Sunday, June 30, 2013

In Pursuit of the Facts with Author Elizabeth Wilder



Author Elizabeth Wilder
Today’s special guest for a FAST FORWARD interview, which focuses on the second novel in a series, is author Elizabeth Wilder. Betty and I first met through the Internet writers group, The Independent Author Network. Her first novel, The Spruce Gum Box, captivated me from the first pages. In my review, I wrote, “Author Elizabeth Egerton Wilder, a born storyteller, has created characters that snap with personality.” As a senior that never gave up on her dream of finding time to write a novel, she launched The Spruce Gum Box on her 72nd birthday. 

Thank you for participating in this interview, Betty, and sharing information about your second novel, Granite Hearts, your research process, and interesting trivia about mason jars gathered in your pursuit of the facts. 

E.E. WILDER: Thank you Gail for including me in your “Fast Forward” interviews. Your questions were probing, causing me to examine my own thought process. It took me a while to work through some areas and in doing so grew to better know my own process. BTW – My muse was most appreciative. 

FAST FORWARD: A story’s protagonist often reflects an author’s personality, or displays characteristics the author has chosen to explore. In your series, the protagonist is “One family, One Journey of early Maine settlers.” Can you please share with us some of the back story that defines your protagonist/family but isn’t included in the published novels? 

E.E. WILDER: Although I can see many traits of people in my life and those of my own in characters in Granite Hearts, I did not start this “journey” with a specific protagonist in mind. I am by nature a curious creature who likes to find the why and how in any new scenario. 


In researching my husband’s family as “pioneers” who helped settle the town of Washburn along the Aroostook River in northern Maine, I found that when they “hacked their way in” through the forest from the coast, many Canadian families were already well established along the river. When visiting the museum housed in the original Wilder home, no one could tell me why the Canadians were there first. So began the five-year process of research to uncover the history and find a way to tell the story of the battle between the US and UK over the boundary of this lucrative lumbering area and the plight of the Micmac Indians being displaced. Thus the story of Jed and Ben evolved to tie the gems of history together. 

In Granite Hearts, the “family” once again was the string, which held together the fascinating history along the Penobscot River. This area was rich in events so the story travelled another 20 years from building Fort Knox, to the Penobscot Indians and their plight, to the underground railroad, to earliest women’s rights. The story continues to the election of Hannibal Hamlin as Lincoln’s first VP, then to the heroics of the Maine 20th under Joshua Chamberlain in the Civil War. What you showed me was that the protagonist(s) in my stories was the nugget of history I wove together by character driven tales of ups and downs, joys and sorrows, and struggles to survive sometimes-cruel situations. 

FAST FORWARD: After writing the first novel in a series, it seems that subsequent novels would flow out fully formed. The author has the basics down: format for the storyline; a feel for the proper number of plot lines and chapters; techniques for creating a charismatic protagonist and supporting characters; secrets to making the antagonist likeable; and guidelines for adding conflict right up to and through the denouement. How has writing become easier for you; and what remains as difficult now as when you wrote the first novel? 

E.E. WILDER: I had to chuckle at the notion of Granite Hearts flowing out fully formed. I feel my writing technique has become more natural to me, it is easier to form a chapter that will lead the reader to the next and it is not as difficult to dig for new or validating information. I guess I truly like my character protagonists so it is not difficult to make them someone you may want to meet. I have never struggled with secrets to make an antagonist likeable. Just the opposite, I enjoy squeezing every bit of despicable out of them. In Granite Hearts, however, the lead antagonist is an inanimate granite fort that provides a living but at the same time proves negative for the family. 

The final outcome is known to me as is the beginning before I start writing. This helps me focus on ways to reach that outcome. As for how writing is easier, I have gained a lot of confidence in my skills – mostly through trial and error, write and rewrite. My need for research is as difficult now as it was with my first novel for I want fact to be fact, and fiction to be fiction. For example, I wanted the youngsters in Granite Hearts to chase fireflies and put them in mason jars. Were there mason jars at that time? Turned out it was still too early for them. Guess I’ll have the next generation chase them. 

FAST FORWARD: Great comment about squeezing every bit of despicable out of your antagonists! To hold a reader’s attention, a series protagonist must continue to grow or change in each novel. In The Spruce Gum Box, the reader is introduced to the Smythe family, Jedediah Smythe and Adelaide Wingate, and their son, Ben. Early in the novel, Jed meets three boys, including Sean “Uncle calls him Trouble.” Without revealing any spoilers, how does Sean Ryan represent family development and change in Book 2? 

