Welcome to this stop in the
Moon Spun tour,
sponsored by
Innovative Online Book Tours!!
Marilee Brothers
I'm very happy to welcome Marilee Brothers, author of the exciting YA novel, Moon Spun, to A Night's Dream of Books! Marilee will be giving us some insights into her creative process while writing the third novel in her acclaimed series, "Unbidden Magic". I hope you all enjoy reading her thoughts!
Do you know how hard it is to write a five-book series? Damn hard! When I started writing Moon Spun, book 3 in the Unbidden Magic series, I knew how I wanted it to begin and end. It was that deep, dark abyss in the middle that had me stumped.
Since it's my habit to firmly ground my protagonist, Allie Emerson, in her natural habitat, Peacock Flats, Washington, I chose to begin the book as she dresses for her debut as queen of the annual Fruit Bowl celebration. She's in a panic because her panty drawer is empty, and she's forced to borrow skimpy red ones (too small for Allie) from her mother, Faye. The panties were given to her by an ex-boyfriend that Allie calls "Brain Dead Roy". Disaster follows.
As for the end, I knew I wanted a Big Reveal. Allie would discover a close family member she did not know existed.
Now, for that pesky middle. After much floor pacing, pondering and dithering, I came to the following conclusion: in the last two books, Allie used the moonstone to move objects with her mind, as well as pick up the thoughts of others when three people formed a non-equilateral triangle. True, the moonstone was imbued with magic, but surely there were limitations. There had to be another reason she could perform magic. Oh, yeah, she must be part fae!
So, off I went, inventing a faery lineage for Allie, one that included both sides of her family. Really, how else could I explain Allie's abilities? Consequently, she discovers she has a grandmother (Melia, queen of the forest faeries) who desperately needs her help. Assisted by shape-shifting hawk boy, Ryker Matheson, Allie ventures to Boundless (my name for fairyland), and soon finds out faeries are not at all like Tinker Bell.
Allie's newly-discovered father, Mike Purdy, also has a faery connection. He has a direct connection to the haughty Tuatha de Danaan, the original faeries of Ireland, a faction of the fae in conflict with Allie's maternal faery family. The pot gets stirred!
Not all my readers appreciated my sojourn into fairyland. But, if those readers follow up with books four and five, they will find all questions answered as plotlines converge and come full circle.
So there you have it. A little peek into the mind of an author who desperately needed a plotline for book 3. Hope you enjoyed it!
I'd like to thank Marilee for contributing such a fascinating guest post, and highly recommend her series to all YA paranormal and fantasy fans!
(Unbidden Magic #3)
Marilee Brothers
Trade Paperback, 246 pages
Bell Bridge Books
July 1, 2010
Fantasy, Paranormal Romance,
Young Adult Fiction
Goodreads Synopsis
Junior's back from Mexico with his movie-star entourage. Beck's using his half-demon charms to "heal" a new girl. Mom's still wacky and now she's dating Principal Hostetler. High school is still an obstacle course of drama queens, bullies and nut jobs. The Trimarks are still a menace, and the moonstone pendant has revealed even more mind-boggling powers. In other words, Allie Emerson's life as the Girl Voted Least Likely To Save The World From Evil has gone from Weird to Super-Charged Super-Weird, and it's about to get even weirder. You're a faery princess. So says the mysterious Ryker, whose handsome talents include turning himself into a hawk. By the way, he and Allie are destined to marry. In faery land--Boundless. If they can save it from forces even more deadly than Trimarks and high school. The third book in the Unbidden Magic series plunges readers into a rich other-world of danger, humor, romance, fable, fairytale and magical destiny.
Purchase Links
Author Bio
A former teacher, coach, and school
counselor, Marilee lives in
Washington State and writes full-time.
Her books include Castle Ladyslipper,
a medieval romance,
The Rock and Roll Queen of Bedlam,
winner of the 2010 Booksellers Best award for romantic suspense, Moonstone,
Moon Rise, Moon Spun,
Shadow Moon, and Midnight Moon.
Marilee is a member of the
Romance Writers of America, Pacific
Northwest Writers Association,
and the Society of Children's Book
Writers and Illustrators.
Online Links
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Thanks for the introduction! Haven't heard of this one before. Looks interesting!
ReplyDeleteHi, Erika!
ReplyDeleteOh, you're very welcome! I've only read the first book in this series, which is titled "Moonstone", but I want to go on to read all the rest, because they sure look GREAT!
Thanks for the comment!! :)