Each day of The Crossroads Tour, a new question will be revealed on The Crossroad Blog Tour main page and each day the answer to that question will be found within one of the 16 different blog posts by Crossroads Tour authors. Your job is to get the question, read the blog posts, and collect all 16 answers by the end of the tour, on Halloween. Go HERE to get today's question and links.
Today's feature for the Crossroads Tour is author Rosemary Clement-Moore. Her novel The Splendor Falls was released in 2009. In addition to The Splendor Falls, Clement-Moore is the author of the Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series. Her newest book Texas Gothic will be out in 2011. To read a teaser from her upcoming book, click here.
Description from GoodReads: Sylvie Davis is a ballerina who can’t dance. A broken leg ended her career, but Sylvie’s pain runs deeper. What broke her heart was her father’s death, and what’s breaking her spirit is her mother’s remarriage—a union that’s only driven an even deeper wedge into their already tenuous relationship.
Uprooting her from her Manhattan apartment and shipping her to Alabama is her mother’s solution for Sylvie’s unhappiness. Her father’s cousin is restoring a family home in a town rich with her family’s history. And that’s where things start to get shady. As it turns out, her family has a lot more history than Sylvie ever knew. More unnerving, though, are the two guys that she can’t stop thinking about. Shawn Maddox, the resident golden boy, seems to be perfect in every way. But Rhys—a handsome, mysterious foreign guest of her cousin’s—has a hold on her that she doesn’t quite understand.
Then she starts seeing things. Sylvie’s lost nearly everything—is she starting to lose her mind as well?
For more information about Rosemary Clement-Moore and her books, check out her website here.
I had intended to get my review of The Ghost & The Goth up for this evening...but unfortunately real life got in the way. Real life included working out details on a Halloween Costume...oh, I am still so not ready, and meeting some work deadlines. But I promise it will be up tomorrow.
Each day of The Crossroads Tour, a new question will be revealed on The Crossroad Blog Tour main page and each day the answer to that question will be found within one of the 16 different blog posts by Crossroads Tour authors. Your job is to get the question, read the blog posts, and collect all 16 answers by the end of the tour, on Halloween. Go HERE to get today's question and links.
Today's guest for the Crossroads Tour is author Stacey Kade. Her debut YA novel The Ghost & The Goth was released in June of 2010.
What was your favorite paranormal/horror/fantasy story as a child/teen? And why did you like it so much?
The Girl with the Silver Eyes by Willo Davis Roberts. It was, if I remember correctly, about a girl who gained telekinetic powers because her mother took a medicine with side effects when she was pregnant.
What I recall liking about the story was the girl felt kind of like a freak until she realized there were others like her.
Where did you get the idea for your story? Did you use a real life situation and put a twist on it?
You know, I don’t know where ideas come from. They just sort of show up! And I like it that way—it’s fun to be surprised. That being said, the stories of ghosts and mediums (and popular girls and outcast boys) have been around forever. I just combined the two.
Especially in Y.A., there seems to be a big emphasis on paranormal romance? Do you consider the romance part when you are writing your story or do you consider writing your story and see where the romance fits in?
That’s a good question. I’m guilty of thinking too much about the main story and not enough about the romance. I figured that out in the first draft of the second book (Queen of the Dead, June 2011) and needed to rewrite it! The funny thing is, as a reader, I’m far more interested in the romance angle of the story. I just have trouble remembering that when I’m the one behind the wheel, so to speak!
What helps you to create characters that people will feel passionate about either in liking them or disliking them?
I try to be honest in reflecting who the characters are. I don’t set out to make them either likeable or unlikeable. I just try to get them on the page as close as I can to how they appear/sound in my head.
What characteristics were critical to you in creating your characters?
I knew Alona was a snob, but I also knew that she had her own world-view in which her perspective made sense (skewed though it may seem to the rest of us). I wanted to make sure that snobbery came across but also her humanity. With Will, I thought it was very important to get across the struggle he has
within himself over this gift he has, which he does not want, and the obligation he feels to use it to help others and the guilt he feels when he doesn’t.
What kind of research did you do for your story and did you run into anything weird while you were doing research?
I’ve been reading about ghosts practically my whole life, so I didn’t have to do a great deal of research on that topic. However, I did research specific haunted locations and also how mediums describe seeing spirits. Nothing weird happened, but I also refuse to visit most haunted places! : )
If you could have a supernatural power or gift what would it be?
