“The Girl In The Box” Series, Book 1: “Alone” Review | Hayley’s Comments #3

This is review #3 of my own review series, Hayley’s Comments! I review books and literature from small authors, and give my honest and in-depth analysis of them. This time around, I’m reviewing the book “Alone” by Robert J. Crane. I’ve been meaning to read this book for a while, and I’m really glad I did!

Alone
By Robert J. Crane

Genre: Sci-fi/Fantasy
Subgenre(s): Urban fantasy, Coming-of-age, Thriller

A 17-year-old girl named Sienna Nealon has lived a life of solitude, shielded from contact with the outside world. When a group of intruders break in and force her out, it turns out that she and her mother are part of something much greater than she could have ever imagined.

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I’m gonna try to go over this book as impartially as possible. I’ve been trying hard to think of a way to write this review without hyping it up too much, since your personal opinions may be different, and I don’t want you to finish this book with unmet expectations. Know that, while I’m super confident that you’ll agree with my assessment, there is a slight chance that your analysis and opinion will be much different than mine. That being said…

“Alone” is pretty close to a masterpiece. The fact that this book isn’t a certified classic, a literary staple, or the subject of an avid fandom is nothing short of a tragedy. This book had no problem carrying my rapt attention throughout, never truly feeling bogged down or slow in some areas. Even when not reading it, I’d find my mind continuously wandering back to the plot, awaiting the time when I’d be able to read just a few more chapters. The book hits all the right marks; great characters, great setting, great plot, and more. Crane waves together all these beautiful story elements in such a way that many authors could even dream of–including some more well-known names. Replete with action, nuance, and subtle subtext throughout, this book is sure to make your week, or your month.

Scoring

Overall: 93/100

Plot: 8/10

Dialogue: 9/10

Pacing: 6.5/10

Characters: 10/10

Settings: 8.5/10

Length: 182 pages

Maturity: Young Adult

Reading Difficulty: High

Point Of View: 1st person

Spoilers below!

What I like

•The plot is excellent and engaging

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This book had no problem keeping my rapt attention throughout. Beat by beat, I never lost my focus once while reading this. A lot of books–especially fantasy books–contain some slower parts that are harder to get through, and leave much to be desired. In “Alone”, however, there’s never a dull moment to be found.

It’s also achieved another rare feat: I don’t think I found a single plothole, error, or inconsistency throughout the entire book. All the details are seamlessly sewn together. Nothing really goes unexplained, nothing conflicts other parts of the story, and nothing is left for the readers to fill in the blanks. It hits all the barks for a good plot, while also maintaining originality and engagement.

•The characters are superb and interesting

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Every character in this book that I can think of is interesting and unique, and brings something different to the story. There are no cookie cutters, stock characters, or cliché archetypes to be found. They’re complex, nuanced, and just generally relatable in an endearing way. Now, this is not to say each character is some sort of allegory or metaphor to some deeper meaning. Rather, the characters feel like normal people

•It contains subtle subtext, and a message that we can love and relate to

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I think this book contains deeper meaning behind it, that’s not essential to the plot, but can enhance the reading experience if you’re looking out for it. For instance, the whole idea of her being hidden from the outside world, only to be thrust into an environment of chaos and mystery, can be viewed as an allegory for hardship and adulthood. It conveys that parents try so hard to protect us from the horrors of the outside world, only to ultimately be to our detriment. And that once we are eventually forced out of the parental bubble, we encounter tribulations and menaces beyond our ability to understand. There are more examples, but the reader has the choice to acknowledge them, or just read it for the plot and the lore. You can get what you want from it, and I think that’s beautiful.

The first 3 out of an astounding 52 books in the series so far! (Credit: Art by Karri)

What I dislike

•Some elements should have been focused on more

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Alas, a good portion of my qualms with this book arise not from what is included, but rather, from what isn’t. For what I can only assume to be in the interest of saving time, Crane seems to gloss over and “yadda-yadda” his way through some elements of his story that I would have preferred he focused on. The major one that stuck out to me was that there should have been more focus on showing how Sienna acclimated to her new environment at the directorate. It feels like she just shows up there, says “hey, this is my life now”, and goes about her daily activities. I know that this is not actually the case, but this is the feeling that’s given, since there’s almost no time devoted to describing how exactly she got settled in. A well-written panic attack scene might very well have fixed this issue.

