Final Post

Original Post

1. What specific words/phrases demonstrate your writer’s voice? How do these words/phrases showcase your personality as a writer?

I think the first sentence, when I say, “I thought I would tell you about my favorite books and recommend them to you!” helps showcase my personality as a writer. The way I wrote it makes you read it enthusiastically. It shows that I am excited to recommend my favorite books to people and it shows that I am passionate about these books. It also makes the post more conversational and friendly, like I am glad to tell you about my favorite books and I want to talk to you about them. I think another part that shows my voice is when I say, “I think this is a book everyone should read at one point of their lives.” This shows how powerful and important this book was to me. It shows my voice because it’s meaningful and it shows that I really care about people reading this book. I think those two lines best show my voice and personality as a writer.

 

2. What purposeful diction and syntax choices did you make to enhance your writer’s voice?

One diction choice I made was when I said, “This is a story about a boy and his dad traveling on a long road in a post-apocalyptic world. Their home was destroyed and they have to decide where to go next.” This has purposeful diction because I included connotation in these two sentences. Instead of just saying ‘father,’ I said ‘dad.’ The word ‘dad’ has a more personal connection than the word ‘father.’ When we think of a father, we think of just having a biological connection, but when we think of a dad, we think of a man who raised us and was there for us as we were growing up. This makes you realize that this book has a strong connection between the dad and his son, because if I had just said ‘father,’ it wouldn’t make the reader think they had as much of an emotional connection as they do. I also used the word ‘home’ instead of ‘house.’ A house is just a building, but a home is where you feel safe, and saying that their home got destroyed instead of their house leaves a much bigger impact.

One syntax choice I made was when I ask rhetorical questions. I asked, “how far is too far?” and “is Alex really a criminal, or is he a victim?” I added these two questions because they were questions that I asked myself while I was reading. It lets the reader see what I was thinking while I read the book. It also gives the reader a better idea of what the book is about. They are able to see what kinds of questions and thoughts the book provokes, so it gives them more of an idea. Also, these ideas were part of the main ideas of the book, and instead of just stating them, putting them in the form of a question makes it much more interesting and creative.

Suspense

In The Fall of Five, the author has created a lot of suspense. There is rarely a part that does not have action or doesn't leave you waiting for something. Even from the very beginning, it is exciting. There are even characters who you think die within the first few chapters. Ella has been having lots of nightmares about the Mogodorians. She barely ever sleeps, and now, she won't wake up. She subconciously grabbed Four's arm and now he is experiencing the same thing. The author creates suspense because you don't know if everyone else in the apartment is safe from them. The rest of the Garde left to go on a mission, but the humans stayed behind, and they found of the Mogodorians are coming for them. The capter ends with them knowing they are in danger, so it creates a lot of suspense because you don't know if they will be okay.
I think suspense is an important element to have in novels. It is what makes the reader want to keep reading and makes a book good. I think there are many different ways to create suspense in books. You can add suspense throughout the whole book, by adding an event at the beginning, and having to read until the end to find out what happens. Or, you can end a chapter with something abrupt so the reader will keep reading. Both of these methods are used in The Fall of Five. There is suspense throughout the novel because you never know if they Mogodorians will find them. The author is also constantly ending chapters with some sort of problem, and you have to read the next chapter to find out what happens immediately after. The author creates a lot of suspense in the book, and I think that helps make a book better.

Book Recommendations

I thought I would tell you about my favorite books and recommend them to you! One of my favorite books is A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. I read this book in the fall. It is one of my favorites because I feel like we can learn a lot about society and morality from it. It is a dystopian books about a criminal, named Alex, and his group of "droogs"(criminals). He gets betrayed by his group and arrested and the government tries to "cure" him of his violent ways. It really makes the reader think, "how far is too far?" I think it is a very interesting plot and makes the reader think about many different things. Also, the book is told from the point of view of Alex, which puts an interesting twist on the story since you get to see it from the criminal's eyes. It makes you think, "is Alex really a criminal, or is he a victim?" I recommend this book to anyone who likes classic literature. I think this is a book everyone should read at one point of their lives, but people who enjoy literature will like it and understand it the most.
Another one of my favorite books is The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This is a story about a boy and his dad traveling on a long road in a post-apocalyptic world. Their home was destroyed and they have to decide where to go next. It may seem like a boring book, but the things that you see them go through are very intriguing. The book also has interesting syntax. There are no quotation marks used, even when a character is speaking. I think this makes the books a lot more interesting, because it can show that even though they are talking, there is no one out there and no one can really hear them. The kind of things the father and son go through are very emotional and help bring them closer together in this world. They have to decide what is the farthest they will go for their survival. I recommend this book if you like books that have strong emotional content. This book about a father and his son experiencing a post-apocalyptic book may not sound so emotional, but the interactions between them and other people are really emotional. This is one of my favorites because of how emotional it is.

