Interview with a Fan

Welcome back to The Oracle blog tour! The Oracle is the book with which I really feel I hit my stride with this series, and gained some of my most hardcore fans. Today I thought I'd post an interview with one of those fans: Maggie, age seventeen. Enjoy!

1. What was the first thing that captured your imagination when you read The Six?

What first "officially" captured my imagination in this novel were the hints of magic present even before Darcy and the rest of the crew stumbled into the magical world of Alitheia. Once Darcy enters Alitheia, though, my mind was completely ensnared by the narks and other magical creatures.

2. Which book do you like better? The Six or The Oracle? Why?

Although is it a tough choice, I have to go with The Oracle. in The Oracle, the characters and setting are a bit more familiar to the audience, along with the fact that the main character, Darcy, is starting to mature and frankly, to become more likeable. There is deep mystery and intrigue in The Oracle that is only capable of being there after The Six set it all up, and the way the novel flows with deeper concepts and with these new mysterious elements is done masterfully, keeping the audience captivated from beginning to end.

3. Who is your favorite character? Why?

My favorite character bounces between Darcy, Tellius, and Rubidius. I've never been able to choose an absolute favorite, but here are my reasons for the three-way tie: I was able to relate with Darcy in The Six by remembering myself at that age and how my feelings almost exactly matched up with hers. As she began to gain wisdom and maturity with her experiences, I cheered her on and wanted to see her succeed and get better, which she did. Tellius is an extremely dynamic character who I detested at first, but who then began to grow on me and finally found a place settled firmly within my heart. Rubidius is mysterious, comedic, fatherly, stern...there are so many more ways to describe him, but you can always count on him for sound advice and bouts of wisdom. He has an excellent blend of tough love and compassion that is impossible for the reader not to love.

4. Do you think these books appeal to young adults only, or to a crossover audience?

Although this series is targeted for a young adult audience, I believe that they can be enjoyed by nearly any age. I am particularly looking forward to the release of the fourth book when the characters will be turning seventeen and I will be seventeen as well; it's always nice when the characters of your favorite series are your age and it makes it more relatable. But I can see myself being twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, and older and still be able to read these books with the same heart-racing joy that I read them with this day. Most people love fantasy and to escape into a world of magic whether it's through television and movies, or through books and dreams. This series has the capability of fulfilling that need for fantasy and dreams across a wide range of ages.

5. What has been your favorite thing about reading The Gateway Chronicles?

I am not very good at picking favorites, but one of my favorite things has been to watch each and every one of the characters develop, particularly Darcy and Tellius. As all of the characters grow and mature, gaining knowledge and wisdom, they root themselves deeper into the reader's heart (namely mine). It's so interesting watching the relationships between characters wax and wane, developing into deep connections which seemed impossible when they were first introduced to each other in The Six. I look forward to seeing more of these friendships and other relationships blossom and grow.

6. What are you most looking forward to in the final installments of the series?

The thing I am most looking forward to, and the thing I am hoping for with fingers crossed and baited breath is for Darcy and Tellius to end up getting married. I would love to see her stay in Alitheia at the end of the series with Tellius and for Tselloch to be vanquished for good (which, of course, MUST happen in order for the series to have a solid ending!).  What I am most definitely not looking forward to is the series' ending itself! I hated saying goodbye to my Hogwarts friends in Harry Potter and I'll hate saying goodbye to The Gateway Chronicles' characters and the world of Alitheia. Luckily, I know that I'll have this series right alongside Harry Potter on my shelf for decades to come.

Inspiration for The Oracle

The second book in any series is of crucial importance. The reader has just gotten through your first book, and, if they liked it enough, chances are they are going to go out and buy your second book. But if your second book disappoints, it's all over from there! This was the conviction that weighed on me when I set out to write book 2 of The Gateway Chronicles, The Oracle. I have been waylaid by many a poor sequel, and I determined that my sequel would not disappoint. If anything, I wanted it to be a much stronger installment to the series - something to keep people coming back for more. I feel I accomplished that with The Oracle.

