Fierce Middle Grade Fantasy Reads
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. š
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 [email protected] I would love to hear from you!
Thank you everyone who came out last Saturday for my book reading at the Suntree Viera Library! It was so nice to run into new and longtime fans. Some fun things I got to try out this time was my new table display for my book business cards, my new banner, and my Seriously Fierce scale necklaces. What do you think? Aren’t they fabulous?
If you missed the event, here’s a recap and rewind. You can watch my reading of chapter two from the book here:
Audience: Do you work with Eoghan Kerrigan, as if he was like a police artist, so that this is actually what you’re imagining when you’re writing?
Me: I wouldn’t say he works like he’s a police artist. He doesn’t pick my brain to quite that extent. He gets documents (and the book itself) that have all the characters pulled out so that he has their descriptions. For the especially important characters, we do a series of mock-ups, and I pick the ones that feel more like my character. In that way we do what you’re talking about.
So if it’s a hooked nose, or a sharp pointed nose… he knows the details of how they’re described. He’ll take the information and interpret it. It’s as fun for me to see how what I’m saying from my mind and how I’m picturing it to how he interprets it. Some of them are really close, and some are so much better than how I pictured. They’re fabulous and I love working with him.
Audience: Good, good, because when you’re reading you’re always picturing in your mind, and if you got the illustrations as a visual clue for what they look like, instead of us going off on a tangent. It’s nice to know what they look like.
Me: What’s also fun that gives you another dimension of how the characters look is if you hear the audio book and how Michele’s does it, because she interprets how the voices are going to sound. In this book, there’s a bunch of trolls, and she has to go back and remember how the returning trolls sound. They were described as having voices, deep, and guttural, and grumbling, and so she has a variety of voices.
Now we have teenage trolls this time, who are all about the same age as the kids. There’s older trolls, conniving trolls, silly trolls, so they all have a variety of sounds and when she whips them out one right after the other, “I’m like how do you do that?” because it’s hard enough for me to do even Nori’s voice, and she’s not a troll, but a high pitched female.
Audience: So you have to remember which voice you’re doing?
Me: Yes, but she does a fabulous job with them and I feel it gives you a different dimension to how you picture the characters too. If a troll talks like this (deep) you’re going to picture him very (muscular) versus talking like this “Hello” (higher pitched). She also does the brownie voices and they get very squeaky, so you kind of get an idea of height and breadth simply based on how she does the voices. It’s really cool actually.
Audience: Who is Svein?
Me: He’s… well, I don’t want to say a throwaway character, because you never know when someone comes back, but he’s a character who’s just hanging around by the airport, when the kids go up and fly, and he knew Geirr. So he’s kind of like a copilot and tour guide. He’s like the older representative to convey to the inspectors and everybody at the scene after the crash that Geirr is an excellent pilot and knows what he’s doing. He’s there to be a witness to say that the plane didn’t crash because Geirr is a bad pilot, but to say the plane crashed because of something else, which is important because otherwise poor Geirr might never fly again.
I’ll wrap up by saying thank you again to everyone for making it out to see me. I had a blast!
Hi Fiercelings! I’m over at Brenda’s blog, Log Cabin Library, dishing on my writing and Aleks’ first adventure as the MC in the Zaria Fierce Series. Here’s a sneak peek of what I revealed in the post:
Grandmothers: Hearing Michele narrate for Grizzle, I realized I really do love my grandmother figures in the series and have only one grandfather mentioned, and so far heās been off-page, this is probably because I was super close to my own grandma. I didnāt really know my grandfathers, who passed away before I really was of age to remember them. In the series, we now have Ava, whoās hip and cool; Granny whoās sugary sweet and absent-minded; the witch in the woods, whoās a bit crazy, but sly as a fox; and Grizzle, whoās tough as nails so donāt cross her.
Earlier Brenda wrote an amazing review of Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well. Below is a quote from her review, and if you follow this link you can read it in full.
There’s just something so comforting about returning to Zaria and the gang, while also learning more about Aleks’ story. Gillett’s books always include plenty of action and I love the adventures that the gang has across Norway as they try to prevent Fritjof’s escape. I’m very curious about what the future has in store for Aleks.
Thanks so much, Brenda for your kind words and having me back on your blog! Be sure to head over and read my guest post revealing fun facts about the books because at the bottom is a chance for a fun giveaway. Ends 8/20/2017. Good luck!