•It can come off as cliché

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This one almost entirely involves the main character and narrator, Sienna Nealon. She makes a ton of wise cracks, jokes, and pop culture references that seem unusual at times. A lot of the dialogue comes off as unnatural and tends to break the immersion. I personally don’t think it’s that big of a problem, and I understand that it’s a result of her ignorance to the outside world, her only knowledge of non-maternal human interaction being that which she’s seen on TV. But other readers might not be as fond of this, so it’s worth mentioning.

Content warnings

Abuse, rape, body mutilation, bullying

Spoilers above!

In Summary

“Alone” is a certified classic, a literary gem amongst a genre of coal. Well-crafted and artistic–though not without it’s flaws–Crane has created a work good enough to contend with even its most mainstream competition.

“Fall Into You” Review | Hayley’s Comments #2

This is review #2 of my own review series, Hayley’s Comments! I review books and literature from small authors, and give my honest and in-depth analysis of them. Here is “Fall Into You: A brother’s best friend romantic comedy”. The first in a series of similar reads, this one had its ups and downs, and I have plenty of thoughts on it.

Fall Into You
By Caroline Frank

Genre: Romance
Subgenre(s): Romantic Comedy, Slice-of-life

Liza Castelli, a graduate student from New York, is dumped by her unfaithful fiancé. She’s left reeling, only to come across her brother’s best friend and reformed party animal, Matt. The connection is instant, but she must hide her affection for Matt from her tight-knit, very protective Italian family.

Short on time? Click here to view a summary.

I must admit, it’s been a while since I’ve indulged myself in a bona fide romance novel such as this. As such, I was a bit apprehensive about delving back into the genre. I started reading this book back in April, shortly after my first Hayley’s Comments. It starts off a bit slow in the first two chapters, and that combined with other life circumstances meant that it took me about seven moths to pick this one up again after putting it down! After pushing through and reading this, though, I can’t say I have any regrets.

Fall Into You: A Brother’s Best Friend Romantic Comedy is the quintessential holiday romantic comedy; modern, cozy, and steamy at times too. A short yet engaging read, this book is perfect for fans of Hallmark movies and made-for-TV holiday classics. Know what you’re getting with this, though; it’s no The Notebook or The Fault In Our Stars. It’s not bad by any means, just don’t expect anything especially deep or groundbreaking. Think of it more like some light weekend entertainment, and you should get exactly what you want out of this book.

Scoring

Overall: 67/100

Plot: 6.5/10

Dialogue: 5/10

Pacing: 8/10

Characters: 6/10

Settings: 7/10

Length: 310 pages

Maturity: Mature Adult

Reading Difficulty: Low

Point Of View: 1st person, switching

Spoilers below!

What I like

•It’s short and sweet!

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This book is just over 300 pages, including the epilogue and back matter. Yet, it almost never feels rushed or condensed down. It’s a great, bite-sized work of realistic fiction! It’s something that doesn’t require a large emotional investment like other, more complex reads. There’s even a recipe section included at the end! (I totally want to try the rosemary goat cheese potatoes)

•The plot has a nice, familiar feel to it.

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This might be the most desirable aspect of the book. It has a very honest, true-to-life tone to it. The dialogue feels like conversations you’ve had before. The jokes feel like jokes you’ve told before. Everything feels like stuff you could actually go through. It includes small little details that aren’t technically important to the plot, but are entertaining and add to the realism of it. E.g., the twin toddlers who like to parrot their parents’ cuss words, the super-protective Italian mother, the hard-working med school student. It honestly reads like an autobiography.

•It has a modern setting.

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Most of this book takes place in post-Covid New York City, and contains all the relevant themes. From wearing masks in the hospital to mentioning cancelled social events, it includes many relatable themes and scenarios from the Covid-19 era that are refreshing and new to see in a published work. It also portrays life in New York City fairly accurately, not glamourizing or romanticizing like many novels do. It does this without leaning too heavily in the “set in the big city’ aspect that a lot of other rom-coms lean on to carry the plot.

What I dislike

We almost got bingo!

•It’s very cliché at times.

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Some of the characters come off as very one-note and shallow at times. There’s the stereotypical Italian-American family from Long Island, the super cool and stylish best friend, and more. There were times when I audibly groaned at how corny it got. Even the main character, Liza; she’s dropped into this “not like other girls” stereotype that doesn’t let up until the last 3rd of the book.

Take this excerpt from Page 18:
“You could easily say that I wasn’t very popular growing up, due in large part to my huge, frizzy hair and nerdy tendencies. I preferred to stay in and watch Buffy The Vampire Slayer reruns than go out partying, thank you very much.”