When I finished book 1, I didn't honestly have a clear vision of what book 2 was going to be about. I've always known the overall story arc, but the second installment is kind of a stinker. It's still early in the story so you can't have too much take place, but it must progress the series along and also stand alone as its own compelling story. I had no idea what the plot of book 2 was going to be . . . until I started getting feedback from book 1. Yahto Veli, it turned out, was everyone's favorite character, and I decided, therefore, to make him a major focus of book 2. Once I had Yahto Veli in place, I knew I had to have something BIG happen to him in the climax of the story. Teaching my 8th grade history class one day, reading The Histories by Herodotus, I took them through a section of the text that covers one of the many mentions of the Oracle at Delphi. I've always been fascinated by Greek mythology, and anything having to do with the Oracle at Delphi always captured my imagination. The idea behind the oracles and Greek tragic irony is so clever, and as I was currently brainstorming for book 2 as I was reminded of my fascination with this, the two just came together in my mind. Why not have an Oracle in Alitheia? I could play around with writing riddles (which is dastardly difficult!) and flesh out my fantasy with another villain, as well as introduce layers of more mystery to the overall plot - something I'd wanted to do anyway. One thing led to another, and the story of The Oracle just fell into place. And I won't reveal what BIG thing I have happen to Yahto Veli, so as not to spoil, but it's one of my favorite plot elements so far. I love when my two passions come together, and being inspired by history in writing my fantasy was very fulfilling. If you are a fan of mythology of any sort, you should find this installment in The Gateway Chronicles fulfilling, too! I hope you pick up a copy and continue your journey through Alitheia.

New Review of The Oracle

The following is a new review of The Oracle. The woman who wrote this for me is someone I was able to connect with via facebook through a mutual acquaintance while I was writing The Oracle. She's a fellow author of YA literature (Plain Jane, on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Schledia+Benefield) and has become a good online friend. We will get to meet in person for the first time this February when she and her family will be in Birmingham.

"I was introduced to the first book in this series this past summer, and I anxiuosly awaited the release of the second. At this point I find myself desiring the author to finish the third installment before the planned release date. I'm not sure if I will be able to wait that long! I have started reading the first book to my children at night, and they get aggravated with me when I stop for the evening.

I had a difficult time putting The Six down as I read it, and I found it almost impossible to lay down The Oracle. I would literally have to pry myself away. The Oracle keeps you on your toes wondering what could possibly happen next. I was taken by the author's willingness to all such unfortunate events to befall the main character. Her characters are truly loveable, believable, and filled with flaws. The characters and what the author brings into the characters' lives makes your heart swell with joy as well as break with piercing sadness."

Read more reviews of The Oracle at Amazon.com or leave your own!

Final Review

The Oracle is finished and submitted for its final review. This review process is typically very fast and I hope to be able to say that it will be approved in the morning, but we'll see. I'm a tiny bit concerned about some sizing on the cover, but if there is a problem with that, I should be able to get it ironed out within a day. Either way, I HOPE that it will be available for sale by the end of the weekend.

I just have to say that the completion of this project at the end here has been so totally exhausting. This week has been filled with many sleepless nights, and I've been struggling with migraines and an ulcer (heh, go figure) for the past two weeks. It's almost painful to be this close to the end and simply sitting and waiting for the review to go through, but waiting is part of the process as well. Next year when I am getting out book 3: The White Thread I'm going to try to manage my time more efficiently so that I don't feel this way around this same time a year from now. If somebody were to ask me if it is all worth it, however, I would of course say yes. I know that writing is in my blood, and it gives me a euphoric rush like nothing else on earth. To steal from Chariots of Fire, "When I [write], I feel God's pleasure!" I wish that I could come up with something more profound than that right now, but it is almost 3:30 in the morning and I have been working on finishing up the final revisions for 8 hours (following an 8 hour work day teaching, of course). I think that it is time to go to bed.

Meet the New Narks

Well, I had promised a few sneak peeks before The Oracle is officially published, and I realized that I had only posted one so far! So, I thought that I would introduce you all to two new narks that show up in book 2.

Wal Wyn ... was the fairest day nark she had ever seen. His eyes were so pale that they were almost clear, and his hair was not just blond, but white blond. Borna Fero, by comparison, was much darker as a day nark (his hair could almost be called light brown), and he was unusually thick and stocky. He wore his hair in a myriad of tiny braids, and the expression on his face looked a little crazed. He stood now swinging a large knife over and over between his hands, and when he'd introduced himself to Darcy that morning, he had told her that he had been raised by bears.
I had a lot of fun writing these two characters, and I hope that you enjoy reading about them in The Oracle. Speaking of which, I have the proof copy in my hand and I hope to be able to say that it is available for sale by the end of this week!

