Category: Writing (Page 32 of 73)

Meet Sarah Albee Author of Chapter 11 of The Great Connecticut Caper

May 25, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Chapter 11 of The Great Connecticut Caper is here! That means only one more to go! It’s been a wild ride. In honor of the mystery (almost) being solved, the Connecticut Humanities is hosting an event at Gillette Castle on Sunday, June 7 from 2-4 pm. It’ll be a great opportunity to meet some of the authors and illustrators and to participate in some fun events (I heard there will be bookish type prizes!). In the meantime, today you can get know Sarah Albee, author of chapter 11, a little better. Welcome, Sarah!

What was your approach to writing chapter 11 of The Great CT Caper? Given that it was the second-to-last chapter, how much did you feel you had to wrap up in order to set up the ending for the author of the final chapter?

I actually worked pretty closely with Stacy DeKeyser, my fellow Caper author who was slated to write the final episode. Together we hatched a plan to wrap up the various plot threads and resolve the story in our two remaining installments. There was quite a bit of back-and-forth and she had some great ideas that I incorporated into my chapter. I think the combination of brain power was a great way to work!

What were your expectations coming into writing a collaborative, serialized story for young readers? Had you written anything like this before?

I have written books that include lots of chapter cliffhangers and that have very controlled word counts, but never in collaboration with other writers. It was fun, but challenging, because my predecessors have wonderfully wild imaginations and took the story onto some wild tangents. I was in the role of “batting cleanup,” and I enjoyed the challenge.

What kind of research did you do for the project?

I visited the Castle and took a whole lot of pictures, so I felt I had a good grounding with the setting.

The Great CT Caper’s target audience is children in grades four through seven. What were some of your favorite books when you were that age?

I loved books with magic in them, like the Narnia chronicles and Edward Eager’s books (Half Magic, Magic by the Lake, etc.). I also loved detective stories, and devoured Sherlock Holmes stories and Agatha Christie mysteries.

What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received? What one piece of advice that you didn’t get but wished you had gotten?

I love Stephen King’s admonition in his book On Writing, where he says, “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” In other words, write with simplicity and clarity.

The advice I wish I’d gotten? Ignore people who say “Write what you know.” I love finding stuff out. I love not knowing about something and learning about it. It’s the best part of being a nonfiction writer!

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only bring two books and one movie, what would you bring?

I’d bring the collected works of P.G. Wodehouse, the collected works of Shakespeare (is that cheating??), and a Pixar movie. Every one of them is ingenious, but I guess I’d say Monsters Inc. No, Toy Story. No, The Incredibles. Ok. Monsters Inc.

Where else can readers find your writings? What’s up next for your writing career?

My latest book, which came out in February with National Geographic, is called Why’d They Wear That? Fashion as the Mirror of History. My next book, slated for 2017, is about poison in human history.

And finally, what is something funny/weird/exceptional about yourself that you don’t normally share with others in an interview?

After college, I lived for a year in Cairo, Egypt, where I played on a semi-professional women’s basketball team!

About the Author:

Sarah Albee is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 100 books for kids, ranging from preschool through middle grade. Her latest nonfiction middle grade title Why’d They Wear That? is about crazy fashions in history (National Geographic, 2015). She enjoys writing about topics where history and science connect, including Bugged: How Insects Changed History (2014) and Poop Happened: A History of the World from the Bottom Up (2010). When she isn’t writing books or visiting schools in person or via Skype, Sarah blogs about offbeat history at http://sarahalbeebooks.com.

Poop Happened coverBugged

I Will Finish this Draft…

May 19, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

…this week. I can do it! C’mon, chant it for me, “You can do it, you can do it, you can do it.”

That is all!

Twisting Fairy Tales with Author Mary Waibel

May 15, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Back when I was doing research for my NESCBWI15 workshop about mining fairy tales, myths, and legends to write fantasy, I scoured the Interwebs for interviews with fantasy authors and also directly contacted a few. Mary Waibel, master of twisting fairy tales, was one of the gracious authors who provided me with an insight into her writing process. Though I couldn’t include all her wonderful info in the presentation itself (it was only an hour long!), it was too good to not share. So Mary let me put it on the blog. Thanks, Mary!

