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KRISTI HELVIG INTERVIEW AND BURN OUT GIVEAWAY

Happy Monday Everyone! Hope you're having a good week. This is a super busy week for me with filing lots of bankruptcies in the midst of a ton of appointments. So I may not be online as much this week. Hope you understand. Once I get through March, things should get a little better.

It was actually nice enough to go for a walk with my dog this weekend. It felt SO good to get out walking. Hope you're all seeing glimmers of Spring.

FOLLOWER NEWS

Sherrie Petersen releases her new middle grade story WISH YOU WEREN'T. It sounds like a sweet fantasy story combined with science. And Sherrie will be here on Friday with a guest post. Congrats, Sherrie!

Carrie Butler just released HONESTY, her NA urban fantasy. Go HERE for more details.

And Donna Weaver just released the cover of her adult contemporary TORN CANVAS. Go HERE to learn more.

And I have some winners to announce.

The winner of A SNICKER OF MAGIC is S.P. Bowers!

And the winner of ROCK 'N ROLL PRINCESSES WEAR BLACK is Candace!

Congrats! E-mail me your address so I can send you your book. Please e-mail me by the end of Wednesday or I'll have to pick another winner.

Today I’m excited to have debut author Kristi Helvig here to share about her debut YA novel BURN OUT that releases on April 8, 2014. I loved this sci-fi story about Tora, possibly the last person on Earth. She was such a great character—strong and resourceful but yet had a softer side to her. And this was a real page turner as I tried to figure out with Tora who she could trust.

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:


"A scorching series opener not to be missed." - Kirkus

A futuristic blend of Beth Revis's Across the Universe and Lenore Appelhans's Level 2, Burn Out will satisfy the growing desire for science fiction with a thrilling story of survival, intrigue, and adventure.

Most people want to save the world; seventeen-year-old Tora Reynolds just wants to get the hell off of it. One of the last survivors in Earth's final years, Tora yearns to escape the wasteland her planet has become after the sun turns "red giant," but discovers her fellow survivors are even deadlier than the hostile environment.

Holed up in an underground shelter, Tora is alone--her brilliant scientist father murdered, her mother and sister burned to death. She dreams of living on a planet with oceans, plants, and animals. Unfortunately, the oceans dried out ages ago, the only plants are giant cacti with deadly spines, and her pet, Trigger, is a gun--one of the bio-energetic weapons her father created for the government before his conscience kicked in.

When family friend, Markus, arrives with mercenaries to take the weapons by force, Tora's fury turns to fear when government ships descend in an attempt to kill them all. She forges an unlikely alliance with Markus and his rag-tag group of raiders, including a smart but quiet soldier named James. Tora must quickly figure out who she can trust, as she must choose between saving herself by giving up the guns or honoring her father's request to save humanity from the most lethal weapons in existence.

Hi Kristi. Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.

Well, my mom claims I wrote my first book at the age of 5 or 6 (my own 6-yo just finished writing her seventh picture book this weekend so who knows?) I do remember writing a Nancy Drew knock-off on my mom’s cursive typewriter when I was a few years older than that— those of you out there who’ve used correction tape know how easy writers have it today with those fancy delete buttons. ;) Anyway, I never even considered writing as a viable career option and got my Ph.D. in clinical psychology instead. Several years ago, after the birth of my second child, I got the writing itch again and wrote my first novel (on a laptop this time!) I’ve written four more since then.

2. Awesome how you came back to your love of writing. Where did you get the idea for your story?

This has such a long convoluted story behind it so I’ll try to keep it simple. My hubby and I watch a lot of science documentaries. One of them had to do with the sun burning out and that same night, I heard a really haunting song on Pandora. Those things combined led to a vivid dream of my MC Tora and James—it was like they showed me their entire story in that dream. I woke up and scribbled like mad on paper before starting to type. About a week later, I was driving home from work which only takes about fifteen minutes, and the thermometer on my car kept ticking upward. It went from 99 to 106 and I felt this flicker of panic, like ‘what if it kept going up?’ I got a tiny glimpse of what it might feel like to live in a world like Tora’s and emailed an astrophysics department soon after.

3. That’s such a cool way to come up with your story idea. Maybe I should start watching more documentaries with my husband too. What was your world building process like and did you have to do any research for it?

I’m a research nerd and loved doing research for this book! Aside from watching tons of science
documentaries, reading science blogs, and exploring what will happen to our planet when the sun burns out, I needed a plausible way for it to burn out early. That was the point mentioned above when I contacted a well-respected astrophysics department at a large university for assistance. They were great and helped me with the pieces that weren’t working. The world building came out of the initial research and just seemed to flow naturally from how I saw Tora’s world.

4. Contacting a college science department is a great tip. I bet there are lots of resources we could tap into at colleges. I love Tora. She’s so resourceful and strong. I’d have been a total emotional mess in her situation. What was her character development process like for you?

