Featured Author - January // HEATHER FITZGERALD (+giveaway!)

   I think it's time to start playing the game entitled 'how many new blog series can Savannah start in 2018?'

   Apparently the answer is 'too many', because here we are with my first featured author of 2018! I met Heather FitzGerald through the Rooglewood contest, when I beta read her AMAZING entry. She's the sweetest lady, and I'm excited to share my interview of Heather with y'all!

   Shall we get right to it then?

   A few awesome Heather-things you should check out: 

 “Normal” means different things to different people. For sixteen-year-old Sadie Larcen, family dynamics look a little different than most. Parents with oddball occupations? Normal. Five homeschooled siblings—one with autism? Normal.

Police knocking on the door and parents gone missing? Definitely not normal!

When Sadie uncovers the reasons behind her parents’ disappearance and the truth about her heritage, she despairs of ever feeling normal again. Especially when she learns that her mother’s interest in Bigfoot, Dwarves, and other lore extends beyond her popular blog. Sadie’s family has been entrusted with keeping the secrets of the Tethered World—home to creatures that once roamed the Garden of Eden.
Sadie and her siblings must venture into this land to rescue their parents. Stepping out of reality and into a world she never knew existed is a journey Sadie fears and resents. But she chooses to risk all to save her family.
She’s just not sure she will survive in the process.

her first novel, The Tethered World 

the other books in the series, The Flaming Sword and The Genesis Tree 

her website, heatherllfitzgerald.com

Savannah Grace: Hey, Heather! It's great to have you here, I'm really excited to interview you. Alright, obvious question first - what genre do you write in, and why do you enjoy it so much?

Heather FitzGerald: I write fantasy! Isn’t that the only genre there is, LOL? Thanks to the Chronicles of Narnia, I have fallen in love with the possibilities that fantasy offers. It is similar to Jesus using parables to make a point in the Bible. Fantasy is a wonderful platform for sharing epic truths and painting a picture of impossibilities that seem within the grasp of the ordinary. Plus, I don’t have to do a lot of research to make sure I have all the historical facts just so, which worked out well when I was homeschooling my four kids. My world, my rules, so to speak ;)

Savannah: Oh, gracious - YES, I'm exactly the same. I love having it be "my world, my rules", haha. And I love how you consider fantasy a platform for sharing epic truths, that's so cool. Out of all the books you written (whether they're published or not!), which one is your favorite?

Heather: My third book, The Genesis Tree, was very complex. Though all of the stories are my babies, in this case I’d have to favor this one over the others, at least a little! As the third story of a trilogy, I had loose ends to tie up and high stakes to make it a satisfying ending to the adventure. Though stressful, it was a real journey of faith and it allowed me to cling to the Lord in new ways. I took some big risks in the storyline which have shocked many readers but in a good way. That’s all I can say because…spoilers :) Plus, I grew a lot as a writer from book 1 to book 3. I think my writing improved and that gives The Genesis Tree a little bit of an edge too.

I also have a Narnia spin-off that I’ve been working on for years! I want to establish myself as a writer before I dare present it to the world and to CS Lewis fans. But I’d say that this particular story is my other favorite!

Savannah: Ooh, a Narnia spin-off sounds really neat. And I'm very excited to get to The Genesis Tree! I'm reading your first book, The Tethered World, right now, and I can't wait to see how everything turns out. Speaking of which - the covers for your Tethered World Chronicles series are gorgeous! Which of the three is your favorite, and why?

Heather: Thank you for saying so! I’ve had very good feedback about them, although I’ve had judges feedback that said they were not good and looked too Indie! That just shows how subjective art can be. I’m very thankful that my publisher, Mountain Brook Ink, allowed me a lot of input on my covers. I’m enough of an artist myself to have serious opinions about such things, and I was stressed, frankly, about how my books would be represented by the covers. The stories are quirky and I wanted that reflected in the first book in particular—so the first impression of the series would be the right one.

