Keira Gillett Author

Fierce Middle Grade Fantasy Reads

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New Coloring Page: Zaria and Helena in the Under Realm

April 26, 2022 By Keira Gillett

Hello Fiercelings!

Check out this new coloring page that I drew. I finally got it scanned and ready for print.

It features Zaria and Helena in Zaria’s bedroom in the Under Realm.

To print, click on the image to view at full size.

Send you’re finished drawings to hello@keiragillett.com. I adore getting fan mail and I would thrill to see them! If you want to create coloring pages, please do! If you create one, send it to me, and I will post. Also any your original fan art.

Many Happy Readings,

Keira

Filed Under: Artwork, Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: coloring pages, Helena, Zaria Fierce

Video Response: Answering Nathan’s Questions about the Zaria Fierce Series

January 21, 2018 By Keira Gillett

Hi my fiercelings!

I got a fun video the other day from Nathan, in which he asked me questions about the Zaria Fierce Series. It’s been a blast to answer them! I hope you enjoy. 😀

P.S. – The dragon names are on page 291 of book 3: Zaria Fierce and the Dragon Keeper’s Golden Shoes.

If you have questions of your own that you’d like to submit, feel free to e-mail them to me at hello@keiragillett.com I would love to hear from you!

Filed Under: Author, Dragon Keeper's Golden Shoes, Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Secret of Gloomwood Forest, Twice-Lost Fairy Well, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: Aleks Mickelsen, author interview, dragons, ellefolken, fan mail, FAQ, Hart, Stag Lord, stargazer, Zaria Fierce

Zaria Fierce Series Crafts – Slime and Kettupeli

July 24, 2017 By Keira Gillett

Hi Everyone,

I’m so excited to share with you these two fabulous book crafts for the Zaria Fierce Series. Today you’ll get learn how to make different colored slime to represent characters from the books, and you’ll learn how to create you’re own Kettupeli board game, which is from the second book in the series.

Slime:

Learn to make colorful slime in this video made by Michele Carpenter, narrator of the Zaria Fierce Series, and her kids. There’s orange slime for Aleks Mickelsen, purple with gold glitter slime for Zaria Fierce, green slime for trolls, and white and silver glitter slime for white ravens.

Ingredients:

  • Face peel mask
  • Lotion
  • Liquid starch
  • Food coloring or acrylic paint
  • Glitter
  • Jars to make and store these slimes

The ratios are loose. Normally Michele and her kids just wing it. It’s best if you mix the glue, food coloring, and other ingredients all together before adding the liquid starch.  Liquid starch should always be last, except before glitter.  Glitter can go in at the end.

Which is your favorite slime? Leave a comment below!

Kettupeli Instructions:

Watch the video for a quick overview of creating the game. You’ll see the finish layout and see how it’s all put together. It’s pretty simple, but a lot of fun!

You’ll need:

  • 52 spools
  • 51 small dowels – it’s important that they fit into the spools
  • 51 small clothespins
  • 51 black seed beads – or tiny puff balls
  • Paint – black, red, blue, green, yellow, and white
  • Hot glue gun
  • Hot glue
  • Recommended to get a box that can fit the spools, but you can also create your Kettupeli board on a piece of wood, or poster board.

All these materials can be found in a craft store or down a craft aisle at a big box store.

Pegs:

  • 30 Black
  • 10 Red
  • 5 Blue
  • 3 Green
  • 2 Yellow
  • 1 White

Instructions on how to play the game can be found within book two of the Zaria Fierce Series, Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword.

Happy crafting! I’d love to see your creations – be sure to e-mail me pictures or tag me on social media!

Filed Under: Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Twice-Lost Fairy Well, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: Aleks Mickelsen, book crafts, craft projects, Zaria Fierce

4 Reasons Every Fiction Author Should Go On Escape Room Adventures

June 1, 2017 By Keira Gillett

Escape room games are a new source of entertainment sweeping the nation and gaining in popularity. I didn’t know much about them, other than my hubby saying the idea for them is based off the Saw franchise. I’m not into horror so I put the idea of doing one on the back burner. I didn’t really think the rooms were all designed for cheap horror thrills, like a haunted house, but I didn’t know what to expect either. It wasn’t until seeing Geek and Sundry’s Escape Room web series that I got super excited. It was the catalyst for me to jump in head first and try one out.