Moments like this are dotted throughout the book, and it can get pretty old. Granted, most of these are in the first couple chapters, but they’re still present regardless. And it’s not like there’s a self-awareness to it; the characters are legitimately like this.

•Most of the characters have little depth to them, if any.

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Relating to the point above, most of the characters don’t seem to have a lot of complexity to them. Liza, Vinny, and Matt do show a good bit of intricacy to them, but most of the others just seem like stock characters meant to fill in voids in the plot. Most are only mentioned a couple times, have little dialogue, and/or aren’t given enough space to exhibit their own personalities, what makes them unique and human. The biggest example is Barbara, Liza’s best friend. Though she does get her own spinoff, there was plenty of potential for her to play a bigger, more interesting role in this book.

•It both starts and ends on a sour note.

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In a way, Fall Into You is like a cheeseburger with whole wheat buns; the meat is delicious, but the top and the bottom parts are almost enough to throw the whole thing off. As mentioned, the first few chapters throw you into a mess of clichés and mediocre dialogue. It appears Frank fell into the all-too-common writer’s trap of rushing through the beginning parts of a story in order to get to the bread and butter, the parts she really wanted to write. Then the latter few chapters focus on the plot twist of Liza discovering her surprise pregnancy with Matt, which I think was poorly executed. Six weeks after getting knocked up by your brother’s best friend who you’ve been dating behind his back, a baby belonging to two late-20’s med school graduates with recently-deceased fathers who haven’t been in loving relationships in years, living in the most expensive city in the United States…and everybody is just cool with that? Not one qualm, quandary, or moment of contemplation? And on top of that, they get married too? I understand that some artistic liberties need to be taken for he same of entertainment, but the suspension of disbelief can only go so far.

Content warnings

Sex/sexual themes, family trauma, strong language, alcohol use, grief, vomiting, pregnancy

Spoilers above!

In Summary

Fall Into You is a light, compact, non-taxing romantic read, perfect for your weekend book club or evening reading break. Not without its flaws, this work is geared more toward the mid-30s hopeless romantic type. It’s not bad, by any means, so long as you’re not expecting a deep poetic novella or any philosophical social commentary. If you know what to expect, this book is a good read to spend a little time on.

“The Warriors of Bhrea: The Lost King” Review | Hayley’s Comments #1

This is review #1 of my own review series, Hayley’s Comments! I review books and literature from small authors, and give my honest and in-depth analysis of them. First up is the first book in the five-part Warriors of Bhrea series, called The Lost King. A self-published work written by a wonderful and kind author. I think this book will hold a special place in my heart now, being the first one in this series.

The Warriors of Bhrea: The Lost King
By T.M Kohl

Genre: Fantasy
Subgenres: High Fantasy, Isekai

Lauren Strauss, a 21-year-old nursing student, is magically teleported from her peaceful city life to an entire different world that she knows nothing about. She must navigate the kingdom of Bhrea while also trying to find out why she was put there, all the while dealing with the possibility of having latent magical powers of her own.

Short on time? Click here to view a summary.

I’m glad I stumbled across this book; it was pretty easy for me to miss, honestly. Once I decided to start reviewing, I spent a while perusing my Twitter feed, searching for some books that I could take a look at. T.M. Kohl just happened to be one of the people that I followed, so after clicking on several people’s profiles, I come across hers and see that she so happens to have a book series she’s working on. Interested, I start reading the first of them; and now, a month and a half later, I’m writing a review of it. To think that I could easily have overlooked this work of literature makes me think fate was on my side.

The Lost King is a fine fantasy adventure, flawlessly absorbing me into its lore and keeping me with it all the way to the last page. It has a way of keeping your attention beat by beat, all while not skimping on the details and imagery that attracts you to it in the first place. Unlike a more traditional, slow-burn fantasy novel like The Hobbit, this book skips over a lot of the filler and minutiae, jumping right into the plot important details and real character development. In my opinion, that’s a great thing.

I especially like how it doesn’t inundate you with unimportant characters, verbose setting descriptions, or irrelevant dialogue. It’s beautiful in it’s simplicity, and manages to be condensed but still enticing. The Lost King appears to be a great start to a series, and is perfect book to get lost in during a long car ride or a weekend out of town.

Scoring

Overall: 81/100

Plot: 7/10

Dialogue: 10/10

Pacing: 6.5/10

Characters: 6/10

Settings: 5/10

Length: 334 pages

Maturity: Teen/Young Adult

Reading Difficulty: Moderate

Point Of View: 3rd person limited

Spoilers below!

