Tag: writing (Page 8 of 15)

Meet Rosemary Morris Author of The Captain and The Countess

February 21, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m very pleased to have historical novelist Rosemary Morris, author of The Captain and the Countess, share some of her writing wisdom today on the blog. Let’s give Rosemary a big welcome on her book b-day!

Thank you very much for inviting me to be your guest.

As you know I am a historical novelist, and one of the questions frequently put to me is: “Where do you get your ideas from?”

Usually, the idea for a plot comes from something I have read in a non-fiction book. While I am working in my organic garden, where I grow herbs, fruit and vegetables or while I am using them in my vegetarian cuisine, I think about the plot and theme. I ask myself the following questions. “Who are the main characters? What is going to happen? Where will it happen? When will it happen? Why will it happen?”

Before I can begin to write a historical fiction novel I name the characters. This is very important. They must be appropriate for the period when the story takes place. After I have chosen their names, I compose detailed character profiles. By the time I am ready to write the first sentence, I know who their ancestors were, what they look like, where they were educated, when they were born, what their favourite perfume is, their eccentricities, their hopes and fears etc. Although I only use a fraction of the four page profiles they create people who live and breathe in my imagination.

A frequent remark which people make is: “I could write a book.” I am sure they could if they set aside time to write. I wake at 6 a.m. and with short breaks I work until 10 or 11 a.m. If I am at home for the rest of the day I work from 1.30 p.m. until 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. until 8 p.m.

To complete a novel an author must be self-disciplined. The important thing is to keep to a routine. As I sip my early morning tea I revise the pages I wrote on the previous day and then continue the story. Whether my muse is with me or not my goal is to write 2,000 words but if I need to research something, depending on how much time that takes, I write less.

Part of my writing time includes reading historical non-fiction to research a wide variety of subjects – for example, clothes, food, furnishings, economic and social history. I also read poetry, fiction, letters, biographies and auto-biographies dating back to the era I am writing about. I believe historical novelists have a duty to reconstruct the life and times of their characters and recreate their world. In my opinion, the further back in time a novel takes place the harder it is to enter the minds of people who lived then, but although their culture and attitudes might have been different, they were driven by the same things as we are – love, hate, greed, revenge, duty, etc.

Apart from writing and research, which from time to time includes visiting places such as a stately home, garden or museum, I blog, apply critiques of my chapters from members of groups which I belong to and critique their chapters. This is mutually useful. We comment on rogue punctuation and spelling, query possible historical inaccuracies and tell each other what we like about each other’s novel

One thing is certain, my characters and I are never bored.

The Captain and the Countess blurb:

Set in England in the reign of Queen Anne Stuart – 1702 -1714

Why does heart-rending pain lurk in the back of the wealthy Countess of Sinclair’s eyes?

Captain Howard’s life changes forever from the moment he meets Kate, the intriguing Countess and resolves to banish her pain.

Although the air sizzles when widowed Kate, victim of an abusive marriage meets Edward Howard, a captain in Queen Anne’s navy, she has no intention of ever marrying again.

However, when Kate becomes better acquainted with the Captain she realises he is the only man who understands her grief and can help her to untangle her past.

E.books published by: MuseItUp Publishing available from the publisher, Amazon and elsewhere.

Tangled Love, Far Beyond Rubies (also available as a paperback) False Pretences, Sunday’s Child. New release 21^st February 2014 The Captain and the Countess.

About the Author:

Rosemary Morris was born in 1940 in Sidcup Kent. As a child, when she was not making up stories, her head was ‘always in a book.’

While working in a travel agency, Rosemary met her Indian husband. He encouraged her to continue her education at Westminster College. In 1961 Rosemary and her husband, now a barrister, moved to his birthplace, Kenya, where she lived from 1961 until 1982. After an attempted coup d’état, she and four of her children lived in an ashram in France.

Back in England, Rosemary wrote historical fiction. She is now a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Historical Novel Society and Watford Writers.

Apart from writing, Rosemary enjoys classical Indian literature, reading, visiting places of historical interest, vegetarian cooking, growing organic fruit, herbs and vegetables and creative crafts.