E.E. WILDER: Of the three brothers one had left the Indian settlement on the Aroostook and lived a quiet life as a teacher near Bangor on the Penobscot River. Of the two left only Sean would jump at a chance to start anew with his bride in hopes to provide a better life for her and to escape the bigotry still strong within the growing communities along the Aroostook.  He felt his father’s red Irish hair and fair complexion would carry him in a new environment where no one knew his background. They had just started clearing the land for the new fort and he was not afraid of hard work. His nickname of Trouble still held and his obsessive drive to succeed with dreams of becoming a finish stoneworker drove a negative wedge into his part of the Ryan family development.  

FAST FORWARD: A series requires the presence of a continuing main character. Often, however, there is another recurring character. In your novels, the family represents the protagonist. In Granite Hearts, Sean Ryan is the recurring character who continues the family story with his wife, Gert. However, Gert is actually the strong female protagonist who carries the story. What is Gert’s purpose/role within the story and how well does she handle the suspenseful and often life-changing situations that arise? 

E.E. WILDER: I have always considered The Spruce Gum Box a father/son story but was very surprised when Granite Hearts became a mother/sons story.  I’m not sure if Gert would have become so strong if not for the influence of her next door neighbor, Mrs. Hodge. Her late husband was unusual among men of the times for he made sure their home and large farm was deeded to his widow. She was well traveled, well read, a community activist and no nonsense boss of her thriving farm. She and Gert shared a common love of reading and from there a deep friendship developed that would allow Gert to grow as a woman, not merely a wife under the thumb of a demanding husband. Through grit and determination Gert raised her boys and at times a child-like man, her husband. She handled difficult situations with outward bravery and private weeping. When I told my son that Granite Hearts was becoming a story of a strong woman, he replied “Should I be surprised?” 

FAST FORWARD: Researching a new novel takes the author on a journey to many new places, whether through books, movies, newspapers, or physical travel. What did you most enjoy about the research process of your second novel, and where did your research take you? 

E.E. WILDER: Obviously, we made trips to Fort Knox in Prospect, Maine across the Penobscot River from Bucksport to walk the grounds and tunnels. We drove around on one trip and found the spots to place the Ryan and Hodge homes and I took photographs of the terrain, river and roads. We visited museums, read archived newspapers, and chose names from mid 1800’s genealogies. The only books I read were about Joshua Chamberlain and Civil War battles. I have never thought of taking research from movies – I like to discover my own information. In addition I studied antique maps and searched the areas via satellite using MapQuest. I enjoy digging deeper and deeper into bits and pieces on internet search engines. I love finding the occasional surprise that works perfectly to drive the story. 

Where can fans of your novels find you and your books on the Internet? 

Links:






Facebook author site   https://www.facebook.com/eewilder


Blog  LizLogic  http://www.lizlogic.com/


Books through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indie Bound – ordered through your local bookstore.
Kindle versions through Amazon.
Wholesale through Ingram, Baker and Taylor, and publisher direct. Discounts given to qualified book clubs.

 

*****

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Interview with YA Mystery Author Cheryl Linn Martin

FAST FORWARD interviews focus on an author’s second novel in a mystery series. Today’s guest is author Cheryl Linn Martin who sets her Young Adult/Middle Grade novels in the tropical state of Hawaii. One book reviewer says, “Cheryl Martin has a divine gift for writing wholesome fiction for young people."

Author Cheryl Linn Martin

Cheryl grew up in Southern Oregon and earned a BA with honors in Recreation and Park Management from the University of Oregon. After years of working with and teaching kids, she is now writing for Middle Grades. Her childhood love of Nancy Drew sparked a never-ending appreciation for mysteries, and her sun-worshipping spirit led her to the Hawaiian Islands for a year while she attended The University of Hawaii.

Fast Forward: Thank you for participating in this interview, Cheryl. As you know, a story’s protagonist often reflects an author’s personality, or displays characteristics the author has chosen to explore. Your YA series protagonist is Leilani Akamai, of The Hawaiian Island Detective Club. Can you please share with us some of the back story that defines your protagonist but isn’t included in the published novels, and also give a description of Menehunes? 

Cheryl Linn Martin: Leilani Akamai is 13 years old and a bit unsure of herself. I think that’s the way most new teenagers feel! She may appear confident when it comes to investigating and water sports (especially surfing), but she has her doubts. 

She’s very proud of her heritage and loves that she takes after her Hawaiian father. He was involved in law enforcement and hopes to someday follow in his footsteps. She misses him very much. 

