Only two more days of blog touring! I can’t believe it’s going so fast! All the amazing bloggers as well as the readers who keep me going with their comments have made this time really fly.
Today’s process day! That means we’ll be talking about how At Her Fingertips came to be thought of, brainstormed, outlined, written, revised, and edited! Shout outs to my amazing alpha/beta team as well as editor. 🙂
However, before that, we have today’s posts! Once again, we have an amazing post line up … let’s check today’s bloggers out!
Today’s Posts
Book and Author Spotlight by Grace Matlyn Buckner @ Literatura
Grace is a historical fiction-writing friend. I think we originally met through Goodreads, methinks? Anyway, be sure to check out her blog (love the name!), too!
Book Spotlight by Kaylee @ Kaylee’s Kind Of Writes
A lovely book spotlight by Kaylee! So glad to have her be part of this tour. Thanks so much, Kaylee!
Character and Author Interview by Amie @ Crazy A
In this post, there an interview with me as well as an interview of Alice Knight. Alice is definitely one of the funnest people to write an interview for. She’s just so … so … Alice! I can’t describe it any other way.
Author Interview by Jessica Greyson
A really fun interview, this one! I got to talk a lot about my inspiration for writing as well as favorite characters and time-traveling!
Author Interview by Rachel @ Rachel Rossano’s Words
Yet another author interview! Rachel asked me some really incredible, thought-provoking questions. It was a challenge and yet a pleasure to answer them! She also includes one of my favorite excerpts.
Character/Book Spotlight by Erika Mathews @ Resting Life
Erika put together a really pretty character and book spotlight. All the graphics and everything plus the fonts and formatting of her blog and all look really nice together! This spotlight is of Kirk Manning, and it also includes a never-before-seen-outside-the-book excerpt!
Series Review & Character Interview by Victoria Lynn @ Ruffles and Grace
Victoria wrote a very touching review that I just loved. <3 Favorite quote:
Most writers, even of historical fiction these days tend to write with a very modern vocabulary and style, while Kellyn’s is much more similar to books published before the nineteen hundreds.
Mission accomplished! 😛
The post also includes an interview with Ivy. Can’t wait to share Beyond Her Calling with you – it’s going to be so much fun!
The Schedule
April 23rd
Author Interview by Julia @ Julia’s Creative Corner
Review by Abigail @ Novels, Dragons, and Wardrobe Doors
Author & Book Spotlight by Rebekah Devall @ Hunting for Truth
Guest Post from a Character by Kiki @ K.E. Stanton
Book Spotlight by Gentle @ Gentle Words
April 24th
Review/Character Interview by Heather @ Frozen Book Blog
Character Interview by Sel Young @ Hearth
Author Interview by Gabriellyn @ PageTurners
Author Interview/Review by Caitlyn @ Salt and Light
Book & Author Spotlight by Brian W.
April 25th
Character Interview/Series Review by Libby May @ GeoTurtle
Author Interview by Medomfo @ Writings from a God Girl
Series Review and Author Interview by Charis Rae
Author Interview by Sarah Addison Fox
April 26th
Book and Author Spotlight by Grace Matlyn Buckner @ Literatura
Book Spotlight by Kaylee @ Kaylee’s Kind Of Writes
Character and Author Interview by Amie @ Crazy A
Author Interview by Jessica Grayson
Author Interview by Rachel @ Rachel Rossano’s Words
Character/Book Spotlight by Erika Mathews @ Resting Life
Series Review & Character Interview by Victoria Lynn @ Ruffles and Grace
April 27th
Author Interview by Loretta Marchize @ Just Writing
Series Review/Author Interview by Lisa @ Inkwell
Guest Post from Character by Kelsey Bryant @ Kelsey’s Notebook
Book Spotlight by Angela @ The Peculiar Messenger
The Giveaway
3rd Prize: the complete (published) series in ebook and a $10 Amazon gift card.
2nd Prize: a copy of At Her Fingertips, a set of watercolors and brushes.
Grand Prize: the complete (published) series in paperback, a journal and pen set, and special features!
How do you enter this giveaway? Well, follow the link, of course!
Click Here!
Facebook Parties
Every day I’ll be spending a little time on our Facebook event page. You can expect a live author chat or two, characters available to answer questions, giveaways, games, and other fun activities!
Theme Days
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Day 1 (22nd): Introductions
- What the blog tour will entail.
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Day 2 (23rd): Historical Day
- Talking about the history behind the novel.
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Day 3 (24th): Theme Day
- Talking about the meaning behind the novel.
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Day 4 (25th): Character Takeover Day
- Oh, no! The characters have taken over the blog!
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Day 5 (26th): Process Day (you are here!)
- What my writing process looks like.
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Day 6 (27th): Future Day
- Talking about what novels I’ll be working on in the future.
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Day 7 (28th): Wrapup
- Giveaway winners announced, etc.
Process Day
Writing process is always something that has fascinated me – how different writers write in different ways! And, of course, I’m slightly different than others writers. That’s what we’re going to talk about today!
Throughout September and October of 2016, I did some super extensive outlining. As in, crazy nutty outlining. Detailed character profiles, scene-by-scene summaries, lots of research and brainstorming and plotting.
