Category: Creativity (Page 12 of 19)

The Real Pirate Lore That Inspired PIRATE ISLAND

April 3, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

As I think about what I’m going to talk about at the PIRATE ISLAND book launch party coming up in a couple of weeks, I realized I haven’t ever discussed here on the blog the inspiration behind the book.

It goes all way back to my childhood really. If you grew up in Milford, CT (like I did), you’d know of Charles Island and likely have even gone out to it. It’s a little island (14 acres small!) in Long Island Sound about a half mile off the coast of Milford. It’s pretty unassuming to look at, mostly covered by trees and some old ruins that you can’t see from the coastline. But it does add a distinctive feature to the view (the teaser image uses an actual picture I took of Charles Island).

Knowing only those few facts about the island, you’re probably wondering how it could possibly inspire anyone to write about it. But what if I told you that you can walk out to the island? “What?” you might say. “How could you possibly walk out to an island?” Twice a day at low tide, the waters of Long Island Sound recede enough to reveal a tombolo, locally referred to as a sandbar, that goes all the way from the Silver Sands Beach in Milford to Charles Island. Okay, so things are getting a little more interesting…but still, not necessarily interesting enough to be inspiration worthy.

But what if I told you that this little, unassuming island has a very conspicuous history? It was originally called Poquehaug and was used as a summer resident for Sachem Ansantawae of the local Paugussett tribe. The island and Milford (before it was called that) were purchased by English settlers from the Paugussett Tribe in the 1639 for six coats, ten blankets, one kettle, twelve hatchets, twelve hoes, two dozen knifes, and a dozen mirrors. (For a comprehensive history of Charles Island, check out An Historical Account of Charles Island: Milford, Connecticut by Michael C. Dooling.)

Over the years, Charles Island has been a tobacco farm, a summer resort, a fish fertilizer plant, and a religious retreat site. The tobacco farm failed, the abandoned hotel ended up burning, and people have lost their lives trying to get to and from the island. All interesting, but still not the whole story.

This is where history gets fuzzy and turns to legend. Sachem Ansantawae’s daughter may have been kidnapped, causing him to curse the island. Infamous pirate Captain William Kidd (Billy, the main character of PIRATE ISLAND, tells the pirate’s history in my #CaptainKiddHistory blog series) may have buried his lost treasure there, and also maybe cursed the island. Sixteenth-century Mexican emperor Guatmozin’s Aztec treasure may have found its way to the island, a treasure that was cursed and thereby cursing the island. So there’s a chance that this tiny island in Long Island Sound has actually been cursed three times (or “thrice-cursed” as Eleanor Birch from PIRATE ISLAND would tell you).

So now do you think Charles Island is worthy of a story? Well, I certainly did. And it was the history and legends of Captain Kidd (and, at the risk of being a teeny bit spoilery, maybe one of the the others), that caught my imagination. As you can probably tell, I’ve done a lot of research about the island. I never thought Charles Island was an apt name for it, so I decided to name the island of Billy’s obsession Pirate Island.

I’ve included a lot of these historical tidbits both about the island and Kidd in the actual PIRATE ISLAND story, but I also made up some things. It was fun to play around with the legends and mix them with my own imaginings.

The PIRATE ISLAND book launch party will be held at the Milford, CT Public Library on April 17 from 2-4 pm. You can learn more about how the local lore inspired the story, play a fun fishing game and win a prize, grab a pirate cookie or a signed book, and take a picture at the photo booth!

A thrice cursed island, a legendary pirate treasure, and one not-so-brave boy. What could possibly go wrong?

For centuries, the whereabouts of Captain William Kidd’s lost pirate treasure has remained a mystery. When Billy’s best friend, Andy, proposes they look for it on nearby Pirate Island, Billy thinks it’s just another one of their crazy adventures. It’s usually Billy who ends up in trouble as a result, but he goes along for the ride…like always. The more he delves into the life and death of Kidd, the more he thinks the treasure is real and that it might be buried on the small island in Long Island Sound. Billy–nope, call him William–becomes obsessed with the captain of the same first name. He even believes he’s possessed by Kidd’s restless soul. Now he and the spirit of a long-dead pirate are leading the crazy adventure on Pirate Island. And what they find is far bigger than the treasure they imagined.

Find PIRATE ISLAND at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, and other book retailers.

Coming To The Realization That This Isn’t My Story To Write

March 19, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

In light of some really thoughtful, hard conversations going on in the children’s literature world about representation, I was thinking about a manuscript I’d started but never finished.

I loved the characters. The world I had begun to create had lots of story elements that I both love reading about and writing about. It is a YA retelling at its heart but has unique elements that I thought would make it stand out. I completed over 50,000 word on it for National Novel Writing Month (quite a few years ago). My critique group liked the bits they saw of it. I adore the story, and the plot had really started to come together in my mind. I did quite a bit of research for it. But I never finished it.

I thought it was because I couldn’t find the right character to tell the story. I played around with having a different point-of-view character. I played around with multiple points of view. I rewrote the beginning and tried it in third person instead of first. Yet I could never quite figure out how to tell the story. So I put it away. I had intentions of maybe coming back to it someday when I was a better writer who could maybe find the right voice.

But now, I don’t think I’m going to come back to it. I think I now know why I was having so much trouble trying to figure out how to tell that story. It’s not because I don’t think I could write it and write it well. And it’s not because I don’t think it would make for a good story. In fact, I think it would make a really great story, one I’d love to read some day. But I’m not going to write it.

