Janet Brown deals with a teen's feelings of rejection in VICTORIA AND THE GHOST

Today's guest, Janet Brown, chose to interview the main character of her inspirational YA novel, Victoria and the Ghost, to find out what Victoria's all about. 

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Interviewer: I have a young girl here that’s going through a terrible time. Let’s find out something about her. Okay?

“My name is Victoria Peterson. My life isn’t fair. I never thought that when I was fifteen years old, I would end up away from my mother, my friends, and Dallas.  Dad got this really dumb idea to move my seventeen-year-old sister, Marcy and me away from civilization. He even expects me to tend chickens. Can you believe that? Why, my nail job won’t last a month, at this rate.

Now, Mom, well, I’m her favorite. We both love…love….love shopping. This spring we missed few shops in Dallas before Mom’s beautiful wedding. After she and Sam left on their honeymoon to the Caribbean, well, of course, I had to move in with Dad. I totally understood. It’s only temporary until Mom returns and settles into her new life.”

Interviewer: I see. Tell me, Victoria, what are your beliefs in life?

“Mmmm….what I believe. Well, I believe Mom is the most sophisticated, beautiful woman. This divorce business was all Dad. He ignored her and so pushed her into the arms of a man who appreciated her value. That’s what I think. Oh, and I believe in God. Did I tell you that? And…I believe Dallas is the most wonderful city. That’s about it.”

Interviewer: What is this about a ghost?

Victoria hunched her shoulders. Each of her hands clasped the opposite arm. “I shouldn’t talk about that. I don’t believe in ghosts.”

Interviewer: But I thought –

“I know. Strange things happen in Clara Cemetery, but every time I say something, people think I’m crazy. If I told my dad, he’d have a fit. Christians don’t believe in ghosts.”

Interviewer: But you do?

“I’m not saying.” Victoria stiffened. “Brad believes me, you know? But, I can’t talk about it.”

Interviewer:  Is there anything else about yourself that you don’t want anyone to know?

Victoria glanced around the room but saw no one but she, the interviewer and that woman behind her who followed her everywhere. “Just between you and me, I act all citified and sure of myself. I tell everyone I’ll be going back to Dallas soon, but Mom doesn’t want me, and I don’t want anyone to know that my own mother rejected me. Don’t tell anyone. Okay?”

Interviewer: What are you afraid of?

“Horses. And everyone thinks I should learn to ride a horse. What’s the big deal anyway?”

Interviewer: Is that all?

“Being alone. Having no one that loves me.”

Interviewer: How would you label yourself?

“A good city slicker. (That’s what Brad & Shelley call me.) But a lousy country girl. And,

Lonely

Interviewer: And, who’s that woman behind you?

Victoria sighed. “Her name is Janet K. Brown. She thinks she created me, but it was God, you know.” Victoria stood straight and stretched to her full five foot, two inches. “Okay, Mrs. Brown, introduce yourself.”

The Woman in the background: “I visited Clara Cemetery and learned about the ghost of Colonel Specht, a very sad man who built the town, now a historical ghost town in North Texas. Victoria and Colonel Specht needed each other. God told me so. More about the ghost legend I learned can be found at: http://www.janetkbrown.com/2014/09/the-ghost-of-clara.html

 P. S.  Victoria’s nemesis, Shelley Halverson, stars in her own book, A Ghost for Shelley, soon to be released by 4RV Publishing. The mean old country girl moves to Dallas. Serves her right, Victoria says.

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Learn more about Janet Hope on her website; follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

You can buy Victoria and the Ghost from 4RV Publishing or from Amazon 

K.A. Laity on Tricksters and her novel WHITE RABBIT

It's an old and widespread storytelling tradition, from African folktales to Dickens' Artful Dodger. Without tricksters, literature would be a much poorer universe. K.A. Laity shares her thoughts on why she loves this character type.

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BECOMING THE TRICKSTER

by K.A. Laity

I’ve become immersed in the crime genre in the last few years. Although White Rabbit owes just as much to the tradition of ghost stories, it’s really the crime genre that gave it birth. I’ve always had a fascination with tricksters and confidence men, from Harry in Your Pocket to Jim Thompson’s The Grifters. Dashiell Hammett said that anyone can become adept in a day at pick pocketing, but to be a real grifter one had to be an artist.

