Crossroads Blog Tour Kickoff! Stacey Kade & Kindle giveaway!

Welcome to Day 1 of The Crossroads Blog Tour! Eight days, thirteen YA authors – eight Blogs and one amazing grand prize!

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 I’m thrilled to kick off the tour by hosting one of my favorite authors, Stacey Kade! I adore her Ghost & the Goth trilogy and I’m dying to read her new Project Paper Dolls series. Book #1 – The Rules has an expected release date of April 23, 2013, from Disney-Hyperion. Goodreads

Check out my interview with Stacey then read "Grand Prize and How The Crossroads Tour works"
 at the end of this post to find out how you can win a Kindle by following The Crossroads Blog Tour! Good luck!

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Karen: Your Ghost & the Goth trilogy is now complete with the release of Body & Soul and you have a new series coming out in April of 2013 called Project Paper Doll. How does it feel to dive into a new world that seems quite different from the Ghost & the Goth series?

Stacey: Oh, boy, it was one of those things—starting in a new world was a fun, fresh challenge, but also kind of scary. By the time I wrote Body  & Soul, I felt like I knew Alona and Will and their world instinctively. The third book was, in many ways, the easiest to write.

So, I really underestimated the fumbling and fear that would accompany jumping into a new world that I didn’t know. That being said, it was a blast to have the freedom to stretch in a new way. To find the new boundaries.

I always want to continue to grow as a writer. I think that helps keep things fresh for me and for those who read my books.

Karen: Do you get writer's block? If so how do you deal with it?

Stacey: I think of writer’s block more as a symptom rather than a problem, if that makes sense. Usually, in my experience, it’s caused by one of two issues. It can be that the conflict just died. No conflict, no story. If the problem has been resolved or if there’s no real impetus for the problem to be resolved, your story stalls.

But most of the time, for me, it’s because I’ve tried to force a character to do something he or she wouldn’t do.

I can even give you an example. Looking back on it now, it’s so obvious, but at the time I really struggled.

In Queen of the Dead, there’s a scene where Alona is helping Will clean up after he was attacked by Mrs. Ruiz’s spirit. Alona can tell that he’s intrigued by Mina, the mysterious ghost-talker they bumped into while there, and her feelings are really hurt. She trusts Will and there’s obviously a developing relationship of some kind between them, but he’s interested in this other girl…

What I struggled with there was I wanted to show her hurt but also that the relationship between them was changing. It had grown deeper.

So, in my first (awful) draft of that scene, Alona was actually crying and expressing her hurt, telling him how she felt.

Ugh. Yeah, the scene just completely died there. And I couldn’t push past it.

It was my husband who helped me figure out, by asking, “Well, when this has happened to you in the past, what was the problem?”

And I fought it initially, but then I realized, “Duh, Alona would never let herself be this vulnerable, this fast.”

She would be hurt, but her way of handling hurt is to pretend it doesn’t bother her, to tell herself (and you) that she doesn’t need you.

But the difference in this scene was that Will was starting to catch on to that. He knew her well enough to figure out what that snippiness really meant and respond by reassuring her. 

And that is one of my favorite scenes in that book now. 

Karen: Let's switch gears with a few Halloween themed questions! Since you're *familiar* with ghosts…If you could have dinner with four ghosts (fictional or real) who would you choose?

Stacey: Actually, this is so horrible, but um, ghosts really scare me.  Seriously, I can’t even watch those ridiculous ghost-hunting shows on TV, especially The Dead Files. (Have you seen that one? Freaks me out every time.) So, I don’t think I’d want to have dinner with ghosts. Except maybe my grandfather. Because I miss him still and I’d like to say hi.

Karen: If you could be any paranormal creature or have one supernatural talent, what would you be and why?

Stacey: Hmm. Okay. Right now, I’d want the ability to stop time. (Can you tell I’m a little panicky about getting stuff done? *grin*) BUT! I also know that abilities like this usually come with a pretty hefty price. Like maybe I’d be able to stop time but everything I accomplish in that borrowed time would be undone as soon as I started time up again. Or, worse, it would like somehow screw up the earth’s rotation around the sun, and I’d have to figure out how to fix it…yeah, no thanks.

Thank you Stacey!

Author: Website | Twitter | Goodreads | Books

Grand Prize and How the Crossroads Tour works:

Each day of The Crossroads Blog Tour, a new research question will be revealed on The Crossroad Blog Tour main page and each day the answer to that question will be found within one of the different blog posts by Crossroads Tour authors. Your job is to get the question, read the blog posts, and collect all answers by the end of the tour.

Answers are to be emailed to judithgraves @ ymail dot com by October 28that MIDNIGHT. Winner of the grand prize will be announced on OCTOBER 31st – HALLOWEEN.

The GRAND PRIZE you’re vying for? A brand new KINDLE, preloaded with a title from each of the participating Crossroads Blog Tour Authors. That’s right folks, a free KINDLE preloaded with 13 free titles from the participating authors!

Crossroads Blog tour: Main page | Twitter
Twitter chat hosted by Mundie Moms on Monday 1/29 from 8-9 CST/ 9-10 EST

Participating bloggers:
Late Bloomer Online
A Simple Love of Reading
Scribing Shadows
For What It's Worth
Confessions of a Bookaholic
Mundie Moms Book Reviews
Most-Wanted Monsters
A Life Bound by Books