Menehunes Missing is about a town event, The Menehune Hunt where statues of Hawaii’s treasured little people are hidden around the area. Participants pay an entry fee to get clues and participate in the hunt as a fundraiser for the schools. The kids of the HIDC decide to participate because they figure they’re pretty good at solving mysteries. Soon they discover that the statues are actually being taken from their hiding places—a new mystery for the HIDC! 

Fast Forward: After writing the first novel in a series, it seems that subsequent novels would flow out fully formed. The author has the basics down: format for the storyline; a feel for the proper number of plot lines and chapters; techniques for creating a charismatic protagonist and supporting characters; secrets to making the antagonist likeable; and guidelines for adding conflict right up to and through the denouement. How has writing become easier for you; and what remains as difficult now as when you wrote the first novel? 

Cheryl Linn Martin: I know the characters fairly well now, which makes writing them much easier, although, like all of us, characters can be full of surprises—no one knows someone totally. My characters do surprise me at times! 

The most difficult part of continuing a series (especially in a mystery) is coming up with new ways of spying on people, getting clues, getting from place to place as they need to and new predicaments for the kids! 

Fast Forward: To hold a reader’s attention, a series protagonist must continue to grow or change in each novel. In Sue Grafton’s ABC series, her protagonist does not age (much), or get married, but she expands her knowledge of the job and discovers family relatives who are woven into the storyline. Without revealing any spoilers, how has your protagonist developed or changed from Book #1? 

Cheryl Linn Martin: In Pineapples in Peril (book one of the HIDC), Leilani does not want her little brother, Kimo, tagging along with her and her friends. But she discovers some wonderful things about him, and even though Kimo will always be her annoying little brother, she realizes by book two, how much help he’s been. He helps with the clues in The Menehune Hunt and is “in training” to become part of the detective club! 

Fast Forward: A series requires the presence of a continuing main character. Often, however, there is another recurring character. The almost infinite pairings of protagonists with guy/girl Fridays or wingmen could claim its own category on Jeopardy. In your series, Cheryl, who are the other members of The Hawaiian Island Detective Club and what are their main roles within the plot of Menehunes Missing? 

Cheryl Linn Martin: Kimo is huge in Menehunes Missing, helping figure out clues and even providing a diversion when the kids need to get to some evidence. Maile and Sam are Leilani’s best friends (since kindergarten sand-box days) and support her in her schemes—diversions, spying, interrogations and stake-outs. When Leilani doubts herself, Maile and Sam come to her rescue in support! 

Fast Forward: Researching a new novel takes the author on a journey to many new places, whether through books, movies, newspapers, or physical travel. What did you most enjoy about the research process of your second novel, Menehunes Missing, and where did your research take you? 

Cheryl Linn Martin: My research involves mostly Hawaiian things—even though I knew about The Menehune, I still did some research to learn more. I also did research on foods, a few Hawaii locations, and casts (Leilani gets her cast removed in this book.) I always do a lot of observing of some very special people in my life to put together some supporting characters—my favorite part of research and developing characters! 

And then there was my trip to Maui to do some research on some of the areas on the island—now that’s fun research!!
 

Where can fans of your novels find you and your books on the Internet? 

Amazon (Pineapples in Peril, Menehunes Missing and for Kindle)

 

Barnes and Noble (Pineapples in Peril and for Nook)


Barnes and Noble (Menehunes Missing)


Order Signed Copies Through Me


Book Three, Ukuleles Undercover, releases on August 6, 2013

 

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Writing The Second Novel (Is it Easier?) with Author Karin Kaufman


 
My special guest today is Karin Kaufman, author of the Anna Denning Mystery series. When I read the synopsis of Karin’s first novel, The Witch Tree, I was immediately hooked on the series because her protagonist is a Genealogist. A mystery story with a genealogy research tie-in is a winning combination for me. In my review of Karin’s first novel, I said, “(Anna Denning) has distinct opinions about what is good, and works diligently to save those susceptible to what she knows is evil.” As we Fast Forward, Anna Denning proves she is as tenacious in the second novel of the Anna Denning Mystery series, Sparrow House.   

Fast Forward: Karin, thank you for participating in this interview and sharing with us information about your latest Anna Denning mystery. A story’s protagonist often reflects an author’s personality, or displays characteristics the author has chosen to explore. Can you please tell us some of the back story that defines your protagonist but isn’t included in the published novels? 
 
 
Karin Kaufman: My protagonist, Anna Denning, is like me in some areas but unlike me in others. As a writer you can’t help but give your lead character some of your own traits—it happens without you thinking about it—but at the same time, you have to make certain that your protagonist is a separate individual, with a personality and background somewhat removed from your own. 

