Rachel Starr Thomson

For today’s post, Hannah Stahlhut was kind enough to write about her journey as a young writer–and beyond that, as a young marketer of her own writing! Thanks, Hannah!

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As I typed the final words of my first book in March 2007, I had no idea what was to come of my story about a boy who talks to animals. Even if I hoped that it would one day be published, I never dreamed that Journey to the Homeland would become a trilogy and that the young readers would one day change my life. I thought the story ended with me, a sixteen year old girl, writing a book. But that was just the beginning.

To be quite truthful, writing a book is the easiest part of being an author. Most authors, myself included, spend much more time talking to readers and promoting their book than they did writing it. This task was admittedly daunting to me in my first months as a writer. I tried to do book readings at bookstores and libraries locally, but not many of them were interested. At last, I began talking to school administrators about giving presentations to classrooms. My book was geared for students ages 8-13, so I thought that elementary schools would offer the best opportunity for me to raise awareness about my book.

Speaking with students was the best thing I ever did. The moment I finished my first presentation I was surrounded by other young authors– each with their own story to tell. Their enthusiasm was something I had never witnessed before. Each of the fourth grade students were excited about my achievement and thrilled to share their own ideas with me. They wanted to know more about the book; they wanted to know when the next book was coming out; they wanted to know if they could write a story of their own.

I will never forget the young boy who assured me that he was going to write a book with “a hundred thousand” pages. Or the girl who said she didn’t like to read, but who read my book in only a couple of days. I am the first to admit that I didn’t always sell books at my school visits and readings, but the students’ energy about creative writing never let me down. As I began marketing for my second and third books, I realized that I wasn’t just inspiring these kids to write– they were inspiring me, too. Their excitement fed my creativity for my next two books, and they kept me believing in my books. And for their amazing energy, even if I never sell one book again, I am forever grateful.

Thanks to the support of my dear young readers, I am proud to announce the release of Keegan’s third adventure: Strangers in Madrona. In this new action-packed tale, Keegan discovers that another young boy in his village has been blessed with a magical gift– much like Keegan’s own ability to speak to animals. When he finds that there is a plot to kidnap this young boy, however, Keegan runs into a world of trouble.

For information and news about Keegan’s Adventures, my writing, and author visits, visit www.keegansjourney.com.

Hannah Stahlhut

Hannah Stahlhut’s Journey to the Homeland, written while the author was only 16, won First Place in the 2007 Tweener Time Competition. The contest (which I helped judge two years in a row) took novel-length manuscripts and cover art from teen authors and artists. The books are written for preteen audiences. Winners were awarded a scholarship and publication by Baker-Trittin Press.

Journey to the Homeland is the story of Keegan, an orphan boy in a land called Diggeret, whose ability to mind-speak with animals is both a blessing and a curse. While he enjoys his relationships with animals, especially his best friend Adrian (a jaguar), when his gift is discovered it tends to ruin his relationships with people.

So it is that when Keegan has settled happily into a village called Crempton, he doesn’t want anyone to know about his gift—so much so that when he calls Adrian to help rescue a fiery girl called Nora from a wild dog, he’s happy to let Nora take the blame for calling her. Nora is an incorrigible storyteller who doesn’t mind taking that blame—at first. But soon, her reputation gets out of hand, and one night she’s kidnapped by the king’s soldiers.

Things have gone too far, and Keegan sets out to rescue Nora with Adrian’s help. Their journey will take them beyond the rescue to a whole new life in Nora’s ancestral homeland—a place where Keegan, too, may find unexpected roots.

Journey to the Homeland has likable characters and an intriguing premise. The plot is fairly simple, and I found myself wishing that scenes and characters were fleshed out to a greater extent. But for all that, it’s an entertaining story that will be enjoyed by kids 8 and up—and if the author is encouraged to keep writing and developing her skills, Tweener Time may just prove to have given a beloved storyteller for a new generation of kids her start.

P.S. I wrote this review a while back, and I have since discovered that Hannah is indeed still writing. In fact, she has published two more books in this series! I’ve invited Hannah to guest blog here, so I hope that we’ll hear from her next week. Stay tuned!

The Elves of Berinfell are led by seven royal “lords,” noble Elf men and women who possess powerful abilities and stand at the forefront of the conflict between their people and the Spider King—a bitter, angry, and increasingly powerful ruler who holes up in a terrifying mountain called Vesper Crag, building an army of hard-headed Gwar, knife-knuckled Drefids, and huge warspiders while becoming ever more adept at Drefid dark arts.

The Elves have no idea how bad things are in Vesper Crag—until a surprise attack nearly wipes them out. The lords of Berinfell are slain, and their children—heirs to their position and their unique powers—are abducted. The Elves, who depend on sunlight for their lives, are pushed underground—for eight hundred years.

