Tag: Elixir Bound (Page 12 of 15)

Staying Grounded

September 9, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Okay, some blog tour stuff first (because I know you all are dying to hear more about my blog tour–hey, quit the groaning!). I’m over at the blog of Stuart R. West (who you all met last month when he guest blogged about Females in YA and his Tex, The Witch Boy books) offering some sage (I hope!) advice about book openings, including my favorite ones.

Now for the actual intended blatherings of today’s post…staying grounded. Earlier this summer I embarked on a mission to ground myself every day. No, not I-stayed-out-past-my-curfew-and-got-grounded kind of grounded. A more literal kind of grounded, as in putting my feet on the earth kind of grounding.

The hubby and I getting grounded in St. Lucia.

There seems to be some legitimate(?) health benefits to this and certain techniques that are supposed to work (here’s one article about grounding techniques and another with some supposed health benefits). It’s all bit new agey for my sensibilities, but try to stay with me here because I think it might be working.

I’m not doing anything crazy, but simply going outside and touching my feet to the actual earth (grass, dirt, sand, etc…) for a few seconds every day. (Admittedly I’ve already missed a day here or there, but it’s more the spirit of the idea than being super strict about it.) I’m going to try and do this for a whole year. That’s it!

And you know what? I have been feeling a bit more grounded lately. Less stressed, more even-keeled, even with a lot going on in my professional life, a toddler to take care of, renovations on our attic, and my allergies going a bit wonky with the change in weather.

If I think about some of the most relaxed people I have ever come across, I go back to Tahiti or St. Lucia and the people of islands. You know what they do? They walk around barefoot a lot (granted they also live in a less stressed environment in general)!

So the only problem is I live in New England. The weather is still pretty nice right now, so it’s not hard to get out there barefoot. But I’m a warm-weather kind of girl…some years I barely make it through the winter without falling into that sun-deprived kind of depression. I like to be warm and get cold pretty easily. So I’m not making any promises come January when the temperatures drop into the 20’s and snow is on the ground.

Though my husband (who has been oddly enthusiastic about this whole thing…probably because he’s not the one putting his bare feet on the grass everyday) says he won’t let me get away with NOT doing it this winter. He’s even offered to keep a little spot of grass in the yard free of snow this winter (how generous of him…notice he hasn’t offered to do this grounding thing with me!). I’m committed but not crazy, so we’ll see how it goes.

What’s the strangest, craziest, weirdest thing you’ve committed yourself to?

Exploring the World of Elixir Bound

September 3, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

In case you missed it yesterday, I was featured on the Where Writers and Author Meet blog. Here’s your opportunity to ask me ANYTHING! Post your question in the comments and my answers will be posted next Monday.

The fun continues with the Elixir Bound in paperback blog tour (full schedule here)! Today I have a very special reveal *drum roll* … the official map of the world of Elixir Bound! This map includes not only Faway Forest, with the Three River Split and The Sleeping Giant mountain range, but also a look at the entire Great Peninsula.

Places like the cities of Skimere and Lughorn, Blanchardwood, and Drim will play very important roles in the next Elixir book, Elixir Saved. Check back in all month long for more cool reveals, including a sneak peek of Elixir Saved at the end of the month.

Enough blathering! Let’s get to the map! 🙂

Elixir Bound Blog Tour Schedule

September 1, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s here: the Elixir Bound in paperback blog tour! I still don’t have an exact date for when the paperback version will be available, but I’ve been assured by my publisher that it will be this month or possibly October. The blog tour goes all month long, so I’ll be sure to update you all when I know.

I have a fabulous line-up of guest posts scheduled and am being hosted by a group of awesome authors, book bloggers, and bookish people! There will be inside looks into my writing life, never before revealed info about the book, a giveaway, and the usual shenanigans you’ve come to expect from me! Here’s a list of stops:

August 31st – Krystal’s Enchanting Reads – A pre-blog tour post with a beautiful review of Elixir Bound and a post about world building from me

2nd – Where Writers and Authors Meet – Author spotlight and a chance to ask me questions (c’mon, you know you’ve been dying to ask me something!)

3rd – Observation Desk – (Yup, that’s my blog) Your chance to see the official map of the Great Peninsula

4th – Books for Company – My favorite spots to write with pictures

Author Eric Price’s blog – Find out how Katora, Kylene, and Bhar celebrate the Winter Solstice with an Elixir original short story

5th – Erin Albert Books – Twelve random things about yours truly (including one of my biggest fears!)