What I like

•There are very few tropes or clichés used at all. Lauren, the main character, is just a normal girl who magically gets transported to an unknown land, and that’s exactly what it feels like.

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Nothing about her feels cheap or unrealistic, and the same goes to most of the rest of the characters. The classic “character does something stupid or illogical just to advance the plot” cliché is nowhere to be found. There’s no predictable or forced romance; the reader may be led to believe that Lauren and Val (the crown prince to the throne of the kingdom of Bhrea) will fall in love by the end of the book, falling into each other’s arms in a romantic resolution. That doesn’t end up happening, though. Tropes are unavoidable, of course, but those that are included seem to be implemented well.

Artist: Kiarou (@_Kiarou on Twitter)

•The story has its own special fantasy language, called Korvet. I think this is one of the defining features of the lore. It feels very fresh and original, not too complex and with handy translations. The way it’s integrated into the plot is especially great.

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Normally, fantasy languages are often mentioned in passing, with characters using a few words here and there, the language itself hardly mentioned at all. Either that, or every character in the book is instantly and seamlessly fluent in the language, with the dialogue, place names, lores and legends all just a confusing mashup of English and Fantasyish. The Lost King does a great job of implementing Korvet, though. English and other earthly languages are completely unknown to Bhrea, and Lauren spends the better part of the book learning the language, practicing it, and learning how to use it in conversation. And it’s not like there’s a time skip and then she’s fluent like a native speaker; throughout the book, you’ll see her ask how to say specific words, mix in English words, or generally make mistakes when speaking; all in a way that feels completely natural, pretty much exactly what it feels like with real life language barriers. The Korvet dialogue is translated into English for us, but Kohl somehow found a way to do that and still incorporate all of the elements I mentioned.

•The dialogue is exceptional. It feels smooth and natural, just like people would talk and communicate in the real world.

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It’s not exceedingly verbose, and isn’t trying too hard to sound magical or fantastical. You won’t see any of the villains going on annoying, long-winded monologues that last three pages either. This adds a level of realism to the story, and makes it and the characters within it much more relatable and interesting. Kohl writes dialogue like a veteran author–even better than some of them.

What I dislike

•I would’ve liked to read more about Lauren’s life on Earth.

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Only the first chapter, and a little bit of the prologue and second chapter take place on Earth. Though there are some references and reminders of her life on Earth, with Lauren’s purse full of a few precious belongings being teleported to Bhrea along with her, a lot about her day-to-day life back at home is shrouded in mystery. It feels like Kohl wasn’t really interested in the realistic, down-to-earth elements of her writing, like she just glossed over all of that in order to get straight to the cool interesting fantasy bits.

•As mentioned above, the book is more simple and condensed than your average fantasy novel. But that comes at a cost: a lot of things are mentioned briefly and are not expanded on enough.

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For example, there’s a whole pantheon of gods in the world of Bhrea. Joss, Dolan, Svorra; these are all very important figures that are mentioned throughout the lore, yet we as readers know relatively little about them. Perhaps the most notable thing that’s overlooked is the Sebaal, a group of warrior cultists that are determined to kill Lauren and steal her mysterious necklace, the Sem-Kelad. Though they’re the main focus of the plot, with Lauren being trained to fight them throughout the book, we know surprisingly little about them before the last few chapters of the book. Overall, I would’ve liked to see a more engaging side plot, focusing less on just Val and Lauren’s personal struggles.

•There are very few settings throughout the book. Granted, those that are mentioned are described well enough, but the way the settings are involved in the plot make the fantasy world feel very small.

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About 75% of the book takes place in the city of Terrn, and about 80% of that takes place in one giant mountainside palace. I wish I’d seen Val and Lauren explore the kingdom a little more. Maybe they could have explored some of the nearby cities, visited the Algarans in the north, had a run-in with the mysterious Kataal people. It’s an interesting narrative choice to have the majority of the setting condensed into such a small area, and one that I’m not too fond of.

Content warnings

Death, blood, battle and violence, alcohol use

Spoilers above!

In Summary

The Lost King is a fine work of fantasy writing. Short and condensed but filled with enticing characters and lore, this is a good read for the avid reader looking for a fresh new world to get lost in for a little bit. Though some of the more important fantasy details are a bit lacking at times, overall this makes for a fine novel that will leave you excited for the sequels.

Announcing My New Book Review Series!

Hello there! A short update from your friendly neighborhood wordsmith. After being missing in action for several months, I’m happy to announce Hayley’s Comments, a new series that I’m launching here on this website.