I think that’s the appeal. I’ve always been fascinated by people who are skilled. Although I am all thumbs myself, only nimble with words (and then, only on the page) I come a family of people who are good with their hands, who can make things and fix things. My older brother is a carpenter and my younger brother a silversmith.

While I admire the skill of a smooth pickpocket, I have never been desperate enough to really want to try it. I suppose that’s lucky, but I can’t help wondering if I would really ever do it. I found a lot of sympathy for my main character in White Rabbit, Draygo, who runs a fake psychic business to make money after he loses his job.

He’s in a desperate situation, but he’s also got the compelling aspect of history: he learned the fake psychic trade from his aunt who raised him. We find out about his life with Vera in little flashbacks which give us a glimpse of the tricks of the trade, too. The room he uses for his ‘séances’ has been specially adapted, though he’s not always specific about how.

Draygo makes a point of being cynical about ‘putting on a show’ for his clients—incense and candles, florid language, and quite possibly some mechanicals under the table—but the real hidden trick is that he has genuine psychic abilities: he hears and sometimes can even see dead people.

And it’s driving him crazy.

The last thing he needs is one more of them, but as the novel kicks off a big celebrity client arrives with a jangle of jewelry and an entourage. Peaches Dockmuir is the soon-to-be-ex-wife of a media mogul but she’s got a ghost on her mind. Before they can make contact, however, Peaches is gunned down and Draygo looks ready to take the fall.

Desperate moves take desperate measures. Will Draygo finally use the gifts he’s been given? And if he does, will they only make things worse? There’s a reason he’s avoided them so far. When you open up to the dead, they open up to you, too. Maybe faking it is safer.

I don’t know, but I’ll be over here, practicing my three card Monty. Pick a card, any card. Lay down your bets and take a chance.

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Visit K.A. Laity's website to get free reads and to connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

Buy White Rabbit Amazon UK (paperback or ebook)

Buy White Rabbit Amazon US (paperback or ebook)

D. Aviva Rothschild writes speculative fiction about The Beatles!

My respect for originality and the unusual is boundless, so my hat is definitely doffed to today's guest. D. Aviva Rothschild writes novels about John, Paul, George, and Ringo that go way beyond fan fiction.

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With Strings Attached, or The Big Pink Job, is a wholly original and problematic work of fantasy. By “wholly original,” I mean that it only superficially resembles other works of fantasy. If you know about TV Tropes, there's a trope about Standard Fantasy Settings. By those guidelines, Strings is almost 100% noncompliant. I have to admit, I was kind of startled to find that out.

Before the “problematic” part, the story in a nutshell: our four heroes awaken on another planet, 16 years younger and completely terrified. They're on the planet C'hou in Ketafa, a quasi-Victorian society where magic is genuine (and illegal), and where the gods returned 25 years ago, except they're fake. The reader knows the four were placed there as the subjects of a poorly set up alien undergraduate psychology project. After things go sour, the four end up across the sea in Baravada, a dying quasi-medieval anarchistic utopian dystopia (yes, really). Meanwhile, the aliens are kicked off their project for cheating and join up with a gamer in order to have access to the four. Ultimately, thanks to the aliens and the real gods, the four are empowered and charged with finding three pieces of a statue that have been scattered across other planets. This will remove a curse on Ketafa that prevents the real gods from seeing the continent. If the four don't do it, they don't go home. It's just too bad they detest Ketafa. And they're pacifists, so death and destruction are not options even though they've collectively been gifted with enough power to wipe out a city before breakfast. And not everyone wants them to succeed.

Straightforward and hopefully kind of interesting, right? Well... here's where the “problematic” part kicks in. The book falls, however unwillingly, under the rubric of fan fiction because the four protagonists are the Beatles. Well, the ex-Beatles, since it's set in 1980.

Did that suddenly negate your interest in the book? I know it does for a lot of people. And the fantasy aspect turns off a lot of Beatles fans who just aren't into that sort of thing. So, hello small (but devoted) niche audience.