Having now completed two different scenarios (technically escaping only one, and missing the other by a one-to-two minute margin), I fully recommend trying them out for all, and feel that every fiction author should do one to improve their writing, and not just for mystery writers, but for any genre. Here’s how:

  1. Finding Clues: Escape rooms are all about observation. It teaches gamers about what’s worth noticing. When it comes to sprinkling legitimate clues and red herrings, escape rooms are a great way to sort through possible clues in your writing. For instance, if you see a locked door, obviously you want to open it. In a recent room I did, the locked door was a red herring. If you focused too much of your time on opening it, you’d never complete the scenario. What sort of clues can you sprinkle in your writing that draw your characters’ and readers’ attention while also planting the real clues more subtly?
  2. Solving Puzzles: Escape rooms will chain together puzzles. Not in every case, but in enough to be mindful that not everything is one and done. Sometimes clues are doubly important. Solving them takes creative thinking, matching several observations together, deduction, and other skills to put it all together. These will help you as an author, figure out how to get your characters to arrive at the solution, and bring your readers along with you in a way that makes sense and doesn’t feel half-baked.
  3. Teamwork: Escape rooms are not a single person effort. It requires many people, communicating and noodling their way through the scenario. As fun as the Sherlock Holmes archetype is, your main character shouldn’t always be the one with the solution or the observation that leads to winning the day. Sometimes puzzles are unsolvable alone, someone else has part of your puzzle. How can you get your characters involved with other people to find the crucial missing pieces? Do they talk to an authority? A witness? A neighbor?
  4. Immersive: Escape rooms are an experience, as oppose to playing a puzzle game on your computer, which is not immersive. In an escape room there’s sounds, lights, props, sets, and more. Everything you do in one involves your senses. Everything is chosen specifically and with purpose. They draw you in. Your writing should do the same. When you build a scene, start with your theme and go from there. Add your touches to pull in your readers’ imagination. Play to their expectations when creating atmosphere and scenery. Then surprise them. Delight them! Make them want to dig deeper. Your choice in words and storytelling should be evocative.

Escape rooms are a wonderful tool in author’s toolkit, and plus it’s so much fun to do. Your readers will also thrill in solving puzzles, chaining together a series of clues, and completing a set of challenges. Good luck and may you have a great escape! 🙂

Thinking of other books, which feature fun immersive games/challenges, off the top of my head, I enjoyed the Triwizard Tournament from Harry Potter, the 74th and 75th Hunger Games from the trilogy with the same name, the Encyclopedia Brown mysteries, Nancy Drew mysteries, the Testing in the trilogy with the same name, and the Selection in the trilogy with the same name.

In the Zaria Fierce Series there are two such sequences a few books apart. The first in book two involving the fey in Niffleheim. Zaria and her friends must win two of three challenges. The stakes are high and they can’t afford to be outmatched. Now the next trials they’ll face is in a future book, also with the fairies. If you recall from book two, I said fairies love games. You’ll see what I mean when the gang reaches Niffleheim again.

What are your favorite tests/challenges/puzzles/trials/tournaments in books?

Filed Under: Author, Call of the White Raven, Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: Aleks Mickelsen, on writing, Zaria Fierce

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!

Filed Under: Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Secret of Gloomwood Forest, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: ellefolken, elves, giants, on writing, Trolgar, trolls, world-building

Open Mic Night: Reading from Chapter 2 of Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword

February 23, 2017 By Keira Gillett

I got an opportunity to head to a friend’s open mic night that they hosted late last year. Should have posted this earlier. Whoops! It was quite fun. Lots of wonderful individuals stood up to sing, play music, read poetry, and book excerpts. I got to do the last one. Let me know what you think!

Filed Under: Author, Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: author reading, book reading

Blog Tour Stop: 9 Things that Inspired Scenes in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy

August 5, 2016 By Keira Gillett

I’m at Emily’s blog Midwestern Book Nerd sharing 9 things that inspired me to write scenes in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy. I hope you’ll hop over and and take a peek.

Emily wrote a wonderful review for the third book, which you can find here:

Zaria continues to be an excellent example of courage, her group continues to be the best of friends despite every single thing they face, and they all show us the importance in being true to you.

Filed Under: Author, Dragon Keeper's Golden Shoes, Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Secret of Gloomwood Forest, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: blog tour, inspiration

Q: What/who do you think you will miss most when the Zaria Fierce story is done?

June 29, 2016 By Keira Gillett

A: All of them. I’ll miss Zaria for her sweetness, Filip for his protectiveness, Hector for his guidance, Merry for her motherliness, Aleks for his navigational abilities, Geirr for his good-natured pessimism, Christoffer for his wonder, and Olaf for his pirate speech. Mostly, when it’s over I will be proud of them and myself because together we accomplished much and shared a great story. What are you going to miss?

Filed Under: Author, Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: FAQ, favorite character

Q: Did you have any specific people in mind when creating your characters?

