Keira Gillett Author

Fierce Middle Grade Fantasy Reads

Zaria Fierce

Zaria Fierce Coloring Pages

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You know what is really exciting? Learning that your book has inspired someone to create fan art!

Michele Carpenter drew these lovely coloring pages based on the first two books in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy and they’re totally fabulous. You don’t have to be young to color them (adult coloring is all the rage!)

To print, click on the image and you will be taken to the full-size drawing.

I would love to see your coloring so be sure to e-mail me if you print these out and color them in. My e-mail is [email protected]

Trapped by Trolls

Zaria sees something in the water

Ellefolken Girl on Ursula

Q: Where did you overcome writer’s block in Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword?

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A: I set aside writing Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword to go over edits for the first book, which took several weeks. When I got back to the second book, I couldn’t remember what I’d been intending to do with the scene I was midway through, or where the story would go next. The idea had been plumb forgotten.

So I had to reread what I’d written. When I got to where I had stopped writing I still couldn’t remember. It felt like the story had stopped and the ideas for the world with it. My previous trick of giving it a day to come to me didn’t work this time. So each day I dabbled at the scene and added pitiful word counts to it. I spent too much time as I added, rewrote, and fleshed out the scene.

I started to wonder if my ending for the third book should be moved up in the timeline and happen in the second. Then I wondered if I did that, what would happen in book three? No es Bueno. I wanted the third book to keep its original ending. What to do?

Eventually, I sat down and pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote down the sequence of events that had already happened in the book. (It was not as detailed as the timeline I wrote for the first book which had a deadline to observe within the story.) Seeing it spelled out that way made it so easy to write down the next sequence of events… and the ones for book three.

I told you, I was both a plotter and a pantser. It takes both to create something magical.

Blog Tour Stop: Setting the Mood with Music

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I’m starting the mood off right on the new blog tour for Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword. Join me at Emily’s blog Midwestern Book Nerd to see how music inspired me as I wrote the second book in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy.

She had great things to say about the book too. It’s a stellar review and you should definitely check it out in full. Thanks Emily!

I really enjoyed getting lost in this book and in this world one more time. It was just so easy to get lost there and to feel like I was also going on these adventures. Loving this book at this age makes me wonder just how much my 13 year old self would love it (and the answer is probably that my 13 year old self would love it a lot, because this is definitely something that I would be all over). I love the relate-ability of the main character and the easy flow to the story. I love that I can get lost in the adventure from page 1. I love that I can look at Zaria and see a positive fictional role model for kids.

Blog Tour Stop: Interview with Michele Carpenter Part 3

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Good morning everyone! Thanks for joining me today. This is part three of three of an interview series with Michele Carpenter, the narrator of Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest. See the previous parts here and here.

Keira (Author): Previously, we talked about your day-to-day routine, but how do you prep for a new project?

Michele Carpenter (Narrator): Mostly, just by enjoying the book–reading it to myself–but there are times when I’ll have a book with so many characters that I have to write them all out on paper and list personality attributes and a little bit of history for each one. That’s where I would write a description of their accent or voice as well. Sometimes I’m inspired to draw pictures of them sometimes (like with Zaria and Olaf) or make up little songs about them, if I feel moved to.

On occasion, I’ll use the spell check function as a way to locate all of the odd words, like fantastical character names or cities and record myself reading them to double check with the author on their pronunciations. If the author wants to give any insights into his/her characters, I always value that as well.

Watching movies and TV series can also be really great research for characters, voices, and the current hip lingo, so I do that, while folding laundry, several nights a week as well.

Keira: You had a lot of strange names, cities, and places in my story, but you handled them admirably. Was there any particular challenge in narrating Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest?

Michele: Zaria’s four guy friends were a challenge, with their various accents and the need to keep them all unique enough to differentiate. I tried to give Aleks an earthier, Irish-Norwegian accent, because of his being a changeling. Filip, had the higher voice and I gave a more British-Norwegian sound to him. Geirr, I tried to make him sound deeper and a bit prone to being whiny. Oh, and Christoffer was Chinese and an outgoing, goofy personality.

Keira: Yes, we changed Christoffer’s voice right at the end of project. He was great before, but now I think he sounds wonderful. His new voice is even more perfect for him. I really love your delivery of his lines in the epilogue. You have great comic timing with your deliveries. I think your performance made the book funnier, sweeter, sadder, etc. Do you do other types of acting? What’s been your most rewarding part to date?

Michele: I’d love to be in a local theatre production, but I’m afraid it would be too much of a sacrifice for the rest of my family right now. The most I get to do is an occasional bit of drama for my church. I drive my children to their rehearsals for their production of Disney Jr. Peter Pan. I’m also helping a bit with a youth drama team at my eldest son’s school. I’m pretty sure that most people who know me aren’t aware that acting is what I do for a living, lol!

My most rewarding stage performance was probably when I played a French Doll in high school. It was fun pretending to be arrogant and speaking with a snooty French accent. I’m nothing like that in real life.

I look forward to where Zaria is going to go, as she comes into her powers and continues to gain confidence.

Keira: Thanks! Me too! I’m having a blast working on book two (which for those interested, I’m about to release it on 11/6/2015.) For acting, what is your dream role?

Michele: If I could be the lead performer in a story about a hero and dragons that would be awesome! Or just narrating a book about dragons—that sort of epic fantasy adventure would be amazing. It sounds like Zaria may end up meeting a dragon or two before her story is all over…

Keira: Oh, she most definitely will. What’s an epic fantasy adventure without one? What projects are you working on now?

Michele: Having just finished narrating Zaria’s exciting adventures to Gloomwood Forest, I’m going to be working on two other really fun stories. One is to be narrated as a young male (my third boy-voice book). It’s a reverse-werewolf adventure, called Keeper of the Wolves. The other is called Letsi’s Labyrinth—in which a young girl has an adventure that I believe involves meeting a fairy or two.

Keira: Ooo, you make me want to go out and grab those books! Until we meet again for the next adventure with Zaria, thank you for all the love and talent you’ve given to her first adventure.

Nautical Inspiration for Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword

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I researched more about Fredrikstad, Norway, with the idea that I might start the second book of the Zaria Fierce Trilogy with Zaria and her friends on a school field trip. In my research, I found out that Fredrikstad was a host port in 2014 for the annual Tall Ships Race organised by Sail Training International. It’s a really cool race used to train young people in sailing. Think about being about to crew on a frigate or pirate ship. Wouldn’t that be fantastic? Zaria and her friends thought so too so I included the Tall Ships Race in Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword. Check out the videos I found about the races last year: