give myself the rest of March off, then start editing on April Fools Day of all days 😀

How is your planning/writing/editing going❓  Leave me a comment and let me know❗

Just written chapter 30 so...

...I've rewarded myself with a J2O and I'm heading to bed now.

See you all at some point tomorrow.

Nite nite orl.

As of right now, the first draft of my WIP is...

...officially half finished after only 5 days.  The puppy's coming home at some point on Saturday, so tomorrow will be another full, mostly uninterrupted, day of writing and I'm right on track for finishing on 10th March too, which is awesome and means I've still got ⅔ of March to myself.

I'll give myself a week-long break then crack on with the editing of my current first drafts in my "To Edit" folder and hopefully have at least one MS finished with the first round of edits by the end of March 👍.

As of now, I am, officially...

I've just put the final full stop into chapter 20, so I'm now officially ⅖ of the way through the entire manuscript after only 4 days and tomorrow, assuming I write the 5 chapters I'm hoping for, I'll be half way through and right on track for finishing on the 10th which is awesomesauce.

I'm really back into the creative mindset again now, so as long as I keep working through the uncertainty that I have for the first half an hour or so every morning, I can just type and type and type all day again.

I'll hopefully get an extra couple of hours to write in tomorrow 'cos the puppy prolly won't be here then so I can start writing during the time that I usually take her out for her morning and afternoon strolls and I can go to bed later too.  Just gonna take it as it comes though... doing well so far though!

Gonna finish off my mug of tea then crack open the J2O while I read my emails for the first time today, then head to bed.  I prolly won't write any more blog posts tonight, so I'll say goodnight to you all now.  Thank you so much for reading each of my blog posts and feel free to spread the word!

Just met today's target 5 chapters so I'm off to bed now

Just put the final full stop in chapter 15, so I'm feeling pretty proud of myself right now.  I'll even be able to have an early night too.  Gonna spend a little while catching up on my emails and Facebook then I'm gonna head to beddy-byes.  Gonna shut this browser down now, so I'll say nite nite orl until tomorrow.

Just finished chapter 10, soooo...

... J2O here I come!

If I keep on at this rate, I'll finish the entire novel on the 10th which is so totally awesome.

Gonna have my first reward of the month then head to bed I reckon.  See you all at some point tomorrow.

Nite nite orl.

Fourth chapter finished now, soooo...

Just put the final full stop in chapter 4, so I'm gonna shut down and have an early night now.  I'm hoping to write 5 chapters tomorrow but we'll see what happens.

See you all again tomorrow after I finish chapter 5... might make it every few chapters from tomorrow onwards, now that I've got the first day done and dusted.

Third chapter finished.

After a long, slow start, I've averaged about an hour and a half to two hours per chapter for the second and third chapters, so I'm gonna make a start on chapter 4, take my pills at about 7pm-ish and head to bed by hopefully 9pm-ish. 

So proud of everything I've achieved since lunchtime.

Going by past experiences, it'll be reasonably plain sailing now until the last few chapters 'cos it's the first chapter and the last couple that are the hardest for me to write, no matter how well planned out they are.

Second chapter of the day written

Just put the final full stop in chapter 2 and I'm past the sticky start I always have now, so it'll hopefully be smooth sailing with the writing now.  Aiming to write chapter 3 then take my pills and hopefully finish chapter 4 before I head to bed tonight.

Wish me luck❗

Chapter 1 written now, and I've decided...

...because it's a personal challenge, I won't set a daily target, I'll just reward myself with every 10 chapters I write, which should, in theory, be every two or three days.  I'm not gonna pressure myself this time though, I'll write as many as I can each day and not worry too much about how long it takes.  In theory, I only need to write 2 chapters a day which is definitely doable, just need to stay motivated and creative for the rest of March is all.

What are your writing plans during March?  Planning?  Writing?  Editing?

Literally about to start on...

...writing my next YYA novel.  I wrote the same novel for JanNo as I did for JanNo so I'm aiming to spend March writing the novel I should have written in January 🤣

Got the music blasting through my headphones which always motivates me to start writing so I'd better get on with it instead of semi-avoiding it like I'm doing now for some reason.  I wanna write it, but the first chapter is always the hardest to motivate myself to write, 'cos I want to be sure to show rather than tell.

Talk to you all again at some point soon.