Meet Tween/Teen Author Krysten Lindsay Hager

Carpinello's Writing Pages welcomes Krysten Lindsay Hager author of several Tween/Teen stories.

First, a bit about Krysten:

Krysten Lindsay Hager is an Amazon international bestselling author and book addict. She is originally from Michigan and has lived in South Dakota, Portugal, and currently resides in Southern Ohio, where you can find her reading and writing when she's not catching up on her favorite shows (Hart of Dixie and The Goldbergs). She's worked as a journalist and humor writer and writes middle grade, YA, and adult fiction.

Why did you pick to write books for Tweens and Teens?

That is the age when I really got into reading and began collecting books. I used to go to the library a lot with my mom and sister, and every month my mom would take me to the bookstore to pick up the latest edition of all the different series books I read.

What types of books do you like to read?

I read a little of everything. I read YA and middle grade. I love biographies, memoirs, and autobiographies. I also like fiction based on real people’s lives, Christian non-fiction, and women’s fiction, too. I read classics, and I enjoy my book club where we read a wide range of books.



When you are not writing, what do you like to do?

I like to read, watch TV, and I’m a big shopper—books are my biggest vice, but I’m into fashion, too. I always say I’ve never met a bookstore I didn’t like.

Tell us about True Colors and how the story came to be.

The book is about Landry Albright, an eighth grader who just wants to be one of the interesting girls at school who always have exciting things going on in their lives. The idea came to be when I was in college. I had just finished an independent creative writing class with a professor, and he said you should write the book you want to read, and I started thinking back to an idea I had in grade school. The idea was about these four girls as friends (Landry, Devon, Peyton, and India) and it came from when I was in the sixth grade and saw the cover of a Bangles’ album called, “Everything.” I started wondering what these four women were like as preteens/early teens. I put the modeling competition in the story because I feel so many of us have insecurities about our appearance and about how sometimes young girls feel that looks can gain them acceptance. I had done some modeling at that age (I started a little younger than Landry.), and I saw how it impacted my views on things. I wanted readers to see it wasn’t what they (or Landry) thought it would be like.

I wrote True Colors because I think we all go through times when the people we think are our true friends show us their true colors, and it hurts. Trying to figure out where you fit in is something you go through whether you’re in eighth grade, college, or as an adult. I remember being in first grade and dealing with cliques. I wanted to write about that time when you’re trying to figure out who you are as well as figure out who really has your back.

Here's a peek at True Colors:

Eighth grader Landry Albright just wants to be one of the interesting girls at school who always have exciting things going on in their lives. She wants to stand out, but also wants to fit in, so she gives in when her two best friends, Ericka and Tori, push her into trying out for a teen reality show modeling competition with them. Landry goes in nervous, but impresses the judges enough to make it to the next round. However, Ericka and Tori get cut and basically "unfriend" her on Monday at school. Landry tries to make new friends, but gets caught up between wanting to be herself and conforming to who her new friends want her to be. Along the way she learns that modeling is nowhere as glamorous as it seems, how to deal with frenemies, and that true friends see you for who you really are and like you because of it.

Have you written other books? If so, tell us a bit about them.

I have been published in several anthologies. I have a YA short story on vampires (think humor, not Twilight) in Autumn Magic that came out in October.

What’s next for your writing? Are you working on a new story?

The sequel to True Colors will be out this year (2015). It’s part of the Landry’s True Colors series and is titled, Best Friends…Forever? This second book picks up right where Landry’s story leaves off when she gets off the train with her mom in Chicago. I also have another book for the same age group, an adult novel, and an older YA novel I’m working.


What advice do you have for other authors?

Read as much as you can, go to conferences and workshops, and get into critique groups. I’d also suggest not just taking a creative writing class, but a literature class as well to see how great novels come together. I think my most helpful writing classes were the many lit classes I took in college.

Anything else you want readers to know?

If you’re interested in seeing how I imagine the characters, you can go to my website to check out my Pinterest board where I have pictures of not just the characters, but some of the girls’ bedrooms/furniture/pets/etc. I update my blog and will have a playlist for the book coming as well as my original scrapbook that I started before I ever wrote the story. You can see what that “grapefruit” colored paint looked like, too!

Where can readers find you and your books?

Me:

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22444090-true-colors
Pinterest

Purchasing links:

AmazonUS
AmazonUK
Barnes and Noble
Kobo:
iTunes
Smashwords

Meet MG/Tween Author Ben Woodard

Carpinello's Writing Pages welcomes MG/Tween author Ben Woodard and his adventure book A Stairway to Danger.

First, a bit about Ben:

Ben grew up practically living in the local library. Reading was his escape, and the library was his portal. He loved boys' adventure stories, and he’s been amazed at the reports that say boys don't read. So he decided to write the kind of stories he remembered. Tales of lost gold and river caves, and fun. And stories of friendship that endure through adversity and danger. Adventures that inspire and educate and, most of all, entertain.