All of that is just the backstory.

When Curse of the Spider King opens, it is to not the world of Elves, Gwar, and warspiders, but to the world of schoolteachers, lunchroom insecurities, and preteen crushes. Seven thirteen-year-olds—Tommy, Kat, Autumn, Johnny, Jimmy, Kiri Lee, and Jett—are about to discover that they are not who they thought they were. They are the seven missing lords of Berinfell, and it’s time for them to go back home.

In Venom and Song, the climactic ending of Curse of the Spider King has catapulted the lords and their guardians into the midst of a battle in Allyra, the Elven world. They escape that ambush and are taken to Nightwish Caverns, where the remnant of Berinfell has been in hiding for eight centuries. Under the training of Guardmaster Grimwarden and the beautiful Goldarrow, they must learn to master their unique, lord-born powers, work together as a team, and uncover the ancient secrets that will lead them to victory on Vesper Crag.

My feelings about this series are mixed. On the one hand, Curse of the Spider King was far more engrossing than I expected. The authors did an excellent job of capturing the teenage characters as their worlds unravel, so much so that I teared up a few times! The cast is large but not overwhelming: each of the teens is a distinct character with a unique personality and struggles of his or her own. As the teens discover who they truly are—including their battle gifts—the story is both wondrous and truly scary.

Most of the teens begin their discovery when they are handed a strange, handwritten book of history by their Elven guardians—who are disguised as schoolteachers, librarians, bookstore owners, and other innocuous adults. The book comes to life, playing the history of Allyra and the Elves of Berinfell before the astonished eyes of the teens. However, this is where the series started to lose me: I found the Elven history sections boring; every time one came up, I wanted to get back to the real world and the teens. Which led me to believe . . .

That I wouldn’t like the second book as much. This was true. Venom and Song is set in Allyra, so it doesn’t have the same fascinating intersection of worlds that was present in the first book. The plot was also slower: the long “training” portion in the middle didn’t hold my attention well, and I found the catalyst for the final battle unconvincing. Allyra itself failed to capture my heart the way the real-world plight of the teens on earth did.

When I really try to put my finger on it, I think my disappointment may come down to preference. While the first book deals far more with real teenage situations, I found the second book much more “teenage” in its sensibilities. This irritates me—even as a teenager, I didn’t like teenage sensibilities. Many of the action sequences made me feel like I was on a roller coaster—or in a video game. I found the teenage-romance angst irritating. And a subplot which finds humor in flatulence was really just not my style. Wonder—the wonder of beauty, of the exotic, of ancient history—is a big thing for me in fantasy, and in Venom and Song, I found that wonder was missing.

But that’s just me—and Venom is a second book, a series position notorious for being weak. I recommend Curse of the Spider King, and I suspect readers—especially young readers, for whom these books are written—will be more forgiving of the foibles of Venom and Song.

NW: I know that marketing is an important part of publishing a book, and it’s especially important if you decide to self publish because then you are almost solely responsible for marketing and publicizing, not to mention editing, formatting, and deciding on cover art before the book even goes to print. While this amount of responsibility may seem daunting to some writers, there is certainly an alluring sense of freedom and control that can also come with such responsibilities. Is there any advice you can give writers contemplating self publishing that would help them in these areas of the publishing process?

RST: Yes: Do Your Research. And if you can’t do something well, hire someone to do it. Your book is your business card. It’s your public face. Make it something you wouldn’t be ashamed to have a major publisher look at.

NW: Is there anything you did while publishing your books that you regret?

RST: Well, when I first got started, I didn’t do my homework! So I wasted a bunch of time (and a little bit of money) because I didn’t know what I was doing. Education is always worth the time it takes.

Blogger Nichole White has interviewed me at her blog, The Pen and Parchment, discussing publishing (self- and traditional), writing, my inspirations, and more. You can read the whole thing here: http://theravenquill.blogspot.com/2011/02/interview-with-rachel-starr-thompson-d.html.

Thanks, Nichole!

Life can be worrisome to an 11-year-old. It was to me one night as I lay in the top bunk staring up at the corner of the white ceiling. Outside lights came faintly through the blinds, striping the walls. I was thinking of people who weren’t speaking to each other and of how families could be splintered by distance and misunderstanding, and my child heart hurt over it.

But, I thought, they will all be in heaven. And they will have eternity to patch things up and live in peace. Separation in this life isn’t so bad. They’ll have eternity — forever.

I traced the length of the ceiling with my eyes, corner to corner, and imagined that length stretching as far as another ceiling and another and another and another and another. And somehow, in the stripy darkness of that bedroom, I touched eternity. I dove under the covers with my heart pounding, wrapped myself away from the frightening vastness I’d only just glimpsed.

My heart pounded for a long time.

Do we really believe what we say we believe? Read the whole article at http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0002387.cfm.