How Fairy Tales Inspire Me

by Mary Waibel

I love fairy tales. I always have, but I’m not sure why I fell in love with them. Maybe it was the Disney influence of growing up with Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. But regardless, give me a fairy tale and I’m happy girl. I guess it makes sense that my love of fairy tales creeps into my own writing. In fact, several of my books are twists on some well known tales.

Quest of the Hart, my first published novel, and the first book in the Princess of Valendria series, is a reverse Sleeping Beauty. This story all started when a friend suggested I write a book where the girly-girl saves the guy. While thinking about how to adapt this idea, I kept thinking of the princess in the tower needing rescue, and Sleeping Beauty popped into my mind. I pulled out my DVD, sat down with pen and paper, and jotted down the sequence of how things happened in the Disney version. Armed with a plan, I started working on my own version, and Quest of the Hart was born.

The second book in the Princess of Valendria series, Charmed Memories, started out as a twist on Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper. I never intended to borrow from another fairy tale in it, and it wasn’t until someone messaged me and said, {SPOILER ALERT} “This is a twist on The Little Mermaid, isn’t it?” that I realized what I’d done.

The third book in the series, Different Kind of Knight, isn’t a retelling of anything, just a continuation for one of the characters in book two.

When a call for short stories themed around a pocket watch type device came out, I sat down and penned a reverse Cinderella, where the princess used a magical sundial/watch looking device to find the unknown prince she’d danced with at the ball. When I learned the anthology hadn’t gotten enough submissions, I pulled the story and extended it into The Mystery Prince, a novella that I self-published.

While I don’t have a set way for plotting and writing my stories, I do have a way of thinking about how to twist fairy tales into my works.

First, I think it’s important to incorporate as many elements of the original story as you can, but give your own spin to them. For example, In Sleeping Beauty, Aurora is pricked by the spindle and the spell is cast. In Quest of the Hart, Devlin is cut by a magic dagger and the spell is cast. Prince Phillip finds a sword, slays the dragon, and kisses the princess awake. Princess Kaylee has to go on a quest to find a sword, get a drop of dragon’s blood, and make an elixir to wake her prince. In this manner, Quest of the Hart, truly follows the storyline of Sleeping Beauty, but it isn’t a retelling. It’s a twist on the themes.

Second, make a twist. I tend to reverse roles. Have the princess go on the quest, do the dangerous stuff the guy usually does. But you could also make other twists. Set it in the present. Maybe Sleeping Beauty is a girl in a coma and her prince is the doctor trying to wake her up. Set it in space. Maybe Rapunzel is trapped on a faraway planet because her spaceship ran out of gas (thanks to an alien life form who wants to trap her there for her company) and she’s just waiting for another spaceship to land and rescue her. Find a twist that interests you and run with it.

Of course, a fairy tale isn’t complete without a Happy-Ever-After (and this is probably why I love them so much.) No matter what improbable odds are stacked against them at the beginning (a dirty child sitting in the corner who fancies herself in love with the prince-or, as in my version, a bodyguard impersonating a prince), or what obstacles are thrown in their paths (running away when the clock strikes midnight-sending someone else in your place to see who is chosen to be her husband) the characters will be together at the end.

And that’s how I borrow from fairy tales, twist them, and make a new story.

QUEST OF THE HART blurb:

A reverse Sleeping Beauty tale where the princess goes on the quest to save the prince.

Princess Kaylee has never had to fight for anything. Her entire life has been arranged, even her marriage. But when Prince Devlin falls under an enchantment, she finds she is willing to do anything to save him, even if it means fighting a dragon.

Devlin’s own sister, Princess Arabella, is behind the deadly plot. She wants the throne and will use any means necessary to gain it. Her perfect plan unravels, leaving Devlin caught in a magical sleep that is slowly spreading through the kingdom of Breniera. All Arabella needs to finish her spell and claim the crown is a drop of Kaylee’s blood, but obtaining the single drop is proving more difficult than expected.