I hate sounding defensive about Strings, because it's quite a decent book and I'm very proud of it. Over the 29 years it took me to write, I put a ton of research into getting their personalities as true to life as possible—no Hard Day's Night or Yellow Submarine Beatles for this writer, thank you! And they grow and change; the men at the end of the book are not the same as when they first arrived. If you know your Beatles history, there are subtle references scattered throughout, but they won't hit you over the head (no characters named Strawberry Fields or nonsense like that). On the fictional side, the two C'hovite societies and the secondary characters are as fully fleshed out as I could make them, with multiple sets of slang and some truly alien viewpoints. C'hou has a mysterious and tragic backstory that I'll be expanding in the two sequels (it's a planned trilogy). And Big Issues get explored: the nature of good and evil, the effects of power on people, addiction.

People have suggested that I change the characters. That would certainly make the book easier to sell. But I don't want to change them. I tried once, and failed. I'm just not interested in writing about four other people (just changing the names isn't enough) in this situation. The Beatles are smart, funny, profane, and emotional; they make excellent characters, and I'm committed to the trilogy as designed.

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Try before you buy! Half of With Strings Attached is posted on D. Aviva Rothschild's website, where you will also find purchase links for all formats.

You can also buy it as a Kindle ebook on Amazon or in print and as ebook on Lulu.

Julie Mata on Zombie Chickens and Authentic Middle-Grade Fiction

Let's face it: We're not twelve years old anymore. (Thank heavens!) So how do we channel an authentic middle-grade voice that our tween readers can relate to? Julie Mata, author of Kate Walden Directs: Night of the Zombie Chickens, shares some words of wisdom.

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Keeping it Real

By Julie Mata

While I was writing Kate Walden Directs: Night of the Zombie Chickens, I had a conversation with a student about a middle grade book she had just read. She liked the book but felt the author had no idea what it was really like to be a middle school student these days. The character didn’t sound real to her. That comment stuck with me. As adult authors writing about children and tweens, it can be tricky to understand their world and to accurately reflect it. It’s been a long time since most of us walked the halls of middle school! How do we know if we’re capturing the essence of the age we’re writing about?

           

At the time I started writing this book, my eldest daughter was a high school freshman and my youngest daughter was still in middle school. They became my literary lab rats. I listened in as they talked to their friends. I relished the times, both as a mother and as a writer, when they opened up to me about problems at school. I honed my dialogue to reflect the way they and their friends speak. I also noticed something about children at this age—they develop a wonderful sense of humor, despite all the drama in their lives—or maybe because of it! In my book, I tried to capture that sharp, funny humor in Kate’s outlook on the world.

One of my daughters thrived during these tween years, but the other struggled. We learned firsthand that kids are not always nice in middle school. At times, they can be downright mean. This is a touchy subject because, while I think most people understand this, as adults it makes us uncomfortable. We want our children to always be nice, to always be kind and compassionate. That’s why, if a girl is catty or mean in a book, usually she’s the “bad girl,” or the “bully.” But that really doesn’t reflect reality.

I wanted kids to be able to relate to Kate. I wanted her to sound and act real, and share similar problems. So, she’s not always nice. She does some mean things. She worries about the social ladder at school—who’s at the top, who’s at the bottom, and which rung she’s currently perched on. Mean behavior does not equal bad heart. At this age, physical and emotional changes come whether kids are ready or not. Like her peers, Kate is struggling to figure things out. She’s leaving childhood behind but adulthood is still a scary, gray fog on the near horizon. It’s no wonder kids clump together in groups for support! And there’s plenty of poking and elbowing going on as they try to find their own place.

The last I checked, my daughters have not yet sprouted angelic wings. For that matter, neither have I. While Kate definitely grows and learns from her mistakes, she doesn’t metamorphose into an angel, either. Based on words of wisdom from a 12-year-old middle-grade reader, I tried to keep it real.

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Learn more about Julie Mata on her website.

Purchase Kate Walden Directs: Night of the Zombie Chickens from Amazon or B&N, or directly from Disney/Hyperion.

