IWSG and Answers to LIES Bloghop!

Today is the first Thursday of the month, which means I missed Wednesday, the day of the IWSG where we writers share our insecurities, hopes and dreams with the world and give support to our fellow IWSGers! Click on The Insecure Writer's Support Group to join us.






This month's theme is Show Your Writer Insecurity Contest. I was so insecure about it that I'm posting a whole day late.  But here it is, a picture of me with the IWSG logo:

Jumping Into Your Insecurities

This picture brings my two loves together, writing and skating and they are both similar in that you do most of your work alone, refining and perfecting and then you have to be brave and show off what you've created to the world. The picture of me skating was taken 3 years ago at an adult competition. :)

2 LIES and a Truth Bloghop!  

Last time I participated in my daughter, Jess McKendry's bloghop called LIES to celebrate the release of her second novel The Inferiors.  Head over to her blog and check it out, in the next couple days she'll be announcing the lucky winner of her book.

I gave you two lies about myself and one truth and you had to pick the truth.  

1. I've lived in Ohio all my life.

2. I don't like heavy metal or rap music.

3. I have an irrational fear of sharks even in fresh water.  

Here's the answers:

1.  LIE, I've moved around over 12 times and lived in eight different states!  Ohio is our home now though.

2. LIE, While rap and heavy metal may not be my absolute favorite genres of music...give me Pantera's Cowboys From Hell or Drake's One Dance and I'll be head banging or rapping right along with everyone else! 

3. TRUTH!!! :)  I'm absolutely terrified of sharks!  Even when I'm in deep, fresh water all that runs through my mind are the scenes from JAWS where the shark comes up behind the person and chomps them in half while skiing or swimming! I know it's totally irrational but I can't help it.  Despite my fear my husband convinced me to go jet skiing in the Gulf of Mexico and kayaking in Monterrey Bay.  Both times, I couldn't wait to get back on shore and later we found out that a great white shark had been spotted the very next week in Monterrey Bay! 

Do you have any irrational fears?

Hope you all are having a great week despite everything in the news. Give everyone in your life a little extra attention and love.  Even in darkness there is beauty all around us.  These dahlias are blooming in my garden right now and they make me smile.

Kathy :)

IWSG- Character Depth

Created by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the IWSG, is a great place where we can share our fears and insecurities and successes as well.  It's been a wonderful source of support and friends for three years now!  Thanks Alex! To join us sign up here.

I can't believe it's already time for another IWSG post!  Thank you all so much for your encouraging words last month.

I'm excited about the new IWSG Book coming out, I know there will be tons of helpful tips.

For me, some of the most helpful tips that I've been told along this journey are about creating depth in characters.  I never used to do much character mapping.  I just wrote.  But then others, including my daughter Jessica, suggested that I write a backstory for each character and even make complete family trees, going back generations for some and a create a "world building time line".

I wasn't sure it would work for me.  It seemed like way too much work that wasn't actually the "writing".  But once I started, I realized how much each person's history influenced who they were.  By going back in time and uncovering their histories, I was learning what made each character tick, which has made it so much easier for me to write them.  It also brought to the surface webs of interconnectedness between the characters that I hadn't even thought of before.

Some days, especially those days where I barely have time to sit at the computer, I still get frustrated that I'm working through timelines and family trees instead of finishing the manuscript.   In the end, I know all the preparation will make the story stronger and more meaningful for me and everyone who reads it.


The IWSG has my permission to use this in its e-book.
Title: Character Depth
Topic: Writing
Byline: Kathy McKendry
Blog: Imagine Today @ http://imagine-today1.blogspot.com

Have a great week!


Kathy

From the Ashes Blogfest!

I'm so happy to participate in the From the Ashes Blogfest for the launch of Jess's debut novel. 

The prompt is: tell about a time when you or your character was thrown into a trial by fire situation. What biggest fears did you or your character have to face? What sort of situation would test you to the fullest?

I've been pretty lucky in my life and have never been tested to the breaking point.  My biggest fear is rather silly, it is being face to face with a shark, or in a room/cave full of tarantulas.  I think I can probably avoid both of those situations relatively easily.

My character, Nakyte, in The Hidden Truth, has it much more difficult.  Aside from having to fight off ferocious wild ponjits and other beasts from the forests of Bishare, she has to decide whether or not to trust her father, the King, or to disobey him and search for the truth.  She could lose everything she has ever loved, but she might just find the love of her life.  

Now on to the main event!!!! 

I'm so proud of Jess for all the hard work she has put into From the Ashes.  She is such an inspiration to me and I'm very lucky to be her mom!  :)

Summary:

Jaina Indera has been preparing her entire life for the chance to prove herself a superior and loyal citizen of the Imperial Alliance. In order to do so, she believes she must win the galaxy-wide competition known as the Trials. With training at her Gifted School progressing swiftly, everything looks like it is on pace for her to achieve her dream…until a boy named Dragon enrolls in her class.

Suddenly doubting herself and everything she’s been taught to believe, Jaina and Dragon are teamed with six of their classmates for the chance to compete and achieve their dream: winning the Trials. Consisting of four different tests, the Trials are about to challenge these eight young adults to the limits of their abilities. But learning to work as a team is more difficult than they ever imagined and dark secrets from Dragon’s past emerge that put them in mortal danger. Now Jaina must discover what she’s really fighting for if she and her team have any hope of finishing the Trials…alive.

Exploring the nature of self-reliance and self-confidence, McKendry delivers a perceptive, nuanced portrait of the importance of teamwork and the strain it puts on individual desires and motivations. Playing with the concepts of dark and light, her novel is a complex coming of age story that encapsulates the complicated hero’s journey from student to leader. A dark tale of love and revenge, From the Ashes is a powerful reminder to think for yourself instead of blindly following what you’ve been taught to believe.

