YA & MG Author Spotlight: Kai Strand

GRAFFITI PROMOTIONS is a regular feature on Writer's Alley, where authors and aspiring writers, editors, publishers, and anyone from the publishing world, to share their journeys, valuable wisdom, and to promote their work along a road of humor, encouragement, and inspiration. Features include Author Interviews, Book Promos, and Character Introductions.

Today's feature is an author interview with YA & MG Author Kai Strand. Kai writes fiction for middle grade and young adult readers. Her debut novel, The Weaver, was a finalist in the 2012 EPIC eBook Awards. She's a staff writer for Knowonder.com, where you're guaranteed a story a day. She is a (very lucky) wife and the mother of four amazing kids. The most common sound in her household is laughter. The second most common is, "Do the dishes!" She and her family hike, geocache, and canoe in beautiful Central Oregon, where they call home.

What or who inspired you to start writing?
There are two people responsible for my writing. J.K. Rowling and my son. My oldest daughter and I had read the first four Harry Potter books and were waiting for the fifth to come out when I realized I could entertain myself by creating a world of my own. So I wrote my first middle grade novel. At the same time, my son had gone through vision therapy to fix his double vision issues and had to catch up with his classmates in reading level. He wasn't crazy about reading, so I decided to write 'his' story for him, knowing it would capture his interest best of all and make him want to read. Hence, I wrote my first few short stories.

In your opinion, what are the three most important elements to writing a novel?

Relateability - Whether you are writing fantasy, contemporary, memoir or literary, your readers must be able to relate to the subject matter. So go ahead and make your characters blue and able to shoot poison darts from their fingernails, but be sure they've got teen angst or romance issues or problems fitting in at school or SOMETHING your readers will truly understand.

Pacing - This is especially important in children's books. Stories are competing for your reader's attention with interactive gaming and real time social media. Plus children are naturally more active, faster paced. The story must continually move forward or the child will become bored or easily distracted. There can be quiet moments in the book, that's a natural part of pacing, but the story still must be moving forward even during the quiet times. If a character is taking the time to reflect, they must be doing it in order to take the next step, not simply to take a breath.

Real emotions - Characters are the most alive when they experience all possible emotion. It is important for your reader to feel when the character is frustrated, inappropriately giddy, or apathetic. These things happen in real life. Readers can get a better idea of how to deal with their own emotions by watching their favorite characters work through it.

What are your thoughts about self-promotion, author platforms, and the ever-changing publishing world?
It is absolutely critical for all authors to have a platform from which to promote and to be actively involved in the promotion of their work. Okay, that said, how active is a really hard thing for me to define personally. I can spend far too much time obsessing over whether or not my books are 'out there' enough, which takes away from the time I should be spending writing new material. I know I'm not the only author with this challenge. I'll get myself in line and be balancing things well, and then suddenly the obsession hits again and I can't stop cyber stalking my poor books. I'm wondering if there is a support group. Though it's probably online, which really won't help.

Share what it's like working with your publisher(s).

The Weaver and The Wishing Well: Another Weaver Tale are with Guardian Angel Publishing and Save the Lemmings is from Featherweight Press. I really love working with small press publishers. The editing experience is personal, like a conversation. I have input on the covers. They've even made sure my books were available before my appearances. It is a true partnership.

What can your readers expect from you next?
My young adult super villain novel, King of Bad, will be published in 2013. Everybody loves a bad boy and when you're a super villain it's not only okay to be bad, it's expected.

Thank you so much for joining us, Kai!! 

To find out more about Kai’s books, download companion documents, find links to her published short stories and discover all the places to find Kai both virtually and in person, visit her Website or blog Strands of Thought. She loves to hear from readers, so feel free to send her an email or visit her facebook page, Kai Strand, Author or on Twitter @KaiStrand. 

Interested in being featured? Just click on one of the three links under Graffiti Promotions Submissions in my left sidebar.

New Meme: Wistful YA Wednesdays!!

Those of you who blog with me on a regular basis know I normally post on Mondays (MG, PB, or craft topics), Tuesdays for my YA meme, and Fridays all featherbrained with any wacky idea I can come up with. However, this is about to change.