Oracle Update

I decided to go ahead and answer the question posed in the comments to my last post via a new blog post (btw, thanks to paranormal fantasies for alerting me to the fact that the new cover for The Six is already up on Amazon! I will update the thumbnail hyperlink on here as soon as I can). The question was whether or not I have any update on the release date of The Oracle. The answer to that is yes and no. I have a tentative release date of two to three weeks from now. Unfortunately, publishing with createspace does not allow me the opportunity of knowing exactly when it will go up for sale, but here's where I am in the process: My artists and I are working out a few kinks in the cover art for The Oracle (resizing). As soon as I get that final artwork, I will order a proof copy. Then I have one final read-through to complete, the final proof to order, and it will be done! It really could go very quickly, assuming that nothing untoward happens. I am MORE than ready to have it finished, and I am so excited to start getting feedback. One of my great friends and benefactors is reading the draft this weekend, so we'll see what she says. My student reader read it straight through three times in a week and said that she cried at the end. Yes! I made somebody emote.

Anyhow, check out the Amazon link if you would like to see the new cover art for The Six, which will go back up for sale as soon as I can approve the proof with the new artwork (hopefully in a couple days). Thanks to everybody for all your support!

Passage Sneak Peek!

Okay, in the rundown to publication (now that we are roughly a month out according to my optimistic schedule) I want to post from time to time little sneak peaks from the text of The Oracle. Here is one of my favorite passages from Chapter 19: The Unwilling Participant:

It was then that she noticed the large raft that served as the ferry. An ancient man was clinging to a long, gnarled pole as though it was an extension of his arm, staring at them; one eye was completely obscured by cataracts. He looks like Charon, Darcy thought with a shiver, ferryman of the dead! She hoped that she wasn’t being prophetic.

I worked several hours on revisions today. I hope to be ready to order my proof by the first of October!

Back Cover Excerpt

I have to say, taking a few days off from the writing process has felt wonderful! I fell asleep last night so fast that I don't even remember tossing and turning at all. But I am anxious to get on with my revisions, as well. Anyhow, I took a few minutes this afternoon to tweak the back cover excerpt. I'm not thrilled with this, and it's really too long to go on the back cover, but it's a take off of what I wrote before I actually started writing the novel itself. So, I thought I'd share what I came up with. Feedback is most welcome. What actually ends up on the book should be similar to this:

One year has gone by since Darcy Pennington’s life changed forever. A year ago she’d thought that magic only existed in fairy tales. A year ago the existence of parallel realms would have seemed preposterous to her. A year ago she’d had no real friends. Now all that had changed.

It is the summer before freshman year and a return to Cedar Cove Family Camp also means a return to Alitheia for Darcy and her five friends. Remembrances of Alitheia are bittersweet for Darcy, however, as her elusive purpose and uncertain future in the magical realm continues to evade her. Egged on by the boy she is supposed to someday marry, Darcy petitions the Oracle, a mysterious entity that can answer any question, and finds herself sucked into a journey that she did not intend to take. Darcy soon comes to realize that her journey to the Oracle has thrown the outcome of the prophecy itself into question, and endangered both new friends and old. Uncertainties continue to mount between Darcy and her companions, and an unwelcome visitor from Cedar Cove adds a layer of mystery that none of them were prepared for.

When Darcy reaches the end of her journey, it is to find herself with more questions than she started out with. And there is a cost associated with every answer that the Oracle gives... a cost that may be far greater than Darcy is willing to pay.

Reflections on being DONE!

I reach a point in every book that I'm reading (okay, if it's any good) where I simply can't put it down. I love that feeling of just HAVING to finish it, no matter how many hours you have to sit on your duff. Well, I reached that point in writing this weekend, which is rather more brain-exhausting than reading, but it was a similar feeling nonetheless. I wrote eight pages Sunday afternoon and, because I did not reach my requisite ten pages before my children woke up from their naps, I sat back down after they went to bed to write another two. Well, two turned into ten, turned into twenty, and before I knew it, I was staring at the clock on my laptop reading 3:38AM and thinking to myself, "I'm going to finish this, I just HAVE to!" And so I made myself some coffee, replaced my contacts for my glasses, and dug in. Part of the reason that I needed to get it done so bad was that I had just finished writing the climax of the story. (This included pacing back and forth across my living room at 2 in the morning with my journal and a pencil trying to write a poem for the climax chapter). Having gotten through that part, the downward slide increased (as it were... see blog post "Like Walking Downhill")and I couldn't shake the sense that I was basically finished with the story, even with thirty more pages to write. Thirty pages really isn't much, however, in story-land, so I also had to condense and cut to keep the book around 380 pages. Now, don't get upset! If, when revising my draft, I decide that the end feels rushed, I will add back in some of the elements that I cut out. (I easily had enough material planned for this book to take it to 450 pages.) I think that it will be effective as is, however, and that some of the cuts I made actually add to the mystery of the ending and will give me more things to build off of in the third book. Anyhow... so I finished the last chapter at 8:30 in the morning, by which time my two small children were squawking like baby birds to be let out of their beds, and so I reluctantly tried to accept that the epilogue was not going to get written at that time. But, I just couldn't, just COULDN'T, leave it like that! So after feeding my children breakfast, I put the laptop up on a shelf in my living room (out of the reach of grasping, sticky fingers) and typed the six-page epilogue while my boys hung on my legs (literally). You might think that makes me a bad mother, and I don't blame you, but it's not every day that you finish a novel, and I figured that it wasn't going to kill them if Mommy ignored them for a half hour. And now I'm able to give them so much better attention that the hard part of the process is over. Hey, I slept for over eight hours last night for the first time since I started writing The Oracle. That's something to rejoice about all on its own!