The most important back story in Anna’s life is the death of her husband Sean, who died two years prior to the beginning of the first novel in the series, The Witch Tree. His death rewrote, and continues to rewrite, how she looks at the world. How she sees her friends and their lives, what she thinks about money and work, and how she looks at Gene Westfall, the man she’s learning to love. Most important, Sean’s death almost shattered her faith in God, and she’s still trying to reconstruct that faith. It’s a long, hard process, nothing easy or sugary about it. 

Fast Forward: After writing the first novel in a series, it seems that subsequent novels would flow out fully formed. The author has the basics down: format for the storyline; a feel for the proper number of plot lines and chapters; techniques for creating a charismatic protagonist and supporting characters; secrets to making the antagonist likeable; and guidelines for adding conflict right up to and through the denouement. How has writing become easier for you; and what remains as difficult now as when you wrote the first novel? 

Karin Kaufman: Some things are easier with the second novel in a series. You’ve already got the returning characters down. By the time you’ve finished the first novel, you know them well—and you like them (which I think is important). You know their history, you know what they went through over the course of the first book, and you have a rough idea of where they’re headed. Though the details of how they’re going to get there aren’t so easy. And for me, because I like intricate plots, the story itself can be difficult. I like to keep adding layers to it. But plot aside, writing in general has become easier. I think most writers find that they get better with the basic techniques of writing the more they write. 

Fast Forward: To hold a reader’s attention, a series protagonist must continue to grow or change in each novel. Without revealing any spoilers, how has your protagonist developed or changed from Book #1, The Witch Tree? 
 

Karin Kaufman: The mystery series I like best are ones in which the protagonist (and her or his world) changes. Like real life—only slower. The events of Sparrow House take place in May, about four and a half months after the events of the first book. During those four and a half months, my characters lived their lives. Things happened to them; their worlds changed. 

Anna grew closer to Gene, though as a widow, she’s still finding it difficult to leave her past behind. She takes baby steps toward him, but her love for Sean hasn’t faded, and she’s reluctant to give her whole heart to Gene. That was a deliberate choice on my part, because you just don’t get over the death of a loved one that easily. I’ve always hated TV movies that portray a widow falling in happy, carefree love only a year after the death of her husband. Nonsense. If she really loved her husband, she’ll be conflicted about a new love. Aren’t we all suspicious of people who get married a year after the death of a spouse? And considering how long it takes to get to know someone new, marrying even two years after the death of a spouse can be pushing it for many people. 

Fast Forward: A series requires the presence of a continuing main character. Often, however, there is another recurring character. The almost infinite pairings of main characters with guy/girl Fridays or wingmen could claim its own category on Jeopardy. Is there a recurring secondary character in your series? What is the purpose/role of that character within the plot? 

Karin Kaufman: Anna’s sidekick is definitely her best friend, Liz Halvorsen, who plays a larger role in Sparrow House than she did in The Witch Tree. They’re a great pair. Liz’s skills on the computer, and the contacts she’s developed as a result of running a news website, are invaluable. Anna and Liz butt heads a little in Sparrow House, but their friendship is enduring, the kind that overcomes their natural differences. Anna’s dog Jackson is also her sidekick. She adores him, and he goes everywhere she goes—he even stays overnight with her in the Sparrow House mansion. 

Fast Forward: Researching a new novel takes the author on a journey to many new places, whether through books, movies, newspapers, or physical travel. What did you most enjoy about the research process of your second novel, and where did your research take you? 

Karin Kaufman: Research is funny. Sometimes you just don’t know that you don’t know something. You make assumptions you shouldn’t make. When I first began to plot Sparrow House, for example, I wrote that Sparrow House itself, the mansion, was built in 1911 of bricks hauled from a Fort Collins kiln west into the foothills on Highway 34. That’s all fine, except for the highway part. There were major brick manufacturers in the Fort Collins area around the turn of the century, and there were mansions of that era built of brick, but it turns out that the western end of Highway 34, into the Colorado foothills, didn’t exist in 1911. That would take another twenty-plus years. Who knew? 

Great background on your research for the mansion, Karin. Please tell us where we, your fans, can find you and your books on the Internet? 

Links:
My books are on Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, and at Kobo.

You can find me all over the Internet:
Website: http://www.karinkaufman.com
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/authorkarinkaufman
Blog: http://www.karin-kaufman.blogspot.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5008708.Karin_Kaufman
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/karinkaufman