My husband recently resigned from his job of over thirteen years running two car dealerships, and has decided to branch out on his own - kind of like our Indie brothers and sisters. :) He's partnering up with a colleague and opening two locations. AND he'll need help setting up processes to run the show. Tah-Dah! Enters MOI. I'll have to help out in the office and such, at least for a while.

I've decided to continue posting on Mondays, but will move my YA meme to Wednesdays - If any of you already join me on Tuesdays, feel free to copy/paste the new meme above; if you're new, join in too. Just let me know with your URL in the comments below and I'll add you to the list, linking you to each of my Wednesday posts. I will also limit my Featherbrained Friday posts to sometimes, just for a while. I need to carve out some writing time. Thank you for being so understanding! Hearts to you all!

Onward to our first official Wistful YA Wednesday post, a sharing of a book I read this past summer. Enjoy!!

Title: ON FIRE: A Teen Wolf Novel
Author: Nancy Holder
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: MTV Books
Released: July 17th, 2012
Pages: 256

I'd like to thank Nancy Holder for offering up the ARC for review.

Favorite Line/Passage: Smirking, she thought of Derek's naked torso, how well he filled out his jeans. His piercing eyes, those eyebrows she used to trace so fondly; and that five o'clock shadow and sexy bad-boy pout. She highly doubted that Chris knew she and two of his guys had paid Derek a little visit yesterday. God, all those muscles. The last time she'd seen him, he'd still been in high school. Still a kid. A stupid, gullible kid, who should have died in the Hale house fire along with the rest of his family.

Description: Based on the hit MTV series Teen Wolf—a teenage boy’s life changes forever after he’s bitten by a werewolf.Scott was just a regular guy until one bite changed his life. Now he struggles to understand who he is and what he might become. Is he more wolf than human—or is it the other way around? Whichever it is, it’s not going to be easy. Scott tries to control his urges, but mostly he’s scared that it’s his urges that could end up controlling him.     

On Fire is the story of what happens when you to walk the line between what you want and what you can’t help from wanting. Will the bite end up being a gift? Or will it be a curse? And what will it all mean for Scott’s relationship with Allison—the girl he can’t get enough of? Only time will tell if he should embrace his newfound powers, or if he should fear them.

NIGHTSTAND WORTHY

My Splats: I will not deny that this was a very tough review to write. Why? Because I watch the show, already know the story. And because of this it was difficult to read and feel that surge of adrenalin from the element of shock and surprise. So I've chosen to write my observations, especially for those who do not watch the television show, solely on the writing and delivery of the story. 

There's no need for me to remark on Nancy Holder's amazing abilities as an author; that goes without saying. What I enjoyed about the telling of ON FIRE was the simplicity of it all. It was definitely an easy and quick read with relatively recognizable vocabulary. The dialog between characters adequately showed differences in characteristics and personalities, all which were teenage appropriate and easy to relate to. 

I appreciated the humor interjected throughout, especially how Holder handled the interaction between quirky Stiles and beefy Derek. The one thing that did differentiate the book from the show itself was the development of Derek's surprising teenage past with Kate - the female lead's aunt. It was what really kept me reading. I liked that angle a lot and I think you'll find it interesting too. 

Holder takes the mystery of a disappearing teen mingled with the sexy appeal of the werewolf legend and creates a suspenseful novel any teen will love. 

If you haven't joined the writer's creed for 2013, you still can! Almost 80 of you already have. Thanks so much!!

New YA Release! The Circle of Tivedon Giveaway

Title: The Circle of Tivedon
Author: Ryan Shorten
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 254

Description: 
Attending Tivedon should have been the most exciting time in Jayl's young life. However, when inexplicable things begin to darken the hallowed halls of of the school and he's accused of murder, Jayl finds himself thrust into a quest to save himself, his home, and ultimately all of Tiertyn itself. 

Add to Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon, IndieBound, & Barnes and Noble.  

Let's give a warm Alleyway welcome to Author Ryan Shorten!!

It's great to have you pay us a visit, Ryan. Let's get down to a few questions.


What or who inspired you to start writing?
Having been a huge fan of Fantasy from a young age, the stories I read began laying the foundation for what became a passion for writing. Other worlds and mythical creatures occupied my creative imagination and simply put; writing provided an expressive outlet I needed.  


