Tag: writing (Page 8 of 14)

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.

Putting My Writing in a Bubble

October 16, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve been in kind of a weird place with my writing lately, really feeling the need to put my writerly self in a bubble and focus on what I want from my stories without thinking about the reader, my critique partners, or anyone else. I’ve been putting myself out there a lot lately, with the blog tour last month, contacting schools and bookstores for speaking opportunities, and being really open about my process. So I think it’s time to step back for awhile from all this crazy public life stuff.

That doesn’t mean I won’t be blogging, though. I’ve come to really love my Observation Desk (which in case you didn’t know is the name of this blog), my place that’s all my own where I can wax philosophical (or less than philosophical!) about anything I want. And I love interacting with all my readers through your comments. And I love hosting other authors here, too!

Keep an eye out for a new Females in YA posts with lots of linky love, some scientific type posts (because I haven’t been doing enough of those lately), and pictures. Because pictures are easy posts to do! 😉 And of course, all those lovely guest posts from my fellow author friends.

So I’ll be in the bubble, but it seems there will be lots of holes in the bubble for me to breathe and share with you all, but maybe just not about any of my current WIPs! What have you all been up to lately?

Scott R. Caseley Author of Isosceles on Females in YA

October 7, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

A special treat today as another male author weighs in on the Females in YA series on the blog. Returning guest poster Scott R. Caseley, author of the YA mystery Isosceles, discusses the voices in his head (c’mon, writers, you all know we have ’em!). Welcome back, Scott!

“Following A Female Voice”

Written by Scott R. Caseley

When going on a road trip, a GPS device sits on my windshield directing me how to get to the destination. I imagine that this faceless individual is a person that’s been there before and knows how to lead the way. This has a direct correlation to all the great stories that have been or have yet to be written. Choosing the right voice to tell the story is key. The difference between GPS technology and literature is, you have a set number of voices to choose from on the former.

Thankfully, when writing a book, you can select from a limitless amount of voices to guide your story along. In my own experience, I don’t know right off the bat whether it will be told from a male or female point of view, I just end up going with whichever character not gender will serve the plot best. No matter which person ends up being the voice telling the story, including as narrator in some cases, I always aspire to make them complex, flawed, and as human as possible.

For my novel, Isosceles, there were three main characters to choose from; Sean, Madeline, and Trey. I thought of Trey and Madeline as being strong-willed individuals who had judgments on everything who wanted to tell me this story about him dying and what affect it had on her and their mutual best friend Sean’s life. However, as quickly as I thought of using them, I discarded the idea. With her opinionated personality I decided she would be too much in everyone’s way including her own to tell the story the way I felt would be best. Additionally, I decided I didn’t want to end the story with his death, as would certainly be the course of action I would take if Trey were narrating. I ultimately chose to tell it from Sean’s point of view, because I felt that the story needed to have a more observational bent to it to make it most objective.

However, Madeline’s voice lingered on my mind during the whole writing process as determined women have always been a joy to create, as I have known many of them in my life and stories featuring them like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Bridge To Terabithia are favorites of mine. Though, I also know a number of shy women who like to hide out in the background and rather enjoy some famous shy female characters too. Still, when I create my female characters, I’m not basing any of them exclusively on the real and fictitious women on my mind who have either trait. If I based something on someone entirely, it would not serve the story, unless the story was just about that particular person. I find creating hybrids between real and imagined much more fascinating for the stories I have already done.

Moreover, no character in any of my stories has been based on people solely of their gender. I find traits most interesting when they can be found in both sexes. Taking a character off the stereotypical path of being a guy, or being a gal, is a bit like choosing an alternate route on your GPS. You’ll still get where you want to at the end, but what you’ll experience or see along the way may be much more interesting then just sticking to the main roads, or the most common routes you feel everyone has gone down before.

Madeline, my aforementioned character in Isosceles is in love with Trey, and friends with Sean, but she’s got a lot more to her than that. She doesn’t aspire to be popular in school, and prefers to do her own thing. She’d much rather be a ‘floater’ in all the cliques and help those in need, counsel them, etc. She also lives life on her own terms, and doesn’t wait around for a guy to lead her on her way, she just goes forward and takes the chances. She excels in school and even graduates valedictorian. With all these strengths, she does have her share of weaknesses. I’ll let you read the book to decide for yourself what you think they are.

For all my efforts, I had critics who lauded and others who loathed her. This inspired me to want to tell a future story at least in part from a female point of view. I feel confidence in the ‘voice’ I gave Madeline, and will give my readers more female options to choose from on the next journeys my pen takes them on. Who knows maybe someone with her traits may be the narrator sometime. All I ask of you, my readers is to not be alarmed when the route takes you off the main road, just sit back and enjoy the ride, because if I do my job right, my female characters will always bring you to the proper destination.

Isosceles blurb:

When he finds his best friend Trey Goodsby dead and almost completely submerged in a bathtub filled with bloody water, Sean McIntyre is determined to find out if it was an accident or suicide. If it was suicide, why did he do it? And, did his death accidental or intentional have anything to do with Madeline Edwards, the woman who came between them constantly through their thirteen-year friendship? Isosceles, a coming-of-age mystery romance begins with the death of Trey Goodsby, and explores his relationships with family, friends, his romances, and which of the circumstances he found himself in that led to the tragic event, and the repercussions for those he left behind.

Isosceles can be purchased at the MuseItUp bookstore, Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Bookstrand, Coffee Time Romance, and other ebook retailers.

About the Author:

Scott R. Caseley was born in Nashua, New Hampshire. He gained an interest in writing in elementary school in nearby Hudson. Growing up, he carried a small notebook or pen on family trips making observations and frequently turned them into poems or short stories. While attending Franklin Pierce University, he co-wrote and co-directed a student film. After graduating, he wrote and directed a dramatic feature, co-wrote and directed a documentary and conducted interviews for an online magazine. He’s also passionate about acting, and he’s enjoyed performing on stage, in bit parts on film, and is also a trained voice actor. In addition to his creative pursuits, he is passionate about healthy living. He follows a fitness regimen consisting of several activities such as; weight training, walking, swimming, yoga, and Zumba. He complements this by cooking several nutritious examples of international and American cuisine. Last, but certainly not least he also enjoys just spending time with family and friends until the early morning hours with plenty of laughter and coffee. You can find more about Scott on Facebook, Twitter (@scottrcaseley), Amazon, and his website.