Keira Gillett Author

On the Road to Success – Book Marketing Wins

May 30, 2017 By Keira Gillett

This post is part of my goal to document how I got to where I am today as a self-published author. I’m always learning in this self-publishing journey. I’ll share successes and failures, in hopes that it inspires others who are in the midst of similar journeys or starting one. I don’t claim to have all the answers, or to even be right. I’m simply sharing my experiences in an effort to show that success isn’t instant, it’s being willing to try something, to learn from it, and having the guts to try again. It’s about adjustment and growth, and a willingness to fall flat on your face, but to get back up again.

Marketing and promotion isn’t always about advertising and budgets. Away from algorithms and in front of people I’ve had some major wins. Sometimes thinking outside the box (in some cases the box is the computer) is exactly what you need to do. Now, I totally get it. Reaching out for opportunities online is way easier than reaching for opportunities offline. The computer is a safety net. You only have to worry about an e-mail or 140 characters, or whatever. Offline you have to see people face-to-face and risk rejection. You have to call them – most often a cold call where they don’t know you from the next bloke down the street. You might even have to talk aloud about yourself and your books for a long time. Don’t panic. It’s worth the risk. Trust me.

Here are a few things I’ve done that have really helped me in my writing career, and what I call marketing wins. Not every author will have these under their tool belt, so if you can snag them, you’re that much more ahead of the game.

Local Paper: I’ve been listed in local paper for new book releases. This is probably the easiest of the ones to attempt to do because you can generally reach the right person at the newspaper without having to make that phone call or see them face-to-face. The power of e-mail! Be sure to have your press release handy with as much information as possible. You basically want to give them everything they could need at the tip of their fingers.
Local and Out-of-State Book Signings: Author readings and book signings are a great way to get word out about your book and sell a few copies while you’re at it. One hour of reading, holding a Q&A, and signing books (maybe add half an hour more for the signing), plus an hour set-up/tear-down, is well worth it. I generally make enough sales to cover my time and costs. Even if it didn’t, I’d still do book readings because the exposure is fantastic and you can reuse it on the web by filming your sessions. The best part of book signings? I get to take part in the joy of sharing my books with interested and interesting readers and fans. I love meeting kids who are fans of the series. They are adorable and absolutely make my day with their comments and questions. You can check out videos from my book signings here.
Local Television Shows: I’ve been interviewed on a local television show several times. You can see the videos here. This was a unique opportunity that I got to do because I was talking to a local librarian and he had recently been interviewed by the show for an event the library was doing. This is the power of your network! I made a cold call and sent an e-mail. I got a spot on the show and they had me back twice more. How wonderful is that?
Book Business Cards: I’ve purchased book business cards for each novel. I use them when people say something, “You write books? About what?” I whip out a card or set of them (one for each book) and say back, something like, “I write an upper middle grade fantasy series set in modern-day Norway featuring a biracial heroine who’s adopted. Also lots of trolls.” I’m a chatty Kathy and if you sit by me on a plane, train, bus or at the theater, local playhouse, or restaurant, I’ll gladly talk to you about my books. I give extras to my mom and friends so they can leave them around town or pass them along to others they might bump into.
Book Blog Tours: I coordinate a series of reviews and guest posts with the release of my books. Gaining reviews is the toughest aspect. Like the newspaper and any other offline pitch, you should never approach a blogger without knowing their name. It’s common courtesy. Now, I won’t say online pitching is easy. It’s extremely difficult. I’ve pitched over 400 times and my response rate is pretty low, which I totally get. Don’t take it personally if they can’t read your book, just say thanks for considering me, and move on. I used to book blog 24/7 and it takes a huge amount of dedication, effort, and love to read and review books. With that in mind, each blogger who takes a chance on me and my books is priceless and worth their weight in gold. I use quotes from their reviews in the front matter of my books. I try to repay them for their kindnesses with exposure, by doing my best to keep up with what they do across multiple social networks, liking, sharing, and commenting on their posts. To find new bloggers, I ask the ones who took a chance on me if there’s anyone they know who might like my books. I also keep track of everyone I’ve written, so I don’t swamp a blogger unintentionally and become a spammer to them. Book blog tours are all about relationship-building. It takes time and patience.

Authors – what have been some of your book marketing successes? Any tips you’d like to share to help others follow in your footsteps?

Write Ahead of Your Publishing Schedule

May 25, 2017 By Keira Gillett

I’m a huge advocate of writing ahead of your publishing schedule. Whether it is self-imposed, or a deadline set upon you by your publisher, the quicker you can crush that deadline, the better off you’ll be. Getting ahead of the game provides great benefits for you and for your writing, such as freeing up your time and your energies for other tasks and activities. When you’re ahead in your writing, you’re not stressed or pressed for time, and you can step back, think, and make adjustments to the story line. It’s a great position to be in, and you can be right there with me, if you aren’t already.

When I started publishing Zaria Fierce, I cut my timeline short between writing and publishing by two months, because I was so excited to get the book out and become a published author. I wrote the book and published it within a six month time span instead of an eight to 12 month time span, which hampered me in some respects. I wasn’t as prepared for book one or book two as I could have been. This is especially apparent to me from a marketing standpoint. I’m still figuring this whole marketing thing out, so I don’t beat myself up too badly about the abbreviated timeline. And happily, I built back into my timeline those missing months and even more time besides.

So how far along am I? I’m about a one-fifth to one-quarter of the way through the newest story and conclusion to Aleks Mickelsen’s trilogy. No, you didn’t read that wrong. Today, as I am nearing the publication of the fourth book in the Zaria Fierce series, which is the first in Aleks’ trilogy, I’m writing book six. This is fantastic, because I can make changes to book five if something comes to me as I’m writing book six that requires foreshadowing or prior-knowledge from one or more of the characters.

I have done this before with previous books. Something has nearly cropped up in all of my books that requires planting it’s seeds in an earlier one. An example I can give that doesn’t spoil readers (at least for the upcoming books in Aleks’ trilogy) is the time I went and added the term “Golden Kings” to book one due to developments in book two. This type of detail fleshes out a world and gives it more depth, a common history/knowledge/vernacular, and vividness. If you’re not giving yourself the space and time to be able to add these nuggets into your writing, you could potentially miss out on chaining and building really great story-telling elements into your books.

Being as far ahead as I am in my own writing schedule, I am able to research more for future books, and work on my marketing for the books which are already published (something I really need to do!) I can also use this free time to build my newsletter list, write blog posts, or hold a book reading/signing event. I can use the time to plan a vacation or attend a friend’s wedding. The only true thing I have to worry about now is not spoiling for readers what happens next, because I know so much more than they do or will even after the Twice-Lost Fairy Well comes out.

I hope I’ve sold you on my writing style and its benefits. If you want to be in a similar position I have a few tips for you, which will get you there.

3 Things You Can Do Now to Crush Writing the First Draft for Your Current WIP

Set goals like a crazy person. The more writing goals you can set the better. When I set writing goals, I ensure that they chain together, and help motivate me to reach the next goal, and the next, and the next. Each one acts like a springboard to push myself to the next level. I do this by setting word count goals (off-set from 500/1000 to 200/700, so even my non-goals of 500/1000 act like goals). I set chapter goals (big picture items, plotting, pacing, and planning for a certain number of chapters). I set micro goals – e.g. finish the scene. I set macro goals – e.g. link these two areas of the story together. The more goals I have across the various levels the better off I am, because it keeps me constantly moving and writing and before I even know it, I’ve written thousands of words and finished my first draft.
Make writing a habit. Not only should you be setting writing goals to churn out word count, you should be making your writing a long-term habit. Write on a schedule. If you want to write every day, set aside time to do so. If you only want to write Monday through Friday, plan for it. Set aside a place to write and a time. You can even take it a step further by securing the clothes you’ll wear, the food you’ll need, your drink of choice, your writing music playlist, shutting off your phone, unplugging your modem, whatever it is. Minimize interruptions and distractions. Stick to your plans and your butt-in-chair time will equal progress on your current draft.
Do not edit. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Do not waste time editing now. Don’t look up stuff now. This time is for writing the book. Got a question? Can’t remember a character’s hair color? Don’t know who did what or said what in what scene from before? Write down what you think you know. Highlight it. When you come back for your second draft, do the research then. It’s not worth losing a train of thought to fix something immediately that you can fix later. Your train of thought is the most precious thing your book has got going for it. Don’t screw it up by focusing on the nitty gritty. Write. Write. Write. It’s okay to be thin on facts and details as long as you get the ideas out there. You can always edit until your blue in the face later, fixing what you got incorrect and fleshing out sequences that are missing their “potatoes.”

