Check This Out: Edie in Between

It’s been a while since we met, but here we are to welcome the awesome Laura Sibson, who is here to talk about her YA fantasy novel, Edie in Between, which debuts today!! It was published by Viking. The illustrator of cover is Lisa Sterle. Cover designed by Jessica Jenkins.

Laura is repped by Brianne Johnson. Click here to read a synopsis and to get to an excerpt of Edie in Between.

El Space: You and I have had conversations about fantasy shows and book series we like. Please tell us how you came to write this contemporary fantasy.
Laura: I’ve loved stories with magic for as long as I can remember. I especially love stories in which magic could be just out of sight; magic that exists in our world but is kept secret from us. For a long time, I’ve wanted to write such a story. When I pitched ideas to my editor for my second book, she suggested a mash-up of two ideas. One was about a girl dealing with the death of her mother in an unusual way and the other was about a girl who found her magical lineage burdensome. By merging the ideas together, I was able to create a story in which magic exists, but it also serves as a metaphor for acceptance.

El Space: As you consider the characters, the magic system, the plot, and the romance, what was the most fun part about writing your novel?
Laura: You may already know the answer as you were a trusted early reader. I love writing blooming romance and banter between friends. Those elements come easiest to me. Crafting the malevolent aspects of the magic system was challenging, but in a problem-solving way. Plot is always the most difficult part of drafting for me.

El Space: Your book has dual narrators. How did you keep track of each storyline?
Laura: Not only did I need to keep track of the individual storylines, but I also needed to ensure that Maura’s journal entries appeared when Edie needed to read them. I draft my stories in Scrivener which allows you to view the order of scenes in a sidebar. Each scene was titled with the narrator’s name so I could see at a glance where Edie’s chapters appeared relative to Maura’s. I also used index cards on a big white board to help me visualize how the scenes interlocked with the overall scavenger hunt storyline.

El Space: Edie in Between has strong themes of friendship and family. Without giving any spoilers, since this is a book about family secrets, why were both—friendship and family—important for you to include in this book?
Laura: Edie In Between was always going to be a story about intergenerational family relationships. I was especially interested in looking at how Edie and her grandmother dealt with grief in different ways and how that could create tension between them. I also love the idea of found family and how friends will show up and support you through hard things when maybe your family cannot.

El Space: If you could have magical power, and could choose what power you have, what would your power be?
Laura: In my story, the magic that travels through the Mitchell family is elemental. Edie struggles with her element of fire, her mother commanded water and her grandmother, GG, commands earth – especially plants. Of all of those, I’d most like GG’s magic because she can grow anything. Not only does that seem incredibly useful to me, but I also love lush, overgrown gardens and I’d like to have a talent for creating one like GG’s.

El Space: Excluding the great VCFA authors who are too numerous to name, who are some of the fantasy authors you find inspiring?
Laura: Akwaeke Emezi for their talent for showing over telling. Laini Taylor for full-on originality. Holly Black for making me feel all things while also creating delicious fairy worlds. Tomi Adeyemi for the infusion of West African myth. Leigh Bardugo for balancing a huge cast of interesting characters. Brigid Kemmerer for retellings.

   

  

El Space: What are you working on now?
Laura: I am working on another young adult novel with paranormal elements. In this story, a group of friends summon an urban legend connected to their historic private school in hopes that it will grant wishes. The legend is more dangerous than they’d believed, so they’ll need to work together to defeat it—before one of them dies. But when a student transfers into their school in the middle of the semester, it seems that he has his own interest in the legend—and it’s at odds with theirs.

Thank you, Laura, for being my guest!

Looking for Laura? You can find her at her website, Instagram, or Twitter.

Looking for Edie in Between ? Check out your local bookstore, Children’s Book World, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Indiebound. Be sure to check out the book launch—info here: https://www.childrensbookworld.net/sibson-edie-in-between/

One of you will receive a signed copy of Laura’s novel. Just comment below to be entered in the drawing. Winner to be revealed next week.

And don’t forget Laura’s first novel:

Book cover and author photo courtesy of Laura Sibson. Author photo by Rachael Balascak. Other book covers from Goodreads. Magic image from dreamstime. Garden image found on Pinterest.

Building a Unicorn

Over the past year or so I’ve bought or been given unicorns by friends.

    

Just writing that statement makes me laugh because it sounds so ridiculous—or would have if you and I were talking on the phone and you did not see the above photos. It sounds like, “Yes, I own some unicorns. They’re parked out back.”

Lately, I’ve been crocheting a unicorn for a little girl’s unicorn-themed birthday party. The pattern was designed by ChiWei at OneDogWoof. You can find her blog here.

