Awaken by Kristen Day Blog Tour: Guest Post

Author Kristen Day has stopped by today with a guest post for the Awaken Blog Tour!

How my books ‘happen’…

It’s an odd thing; letting people into your mind. I’m not very good at it. It’s kind of like when you get the giggles and you have NO idea why you are laughing like a banshee on crack. I write and write and write but ask me to explain it and I suddenly draw a blank. I have a lot in common with Stasia - the heroine of the Daughters of the Sea Trilogy - her insecurities, her fears, her strengths, and her independence. But as I’ve been writing, I’ve come to realize each character matches a part of ‘me’. I have a lot of sides and I seem to polarize them in order to personify each. Don’t worry - it’s not as exhausting as it sounds. But it does make it easier to bring each individual character to life and give them depth. At the moment Nadia is my favorite character to write. I get to let my mind really wander and think differently - it’s actually been a lot of fun! In order to help people understand how I come up with the stories and characters, I’ve made a list of the major steps that tend to happen while I’m writing a book:  

1. The 4am Idea Fairy: Almost every night at 4:00am, I wake up with my mind racing. The scene or plot I’m working on comes to life and takes off - leaving me helpless to do anything but watch it play out and then frantically write it all down so I don’t forget it by morning.
2. My husband: Sounds cheesy right? But seriously, the guy is a riot - he comes up with the most random sayings and I’ve incorporated several into my books - usually said by Finn.
3. MacGyver Ideas: Think of this as making a piece of art out of a pile of random items. As I’m writing the storyline I throw in a symbol or a person or an object that will mean something later in the book, but I have no idea what yet. I keep all of these random ideas in the back of my mind and as I’m writing the rest of the book they just seem to ‘fit’ places. I have no clue how this works, but as long as it does I’m going to keep doing it…
4. How does it make me feel: As I’m writing, my main objective is to elicit a specific emotion/reaction from the reader. If I re-read it and don’t get that exact emotion, I scrap it and start over. That’s the perfectionist in meJ
5. Red Bull. Red Bull. And more Red Bull.

  Thank you so much for spending a little piece of your day listening to my ramblings! I greatly appreciate it!

Title: Awaken (Daughters of the Sea 2) Author: Kristen Day Publisher: Self Published Release Date: October 2, 2012 Blurb: The sacrifices we make have the power to shift the very fabric of who we are, and ultimately who we are meant to be… After learning of her true destiny as the intended Leader of the Tydes, Anastasia Whitman must now embark on a perilous quest to the Underworld before the age of eighteen in order to plant the seed of immortality and complete her essence to become a true Sea Goddess. But before she can make her legendary journey, an unexpected new student transfers to Lorelei; initiating a sequence of events that will unravel Stasia’s new life, and test the boundaries of her relationship with the mysterious, dark, and sexy Finn Morrison. The line between the Underworld and the Living begins to blur as gruesome ghosts, morbid reveries, and pure evil haunt her waking hours as well as her sanity. Once the details of Finn’s own startling destiny are revealed, the dangerous secrets he’s been hiding will threaten the very love Stasia believed to be indestructible. As time begins to run out, she will be forced to choose between the one she loves and the destiny she cannot escape. About Kristen Day Kristen Day is a southern belle at heart with a crazy streak that desperately tries to escape at every opportunity. She loves all things nostalgic, rustic, and quirky. She’s been told she sees the world through rose-colored glasses, but she prefers to think of them as kaleidoscope glasses - swirling and morphing reality into something she can digest (who hasn't pretended those pasty lima beans were really kiwi strawberry jelly beans?). She is the author of the DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA trilogy, which includes FORSAKEN, AWAKEN (Oct 2012), and CHOSEN (Winter 2012). She loves all books, but really enjoys writing young adult, paranormal romances. She’s loved to write for as long as she can remember. Her first published work was her poem RED in second grade (you guessed it - it was a poem about the color red - life altering, right?) that won her 5 gold stars and a spot in her elementary school's poetry book. That's when her addiction to the written word officially began. She was the only kid in fifth grade that actually enjoyed diagramming sentences. Go ahead and laugh - its okay. When she’s not writing she’s making jewelry, painting, feeding her addiction to sweet tea, watching the Discovery Channel, or going on random adventures in the mountains of North Carolina with her amazing husband. She was born in Boone, NC and graduated from Appalachian State University with a degree in Marketing in 2001. Author’s Links Purchase on Amazon   Purchase on Barnes and Noble   Goodreads Blog Twitter Facebook