As a self-published author, being ahead of schedule is huge for me. I work hard (and play hard) to get the first draft out. Afterward, because I have built-in time, I can set aside the draft, instead of racing into editing. I can wait on notes from beta readers and trusted persons, to learn what worked and what didn’t. And while I wait for those notes, I can start the next book. See? Always chaining those goals together even across WIPs.

I hope these writing tips have helped you, and fired you up to tackle your WIP. Good luck my friend and happy writing!

On the Road to Success – Book Marketing Fails

May 23, 2017 By Keira Gillett

I believe in my books and I believe in myself, so I thought I would try my hand at online marketing. Now it’s been two years since I started my self-publishing adventure, and I can honestly say that I have yet to figure out this whole book marketing thing.

I’ve dabbled, and I should probably concentrate my efforts in one spot, and keep at it until I have a breakthrough, but I keep trying many platforms in hopes of finding something that clicks – either with me or with readers.

I am not yet the master over any of these avenues, and maybe never will be. What successes I’ve had with these platforms has been relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, and on the surface it’s really disheartening. On the other hand, I know every little bit is helping – I’m learning, I am getting a little exposure, etc.

I often wonder if paying someone to do my ads and ad targeting would help me. I bet it would, but I’m a little gun-shy now after so many failed attempts on my own, and reading and seeing many people offer up “magic solutions” to “boost sales.” Whether you’re writing, or marketing, or anything else in life, the “magic bullet” isn’t a cure-all for success.

Facebook Ads

I’ve attempted them multiple times, usually after an author has shared that a key part of their success in sales is attributed to Facebook Ads. I read about what worked for them, and try to adapt it for my books. I create a campaign and I tweak, but so far I haven’t been able to duplicate their success.

Key takeaways: Boosting a post never works, and creating an ad sort of works. It might work better if I knew what interests to target. As a middle grade/young adult author, I want kids and adults to read and enjoy my books. Adults are the gatekeepers, and the ones with money. So how to reach them? How to get them interested? I have tried to maximize the number of people who’d see the ad by focusing on broader interests, and I have tried to target a key group of people by narrowing my targeted interests to specifics. Results in both cases are blah and Facebook loves to say it’ll reach a certain number of people and never come close to their own numbers, but hey I can boost and add more money to the campaign to reach the original number of readers they had told me I would!

One day in the recent past, I myself was a target of a Facebook ad (aren’t we all?), but this one in particular caught my eye. I had seen a lot of Kindle Unlimited ads, but this was more specific. It was for a totally free book. I used the button to the right of the ad to see why I was targeted and thought I could perhaps replicate that. So I created a graphic and targeted people interested in free ebooks/Kindle books, with an added focus of children’s literature. Result? My share to my Facebook friends resulted in an organic reach equal to the paid reach. Bust. (And yes, my book was actually free during the promotion.) No visible uptick in sales; sales stayed about the same as the previous free book promotion I had run.

One thing I haven’t tried, but will try, will be for my next local book reading. I plan to create an event on my page and then promote the event, targeting a radius around the event location. I will let you know if that works or not.

Amazon Ads

Who better to sell a Kindle book to someone shopping on Amazon or reading their Kindle than Amazon? Sounds like a marvelous idea! Results – meager would be stretching it.

Key takeaways: These ads don’t work nearly as well as I thought they would. Again the fault could be with me, but I haven’t really heard of an author using the Amazon ad network and gaining a lot of sales. It’s probably been done. I’ll have to try again after more research. My attempts weren’t that stellar, and it’s costlier to promote on Amazon than on Facebook. I also attempted once to advertise during a free book promotion. As far as I can tell I didn’t get any more sales with the Amazon promotion than I would if I had left it alone. At the moment, I’m more inclined to keep trying with Facebook, so I’ll focus my efforts there.

What has Worked

I saw a big boost in sales when I pitched to websites promoting free books to their subscriber lists. It took a little legwork, but it wasn’t difficult to do. I need to try a few of these again, especially the ones that turned me down the first time, like Bookbub, and to research around and find others to pitch. I had a very good experience with Reading Deals. I will reach out to them again when I am ready to do another round of free book promotion.

Last thing of note: My advice with any free/discounted book sales, no matter the marketing around it, keep them short, because the majority of your sales happen in the first two days and sharply, dramatically fizzle out after those two days.

As an author do you have any favorite promotional websites? How have you used Facebook to reach potential readers? What have been your biggest successes and fails in book marketing?

Good Gracious! Are Those Actual Parents?

May 16, 2017 By Keira Gillett

When writing Zaria Fierce I made the conscious decision to go against the typical relationships found in middle grade and young adult novels between parents or guardians, and the kids in their care. Absent/neglectful/cruel adults make it easier to send kids on adventures in books, but I wanted to see a bond between parents and their progeny that drew from my siblings’ and mine experiences in my family growing up.

So Zaria is adopted, an only child, has lovely parents, and is well adjusted. Queue the *horror.*

What will you write about without all that teen drama?!?!? Wait! Adopted?

Adoptive parents can be absolutely wonderful people. They’re not all mean. Just like step-parents aren’t all nasty despite the rampant evil stepmothers throughout fairy tales and literature… or aunts, uncles, grandparents, foster parents, and other guardians… take your pick. Fictional kids can be like real kids and come from happy homes. I wanted my heroine to experience the same.

As for the relationships, I modeled Merry Fierce and Zaria’s relationship off of my relationship with my mom. Mom Gillett is a cool mom if I do say so myself. If I wanted to play hooky, she’d play hooky with me. If I wanted to be checked out for a lunch date, we’d do that. If I wanted to desperately attend a midnight premiere for Harry Potter while on a family road trip she somehow made it work. In high school, she let my best friend stay with us while her dad was out of the country. We traveled the world together and are the best of friends. (Love you mom!)

When it came time to write, I poured that love into Merry’s and Zaria’s relationship.

And I don’t stop there.

Colonel Fierce is hard-working, attentive, loving, strict, and obliging.
Emma Johansen (Christoffer’s mum) is kind, concerned, intelligent, and loving.
Samuel and Naia Mickelsen (Aleks’ parents) are attentive, supportive, and kind.
Aleks also has a good relationship with his grandparents. Ava on one side and Remigus on the other.
Mrs. Storstrand (Filip’s mom) is strict, fair, and loving.

The adults are all good people and yet the kids still get to go on adventures all over Norway to reach Gloomwood Forest. See parents don’t ruin all the fun! So how do the kids do it? Aha! Good question. Discover the answer in Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest. It has to do with a mysterious egg-shaped object.

What other books have you read where the adults are good people and have good relationships with their kids or wards?

The Great Debate – Vocabulary in Books for Kids

May 11, 2017 By Keira Gillett

When I wrote the first draft Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest I didn’t think about the vocabulary I was using. It wasn’t until the first round of beta readers got a hold of the novel that I started to question word choices because they questioned word choices.

Do I dumb down? Do I elevate? What’s the middle ground? Is there a middle ground?

You read online, and everywhere you look there’s warnings this way and that way about doing one or the other. Too verbose and it’ll turn kids off. Too dumbed down and it’ll bore them. You can’t please everybody. So what to do?

I thought back to my own experience.

I’ve always been a reader. In high school I took the SAT’s twice. My first verbal score early on in my high school career was around the middle range. I took it again my senior year, where I only studied for the math section, but got a much higher verbal score. I credit the very high verbal score from that round of testing to the sole fact that I was a voracious reader, and that I was reading both kid books and adult books. Books have to build vocabulary and establish a common vernacular to make such a positive change in test scores.