I’ve been meaning to do something like this for a while, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to. I knew that I wanted to support small authors like myself, and steer my blog to be more writing- and literature-focused. This new series helps with both of these issues, with other added benefits as well.

This series will be focused on rating and reviewing books from smaller and lesser-known authors. I’ll read these books cover to cover, then give an honest, in-depth, and spoiler free analysis, using a special rating system of my own creation. I’ll add a new section to the top bar with more information, and when I do, I’ll link it here.

I’m working on the first review, and though I don’t have a specific date will post it soon after it’s done. Look on my Twitter page for faster updates, and to leave me with any quick questions or comments you may have. Thank you for your support, and I’m excited to see what you all think of what I have in store!

A New Year’s Update

I have some quick updates for you all, and just in time before 2022!

First of all, I think I’ll be shortening the span of the types of articles I’ve written. I’ve realized that I’ve been unintentionally trying to branch out too far with what the topics of my articles I try to write, writing about topics I don’t know too much about in order to attract a wider audience and make people more interested. It’s to the point where I couldn’t keep up with that every-other-week article schedule, because I was stuck writing this one article that was really research intensive and I wasn’t necessarily interested in. But I was completely invested in it, struggling to meet my arbitrary self-expectations for what I should be writing about.
But somebody once said “if you try to please everyone, you’ll please no one”. So from now on, I will try my best to only write and publish articles that I’m specifically interested in, and that I’m personally invested in. I’m also considering focusing more on creative writing- and art-related ideas; though I am interested in more than just those topics, and intend to branch out and include some of my other interests in my content. Stay tuned to see what all else I have planned.

Also, I have a lot planned creatively and business-wise, but a lot has gone on in my personal life that has prevented me from progressing as much as I would have hoped. No matter how long any unintended hiatus may be, either in the past or in the future, rest assured that I’ve never forgotten about this blog or my viewers and supporters. I want to go more in-depth with exactly what’s been going on in my personal life in the future. For now, be on the lookout for new content, more projects, and different site updates in the coming weeks.

Love Green: a poem

This is a poem I wrote late last year, just a few days before the new year’s. I had taken a break from writing poems in order to focus on working on one of my novel ideas, but I had a sudden burst of inspiration and have been acting on it ever since.

I took horticulture all throughout high school, and having had all the phrases and terms I learned still bouncing around in my head, I randomly realized how much imagery and figurative language can be applied to them. Also, since I started writing this about a week after my current girlfriend asked me out, the topic of romance was on my mind again. Let’s hope this doesn’t age poorly.

When I first read over it, I thought it didn’t flow properly, and I even considered scrapping it. But now, after revisiting it, it’s short and sweet in it’s own special way, I believe. I hope you guys can pick up some meaning from it as well.

——————————————-

I’ve bought my seeds, my scion leaves

Plucked ivy from the eaves

To start my garden ardently

But one of loving deeds.

I sow and hoe and till to see

If so-and-so would shill for me

As I would do for him or her

Like having orchid seedlings spur.

Months ere the first of seedlings sprout

Though such can cast the worst of doubt

When aforementioned seedlings sprout

I’ll jump and sing and twirl about.

I did it, people! Like you said

Could not happen, but instead

Like flower heads bent left and right

My self is also bathed in light.

The 3rd and 5th Theory | Bits & Pieces #1

This is a Bits and Pieces article. These are smaller, less-researched ideas that aren’t complete enough to make a whole article or post about. This is a new thing I’m trying, and I hope to make more in the future if this one goes well.

So this is something that i’ve actually, legitimately been thinking about for at least a few years. I haven’t run this by anyone until now, and after doing a little bit of research for this piece, it has refined the idea, as well as gotten me to believe in it more firmly. I’m very curious to see what other gamers think.

My 3rd and 5th Theory is as follows:

“In a majority of popular video game series, the best and/or most popular game will either be the 3rd or the 5th entry in that series.”

To simplify this idea: think of a popular video game franchise, and then think of its greatest game. That game is probably either the third or the fifth entry in that franchise. 

I’d take it for a grain of salt too, if I were reading this for the first time. But the more you think about it, the more sense it makes. I’m a mid-level gamer; I know more than the average casual, but I’m not as absorbed in the community as the more experienced hobbyists. Over the years, I’ve tested this theory with a lot of the video game franchises I’m personally familiar with, and it holds up a large percentage of the time. I can’t exactly when or how I developed this theory, just that it’s been formed over years of comparing notes about the games I know and like the most. 