Today I am over at Ner’s blog, A Cup of Coffee and a Book, sharing behind the scenes information and looks into the writing process of the third book in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy. I hope you’ll join me and tell me what you think. š
Ner has reviewed book three already and she has said some absolutely wonderful things. Here’s a small quote from her review:
One of the most important themes in Keira’s books is friendship and I always marvel at how beautiful she describes Zaria and her group of friends. They always support each other and are always there for whatever comes their way and never once falter to protect the other. They develop in such a slow and fluid way you basically see these characters grow since book one and see their friendship becoming tighter. And Zaria was perhaps the one that grew up the most since the first book. After learning the truth about her birth parents, realising how important her role is in saving the world, she could just turn her backs and leave ā or letting it all go to her head ā but she stays and fights till the end though not without doubting herself. Sheās brave and courageous and I will miss her. Well, I will miss all of them to be honest.
Thanks for reading!
I saw this prompt go around the blogosphere and wanted to join in the fun. Here are some random facts about me that you might enjoy:
So what did you think? Are we “twins” in any way? š
A: When you finish reading book three in the trilogy you will see the same possibility for the story to continue as I did. So that said, get excited! I’ve started writing the fourth book in the series. To get a sneak peek of it you can go to its book page. Let me know what you think. Are you as thrilled as I am for a continuance?
A: All of them. Iāll 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 itās 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?
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 thatās why they ring so true to readers. Weāve 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.
A: Iāve always known.
Before Zariaās 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.
Q: How did you come up with the title of Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword?
Iāve said before that Zaria Fierce went through different plot ideas before she and I settled on the story arc we have today. (Yes, I do believe Zaria helped shape her story.) She was very stubborn and didnāt want to be in a Beauty and the Beast retelling or go to the Drakeland Institute for the Elite with other misfit fairy tale creatures. I kept all the original world-building documents on these ideas and as you can see Drakeland was a name I kept.
The title for the school plot line would have been Zaria Fierce and the Enchantment of the Drakeland Sword and with a small tweak it became the title for this book. I did for a brief time consider Zaria Fierce and the Acquisition of the Drakeland Sword, but that was a bit of a mouthful. I also considered just before publishing book one changing the title for book two to Drakelord Sword, but the connotation was different than I wanted and would have required changing Drakeland to Drakelord everywhere it was mentioned.
Q: Was the second book easier to write than the first book?
Yes and no. Yes, because a lot of the world, characters, and story arc had been defined in the first book. No, because I wanted to ensure the second book counted as much as the first and third in the trilogy. As a reader and blogger, I know a lot of trilogies and series fail to be as gripping in the second book as the first. I didnāt want the second book to fail readersā expectations. Iām happy to say that if the reactions from my beta readers are any indication, then Zaria Fierce and the Enchanted Drakeland Sword is as good if not better than the first book.
Q: Where do your ideas come from?
I get them from everywhere! I save online articles about things that intrigue me, I follow tourism accounts on social media for settings I liked to place a story in, I research and dive into things various topics, and READING! Itās kind of like the rule of the internet ā if you can think of it and canāt find it, make itā¦ or in this case write it.
Q: Who has been your favorite character to write and why?
For the Zaria Fierce trilogy itās Zaria of course. She came into being long before her story arc came to me. Itās been such a pleasure to go on this journey all over magical Norway with her. I think her message is special and important. Girls can be the heroines of their own stories and lives. It doesnāt mean you have to be alone and it doesnāt mean you have to be brave from the start. Itās about finding out that growing up happens when you take risks and when you keep true to yourself.
Q: Why did you decide to write?
I love reading and Iāve always been creative and had an outlet for that creativity. You could say it started in elementary school writing tons of little illustrated books, then in high school and college I focused on writing poetry, and then I turned to writing fanfic about my favorite storiesā¦ and then eventually my own stories. That was a pretty interesting leap for me and a difficult one, not because I couldnāt write, but because I was always second guessing the story ideas. In that way, Zaria Fierce has given me the courage I spoke about in the last question. It’s been thrilling to present my writing to the world.
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 couldnāt remember what Iād 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 Iād written. When I got to where I had stopped writing I still couldnāt 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 didnāt 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 eventsā¦ and the ones for book three.
I told you, I was both a plotter and a pantser. It takes both to create something magical.
A: A lot of things inspire me. When writing Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest for instance I was inspired by John Bauerās art, a pair of troll statues from Slovakia, a recent trip to Europe, a conversation with coworkers, several grammar blogs, and a previous start for the book which perfectly described the main character.
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