I looked to children’s movies that I loved. Disney loves to turn out verbal comedy. For example, the use of the phrase ‘your lugubriousness’ when one of the imps in Hercules addresses Hades. Adults might think this word play is just for them, because they have the vocabulary to understand, but I think it makes an impact on kids, too. Kids are smarter than adults will sometimes give them credit for.

I read a few blogs in the book blogger community which discussed vocabulary in their favorite books as kids. Some were surprised to find during rereads that the books contained really big words. This spurred me to check too. I looked at how some of my favorite children’s authors wrote and saw that the bloggers were right. The books did contain big words. What a relief!

I also knew a large chunk of readers would probably access my book on an e-reading device with a built-in dictionary. I was confident that vocabulary would be a minor footnote. A word should never get in the way of the story, but an author should never forget that a story is comprised of words. There’s no need to be fearful of using the words you know.

This is why I left the most of the words which were questioned alone, and changed out only a few for better words. Changing this word for that word came down to clarity for the reader, and/or poetically what was right for the story.

When it comes to my current writing projects, I start in much the same way as I did for that very first book. I just write. The first draft is its own animal, which is wrestled into submission. Editing is the right time for me to debate on word-choice. It’s where the magic happens!
Where do you fall on the great debate? Where should vocabulary stand when it comes to storytelling?

Becoming an Author Changes How You Read Books

May 9, 2017 By Keira Gillett

When I completed the first book in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy I noticed something odd. I was reading differently. I know it’s a bold statement to say writing a book changes how you read books. But is the concept really all that farfetched, or is it all too obvious? I’ll let you decide.

Before writing Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest, paying attention to how I read was not anything I thought to analyze. I simply read and enjoyed. Even while writing Zaria’s first adventures to Norway, it wasn’t something on my radar, but I noticed while editing and readying the book for publication that my reading habits had changed. I wasn’t just a reader anymore, simply reading to enjoy a book, I was an author, too. I was reading books and dissecting what other authors did.

Now, that I’ve published my first trilogy set out into the world, I notice the changes in how I read even more. Witty turns of phrases catch my attention like landmarks on a road trip. I always loved a clever phrase as a reader, but as an author I am admiring the craft and skill involved, how easily it slid into place and flowed with the rest of the text.

I marvel at how sentences are engineered. For instance from a newspaper article came, “his words popped sporadically like popcorn.” What a clear visual and sound impression. I can hear it and see it – a little man jumping around to emphasize thoughts as they came to him.

Another thing I do is question word choices describing actions. Can someone’s gaze climb over someone’s appearance? Certainly the movement is clear, but eyes don’t have limbs to climb with, so does it work? And if for instance would the word traveled be better? Can a gaze travel over someone’s appearance? If it is better, why is it better? The gaze still doesn’t have limbs… but it can move, by changing where it’s looking.

I especially appreciate correct words in a story instead of their mistaken counterparts like compliment vs complement and homed in on vs honed in on. (Not that I didn’t appreciate them before, but now I feel more sympathetic toward malapropisms in text. I hated finding those in my own writing. They creep up far too often, and an author can’t claim distractions or interruptions for all of them! Though we will try.)

I read a lot of grammar blogs. More and more as the time passes. I want to stay sharp, learn new tricks, catch errors that might be missed, and hopefully polish my writing with their nuggets of wisdom. So yes, I still enjoy the story, and I might think about all the same things other readers or authors might when reading. But, I’m now analyzing how the words got on the page and learning wisdom on how to write at each author’s feet.

Brushing Off Your Copy Editor Skills

May 4, 2017 By Keira Gillett

For fun I read grammar blogs, writing blogs, and copy editing blogs. I know, I’m weird, but I have an excuse – I write! A lot! I learn from these blogs and use my findings to rid my stories of items that sticklers love to stickle.

One example that comes to mind right now focuses on the words poor, pore, and pour. The blogger, who is an editor, talked about why he/she didn’t like self-published books by citing the above set of words as an example on quality writing. The self-published author the blogger focused on had incorrectly used the word poured to indicate a character studying a text. The correct word should be pored.

I filed that tidbit away and when I next opened the draft of my book, I checked for the words. Wouldn’t you know it? I too had used poured wrongly in the context of a sentence. A quick change and now I was good to go. And of course, fixing these errors on your own doesn’t mean you can skip hiring a real editor to edit your work, – which I did when I was finished with my edits, – but it does keep potential errors from escaping detection. If you know it, you should fix it.

What grammatical errors bother you the most when you read?

For me it’s the wrong word in place of the right one, and not necessarily homophones like poured/pored, but the unintentional malapropisms that aren’t spotted and are left in place, where the two words are vastly different and don’t mean the same thing at all. Not even books from big name publishers are 100% free of these errors, but they do occur less frequently due to vigorous editing.

Over to you!

The Oxford Comma – Do You Love It or Hate It?

May 2, 2017 By Keira Gillett

Even though it’s a little punctuation mark, the Oxford Comma stirs a lot of debate, and not just from grammarians. The Oxford Comma is a serial comma, or in other words the comma in a list of items denoting the second to last and last items from each other. For example:

Sally and Henry went to the store for eggs, bacon, sausage, milk, and cheese.

In journalism where every character counts, I’ve learned that the Oxford Comma is not generally used. This is because it’s believed that the sentence still makes sense without it. This stance is why some would prefer the above sentence to read:

Sally and Henry went to the store for eggs, bacon, sausage, milk and cheese.

My old boss would disagree, even though he understood the style choice. His background in technical writing put significant importance on the Oxford Comma. In his work, the serial comma was used to clarify instructions and keep everyone working together. It simplified reading, making it easier to know what the writer intended.

I personally love the Oxford Comma. I grew up using it (probably because that’s how my English teachers taught me). I’m on the side of the debate that thinks the comma makes a sentence cleaner, clearer, and polished. See what I did there? One of my beta readers thinks the same as I do. In fact, it’s her favorite punctuation.

I read an article recently about a legal case where the Oxford Comma was up for debate. The case was won because the serial comma wasn’t used in legal documentation for a Maine law on overtime protections for workers, in this case delivery drivers. In fact, according to the article, Maine legislature ignores the Oxford Comma. I wonder if that will soon change.

Who knew grammar could win you a case in court? So let that be a lesson in why you should dot every “I”, cross every “T”, and put a comma after every item in a list.

Over to you – what’s your stance on the Oxford Comma? Is it friend or foe?

Plotting the Perfect Book

April 27, 2017 By Keira Gillett

How you arrive at the perfect book as an author depends entirely on your writing perspective. So let’s start with a quiz to figure out your stance on plotting. Answer these truthfully, because there’s no right or wrong answer.

I often figure out where a book’s or show’s storyline is going.
1. True
2. False
I delight in the unexpected.
1. False
2. True
The perfect book has no loose ends.
1. True
2. False
Plot holes aren’t the end of the world.
1. False
2. True
Every detail in a narrative must mean something.
1. True
2. False
I hate it when a detail is incorrect, didn’t any research get done?
1. True
2. False

Mostly 1’s: Congratulations! You’re a plotter!

Mostly 2’s: Congratulations! You’re a pantser!

Equal 1’s and 2’s: Congratulations! You’re both a plotter and a pantser!

So what does your answer mean?

PLOTTER:

If you’re a plotter, you like to have every detail arranged. You’ve done all your research ahead of time and organized all your notes so they’re available at the ready. Your perfect book is flawlessly arranged from beginning to end and it reads beautifully. Before you even type the first word you know where you’re going and what words will take you there. You’re meticulous and it works to your advantage.

When you plan your books, you should: create lists of characters, settings, and plot with details about how they all relate; sort out all the action and dialogue; do your research first; figure out your characters’ motivation; know the book’s climax; and lay out the storyline across all chapters.

Beware: Your need for perfection, might keep you from starting the book and finishing it. Keep to a writing schedule and a word count goal.