Jocelyn Adams: Sometimes Characters Don't Listen

As any author of fiction can tell you, characters have lives of their own, apart from the humble writer who "created" them. My guest, Jocelyn Adams, discusses how that phenomenon came into play as she wrote her latest novel, Stone Chameleon.

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Thanks for having me take over your blog today, Anne.  Let’s talk characters.  Sometimes my characters don’t listen to me.  That might sound silly, since they come out of my brain, but it’s still true, the little bullies they are.  I don’t plot any aspects of the story.  I begin with a list of names, a general storyline, and a pretty clear idea of who my characters are in my head, and let the puzzle come together on its own as I spill out the story.

Once in a while someone I was certain should go left ends up going right.  Instead of funny, they’re serious.  Instead of the hero, they become the villain or vice versa.  I ran into a zig-zag with two characters in Stone Chameleon, though I’ll only mention one in this post.  It ended up being a big head-scratcher for me, especially since I’m a person who hates do-overs.

I started out wanting Amun Bassili, Lou Hudson’s potential love interest in book one, to walk that fine line between love him and hate him.  I wanted him strong, arrogant and charming as hell.  He is that, but an aspect of his personality came out that I wasn’t expecting.  A soft side, a vulnerability I didn’t know what to do with.  He’s a complicated character, driven by instincts that are unusual, from another culture that’s difficult to understand by those not living it.

My beta readers hated him.  I pondered for days what to do with him.  How to walk that razor’s edge and keep him on the love side of that love/hate line.  His issues kept me up, my stomach in knots, because I needed him to be a core figure in the series.  If I couldn’t get him right, then the foundation of the story would crumble.

 

At first I thought I’d have to rip him out and start over from scratch, but then I realized it wasn’t truly him that was the problem.  It was his culture and the readers’ understanding of that culture.

The instincts of his species are beautiful and natural to him even though readers found them hard to accept.  I realized I hadn’t painted his background and upbringing well enough for the readers to understand why he did/said the things he did.  Once I figured out what the problem was, it took only a few passages, adding some color and texture to his story and personality, and a few lines of additional dialogue, to bring him back into balance.

After I finished with my edits, he seemed completely different even to me.  He became more real to me, and, after a second round of beta testing, my readers agreed.  I really hope I never get myself into that big of a pickle again, but since I have at least a zillion more stories spooling in my mind, I highly doubt it.  J

I’d love to know who your favorite character of all time is.  What did you love about him or her?  Drop a note in the comments and chat with me.

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Learn more about Jocelyn Adams on her website.

You can purchase Stone Chameleon here:
Amazon.com  |  Barnes & Noble  |  MuseItUp Publishing

Meet Lady Margaret from kids' historical novel, TROUBLE AT THE SCRIPTORIUM

My middle-grade medieval mystery novel, Trouble at the Scriptorium was published in 2012.  For those of you who haven't read it yet, I thought it would be fun to introduce you to one of its main characters. 

Trouble at the Scriptorium takes place in a rural castle in England in the early 13th century, and focuses on Harley, a twelve-year-old servant at the castle. Harley discovers a number of odd things going on in the Shire of Hertford, and he enlists the help of the beautiful Lady Margaret, also twelve, to put all the pieces together.

Lady Margaret was kind enough to share some thoughts about her life and adventures:

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My name is Lady Margaret. I am the only child of Sir William of Castle Berkhamsted, just north of the City of London. My father, in turn, serves the great Lord Edmund of the Shire of Hertfordshire. Lord Edmund, in turn, is bound in service to Henry III, King of England.

Did you get all of that?

My mother’s name is Lady Ursula, and her name day celebration is in one week. That’s the special feast day for St. Ursula, whom my mother was named after. It should be a joyous occasion. In fact, the entire village of Berkhamsted is preparing to eat, drink, and dance in my mother’s honor.

But two awful things happened today that could ruin her name day.

First, she got word from my grandpa, Count Heinrich of the Rhine, saying that the family gems, her inheritance, have been stolen. Everyone thinks they were taken by the notorious thief, Hermann the Bald. But no one even knows if he’s still in Europe.