Let me give you some examples:

  • “Grand Theft Auto V” is the fifth installment of the Grand Theft Auto video game series. It’s sold more copies than all other GTA games combined, is playable on three different console generations, and is the fourth highest grossing video game of all time
  • “The Sims 3” is the third installment in the Sims series of video games. Though “The Sims 1” has sold more copies than it, The Sims 3 is widely regarded as the best game in the series, though this is widely debated.
  • “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” is the fifth installment of the Elder Scrolls series, and has sold twice as much as the next highest-selling game in the franchise (The Elder Scrolls Online)
  • “Saints Row: The Third” is the third installment of the Saints Row series. It’s preorder numbers surpassed Saints Row 2 by a factor of four, and the game’s success is said to have caused a big turnaround in its parent company, THQ.
  • “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” is the fifth installment of the Animal Crossing series. It has sold about as many copies as all of the other main series games combined, and is among one of the biggest Nintendo Switch bestsellers
  • “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3” is the third installment of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series. Though it appears that others have sold more copies, this one is still widely regarded as the best in the series.

Of course, this doesn’t work 100% of the time. A few exceptions I can think of are Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Mortal Kombat, and Super Smash Bros. I’d estimate that about 80-90% of the popular game series follow this rule.

I have a hypothesis as to why this is the case. When it’s the third game, it’s because the first game is used to introduce people to the series, and the second game is used to solidify the main themes, concepts and mechanics. When it’s the second game, it’s because the first four games generated enough revenue and exposure, so that the fifth game can attract a higher budget and more talented producers.

I hope to one day turn this into a more concise and well-researched theory, with more data and research put into it. This is mainly to introduce this theory, and to get feedback so I’ll know how to modify it later. I also want to do some research into the possible benefits that the results of such a study would produce, so it’ll be easier to justify spending the resources on completing it. Either way, you heard it here first, so if you see this anywhere else, know that it actually came from me.

Can You Guess Whether These Words Mean A Good Thing Or A Bad Thing? (QUIZ)

A phantonym is a word that sounds like it should mean one thing, when in fact it means something completely different. The term was coined in 2009 when President Obama said the word “fulsome”, thinking it meant “full”. In fact, the word actually means “excessive, offensive, and overdone”.

This is a common blunder in the English language. I’ve noticed a lot of these types of words, and I’ve decided to create a quiz to test how well the average person knows them. In the quiz below, all you have to do is guess whether the words mean something positive or negative. I’ve also included some words that are neither positive nor negative, just to throw you off a little bit. Feel free to share your results in the comments!

Type G to guess Good

Type B to guess Bad

Type N to guess Neutral

Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/magazine/27FOB-onlanguage-t.html
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/buzzword/entries/phantonym.html

The Most Important Acronyms I’ve Ever Been Taught

Our brains are better at remembering things when we use cool little tricks, called mnemonics, that make it easier for us to absorb the information. Mnemonics condense a lot of information into a short, easy-to-remember word or phrase. A lot of people who are learning new skills create their own mnemonics, or use more well-known ones that have been circling around for any number of years. In this article, we’re going to be talking about the most well-known type of mnemonic–acronyms.

Acronyms help just about all of us. They’re everywhere, they’re easy to create and use, and some are so pervasive in our language that we don’t even know they’re acronyms! The words laser, taser, radar, care package, spam, and base jumping all started as acronyms, but were used so often that they just get used at regular old words now. In this article, though, I’m going to be discussing the exact opposite. I have a list of rather unknown acronyms that have really helped me in my life. I want to share them with you so that maybe they can help you just as they’ve helped me, and you can share them with your friends so that they can benefit from them all the same.

FORD and ROPE

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and been unsure of what to say to them? Do you struggle to talk about things that aren’t immediately on your mind? Are you the type of person to draw a blank when asked about yourself? These two acronyms should help you out a lot.

To think of things you should talk about, use the acronym FORD

Family

Occupation

Recreation

Dreams

This works wonders, especially when you don’t know someone very well, but you still want to be friendly to them. Allow me to provide some examples: (Keep in mind, these are just subjects, not direct questions; just blurting them out unceremoniously could have the opposite effect) 

  • Family: So do you have any siblings? Are you the oldest child?
  • Occupation: What do you do for work? Do you go to college?
  • Recreation: Have any cool hobbies? What kind of things do you do for fun
  • Dreams: If money wasn’t an issue, what career path would you take? Is there anyone who really inspires you?

