Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Top 10 Authors that Deserve more Recognition

1. Natsuki Takaya: She wrote my favorite series of all time which is Fruits Basket, I think that the writing in that series is perfect. The characters are developed so well and they grow up so much over the course of the series and even though the character change a lot of the course of the series it never feels sudden and it always feels earned. I loved that even though there was so many characters they all had backstories and they all had depth to them. I loved the way that the relationships develop over the course of the series in fact something I really love about the series is that while people who haven't read it assumes that it's a love triangle series a little over half way through the series it's revealed that one of the boys couldn't never see the main character in a romantic way and trying to force those feelings would just feel empty. I also really loved that she never rushed any of the romantic relationships in the series and instead made sure that the characters were emotionally prepared to be in a relationship rather than having them assume that being with someone would fix them, I overall really like that characters had to fix themselves in the series. I always really love the foreshadowing through out the series which something you can't really appreciate until at least your second reading of the series and I really love the intention to detail that she has since she once talked about how she worried about getting something as insignificant as finger nail length right.
2. Sara Shepard: I think that she's really good at creating suspense and mystery in her series The Lying Game because there are so many twist and turns in that series and she always does a good job of making me suspect someone as Sutton's killer but then is able to prove that it couldn't have been them and there's quite a few other mysteries in the series that I wasn't expecting as well. I feel like Sara Shepard probably doesn't get the credit she deserves for this series because she's writing about teenage girls and teenage girls and murder mysteries rarely mix but I think she does a really good job of combining the two.
3. Ellen Hopkins: I think Ellen Hopkins is fairly well known do to her unique style of writing her novels in verse and while I think that her writing style does make her writing beautiful I don't think that's the only thing that she should be recognized for. Her characters are always so well developed and even when you don't like the characters you understand who the characters are and I feel like all of her characters always have depth which isn't true for most novels unfortunately. I also think she handles the controversial issues in a very emotional honest way which is something that I appreciate a lot.
4. Frank Beddor: I really love his series The Looking Glass Wars because it's an extremely creative retelling of Alice in Wonderland not to mention my favorite. I really love how he changed the original Alice in Wonderland characters to fit his version of wonderland and loved the new characters he created as well and I also loved the world of Wonderland because it's just such a magical place but also a dangerous place as well. I never really hear about Frank Beddor and since I think he did such a great job with The Looking Glass Wars I wish more people recognized his talent.
5. Ally Carter: I think that Ally Carter does get a pretty good amount of recognition but I think she still does deserve more because she writes really entertaining series about teen girls being spies and con artists, she also has written great female friendships which are rarer than they should be and she also writes sweet romances that never over take the plot. I love both her series Gallagher Girls and Heist Society and look forward to any other books she may write.
6. Clamp: Clamp is extremely well known in the manga/anime community because they have created so many series but sadly it seems like the majority of the community doesn't actually respect their writing. Clamp has written 150 volumes of manga and are still creating new volumes now while I haven't read all of their series and I'll admit that there are some series I love a lot more than others I still think it's impress that they have written so many volumes. Their series that I think are completely brilliant are Tokyo Babylon and Cardcaptor Sakura they are two very different series. In that Tokyo Babylon is a series that is mostly about the issues facing the people of Tokyo in the 1990s being told through a supernatural perspective and the main theme of the series is that no can judge someone else's pain because they haven't felt it which I think is a brilliant theme, also the ending of Tokyo Babylon is downright depressing. Cardcaptor Sakura on the other hand is a far happier series about a magical girl who must collect Clow cards and it's also a series about how love comes in all different forms and explores all different kinds of love not just the romantic kinds although that is included in several different ways as well, the end of this series is also one of my favorite but it's a very happy ending.
7. Tachibana Higuchi: I really loved both Gakuen Alice and M&N and I don't hear the name mentioned too often even though both of those series are great. I think the characters are well written and the world of Gakuen Alice is pretty creative as well.