To save her betrothed, Kaylee embarks on a quest to find an ancient sword and gather a drop of dragon’s blood, while trying to stay out of Arabella’s traps. But Arabella’s traps aren’t the only danger. Time is everything. For once the last inhabitant of the kingdom falls asleep, the spell will be sealed, and not even true love’s kiss will break it.

Quest of the Hart can be purchased at MuseItUp Publishing, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and Smashwords.

Book Excerpt:

Abella’s fingers trembled on the hilt of the dagger as desire for the animal swept through her. He was perfect, not a point out of place or a blemish on his coat. She gazed longingly at him, until a sound from Kaylee brought her back to the task at hand.

Shaking her head to clear it, she watched Kaylee speak to the creature. Did she honestly expect him to answer? Arabella stopped her snort before it gave away her presence. There would be no better chance than this.

Holding the dagger before her, she lined up Kaylee with the tip of the blade. It had to be a perfect throw, as she would not get another chance. She dipped the blade forward once, twice, thrice, then let it fly through the air with a flick of her wrist. The blade spun, end over end, sailing forward. Arabella held her breath, watching, praying her aim was true.

The dagger flew on target, but just before it buried itself in Kaylee’s back, the princess moved, and the dagger embedded itself into the chest of the hart.

About the Author:

Twisting Tales One Story At A Time

YA Author Mary Waibel is a romantic at heart. Her love of fairy tales, fantasy, and happy-ever-after fill the pages of her stories.

When not twisting her own tales, she can be found with her nose buried in any book she can get her hands on. Some of her favorite authors are Nora Roberts, Shannon Hale, Lisa Shearin, and Kristin Cashore.

Mary lives in upstate New York with her wonderful husband, hockey player son, and two cats. Many a Friday or Saturday night she spends hours gaming with family and friends. In the fall and winter she can be found at the ice rink, cheering on her son and his team, and in the summer, she enjoys escaping with her family on camping trips all over the states.

Interacting with her readers is one of Mary’s favorite parts of being an author. You can find her at these sites: author website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and author blog.

May Ripples in the Inkwell: Change Is Hard

May 11, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s the second Monday of the month, so that means it’s time for a new Ripples in the Inkwell (#inkripples) post. Kai Strand’s post can be found here, and Mary Waibel’s can be found here. May brings more flowers, buds turning to leaves on the trees, and warmer weather. The winter jackets are packed away and t-shirts are coming out. May is all about change, and that’s our topic of the month.

The change in weather is welcome, particularly after this very long winter. But change is hard. I see how my 3-1/2 year old son, The Boy, is still having a hard time with all the changes that have gone on in his life in the past year. Even though his younger brother, The Prince, is almost a year old, the adjustment period isn’t over. The resentment lingers, evident when The Boy says, “Mommy, I want you to take care of only me. Daddy can take care of [The Prince].”

The Boy started preschool last November, another big change, especially after being home with me all day for the last two years. He seems so old to me in many ways, but I have to remember how young he really is. It wasn’t too long ago he was still sleeping in the crib. Now he’s in a big boy bed in a new, bigger room. The early years of life bring on so many changes.

But even as an adult, I find change hard, harder still than when I was in my teens and twenties. I like my routine, even if every day the routine isn’t the same. I write best sitting at my laptop, sipping my tea. It’s important for productivity not to be tied to that, though. I can’t always be at my laptop, I don’t always have quiet time to work, I don’t always have time to work period. If I’m ever going to finish my WIP, I need to allow myself the flexibility to squeeze in the work when I can.

Change is also good for the creative soul. It pushes my brain into new realms and I see the world in a new light. I so desperately needed to get away the other weekend for the New England SCBWI writing conference. With little ones, it’s been hard for me to be away from them. My job as mom is 24-7. I needed that change, the time to be a writer and not a mom for a little while. I hated leaving my babies, but it was important for me to do just that.

