Keira Gillett Author

Fierce Middle Grade Fantasy Reads

on writing

Becoming an Author Changes How You Read Books

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When I completed the first book in the Zaria Fierce Trilogy I noticed something odd. I was reading differently. I know it’s a bold statement to say writing a book changes how you read books. But is the concept really all that farfetched, or is it all too obvious? I’ll let you decide.

Before writing Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest, paying attention to how I read was not anything I thought to analyze. I simply read and enjoyed. Even while writing Zaria’s first adventures to Norway, it wasn’t something on my radar, but I noticed while editing and readying the book for publication that my reading habits had changed. I wasn’t just a reader anymore, simply reading to enjoy a book, I was an author, too. I was reading books and dissecting what other authors did.

Now, that I’ve published my first trilogy set out into the world, I notice the changes in how I read even more. Witty turns of phrases catch my attention like landmarks on a road trip. I always loved a clever phrase as a reader, but as an author I am admiring the craft and skill involved, how easily it slid into place and flowed with the rest of the text.

I marvel at how sentences are engineered. For instance from a newspaper article came, “his words popped sporadically like popcorn.” What a clear visual and sound impression. I can hear it and see it – a little man jumping around to emphasize thoughts as they came to him.

Another thing I do is question word choices describing actions. Can someone’s gaze climb over someone’s appearance? Certainly the movement is clear, but eyes don’t have limbs to climb with, so does it work? And if for instance would the word traveled be better? Can a gaze travel over someone’s appearance? If it is better, why is it better? The gaze still doesn’t have limbs… but it can move, by changing where it’s looking.

I especially appreciate correct words in a story instead of their mistaken counterparts like compliment vs complement and homed in on vs honed in on. (Not that I didn’t appreciate them before, but now I feel more sympathetic toward malapropisms in text. I hated finding those in my own writing. They creep up far too often, and an author can’t claim distractions or interruptions for all of them! Though we will try.)

I read a lot of grammar blogs. More and more as the time passes. I want to stay sharp, learn new tricks, catch errors that might be missed, and hopefully polish my writing with their nuggets of wisdom. So yes, I still enjoy the story, and I might think about all the same things other readers or authors might when reading. But, I’m now analyzing how the words got on the page and learning wisdom on how to write at each author’s feet.

Brushing Off Your Copy Editor Skills

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For fun I read grammar blogs, writing blogs, and copy editing blogs. I know, I’m weird, but I have an excuse – I write! A lot! I learn from these blogs and use my findings to rid my stories of items that sticklers love to stickle.

One example that comes to mind right now focuses on the words poor, pore, and pour. The blogger, who is an editor, talked about why he/she didn’t like self-published books by citing the above set of words as an example on quality writing. The self-published author the blogger focused on had incorrectly used the word poured to indicate a character studying a text. The correct word should be pored.

I filed that tidbit away and when I next opened the draft of my book, I checked for the words. Wouldn’t you know it? I too had used poured wrongly in the context of a sentence. A quick change and now I was good to go. And of course, fixing these errors on your own doesn’t mean you can skip hiring a real editor to edit your work, – which I did when I was finished with my edits, – but it does keep potential errors from escaping detection. If you know it, you should fix it.

What grammatical errors bother you the most when you read?

For me it’s the wrong word in place of the right one, and not necessarily homophones like poured/pored, but the unintentional malapropisms that aren’t spotted and are left in place, where the two words are vastly different and don’t mean the same thing at all. Not even books from big name publishers are 100% free of these errors, but they do occur less frequently due to vigorous editing.

Over to you!

The Oxford Comma – Do You Love It or Hate It?

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Even though it’s a little punctuation mark, the Oxford Comma stirs a lot of debate, and not just from grammarians. The Oxford Comma is a serial comma, or in other words the comma in a list of items denoting the second to last and last items from each other. For example:

Sally and Henry went to the store for eggs, bacon, sausage, milk, and cheese.

In journalism where every character counts, I’ve learned that the Oxford Comma is not generally used. This is because it’s believed that the sentence still makes sense without it. This stance is why some would prefer the above sentence to read:

Sally and Henry went to the store for eggs, bacon, sausage, milk and cheese.

My old boss would disagree, even though he understood the style choice. His background in technical writing put significant importance on the Oxford Comma. In his work, the serial comma was used to clarify instructions and keep everyone working together. It simplified reading, making it easier to know what the writer intended.

I personally love the Oxford Comma. I grew up using it (probably because that’s how my English teachers taught me). I’m on the side of the debate that thinks the comma makes a sentence cleaner, clearer, and polished. See what I did there? One of my beta readers thinks the same as I do. In fact, it’s her favorite punctuation.

I read an article recently about a legal case where the Oxford Comma was up for debate. The case was won because the serial comma wasn’t used in legal documentation for a Maine law on overtime protections for workers, in this case delivery drivers. In fact, according to the article, Maine legislature ignores the Oxford Comma. I wonder if that will soon change.

Who knew grammar could win you a case in court? So let that be a lesson in why you should dot every “I”, cross every “T”, and put a comma after every item in a list.

Over to you – what’s your stance on the Oxford Comma? Is it friend or foe?

Plotting the Perfect Book

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How you arrive at the perfect book as an author depends entirely on your writing perspective. So let’s start with a quiz to figure out your stance on plotting. Answer these truthfully, because there’s no right or wrong answer.

  • I often figure out where a book’s or show’s storyline is going.
    1. True
    2. False
  • I delight in the unexpected.
    1. False
    2. True
  • The perfect book has no loose ends.
    1. True
    2. False
  • Plot holes aren’t the end of the world.
    1. False
    2. True
  • Every detail in a narrative must mean something.
    1. True
    2. False
  • I hate it when a detail is incorrect, didn’t any research get done?
    1. True
    2. False

Mostly 1’s: Congratulations! You’re a plotter!

