Ok, quick run down beforehand: Jenny buys a game called The Game from a weird shop run by a hot guy named Julian for her boyfriend Tom's birthday party. All of her friends are at the party and start playing The Game, which exploits each player's worst fears and turns deadly. And Julian is an all-powerful Shadow Man who has fallen in love with Jenny and is trying to win her in The Game. It's L.J. Smith, you gotta expect the paranormal being to be overly sexy.
I learned from L.J. Smith how to write different races. She creates a race (the Shadow Men) that ties into Norse mythology (but doesn't actually) with its flaws and its perks. They're ultra powerful (magic powers!!!), but they're ruthless. They're beautiful, but with age, their outside appearance reflects their inner nature (spoiler: NOT pretty). Also, no women. In writing Major Piece Two, I tried to write a magical race, myself, their flaws being that they could only utilize their powers when they were somehow connected to their element (e.g. if you're a Soli, you've gotta have some tie to the Earth, maybe holding a rock or something) and that they're heavily discriminated against.
I also learned how to tie mythology into work. In Major Piece Three, I make several allusions to Greek/Roman mythology and told a little bit about each of the major gods/goddesses, but I have yet to incorporate it into prose. I'm not sure if I will, though, seeing how much Rick Riordan ruined it...I dunno how I'll be able to recover it. Smith doesn't do too much with the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology (mostly just tidbits of info from Audrey and more info about Niflheim (the "Shadow World" or the underworld), but she does enough to make the plot make sense (spoiler: in the third book, Jenny and her friends have to walk the Bifrost (bridge going between all the Nine Worlds) from Niflheim back to Midgard (Earth) to rescue Tom and Zach).
I also learned how to develop characters. Jenny, in the beginning, is kind of drab and boring, but she's incredibly selfless, which is great. But after she wins three Games (one over each book), she decides that she wants to be happy and do stuff that she wants to do instead of catering to everyone else. While I think she should've broken up with her boyfriend (Tom), he sort of redeems himself by no longer taking Jenny for granted after the Games, so that's good, and the other players become better people, too. My character Anna in Major Piece Three is scared of everything, but I plan on developing her into a brave, decorated cavalryman (...woman) with a no-f*cks-given attitude once she's gotten experience in the real world.
I learned from L.J. Smith how to write different races. She creates a race (the Shadow Men) that ties into Norse mythology (but doesn't actually) with its flaws and its perks. They're ultra powerful (magic powers!!!), but they're ruthless. They're beautiful, but with age, their outside appearance reflects their inner nature (spoiler: NOT pretty). Also, no women. In writing Major Piece Two, I tried to write a magical race, myself, their flaws being that they could only utilize their powers when they were somehow connected to their element (e.g. if you're a Soli, you've gotta have some tie to the Earth, maybe holding a rock or something) and that they're heavily discriminated against.
I also learned how to tie mythology into work. In Major Piece Three, I make several allusions to Greek/Roman mythology and told a little bit about each of the major gods/goddesses, but I have yet to incorporate it into prose. I'm not sure if I will, though, seeing how much Rick Riordan ruined it...I dunno how I'll be able to recover it. Smith doesn't do too much with the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology (mostly just tidbits of info from Audrey and more info about Niflheim (the "Shadow World" or the underworld), but she does enough to make the plot make sense (spoiler: in the third book, Jenny and her friends have to walk the Bifrost (bridge going between all the Nine Worlds) from Niflheim back to Midgard (Earth) to rescue Tom and Zach).
I also learned how to develop characters. Jenny, in the beginning, is kind of drab and boring, but she's incredibly selfless, which is great. But after she wins three Games (one over each book), she decides that she wants to be happy and do stuff that she wants to do instead of catering to everyone else. While I think she should've broken up with her boyfriend (Tom), he sort of redeems himself by no longer taking Jenny for granted after the Games, so that's good, and the other players become better people, too. My character Anna in Major Piece Three is scared of everything, but I plan on developing her into a brave, decorated cavalryman (...woman) with a no-f*cks-given attitude once she's gotten experience in the real world.