Keira Gillett Author

Fierce Middle Grade Fantasy Reads

Enchanted Drakeland Sword

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

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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.

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

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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?

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

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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.

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

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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.

8 Facts about Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword

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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.

Recap of Queens, Corona, NYC Library Visit!

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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: