Blog Tour - With Malice by Eileen Cook - Q&A

I'm really excited to be taking part in the Canadian blog tour for Eileen Cook's new novel, With Malice. As part of the tour, I have the pleasure of having Eileen Cook here today to talk about how she goes about doing research for all her books, and in particular for With Malice. Here is what she had to say.

How does your research process change from one book to another (if it does at all)?

First I should admit that I LOVE the research part of writing. I’ve learned the most interesting and random things. For example, did you know more people are killed by falling vending machines than in shark attacks? Makes you rethink getting that Diet Coke doesn’t it?

I tackle research in three different ways: 1) Online 2) Libraries and 3) Talk to People. The way I research doesn’t change much from book to book, but how much time I spend doing each way varies.

1) Online: How did we ever live without the Internet? I’m always amazed at the things you can find—pictures, maps, research articles etc. all without leaving home. And, at least for me, I find one search tends to lead to something else and then before you know it I’m learning things I didn’t even know I wanted to know.

2) Libraries: I”m a full on library junkie. I still find it amazing/wonderful/magical that there are these places with thousands of books that they will let you take FOR FREE. It’s like having a BFF with an unlimited book budget and let’s you borrow as much as you want. What many people don’t know is how helpful librarians can be. They are research ninjas. You can go to a librarian ask her/him just about anything and they will help you hunt down an answer. Libraries are a writer’s best friend.

3) Other People: Once I have a pretty good idea of where I want the story to go I like to talk to people who have direct experience of whatever I’m writing about. In WITH MALICE I talked to lawyers, psychologists, people with brain injuries, police, and also a teen who had been accused of a crime (in her case stealing) about how she felt during the process. I want to understand their perspectives as it helps me bring the story more alive than just reading about it myself. I’m really grateful for everyone who shared his or her experiences with me.

My only challenge is to remember that no matter how interesting it might be—eventually I need to stop researching and start writing.

Thank you, Eileen, for taking the time to answer my question. Be sure to check back later today to see what I thought about the book. For now, all I'll say is that this is the kind of story that keeps you guessing the whole way through and makes you question everything you think you know about it. But it makes for a fantastic read.

Blog Tour - This Is the Story of You by Beth Kephart + Giveaway

Today, I'm excited to be taking part in the blog tour for Beth Kephart's latest novel, This Is the Story of You. To tell us a bit more about the book, and her writing in general, I asked Beth Kephart to tell us more about the unique settings of her stories and how she chooses those settings. Here is what she had to say.

Emilie, thank you for asking this story about the importance of setting in the novels (and nonfiction!) that I write.

Because oh, my. Those who know me have heard me say this more than once: Landscape is character. It is essential character. Whether my stories are about divided love or mental disease or teen pregnancy or anxiety attacks or a boy taking care of a heartsick mom or any other thing, they are also, always and very urgently about, in order, Berlin, Florence, Seville, Juarez, and Philadelphia, to choose but a few examples. 

Where do the shadows fall? What happens at this intersection? What is the meaning of that wall graffiti? Who can see this from above or that from below? Are there crowds, is there a river, has a storm set in?

In the case of This Is the Story of You, I returned to the landscapes of my childhood summers. I loved the Jersey Shore. I still do. I like it most after the crowds go home. I don’t sunbathe. I only sometimes swim. But I’m always walking by the tide, watching the waves. 

I know the shore. I know it in every season. I can write about it.

One must draw a “real” world as carefully as one draws a fictional one. I use landscape and weather to build moods. I work toward consistency so that readers always know where they are. Even on a barrier island where so much has been lost, I create fixed things. The big rock around which some of the survivors gather. The tattered remans of Mira’s house. The collapsed bird sanctuary. The lighthouse.

Each place is very significantly drawn, and repeatedly returned to.

In this way I set down a path for readers. 