I love her too. She was so much fun to write. She’s tough and doesn’t trust people at all thanks to all the losses she’s sustained, yet she has this sense of humor that keeps her going. I think her humor is what helped her survived all that time alone. As far as her character development, her experiences early in the novel validate her decisions not to trust anyone—vulnerability is a quality that gets you killed in her world. The downside of never letting anyone get close to her is that she’s sort of shut down emotionally. Without giving too much away, Tora develops feelings for James (against her better judgment) and struggles with whether to go by her heart or her head. The growth she experiences in the first book continues through the sequel, and I loved getting to spend even more time with these characters.

5. Yes, I could see how her experiences shaped who she is. I read that you wrote the first draft of this in six weeks. Wow! That was quick. What was the revision process like and what did you learn about yourself as a writer from revising BURN OUT?

Oh my gosh. So yes, I wrote the first draft in six weeks, but revising was an entirely different matter and took much longer before I felt it was ready to send to agents. My critique partners are awesome and I don’t know what I would do without them. What changed about my writing process from BURN OUT to the sequel was more in the pre-planning stage. For BURN OUT, I had a short list of a few key scenes jotted down (maybe 5 or 6 lines total) and that was it. With the sequel, I wrote one whole page of key scenes in the book. I also wrote the sequel fairly quickly (eight weeks) but hope the revision stage will be quicker as I learned a lot from the first time around. I originally worried that having even a basic outline would stifle the creativity of the story, but it turned out to be the opposite. The characters surprised me and often did things I didn’t expect.

6. I write how you wrote your first draft of BURN OUT. I’ll have to try the pre-planning if I ever write a sequel. BURN OUT is a series. Did you have the other books planned out when you wrote this book or did you have to figure them out once you got your publishing contract? Do you have any advice on writing a series?

I wasn’t kidding when I said my dream outlined the entire story, so I knew how everything would end from the first sentence of BURN OUT. My agent sold the first two books up front so that made it easier to let the story flow without having to worry about tying everything up in the first book. As far as advice on a series, my copyeditor sent me a style sheet which helped me keep track of things for consistency between books. The tricky part about series is that in addition to the main conflict in each book, there has to be a greater overarching problem that isn’t solved until the last book. Character development is also so important. One of the characters in BURN OUT changed gradually in the first book, but they became my absolute favorite character in the sequel and I didn’t expect that at all.

7. I think we’d all love to have our stories come complete in a dream. Your agent is Jessica Regel. Share how she became your agent and your road to publication.

I love my agent! I used sites like QueryTracker and the agent profiles on Literary Rambles to make a master list of agents to query. Jessica was a cold query from my “top 10” list of agents, and she asked for the full manuscript within a day of reading my first pages. I’d gotten another offer of representation the same week that Jessica offered, so I set up phone calls with both of them. I’m a big believer in following your gut, and within a few minutes of talking with Jess, I knew she was “the one.” As far as the road to publication, I feel like I got so lucky with my publisher, Egmont USA. My then-editor Greg (who, sadly, has since left) understood my characters and story so well that revisions were relatively painless, and his suggestions made the book even better. He asked questions about what I wanted and didn’t want for the cover, and let me pick from a choice of fonts for the novel itself. I have a new editor, Alison, for the sequel and she’s awesome too, so I’ve had a great experience so far.

8. It’s so encouraging to hear how researching agents and querying can lead to success. And awesome that Jessica was on your wish list of agents. What are your plans for spreading the word about your book? Share something you’ve learned about marketing a debut book that would be helpful to aspiring authors.

I’ll probably be able to better answer this after the book is out, but I’m doing a launch at a local indie bookstore and invited a bunch of my friends to come hang out, eat cupcakes, and celebrate with me. Egmont is doing a book blog tour for me and Rock Star Book Tours is also doing a tour so I feel very grateful. In addition to my Colorado launch, I’m doing signings in North Carolina and Texas, and will attend several conferences this year. I’m a natural introvert but can talk books and writing all day long.
One big thing I did is to use part of my advance money to hire a publicist. An author friend had raved about the firm I’m using, and I’d already interviewed six other publicists before speaking to Julie from JKS Communications. It was the same feeling I got when I’d spoken to my agent and I knew she was the right person for me. It also helped that she and her team loved my book! Some people will tell you that publicists are a waste of money, and they are expensive, but I think if you find a great one, it’s a huge benefit. I’ve gotten reviews and placement in places I never would have on my own because I don’t have the time to do everything myself. The publicity department at Egmont is great, but publishers have so many books that they can only devote a certain amount of resources to each one. We had a joint conference call early on with my publicity people and Egmont’s publicity people, and the communication has been very smooth so far. I think when it’s done well, the publisher actually appreciates the extra support. I know I do!