And then our servant boy, Harley, brought told me even more bad news, a secret we hope to keep from my mother: There’s a beautiful book of Gregorian chant Father hired a scriptorium to make as a name-day gift for Mother. However, Harley’s seen it already (his uncle is a monk), and he says one of the paintings it’s supposed to include is missing, and some of the musical notes are written wrong. Oh, my poor mother will be heartbroken if we can’t get this fixed in time!

Here’s something even more odd and disturbing: Harley thinks the missing jewels and the incorrect chant book are connected. He’s convinced the book’s errors are some kind of code. And he visited the scriptorium where the book was made, and says the monks who work there are acting suspiciously.

Still, Harley’s just a servant boy, so what would he really know about things like this? He’s promised to show me a page he cut from the book, which is wise choice, since I’m very good with puzzles. My tutor, Professor Al-Zarkali, may be able to advise us, as well.

Somehow, we’ll figure out this mystery!

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Trouble at the Scriptorium is available as a print book directly from the publisher: http://www.rfwp.com/browse/novels

Claudine Gueh Yanting Listens to Her Picture Book's Main Character

I'm thrilled to welcome back picture book author Claudine Gueh Yanting. Her latest book, Brightness Sailors, Bit by Bit, is a bittersweet poetic text about a girl trying to keep her grandmother from drifting away from the real world and memory. Claudine talks here about getting to know her main character.

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A SPECK OF ME, A RIVER OF HER

She was different.

En, my main character in BRIGHTNESS SAILORS, BIT BY BIT, was a seven-year-old who sailed out to relight her grandma’s dark and troubled stream of thoughts. En pushed the boat out alone, her determination as clear as the sky was black.

And off she went, my little heroine.

Who wasn’t a watcher but a doer.

Who did not sit and cry when sad things happened, but went out and made things brighter.

En was so different from my real seven-year-old self (I was more Ramona-on-her-sulky-days) I was worried I might not know her deeply enough. Like every writer then, I carried out imaginary conversations to seek more answers.

First, I spoke to myself:

Don’t idealize her.

Don’t turn her into who you wish you had been. (All right, all right … just not entirely, you clear? Let her be a speck of you, and a river of herself.)

Don’t make her out to be Super Girl 99. She’s only seven, and she’s losing her closest family. Do you not think she’s terrified?

…

 Then En spoke honestly to me. It was strange she sounded older and more independent than her age. Yet I couldn’t take those traits from her and I didn’t want to change her age. Seven felt right, and En was different, remember? So I let her be her. Here’s what she told me before I wrote her story in verse:

I’m scared. It’s so dark. But then I try not to think about it. Finding Grandma is more important.

And later, when she was in the middle of the stream:

The waves are sneaking higher, b…but I’ll try to ignore them. Reaching Grandma is more important.

And finally:

What if she doesn’t remember … How will we … What can I …  

Loving Grandma is more important. I’ll try and try and try to help her remember.

Trying and doing – that was En’s way of coping. She sailed out alone. She released Brightness from a sack. She rowed on when the waves grew harsher, letting her insecurities show bit by bit through her environment and not through her. She stayed strong, as advised by the spiders in the sky. She smiled despite the wreck. Who knew seven-year-old protagonists could be this cool?

En was afraid, but she didn’t show it much or stray because of it. I’m very proud of her, my little heroine. I hope her Brightness reaches you.

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Purchase Brightness Sailors, Bit by Bit on iTunes, Kobo, B&N, and Sony

Learn more about the book and about Claudine Gueh Yanting at CarryUsOffBooks and Goodreads.

To celebrate its release, Claudine has a gift for everyone called ‘A Little Book of Brightness.’ Please remember to check it out. Thanks for reading!

Novelist Carol Hedges on YA Heroines

Creating an effective main character is a complicated process, and writing a female protagonist in YA is particularly delicate work. British novelist Carol Hedges joins us today to discuss this challenge.  

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"I like the idea of being strong. I've grown up with the concept. It's in my bones and my blood. Strong people survive. They don't go under."