Her bookshelves are so crammed with historical non-fiction which she uses to research her novels that if she buys a new book she has to consider getting rid of one.

Time spent with her five children and their families, most of whom live near her is precious.

www.rosemarymorris.co.uk

http://rosemarymorris.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/writerinagarret

My Writing Process Blog Hop

February 17, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve been tagged! Author extraordinaire Kai Strand asked me to participate in the My Writing Process blog hop. Make sure to check out Kai’s post about her (many) works in progress and her blog at http://kaistrand.blogspot.com/.

Now on to the questions I must answer:

1. What am I working on?

I’ve been really mum on the blog lately (and in general) about my WIPs since putting myself in a creative bubble last fall. I’m not exactly ready to bust open the bubble, but a little sharing won’t hurt.

So I’ve been working on drafting two different YA projects. Elixir Saved (which I’ve mentioned on the blog before) is a companion novel to my published YA fantasy Elixir Bound. It has three point of view characters, is epic in scope, and has a central theme of sacrifice. My other YA project is tentatively titled Black Butterfly. And that’s all I’m going to say about that one.

I’m hoping to have good drafts of both done before Baby Boy #2 arrives, but that may be wishful thinking. We’ll see how the drafting progresses.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

My work is different from others in its genre in exactly the same way as any other writer’s is (how’s that for a paradoxical answer!). What I mean is I write stories that only I can tell in a way that only I can tell them. Okay, you want me to be more specific. One important way I try to stand out in the fantasy genre is to feature dynamic female characters with complex relationships among themselves and with the males around them. (Admittedly, there are other fantasy stories, particularly YA ones, that do this, but I think there aren’t enough.)

3. Why do I write what I do?

I write for teens and kids because that is what I love to read. But it goes beyond that, too. Kids and teens are learning and growing in ways an adult never will. A book read by a child has a far greater impact on his/her life than a book read by an adult had on that adult’s life. I think it’s important to offer kids and teens important, deep, diverse, fun, and entertaining reading experiences (not necessarily all provided by a single work). And I’d love to feel like something I’ve created can have even a small impact on a child.

4. How does your writing process work?

I’m not sure I’d say it does work. I often feel inadequately equipped to be a writer. Not because I can’t write well, but because the process can be elusive. Most of my stories start with a driving plot point and a character and grow from there, but I’ve never written two books in the same way. But they eventually get written, so maybe it my process does work.

****

Thanks for reading about my writing process. I’m tagging two more authors extraordinaire Erin Albert and Suzanne de Montigny. Be sure to check out both their posts next week!

Erin Albert (http://www.erinalbertbooks.com/erins-blog.html) is an editor at BookFish Books and author of The Fulfillment Series. Since she picked up Morris the Moose Goes to School at age four, she has been infatuated with the written word. She went on to work as a grammar and writing tutor in college and is still teased by her family and friends for being a member of the “Grammar Police.” In her free time, Erin enjoys acting, running, kickboxing, and, of course, reading and writing. Her favorite place to be is at home with her family and easygoing tabby cat.

Suzanne de Montigny (http://suzannesthoughtsfortheday.blogspot.ca/), author of The Shadow of the Unicorn: The Legacy, was an elementary music teacher for twenty years where she discovered her knack for storytelling. She has nearly completed The Shadow of the Unicorn: The Deception.

Meet LRS author of Launching Sisters to WitchCamp

February 7, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve got a special treat (or trick) today with LRS, author of the MG fantasy Launching Sisters to WitchCamp (see my 5-star Goodreads review here). One lucky commenter will be chosen at random to receive a free copy of the book, so make sure to say hi in the comments section (this contest in now closed and a winner has been chosen). Welcome, LRS!

A Tale of Psychological Horrors and Reports, and Overgrown Nails

My brothers claim that growing up, I was an award-winning storyteller. They’ve never forgotten the tales I entertained them with about a quarter of a century ago.

Don’t be too impressed, my stories are not memorable for their genius; rather, I fed them psychological horrors. It’s kind of ironic, because though it took me until my thirties to author stories, I did major in psychology.

On a serious note, in a roundabout way, psychology is what led me to this childhood dream. Contrary to other psychotherapy interns, I appreciated writing client assessments. The danger of reports is that they can make the clients appear to be but a sum total of their issues; I embraced the challenge to portray my clients for who they really were as people.