About the Book

On Haven, a six-mile long, half-mile-wide stretch of barrier island, Mira Banul and her Year-Rounder friends have proudly risen to every challenge. But then a superstorm defies all predictions and devastates the island, upending all logic and stranding Mira’s mother and brother on the mainland. Nothing will ever be the same. A stranger appear in the wreck of Mira’s home. A friend obsessed with vanishing disappears. As the mysteries deepen, Mira must find the strength to carry on—to somehow hold her memories in place while learning to trust a radically reinvented future. Gripping and poetic, This Is the Story of You is about the beauty of nature and the power of family, about finding hope in the wake of tragedy and recovery in the face of overwhelming loss. 

About the Author

Beth Kephart is the award-winning author of nineteen books, including Going Over, Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir, and Small Damages. A National Book Award Finalist, Kephart is also a winner of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fiction grant, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Leeway grant, a Pew Fellowships in the Arts grant, and the Speakeasy Poetry Prize. Kephart teachers workshops at many institutions, to all ages and creative nonfiction workshops at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a popular keynote speaker and frequent contributor to the Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, and many national journals. She blogs daily at beth-kephart.blogspot.com 

Giveaway!

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Blog Tour - Even in Paradise by Chelsey Philpot

Today I am happy to be taking part in the Canadian blog tour for Chelsey Philpot's newly released Even in Paradise. As part of the tour, I asked Chelsey to talk about where she gets inspiration and ideas from. So if you're looking for new ways to get ideas, keep reading!

When it comes to uncovering ideas and discovering the right words, I’ve found that writing is more like searching through debris in a neglected attic than shopping a well-lit megastore. More often than not, my thoughts crawl instead of spring. More often than not, I produce more sentences that I can’t use than ones I can. More often than not, as Jack London once so famously said, “You can’t wait for inspiration. you have to go after if with a club.”

But how do you hunt an idea? Pin down a revelation? I can’t answer for every writer, but here are a few “clubs” that work for me.

1. Read poetry. Whether I’m writing fiction or nonfiction, poetry never disappoints. I particularly love the work of Paul Kane, Charles Wright, and Nancy Willard.

2. Look at some awesome travel photography. I’ve adored National Geographic since I was little.

3. Check out art. I have never met an art museum that I have not wanted to explore.

4. Move. Get away form the desk! I’m lucky to live near both ocean beaches and mountains.

5. Dance. I feel I don’t need to explain this one.

6. Do research. Whether my research involves looking through archives or watching YouTube videos, I love doing it—so much so that I have trouble stopping and getting to the actual writing.

7. Read about writing. I love discovering what rituals, practices, etc. for other writers.

8. Talk to strangers. Interviews with interesting people who may never have spoken to are among some of my best journalism experiences.

9. Have adventures. Travel. I would live out of a suitcase for the rest of my life if I could carry all my books with me.

10. Be brave. Each fresh experience, each time you try something strange or scary, might be the start of your next article, story, or book. Impulse can lead to crazy and wonderful stories.

Thank you to Chelsey for this post and sharing the strategies she found work to find inspiration and new book ideas!

About the book

When Julia Buchanan enrols at St. Anne’s at the beginning of junior year, Charlotte Ryder already knows all about the former senator’s daughter. Most people do…or think they do.

Charlotte certainly never expects she’ll be Julia’s friend. But almost immediately, she is drawn into the larger than-life-new girl’s world—a world of midnight rendezvous, dazzling parties, palatial vacation homes, and fizzy champagne cocktails. And then Charlotte meets, and begins falling for, Julia’s handsome older brother, Sebastian.

But behind her self-assured smiles and toasts to the future, Charlotte soon realizes that Julia is still suffering from a tragedy. A tragedy that the Buchanan family has kept hidden…until now.

About the author

Chelsey Philpot grew up on a farm in New Hampshire and now works as an editor and journalist. She’s written from the New York Times, Boston Globe, Slate, and numerous other publications. Like her main character, Charlotte, Chelsea attended boarding school in New England. You can visit her online at www.chelseyphilphot.com or on Twitter @ChelseyPhilpot.

And be sure to follow the rest of the Canadian Even in Paradise blog tour!