            So speaks 18 year old Annie, the heroine of my new ebook Jigsaw Pieces. My genre is YA Crime Fiction, and for me, there are two ingredients that go to make up a successful book in this genre. The first, clearly, is a crime of some sort. In Jigsaw Pieces, set in 1998 it is the mysterious death of one of Annie's fellow students. In my 'Spy Girl' series, crimes vary from selling drugs to teenagers (Once Upon a Crime) to stealing a priceless holy relic (Dead Man Talking).

            The second ingredient is a strong female protagonist. Annie Skaerdstadt, Jazmin Dawson. So what makes a strong character? Well, it's not enough just to tell readers they are strong. Strong characters have to demonstrate their strength, usually by being pitted against challenging events, or other characters. Annie is taken from her birthplace, Norway, and dumped in an English school, where she has to develop a carapace to survive the daily bullying. Jazmin is up against an adult world that does not want her meddling and playing detective, and is prepared to take drastic and dangerous steps to keep her out. Through both girls' determination and actions, we learn how strong characters function and survive in difficult situations.

            But strength can also be shown in softness: Annie has a compassionate side, shown when she bonds with the mute World War 1 veteran Billy Donne, whom she meets in a nursing home. Jazmin is intensely loyal to her friend Zeb Stone, even when he fancies another girl. Strong characters also must have failings and flaws, an inner fault line that makes us warm to them. Maybe because they are a little like us?

             At the end of Jigsaw Pieces, Annie discovers that there is still a vital piece of the Jigsaw missing from her life. In the Spy Girl books, Jazmin is faced with the reality that she is not cut from adult cloth - yet.

            And here we see the final ingredient of a strong character - there must alway be a sense that there is more to be grasped, new and different conflicts to be overcome. For a strong character, the journey is never complete; there is another story waiting to be told.

            I love writing strong female characters like Annie and Jazmin because they are so multifaceted and complex. They challenge me and push me to my limits. I hope they do the same for my readers as well.

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You can learn more about Carol on her blog, or follow her on Twitter @carolJhedges

You can buy Jigsaw Pieces as an ebook on Amazon or Amazon UK.

Novelist Pat McDermott on Children in Adult Stories

I'm very pleased to welcome back Pat McDermott, discussing a topic I've often been curious about: making child characters central to an adult story. I've never tried it myself, but I've read some great examples (David Mitchell's Black Swan Green pops to mind).

In her new novel, Fiery Roses, Pat used this technique, and agreed to share her thoughts about it.

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Children in Adult Stories

Blackmail and murder hardly make Fiery Roses a story for children. Yet a few vibrant moppets have stolen their way into this action/adventure fantasy set in an Ireland that might have been. Why include children in an adult story?

A child’s perspective can ease the tension, offer a simpler point of view, or add a touch of humor as it furthers the story along. In this excerpt, two girls amuse a reporter.

The sight of two red-haired demons bicycling straight at her frightened her until she realized the skinny legs pumping the pedals belonged to freckle-faced Mary Margaret Gannon and her sister Joanie.

“Allison! Allison!” Little Joanie skidded to a halt, braking with the toes of her sneakers. “An old, old man is visiting Aunt Betty. He must be a hunnerd-an-ten!”

Mary Margaret backpedaled to a stop. “He came to see her garden.” Holding the handlebars, she straddled her bicycle and sighed. “He said none of the flowers in her garden was as beautiful as her, and then he kissed her hand.”

“He’s going to court her,” squealed Joanie. “Wait till we tell Daddy!”

No secrets with kids around. Then we have the adult character who flashes back to childhood. I used this trick to help readers understand Neil Boru, the adoptive cousin and newlywed husband of Princess Talty. Here, he shares a haunting memory of his first meeting with his grandmother.

“‘Come here, boy’, she said. ‘Let me look at you.’ My mother gave me a nudge, and I went and stood in front of Bridget.” His eyes shut tight at the recollection. “I thought she was a witch, Tal. I can still see her weird purple eyes staring at me, never blinking. Then she said, ‘You look nothing like my Frank.’ She only spoke to my mother after that. While we were having tea, she said, ‘He’s left-handed. That’s no good,’ and other equally endearing things.”

Fiery Roses takes Neil and Talty to a parallel world, where they meet Kavie, a darling eight-year-old who gives Talty a chance to demonstrate her archery skills.

