inspiration.

I just finished Mockingjay a couple of nights ago, even though rightfully I should have been doing homework instead of plowing my way through one of the most impressive series I've ever read.  I could fill this post with spoilers, but I'm not going to; I'd rather have people actually go read the trilogy.  I've actually been pushing it in the general direction of a lot of people.  Most of these people - to their own loss - have been ignoring me.

The writing style really struck me as I read the trilogy.  At first, I didn't like it.  It was first person.  It wasn't first person present, though, so I didn't hate it.  I got over my frustration with that pretty quickly, though.  I began to notice the setting and the characters.  The descriptions weren't too much, though.  They were enough.  Enough to spark my imagination.  Collins said "electric fence" and from there I created the interior of the coal-mining town that was District 12.  She described the clothes that Katniss was wearing, but only when it was important and related to Cinna.  It wasn't over-detailed, like some aspiring authors do, and it's wasn't brand specific (it couldn't be, of course).  Nobody could feel out-of-the-loop about her descriptions.  I think that's really important.

Her plot was mind blowing.  I keep saying "it's just a distopia book" and it is... but at the same time, it isn't.  I really want to go back and re-evaluate 'Tweens now.  I want to look at my characters and make sure they're flawed.  I want to describe more.  I want to pinpoint specific references to popular culture and eliminate them.

I want to make my stories very real.  Fantasy enough that the reader can step out of them, but real enough so they cannot forget.