Today, I'm happy to be part of the tour for Deceived by L.A. Starkey. Please enjoy Laurie's post and enter the giveaway!
Book & Author details:
Deceived by L.A. Starkey
(Soul Keeper Series #1)
Publication date: August 28th 2014
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
Synopsis:
They say a soul is the immaterial essence, the animating principle, the actuating cause of an individual life.
But what if you had to share yours with the one person you hated the most?
The
soul mate principle states that for every one soul there is another
that will recognize its match, hence creating the perfect union.
But what if you had two soul mates, which would you choose?
What if your choices had eternal ramification?
Deceived,
the debut novel in the Soul Keeper Series, is a modern day love story
about the implications of having more than one soul mate, and having to
choose between the two of them. The decisions of the gods has left the
next generation, their heirs, torn between fate and reality, and
the balance of the future hangs in anticipation of what’s to come.
Purchase:
Today, Laurie talks about the difference in writing YA vs. Middle Grade books. Enjoy and don't forget to enter the giveaway at the end of the post!
Writing for Young Adults vs. Writing for
Middle Grade
Let me start by giving encouragement to
anyone who writes and then I’ll jump into my thoughts on MG vs YA seeing that I
write for both groups. If you love to read a certain genre or enjoy jumping
from MG to YA to YA to NA or Adult, then as a writer, don’t feel held back to
choose which you’ll stick to. I know for promotions and things of that nature
it’s a lot easier to gather a crowd around you if you only write one thing, but
if your crowd or readers are anything like me? They like to read just about
anything. There will always be room to expand into new audiences and groups, so
write what you love with passion, because that passion will bleed through and
everyone will feel it and see it in your work.
Okay! For me as a writer, that opening
paragraph says it all. I’ve actually added New Adult (which is under my pen
name Kate Thomas) to my listing too, my first book coming out this spring. I
started as a YA writer, my Soul Keeper Series my first trilogy to write simply
because I didn’t want to write sex scenes. I could write them and I’m thinking
they would be good enough to make your grandmother blush if not you too, but I
just wanted to stick to early romance… that first look and love, as well as
having minimal cursing. I read a lot of YA for those reasons myself and I just
feel like there is so much more focus on the plot and characterization overall.
I had two middle grade girls at the time
I wrote Soul Keeper and realized that I wanted to write something fun for them,
so I wrote my debut MG novel, Howl at the
Moon. The funny thing is that I couldn’t get my male main character Ben’s
voice out of my head when I wrote it, so I used him as the POV knowing that it
might be fun for my girls and me to get into the head of a junior high boy.
They are soooo comical as it is I figured being a tomboy myself and hella
immature most days that I could pull it off. It was FUN and turned out great,
though I might be a little bias.
I think the main difference between them
is that MG is even more focused on the plot or adventure, the humor and common
place settings that make sense to that age. There is a little first love type
romance, but nothing more than hand holding and a kiss perhaps, but probably
not in my opinion. YA is focused on the same things, but there is more weight
on the relationship parts of the story, the adventure can be more complex and
the diction can be increased to have more metaphors and a depth of emotion.
Let me know if you have any questions
about either and I’m happy to give my opinion/experience.
Laurie
AUTHOR BIO:
Laurie
Starkey is the author of the upcoming Soul Keeper Series,
a supernatural young adult series, and The Liarus Detective Series,
a supernatural middle grade series. She lives in Houston, Texas with
her husband, Jacob and three beautiful kiddos.
She is a CPA by
trade, a church planter and entrepreneur at heart; however, writing and
reading are passions she just can’t help but indulge in. With more ideas
than one person should be allowed, she is blessed to have a muse that
doesn’t seem to take a vacation and more energy that one might consider
healthy.
Connect with Laurie:
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