I guess no matter if we’re 3 or 33 or 133, it will be desirable to avoid change. It’s easier to keep to the routine, maintain the status quo. But lack of change also means lack of growth, so I’m willing to step out of my comfort zone and grow as a person as a result.

Inkwellblueandgreen Want to join in on the conversation on change? Or next month’s theme of summer/vacation? It’s easy to participate in Ripples in the Inkwell.

Ripples in the Inkwell #inkripples is a new monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll. We’ll be posting on the second Monday of every month with a new topic. We’re all authors, but you don’t have to be to participate. Simply compose your post using the monthly theme, grab one of the images, and link back to the three of us. Make sure to use #inkripples when you play along and promote your posts. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it! Full details can be found on my post “Introducing Ripples in the Inkwell.”

Why Do I Bother Blogging Anymore?

May 7, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

The question of blogging and whether or not it is worth my precioussss (couldn’t help myself with the Gollum reference) time is something I’ve been contemplating lately. Blogging takes up a lot of time.

I’m not the kind of person who can just throw together a blog post. Like all my writing, I have to allow myself ample time to think over what I’m going to write before I even sit down to write it. Then there’s the time it takes to write the post, format it with pictures and links, and proof it (yes, I do proof my posts, though I know mistakes make it through).

Even guest blog posts take time. I like to make sure the posts look nice and to have some uniformity to them, so though I don’t have to write those posts, I still have to format them. Plus there’s keeping track of who is posting when and correspondence with guest posters. Not to mention actually reading their content because of course I’m going to do that before I put it on my blog!

It’s not like I get paid to do this or have any revenue stream coming from my website. In fact, I pay to host the site and for my domain name. And lately I’ve been picky about my unpaid projects, carefully weighing whether or not they are worth it. I don’t have a ton of time for my paid work and I don’t get paid a lot for it, so to do work for free seems kind of crazy.

So I started thinking about why I began blogging in the first place. I went back to my very first post in which I expressed that the Observation Desk (the title of my blog) would be a place for me to share my observations on life. As a fledgling writer, I felt a need to share my thoughts, and clearly thought they were interesting enough to share. I think I also wanted a place to think out loud, so to speak, regardless of who listened (i.e. read).

And I have certainly shared many thoughts over the years. I do come here to articulate my thoughts and put them in a cohesive form. Often I’ll start a post about one thing and it will morph into something else, something I never intended it to be. So even though I think about what I want to say before I begin writing, I often figure out something else I wanted to say. In a lot of ways, I began blogging for myself and I still do that. I don’t keep a personal journal for my own thoughts (I keep one for story ideas and development, one for conference notes, and one for each of the boys), so this is my place for that.

Then the blog also became a place for me to feature other writers, illustrators, and creative people. I love featuring other content creators, reading what they think about and how their creative process looks. This was an aspect of the blog I never intended when I first started it, but guest bloggers have really helped to shape the way I now blog. Plus, it does take the pressure off me a little because I’m not the only one providing new content.

So the blog is my place to think in journal form (keeping in mind others will be reading) and a space to feature other creative types and share their works and thoughts.

Then there’s you, the readers. You contribute by reading, sharing, or commenting, and are one of the main reasons I keep the blog going because I feel like some of you actually care about what is going on with my life and this is how we keep in touch. And there have been many times when I’ve been in a tough place in my life and you all helped pick me up. That’s not something to take lightly.

There’s more, too. As I was preparing my presentation for the NESCBWI conference, I realized a lot of the ideas and techniques I was presenting originally came from a blog post idea. A furthering of the idea that this is my place to gather and hone my thoughts.

Does my blog make me any money? Does it directly sell any of my books? Not really. But it does have value. It’s a community, my community. It’s the place where I often start the conversation and where I invite others to start one. It’s the place where I sometimes talk with myself and work out ideas and thoughts.

So that’s why I’ve decided to continue blogging, even as I take stock of my life and look to simplify (I’m always looking to do this in one way or another). The blog takes time, time I could be spending with my family, time I could be writing, time I could be taking care of myself…but I believe it is time well spent.

Why do you blog or read blogs?