Why did you pick to write books for MG/Tween readers?

I love all children's genres, but I felt that early teens, 12 to 15, and especially boys, didn't have a lot of realistic, adventure books to read. Those are the ones I grew up on, from the classics like Tom Sawyer, to the Hardy Boys and the Rick Brant Series– my favorite. Some of them were racist and sexist, which mine aren't, but I liked the adventure and camaraderie of boys in realistic fiction. And  that's what I've tried to write.

What types of books do you like to read?

My tastes haven't changed much. I still like kids' books and that's what I most often read. When I first started writing I tried to read all of the Newbery and Printz award winners for the last 10 years and many of the honor books.  Those stories moved me as much as any books I’ve read.

When you are not writing, what do you like to do?

I like to read, to hike in the woods, to play with the grandkids, and snuggle with my wife on the couch. Oh, and not necessarily in that order.

Tell us about A Stairway To Danger and how the story came to be.

A Stairway To Danger is the first of three in the Shaketown Adventure Series set in small-town Kentucky in 1923. The idea for the book came from stories my dad told me about growing up in a rural village in Kentucky in the twenties. The stories fascinated me because he got to do things he would have never allowed me to do. I also had a nagging desire to write for reluctant readers, especially boys. So I wrote a NaNoWriMo book several years ago imagining my dad and his cousin in this town. It was terrible, but the idea stuck and two years ago I started writing the story again, but from a different prospective. I made the boys a bit larger than life and gave one a horrific past.

Here's a peek at A Stairway to Danger:

A rusty barge, a dead body, and a perplexing mystery entangle two Kentucky cousins in a life or death struggle against a shadowy gang.

It’s the summer of 1923 and two cousins hunting for hidden gold stumble on a decayed body. Was the death an accident? Fourteen-year-old Tom Wallace is convinced it was murder and drags his older cousin, Will, into a harrowing struggle against a shadowy group. Not even repeated attempts on their lives can stop the boys from relentlessly pursuing the mystery. But when their curiosity leads them to investigate a derelict barge, what they find is bigger and more dangerous than anything they could have imagined.




Have you written other books? If so, tell us a bit about them.

I have. I mentioned the Shakertown Adventure Series above and the second book, Steps Into Darkness is finished and available. I also wrote two short stories, The Hunt and The Trestle, about the two cousins, and The Trestle is free.

Also published is The Boy Who Flew With Eagles, a short, middle grade story with illustrations. Again, written primarily for reluctant readers. While the book hasn't sold a huge number of copies, it's gotten wonderful reviews and is being used as a teaching aid for adults learning English in Germany and Bulgaria.

Here's a brief peek at this book:

By the light of leaping flames an old man weaves a story. A tale of a time of great hunger when every living thing might die. Only one boy can save his people and all creatures from starvation. But he must risk everything in the effort.

What's next for your writing? Are you working on a new story?

Always. I'm constantly thinking about new stories, and I have several in the works. The final book in the Shakertown Adventure Series is my next novel. It will be titled The Staircase Of Fire. All of the books in the series have something about steps in the title, and this book will make the reason known.
I have another novelette about the same size as The Boy Who Flew With Eagles that is in the final edits. It will be another unusual book in that a local photographer will be supplying pictures of trees for the story which is about a young boy's adventure in an ancient forest in Ireland. Another project is a middle grade paranormal trilogy that one agent has shown some interest in acquiring. Writing is my new career and I’m loving it.

What advice do you have for other authors?

Write. That’s it. That’s the number one activity all of us must do. No excuses, no doubts, and no quitting. Because to get better, there is only one way, and that is to keep putting words on paper until we’re good at it. For some of us this might take years, but we really have no choice.

Most writers’ lives are a mess. Going in a dozen directions, overwhelmed by family and work, and trying to snatch a few minutes to write. This doesn’t work. You have to claim writing time. Make it a priority even if it’s only fifteen minutes a day. And find a method that works for you. I get away during the day to a coffee shop that doesn’t mind me lingering. Maybe once a month, I’ll go to a nearby state park, get a cheap room, and stay for a couple of nights. Whatever works.

Anything else you want readers to know?

I believe that reading is the basis for all success. People who read are more interested and curious about the world, and have a range of knowledge far beyond a non-reader. The most important skill a child can learn is the love of reading. Encourage your children to read. Get them to turn off the electronic games for a while and enter a world of imagination. And please have them try one of mine.


Where can readers find you and your books?

Amazon Author's Page
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

A Stairway to Danger
    AmazonUS
    All other countries http://smarturl.it/stairway

The Boy Who Flew With Eagles
     AmazonUS