January 2017 Spotlight: Yet Another Peek into the Workings of At Her Fingertips

Another spotlight is upon us, and today I’m going to veer into uncharted waters with a discussion about The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy, Book 3: At Her Fingertips.
What? you say. You’ve posted thousands of excerpts and quotes and made us read through post upon post about every stage of your outlining and writing process!
I know, I know! But I’ve been focusing on other projects throughout December and January, so it’s time to return to the book which critics (well, my friend Bay Ray) are calling “Kellyn Roth’s best work yet.” (though probably with more spelling errors and exclamation points, knowing Bay …)
Though I guess there technically aren’t any uncharted waters here.
Well. Let’s see if I can’t give you some new information without spoilers.
For At Her Fingertips, anyway; there will probably be spoilers for The Dressmaker’s Secret. After all, we’re talking the third book in the series and it would be almost impossible not to … so yep.
Beware of TDS spoilers! Even though there are spoilers for TDS in almost every post now. What can I say? You need to read it! 😉

This is going to be a short spotlight as I’m sick and not in a particularly creative mood. I just want to get this over with, honestly! Which totally defies one of my blogging dares this month, ‘Have fun with it!’
Oh, well. We can’t always be happy bloggers.
Okay, so, technically we can. I could just refuse to do a post until I’m in a better mood. But, honestly, I’ve been super excited for this post for a long time (just because spotlights are usually great fun!), so I’m just going to do it.
Discipline is everything, men. Discipline and chocolate.
And Jesus.
But that’s all besides the point.
The point is that I want to do this post, therefore I’m doing this post.
Let’s get going!

I’m ridiculously proud of At Her Fingertips. It just seemed to flow from my pen … well, my keyboard … when I was writing it. Furthermore, I’m so antsy to start revising/editing it that I’ve already moved it to another document, formatted it, and got it all prepared for editing. (I’ve even selected Bible verses to go at the start of a few chapters, too, which is something I haven’t even done for Ivy Introspective yet!)
The current blurb (it changes every couple weeks) goes like this:

Alice Knight has always had definite plans for her life. Now that she’s eighteen and about to come out into society, her plans seem to be at her fingertips: she’s on her way to becoming a debutante and then, she hopes, a bride.

However, for the first time in her life, Alice’s emotions and common sense prod her in different directions.

What does God lead us to follow? Our heads or our hearts?

So yeah. I need to work on it, but that’s the basic idea.
I’ve almost decided to start revisions in May, although waiting that long is going to be something of a trial. At that point, I may ask a few people to take a look at and critique it, if anyone’s willing. But, on the other hand, maybe not, as I really should be focusing on Ivy Introspective, even at that point, and I shouldn’t let finding alpha readers distract me! 😉
Anyway, this is a story about following God. Why? Because I am so sick of the ‘follow your heart’ nonsense! Why would you want to follow your heart? It’s full of greed and selfishness and all manner of darkness! DON’T FOLLOW YOUR HEART!!! NEVER EVER, EVER FOLLOW YOUR HEART!!!
In fact, I’ve definitely say that, between the two, following your head offers a much more favorable outcome than following your heart.
Anyway, this story is about following God instead of your head or your heart. Which is a theme I need to strengthen when I begin revising, actually.
In At Her Fingertips, I put Alice through a wringer several times. I introduce her to a childhood friend – all grownup and dashingly handsome – and then proceed to send her off to London and introduce her to the most eligible bachelor of the Season. This accomplished, I have her mother be vague (which is her specialty) about her expectations of Alice so that Alice is practically on her own, and voila! La torturra de charactera is complete!
Seriously, though, whenever I have a scene with Mrs. Knight and Alice, it just makes me so happy! Especially since Mrs. Knight is like, “I really don’t want to give you advice because then I have to give away the fact that I have been in similar situations myself and that would be bad even though you kind of know it already.” 😉
Now I can’t wait to share that scene in Chapter Thirty-Two with you!
Oh, well. That’ll have to wait until summer 2018. *sigh*
There are a few choices I made in the writing of At Her Fingertips that I’m still not debating. Honestly, it feels … kinda bad to me. There are several things referred to that I’m not sure would appear in the clean, Christian novel I want to write. I’m not going to give away what (because I couldn’t without spoilers), but I put several characters into pretty bad situations or gave them awful back stories … and I’m just not sure I want to leave it.
So I really need to think about that. It isn’t terribly sordid, but still. I’m not sure.
Now, because I’m feeling simply awful, I really have to go now. My head hurts, my throat is sore, my muscles are aching, and I’m hungry (but not feeling like eating).

Before I go, to win the ability to read the first draft of At Her Fingertips, find my official website, get a good look at the first picture of me you see, and report back describing it (focusing on what I’m wearing in particular).
The first three to do so win a link to At Her Fingertips, Draft 1 on Google Docs. The person with the most-detailed description will also win an ebook copy of The Lady of the Vineyard.
~Kellyn Roth