We went through maaaany mock ups for The Tethered World. Do you know how hard it is to find stock photos of things that only exist in your head? Not an easy task! Since my publisher is a small, independent press, we didn’t have the luxury of original artwork. Stock photos and a terrific graphic artist, Lynette Bonner, are what we had to work with. So…all that to say: The Tethered World is my favorite cover! I feel like we captured the quirkiness with the large, glowing mushrooms, as well as the fantasy/mystery element with the dragon. I had a small creative meltdown right before I found the mushroom picture and I’m thankful my publisher was patient with me while I found JUST the right thing! That was probably way more of an answer than you wanted :-D

Savannah: Well you all did a WONDERFUL job with the final cover - I would absolutely pick up a book that looked like any of those three! Lynette Bonner is quite talented. The dragon and mushrooms on book one fit it so well, I'm glad you  were able to find those before the cover was finalized! And, as far as I've read, the inside of the book is just as great as the outside, and I especially love your characters. Are any of the characters you’ve written based on people you know in real life?

Heather: Yes! Four of the characters in my stories are based on actual people, and most of the names (from characters to locations) are creative uses of friends or family members’ names as a way of showing them some love. For example, Revonika is really code for Veronica.

Brady is based on my nephew and how well he interacts with my son who is autistic. The character of Brock (who is Brady’s twin) is loosely based on my son, although my son has less “typically autistic” characteristics than Brock. I wanted readers to be able to identify with Brock right off so I made him a bit more stereotypical.

Aunt Jules is based on my BFF since third grade who still calls me chipmunk and other pet names :) Of course, my friend is much younger than Jules but they share the same bubbly personality.

And finally, Uncle Brent, who plays a bigger role in the third book, is based on my cousin whom I adore. He used to be a chemist, not a pharmacist, however.

Savannah: It's so neat that Brock is loosely based on your own son - so far, he's my favorite character <3. Are you currently working on any new novels?

Heather: Like you, I just finished a novella which I entered into a contest. The contest, for your readers’ sake, was a retelling of Snow White. I had fun mashing together the story of Snow White and that of Esther in the Bible. The judges will be picking five stories…so here’s to hoping that you and I might share that honor!

Beyond that, I have several stories that I’ve begun and am praying about which one to concentrate on more fully. They are mystery/fantasy stories, mostly. I’m always dabbling on my Narnia spin off as well. And one of these days I shall dust off some children’s books that I wrote when my kids were younger! Right now they are simply taking up space on my computer :)

Savannah: YES, it would be amazing if we get to be two of the winners. And I can attest to that fact that your Snow White retelling is beautiful and very deserving of being in the Snow White anthology <3. Now, besides writing, do you have any other creative outlets?

Heather: Actually, yes! For the past 15 years I’ve been teaching ballet at a fine art school for homeschoolers. And the last two years I’ve added a creative writing class as well (we have expanded beyond creative arts and have grown to nearly 1,000 students!). I also enjoy decorating and the occasional watercolor painting. My house is my palate, most of the time, however.

Savannah: You teach ballet? Oh, that's so neat - I've always had two left feet, so dancers shall forever amaze me. And your creative writing class sounds so cool, it's really neat that you're helping others to learn how to bring their own stories from the mind onto paper. Speaking of stories - who are a few of your favorite lesser-known authors?

Heather: Hmmm. I am reading Janalyn Voigt’s Dawnsinger fantasy right now and I’m so, so impressed with her writing! She has the most exquisite prose and has woven a lovely high fantasy with a Christian worldview that is very subtle. I’m not sure if you would consider Anne Elisabeth Stengl lesser-known but I’ve enjoyed her fantasy stories. Oh! And Andrew Peterson’s Wingfeather Saga is fabulous. I love his music (he tells stories with his songs) and his novels are great family reading.

Savannah: You like the Wingfeather Saga? Epicness, so do I! And I agree that Andrew Peterson's music is wonderful (he has one song called The Reckoning that my sisters have pegged as one of "my songs", haha) <3. What’s the last five-star book you read, and why did you enjoy it so much?