Update

Now, in The Fall of Five, the group played capture the flag to practice their fighting skills. When they played, they all worked together well and as a team. I think this shows that despite the fact that some of them are Loric and some of them are humans, they still manage to get along and work together to achieve a common goal. This common goal is that they want to defeat the Mogodorians. The Mogodorians are both a threat to the Loric and to the humans. The Loric and humans working together to defeat them is important.

Also, part of the group is going to go to Florida to get Five's chest. Sam and his dad are going to stay behind. Sam was upset that he doesn't get to go and he thinks it's because he's a human. This isn't true because they need people to watch their apartment and monitor all their technology, and Sam and his dad know the most about that. I think Sam feels different from everyone else because he isn't Loric and he doesn't have powers. He feels out of place, but I don't think he should feel like that because without Sam and his dad, most of the Loric would be dead, so he has to realize that he is important.

Text to Text Connections

One of the characters in The Fall of Five, Sam, reminds me of Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter series. Sam is a very nerdy character. In the first book, he seems useless. He doesn't seem very important. This is exactly how I would describe Neville. They both seemed like they were just extra characters and the story would still be the same without them. But, you find out that Sam is a very important character and he has helped the Loric a lot. Also, his dad is important, and without Sam, you can't have his dad. The same thing applies to Neville. Neville had a very important part in the last book of the Harry Potter series. Without either of these characters, the stories wouldn't be the same.

Another character in The Fall of Five, Six, reminds me of Katniss from The Hunger Games. Six is a strong character. She is very important and she fights as well as the boys in the book. Katniss is the same way. While Katniss is in the Hunger Games, she fights just as well as the boys and survives throughout it. They are both strong, female characters. Both of them get made fun of sometimes, but they find it annoying and respong the same way. Also, Katniss lost her father and has lots of flashbacks to that. Six lost her guardian, and always thinks about that. Although they have both lost loved ones, they perservere and are strong and help the cause they are fighting for.

Favorite and Least Favorite Parts

My favorite part of the book so far is when the group went to Fouke, Arkansas to find Five. This part of the book was very exciting. There was lots of action because almost immediately after they got there, a fight broke out between the Mogodorians and the Loric. It was predictable, but since the authors had written it so well, it was still my favorite part of the book so far. My favorite line from this part is when Four says, "I brace myself and ignite my Lumen all over my body. If this thing wants to make a meal out of me, I'm going to make sure I burn going down." I like this part because even though Four thinks he's about to die, he know what he has to do to help everyone else. His power, Lumen, makes him glow and burn, so he if he is using that while the creature eats him, he can harm the creature. It also adds the smallest bit of humor, but it is effective.
My least favorite part of the book so far is when Ella reads Crayton's letter. I think that part was very predictable and it wasn't that exciting. I think it was easy to see that coming. It also kind of dragged on. Also, the letter wasn't all that exciting to read, since it was predictable. Ella wasn't originally supposed to come to Earth, which is what the letter is saying. They always say how there were only supposed to be nine Loric, but Ella was somehow a tenth. It was really obvious that there was some mishap. I think this part did add an interesting element to the story, but it was too predictable.

How Some Characters Have Changed

This is the trailer for the movie I Am Number Four. I Am Number Four is the first book in the Lorien Legacies series, which is the series I am reading. In the trailer, you meet Sarah and Four(or as he is better known, John). Sarah has changed a lot since this trailer and since the first book. At first, she was kind of clueless and for most of the first book, she didn't even know Four was an alien. Now, she really helps the group out a lot. She is very familiar with the Loric history and knows how to help the group.

Four has also changed a lot. In I Am Number Four, he didn't know a lot about himself or his past. But, as the book and series go on, he becomes more familiar with Loric history and his powers. He develops more powers, and still hasn't gotten all his powers. He didn't know how to lead people and what he was supposed to do, but at this point, he is a very good leader. He is the best leader of the group because of all the things he has experienced so far in the series.