Now, on the other hand, there might be some of you who actually end up oversharing. Does it seem like people gravitate away from having conversations with you? Do you overthink conversations you’ve had with people you like? You’re not left out either; there’s an acronym for you too.

To think of things you shouldn’t talk about, use the acronym ROPE

Religion 

Oddities

Politics 

Economics

These are the most common things that people discuss that make others wary of having conversations with them. Examples are as such:

  • Religion: Do you believe in God? Do you think that believing in a divine being is irrational or outdated?
  • Oddities: Did you know peanut butter usually contains insect shells in it? If you had to cut off either of your hands, which one would you cut off?
  • Politics: What do you think about Joe Biden’s attempt to pack the court? Do you think gerrymandering laws mainly benefit the Democratic party?
  • Economics: Oil prices went up by 0.36% last week! Do you think Universal Basic Income can work on a large enough scale for Americans?

Some of you might recognize this acronym in a different form, using a similar but more profane word instead of “ROPE”. I’ve decided to change it to this current form, as I think it works a lot better and can be used in more contexts.

RAFT

A lot of people have good writing ideas, but aren’t sure how to get them out on paper. They have these ideas in their heads and it makes sense to them, but they’re not sure what the best way of expressing them are. It can be hard even for the most experienced writers sometimes. The acronym RAFT should be able to help with this. Though it’s commonly taught in elementary and middle school, it works well to get me out of writer’s block, and I hope it works well for you too.

To determine the best way to write an idea, use the acronym RAFTS

Role – Who is doing the writing? Who is the narrator?

Audience – Who is the narrator writing to? Who is supposed to be reading it?

Format – What type of writing will you create?

Topic – What is your writing about?

I highly recommend using this technique for all types of writing. To illustrate its effectiveness, allow me to provide three different examples with varying media sources.

The Maze Runner, by James Dashner

  • Role: 1st person, a fictional 16-year-old boy named Thomas
  • Audience: Teens/young adults
  • Format: Book
  • Topic: Thomas losing his memory and waking up in a mysterious maze for an unknown reason.

MacBeth, by William Shakespeare

  • Role: 3rd person narrator
  • Audience: King James I of England
  • Format: Play
  • Topic: A Scottish king is murdered by a nobleman and his wife in an attempt to gain the throne

Banning large sodas is legal and smart, by Lawrence O. Gostin

  • Role: A CNN journalist
  • Audience: Americans, adults
  • Format: News article
  • Topic: Banning large-sized sodas at fast food establishments will help with public health in the United States.

Some versions of this acronym use RAFTS instead, where the S stands for “Strong Verb”. It basically means “What is the purpose of your writing? Are you trying to entertain people? To present an argument? To create a historical record?” I’ve not included this, as it’s less common and offsets the completeness of the acronym, in my opinion. 

SMART 

This one is a personal favorite of many, so you may have heard of it before. But I don’t see enough people implementing it in their lives, so I’m including it here nonetheless.

Many, many people–young or old, man or woman, liberal or conservative–are very poor at setting goals for themselves. I see a lot of people who have a whole long list of things they want to do, projects they want to start, places they want to go–but they draw a blank when questioned about how they’re going to achieve them. 

People subconsciously believe that all they need to do is figure out things they want to do in life, then wait around until life brings them a way to accomplish it. The exact opposite is true. If you want to achieve big things in life, you should do at least a little bit of planning for it. SMART helps you do this.

To properly set goals for yourself, use the acronym SMART

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time-constrained

You can use these 5 words to modify your goals in order to make them better for yourself. And it works really well, regardless of what type of goal you’re trying to set. I’ll give you an example of a goal created using SMART, and which parts pertain to each word. 

“I will run on my treadmill for 3 hours every week for at least one month. I work full-time in an office job, so I want to work out to keep my bones and muscles healthy.”

  • Specific: Instead of just saying “I will exercise”, they say “I will run on my treadmill”
  • Measurable: “for 3 hours every week”
  • Attainable: This person “works full-time at an office job”, so it wouldn’t be realistic for them to try to start an intense every-day workout regimen
  • Relevant: Since this person works at an office job, they’re always sitting down, and it’s good to maintain a healthy workout to prevent any muscle weakness
  • Time-constrained: Must be done “for at least one month”

HOMES

This one probably won’t be used on a regular basis, but if you like trivia games or just want to impress your cool geography friends, this one will come in handy, especially if you don’t live in the northern U.S.

