Category: Writing (Page 39 of 73)

Sibling Rivalry With Mystery Writer Sara Jayne Townsend

September 19, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Fellow MuseItUp author Sara Jayne Townsend has not one but two books in her amateur sleuth series coming out this fall. DEATH SCENE releases on September 22 and DEAD COOL comes out on November 25. Lets give a big welcome to her as she discusses a topic I know all about: sibling rivalry!

SIBLING RIVALRY

By Sara Jayne Townsend

I am the eldest of three siblings – all female. Middle Sister is two and a half years younger than me; Youngest Sister is eleven years younger. I confess I wasn’t particularly close to either of them when we were growing up. In high school I was a nerd, with terrible dress sense (and old photos carry evidence of this). Middle Sister found me rather embarrassing and preferred to pretend she didn’t know me. When I was fifteen, Youngest Sister was four. I was sometimes obliged to do babysitting duty, and I found this something of a burden. However, now we are all adults, the age gap seems smaller and the differences in personality less important.

There can’t be too many siblings who don’t squabble at some stage while growing up, even if they end up being the best of friends. It seems to be part of family life. And sibling rivalry became important when I created my amateur sleuth, Shara Summers. However, I decided that the teenage resentment she had of her sister Astrid gets carried over into adulthood. The character needed to have family issues. Sibling rivalry was an issue I could relate to, and it made sense for her to still be dealing with this.

Shara’s back story is that she grew up with her younger sister, a Canadian father and an English mother. They start off in England, they move to Canada, and then when Shara is a teenager her parents divorce. Her mother moves back to England, her father stays in Canada. The daughters are given a choice as to which parent to stay with. Shara elects to stay in Canada, as she’s about to start university there. Astrid moves back to England with her mother.

Geographical distance between family members is also familiar to me, but with Shara I wanted to take that a step further. An important theme in DEATH SCENE is that no matter how far you run, you can’t escape loving your family. Shara is holding on to old resentment of her sister, which she is obliged to deal with during the course of the novel. Flawed characters are, of course, more interesting than characters who never make mistakes, but if you want your readers to like your characters enough to stick with them through a series, they need to learn from their mistakes and change throughout the series.

I did not base Shara’s sister Astrid on either of my own sisters. But I was able to use my relationship with them as a reference point. I am a wiser person now than I was then, and this has improved my relationship with my siblings. But I like to think my dress sense has improved over the years, and that may well be a factor, too.

About the Author:

Sara-Jayne Townsend is a UK-based writer of crime and horror. She was born in Cheshire in 1969, but spent most of the 1980s living in Canada after her family emigrated there. She now lives in Surrey with two cats and her guitarist husband Chris. She co-founded the T Party Writers’ Group in 1994, and remains Chair Person.

The first two books in her amateur sleuth series about Canadian actress Shara Summers will be released by MuseItUp Publishing in 2014. DEATH SCENE, the first book (and a re-release) will be available from 22 September, with the sequel, DEAD COOL, released on 25 November. Both are available for pre-order from the MuseitUp online book store: http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore/index.php/our-authors/70-our-authors/authors-t/420-sara-jayne-townsend

You can learn more about Sara and her writing at her website at http://sarajaynetownsend.weebly.com or her blog at http://sayssara.wordpress.com.

Character Driven Stories With Madeleine McLaughlin Author of BEGGAR CHARLIE

September 12, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Another great MuseItUp author guesting on the blog today. Madeleine McLaughlin is the author of the MG adventure BEGGAR CHARLIE and is here to talk about writing character driven stories. Welcome, Madeleine!

MuseItUp, along with other publishers, likes character-driven stories. So the most important part of any story for the modern writer is the ‘character’ of the characters. It should be easy, right? Every person you meet in the real world has a character. All the writer needs to do is copy, yes? No.

A character driven story means that some personality trait of the character leads directly into the plot twists. For instance, a man who acts mean to someone who then goes to kill someone. The first guy has a problem, the writer gets to decide which one. A bad marriage, etc, something that will explain his character. The murderer has a neurotic character perhaps and the story goes along with that. Not so easy.