PANTSER:

If you’re a pantser, you go with the flow. Day by day you’re not sure where the characters will take you, but you’re up for the task. You’ll research on the spot as ideas and situations come up. You like how things tend to come together in a serendipitous fashion. Everything works out in the end, and if it doesn’t, you’ll fix it on the next draft. You don’t sweat the small stuff. You know every word is the right word at the time, and can be changed if it turns out it isn’t a perfect fit. Others might see this laissez-faire attitude and think you don’t care, but you care immensely.

When you plan your books, you should: put together idea boards for characters, setting, and plot; keep a notebook filled with any odds and ends that strike your fancy from words you like to doodles you make to research you did; use Post-Its to arrange plot points, if you know them; and look outside yourself for inspiration and ideas, whether it be in magazines and books or museums and art.

Beware: Your ability to overlook a troubling spot in the book, could impact your ability to edit later. Highlight anything you have questions on, so you won’t forget and can address them later.

BOTH:

If you’re a bit of both a plotter and pantser, you combine the best of both types of writing. You plan, but don’t stifle. You go off on tangents, but always bring the story back on point. A loose end can always be addressed in the sequel. You write with purpose, but allow for changes in direction. When you think about writing you try to figure out what works for you and your style.

When you plan your books, you should: mix and match techniques, try something new each time, and keep doing something that worked before for you.

Beware: You can fall down a rabbit-hole of either plotter or pantser techniques if you’re not careful. It’s like fad diets – if it’s not working for you, drop it.

I, myself, fall into the “Both” category. I keep folders organized for each book on my computer. They contain all my research, fragments of scenes that I started, but continued in another direction or removed entirely, and inspiration from drawings, images, videos, etc. I have pretty much compiled a guide to my world that I can access at the drop of a hat with pronunciation guides, maps, character bios, etc. I keep a notebook filled with the finer details about my characters, places, and world. It contains note cards I have received about my books from fans and advertisements I have done to promote the books. It’s my touchstone and my keepsake of this precious journey I’ve gone on.

How about you? Where do you fall? What techniques do you use?

World-Building: Zones in Zaria Fierce

April 25, 2017 By Keira Gillett

Jötunheim – Giant-land. The giant’s home is north of Gloomwood Forest. The giants are known for their master craftsmanship, farming, and love of music. Giant artisans make gorgeous furniture in miniature (full-size for humans.) Giants are poor musicians, but they love music and iPads.

Álfheim – Land of elves. The city is built in the trees surrounding a wide glade near Gloomwood Forest. The light there is always silver from the frosted glass architecture of their buildings. The elves domesticated bears, wolves, reindeer, and winter-wyverns. Elves thirst for knowledge and are particularly interested in various sciences. They’re adapting to human technologies but focus most on water and solar energy extraction.

Elleken – Home of the ellefolken. Ellefolken or elk-folk are forest folk who prefer living around alder trees. Some would say they are cousins to the elves and there is much intermarrying between the two groups. The ellefolken live in the midst of Gloomwood Forest. A special place to them is a glade called the Golden Kings. Most of their population is female. There are three males at any time: the king, the heir, and the spare.

Under Realm – Queen Helena’s turf. The realm is a prison, hidden inside a mystical void whose barriers are defined by the roots of the Elleken kings. The dragons of the world have been hunted and entrapped in the realm. The Gjöll river flows between the Under Realm and the real world, spanned by the Gjallarbrú bridge. You will need a special pair of shoes to cross the bridge to enter the realm and you’ll have to find a way to get them off your feet to leave.

Trolgar – Mountain-troll kingdom. Hidden underground between human civilization and Gloomwood Forest lies the kingdom of mountain-trolls. Their king has a deep connection to the mountain and bedrock. He can make the mountain grow stalagmites as tall as buildings. The trolls are very good hunters and lead a Wild Hunt to track down threats to the realm.

Glomma – Olaf’s river. Olaf is a river-troll with an agenda. He controls the Glomma and can demand tribute from all who can cross it. Mountain-trolls vary from river-trolls in appearance and mannerisms. Olaf is a solitary creature whereas the trolls in Trolgar are very social and live in a city. Don’t get on Olaf’s bad side!