The great lakes are a series of five lakes that are among the biggest in the world, making them very culturally significant for the U.S states–and one Canadian province–that border them. Often studied and visited by tourists, they’ve become essential for anyone studying geography in North America. They’re all part of one interconnected system, so they tend to be thought of as one big collective. But what are they called individually?

To remember what the five great lakes are called, use the acronym HOMES

Huron

Ontario

Michigan

Eerie

Superior

There are other helpful mnemonics and acronyms that help you remember them in different orders, but this one is the one that has stuck with me the best over the years. Use it to take home the win during your next trivia night, or just to impress your particularly studious group of friends.

DABDA

This one might be my favorite out of the whole list, because it’s the only one that I actually came up with myself!* However, the idea itself has existed long before I knew it existed.

The Kübler-Ross model, more commonly known as the five stages of grief, is a system used to explain the ways people deal with death. Originally used to describe the way people suffering from terminal illnesses process the news of their deaths, it’s also been extended to also describe the way people react to the death of a loved one. It’s appeared often in pop culture, and has even been discussed in therapy and counseling sessions; personally, the latter is how I figured out about it. I share this with you in the hopes that you can better understand your own grief, or the grief of someone that you care about.

To better understand the way we humans deal with grief, use the acronym DABDA

Denial

Anger

Bartering

Depression 

Acceptance

This is a very complex and delicate subject for many, but this may help you or someone you love process and become more self-aware. This article on Grief.com explains it way better than I could, and it has a lot of other helpful resources that all deal with the topic of grief. Also, keep in mind that not everyone goes through each of these steps in the same order, and some may cycle through them or even skip some steps entirely. There is no one proper way to grieve, and you shouldn’t set expectations for the grief of anyone.

If you please, leave a comment with any other acronyms that I may have missed; if I get enough, I’ll make a follow-up article exclusively with reader submissions! I love sharing helpful knowledge and content with you all, and I’m sure you have things you can teach me as well. I hope that you learned something that you can carry with you by reading this

Sources: 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-mnemonics/

https://www.ucdenver.edu/docs/librariesprovider132/default-document-library/techniques-for-remembering.pdf?sfvrsn=e90107b9_2

https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/how-to-use-the-raft-strategy-in-the-classroom-to-develop-reading-and-writing-skills/

https://www.cnn.com/2013/03/13/opinion/gostin-soda-ban/

https://www.bard.org/news/king-james-i-and-macbeth#:~:text=Even%20though%20Macbeth%20was%20written,important%20as%20the%20words%20themselves.

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm

https://www.smartsheet.com/blog/essential-guide-writing-smart-goals

https://www.geographyrealm.com/geography-mnemonics-help-learn-great-lakes/

https://www.britannica.com/place/Great-Lakes

https://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507885/

https://www.verywellhealth.com/dabda-the-five-stages-of-coping-with-death-1132148

https://www.healthline.com/health/stages-of-grief#7-stages

*Regrettably, I’ve discovered while doing research for this article that others have also come up with this acronym before I have. To still maintain my sense of originality, I also use the mnemonic “Do Anything Before Doing All”, but I’ll probably include this in it’s own separate article where it can be more relevant.

Slate Wiped Clean.

Three years of hard work, completely erased. Hours upon hours of research, editing, typing, and formatting, completely wiped out. Decimated. Gone. Reduced to atoms.

You might notice that the last article on this site before this one was published in late 2018. But that isn’t because I haven’t posted anything since then, it’s because all of the changes on this site made after January 2019 was completely erased. After coming back from my impromptu hiatus this weekend, I log into my admin account to see my website was in the exact state I left it in over 2 years ago, before the massive overhaul that I did early 2020.

I’m not going to bore you with the details, but in short, WordPress didn’t hold onto the changes I made, since my hiatus was longer than six months. I assume this is to save space on their servers, but still, it was bad news nonetheless. I was able to recover only one article I wrote during that time, one that will be reposted in its entirety soon.

I’m still not as mad about it as I think I should be, though. I’ve seen people whose houses burned to the ground in wildfires, losing literally everything they had, and they still bounced back from it. I figure that if they could go through that, then without a doubt I can go through this.

Of course, this will involve redoing all the cool and awesome changes I made. This includes changing things that still use the old name of Likewise instead of Likewise12. If you see anything out of order, please bear with me, as things will slowly get back to the way they were over time. For now, no promises on posting schedules; I’m laser-focused on my mental health right now, and can only afford to post sporadically for the foreseeable future. Rest assured that I will try my best to bring the best content I possibly can.