October 13 - A Glass of Wine

October 14 - Conversations of a Reading Addict

October 15 - Emilie's Book World

October 16 - Burning Impossibly Bright

October 17 - Lily's Book Blog

October 20 - SukasaReads

October 21 - Hiver et Café

October 22 - Lost At Midnight Reviews

October 23 - Feeling A Little Bookish

October 24 - Read My Breath Away

Guest Post - The Death of Us by Alice Kuipers

Today, I have the pleasure of having author Alice Kuipers here on the blog to talk about writing from multiple perspectives in her new novel, The Death of Us. So without further ado, here is what Alice had to say.

Today, I’m posting about writing a story from multiple perspectives. The Death of Us is written from the points of view of three main characters — Ivy, Kurt and Callie. The shift from one character to the next starts at the very beginning and follows that pattern throughout the novel. It was really tricky to write and there were times during the process that I wondered what I’d got myself into with this structure. Here are the three things that were most difficult:

1 — I had to make each character sound different and unique. If, at any point, they started to blur in my head, I had to step away front eh book and spend a bit of time with the character I was working on. I used character interviews and tried to think about how the story seemed from that character’s perspective. I could hear the characters in my head clearly if I made time to do this, so that helped, but it wasn’t always easy.

2 — The book also shifts through time and it wasn’t until a later draft that I realized keeping that as simple as possible was going to help me and a reader navigate this story. Now, I hope, it all works well, but moving from Kurt to Callie to Ivy WHILE not following a chronology made for some messy earlier drafts.

3 — Hardest of all was making each character feel like the star of their own story. As a writer, it’s natural to feel closer to one character, and, initially, that character was Callie. But as I redrafted, I started to really see the story from the points of view of Kurt and Ivy and I think that’s when the book finally came into focus.

All this to say, that the writing process was much harder than anything I’ve tried before. Although in my first book, Life on the Refrigerator Door, I shift from Claire to her mother in the notes they write to each other, jumping from two to three characters was infinitely more challenging. And even more fun. Once I got into it, the writing was exciting. I hope readers feel that excitement and natural tension on the page. There’s nothing more thrilling for a writer than the moments when the story begins to take off. All the hard work and character interviews and complications faded, and The Death of Us came to life. So, yes, it was hard work, but it was very satisfying.

If any of you are writers yourselves and you’re trying out multiple points of view, have a look at the character workshops I’ve posted on my website under Classroom. It might seem silly to know that your character loves sushi and doesn’t believe in the death penalty, but actually having all that texture and detail in your mind will make for a richer writing experience.

Thanks, Emilie, for hosting me today as The Death of Us heads out into the big wide world. It’s nerve-wracking and exciting having a new book out and I’m glad to make a stop with you on the blog tour. I really appreciate the support. 

And thank you to Alice Kuipers for taking the time to share insights on writing from multiple points of view. If you missed it earlier this morning, be sure to check out my review of The Death of Us to find out more about my thoughts on this fantastic book.

About the book:

A recovered friendship, a dark secret, and a love triangle with a deadly angle…

Callie is shocked when her friend Ivy reappears after an unexplained three-year absence, but the girls pick up where they left off, and suddenly Callie’s summer is full of parties, boys and fun. Beneath the surface, things aren’t what the seem, however, when a handsome boy with a dark past gets tangled up with Ivy, the girls’ history threatens to destroy their future.

About the author:

Alice Kuipers is the bestselling, award-winning author of three previous novels, Life on the Refrigerator Door, The Worst Thing She Ever Did and 40 Things I Want To Tell You, and the picture book Violet and Victor Write The Best-Ever Bookworm Book. Her work has been published to critical acclaim in twenty-nine countries. She lives in Saskatoon. Find her here: www.alicekuipers.com

Blog Tour: Unspeakable by Caroline Pignat - Guest Post

Today I have the pleasure of taking part in the blog tour for the recently released Unspeakable by Caroline Pignat. I've been really excited about this book for a while, and after having recently met Caroline and heard her talk about her book, my excitement level only went up. So today, I am happy to have Caroline here on the blog to talk about what it was like to do research for Unspeakable.