Kavie stood with his back to the sun, shooting arrows into, or at least near, a moth-eaten hide thirty yards in front of him. Pieces of straw peeked from beneath the target, an old boarskin shaped to somewhat resemble the unfortunate boar who had once owned it.

Smiling at his comical lack of skill, she waited until he reached for an arrow before she spoke. “Hello, Kavie. You’re up early. Practicing your shots, are you?”

“Good morning, goddess,” he said in his squeaky but endearing young voice. “I’m going to be a great hunter, like Papa.”

“That will take lots of practice and hard work.”

“I don’t mind.” He stood tall. “I’m small, but I’m very brave.”

Kavie will have a chance to prove his bravery, as will little Joanie, and yes, even Neil. The children’s presence undeniably enriches the plot of Fiery Roses. I’m glad they insisted on jumping aboard.

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Fiery Roses, released by MuseItUp Publishing on August 10, is Book Two in the Band of Roses Trilogy. Book One, A Band of Roses, was released in May. The third book, Salty Roses, is due for release in November.

To learn more about Pat McDermott, visit her website.           

Fiery Roses on Amazon or directly from MuseItUp Publishing.

The smart-alec troublemaker in middle grade lit

"Rhonda Zymler, will you please take your seat?"

This sort of warning comes at sixth-grader Rhonda many times during my tween paranormal mystery novel, Ebenezer's Locker. Rhonda always seems to be teetering on the edge of trouble, and often lands squarely in it. As I've been preparing this book for publication, I've been thinking about the appeal of troublemaker characters.

There is something appealing about troublemakers in fiction that is quite different from dealing with them in real life. As a teacher, I expect discipline, respect, and hard work from my students. But as an author, I am very happy to let my student-age characters disrupt the classroom and question authority.

A classic example of lovable hellions in children's literature is Pippi Longstocking. In Astrid Lindgren's enchanting books, the main character is the ultimate iconoclast. She simply can't behave the way people expect her to. She's not mean-spirited, just free-thinking. Adults in the story are appalled or baffled, but readers of all ages are completely charmed.

And it's significant that Pippi Longstocking is a girl. Boys who misbehave (like Huck Finn) are considered normal, but even today, rambunctiously clever girls are an exceptional breed.

Maybe that's why I made Rhonda Zymler into a troublemaker. I was a perfectly-behaved child, and I think part of me longed to be Pippi Longstocking.

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Purchase Ebenezer's Locker in all e-book formats at MuseItUp Publishing and Amazon.

Guest Blogger Historical Romance Novelist Carol A. Spradling

Please welcome historical romance novelist Carol A. Spradling. Her novel Shades of Gray was released recently. Carol discusses her unusual approach to building the romantic relationship in fiction, as well as the attraction that historical fiction has always held for her.

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I hear it all the time.  Historical fiction, especially with a colonial setting, does not sell.  This statement reminded me of the reason I began my writing career.  As a teenager, I cut my adult reading teeth on authors like Kathleen Woodiwiss.  Granted, she used more detail than I cared to read, but her main writing staple had both of the main characters married in the early pages of the book.  I loved that.  Whenever a book has the characters realizing their feelings for each other in the last few pages, I find myself glad for the happily ever after ending but disappointed overall.  In my mind, this is where the story begins.  I want to see these two characters weather life as a committed unit.  Since I am an avid reader, I searched for authors who thought as I did.  They were rare. 

A book’s setting is high on my lists of ‘have-to-reads”.  All an author has to do is place me in Colonial America or England, and I am home.  It doesn’t matter what is thrown at the main characters.  I will sweat it out with them, good or bad, until the last page.  Many times when I read a book, I would finish the book, sigh, and flip back to page one.  Why not?  I knew where all the good parts were and how many pages it would take to get there.  The second read through is to look for all of the clues the author hid and that I carelessly raced over in my effort to discover what was happening next.