All sorts of things can suggest character. I once looked at an old England census of my ancestors and found that Dorcas Fletcher had written down her occupation as ‘Gunsmith’s Daughter’. That could suggest a very loving and proud daughter, secondary characteristics are to the writer’s and story’s taste.

Like the father can be demanding but fair, so she feels secure. Or insecure, whatever the story needs.

A trait in a person you know can be helpful. I’m lucky that I had a family with a lot of characters in it. All you have to do then is use your imagination to ‘visualize’ what your character would do. Not easy. No. Writing is never easy but when you do it right there’s a great feeling of satisfaction and also of excitement that others may like what you wrote them.

Knowledge of psychology is a great help, too. That can help you come up with plot twists and motivations. I have a diploma in Child Psychology so I know a bit about how children develop and what they need to grow up happy. I was able to use this in Beggar Charlie. The need for children to have a home and how they go looking for one when they don’t have one.

In studying child psychology, it’s good to study normal and abnormal, just so you can understand what a character may need.

So if you’re in the writing market of today, you’ll have to make lists. Lists of character traits, even of yourself. Or you can start with yourself. What I Like About Myself on one side, What I Dislike About Myself on another. Do this for other people, too. Then try and juxtapose the lists. One Like list against a Dislike list of another person. Can you think of a story to go with it?

Some writers ‘interview’ their characters. This helps them get a better picture of what they may be going through.

It’s not easy, but as I said, it’s satisfying and even calming. You’ve done something, you’ve created. The best feeling in the world.

BEGGAR CHARLIE blurb:

After begging on the streets of London, Beggar Charlie is kidnapped by press-gangers and given over to a merchant ship. He finds himself in a storm off the coast of China. The captain promises him shore leave and sends him, along with Hickory Dick ashore in the morning.

They find themselves in a hostile environment except for one Chinese boy who is friendly. When a rebellion starts and people start dying around them, they run back to the ship only to see it sink under the waves. Then Hickory Dick hatches a plan to get them all home.

Find BEGGAR CHARLIE at Amazon, the MuseItUp bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and wherever ebooks are sold.

About the Author:

Madeleine McLaughlin was raised in a small city by the Pacific Ocean. She left after she graduated from high school and spent a year in Vancouver. She moved to Ottawa in 1979 and has lived there ever since and has a room mate in an apartment downtown.

After working at all kinds of jobs she settled down to write and has poems and flash fiction, along with short stories published. Beggar Charlie is the second story published by MuseItUp Publishing.

Follow her on Twitter @Madoxane or her blog http://madworldca.blogspot.com/.

Join Me on the Great CT Caper

September 9, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Finally the time has come to let you all know about that collaborative project I’ve been teasing you about. (I know, you’ve just been dying of curiosity, haven’t you?) Drum roll, please…

Join me, 11 other Connecticut authors, and 12 Connecticut illustrators as one of our own state’s cultural treasures is about to go missing. The Great CT Caper is on! The plot will develop as each author tackles one chapter at a time, but it all starts with the missing treasure, which was on voted on by the people. And they selected Gillette Castle!

Gillette Castle was designed by William Gillette, who was actually Sherlock Holmes (on stage anyway!), as a private residence and is now part of a state park. High above the gorgeous Connecticut River, I can’t imagine a better place for a mystery to take place. As part of my research, I’ll be visiting it later this month and I’ll be sure to share my experience here on the blog.

With the Great CT Caper, the Connecticut Center for the Humanities will be the first to publish a state-specific version of a serialized story for young readers modeled after a national one done by the Library of Congress. Starting in January 2015, the story will be published online one nail-biting chapter at a time.

I think it’s going to be an amazingly fun project to work on. I’ve never collaborated on a story with so many different writers and I’m really excited to see what kind of story comes out of it. Have any of you ever co-written or done a collaborative book?

The Inspiration Behind SCAR OF THE BAMBOO LEAF by Sieni A.M.

