The Importance of Location

Buy Remember Me HERE

By Amaleen Ison

When I wrote my newest release, Remember Me, I didn’t pay much attention to location other than details that affected plot: a remote cabin in a forested area, deep snow, and sub-zero temperatures. My main character has amnesia, so I thought I could be vague on specifics. It was only when my editor asked where the story was set that I considered the question for the first time. My initial response was, “Does it matter?”

“Yes,” she said, firmly. “It does.”

And she was right!

I’d created a bizarre hybrid setting, incorporating a fictitious landscape with Artic weather conditions and British buildings and transport. My first person narrator spoke in British English, and perversely, the one thing I knew with certainty was the story was not set in Britain. When I realized what I’d done, I turned a little pink—actually a lot pink.

Thank goodness for editors.

I subsequently spent a great deal of time researching countries that would provide the right terrain, extreme temperatures, annual snow fall, and remote location.

Finally, I settled on Interior Alaska, and so began an edit that changed everything British to American. The remote, thatched stone cottage became a log cabin, oak trees morphed into fir trees, and I downsized the family Landrover to a Ski-Doo. The list of changes went on and on, not to mention the addition of indigenous wildlife and natural phenomenon. If I hadn’t realised the importance of location before, I certainly did after that round of edits.

So after all the effort my editor and I put in to make the setting authentic, you can imagine my delight when I discovered the following review just a few days after Remember Me was published.

“The biggest thing the author did right was in describing the state of Alaska. I live here and the author nailed it. I'm a very hard sell having lived here since I was sixteen, but in her story you'll feel the bitter sting of winter (and it's a unique achy feeling you'll get in few other places).” – Goodreads Review

To celebrate the release of my novella, I’m hosting a Rafflecopter giveaway to win a $20 Amazon gift card and a copy of Remember Me. Sign up below for your chance to win.

Remember Me:

Sera isn’t living. She’s existing—barely. Bedbound by illness, she has no memory of life before the freezing barn she now calls home. A mournful song haunts her dreams and hints at a past not completely buried—one she’s desperate to uncover. Yet Father’s whirlwind visits to draw blood and administer medication don’t provide answers. He only confirms the one thing she already knows; she’s dying.

A lonely death without ever knowing her past seems inevitable until a sudden, mystifying return to health coincides with the arrival of a boy in the opposite out-building. The inextricable pull to the stranger, and the broken memories that storm her mind when he’s near, warn of a history quite different to any she could have imagined. If she’s to uncover the truth she craves, she’ll have to decide whether knowledge of the past is worth forfeiting her second chance at life.

Saving Casey

Buy Saving Casey HERE

Hi, I’m Liza O’Connor, author of Saving Casey and I wanted to share a bit about myself with you.

I love life-endangering adventures.

From diving with the great clear shark to rafting down a twenty-one foot waterfall, I've done it.

I can fly a plane, parachute from of plane, and hang-glide out of the way of a plane.

I have deep-sea fished, fly-fished, and raised fish in the pond I built in my backyard.

I can kayak clearwater or seas, raft class-four rivers, and scuba-dive into the oceans, where once a giant stingray attacked me.

I have spent grueling hot days carefully unveiling diplodocus bones, rode a suicidal horse up a mountain to fly-fish, and almost enticed a dominant male buffalo of a very large herd to run me down. (I just had to get closer for a photo op.)

Some of these activities, I am actually good at. Others, I was lucky to survive. But all of them make great fodder for my characters to go out there and live life to their fullest.

Last time I was here, I left you with a 69 word sentence about how the world needs yet another blog.

This time I want to tell you about my debut novel: Saving Casey

I really want to do this blog interview style, but I feel weird about interviewing myself. Thus, I’ve drafted Marketing Maniac kitten to interview me. (Because being interviewed by an imaginary cat is so much ‘saner’ than interviewing one’s self.)

Marketing Maniac: Welcome, Liza. So nice to have you. Let me say, I love, love, love your book.

Liza: Thanks, stick to the script please.

MM: So tell us about Saving Casey.

Liza: Eighty-year-old Cass dies and wakes up in the body of a troubled seventeen-year-old girl named Casey. Cass intends to turn the girl’s life around, only it’s harder than she expects. All Casey’s troubles have now become Cass’s and someone wants her dead.

MM: That’s a unique plot. How did your muse come up with that?

Liza:Actually, I blame it on all my friends who have teens. I wondered if the teens just ignored their parents good advice on principle or because it’s simply not relevant to their problems. That made me question if our life experiences would help at all if we were in their bodies, living their lives, or if raging hormones simply take over and trample all that valuable life experience.

MM: And what is your conclusion?

Liza: For Cass, those hormones swept away life experience like a Tsunami.

MM: So who's your favorite character in the book & why?

Liza: That’s hard to answer, because if I say my heroine (which I want to say) and my dog reads this blog, then I’ll be in big trouble, because I put my dog, Jess, in the book, in the first and last chapters. Thus, in those chapters Jess is my favorite. In all other chapters, New Cass has to be my favorite. She’s funny, sarcastic, smart, determined, and refuses to be a victim.  Although, as time goes along and we know more about Old Casey, I fall in love with her as well. Both are remarkable characters, with a great deal in common with one another. And then there’s hunky, honorable Troy, who loves Cass, but refuses to go there because of their age difference. 

*Liza sighs*

This is an unfair question. It’s like asking a mother which child she loves the most.

MM: Well, we know who you don’t love. How many times am I in your book? Eh? Zero, Zip, Zilch.

Liza: Maniac, you weren’t even born when I wrote this book.

MM: Oh…Never mind then.
What's your favorite line in the story?