Over the years, I hiked to the bookstores once or twice a month.  During each trip, I found myself with a smaller stack of books at the cash register.  I understand that everything travels in a cycle, and authors can only write so fast.  Maybe a lengthy fan letter should have been sent to a few of my favorites.  You know, to encourage them to spend more time at the keyboard.  I know there are other great genres out there, but I had a favorite, and it was hard to make the transition.  This character flaw coupled with empty nest syndrome was just the combination I needed to launch my writing career. 

With a few hours of uninterrupted computer time at my disposal, I sat down and thought about details I enjoyed reading in a book.  A hot guy and a gorgeous girl were at the top of the list.  A rule of thumb is to write what you know.  Having grown up in the eastern United States, this seemed a good place to start.  Conflict and supportive characters expanded the plot.  One person described my writing style as old-school.  I have a vague idea of what that means, but it sounds appropriate.  Old-school or new, it goes without saying, as for my main characters, wherever I take them or whatever turmoil they face, they are going to take on the challenge together.

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You can visit Carol A. Spradling at her website and her blog.

You can purchase Shades of Gray on Amazon.

Guest Blogger paranormal romance author Adriana Ryan

One of the joys of reading fiction is getting to know the personalities an author has invented. Today, Adriana Ryan joins us to chat about the quirks in her characters. Adriana's paranormal romance novella, Her Heart's Desire, came out this month from MuseItUp.

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Hi Anne, and thank you so much for hosting me on your blog today! Since Her Heart’s Desire just came out on the twenty-third of March, I thought it would be fun to do a little list of things I know about my characters that didn’t make it into the story ... A little sneak peek into the quirks of the characters, if you will! When you read the story, you’ll find evidence of these facts peppered throughout. See if you can spot them all! J

I have to start with Millie Fields, of course—the heroine of the novella. Fun facts about Millie include:

1. She can never find her purse. When she gets home from work, she intends to put it down in the same spot every night, but it usually ends up hidden under her bed or in some other hard-to-find spot.

2. If there’s a classic romantic movie in existence, Millie’s seen it.

3. She has yet to find some good quality hair products that will hold up in humid weather (which really sucks, because she lives in Charleston, SC!)

And now, Braedon Hill, Millie’s best friend and pediatric surgeon extraordinaire. There was so much I wanted to share about him that I ended up cutting. So here’s some about him:

1. Braedon secretly reads romance novels because he wants to know what Millie finds so absorbing about them.

2. He often wonders why the female nurses at the hospital seem to stutter so much when they talk to him.

3. When Millie’s parents died, he vowed to himself that he’d become her family and be there for her no matter what.

And last, but certainly not least, the delectable Graham Lance.

1.  Graham started using his signature aftershave because a former girlfriend told him it made him irresistibly seductive.

2. If his condo was burning down, and he could only save one thing, Graham would choose his bed. He’s had way too much fun on that thing for it to burn down to ashes. ;)

3. Women with hazel eyes are Graham’s Achilles heel.

I hope you had fun learning more about the main characters in Her Heart’s Desire! I know I had fun dreaming them up. J

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Sounds like a fun bunch, doesn't it? You can get to know Adriana Ryan better by visiting her website.

You can purchase Her Heart's Desire from MuseItUp.

To Thine Own Self, Not So True

Recently an editor rejected a query (she didn't see the story, just the idea) because I was proposing to write a story about someone very different from myself.

What kind of an editorial policy is that for fiction? A man can't write a woman? An atheist can't write a Christian? An young person can't write an old person? An earthling can't write an alien? We'll be killing off all genre fiction then, I suppose.

On this topic, friend protested that he agreed with the editor, that the best literature came out of writing about one's own experiences. He cited Dostoyevsky. Hey, I love Dostoyevsky, but I also love Shakespeare, and I'm pretty sure he wasn't always writing about himself.

The Autonomy of Fictional Lives

Some novelists advocate intense exercises to pre-determine a character's personality before one starts to write. These explorations get down to such details as the character's favorite color, food, and music. For me, this approach is too abstract and artificial.

I find that my characters reveal their personalities to me scene by scene, just as one gets to know a person over time in real life. Somehow, the people I invent are not entirely controlled by me, but develop as they are faced with (or cause!) new situations in the plot. The way they constantly surprise me is a wondrous, miraculous thing.