The Kindle version will be available sometime today.  

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/From-Ashes-Volume-Jessica-Mckendry/dp/1480287075/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362661455&sr=8-1&keywords=jessica+mckendry

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17374554-from-the-ashes

Jessica McKendry was born in Michigan, yet grew up all over the Northeastern United States. She has lived in 7 different states, moved 15 times, and loves to travel. Jessica has been writing since she could read, but didn't write much more than poetry until she was 14 when she accidentally began writing what would become her debut novel two years later. Check out her website (www.jessicamckendry.com) or follow her on Twitter (@JessicaMcKendry) for more information.





Check out all the other participants here:



Have a great weekend everyone!

Kathy :)

Back From the Future and From the Ashes Announcement!

Back From the Future Blogfest hosted by M. Pax, Suze and Nicki Elson

You’re up before dawn on a Saturday when the doorbell rings. You haven’t brewed your coffee so you wonder if you imagined the sound. Plonking the half-filled carafe in the sink, you go to the front door and cautiously swing it open. No one there. As you cast your eyes to the ground, you see a parcel addressed to you … from you.

You scoop it up and haul it inside, sensing something legitimate despite the extreme oddness of the situation. Carefully, you pry it open. Inside is a shoebox — sent from ten years in the future — and it’s filled with items you have sent yourself.

What’s in it?

My future box would hold:

A letter to myself telling me not to worry about my kids' future, because they all turn out to be great adults enjoying their lives, so relax and just enjoy every minute spent with them. There are even pictures of their beautiful families.

News clippings of a disaster that occurs in 2020, with a list of names of people I should attempt to save and instructions on how to save them.  A pink Post-It-Note is stuck to that pile, in big black Sharpie marker it says, "Don't trust Robert Terrance, may be involved." 

Another letter telling me that my future self wanted to put in various other pictures and items like a completed copy of my bestselling novel, but "future me" thought I needed the whole long and agonizing journey of 10 drafts and decided instead to simply tell me, "KEEP WRITING, remember it's the journey that counts!"   

"Argghh", I curse "future me", but get back to my computer and take up editing with a renewed energy.   

What would be in your box?

*****

FROM THE ASHES BLOGFEST

Jess, over at Write Skate Dream, is announcing the blogfest to celebrate the launch of her debut novel, From the Ashes.  Here are all the details:  

1. Sign up on the linky list below
2. Grab the blogfest button above
3. On Friday, March 8th, tell us about a time when you or your character was thrown into a trial by fire situation. What biggest fears did you or your character have to face? What sort of situation would test you to the fullest?
4. Post the pre-written info I will send you by email with the cover and a few more details about From the Ashes

(If you only feel like doing #4 that's fine, too :)

If you can't make the blogfest, that's okay. If you'd be willing to help me spread the word with an interview on your blog, that would be perfect! (You can email me at jessicamckendry@icloud.com) Or you could just help me announce that I'm actually published now.

From the Ashes Cover Reveal

Today I'm participating in the cover release blogfest for Jess's book, From the Ashes, that will be coming out sometime in February.

I'm not sure how it all went wrong.

The concept was simple.

The Trials were made to test us. They were made to challenge our strengths; our bravery.

We were supposed to come out better.

Winning the Trials would make us Superior citizens.

It would bring us honor and demonstrate our loyalty to the Imperial Alliance. I knew exactly what I wanted.

Until I met him.

There was something about him. Something dark. If only I had known the danger it would put us in.

I thought I knew the risks.

But I never imagined the price we'd pay.

***

An insightful look at the good and bad that exist within us, McKendry's debut is a high-octane adventure that pushes the imagination to the limit as it lays bare the nature of self-reliance, self-confidence, and teamwork. Playing with the concepts of dark and light and how they affect our lives in multiple forms, her novel is a complex coming of age story that encapsulates the heroine's journey from student to leader. A dark tale of love and revenge, From the Ashes is a powerful reminder to think for yourself instead of blindly following what you've been taught to believe.

*****

I'm overjoyed for Jess!  She has worked so hard to get this far.  And being her mom I'm immensely proud of her.  There were plenty of times where we had to tell her, "Hey stop working, come over and watch a movie with us!"  She would grudgingly shut down her computer and sit with us.  Then as soon as the movie was over, she'd get right back to work.  

That's dedication... and she loved every minute of it.

What do you guys think of the cover?  Does it grab your attention?  

Kathy :)     

Novel Planning

Jess, has been telling me that I need to make a timeline for my YA fantasy novel.  I resisted for a while, because I wanted to dig in and finish my first round of edits.

But as I got further into my editing, I realized, maybe she was right.  In order to keep everyone's back stories straight, I had to have one document which tracked each person's history.  It's kind of a huge project because in this world I'm creating, there have been some major historical events that occur almost 300 years earlier which impact the main characters.

I mapped out on paper about 12 generations of 5 different families. Now I have to type them in to the spreadsheet organized by year and add little notes to flesh out each important date.    

Even though I'm creating these historical figures' lives I don't feel like I'm actually writing...which is frustrating.  But I've already had a couple instances where I've made big breakthroughs in understanding my characters' personalities by looking into their past.  So for now I'm going to keep plodding through the genealogical charts of my MCs and hopefully it will make my story stronger.         

Do you make any charts or plans to help you smooth out the rough edges in your first drafts or do you just go for it?

Have a great week!

And don't forget to head on over to Jess's blog, she has something special today.

Kathy :)