It’s my work on characterization that fired up my dormant passion. I indulged myself, and set out to write a YA series (which is a work in progress under a different pen name). As I navigate this process, I’m constantly reminded of the extent that my psychological background influences my craft. I’ll let editors do pretty much whatever they want with my manuscripts, but I’m overprotective of my characters. For example, I’m particular that each and every piece of their dialogue should be true to them.

As a side note, I gave Launching Sisters to WitchCamp’s editor, Katie, a free hand with my characters too, as she “got” them right off the bat. I’m sure many authors can relate to the sense of pleasure / satisfaction when others grasp their characters well. To me, it’s reminiscent of the feeling mental health workers have when they sense another professional understands their client.

Launching Sisters to WitchCamp, was born during a transition period between book one and two in my YA series. I remember exactly where I was standing when the idea behind the story hit me: the bathroom sink with a nail clipper aimed at my daughter’s grotesquely long nails.

She was putting up a resistance that would impress the IRA, and I had to come up with the ultimate motivator in the few seconds I had before she’d bolt.

“If your nails get any longer, the Witches’ Camp will come for you!”

The rest is history.

Oh, and don’t worry that I’ve set out to horrify you in Launching Sisters to WitchCamp. As long as you’re no giant, goblin, or monster, you’re quite safe.

Launching Sisters to WitchCamp blurb:

Sixth-grader J.J. learns there are no easy breaks in life.

When J.J. discovers the opportunity to send his maddening sisters off to WitchCamp, he has fantasies of a delightful summer. However, J.J. and his friend are soon off on a ride they didn’t anticipate — one that lands them in a chilling mess of witch hunts and creature feasts.

With his creative ideas, J.J. utilizes their risky escapades to escape. But making deals with superhuman creatures just lands them in hotter water.

Now it’s up to J.J. to save them all from certain death by being more imaginative and daring than ever before.

Buy the book at the MuseItUp bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and other e-book retailers.

About the Author:

LRS has a master’s degree in psychology. For more than ten years she pretended to be working while she was on the floor enjoying playtime with kids.

She has lived on the eastern and western coasts of the U.S.A, as well as abroad, and currently resides in Canada with her family. Wherever she is, she can’t pass by a toy store without going inside.

When she’s not writing, she can usually be found in her kitchen, where she’s either baking (and sampling) cookies or stirring a pot. (Unfortunately, she has yet to find a magical spoon.)

To learn more about LRS and her book visit her website, Facebook page, or Twitter feed (@LaunchingSister).

And off to the comments for a chance to win a copy of Launching Sisters to WitchCamp!

Confessions of an Author: Creative Gap

January 13, 2014 / Katie L. Carroll

Confession #7: The creative gap that exists between what an author imagines in her head and what ends up on the paper inevitably leads to a certain level of failure.

As a writer, I have certain images, ideas, nuances, themes, characters (and any number of other things) in my head when I create a piece of writing. It’s not that I necessarily have a set agenda–this is especially true when drafting and the story and characters are still taking shape–it’s more that I have a clear vision for a piece. I wouldn’t call it a message (because who wants to read a message-heavy piece of writing)…for a lack of a better way to describe it, let’s call it a creative vision.

Inevitably, the words I use to try and achieve my creative vision never quite live up to what I see in my imagination. This has nothing to with my ability as a writer; it’s more a failure of the medium of the written word. Writers have to rely on words to paint a physical and emotional landscape for a reader. We create not only worlds and characters, but ideas and feelings that need to come alive through words because a reader can’t see into a writer’s head.

Even now, trying to explain this creative gap is a frustratingly futile attempt. The words you read here are not exactly what is going on in my head. There is a creative gap between my brain and what you’re reading.

English users even try to steal words from other languages to help overcome the creative gap. A word like “umami”, taken from the Japanese, is roughly a pleasant savory taste (tomatoes are said to possess this quality), but really it’s a taste or sensation that can’t really be expressed in our language.

Then there are words that are so complex and subject to a person’s individual experiences and emotions. Success. Peace. Love. A writer can use these words, but has no control over how a reader will interpret it. Words are simply an inadequate form of communication sometimes.

