Submit Your Questions for Eva’s Character Interview!

June 20, 2015June 19, 2015 / saraletourneau / 24 Comments

Recently I asked for suggestions about how to celebrate the site’s upcoming 6th blogoversary. Since then, I’ve come up with not one, but TWO ideas that I’m going ahead with. One will wait until after the Writer’s Digest Conference in July / August. But we can get started on the other today!

Why “we”? Well, the “day-of” blogoversary post will be a character interview with Eva, the protagonist for my YA fantasy novel The Keeper’s Curse. This means you get to ask the questions, and Eva will answer them! (Or, rather, I’ll answer for her. *lol*)

Instructions will follow after the jump. First, for your convenience, here’s a summary about Eva from her updated character profile: Continue reading →

Chronicling The Craft: Revisions 20% Complete

June 17, 2015June 15, 2015 / saraletourneau / 27 Comments

Practicing Patience with the Revising Process – Plus, an Excerpt from The Keeper’s Curse!

“Chronicling The Craft” is an article series where I share my experience with working on my YA fantasy novel THE KEEPER’S CURSE, starting with the first draft and now into revisions. Each article contains a progress update as well as writing / revising tips and excerpts from the updated draft. Today’s installment celebrates 20-percent completion of Draft #2 of THE KEEPER’S CURSE.

I’ve missed this series! It’s been 2 months since the last Chronicle, when I began revising The Keeper’s Curse (TKC). But since May was insanely busy, this gap between postings meant one less thing on my plate last month. Now I’ve reached the 20-percent milestone in Draft #2, and I’m thrilled to have an update for you. 😀

This new round of Chronicles will feature a similar format as the Draft #1 round. I’ll start with a Progress Report, covering what I’ve worked on since the previous Chronicle. Next will be Today’s Tip, where I offer craft-related advice on novel revisions. Finally, the new third section… well, I’d say it’s a surprise, but the subheading sort of gives it away. 😉 Continue reading →

Beautiful People, Vol. 5: The “Parental” Edition

June 10, 2015May 5, 2016 / saraletourneau / 30 Comments

Beautiful People is a monthly blog meme hosted by Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up and Further In. Every month they pose 10 questions for writers to answer about their writing and give readers the opportunity to learn more about the writer’s characters.

When I saw the theme for this month’s Beautiful People, I knew this would be a tricky post. Anyone who’s been following Beautiful People (or this blog in general) for some time already know that Eva, the protagonist of my YA fantasy The Keeper’s Curse, has been an orphan since she was 5 years old. And as I read this month’s questions, I realized some related better to Eva’s deceased parents, and others to her guardians since then.

So, that’s how I’ll handle this month’s post. You’ll learn a little about Eva’s mother and father, and I’ll also introduce you to Aunt Maji and Uncle Lusan, both of whom appear in TKC. Hopefully that won’t be too confusing. I’ll do my best to indicate who each question pertains to. Let me know in the Comments section if anything needs clarifying!

Continue reading →

Beautiful People, Vol. 4: More About Eva

May 11, 2015May 8, 2015 / saraletourneau / 27 Comments

After focusing on supporting characters from The Keeper’s Curse for the past two Beautiful People posts, it’s time to return to the protagonist, Eva. In case you haven’t “met” her before, Eva is a 17-year-old Faerie and the chief navigator and translator for the Council of Selanaan (a group of commoner Faeries selected to be diplomats working on their king’s behalf).

So, here are the 10 questions Eva needs to answer this month. Or, rather, the questions I need to answer so you can get to know Eva better. 😉