Okay, so rough draft of The Oracle? Check! Commence revisions...

How to Write a Fight

So, I'm a girl, obviously. The most intimidating thing for me to write is a fight sequence. Anyone who knows me well can tell you that I am a Lord of the Rings officianado, and I have watched ALL the special features on ALL three extended director's cut dvds. Anyhow, where I'm going with this is that in those special features, Peter Jackson mentioned that he never wanted to write "kissing scenes," and so he would just write in "and they kiss" on the script and hand it over to the women to fill in. Likewise, the women didn't want to write fight scenes, so they would write in "and they fight" and hand it back to the men. I couldn't help but think about this over the last couple days as I knew I had this imminent fight to write. I'm always intimidated by writing fights because I worry that I won't be able to make it realistic or exciting. But then I got to thinking... I am NOT a sissy girl. I would rather watch Terminator any day over When Harry Met Sally, and I have seen more action movies than your average teenage boy. Of course I can write a fight scene! And it's not like I don't have any existing fight scenes to reference for help, so I took out a few of my favorite fantasy novels and re-read some fights to see how others have done it. All things considered, it was quite a process just to psych myself up to get this one chapter written, but I think the outcome has been pretty successful. I wrote it VERY late last night, and I love it! But I guess the jury will be out until the book is published and read by others. SO, the chapter is called "Magician and Mayhem," and I look forward to hearing from you all whether I wrote it successfully or not.

I have reached page 286 and I think that I could possibly finish this book over the weekend. It sure would be nice to be able to sleep again!

My three-year-old is watching Phineas and Ferb right now and Phineas just said, "Ferb, I think we just stopped, and/or started, an alien invasion!" Lol. I love that show.

Like Walking Downhill

Well, I can happily say that I have reached the halfway point in The Oracle. I am on page 190 and, like I already said, I want the novel to be about 375 pages. So I guess you could say that I am a little over halfway. Yay! Writing the second half of a novel is a little bit like what Treebeard said about going south: it's like walking downhill. I took the time tonight after my husband went to bed to read over the last fifty pages that I wrote, and I'm very pleased with it. I wrote a chapter today in which I introduced seven new characters. Let me just say that I had a lot of fun with naming these characters, and anybody who likes to look for deeper meanings in things should look them up after the book comes out. :O) It's very late, I'm very tired, and I'm going to bed now.

Sub-Conflicts

I have managed to turn out over fifty pages this week, which is great. I feel like, okay, I can do this! I am now on page 118 and have a good chunk of the main plot introduced, all though I haven't really gotten to the meat and potatoes of the book yet, which is, of course, the journey to the oracle. I'm feeling okay about that, though, because I can't treat this story like it exists in a vacuum. I have elements from the first book that have to be incorporated and expanded upon, and I have to think about the four books that will follow this one. SO, while the Oracle is the main point of this book, it is only a part of the overall story, so it's okay if I spend some time on other things. Really what I see before me right now are three sub-conflicts: One that is internal for Darcy, one that she and Tellius will tackle together, and one between the Six and Colin Mackaby that they will hash out together with Rubidius. And all of these have to play court to the overall conflict of getting rid of Tselloch and closing the gateways to his world. I need to acknowledge, too, that there will probably be further sub-conflicts that will emerge as the story goes on. SO much to keep straight! It's fun, though, it really is, and every time I have a eureka moment about how to piece things together, I feel really good about myself. (That sounds rather self-absorbed, doesn't it? Oh well). I'm going to do my best to keep my momentum up, and I think I can really get this thing done by early August. My husband is going to read through the first couple chapters tomorrow and give me some much-needed feedback. Looking forward to that!