9th – Stuart R. West’s blog – The dos and don’ts of novel openings, plus my favorite openers

Where Writers and Authors Meet – The A’s to your Q’s from last week

Ladybug Lin’s Exceptional Reviews – A surprise post with a review of Elixir Bound from fellow Muser Lin Holmes

10th – Meradeth Houston’s blog Write Stuff – My favorite books in my top fantasy series

11th – Kai Strand’s blog Strands of Thought – Three Times a Charm feature in which I reveal my three favorite writing snacks, top three pieces of advice for kids, and three professions I wanted to be while growing up

You Gotta Read Reviews – An author interview where you find out who my favorite author is

12th – Girls Succeed! – My personal story on how I became a writer (fair warning, it’s a bit sad)

13th – Kelly Hashway’s blog – A deleted (and never before publicized) scene between Katora and Hirsten

14th – Literary Meanderings – Learn more about Zelenka and the demicks in this character interview

16th – Waibel’s World – A character interview of Kylene (really more of a scene…I got a bit creative–i.e. totally disregarded–with the traditional Q&A of an interview)

17th – Philip Coleman’s blog – Talking my favorite tipples in this author interview

18th – Susan A. Royal’s blog – An author interview where I reveal the movie I always watch when it’s on and I spill on my next book Elixir Saved

20th – Observation Desk – (My blog again…you didn’t think I was going to let everyone else have all the fun, did you?) A sneak peek look at the next Elixir book Elixir Saved

21st – Tina’s Book Reviews – Saturday spotlight on the making of the cover of Elixir Bound

23rd – The Story of a Writer – Find out what readers of Elixir Bound have to say with this book spotlight and snippets of reviews

25th – Behind a Million and One Pages – Katora may be a traditional “strong” female protagonist, but find out what other kind of strong female I admire

Observation Desk – (Yup, back to my blog again) Pics of the swag being offered in the giveaway

26th – These Words Tell a Story – A list of musical inspiration I turned to while writing Elixir Bound

27th – Nicole Zoltack’s blog Where Fantasy & Love Take Flight – A character interview of Katora, in which she reveals the one thing she would change about herself

30th – Suzanne’s Thoughts for the Day – I go crazy on other people’s books and suggest alternate endings

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Females in YA: Part 4 Boys

August 27, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

So far we’ve talked about my experience growing up a female, females in my writing, females in current YA, and even a guest post from a guy about females. Could there be anything left to this discussion? Of course…let’s talk about boys!

“Huh?” you might be asking. “What do boys have to do with females in YA?” And to that I say, “It’s about how teen girls in books are looking at boys that interests me.” (And then you promptly tell your screen you’re sick of reading about females in YA and go check out that video of Miley Cyrus at the VMAs…I’m so not giving you a link to that garbage here!)

I am so, so, so tired of reading books where the girl POV character first sees the boy (who will inevitably be the love interest) and talks about how hot he is. His purposefully messy but sexy hair. The way he walked into a room with a strut that said, “I’m hot and I know it.” His piercing green eyes that took in her curves.

Girls, is that really that first thing you think about when describing a guy? How hot he is? (This is the point where I frantically go back into Elixir Bound and check how Katora first describes Hirsten…and blow a sigh of relief to see the first thing she thinks about–though with a blush when his name is mentioned–is his work ethic. Though, she does comment on his gorgeous eyelashes quickly after that!)

And maybe it’s just me, but when I first meet a guy (even in my days when I wasn’t married), I don’t immediately assess his hotness. Sure there are those guys you see and are like, “Whoa! He’s a hottie!” But then are just boys you meet. Maybe they have a nice smile or they say something that interests you, and that’s what you notice about them. Not how awesome he might look naked.

I’m not saying looks don’t matter, especially with first impressions, but every guy worth meeting, dating, or loving isn’t going to be drop-dead-gorgeous hot. I can tell you from experience, it’s often not the hottest (in that superficial meaning of what makes a person attractive) boy who is going to make the best boyfriend.

And one of the best things about falling in love with someone is finding them more attractive as you fall more deeply in love with them. So even if the hottest guy on the planet (for argument’s sake let’s say Ryan Gosling) wanted to take you out, you’d say no because you already have the most perfect guy for you, and he’s way hotter than any other guy in the world because of that!