Mostly 2’s: Congratulations! You’re a pantser!

Equal 1’s and 2’s: Congratulations! You’re both a plotter and a pantser!

So what does your answer mean?

PLOTTER:

If you’re a plotter, you like to have every detail arranged. You’ve done all your research ahead of time and organized all your notes so they’re available at the ready. Your perfect book is flawlessly arranged from beginning to end and it reads beautifully. Before you even type the first word you know where you’re going and what words will take you there. You’re meticulous and it works to your advantage.

When you plan your books, you should: create lists of characters, settings, and plot with details about how they all relate; sort out all the action and dialogue; do your research first; figure out your characters’ motivation; know the book’s climax; and lay out the storyline across all chapters.

Beware: Your need for perfection, might keep you from starting the book and finishing it. Keep to a writing schedule and a word count goal.

PANTSER:

If you’re a pantser, you go with the flow. Day by day you’re not sure where the characters will take you, but you’re up for the task. You’ll research on the spot as ideas and situations come up. You like how things tend to come together in a serendipitous fashion. Everything works out in the end, and if it doesn’t, you’ll fix it on the next draft. You don’t sweat the small stuff. You know every word is the right word at the time, and can be changed if it turns out it isn’t a perfect fit. Others might see this laissez-faire attitude and think you don’t care, but you care immensely.

When you plan your books, you should: put together idea boards for characters, setting, and plot; keep a notebook filled with any odds and ends that strike your fancy from words you like to doodles you make to research you did; use Post-Its to arrange plot points, if you know them; and look outside yourself for inspiration and ideas, whether it be in magazines and books or museums and art.

Beware: Your ability to overlook a troubling spot in the book, could impact your ability to edit later. Highlight anything you have questions on, so you won’t forget and can address them later.

BOTH:

If you’re a bit of both a plotter and pantser, you combine the best of both types of writing. You plan, but don’t stifle. You go off on tangents, but always bring the story back on point. A loose end can always be addressed in the sequel. You write with purpose, but allow for changes in direction. When you think about writing you try to figure out what works for you and your style.

When you plan your books, you should: mix and match techniques, try something new each time, and keep doing something that worked before for you.

Beware: You can fall down a rabbit-hole of either plotter or pantser techniques if you’re not careful. It’s like fad diets – if it’s not working for you, drop it.

I, myself, fall into the “Both” category. I keep folders organized for each book on my computer. They contain all my research, fragments of scenes that I started, but continued in another direction or removed entirely, and inspiration from drawings, images, videos, etc. I have pretty much compiled a guide to my world that I can access at the drop of a hat with pronunciation guides, maps, character bios, etc. I keep a notebook filled with the finer details about my characters, places, and world. It contains note cards I have received about my books from fans and advertisements I have done to promote the books. It’s my touchstone and my keepsake of this precious journey I’ve gone on.

How about you? Where do you fall? What techniques do you use?

World-Building: Zones in Zaria Fierce

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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!

World-Building One Word at a Time

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I started my writing career as an elementary kid with a penchant for fairies. Young as I was, even back then I was writing a book series in which every book relied on the world-building I had created. I was a bit haphazard in my approach, after all I was a kid, but I took the lessons I learned and funneled them into the next project, and the next, and the next.

These days I write about fantasy adventures set in Norway, following a group of kids as they take on bad guys in their attempt to save the world. Each book builds on the last and adds new dimension to the world I’ve created. Have you ever wondered how to do that yourself? From my experience it takes time and patience, trial and error, research, and a willingness to explore the world as if you were the reader and not the author.

Let me take you through the journey of how Zaria Fierce came to be.

If you’ve followed me for some time, you may have heard the story of how I started the books with my main character, but I had no idea what to do with her. Zaria was an enigma waiting for me to puzzle out. I tried placing her in different places and with different settings, but nothing gelled. It was pretty frustrating because Zaria Fierce had become like a friend to me. She and I were on a journey together, but every start proved to be the wrong move.

Eventually, I had an eureka moment. Zaria and I landed in the middle of Norway. Immediately, the setting felt right to me. Zaria had a home. She didn’t have much else, but she and I had made progress. We were no longer searching in the dark for a place to start her story, we had found it and it was just right, as Goldilocks would say.

Next, came figuring out her antagonist. We had tried several things along the way in our search for the right setting, but nothing had panned out. I didn’t want any of those bad guys. They were too pedestrian. So Zaria and I wrote about going to school and seemingly out of nowhere a bridge appeared and then a troll! It wasn’t out of nowhere though. I have loved Norwegian folklore for a long time – one example of this is that my favorite ride at Epicot was the Norwegian ride when it was Maelstrom. I had a rich background to draw upon and I immediately followed up by reading other folktales.

It’s been a few years and a few books later from those humble beginnings. Zaria and her friends have encountered a lot on their adventures. We have seafaring trolls, giants with whale pods, wyverns that can fly, wyverns that can swim, ellefolken princes who transform, a witch in the woods without a name, and a changeling who wants to be human.

Speaking of that changeling, Aleks Mickelsen is going to be taking on the mantle of storyteller in the next three books. We’ll be seeing the world through his eyes. It’s been so much fun to dive back into the world Zaria and I created together. Aleks’ stories will plumb the depths of the world and bring out new facets. We’ll meet troll kids and befriend new creatures and face new bad guys. I hope you’ll join us on the next Fierce Adventure – Aleks Mickelsen and the Twice-Lost Fairy Well!