Describe yourself in 5 to 10 words.
Afflicted with a word addiction and alliteration of a too often verbose imagination…even I’m not sure what that means.

Haha...nice. :)

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge in writing YA, MG, or PBs today?
I actually found the biggest challenge in writing YA came out after I had published the novel. While the reviews have been positive, a comment that has come up a couple times is the story (language and characters) seems more geared towards an MG audience. In retrospect, I can understand the observation. YA readers today are more mature. While I still see my story as enjoyable to a YA audience, I do now believe it works as a mature MG novel as well. I think the challenge with writing YA (and having YA – aged characters) is to make sure the leaning is more towards the older ‘teens’ rather than ‘tweens’. Young readers will read ‘up’ and ‘older’, and older readers will not feel the story is too ‘kiddy’. 

What do you see as the three most important elements of writing a novel?

1) Know your Character(s)’s ‘voice’. Having a good story line/plot is important, but spending a good deal of time on exploring who your characters are will give them a unique identity that readers will be attracted to. 

2) Persistence. Write as much as you can, knowing that a good deal of it will be discarded or completely reworked. 

3) Write for love, not money. Any monetary success that comes from your writing should only be a nice by-product of the personal reward of crafting a story for others to read (and hopefully enjoy). This isn’t being altruistic…just realistic. Making money from writing (books) isn’t easy and more often than not, you’ll be disappointed if that’s your only goal.

What are your thoughts about self-promotion, author platforms, and the ever-changing publishing world?

Towards the end of writing the novel (and the reality that I would actually finish it came into view), I began educating myself on the publishing industry. I read posts and articles on publishing and agents etc., and what I quickly realized was just how difficult the journey was going to be. After several attempts at querying agents and publishing houses, I began to look more seriously at self-publishing options. It wasn’t that I felt my book wasn’t good enough for traditional representation; it was simply a matter of odds. I’ve read that nearly 500 self-published books come online every day. If even a third of those books (and authors) were trying to go through the old ways of publishing and agents, it’s easy to see there would be too much jamming up the system. I applaud the advent of self-publishing tools and resources. It’s certainly put a flood of books into the market, but at the same time it’s made an even playing field for writers that simply want to get their work in front of readers.      

Thanks for sharing your experience with us, Ryan! Best of luck in the future.

Want a copy of Ryan's book? Enter below for your chance to win!

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I'm Late! I'm Late!!

I'm late to the party. But sometimes being one of the last to arrive affords you a brighter spotlight.

Heather McCorkle is a wonderful writer and blogger, who I met online about two years ago. I love her positive attitude and persistence in this business. And today, I'm coming in at the rear of her latest cover reveal.

Participating in cover reveals:

• gives a sneak peek as to what is on its way.
• helps the author spread the cheer
• shares others' experience in promotion prep work

That's why I LUV being a part of them! And thanks to Expresso Book Tours, here's another - Heather's latest epic fantasy novel...

LOVE the color palette!!
Cover designed by CP Design

Description: On Yacrana, dragons stand at the top of the evolutionary ladder instead of humans. Such an advanced species is not without its issues though. 

There's trouble in the Dragon Empire, the kind that could start a war between dragons and the races of people. Hidden factions of dragons believe they should rule the lesser races, not simply stand aside and allow them to develop as they will. Having lived so long in peace, the Emperors turn a blind eye, many oblivious that such attitudes even exist.

Despite being only an architect class, emerald dragon, Grendar is willing to risk banishment and death to stop that which his rulers refuse to see. The hope of peace lies not within the scaled breast of a dragon however, but within the hands of a group of people. But if the hidden factions have their way, these people won’t live to fulfill such a destiny. With a reluctant seer at his side, Grendar must leave his precious Empire for the outside world to save those that will one day save his kind. 

AUTHOR BIO

Heather McCorkle

I am an author of fantasy, in all its many sub-genres. Living green, saving endangered species, helping other writers, and supporting fabulous authors are a few of my passions. I am also a volunteer for the IS Foundation which works to make the world a greener place. When I'm not volunteering, writing, or surfing my social networking sites, I can be found on the slopes, the hiking trails, or on horseback. As a native Oregonian, I enjoy the outdoors almost as much as the worlds I create on the pages. No need to travel to the Great Northwest though, you can find me here, on my blog, and Monday night's on Twitter where I co-moderate the #WritersRoad chat. Connect with Heather on her Website, Goodreads, Facebook, & Twitter.

What's the most interesting cover you've seen lately?

A Dead best friend, a Dead best enemy, & PINK!

The blog tour for yet another exciting YA novel begins today. This story has dry humor, souls that just don't want to 'cross-over', and mystery. I'm excited to be a part of it to start this week. My part equals a review, so go forth and read. Oh, and there are three copies up for grabs, so make sure you enter the giveaway!!

Title: Date With the Dead
Author: Chris Myers
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Publisher: Books on the Edge
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Released: First Edition - June 1, 2012
Pages: 227

Favorite Line/Passage: Bike reflectors are hard to see at night, so I don't look behind me but get off the road as far as I can. The headlights shine on me and light up the road in front of me. I'm right against the curb. Surely, he sees me. The SUV slows. The engine breathes on me. I don't look back. Why isn't he going around? The vehicle camps on my rear fender for a minute.

Description: Let me introduce sixteen-year-old Jolie Livingston, ghost hunter.

“Let’s face it. Some of us can’t be too picky. My closest and only friend Drew is this really hot dead guy, but it bites that the self-absorbed princesses (SAPs) at school cannot even see him. That’s right, I can communicate with the dead. It’s the living I have trouble with. Mom and I inherited this awesome crib in Plymouth, MA. It’s quite a step-up from the homeless shelter in New Orleans, but there’s a catch. We can’t afford the past due mortgage, so I’m working on that.

“I started a ghost hunting business called Ripsters. Somehow I’ve managed to recruit Brittany, a glamour SAP smothered in pink, and a techie who’s allergic to ghosts. Brit actually thinks he resembles the R&B singer Chris Brown. All that pink has clouded her vision. They both have special talents I’m hoping will be useful to our venture. Right now, we’re working for a family in need of major therapy due to a dead guy with a hole in his head. If we solve this case, the Paranormal Guild may invite us to join their underground society for the psychically gifted, though I’m not counting on my golden ticket anytime soon.

“Hayden, a really cute guy, who lost his Wiccan mother, wants to join us, but my grandmother warned me about his kind. I often find myself torn between my loyalty to Drew and my secret attraction to Hayden, even though it’s highly unlikely a living guy as hot as Hayden would be interested in a girl cozy with the dead.”

AWARDS
Top 100 semi-finalist of 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel
2008 Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Gold Contest Finalist for Ripsters

NIGHTSTAND WORTHY!

My Splats: a mystery within a mystery within a mystery, exploring the Otherly among us.

Jolie is such an interesting character with a unique teen voice full of snark and wit. She's not the average girl. Not even the average ghost hunter. Her best 'guy' friend--pretty much the only friend she has--is no longer alive. Yup, he's DEAD, which is perfect for her personality. She's not the close-and-cuddly kind. Problem being, she can see him and talk to him, but can't seem to touch him. Apparently, someone with her gifts should be able to.

The opening drew me in immediately, making me curious about why Jolie could chat with ghosts and how that would fit into the story. The paranormal/ghost hunting terminology seemed authentic and accurate, not giving me any pause at all. It was used it ways that flowed with the story. 

I absolutely LOVED the relationship between Jolie and her dead best guy friend, Drew! He is fantastic, a character with twists of his own. One twist has to do with teenage suicide, which Myer subtly touches upon, yet enough to make teen readers think and adult readers see how misunderstood it can be. I liked that. (No, I didn't just give a spoiler away. Promise!) 

Myer throws all sorts of boulders at Jolie from financial issues to an amateur ghost hunter creeping on her territory to an unsolved murder/disappearance that happens to affecting a young girl's health. The adventure escalates, as Jolie and her associates nose around into the mystery of a local man's disappearance. Uncertainty wraps around every corner of this story. At times, I felt like Hansel & Gretel being fed crumb after crumb--a total hook.  