First, you crochet the head, then the ears, and the alicorn (what the horn was called way back when).

Next comes the body, which takes almost twice as long as the head, then the legs and hooves (both thankfully crocheted in one piece).

   

Lastly, you have to crochet the tail (made of multiple curlicues) and cut strands of yarn for the mane. I chose this yarn. A unicorn must have a rainbow tail and mane.

   

Once all of the pieces are crocheted, I have to build the unicorn—at least that’s what I think of the assembly process, which involves a lot of whip stitching to keep the pieces together.

It’s sort of like the process of writing a story with a unicorn as a character. Okay. I see that look. You’re thinking these processes are very different. But character building of any sort involves putting pieces together: characteristics of people you know, characteristics from your imagination; quirks of your character that affect relationships with other characters; dialects shaped by the setting; etc.

I have loved unicorns since I was a kid. I wrote a fairy tale about unicorns probably twenty years ago for my own amusement. But that was then and this is now. When I made the decision to include unicorns in a more recent novel, I did some research.

Maybe you wonder why I would bother. Aren’t unicorns pretty standard? Though they come from the mythology of many countries, they all seem to heal with the horn on their head and seem ethereal. Well, the thought of writing about a “typical” unicorn, one like cream floating on a breeze, offering a healing touch without saying or doing anything else, was not very inviting. I wanted to write about unicorns that had more personality.

I read books by Diana Peterfreund who has a killer unicorn series for young adults. Not killer in the slang sense of “That dress is killer,” but in the sense of “those unicorns kill people.” You can find details about it here.

I also read this series (photos below), which has more books than just the ones shown here. I love one snippy warrior unicorn character who demanded vows of service from people in exchange for assistance. So much for giving away free stuff like healing. I love a feisty unicorn.

   

Well, I’d better get back to getting the mane situated on this unicorn. It’s going to take awhile. (The unicorn might look small on the photo. But it is about 15 inches tall.)

What do you think of unicorns? Do you like to read stories about them? Are you indifferent to them? Please share your thoughts below.

Rampant book cover from Goodreads. Other photos by L. Marie.

Bodily Functions? I Got Nuthin’

Um, just so you know: this isn’t the start of a stand-up routine in which I trot out jokes I would have giggled over when I was in fifth grade. (And yes, I probably would laugh about them now. I won’t blame you for running from this post in disgust.) You see, the other day, I was in the middle of writing an email message to a friend when I came to the sudden realization that none of the characters in my current novel has eaten anything—not so much as a crust of bread. Trust me—they are not like me in that respect. One of the first questions out of my mouth whenever I talk to one of my sisters-in-law or my parents is, “What are you going to eat for dinner?”

My characters also are not dieting nor are they anorexic, robots, anorexic robots (hmm—that would make an interesting sci-fi novel), or vampires living on a liquid diet. So what gives? Picture me shrugging. Ironically, I love the scenes in the Harry Potter books and movies where the students gather in the great hall at Hogwarts Castle to tuck into a feast. I love all mention of food in The Lord of the Rings (um, except what orcs, Gollum, and Shelob eat). One of my favorite films is Babette’s Feast, which is all about food! Yet I have trouble writing scenes where characters eat or deal with other bodily functions—unlike two books in my possession.

In The Naming, the first book of the Pellinor series for young adults by Alison Croggon, Maerad (the main character) undertakes a harrowing journey. I love those! They’re so . . . harrowing. Anyway, the author doesn’t shy away from a discussion of Maerad’s menstrual cramps. Croggon boldly goes where I have yet to go. In Shadowfell, a young adult fantasy novel by Juliet Marillier that I’m reading now, a hot guy actually helps the main character to answer nature’s call when she’s too weak from an illness to head to the privy on her own. While I’m not sure if the guy is the love interest (I’m guessing he will be, though he’s a mystery right now), nothing says “Be mine” like a hero who helps the heroine use a chamber pot.

              

Part of my reticence is the fact that I have a difficult time working these “natural” moments into the narrative . . . uh . . . naturally. Silly me. I worry too much about how such moments will advance the plot. Okay. I hear you. Do they actually have to serve that purpose? But if every scene needs to count, I have to wonder.

Okay. Okay. Eating and answering nature’s call are both important (well, maybe flatulence isn’t). I totally get that. Maybe I can have one of my point-of-view characters overhear an important conversation while retreating behind a conveniently placed bush to um “see a man about a horse.”

No good, you say? Well, any advice for me? How do you work eating and other bodily functions in your narrative in a way that doesn’t seem forced?

When your characters are out in nature, will they answer the call?

Book covers from Goodreads. Woods and river photo from Wikipedia.