9. That’s great advice to hire a publicist. I’ve heard of hiring blogging companies to handle blog tours. But not publicists. If they can get you exposure other places, it could be a good investment. What are you working on now?

Now that the sequel to BURN OUT is turned in to my editor, I’m finishing up a YA fantasy novel that also stemmed from a dream. Then I have another completed YA fantasy that I want to re-work a bit because I think it has a lot of potential. From there, I have a notebook full of book ideas and will see which one grabs me—unless I have another great dream in the meantime. :)

Thanks so much for having me on the blog today!

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Kristi. You can find Kristi musing about space monkeys and Cadbury Creme Eggs on Twitter and Facebook. Pre-order BURN OUT through Barnes & Noble, Indiebound, Amazon, or Tattered Cover, or add BURN OUT on Goodreads

Kristi and her publisher Egmont USA generously offered an ARC for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment through March 29th. I’ll announce the winner on March 31st. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, please leave it in the comments.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. You must be 13 or older to enter. International entries are welcome.

Here’s what’s coming up:

On Wednesday I’m interviewing Susan Quinn and giving away a copy of FAERY SWAP, her fantastic new MG fantasy I really enjoyed and THIRD DAUGHTER, her NA steampunk fantasy that sounds really good. Susan is a successful self-published author and she has lots of great advice to share with us.

On Friday Sherrie Petersen will be here with a guest post to celebrate the release of WISH YOU WEREN'T.

Next Monday I’m interviewing debut author Elle Cosimano and giving away a copy of ELLE, her YA thriller I’m really looking forward to reading. Sadly, I couldn't get an ARC.

Wednesday that week I’ve got a guest post by MG Buehrlen and giveaway of her YA novel THE 57 LIVES OF ALEX WAYFARE about a girl who has visions of living in times in history. It’s another one I’m hoping to read and MG blogs at YA Book Central, a fantastic blog that helps promote authors and their books.

The following Monday I’m interviewing Maureen McQuerry and giving away a copy of her MG fantasy, BEYOND THE DOOR. It sounds really good and I hope to read it.

And don’t forget Casey’s Agent Spotlights.

Hope to see you on Wednesday!

46 comments:

Beth said...

What a charming premise! And I love that the inspiration for this book was partially based on a song. Thanks for the interview.

Donna K. Weaver said...

I am so excited that SciFi is making a comeback. It was my first love in genre fiction. I'm adding this to my TBR list. I'll have to see if it's in audiobook. :)

Great interview, btw.

Stephen Tremp said...

Good luck to Christie and Burn Out. And I contacted a college physics department as part of my research. They were very helpful and willing to offer feedback.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Most of my story ideas come from dreams. Six weeks is fast. It usually takes me months to write the first draft.

Barbara Watson said...

Intriguing storyline! All best with it, Christie.

Laura Pauling said...

So many great new books coming out! And I love your interviews, Natalie! This book sounds great. Love hearing the history behind her publishing process.

Vivien said...

Dreams are definitely my fountain for ideas. Our brains are amazing!
GFC: Vivien
tweet:
https://twitter.com/KellisAmberlee_/status/445566976354562048

kellis_amberlee at yahoo dot com

Bish Denham said...

Wow, Burn Out sounds like great scifi. So many books to read! Congratulations, Kristi. There's nothing better than getting your dream agent.

Old Kitty said...

All the best to Kristi and to Tora - so alone in her dying burning world!

Hope you get more times to go out, enjoy the spring air and walk the dog, Natalie! Take care
x

Unknown said...

I'm looking forward to reading Burn Out! amymays53@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Hi Donna--yes both books will be out through Audible but not until after the release date. :)

Joanne R. Fritz said...

Congrats to S. P. Bowers and Candace! And, Natalie, I'll look forward to your interview with Sherrie on Friday. Can't wait to read her book.

Congrats to Kristi! You have a wonderful agent. I love hearing about novels that started out as a dream, especially when the outline is part of the dream. Burn Out sounds exciting.

mshatch said...

Congratulations to Kristi! I love scifi and Burn Out sounds exactly like the type of story I'd like. And having written a scifi novel myself I can relate to all the research that goes into it.

Karen Lange said...

It's so nice to meet Kristi. Thanks Natalie, for the intro. I hadn't thought about contacting a college for info - what a great idea! Wish Kristi all the best.

I attended a homeschool conference years ago where the speaker encouraged parents to pick up children's non fiction library books if they needed a good, basic overview of a certain topic to share with their kids. I thought it a wonderful idea, and now that my kids are grown, I use this idea once in a while for writing research, especially when writing for kids.

Hope your week goes smoothly!

(Don't put my name in the hat for the giveaway since I won recently.)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Sounds like you'll be busy with your tour, real world and online. Good luck and congratulations, Kristi!

Suzanne Warr said...