I even shared out my process on this blog here, here, and here. (There were several other posts on the subject, but y’all will have to look them up yourself! 😉 )
During November of that year, I wrote like a madman. Er, woman. In that month, I wrote more than ever before (now I’ve written as much as 70K in a month, but up to that date), reaching a total of 65K and finishing the first draft of my novel.
Then … I waited. I set the book aside and worked on other things. I didn’t end up starting my revisions until late summer of 2017.
During the fall, my amazing alpha readers read through the book and gave me suggestions. I put it aside to participate in NaNoWriMo again (wrote Beyond Her Calling) then picked it up again in December.
In January through February 2018, my beta-readers tore AFOP apart, but I managed to piece it back together. (Just kidding; they gave me some great feedback, and the book is so much better because of them.)
In March, the glorious Abigayle Claire edited for me, and then it was time for my last edits, proofreading, and publishing!
The real question is … did At Her Fingertips change all that much throughout the editing process? Actually, no, it was the book that had the least changed from first to final draft.
However, there were several scenes that got majorly rewritten, I cut a lot of dialogue, and I changed the arcs of several characters – particularly Gibson Ashfield and Peter Strauss – fairly drastically.
Still, I was surprised with how much of my first draft I got to keep – which was amazing since this was my favorite out of all the first drafts I’ve ever written!
TTFN!
~Kellyn Roth~
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p.s.
What does your writing process look like? Are you a plotter or a pantser? Do you make drastic changes between first and last drafts? If you’re not a writer, did this interest you anyways or am I just rambling nonsensically? 😛
17 Responses
Congrats on publishing again, Kell! I love this book… and… AHHH… Gibson…
Thank you, Ang! 😀 Yes, Gibson …
Whew! Today’s posts took me a while to read through! But fun!
Yes, there was a lot going on today! 😀
Interesting post! I didn’t know you were an indie author. As an aspiring HF author, I like getting to know more about publishing and how other writers are doing it. Thanks for explaining your writing process. Excited for the giveaway!!! 😁
Yep, I’ve been published for over two years now. 🙂 Ooh, nice! What era(s)?
That’s cool! Well, not in any special era particularly. I LOVE HF fiction in general. Right now I’m working on a novel set in 5th century Greece. But I love the WWII and the 1900s in general. So, let’s just be honest, I’m a history buff!!😂 Anyway, I’m excited to read your books!!
Nice! I love history myself. Yes, the 1900s was awesome! I haven’t written a ton in that era, but I want to!
Wow, there were a lot of posts today! I liked reading them, though! 🙂 I’m excited to hear that there will be a story about Kirk and also 3 books each for Alice and Ivy! (Didn’t you at one point have ideas for 4 books each? I remember seeing a cover for one on the YWP a long time ago, hehe…)
Also, I now realize that I need to read AFOP with the changes put into it, since I only read the first draft (which was still fantastic). If I don’t win the giveaway (which I probably won’t, but I’ll try anyway), then I’ll have to buy the ebook. 🙂 Waiting on the paperbacks until the series is finished and I can buy a boxed set because that just sounds fun. 😉
As far as my writing process…I’ve discovered I like outlining…but I still love discovery writing especially if I know my characters well. (Because I like making drama for them, hehe.) I have never had a last draft, so I can’t say if I’ve made any drastic changes from first to last draft, but I probably will have to.
Yes, it was my biggest day! A little crazy, but I have survived! Mostly! I think! 😛 Yes, there’s going to be a lot of books. (Hmm … not that I remember? But the numbers fluctuated so often until recently that it’s likely. I just don’t remember it!)
Sounds like a plan! 😛 Haha, boxed set is an interesting idea. I’ll have to see about that. 😉 I know I’ll eventually stick them all together so people can buy them at once and discount them so it’ll be a little cheaper to buy them all at once – anyway, as much as I can with the restrictions Createspace puts on me – so I’ll have to look into it …
Usually I make extremely drastic changes! With TDS, I switched POV and changed the ending completely – like, even how the characters ended up and what not! So different …
Haha! (The one I remember is Only a Mother, but I guess I thought that was about Alice? But it’s about Ivy! *is excited*)
I just think a boxed set would look cool on my shelf. 😉 Also, I’ve never had a boxed set of books before, so it just sounds great.
Yes, Only a Mother is my last Ivy story at the moment. 🙂 But yeah, things changed so much that who can know what I was originally planning. 😉
I think I have a boxed set of The Chronicles of Narnia. But a boxed set of The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy would be a nice addition … 😉
This is super interesting!! I absolutely love hearing about other writers’ writing processes. I’m not sure why, exact. It just makes me super excited to work on my own stories… XD As for whether I’m a plotter or panther, I think I’m sort of a half-and-half. I plot SOME things out, but then I leave quite a few gaps to be filled in with my creative mind later. (Except that’s not how things USUALLY pan out, but still. XD) I’m hoping to become more of a plotter in the future, though. It would make dodging plot holes SOOOO much easier, I think…. XD
Yes, it definitely makes knowing where you’re going easier … because, of course, you know where you’re going! #obvious 😉 Good luck with your writing endeavors! You can do it!