And this creative gap isn’t unique to writers; it crosses all types of creative media. Films, though more visual, lack in different areas than books. When watching a film, a viewer can’t be in a character’s head and hear his/her direct thoughts (except for the occasional voice over). Artists can paint or draw what they see in their head, but there is no commentary to go with it. A person looking at a painting has to draw his/her own emotional context out of it.

So what’s a writer or creative person to do? Give up because our creative vision will never be fulfilled. Create a failure and despair over it. Nope! We accept that the creative gap exists and use all the tools we possess to convey our creative vision to the best of our ability.

Because something magical happens when our (inadequate) words are read. The creative gap works in reverse. Readers brings their own creative visions to the writer’s words. And they fill the gap, not as the writer would have filled it, but with their own imaginations.

In the end, the creative gap does not create a failure, but a piece of work that is unique to each individual who consumes it. A work that is full of images, ideas, nuances, themes, characters (and any number of things) the creator never could have imagined. And that is certainly a wonderful exchange.

The Dirt Diary Author Anna Staniszewski on Creating Diverse Characters

December 11, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Let’s give a big welcome to returning guest blogger Anna Staniszewski, author of the upcoming tween book The Dirt Diary, as she discusses creating a diverse main character. I was very pleased to receive an ARC of this fabulous book and shared my thoughts on it in my 5-star Goodreads review. Welcome, Anna!

When I first began writing The Dirt Diary a few years ago, I knew early on that the main character, Rachel, had a white mom and a Korean-American dad. Perhaps this character detail emerged because the story took place in middle school, a time in my own life that I associate with one of my closest friends (then and now) who is Korean. Or perhaps Rachel appeared in my head that way just because that’s who she is.

For several drafts of the novel, however, I struggled with how overt I should make Rachel’s ethnicity. It didn’t play a large part in the story, but it was part of her character. Also, did I, a Polish-born, American-raised author have a right to write about a character who wasn’t like me?

As I mulled this over, I came to two realizations. First, why couldn’t Rachel’s race be part of her character without it affecting the plot? Rachel being biracial was just as much a part of her as being a girl or an only child. It didn’t guide the story; it just felt like a natural part of her character. And second, I realized that none of the other characters I had written were “like me.” If I stuck to the “like me” criteria then I could only write about characters who had lived in Poland until they were five and then moved to New England. How boring would that be?

So I set out to write Rachel not as a biracial character but as a real character, one whose desires and emotions I could tap into and understand. I realized that my personal experiences did play a part in shaping her character. Not only do I know a thing or two about teen mortification, but having been raised bicultural made it easier for me to imagine how Rachel might feel about being biracial.

Have I made any missteps in depicting a biracial character? Perhaps. And it’s precisely that fear that kept me from acknowledging her ethnicity in early drafts of the book. Ultimately, though, I felt like it would be worse to ignore her true identity than to not try writing it at all.

The Dirt Diary blurb:

Cleaning up after the in-crowd gets Rachel all the best dirt.

Rachel can’t believe she has to give up her Saturdays to scrubbing other people’s toilets. So. Gross. But she kinda, sorta stole $287.22 from her college fund that she’s got to pay back ASAP or her mom will ground her for life. Which is even worse than working for her mother’s new cleaning business. Maybe. After all, becoming a maid is definitely not going to help her already loserish reputation.

But Rachel picks up more than smell socks on the job. As maid to some of the most popular kids in school, Rachel suddenly has all the dirt on the 8th grade in-crowd. Her formerly boring diary is now filled with juicy secrets. And when her crush offers to pay her to spy on his girlfriend, Rachel has to decide if she’s willing to get her hands dirty…

About the Author:

Born in Poland and raised in the United States, Anna Staniszewski grew up loving stories in both Polish and English. She was named the 2006-2007 Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library and a winner of the 2009 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award. When she’s not writing, Anna spends her time teaching, reading, and challenging unicorns to games of hopscotch. She is the author of My Very UnFairy Tale Life series, published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. Look for the first book in Anna’s next tween series, The Dirt Diary, in January 2014, and visit her at www.annastan.com.