Wow, lots of great books coming out and fun things going on! I love the sound of Burn Out, and that the main character uses humor to survive. Adding it to my list!
I also found the discussion of a publicist fascinating, and am checking them out as we speak. You know, just in case I find myself in need of them one day soon. ;)

--Suzanne
www.suzannewarr.com

Christine Rains said...

Great interview. Kristi's style sounds awesome! Good luck with your book. :) I was a Nancy Drew fan too!

Jessie Humphries said...

Great stuff. I also hired an independent publicist, actually I hired two! For different reasons. But I'm a huge fan of having professionals work their magic for my benefit :)

Stina said...

I'm excited for Donna, Sherrie, and Carrie!!!!

Congrats, Kristi, on the book and finding a great PR person to work with. So many authors rely on the publisher and don't realize they are responsible for much of the promotion, not the publisher.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Burn Out sounds super cool. It's good to see a growing popularity in scifi.

Denise Covey said...

Congratulations Kristi. Sounds like a super science fiction which you are well placed to write.

Leigh Covington said...

Congrats to Krisit! The book sounds AWESOME! I've got it on my "to read" list! Fabulous interview and other great book shares too!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Wow!! That's a compelling blurb, Krisi. And I love your advice about contacting a college science department. Congrats to Kristi.
And Natalie, prayers coming your way. Take a rest and do some more walking, if you can.

Rosi said...

Terrific interview and this sounds like a great story, but please let someone else win. You know about my tottering TBR pile. 8-(

Jenni said...

I really enjoyed this interview! I was fascinated by how this came from the idea of what would happen if the sun burned out, and I loved how you contacted a science expert in your research.
Congrats to Kristi!

pandas4vic said...

Congrats, Kristi, on Burn Out! I loved reading your interview and how you got your idea for writing it. You're truly inspiring!
Thanks!

Liz said...

Cool idea! I am really curious about the pet trigger, too. Neat detail. Thanks for a great interview.

Unknown said...

I've also had several book ideas from documentaries I've watch with my husband :-) (I don't ever seem to watch them on my own!). I think they're great for inspiration.

Kiku said...

Sounds great! Thanks for sharing!
GFC - Kristina Vallaste
kurri121 at hotmail dot com
https://twitter.com/Deemotay/status/445885508338479104

Unknown said...

I loved hearing about how Kristi gets her ideas. It's awesome she got one of her top-picks agents. Egmont sounds amazing! I wish Kristi huge success! :)

S.P. Bowers said...

Natalie, sorry about the bankruptcies. That can't be fun to work with.

Kristie, I started writing books in kindergarten too. Burn Out sounds amazing! And I love how you came up with the idea.

Mikky said...

Awesome interview!!

I'm following via Email and, if I win, feel free to send me a message via this same email: Mikaella08 AT hotmail DOT com C:

Unknown said...

Nice interview!!! BURN OUT!! I want to read it, I'm so interested.

kristellelinawan@yahoo.com

Margo Berendsen said...

I love hearing how stories come into being - the combination of dreams and real life. Huge fan of science fiction. Sending winning vibes to this blog :)

Anonymous said...

This does sound quite interesting!

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed your advice and hearing about your process. It must be wonderful to have a book come to you fully outlined in a dream.

Carrie Butler said...

Thank you so much for the shout-out! <3 Great interview with Kristi!

Anonymous said...

Okay...BURN OUT is on my for sure to read list. Love the sound of it.

And yay on being able to walk the dog. We have glimmers of spring here, too and we are a loving it!

Anonymous said...

Great followers' news.

I was fascinated with my father's typewriters. It was hard using both the manual and electric one, but that's how I started writing. I also love scribbling down my intense dreams, although I've only used one of them in my writing.

Thanks for the giveaway. sharif(at)sharifwrites(dot) com

Mary Preston said...

I can see how a publicist could be very useful.

Loved hearing how you came up with the idea for BURN OUT.

marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Danielle H. said...

Thank you for the interview! My favorite part was how you got your ideas and how clearly they came to you (and fast!). I can't wait to read your novel and hope I win a copy. I have shared on Facebook.

Hanne Arts said...

Shared it on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HanneArtsBlogging/posts/10203444857351122?stream_ref=10

Hanne Arts said...

Shared it on my Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hannearts/status/447368472088297472

Natasha said...

Great interview!
Thanks for the chance to win!
natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

Kiersti Torok said...

Great interview! I love the idea of contacting a college science department, and the plot is really intriguing. Thanks for the interview and giveaway!

_Sandra_ said...

Great interview and a great book! Congrats Kristi on your debut novel! :) Thanks for a giveaway! :)

* following via GFC - Sandra K
* email - sandra.zg.13 @ gmail.com
* twitter - https://twitter.com/_Sandra_R_/status/448546852577624065
* Google+ - https://plus.google.com/107598100375357110332/posts/Uzkdq8NPrhN