Getting Back on Track

Okay, so I've had a few delays this summer with my writing schedule. My boys were sick the first week of June, and then we took a family road trip the third week and I, unfortunately, did not get any real work done on The Oracle while we were visiting family in MN. (We did have a lot of fun, though). Driving 17 hours, and through the night nonetheless, does give one plenty of time to ponder plot, however, so I did get quite a bit of brainstorming done. I think it was sometime mid-Missouri in the middle of the night while all my boys (husband included) were sleeping that I figured out some pretty juicy details. My brain has always worked well late at night (or early in the morning, however you want to look at it), I often have a hard time falling asleep because my brain is so active after dark, so it was actually a pretty productive time for me. I also had the presence of mind to write down everything I came up with once we arrived at our friends' house. Aside from that, however, work on my book on the trip was nil. Okay, so taking stock of everything, I had about fifty pages completed when we left. In the five days that we've been home I have really put my nose to the grindstone to get back on track and I managed to write 28 pages. Unfortunately, that's not enough, so I have to pick up the pace. I figured out the math that if I am shooting for another 375 page novel, I need to write roughly 10 pages a day to finish by August 2nd when my teacher in-service begins. I could push the deadline back to finishing by the time school starts, though, which still puts me at about 7 pages a day. So let's just average things out to 7-10 pages a day. That's a little daunting, but I'll get it done. I'm through the most difficult portion of the writing, I think. My main characters are back in Alitheia and almost everything that needed to be re-introduced has been. I've also introduced a couple new characters that I'm pretty excited about and everything seems to be falling into place nicely for me to build to the real conflict of the story. I wrote a description of Tellius today, as he is at age 12, and, well, let's just say that adolescence is not always friendly. I should know, as I teach adolescents, and I get to observe their physical transformations. Some of them breeze through it, but it is really rough on others. I do have to say, though, sometimes the kids that look the most awkward through their adolescent years turn out to be the most attractive people in the end. *wink*

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

I really feel like the ball is rolling on The Oracle now. I have written 42 pages and, for the most part, have a clear idea of where the story is going. It's funny because I had diverged quite a bit from my outline and was just questioning the validity of even having an outline when I hit a little snag in the story and had to refer back to it to pull me back on track. The chapter I just finished (chapter 5: The Tail) is the longest chapter so far and I am on the cusp of sending the six main characters back to Alitheia. I'm excited to begin writing that stage of the book as it will be something quite different from anything I've written in the Chronicles so far. I have to now begin formulating in my mind how I am going to set up reintroducing Alitheia to my readers. The second book in any series is always difficult in this way: how does the author describe something in such a way as to be different from how it was described in the first book, but complete enough to introduce a potential new reader to the story? I don't want to describe everything the same way over and over again (there will be six books, after all). I just hope that I can provide my readers with sufficient diversity!

The First Hurdle

I can proudly say that I have completed the first two chapters of The Oracle. Obviously it is all a rough draft, but I really feel like I have gotten over the first hurdle. Even better, I really like what I've written so far, and this book has taken on its own identity almost immediately. It's always amazing to me how, once you get rolling, the characters lead you in different directions than you thought you were going to go. Not in very big ways, but significant enough for me to diverge from my outline within the first couple pages (that's what makes it a working outline, I suppose). At any rate, I think my readers will be pleased with how the book is shaping up. It's a little more mature (not in a bad way, in the sense that my main characters are now a year older and should act more mature) and while I think it maintains the spirit of the first book for continuity, it is also something completely new. Darcy is in a much different place at the opening of this book than she was at the opening of the last one, and I think people will be pleased to know that she's not going to be quite so disagreeable, at least, not right away. (She still has to be flawed, you know?) Anyhow, here's the first two chapter titles (liable to change!): Chapter 1: Darcy Has a Dream. Chapter 2: Questions Without Answers.
So long for now!

Sneak Peak

Today I sat down and wrote the back cover of The Gateway Chronicles, book 2: The Oracle. Here it is in its entirety:

One year has gone by since Darcy Pennington’s life changed forever. A year ago she’d thought that magic only existed in fairy tales. A year ago the existence of parallel realms would have seemed preposterous to her. A year ago she’d had no real friends. Now all that had changed.

It is the summer before freshman year and a return to Cedar Cove Family Camp also means a return to Alitheia for Darcy and her five friends. The return to Alitheia is bittersweet for Darcy, however, as her elusive purpose and uncertain future in the magical realm continues to evade her. Egged on by the boy she is supposed to someday marry, Darcy sets out on a quest to find the Oracle, a mysterious entity that can answer any question. In the end, however, Darcy may discover that the answer to her question is not worth the cost of asking it.

I am looking for feedback on this, so don't hold back! It's only the first draft and I don't have any problem making changes. I am heading into Spring Break this week and hopefully I can get some work done on the book. We'll see! Either way, The Oracle will be published around Thanksgiving this year.