September 5, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

With all the great talk going on in kidlit with the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign, I was super happy when Sieni A.M. agreed to tackle a diversity topic in her guest post for her new YA contemporary romance SCAR OF THE BAMBOO LEAF. Let’s give her a warm welcome as she shares the inspiration behind the characters and setting. And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

My mother is from a small village in Samoa and my dad is from Portland, ME. They met when he was a Peace Corp volunteer. I was born and raised in Samoa, moved to New Zealand for university, and am currently living in Israel with my husband and two daughters. My husband is ethnically Persian/Australian/Canadian, so our daughters probably have every continent running through their blood. As a result, diversity is a very normal thing in my life so its influence on my characters reflect that normality. It’s simply what I know.

In Scar of the Bamboo Leaf, Kiva is a blend of Polynesian/Melanesian, raised by her aunt and uncle with little knowledge about her parents, while Ryler is an Arab American dealing with racism post 9/11. They’re two young people trying to navigate through life. They learn and grow and have challenges just like any other teenager…bullying, loneliness, heartbreak. Despite all of that they have dreams and aspirations and goals. Although their diversity is responsible for some of their troubles, it doesn’t overwhelm the story. The messages are universal and relatable.

The setting is in Samoa because it is what I know most intimately about and can describe best in detail–the landscape, oppressive heat, the culture, people. It is also not a place most often set in novels, so it has been a joy to share this little corner of the globe to international readers.

SCAR OF THE BAMBOO LEAF blurb:

“Her heart wept when she realized that the hardest part about loving him was the idea that his love was never meant for her.”

Walking with a pronounced limp all her life has never stopped fifteen-year-old Kiva Mau from doing what she loves. While most girls her age are playing sports and perfecting their traditional Samoan dance, Kiva finds serenity in her sketchbook and volunteering at the run-down art center her extended family owns.

When seventeen-year-old Ryler Cade steps into the art center for the first time, Kiva is drawn to the angry and misguided student sent from abroad to reform his violent ways. Scarred and tattooed, an unlikely friendship is formed when the gentle Kiva shows him kindness and beauty through art.

After a tragic accident leaves Kiva severely disfigured, she struggles to see the beauty she has been brought up to believe. Just when she thinks she’s found her place, Ryler begins to pull away, leaving her heartbroken and confused. The patriarch of the family then takes a turn for the worse and Kiva is forced to give up her dreams to help with familial obligations, until an old family secret surfaces that makes her question everything.

Immersed in the world of traditional art and culture, this is the story of self-sacrifice and discovery, of acceptance and forbearance, of overcoming adversity and finding one’s purpose. Spanning years, it is a story about an intuitive girl and a misunderstood boy and love that becomes real when tested.

Find it on Goodreads and Amazon.

About the Author:

Sieni A.M. is a coffee addict, Instagram enthusiast, world traveler, and avid reader turned writer. She graduated as an English and History high school teacher from the University of Canterbury and is currently living in Australia with her husband and two daughters. “Scar of the Bamboo Leaf” is her second novel.

Website: http://sieniam.blogspot.co.il/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/illumineher

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/illumineher/

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ELIXIR BOUND Book Blitz Sign Up

September 4, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Hi all! I’ve got a lot going on right now. We had The Boy’s third birthday last week and his birthday party over the long weekend. We went to the zoo, just me and him, the morning of his birthday and had ice cream cake that evening. Pretty low key.

For his party, I made him a fire engine birthday cake (thankfully I bought a cake pan that made the job a little bit easier) and cake pops, which took a good chunk of time. Somehow we ended up having like 30+ people at the party, so it was fun but a big time suck for me. Not so much low key.

In writing news, I have a short poem coming out in Highlights HIGH FIVE magazine. It’s a tough market to break into, so I was super excited to get an acceptance. And I have big news coming on Monday about a fun, collaborative project I’m working on to be released next year.

I’ve also been gearing up for a big promotional push for ELIXIR BOUND. The ebook will be on sale and the paperback will be up on Goodreads for a giveaway, both happening September 14th-28th. I’m currently organizing a big book blitz (and hopefully releasing the book trailer as well…if the creator of my trailer–my brother–can get his you-know-what together!). I’d love if any bloggers who have some space between the 14th and 27th could sign up.

Here’s the sign up link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1JPEek1w3PPHuGNpX3XNCV24uF9tHhqep2GvJ6zQMYTo/viewform

So what have you all been up to?