3 Writers who don't write books:
1. Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen: These two have written some of the best episodes of Dollhouse which is a series that absolutely love but it's over all a pretty underrated series therefore their writing is over all pretty underrated as well. These two wrote my favorite episode Belonging(2.04) which is one of my favorite episodes of all time and is something that I think everyone should watch even if you don't usually watch tv. Belonging is an episode that does so much is such a short amount of time, it gives the backstory of one character well also developing another and it also does quite a bit for the show's main romance and it also advances the overall plot of the series a bit in a subplot. The episode also as main ethical dilemmas present in it as well and the episode is actually quite disturbing too. Other episodes they wrote that I love are Epitaph One and The Attic.
2. Marina and the Diamonds: I think that Marina is a brilliant songwriter because she has so much meaning behind all of her songs and the lyrics are so memorable as well. I especially loved her concept behind her second album Electra Heart in which she takes on the personas of primadonna, Su-Barbie-A, the teen idle and the homewrecker, I also like how the album was the dark side of the whole American dream concept and I really loved how she had such a well thought out concept for her album because it's not something that see often.
Buy the Stars- I really love this song because to me at least it seems to be about the whole concept that I see in fiction a lot about how some guy with a dark past is saved when falls in love with a good girl but the relationship can't actually work because he just sees her as the light in his life the solution to his problems rather than her own person and someone who can't be owned. Therefore the relationship between the two can never work since he doesn't even really know her.You bought a star in the sky tonight/Because your life is dark and it needs some light/You named it after me, but I’m not yours to keep/Because you’ll never see, that the stars are free.
Teen Idle- This song is actually my favorite song of hers I've heard that it's both about how someone is looking back on her teen years and regretting not being more apart of the whole teenage experience because they were too busy being cynical and I've also heard that it's about how teen idols are kind of trapped in this phase were they are expected to be innocent but at the same time they are growing up and becoming teenagers and are likely to rebel. Either way the song is really brilliant in my opinion and the lyrics paints a story. I also really like that at points the song can be pretty contradicting with this part I wanna be a virgin pure/A 21st century whore and I also really love how self the destructive the lyrics can sound at points I wanna drink until I ache/I wanna make a big mistake/I want blood, guts and angel cake/I’m gonna puke it anyway. I also really enjoyed the part in this song in which the girl is a bit narcissistic but hates herself for it with I wish I wasn’t such a narcissist/I wish I didn’t really kiss the mirror when I’m on my own. Another part of the song that I see a lot on tumblr is The wasted years, the wasted youth/The pretty lies, the ugly truth.Starring Role- This song is about a girl who's in a relationship with a guy that really isn't putting her first and she resents that but stays with the guy because she cares for him too much to let him go and is a bit obsessed with him I believe at least that's what I heard it took me quite a while to pick up on that part. You're hard to hug, tough to talk to/And I never fall asleep, when you're in my bed/All you give me is a heartbeat/I've turned into a statue/And it makes me feel depressed/Cause the only time you open up is when we get undressed. The next part I really love of the song makes me think that she really does desire to the relationship at times You know I'd rather walk alone, than play a supporting role/If I can't get the starring role.How To Be A Heartbreaker- This song is probably her best known song and it's in the persona of the homewrecker and I do really love the song as well although I think I may love Homewrecker a bit more that song also deals with the whole girls who don't let themselves get attach don't get themselves hurt theme of the homewrecker persona.
Oh No!- Is a song from her first episode that I love because it just really speaks to me for some reason. Some of my favorite lyrics from the song are: Don't do love, don't do friends/I'm only after success/Don't need a relationship. Also this part: One track mind, one track heart/If I fail, I'll fall apart/Maybe it is all a test/Cause I feel like I'm the worst/So I always act like I'm the best
/If you are not very careful/Your possessions will possess you/TV taught me how to feel/Now real life has no appeal/It has no appeal.
 
I love pretty much all of her song but since this section is already really long I'm just going to list them rather than explain why I love them, Are You Satisfied?, I'm Not a Robot, Hermit the Frog, Seventeen, Bubblegum Bitch, Power and Control, Fear and Loathing, and Scab and Plaster.
3. Hideaki Anno: He created the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion which is one of the most well known animes around. The reason why I think he should get more recognition is because he created a series in which the characters were all deep and well developed but that didn't necessarily mean that the characters where all strong or brave because realistically they usually wouldn't be. I really loved the way he wrote the main character Shinji as someone who didn't jump right into the hero but rather as a boy who had been abandon by his father for years and when his father finally acknowledges his existence again it's for him to fight against a creature that very well may kill him and I liked that Shinji always had to tell himself he mustn't run away. I over all just really enjoyed how deep this series could get.

7 comments:

  1. I've read a lot of good things about Ally Carter this week!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've seen Ally Carter and Ellen Hopkins on a number of lists now. I haven't read anything by either author... though I might like Ellen Hopkins, as I do enjoy verse novels.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm sure Ally Carter will get more attention once the movie comes out (it's been taking soooo long). My TTT

    ReplyDelete
  4. Awesome list! Thanks for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've heard of a few of these, but I have yet to read their books. I have some of Ally Carter's and hope to read them soon. When I was younger I wanted to be a spy, so I'm hoping I like them! Thanks for stopping by!

    Rachel @ Beauty and the Bookshelf

    ReplyDelete
  6. I loved that you included writers that were not novelists! Great idea! I LOVE WHEDON!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love Ally Carter and Ellen Hopkins. Both are amazing. Thanks for visiting my TTT last week.

    ReplyDelete