World-Building One Word at a Time

April 20, 2017 By Keira Gillett

I started my writing career as an elementary kid with a penchant for fairies. Young as I was, even back then I was writing a book series in which every book relied on the world-building I had created. I was a bit haphazard in my approach, after all I was a kid, but I took the lessons I learned and funneled them into the next project, and the next, and the next.

These days I write about fantasy adventures set in Norway, following a group of kids as they take on bad guys in their attempt to save the world. Each book builds on the last and adds new dimension to the world I’ve created. Have you ever wondered how to do that yourself? From my experience it takes time and patience, trial and error, research, and a willingness to explore the world as if you were the reader and not the author.

Let me take you through the journey of how Zaria Fierce came to be.

If you’ve followed me for some time, you may have heard the story of how I started the books with my main character, but I had no idea what to do with her. Zaria was an enigma waiting for me to puzzle out. I tried placing her in different places and with different settings, but nothing gelled. It was pretty frustrating because Zaria Fierce had become like a friend to me. She and I were on a journey together, but every start proved to be the wrong move.

Eventually, I had an eureka moment. Zaria and I landed in the middle of Norway. Immediately, the setting felt right to me. Zaria had a home. She didn’t have much else, but she and I had made progress. We were no longer searching in the dark for a place to start her story, we had found it and it was just right, as Goldilocks would say.

Next, came figuring out her antagonist. We had tried several things along the way in our search for the right setting, but nothing had panned out. I didn’t want any of those bad guys. They were too pedestrian. So Zaria and I wrote about going to school and seemingly out of nowhere a bridge appeared and then a troll! It wasn’t out of nowhere though. I have loved Norwegian folklore for a long time – one example of this is that my favorite ride at Epicot was the Norwegian ride when it was Maelstrom. I had a rich background to draw upon and I immediately followed up by reading other folktales.

It’s been a few years and a few books later from those humble beginnings. Zaria and her friends have encountered a lot on their adventures. We have seafaring trolls, giants with whale pods, wyverns that can fly, wyverns that can swim, ellefolken princes who transform, a witch in the woods without a name, and a changeling who wants to be human.

Speaking of that changeling, Aleks Mickelsen is going to be taking on the mantle of storyteller in the next three books. We’ll be seeing the world through his eyes. It’s been so much fun to dive back into the world Zaria and I created together. Aleks’ stories will plumb the depths of the world and bring out new facets. We’ll meet troll kids and befriend new creatures and face new bad guys. I hope you’ll join us on the next Fierce Adventure – Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well!

A Rose by Any Other Name is a Cabbage

April 11, 2017 By Keira Gillett

Shakespeare might have said that a rose by any other name smells just as sweet and in normal life this is a truism. However, in the realm of stories a rose is sweet because it is a rose. Words are what an author relies on to convey meaning. This is why naming of characters, places, and things is so important.

Authors agonize over names, searching for the right one, in the same way my college friend loved to take a dozen photos of the same thing in order to choose the perfect one to Photoshop and then share. As my friend would say and many authors too, it’s worth the effort.

Take my stories as an example of how naming is important. Zaria Fierce is here today in all her glory because of her name. I had a small set of parameters when I went to name her. It had to be catchy like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, and other characters we know and love from literature.

It had to mean something. Zaria means princess, which is integral to the storyline. Fierce, because Zaria would be taken through a transformative character arc, where she starts out shy and withdrawn and ends up as a fabulous and fierce heroine.

Many characters in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy benefit from similar attention to detail. Names are evocative and denote a lot on their own and through social context.

Olaf might be to you a happy snowman from Frozen, but to me he is a mean-spirited troll with an agenda to reclaim a river that was once his.

I like to juxtapose preconceived notions of names. I also like to cater to those in the know and find names that feel like other names. These more aspirational names are sprinkled around and the prime example is Floki, a dwarf prince. You can guess from his name that he’s not the kindest of dwarves.

I even choose names that sound like something else we know, like Koll, the first dragon. He’s pitch-black with red scale patterns just like the live coal his name evokes.

Do you have a favorite name in the Zaria Fierce realm? Who do you think is named the best?

(Bonus, do you know what flower I shared with this article? Hint: It’s not a rose.)