I love researching. It feels like a treasure hunt. I usually start with kids’ non-fiction books, for a quick overview of the subject. Then, I review as many novels/movies as I can that are also set in the period to help me get a feel for the time. For UNSPEAKABLE, I watched Titanic (obviously) and also Downton Abbey for a sense of that time period and the relationships between servants and the elite.

Then the real work began.

I read countless survivor accounts, stewardess diaries, and stoker testimonies. I studied ship diagrams, naval terms, and sailing itineraries. I always keeps LOTS of notes because I can’t remember things. Every novel I’ve done has a huge binder of research, countless photos, websites and files on Scrivener and sometimes, like for UNSPEAKABLE, I make a visual board:

http://www.carolinepignat.com/unspeakable-research.html

I also researched the archives of the Museum of Canadian History. They’d acquired a lot of artifacts from the Empress of Ireland for an exhibit to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking. It’s great to speak to experts who are so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the topic. I usually have a ton of very detailed and specific questions from my research and I am thrilled when they have answers for me.

Overall, I usually spend about six months to a year researching before I feel confident enough to create that time and place in my story.

Be sure to be on the lookout for my review of Unspeakable in the coming weeks!

Blog Tour - A Little Too Far by Lisa Desrochers

Today I have the pleasure of having Lisa Desrochers, author of the Personal Demons trilogy and the upcoming A Little Too Far. I have read and loved Lisa's YA trilogy and I am beyond thrilled at the propsect of reading more from this author and can't wait to get my hands on a copy of A Little Too Far. But for the time being, I have Lisa hear to talk about the writing YA and paranormal vs. New Adult and contemporary. Be sure to keep reading for your chance to enter a pretty awesome giveaway.

How is writing new adult contemporary different from writing young adult paranormal?

Honestly, there's really very little difference in the process. For me, all writing is just getting into character. Whether that character in a millennia old demon (Hi Luc!) as in my YA books, or a woman in her twenties, as in my New Adult novels, it's all a matter of connecting with them and understanding what makes them unique. The things that make a demon (or vampire or angel) tick are going to be different, so you need to understand what they are and how they'll affect that character's decisions, actions, and reactions. But honestly, once you're literally inside your characters' heads, the writing process doesn't change. What changes is what you'll find in there. (Writing from inside a demon's head for my YAs was an interesting experience.) As long as you're true to your character and their voice, and you understand their motivations, you'll be able to keep them "real." Because, let's face it, no matter who we're writing, they're all really fictional, as alive as they seem in our heads as we're reading/writing them. If you can get them to leap off the page into the reader's heart, any fantastical creature, such as a demon, can be just as "real" as a normal twenty-year-old woman. The beauty of fantasy, however, is that anything's possible as long as you make it believable, so you can make stuff up that doesn't exist in the real world. For my contemporaries, I do a lot more research. I'm always very concerned that things happen in the way they would in real life.

As far as New Adult versus Young Adult, both are dealing with the same firsts. The difference is that, with New Adult, the characters are dealing with them in an environment with non of the safety nets that most young adults have (family, teachers, etc.) to support them. They're usually handled in a slightly more mature manner, and because I'm writing for an adult audience, there are no holds barred. There is no fade to black or softening of language. You can be one hundred percent true to the character without worrying about the audience.

About the book:

"More than a ridiculously sexy, HOT read, Desrochers takes you on a wild ride of self-discovery and bittersweet romance."

— JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT, #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

Have you ever gone just a little too far?

Lexie Banks has.

Yep. She just had mind-blowing sex with her stepbrother. In her defense, she was on the rebound, and it's more of a my-dad-happened-to-marry-a-woman-with-a-super-hot-son situation. But still, he's been her best friend and confidant for the better part of the last few years…and is so off limits. It's a good thing she's leaving in two days for a year abroad in Rome.

But even thousands of miles away, Lexie can't seem to escape trouble. Raised Catholic, she goes to confession in hopes of alleviating some of her guilt…and maybe not burning in hell. Instead, she stumbles out of the confessional and right into Alessandro Moretti, a young and very easy-on-the-eyes deacon…only eight months away from becoming a priest. Lexie and Alessandro two closer, and when Alessandro's signals start changing despite his vow of celibacy, she doesn't know what to think. She's torn between falling in love with the man she shouldn't want and the man she can't have. And she isn't sure how she can live with herself either way.