Oh, see, this is dangerous. Because I believe in a writing principle we call the price of magic. Which means the ability to do something amazing comes with a cost. If I could have a supernatural power or gift, I’d like to be able to heal people (ala Max on Roswell) but the price of that magic seems like it would probably be pretty high. So, I think I’m pretty happy being non-supernatural!
For information about Stacey Kade and her books, check out her website: www.staceykade.com
You can find her on Twitter: @staceykade
My review of The Ghost & The Goth will be up later today and there will even be a chance to win a signed copy of Stacey's debut novel.
Congratulations to Heather (Buried in Books) for winning the Mid-Tour Swag Contest Pack #1. Heather has been an amazing follower of the Crossroads Blog Tour. Thanks for checking out every post and making comments.
As part of The Familiars Halloween Blog Tour, Andrew stops by to answer a few questions. Let's see if he tells any of Adam's secrets.
What was your scariest/funniest/weirdest Halloween experience?
(Andrew) Every year I trick-or-treated with my older brother, who was a die hard Halloween guy. In my suburban home town of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, we always had trick-or-treating on the Sunday afternoon of Halloween week from 1-4 pm. And my big bro's game plan was always to hit houses after 4 o'clock, say we lost track of time, and hope that we could clean people out of all their left-over candy. Well, one year, on a typically cool late October afternoon, we trick-or-treated well past dark, in a neighborhood far, far away from our house on Cumberland Blvd. We were lost and we really didn't know what time it was. This being a long time before cell phones, we ultimately had to ask to use someone's telephone to call home, and our parents had to come pick us up. Luckily my mom and dad knew my brother well enough not to panic and call the police. The next year I trick-or-treated with some friends around my block. My brother didn't get home until after six o'clock.
Did you have a book that you read either in Middle School or High School that scared you the most? What was it and what about it scared you?
(Andrew) Back in middle school, I remember the Stephen King book It was turned into a miniseries on TV. After watching some of it I read the book and it was terrifying. Mostly because there was a clown in it!
What writing rituals do you have?
We meet every day at 9:30 and write until 5 pm. Andrew is the typist (because he's a much faster typer) and Adam sits across from him in a big comfy chair, usually with a bowl of snacks at his side. Then we talk. And talk. And talk some more.
I am always fascinated by authors who co-write a book. What was that process like for both of you? And did it come naturally or did it evolve over time?
We talked a little about our process in the previous question. Our partnership did evolve over time. We met about ten years ago and began writing screenplays together. Over time, what started out as a somewhat inefficient back and forth, became more and more well-oiled, to the point where we can now finish each other's sentences (in real life and on the page). The two of us sit in the same room, writing every word, sentence, and paragraph together.
What advice would you give children who are interested in becoming writers?
Write! And read as much as you can. The hardest part of writing sometimes is just sitting down and writing. There are so many distractions nowadays, it's most important to be disciplined about doing the work. Also to remember not to be discouraged by rejection. You have to always believe that the impossible is possible.
How did you come up with the idea for the Familiars?
When Adam was growing up, he didn't have a pet of his own, so on walks home from school he would pretend that he had a fire-breathing dragon on his shoulder. He always dreamed of having a familiar. So one day Adam asked Andrew, do you know what a familiar is? And from that question, the two of us were off and running, creating a fantastical world filled with our shared love of magic and animals.
You probably get a lot of questions about what animal familiar you would be so let me put a small twist on it - What special powers or abilities would you like to have?
(Andrew) I would love to have the special power of superstrength. If you saw my arms, you would know why.
In an age where everyone seems to be wanting to write for YA, how did you decide on writing for a Middle Grade audience (those of us working with this age group express our appreciation for your decision)?
The funny thing is, the two of us didn't even know there was such a thing as Middle Grade. We knew we were writing a book targeting the same readers who loved Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia, and it was only later that our publisher educated us about the category of Middle Readers. Having visited a dozen elementary schools around the country, we have so enjoyed meeting the enthusiastic young audience for our story.
Familiars-themed Halloween Scavenger Hunt!
Directions:
After you fill in your answer, the letter that falls in the place of the * can be placed in the corresponding number of the larger puzzle. So for example, since this is question number 7, the letter that lands in the space where the * is can be filled in where the 7 is in the larger puzzle. The larger puzzle will form yet another clue, and anyone who answers it correctly will be entered into a drawing for an autographed book as well as a few other Halloween treats!
Be sure to visit The Familiars blog at thefamiliars.blogspot.com to find links to all other blog stops and find out where to send in your answers! All entries must be entered by November 15.
7. Telekinesis is the ability to _*_ ___ ___ ___ things with your mind.
