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A review by thetomatowriter
The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories by Brenna Yovanoff, Tessa Gratton, Maggie Stiefvater
5.0
I picked this up from the library because I haven't read anything by Maggie Stiefvater that I haven't liked, and I have been meaning to read Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff for some time. I expected to read some interesting, probably a little bit magical stories. Which I did. But the reason I loved this book went beyond that.
See, a few years ago, Stiefvater, Gratton, and Yovanoff, three YA authors who happen to be good friends and critique partners, had a blog called The Merry Sisters of Fate, where they each posted a short story once a week that was in some way challenging to them. They gave each other feedback and the blog, while they posted their stories, showed the way they all grew as writers from writing with each other. Eventually, they stopped the blog (the archives are still up, you should check it out), but they published two collections containing several of the stories.
Each story is prefaced with a little blurb from the author and usually one of the critique partners, explaining the reason they wrote that story or what they liked about it, what it said about their writing, and any other interesting tidbit. But that's not all! There are little handwritten notes throughout the book from each of the authors. It's like a director's commentary to The Merry Fates, but better than that, it's a look into the creative process and into the wild but so encouraging world of writer friendships.
This book made me feel so motivated to write, in a way that I've been struggling to feel for most of this year (I've still been writing, because you can't just wait for it to feel right, but it helps when it DOES). I wasn't even finished before I got a few friends together and we started talking about doing a similar project. And as someone who has many writer friends and loves them as dearly as the merry sisters of fate love each other, I would recommend this book. It's very interesting, the stories are wonderful of course, and it's just fun.
See, a few years ago, Stiefvater, Gratton, and Yovanoff, three YA authors who happen to be good friends and critique partners, had a blog called The Merry Sisters of Fate, where they each posted a short story once a week that was in some way challenging to them. They gave each other feedback and the blog, while they posted their stories, showed the way they all grew as writers from writing with each other. Eventually, they stopped the blog (the archives are still up, you should check it out), but they published two collections containing several of the stories.
Each story is prefaced with a little blurb from the author and usually one of the critique partners, explaining the reason they wrote that story or what they liked about it, what it said about their writing, and any other interesting tidbit. But that's not all! There are little handwritten notes throughout the book from each of the authors. It's like a director's commentary to The Merry Fates, but better than that, it's a look into the creative process and into the wild but so encouraging world of writer friendships.
This book made me feel so motivated to write, in a way that I've been struggling to feel for most of this year (I've still been writing, because you can't just wait for it to feel right, but it helps when it DOES). I wasn't even finished before I got a few friends together and we started talking about doing a similar project. And as someone who has many writer friends and loves them as dearly as the merry sisters of fate love each other, I would recommend this book. It's very interesting, the stories are wonderful of course, and it's just fun.