Buy the book: GOODREADS | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE

About the author:

Lisa Desrochers lives in northern California with her husband, two very busy daughters, and Shini the tarantula. If you'd told her five years ago she'd write a book, she'd have laughed in your face. As it turns out, she'd owe you an apology. Writing has become an addiction for Lisa and A Little Too Far, courtesy of HarperCollins, is her first novel for adults. She is also the author of the young adult Personal Demons trilogy from Macmillan.

When she's not writing, she's reading, and she adores stories that take her to new places, and then take her by surprise. Connect with her online at www.lisadwrites.com, on her blog at lisadesrochers.blogspot.com, on Twitter at @LisaDez, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LisaDesrochersAuthor.

Giveaway

The prizes:

- An iPad Mini - one winner

- A knowledge pendant, tote bag, and tattoos (Trent's tattoo!) - one winner

- A signed copy of HarperCollins' BETWEEN THE COVERS sampler with the 1st two chapters of A LITTLE TOO FAR annotated, knowledge tote, and tattoos - one winner

- A signed copy of BETWEEN THE COVERS with the 1st two chapters of A LITTLE TOO FAR annotated, and tattoos - two winners

The rules:

-  Giveaway is US/Canada ONLY.

-  There will be FIVE winners total.

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Want to find out more about A Little Too Far? Be sure to also visit The Irish Banana to find out one reader's opinion on the book!

Blog Tour: Creeps by Darren Hynes - Guest Post

Today I have the pleasure of having Darren Hynes, author of Creeps, on the blog to talk about the process of writing this particular book. Be sure to keep reading to also find out more about the book and the book writing process.

About the book:

Fifteen-year-old Wayne Pumphrey wishes he were courageous enough to actually send the heartfelt letters he writes to friends and family. He also wishes his father would drive on the right side of the street, his mother would stop packing her suitcase to leave, and his sister would stop listening to Nickelback. But most of all, he wishes that Pete "The Meat" would let him walk to school in peace. After all, how many times can one person eat yellow snow?

Then one morning, while facing Pete and his posse, Wayne is rescued by Marjorie, the girl with a dead father and a mother who might s well be. Together, the two of them escape Pete's relentless bullying by rehearsing for the school play, and an unlikely friendship is formed. As they grow ever closer to one another, they begin to dream of escape from their small town and resricted lives. But Pete now has plans for both of them--and after a moment of sudden violence, nothing will ever be the same again for Wayne, Majorie, or Pete himself.

Creeps from start to finish – what process did you go through while writing this book?

- I started writing Creeps in 2008. At the time, the story had nothing to do with bullying. It was more a coming of age novel: a boy from a dysfunctional family who tries to make sense of his life against the backdrop of a cold northern town. I wrote and wrote and had several hundred pages completed until the realization struck that I didn’t have much of a story. Something was missing and I had no idea what. Later in that same year I spent a month at The Banff Writing Studio where I’d hoped to find a reason for continuing with Creeps instead of it putting aside. After the month was over I put the manuscript away in frustration and went back to work on a novel that I’d previously tried to get published but hadn’t been successful. I spent a year revising, Flight and sent it out and it was finally accepted for publication and released in 2010. Not long after, I was talking to my fifteen-year-old nephew via Facebook and he told me about a girl who’d pretended to like him and when he’d admitted to liking her back, she posted how gross he was and how she would never date someone like him. I was devastated, angry, disappointed in the human race. The story stayed with me for weeks and weeks and then one morning I felt compelled to take out my abandoned Creeps manuscript. As I was looking it over I had a thought: what if, Wayne, my main character, was a victim of bullying? And what if the story was more about how he copes and finds a way to move forward, and how he comes to love and accept himself for who he is? For the first time since I’d started writing the novel I felt like I had a hook, a reason for writing it.