Purchase the eBook at Amazon. Visit Chris on Twitter, Facebook, her Website, & her Blog. For more tour stops, go HERE!

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The NEXT BIG Thing!

I've been tagged by the fabulous Kelly Hashway  to share a bit from my current WIP. Thanks, Kelly! This was just the injection of motivation that I needed.

The next step is to decided what to share. A picture book? One of my MG manuscripts that is partially written? Maybe my latest YA, which I've shelved due to my revisions with Marked Beauty, or the sequel to MB? Seeing how I'll be spending today mapping out that sequel to MB--can't wait to share the title with you--I guess I'll share my most recent MGer.

Here goes:

What's the working title of your book?
MOTLEY EDUCATION: Ebony Charmed and The First Assignment

Where did the idea come from for this book?
I love writing each category of KidLit as much as the other, and each for different reasons. I've dabbled with some picture book stories--two which I need to finish editing and start subbing--so my toddlerish gene has been stimulated. I write young adult mostly, so I had this nagging urge to write a story that tingled with awkward hormones but focused more on adventure and discovery. I guess the idea came from my need to explore the middle kid within me.

What genre does this book fall under?
Paranormal Adventure

NATHAN GAMBLE as Cain Embry

BELLA THORNE as Ebony Charmed

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?

LIAM JAMES as Lance McGwyer

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
A young apprentice witch unwittingly unleashes the underworld and must team up with an enemy to find the key she lost in order to close the portal before her mistake unseats her father as headmaster of her junior high school.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Recently sent my agent a pitch for this book, so hopefully she likes it and will rep it!

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your book?
Not finished the first draft yet, but I've finally set up my plotting draft and character arcs. I'm in the muddle of Act II.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
The Unwantables

What else about your book might pique the interest of your readers?
Ebony has an eerie connection to the spirit world, but her cat has an even better one. :)

Hey...

Leigh Moore
Matt MacNish
Jessie Harrell
Christine Danek

YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED!!

Everyone else, whatch'ya working on?

***And if you haven't yet, join my Writer's Rebel Creed for 2013! Almost 60 of you already have. There's nothing for you to do but write what you love and be true to yourself. LUV to have you!

YA Book Release ~ BROKEN by AE Rought & Giveaway!

Reading is an escape for me. Always has been. And I can assure you, this next read took me beyond escape and into a world created in the likeness of Mary Shelley's own imagination. I hope you enjoy this edition of Young Adult Teen Tuesday aka YATT, and for more YATT participants, see below.

Title: Broken
Author: AE Rought
Genre: paranormal fantasy
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Release Date: January 8, 2013
Pages: 416

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy for review.

Favorite Line/Passage: Now, the pain grinds in my knuckles and undercuts my grasp on control. I loosen my crossed arms, and thread my fingers in Mom's. Her gentle Mom sounds bring me to my sniveling weakest. My will disintegrates. The smell of cookies rises from her sleeve when I put my head on her shoulder. 

Somehow she knows these tears aren't just over my hand. Mom presses her cheek to the top of my head, silken rustles following the motion as she coddles me.

Description: Imagine a modern spin on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein where a young couple's undying love and the grief of a father pushed beyond sanity could spell the destruction of them all. 

A string of suspicious deaths near a small Michigan town ends with a fall that claims the life of Emma Gentry's boyfriend, Daniel. Emma is broken, a hollow shell mechanically moving through her days. She and Daniel had been made for each other, complete only when they were together. Now she restlessly wanders the town in the late Fall gloom, haunting the cemetery and its white-marbled tombs, feeling Daniel everywhere, his spectre in the moonlight and the fog.

When she encounters newcomer Alex Franks, only son of a renowned widowed surgeon, she's intrigued despite herself. He's an enigma, melting into shadows, preferring to keep to himself. But he is as drawn to her as she is to him. He is strangely... familiar. From the way he knows how to open her locker when it sticks, to the nickname she shared only with Daniel, even his hazel eyes with brown flecks are just like Daniel's.

The closer they become, though, the more something inside her screams there's something very wrong with Alex Franks. And when Emma stumbles across a grotesque and terrifying menagerie of mangled but living animals within the walls of the Franks' estate, creatures she surely knows must have died from their injuries, she knows.