Heather: The first two that come to mind is the An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir—creative world building, engaging characters, sweeping prose and clean! A great combination. I also loved the Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke. Such an excellent adventure! Gripping situations, believable characters and world, and it’s one of those books that made me think, “I wish I had thought of that!” Her main characters are “silver tongued” and can read characters from books into our world…but it is a lot more complicated than that!

Savannah: Yes, definitely more complicated than that - I've read the whole trilogy multiple times, and I STILL don't know exactly how to describe them! Okay, here's a tougher question: What’s the biggest thing that has happened to you during your writer/author career, and why was it so meaningful to you?

Heather: Definitely the biggest and most meaningful thing was having The Tethered World and The Flaming Sword double final in the Oregon Christian Writer’s Cascade Awards last year! I was shocked when both books held two of the three Spec-fiction spots (against an award winning Bethany House author, none the less!) and then The Flaming Sword actually WON! Say what??? They announced the winner by reading the first line of their book. When they started reading mine I panicked for a second, wondering if I recognized it or not. Ha! I was in shock—in the best of ways!

Savannah: Oh my gracious - and YOU WON? That's seriously so epic, now I'm even more excited to get my hands on The Flaming Sword! It sounds like it's going to be amazing <3. It always inspires me when I hear about authors doing so well with their books. Which leads me to the next question - who are three of your greatest inspirations, and why?

Heather: C.S. Lewis’ writings are always inspiring. But his Narnia books get credit for launching me into the realm of writing. Corrie Ten Boom is also such an inspiration and I love her biography The Hiding Place. It is such a compelling book and her passion for Christ and people are so all-encompassing and really stretch me as a Christian. And I’d have to say my family inspires me in a myriad of ways. They all have strengths that I lack and I love seeing how their gifts are at work, which challenges me to use mine.

Savannah: Corrie Ten Boom really does have an amazing story, and C.S. Lewis is one of the best authors out there, I love Narnia so much. It's cool that his books got you into writing! Alright, one last question before we shut this thing down and let you get back to your epic writing ;). What’s one big goal you have for 2018?

Heather: Well, I’ve entered The Genesis Tree in a few contests so it would be fabulous to see it do well in one or more. However, that’s quite out of my hands so I’m not sure if that qualifies as a goal :) I guess writing-wise my goal is to settle on my next book and dive in. And I hope to explore more of my Narnia spin-off plot, even though I’m a pantser and not a plotter. It is such a big project which I have underestimated while working on it in the past—before I was published. Lastly, I want to attend at least one writer’s conference since I’ve never been to more than a one day type seminar.

Savannah: *highfives fellow pantser* I'm a pantser for a good portion of my drafts, so I hope your plotting ventures go well! And BEST OF LUCK in the contests, I hope The Genesis Tree does wonderfully. I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with your next books, Heather! And thank you so much for being here today, I had lots of fun.

Heather: Thank you so much for your interest in my stories, Savannah, and for hosting me on your blog! I’m thankful to have met you and made a new writing friend :)

Heather L.L. FitzGerald writes from her home in Texas, while dreaming of being back in the Pacific Northwest, where she grew up. She’s been married for 28 years and has four grown children and one grand baby (so far!). Her YA fantasy is available through Amazon or may be ordered through any book retailer. Books include The Tethered World (OCW Cascade Award finalist), and The Flaming Sword (OCW Cascade Award winner, Speculative Fiction), and The Genesis Tree. Connect with Heather: website/blog (free eBook with newsletter sign up),  Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram.

 

   Isn't she the best? I'm so glad I got to know her. <3 And you guys are probably about ready for me to talk about the giveaway, huh? xD Well, this one's easy...

   Leave a comment below, and one random commenter will get an ebook copy of Heather's lovely novel, The Tethered World! I'll announce the winner in my January highlights post on the 31st, so hurry up and scurry over to the comment section to show Heather some love! 

~ Savannah Grace

what was the last five-star book you read?

go ahead and chat with Heather in the comments!