Liza: I feel like a comedian working the wax museum crowd.

MM: I like that one, but I also like the first time Cass sees herself in the mirror.

Upon settling down on the toilet, Cass noticed the floor to ceiling mirror facing her and screamed at the sight of the creature within it. Short black hair spouted about its head, black circles surrounded both eyes and fell like triangular knives down the cheeks. Black lips, stretched in horror as if in a nightmare. Pulling up her pants, she moved closer to the mirror.

She was a ghoul, an honest to God ghoul!

The door crashed open and her father stared at her, fear and panic clear in his eyes.

She touched her face. “Please tell me these aren’t permanent.”

His panic remained a second longer as her words filtered into his brain and then he pulled her into his arms. “Don’t worry, we will get them removed—if you want to…”

“If? Oh, I definitely want them removed,” she said.

How can I turn around my life if I look like the walking dead from a low-grade monster movie?

MM: However, readers be warned. This book isn’t all laughs and snorts. It covers some serious topics. Expect to laugh, cry, and yell at characters during your read. According to readers, it’s fast paced, engaging, and emotionally captivating.

Liza: Thanks, Maniac.

MM: It also has a fabulous book trailer:

http://youtu.be/WxcaMP0Dgzc 

MM: Was that great, or what? Since the trailer makes you want to buy the book, let me provide the links.

SAVING CASEY BY LIZA O'CONNOR IS AVAILABLE AT THESE SITES 

AND MORE:

Bono Books     Amazon    Barnes&Noble

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT 

LIZA O'CONNOR &

SAVING CASEY:

Liza's Blog and Website   Facebook   Twitter

MM: I’d like to thank everyone for stopping by.

*turns to Liza*

That’s it. Can I have a treat now? I’m starving.

Liza: Me, too. Let’s go raid the fridge.

*pauses* Oh, you guys can come too, only be warned: all that’s in my fridge is peanut butter and broccoli.

MM: Wow, I’ve never seen people run so fast in my life. They must hate peanut butter and broccoli more than me.  Since, I’m imaginary and all, can I have some imagined salmon instead?

Liza: *pets Maniac* I think that can be arranged.

First Crushes

Buy The Keeper HERE

 By Natalie Star

Walking through the stores these days you can’t help but notice all of the Valentines decorations and items for purchase. When I see the little boxed sets I used to buy as a child, I think of the boys who I would give them too. I used to write something that I considered a secret message. Or so I thought. I’m sure they never knew.

The valentines for my friends would be signed, “Love”. The ones to the guys I liked usually said, “Love ya” or I would make a smiley face or a heart, those were my secret messages.

These memories bring back thoughts of my first crush. I was five. Getting on the bus to go to Kindergarten was always nerve wracking and exciting, because the next stop was when little red-headed Joey would get on, and he would sit with me. My mother says I would talk about Joey a lot and get all giddy.

But I don’t consider Joey my first real crush. That honor goes to Greg. There was something about that boy with his dark hair, and his bright blue eyes, and a smile that would light up his face. But Greg was a couple of years older than me, and I knew that “we” would never happen.

It didn’t prevent me from ogling him at school or busting out my telescope to check him out from my bedroom to his. His apartment complex sat higher than mine and was a few blocks away. There were trees in between our apartments, but I had a clear shot and I could still see him from the waist up when he was walking around his room. On the rare occasion he would have his shirt off, and I would blush as if he could see me.

One day I confided in some friends that I did this, and they came over to see. I should’ve known better. About a week later, a group of us was boarding the school bus at the end of the day, and a friend told on me. I didn’t know it was coming.

Someone said, “Hey, Greg. I know someone who looks at you in your bedroom through a telescope.” He got mad and said something along the lines of, “What the hell do they do, stand out in the parking lot?” I think he thought people were making fun of him, because looking around you could tell something was up. Everyone in the group was smiling and laughing, which made him angrier. I froze, felt my face flame up, and I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to die.

Eventually someone said that I was the one who spied on him. When his eyes settled on me I saw his face soften, and he smiled. I melted. I didn’t expect that kind of reaction. I thought he’d be mad at me and figured things would be awkward, but he sat next to me that day, and he told me I was cute. I was in heaven. He never did look at me quite the same again; it was always with a grin and a little spark of humor in his eyes. And that was okay, because he never made me feel stupid, or teased me about it.

I was affectionately and annoyingly called “Little Natalie” in that group of friends, but after that day, the guys referred to me as “Sweet Little Natalie” or “Cute Little Natalie.” I hated it, but I loved it at the same time. Hated it because it reminded me that I was in fact younger than I wanted to be, and I loved it because they paid attention to me. That made me feel good in a time where I was so unsure of myself.

What is a crush? Unrequited love perhaps, but not as strong as being in-love. Maybe you could call it a “temporary love”, but most definitely I say it’s a short term infatuation. Some call it “puppy love”, and according to Dictionary.com, a crush is an informal term for the “temporary love of an adolescent.” I think that sums it up perfectly.

What do you think? Do you remember your first crush?

*****

I never saw Greg again after high school, but the curiosity got the better of me, and I found him on Facebook last year. I friended him and of course I perused through his photos. He’s a handsome guy, and he looks happy. I won’t lie I smiled ear to ear when I found him.

*****

Natalie Star is the author of the young adult paranormal romance, The Keeper -available for your eReaders at most eBook retailers for $2.99, and in paperback at Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Keeper-Natalie-Star/dp/1613332645

You can find out more about Natalie on the web at:

http://authornataliestar.blogspot.com

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5424878.Natalie_Star

https://twitter.com/iamjustnatalie

https://www.facebook.com/iamjustnatalie