- The new draft of Creeps became a sort of homage to my nephew, but, later, it became a story for anyone who’s every felt alone or different. I was quite inspired by Radiohead’s song: Creep throughout the writing of the novel. The lyrics really spoke to me and I found a way to sneak the song’s message into the narrative of my novel. The song became a sort of anthem for my two main protagonists.

- It wasn’t easy to write the bullying scenes, and I struggled with how far to go. Although the story focused on a fifteen-year-old, I had no idea I was writing a Young Adult novel. I was just writing what I felt I needed to write. My biggest challenge, I think, was finding humour in the story. Not to make it too maudlin. That’s why Wayne, although terribly bullied, tries to rise above it – find hope and optimism and not dwell too much on his situation. That tack will not please everyone, but it was the direction I felt I needed to follow.

- Once the story kicked in, and I became more familiar with the characters, the writing of the novel came quickly. I was living in Hamilton at the time and I would often write on the bus to Toronto. I spent a lot of money on coffee and lattes because I lived in cafes, which is where some of my best writing gets done. I generally wrote in the early mornings – my peak time creatively. I got to know some people in the course of writing the novel that were victims of bullying and they were kind enough to share their stories with me. I soaked up documentaries and books on the subject and combed the papers and the Internet for stories like the one I was trying to write. And, while not a victim myself, I was certainly witness to episodes of bullying when I myself was in high school. I remember one small boy who’d had his glasses broken by a punch in the face and it was winter and even now I can still see how cold the boy’s hands were and how his nose was running and how defeated he looked. Those images stay with you.

- After about a year, I had a draft of Creeps I was fairly happy with. Still, I put it away for a few weeks and then went back at it for some serious revisions, which took another six or seven months. Then I sent out some queries to a few agents and was shocked when Westwood Creative Artists requested the whole manuscript. A little over a month later, Westwood took me on, and a month after that, I had a book contract with Penguin.

- I was lucky enough to work with a wonderful editor at Penguin and we spent close to a year readying the book for publication. In fact, everyone at Penguin was extremely welcoming and helpful and I felt very supported there.

- So, the seeds of Creeps were planted five years ago. A lot of time was spent going in circles and working on other things and trying again and then giving up and then trying again. I’m learning now that that is part of my process. I tend to write a lot of stuff, which ultimately gets thrown out. I have to flail about and pull my hair out before something comes. But once I find that thing, the writing takes on a life of it’s own and it becomes very exciting.

- I hope people find something in Creeps that speaks to them. I certainly learned a lot from writing it – namely that there should be room for everyone.

Blog Tour: This Is W.A.R. - Guest Post

As part of the blog tour for their new novel This Is W.A.R., I have the pleasure of having writing duo Lisa and Laura Roecker here on the blog. Be sure to keep reading to find out why they write, more about the book, and your chance to win a copy!

Why we write

Growing up in the Roecker, girl-dominated house, there was never a lack of girl power encouragement. Our dad told us we could do anything we wanted to do and be anyone we wanted to be. He'd practice hand shakes--firm, eye-contact, confidence. Our mom didn't have a whole lot of patience for post-breakup snivelling. Buck up was the general theme. You don't need anyone.

So when we set out to write THIS IS WAR, we knew we wanted to integrate these themes into the story. When we were teenagers, our identities were constantly shifting and growing and changing. At times, it was so easy to lose ourselves in boys or popular people or powerful people. It was so hard to be strong. The WAR girls are faced with the same struggle, but in the wake of Willa's death, their battle is so much more urgent. Our hope is that girls can learn to stand up for what they believe in, to wage their own war when they need to. It might not be easy, but it's almost always worth it. Even if the outcome isn't exactly what you plan for.

About the book:

This is not a story of forgiveness…

The mystery of their best friend's murder drives four girls to destroy the Gregory family.

Everyone at Hawthorne Lake Country Club saw Will Ames-Rowan climb into a boat with James Gregory, the Club's heir apparent.

And everyone at Hawthorne Lake Country Club watched him return. Alone.

They all know he killed her. But none of them will say a word. The Gregory family is very, very good at making problems go away.