One of the things that we as storytellers need to be asking ourselves, beyond if we can write a story and write it well, is should we be writing a story. I couldn’t find the right way to tell this particular story–as much as I love the idea of it–because it’s not my story to tell. It deals with cultures and characters who would probably not be best served with me doing the telling. I can (and have) visit the place where my story takes place and research the culture, but I’m not part of it, so the story would suffer for it. It could end up being harmful in its representation.

Maybe I’ll come back to the basic idea of doing a retelling of the tale that inspired the original idea, but with a totally different spin to it, one that I am more equipped to tell. And I have plenty of other ideas floating around in my head and notebooks that I certainly am not lacking for new stories to write.

Of course, it hurts a little to put this manuscript to rest. I’ve put a lot of work into it, and I want to be able to tell it. I won’t, though. And I’m okay with that.

Young Kids, Short Attention Span, Short Writing Time

February 20, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

Babies and young children have short attention spans, but the title of this post doesn’t refer to my kids’ attention spans; it refers to mine. I once read a quote about a mother’s attention span is only as long as that of her youngest child (I tried looking it up to cite it but couldn’t find it and, honestly, didn’t look that long 😉 ). My youngest is 7 months old, so that tells you about how long I can concentrate on any one thing. The shiny hot mess that is social media doesn’t help either!

via GIPHY

Hence why I’ve been focusing a lot of my writing time on picture books. Not easier to write than novels, but easier to feel like I’m actually making some progress on it in the shorter work sessions that fit into my current life. I’ve also been reading a ton of picture books with the kids, so I’m naturally inspired by that form.

Yet that old perpetual WIP (work-in-progress) Elixir Saved is weighing on me. I’m at the point where not working on it is always in the back of my mind. It’s different than when I’ve consciously taken a break from it because I needed to. This time I kind of feel like I’m just avoiding it. I’m in the meaty middle of the draft. I know where the story needs to go and I have a solid idea of how to get it there, but it’s gonna take a lot of work. So, yeah, I should probably make it a priority to work on it, instead of finding new things to work on.

Not that I’m going to stop working on my picture books. I just think I need a better balance. Isn’t is that what it always comes down to in pretty much everything in life: finding the right balance.

One last thing. I’m also in the market for a picture book critique partner. I’ve got plenty of writing buddies to exchange novels with, but not so much when it comes to picture books. I’d like someone with a little bit of experience in the area, but you you certainly don’t have to be an expert. Send me a message if you’re interested in seeing if we’re a good match!

Where Do I Find The Time To Write?

February 5, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

I often get asked the question of how I find the time to write. The short answer to this–and every single writer you know will also have this answer–is that I make the time to write. It’s important to me; it’s part of who I am and how I navigate the world. So no matter how busy I am, I make sure there is time for writing.

I’m lucky to have help from relatives a couple days of weeks with the kiddos. I have a husband who financially supports me, so I don’t have to work for money. Do I have as much time as I’d like to write? Nope. Do I find myself distracted when I do have writing time? You betcha (I’m looking at you, social media!). Is it hard to write when the country feels like a pile of garbage? It sure is. Do I sometimes have to put the writing aside to deal with the business of being a writer? Of course (there’s submitting to do, marketing to plan, chasing people down to get paid, and lots of other stuff that’s not actually writing). Do I write every day? Nope, not even close.

But I do it. With help. I recognize the privilege I have. I think it’s important to point out my privilege because it’s not something writers always talk about. It’s easier to be a writer when you have support. That’s not to say I don’t have my own struggles. I have trouble balancing writing time and taking care of the kids (which is my primary responsibility in life right now). I worry about money, my retirement, and how to pay for the kids to go to college. Now that the boys are growing, I worry about having to go out and get a job just to feed those growing little bodies. Yet, I still make the time to write.

Here’s the thing, I know writers who work full time, have kids, and don’t have the kind of help I have. They make time to write. They do it because it’s important to them. They find a way to create, even when it’s hard, even when it’s done in the wee hours of the night when it feels like everyone else is asleep. They do it even though they’re bone tired. They do it because it’s important to them.

I find the time to write because it’s important to me. So when people ask me about how I find the time to write. I usually say something like, “Oh, I have help with the kids a couple of days a week.” Though the real answer feels far more complicated than that. Or maybe it’s not. Maybe it all comes back to the short answer. I find the time to write because I make the time to write. I’m a writer. I don’t know how not to be one…so I write (but not every day!).

Cheating On My Novels With Picture Books

January 23, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve so not been in the mood to blog lately. I have lots of things I could write about (both on the blog and in my own writing) but nothing that’s really sparking for me. So I’d rather spend my limited words on my actual writing than here.

So I’m just popping in to say that the one aspect of writing that I’m excited about is picture books. I think the short form is fitting with my attention span right now. Plus, I’ve been reading so many picture books with the boys, it’s hard not to get inspired in that area.

Writing picture books is a fun break from novel writing, which has felt like so much work lately. I’m slogging trough the long sentences and paragraphs in the novels. But my picture book is coming to me in fun little spurts. The scenes are snapshots that I have to interpret into words. Then I have to piece those snapshots together for a whole…but a short whole!

Not to say that shorter = easier. That is certainly not the case. But picture books are different than novels, and a change must be what I need. It’s almost like I’m cheating on the longer form with the shorter stuff. For me, there is less baggage when it comes to picture books. I feel a lot of pressure to get things right with this novel I’m working on, but there’s none of that with my picture books.

So I’m going with it…riding this burst of picture book creativity for now.