COVETED! A MUST READ!!

My Splats: Riveting with a morbid edge that will keep the reader reeling until the very last line.

The story opens nicely, sharing with ease Emma's relationship with her immediate family, BFF, and infectious pain over the death of her boyfriend Daniel. Her reaction to the new boy, Alex Franks, is just as easily understood by the reader: she's noticed him and his similar mannerisms as her dead boyfriend, and she doesn't like it. But for me, the reader, I liked it. Dribbles of intrigue and Alex's strange familiarity to Emma pulled me in deeper, wanting to know who this guy really was.

The writing flows and the dialog is especially teen. I couldn't help but chuckle at some of the sassy and quick-witted phrases emanating from these characters. But as snippy as some passages are, there's enough gentleness and depth in others to balance them out. There's a masculinity to the text that I enjoyed, playful but snarky bantering which masks the truth beneath - the brokenness in Emma's heart and what is later discovered to be broken inside and outside of Alex. 

One of my favorite aspects of the story is the parent-teen relationship. It's raw and real. Mom and Dad are married, live in the same house, work, and have dinner together - family dinners. The parents are not absent in this YA novel. It's fresh and a great sub-plot to the overall storyline and to Emma's character arc. This is the reason I chose those lines from the tale as my favorite passage. Another element which flavored the story was the realistic use of everyday happenings.

The connections made between Emma and Alex are not just similarities in opinions, attitudes, and like/dislikes, but go much deeper, using their inner pains, sorrows, and confusions about their attraction. This adds tension and way too much mystery for any reader to ignore. There's a scene as the two struggle to understand their strange and sudden connection, a moment so intimate and gentle that I found my young adult as well as adult heart strings tugged to the extreme. Both fear uncovering the truth that has begun to unfold, but want nothing more than to know. 

Sinister, mind-bending revelations of what really happened to Alex in turn reveal an obscene and disturbing truth of life over death...death that was cheated. The actual horror is layered with deceit and morbid intent, so arrogant that it could only belong to guests seen but unseen throughout the novel. 

Rought wasn't afraid of being real, using the harsh reality of what she created. She used creepy, even grotesque descriptions at times, all suited for the telling of this tale. Similar elements from Shelley's original version added texture. Surprising twists engulfed me as the story climaxed. And as a massive Frankenstein fan I couldn't help but think about Mary Shelley and the similarities to her original tale. I believe she'd be proud of this Franken-teen tale of her misunderstood monster and the girl he inevitably loved from the moment electricity reignited his foreign heartbeat.

To add to your Goodreads TBR list, go HERE. Don't forget to ENTER below for your chance to win  your copy of BROKEN! Jessie Harrell and I are offering this giveaway together, so make sure you give her a visit too!!

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For more YA, visit these YATT Meme Supporters:

Margo Berendsen, The Write Game, Julie Musil (not every wk), Rosewood Pencil Box, Misha Gericke (not every wk), Fairbetty's World, Concrete Pieces of Soul, The B.L.O.G (The Bizzare Life of One Girl), A Day into the Writer

Want to take part in spotlighting young adult literature? Join our team. For more information, go HERE.

***And if you haven't already, join my Writer's Rebel Creed for 2013! There's nothing for you to do but write what you love and be true to yourself. LUV to have you!

A Writer's CREED

Last January, I decided to ring in the New Year with a writer's pledge/creed; being a writer that only seemed appropriate. I shared my thoughts, hopes, dreams, and even fears and reservations with you, believing writers mirror each other. And I was correct. Most of you agreed with me. Some of you chose to take the pledge with me.

Today, my first official post of this most awesome, post-Mayan calendar year of 2013--which I'm dubbing "Year 1 of magnificent Sheriisms"--I'm celebrating the New Year with a new creed.

I'd LUV and be honored if you'd take it with me. You can even post the creed on your site, as a reminder of our promises to ourselves and each other. I've supplied a smaller size below for you to do so.

If you choose to honor this creed with me, please add your name to the Linky list. Cut and paste either size badge to your site and link back to this post. It'd be great if we could get a ton of writers to take this and reconnect throughout the year. 

What do you think of setting personal goals & self-promises?