Enter the W.A.R.--the war to avenge Willa Ames-Rowan. Four girls. Four very different motives for justice and revenge, and only one rule: destroy the Gregory family at any cost.

About the authors:

Lisa and Laura Roecker are sisters-turned-writing partners with a passion for good books, pop culture, and Bravo programming. Not necessarily in that order. A prepubescent obsession with Lois Duncan and their mother's insistence that they read Men Are Just Desserts inspired This is WAR. The sisters live in Cleveland, Ohio, in separate residences. Their husbands wouldn't agree to a duple. Cyberstalking is always encouraged at lisa-laura.blogspot.com and @landlroecker on Twitter.

Giveaway

Does This is WAR sound like something you want to read? If it does, be sure to check out the giveaway below for your chance to win a copy of the book. Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter. US & Canada ONLY.

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Shadow of the Mark Blog Tour - Guest Post

Today I have the pleasure of taking part in the blog tour for Leigh Fallon's second book, Shadow of the Mark. As part of the blog tour, I have the honor of having author Leigh Fallon here on the blog to discuss the importance of setting in a story. And be sure to keep reading for your chance to enter a giveaway.

The importance of setting - why set your story where (and possibly when) you do.

For me, the setting of a story is as important as the story itself. I like my setting to be a character in my book. It has meaning, presence, and a bearing on the plot.

In the Carrier series, Ireland plays a role.  It is central to the story, where the lore began, it holds the magic deep in its core. The remnants of Danu’s great power still emanates from the echoed soils of old. It’s a living breathing, feeling thing. It takes no sides. It simply is.

The different character traits of the setting were imperative for tone and mood. Ireland’s weather is brooding. The cloud and rain are always present like a somber drape cloaking the rich and ancient landscape. But when the sun breaks through, the light brings warmth, hope, and sets off more shades of green than you can possibly imagine. It’s an amazing sight.  Then the wind that that constantly whips and the coastline, gouges out a rugged coastline, and sculpts the most unusual landscape is a constant reminder of the power of nature and how we are at its mercy.  Ireland is timeless. We humans are merely blips on its timeline, our impact on it, minimal.

Ireland’s scenery, weather, and history, created not only a beautiful backdrop, but also a complex and multilayered entity that would weave through each characters everyday life and eventually, become part of them.

I always use careful consideration when choosing a setting for a story. It can impact every aspect of a manuscript. It is not just a landscape in which to set a story, it is a platform providing emotion, conflict, mood, tone, conflict, and intrigue. Pick the right one and you can create a vivid world that people will connect with and immerse themselves in.

About the book:

Their love could destroy them all.

Through the ages, Marked Ones have harnessed the powers of the four elements: Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. Much about the elements is shrouded in mystery, but one thing is certain: A relationship between two Marked Ones has the potential to cause widespread devastation.

Megan and Adam—Air and Water—are determined to defy the risks.

But the power that swirls inside Megan is growing in twisted ways. And the closer she is to Adam, the closer Megan comes to unleashing a dark force that could spell destruction for the entire Marked line.

Goodreads/Amazon/Barnes & Noble/The Book Depository

About the author:

Leigh Fallon was born in South Africa, raised in Dublin, Ireland and moved to Cork in her 20's. While living in beautiful Kinsale, her novel, The Carrier of the Mark was conceived. She promptly abandoned her 'riveting' career in corporate treasury and discovered Inkpop, a website for budding writers of teen fiction. Within weeks her manuscript hit the coveted top five spot and was reviewed by an editor at HarperCollins. A few emails and some hysterical screaming later, she signed her first deal. Leigh and her family now share their time between Ireland and the US.

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Giveaway:

Does Shadow of the Mark sound like something you want to read? Be sure to enter the giveaway below using the Rafflecopter form  for your chance to win one of three great prizes.

1st place: a signed copy of Shadow of the Mark and a boat load of goodies, including a silver bookmark. USA ONLY (see picture below)

2nd place: a $10 Book Depository gift card and some signed swag. INTERNATIONAL

3rd place: signed swag. INTERNATIONAL

a Rafflecopter giveaway