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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Guest Post & Giveaway with Felicia Rogers, Author of The Key!

The Key

Hello, my name is Felicia Rogers, and I’m an author.  Or so they tell me.  About two years ago, after reading book upon book, I decided that perhaps I could write my own.  My original plan was to write a historical romance novel.  My focus was going to be on Scotland, because I hate to admit it but I have a thing for kilts.  I love plaid.

While sitting around the table one day, I had an idea for a story.  It all started with a girl and an ugly truck.  High school contains so many pressures and one of those is always getting the right girl and driving the best car.  My idea was to have a “hot” guy with an ugly car.  And the story flowed from there.

After my plotting session at the family table, I realized I wanted to do a YA paranormal story.  But not with vampires and werewolves but something completely different.  Paranormal with a mystery, something that would be completely unexpected.  And so, The Key was created.

My family and I began to go on long hikes in the woods around our local area and this brought inspiration.  The story is infused with hints of dark woods, for example:


She was turning around and around in a dark wood, when she heard it.  The growl, the snarl, the flap of wings, the creature landed in front of her and she took off running. 

The branches smacked her in the face, opening her skin.  She was wearing a long flowing white dress that billowed behind her with every step she took.  The tree limbs snagged her dress as she raced to get away.
             
She could feel the hot putrid breath as the beast drew closer and closer.  She looked behind her to see her pursuer, and screamed.  The horror of its dark form terrifying...

Then of course, during writing this story I went on vacation and I had to add hints from there into my story as well.  For example:

The Key
Before Maddie knew what she was doing, she had pushed the craft out into the water, grabbed and oar, and stepped inside the canoe.  She used the oar to push off, heading down river as the sun began to lower.  After about an hour of paddling, it didn’t take her long to realize her mistake.  No one knew her location, and she wasn’t sure if she could get back home.

Maddie tried to paddle back towards the dock but the river’s flow was against her.  The sun was setting quickly.  The river noises were becoming more pronounced.  The mosquitoes were feasting on her lily, white skin but she was unable to stop paddling to slap them away.  Then as if matters couldn’t get any worse, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a huge shape slide into the water.  Fear shot through her sluggish limbs.  What had caused her to believe this was a good idea.
           
She began to yell, “Help!”

In the end, the setting of The Key is in my fictional towns of Coal Creek and Wheeler’s Landing.  It is a mixture of many places I’ve visited.


How I became an author is an interesting story.  Sometimes I think it happened by chance, by accident, completely without my help.  Although if I calculate all the hours I’ve invested into my writing, I realize that’s not exactly true.

About two years ago, I told my cousin I wanted to write a romance novel.  I’ve read romances in every genre for years.  At one time about five years ago, I’d tried to write one, but it never made it past the editing stage.  When I informed my cousin of my plan, she encouraged me.  Said it would be a joint effort.  I didn’t know at the time she would become unable to help me and I would be completely on my own. I went on to finish that manuscript and I sent it out to several agents and publishers but it never made it past the first stages.  Disgruntled and looking for new ways to get my work out there, I stumbled across a forum post for Solstice Publishing’s Celebrate the Season contest.  I was waiting to hear from a publisher on my manuscript at the time so I set all my other ideas aside and started work on a submission.  In two weeks I had written a novella of about 13,000 words and submitted it for the contest.  Now all I had to do was cross my fingers and wait.
Within a few weeks I discovered I was one of five winners and my novella was going to be published!  This gave me renewed hope that anything was possible. Currently my published works include, The Holiday Truce (included in the Celebrate the Season book), The Key (YA paranormal romance novel), and The Perfect Rose (a contemporary novella).  Coming in late summer or early Fall 2011, will be my historical suspense romance, There Your Heart Will be Also.



GIVEAWAY

ONE SIGNED COPY OF 
BY FELICIA ROGERS



The Key

A teenage girl suffering from a family tragedy, Maddie Clevenger is oblivious to the ancient mystery surrounding her. She’s young and incredibly unlucky, in life and in love. She should be enjoying her senior year of high school, but instead she is tormented by a reoccurring nightmare and a very real stalker. But all that changes when Chase Donovan, an Air Force brat with a protective streak, shows up at school. Will Chase be the key to helping her solve her stalker problem? Will he be the key to solving the mystery surrounding her family’s past?


Official Rules:
1.You must be 13 year or older to enter.
2. Open to entrants with a valid U.S. mailing address only. 
3. Entries must be received by Midnight EST on May 28th 2011.
4.To enter to win, simply leave a meaningful comment for Felicia below along with your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner. 
Good luck!




Felicia Rogers, born and raised in the southern part of the United States, is a Christian wife and mother. She is just your average, ordinary woman, with a side interest-- writing. For eleven years, every waking moment of her life was consumed with changing diapers, wiping noses, and kissing scrapes. But now that her children have grown and she enjoys a modicum of freedom, in addition to taking care of hearth and home, she writes! She enjoys adding a flavor of realism and humor to her all too real romance stories. For what is love without a little laughter?
Official Website
Facebook Fan Page


30 comments:

Unknown said...

Wonderful post. Books sounds intriguing. Can't wait to read it. Please enter me in give away. Donna
dkmtheriot@yahoo.com
http://mylife-in-stories.blogspot.com

Val said...

I'm impressed that you went from wanting to write a romance to paranormal YA. I think it takes a lot to focus those ideas or voices in your head into a story.

I love paranormal and I have to admit your book sounds different which is a rare thing.

It's definitely going on my TBR pile. Thanks.

Valerie(at)stuckinbooks.com

Stuckinbooks.com

Unknown said...

Felicia I have never read any of your books but I would like to.Please enter me in contest. I would love to read this book. Tore923@aol.com

Mona said...

I've always loved the woods. They seem to me serene, and yet sinister. The premise sounds fascinating and the excerpt gave me chills.

monagarg@yahoo.com

Reading said...

I enjoyed reading about how your book came to be. Thanks for sharing.

lizzi0915 at aol dot com

Meredith said...

I like that the author used her locations in her story. I think it helps describe the location better in the story to be able to feel the elements around you.

meredithfl at gmail dot com

debbie said...

It is always interesting to me, to see what inspires authors. I enjoy reading their books even more, when I know this about them.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com

IandSsmom said...

Just love your stories and I love to hear how the idea for a story came to be! As a non-writer I think it is fascinating!!
Looking forward to this book!
Shannon J.
shannonjean14(at)gmail(dot)com

SandyG265 said...

Great post. I liked hearing how she came up with the idea for the story.

sgiden at verizon.net

GirlforChrist said...

I'm not an author, but it seems like me and my fellow readers sometimes forget the effort it must take during the whole writing/publishing process! So good job in persevering and writing an exciting book!

Krystal Larson said...

I love how the author stumbled on th idea for this book-write a historical romance including plaids next (sounds like a great idea)! The summary of this book looks great, I will go add it to my to-reads list on good reads. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be introduced to this awesome, funnny author and the novel :) edysicecreamlover18ATgmail.com

Melanie Montgomery said...

Im a fan of plaid as well. :]

Hope I win the book.

clarkmurdock@yahoo.com

Vivien said...

What a process you went through for this novel. I am really enjoying the amount of description.

Vivien
deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

Vidisha said...

Cover looks great and the book Sounds Great

vidishamun@gmail.com

Denise Z said...

Thank you so much to Felicia Rogers for sharing the process of inception and writing of the Key. I love the coastal settings, as well as the elements of mystery in the story,I really like to read more than the average boy meet girl etc and the Key sounds like it may be something on a new path and an enjoyable read. I would love to win a copy of this book and if not it will still go on my wishlist (which is starting to get out of control:)
dz59001@gmail.com

Book Flame said...

The trailer sucked me in, this book sounds like it will be an amazing read. Thanks for the chance to win
bookflamereviews@gmail.com

Cindy Rogers said...

This sounds like a very interesting book. Please enter me in the drawing.

robseanmom at gmail dot com

Unknown said...

I hadn't heard of this before. I love hearing where authors got their inspiration from. Thanks for sharing and the opportunity to win!

Carrie
carrieb1090 at gmail dot com

Hoot aka Jessy said...

Thank you for telling us how the story became.. I really think that is a fun part of the story. For me hearing from an author a personal story about themselves really helps me connect to the story and want to keep reading what the person writes.

hootowl1978 at gmail dot com

Regina said...

I like how you put hints of your vacation into your story. I think that it makes the story more realistic if the setting is somewhere the author has actually been. That adds more dimension to it.

regina.linton@gmail.com

Khyla said...

This is a very intriguing book i would love to read. what a great and interesting way how this book got started out :)

khyla_808ATyahooDOTcom

Felicia Rogers said...

Thanks so much for the wonderful comments! When I wrote "The Key" I never had any intentions of doing more with it. But I changed my mind. There is so much more there to tell, right? This week I finished the sequel. A little bit of polishing and it'll be on its way to the publisher. My hope is to create a whole series of YA novels set in my fictional town.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy my story!

Unknown said...

The book sounds really good. thanks for the giveaway. I have a thing for kilts,too.
marlenebreakfield(at)yahoo(dot)com

karenk said...

a wonderful posting, felicia...thanks for the opportunity to read your novel :)

karenk
kmkuka at yahoo dot com

Krystal Larson said...

I would love to read and review this novel! edysicecreamlover18ATgmailDOTcom

Christina Andre said...

sounds like a great book, can't wait to read it

nobodysangel113(at)yahoo(dot)com

♡♥♬ Raven In A Blue Room ♬♥♡ said...

I enjoyed reading your guest post, I also love the intenseness of the cover

Thank you for hosting this giveaway

Louis
schnitzomage {at} gmail {dot} com

travellingmomof2 said...

Been reading for a long time and love what I have heard about you. Can not wait to start reading your books.

Dorothy7 said...

Reading is Fun & I live to read, Thanks

calgirl said...

This book sounds interesting. Stalking sounds trivial until you are the victim and your life is put under the microscope .