June 15, 2016 By Keira Gillett

A: Not particularly, but that said I do base some of the conversations, situations, and reactions characters get into or say on my family. I think that’s why they ring so true to readers. We’ve all had at least one of these experiences.

Oh wait, just as I was about to wrap this question up it occurred to me that yes, it’s been suggested by beta readers who know me in real life that my puppy, Oskar was inspiration for Vingar, a character from the third book. I see a lot of him in parts of Vingar’s character, so you could say Vingar was based on my puppy. The beta reader also said because she saw the connection to Oskar that it was hard for her to see Vingar as a creature you wouldn’t want to be near, to touch, or have brush up against you. Then I showed her Eoghan’s illustration of Vingar. Once she saw that she totally understood. LOL Eoghan’s great at bringing the fantasy creatures in the series alive.

Filed Under: Author, Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: FAQ, Oskar the Elevated

Q: Have you always known how the Zaria Fierce Trilogy would end or has it changed since you first started the trilogy?

May 25, 2016 By Keira Gillett

A: I’ve always known.

Before Zaria’s story could be written I had to find out what her adventures would be, but I always knew her character arc would be the journey from timidity to bravery.

When the story came I knew how book one of the trilogy would end, and how the last book would end. Everything in between was a vague blank white space. I let the story and characters tell me what would happen as I wrote.

Events in book two clued me in on new scenes that would happen in the final book, but the final showdown and its outcome and fallout have always been known.

Filed Under: Author, Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: FAQ

8 Facts about Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword

April 27, 2016 By Keira Gillett

Last time around I did a fun little post that discussed some cool facts about the first book in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy. Today I thought I’d share some facts about the second book. Let’s dive in! Here’s 8 things you might not have known about Zaria Fierce’s second adventures through Norway:

  1. The first draft of Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword was completed in six months on 6/9/2015 for a total of 3 days 2 hours 48 minutes writing time and 41,333 words. It took more four months to complete book two compared with the first book, because multiple rounds of edits were being done on book one to get it ready for publication.
  2. The second draft was completed a month later on 7/11/2015 for a total of 3 days 21 hours 52 minutes writing time and 42,936 words. Polishing, revising, and clarifying.
  3. The final book clocks in at 44,260 words and 4 days 18 hours 26 minutes total writing time. This makes book two 8,060 more words than book one.
  4. It took 1 day 16 hours and 22 minutes to complete the additional drafts and edits.
  5. Narrated, the second book is 5 hours 14 minutes long which is 1 hr and 12 minutes longer than book one.
  6. 16 illustrations – the under drawings are orange, which you’d never guess looking at the final work (the previous book the under drawings were blue). There was a 17th drawing that wasn’t used, featuring a giant.
  7. There were three other possible titles for book two, involving the words Enchantment, Acquisition, and Drakelord.
  8. 2 versions of the prologue exist. The original, which was less focused and only just touched on Zaria’s emotional state, and the current version.

Filed Under: Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: blog tour

Recap of Queens, Corona, NYC Library Visit!

April 16, 2016 By Keira Gillett

I loved meeting Rosemary in person. She’s a phenomenal children’s librarian and book blogger. Her kids absolutely adore her and she’s wonderful with them. I’m so glad I could swing by and do a reading for the Corona Library.

Rosemary did a fabulous wrap-up post about my author visit, so I’ll keep mine brief.

  • I loved being able to talk with the kids prior to the event. Many came in to do homework, but veered over to see what I was up to and to get a closer look at the books. Several great questions were asked during this nearly one-on-one time about the books. One of my favorites that stuck out to me was the question about Olaf and if he was from Frozen. So cute. Alas, no. Olaf in Zaria Fierce is not a snowman and he certainly doesn’t like warm hugs. There were several that were really insightful and showed off the children’s curiosity and interest. I’ll have to get better at remembering these just in case Q&A time is short because of shyness.
  • I forgot my water bottles at the hotel. Yikes! Next time that will be the first thing I remember!
  • I’m happy I packed a dress just in case the weather was nice. Prior to Monday, it was kind of wet and cold, but on the day of the reading the temperatures climbed and it was very nice.
  • The reading went great! I loved how my voices came across. I was more interactive, looking up at the kids and making hand movements. I was very relaxed, which I think comes through. Also, from all the practice, I’m beginning to have some of the dialogue memorized so I can really get into the characters and their voices.

If you’re interested, you can watch Rosemary’s video of the reading:

Filed Under: Enchanted Drakeland Sword, Zaria Fierce Tagged With: author event, author reading, author visit, book event, book reading, book signing

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Christoffer Johansen and the Gyllenhammar FlameDecember 3, 2021
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