Fierce Middle Grade Fantasy Reads
A little while ago I shared Eoghan Kerrigan’s Zaria Fierce. Here she is again, but this time with her nemesis Olaf, the river-troll. Just what is he after?
Isn’t Eoghan’s work stunning? I love it!
To learn more about Eoghan Kerrigan, check out his Facebook page, Deviant Art Profile, and his blog, Under the Bridge.
A: Probably wherever the story gets really clever. For instance, two moments that stick out to me in book one are when Zaria and her friends are imprisoned in Trolgar and what happens when Zaria, Olaf, and the Wild Hunt are on the scene for the delivery of the quest object. In the first, I had to answer how do they escape? It came by realizing how the room was already described. The solution was right there! For the second moment, I always knew there had to be a reason the mountain-trolls and the river-troll didn’t get along but would keep their distance. It couldn’t be just magic. I was reading the news when the idea of politics came to me as the solution. Sometimes the answer is in your face, you simply must step back and give your work a little space. Writer’s block to me is the inability to see the forest for the trees or the trees for the forest. Some space and a fresh look can make the big and small pictures appear.
A: For Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest I was about halfway through the first draft when it became clear to me I needed to utilize a timeline. I stopped writing immediately and opened a new document and then I read from the beginning. I sorted out the days and events I had already done and then kept the document handy for future events. That time I hadn’t made a mistake, but I could have, and it became a real time-saver later.
I love fan art so when Michele Carpenter, the narrator for Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest, told me that she created a few pieces I was super excited. I present to you for your viewing pleasure a drawing of Zaria Fierce and the river-troll, Olaf.
I don’t know about you, but Olaf is adorable and I would love him as a stuffed animal. 🙂
Earlier this week, I shared how I found Eoghan Kerrigan, the talented illustrator of Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest. Below is his illustration of our plucky heroine, Zaria Fierce.
Isn’t she gorgeous? I love her!
To learn more about Eoghan Kerrigan, check out his Facebook page, Deviant Art Profile, and his blog, Under the Bridge.
A: I was looking for troll art on Google Image Search. It started with John Bauer and then I thought I saw someone emulate his style on Deviant Art.
When I got to Deviant Art I did not find the piece that I remembered, but I did find a few artists that I liked better with their own drawing styles. From there, I scoured multiple profile pages, Etsy accounts, blogs, personal websites, Facebook, and more to learn more about these artists and their work.
Then I reached out to the few I liked best to see if they were open about commission work. Of the artists I reached out to I really hoped Eoghan Kerrigan would be interested in working with me. He was! And I am so thrilled with every sketch he’s shared with me. It’s so much fun to see the book come alive. I am truly grateful to have such a talented artist illustrate my book.
To learn more about Eoghan Kerrigan, check out his Facebook page, Deviant Art Profile, and his blog, Under the Bridge.
Check out his illustrations of Zaria and Zaria and Olaf for the book.
A: I’m not usually a big quote person. There are quotes that I love from many sources, especially books which make a book memorable for me. But, I think you’re looking to know if I live by any of these quotes. So, in that vein, a Chinese fortune cookie was my daily motivation to keep going on Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest. It said, “You should be able to undertake and complete anything.”
