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Katie L.
Carroll began writing at a very sad time in her life after her 16-year-old sister,
Kylene, unexpectedly passed away. Since then writing has taken her to many
wonderful places, real and imagined. She wrote Elixir Bound and the
forthcoming Elixir Saved so Kylene could live on in the pages of a book. Katie
is also the author of a picture app called THE BEDTIME KNIGHT and a book
editor. She lives not too far from the beach in a small Connecticut city with
her family.
Visit her at the Katie L. Carroll website
Follow her on Twitter
@KatieLCarroll.
No two story ideas have ever come to me from the same
lightning strike of inspiration. The first book I ever wrote was inspired by my
sister who passed away at the age of 16. My dad encouraged me to write a
fantasy adventure for her to live on in the pages of a book. The second book I wrote
had a setting based on a very real place in my hometown and a character voice in
my head that wouldn’t go away. Then I wrote a picture book after noticing how
the ceiling fan above my bed closely resembled a giant.
My current work in progress grew from a very specific moment
of inspiration. While I was relaxing out on my back deck—probably reading—a
butterfly flitted by. Seeing a butterfly wasn’t a rare occurrence as I have a
beautiful butterfly bush in my backyard that attracts all manner of insects
(and the rare hummingbird), but it was the color of this butterfly that caught
my attention. It was a velvety black, so incongruous with the yellow and orange
I was accustomed to seeing.
The contrast of the sinister symbolism of the color black
and the association of the butterfly with transformation struck a chord in me.
And then came the what-if that so often inspires story ideas: What if a young
woman with a very dark past lost her memories and was given the chance to start
over? From this stemmed a whole barrage of new questions, ideas, and images.
What would happen when she began to remember her past? Can people really change
when give the chance? Why was her past so dark? Etc…
That was the birth of a story aptly named BLACK BUTTERFLY,
which I am currently drafting. It’s been really fun to play with the symbolism
I mentioned earlier and to tease the main character (and the reader) with a
slow reveal of her past.
And just the other day…oh, never mind you don’t really want
to know about yet another story idea.
Seems I have more seeds of inspiration than I could ever sow in a lifetime. I’m
a firm believer that story ideas are everywhere. I like to let them simmer in
my mind for awhile before I act on them. It’s the ones that stick around, the
ones that won’t let me forget them, that get made into stories.
Remember that story inspired by my sister? That became my YA
fantasy ELIXIR BOUND. One lucky reader can win an ebook of it.
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ELIXIR BOUND blurb:
Katora Kase is
next in line to take over as guardian to a secret and powerful healing Elixir.
Now she must journey into the wilds of Faway Forest to find the ingredient that
gives the Elixir its potency. Even though she has her sister and brother, an
old family friend, and the handsome son of a mapmaker as companions, she feels
alone.
It is her
decision alone whether or not to bind herself to the Elixir to serve and
protect it until it chooses a new guardian. The forest hosts many dangers,
including wicked beings that will stop at nothing to gain power, but the
biggest danger Katora may face is whether or not to open up her heart to love.
Buy links: Available as ebook or print