I’m not sure I even remember the first time I saw my husband (we met working in a hardware store while we were in high school). I had a boyfriend at the time, so I wasn’t looking at every boy in a is-he-a-potential-boyfriend way. But once I got to know him (and was single), seeing him from across the store did give my heart a thump. And, yes, I did think he was a hottie (and still do)! But I didn’t fall in love with him for his looks (well, maybe a little because I was envious of his gorgeous, long eyelashes!).

What are some books that you think have memorable first descriptions of boy characters?

Females in YA: Part 2 My Writing

July 22, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

The discussion about females in YA continues. If you missed Part 1 Growing Up Female, be sure to check the comments section as well as the blog post because there is some great stuff there.

So in Part 1 I asserted that though boys were an important part of my teenage life, they weren’t everything. I had goals and dreams that had nothing to do with boys, and I think this is similar to how many teen girls feel today. This lead to the question of whether or not YA books reflect this. Before I think about other people’s YA books, I’d like take a moment to look at my own writing, specifically my YA book Elixir Bound and what my goals were with the female characters.

I originally conceived Elixir Bound as a there-and-back-again quest, a sort of tribute to my sister Kylene, who died at the age of 16. I had hoped to give her a fantasy tale of her own. When it proved too hard to write the story from the POV of a character inspired by her, I decided to try from a different charcater’s POV: her sister’s Katora.

This really changed the direction of the story. Where Kylene was sweet, sensitive, and wore her feelings on her sleeve, Katora was stubborn, independent, and also sensitive but would never want to show it. Elixir Bound then became a story about a young woman (Katora) who must go on a quest to find out whether or not she will become guardian to a secret healing Elixir and bind herself to it.

The binding part was key because it wouldn’t allow to just use the Elixir as she wanted to; the binding would force her to use it in a way that also served the Great Mother (who is also called Mother Nature, and is basically the highest form of being in Katora’s world). Now I had a story where a very independent character was forced to make a decision that would seriously hinder her independence and impact the path the rest of her life would take.

This whole story line was a personal journey that was paralleled by a physical journey in which Katora and her companions had to find the secret ingredient for the Elixir. Notice the total lack of mention of a love interest. It was really important to me that Katora’s motives for the quest had nothing to do with a boy.

It was also important that Katora be chosen for this quest, not either of her two older sisters or her younger brother. I’ve always wondered why in so many real and fictional worlds the oldest son is the one who is entitled to the inheritance, so I wanted Katora to be neither the oldest nor a boy. The reason Katora was chosen as the next guardian of the Elixir, taking over for her father, was she was person who was best suited for the job.

As I started writing Elixir Bound, I realized I wanted these themes to be reflected in Katora’s world as well. I think a lot of these themes spilled out of me unconsciously and only in revision did I become consciously aware of the feminism in them. Suddenly Katora’s world had turned very pagan with the people following a female deity (the Great Mother) closely tied to nature. From there I sort of ran with the idea that females would, in a sense, rule this world. Though I kept it that Katora would take over for her father because I wanted some balance in the world. Women didn’t need to rule everything.

And Kylene was still there on the quest and plays an important role (though not the starring one). I wanted her there to contrast Katora’s personality because there are other strong female characters besides the bulldozer type, which is kind of how I think of Katora. I even wrote a guest blog post about this different type of female character, strong in character but not in your face about it. Also, Zelenka, a member of the miniature demick species, was an interesting female character. In many ways very much like Katora, but also a bit of an adversary to Katora. They never quite get along, mostly because they are so alike.

There does end up being a love interest on the quest. One I had to emphasize and play up more as I went through revisions of the story because several of my early readers didn’t think it played a big enough role in the story. Katora initially resists forming a relationship with Hirsten, the handsome son of a famous mapmaker. She doesn’t want anything to distract her while on her mission and while she has such an important decision to make. Though the quest part of the story is not driven by romance, Katora’s ability to realize her capacity for love (and in turn why she has resisted her feelings for Hirsten) does play into her decision on whether or not to become guardian of the Elixir.

As you can see, I thought a lot about the role of females in the made-up world of Elixir Bound as I was writing it. I’d like to think my story offers a feministic look at females and hopefully speaks to teenage girls in a positive way. Although, I didn’t want to force any certain didactic message about feminism in the story…more an offering of female characters and how they take control of their lives and futures. Themes I certainly plan on considering while writing future works as well.

Thanks for letting me wax philosophical about my own book! Next up I’ll take a look at some of the YA books I’ve read recently and what messages about females in YA I took away from them. Any requests on what books you’d like me talk about (can’t guarantee I’ve read them, but I’m open to suggestions)?