KIERSTEN WHITE: Writing Page-Turners & Crafting Memorable Characters

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We have Kiersten White with us this week, the New York Times bestselling author of “And I Darken”, a series that has been compared to Game of Thrones for the YA community. Kiersten and I recorded our conversation late November last year and I couldn’t be more thrilled to finally publish her episode the same month her highly anticipated sequel “Now I Rise” is releasing. 

I'm SO excited to share that this episode is proudly sponsored by 'Libby', a brand new app lovingly developed by Overdrive (a company I've been a fan of for 6 years). Overdrive's vision and mission is to enlighten the world by reading, a vision that also aligns closely with my core beliefs. 'Libby' was designed for readers to discover and borrow ebooks and audiobooks from your library for free. Be sure to click here to learn more and download the app to your phone or tablet!

In our conversation today, Kiersten shares the story behind the title “And I Darken”, and walks us through the historical research process for her series. For those of you who love discussions about the craft of writing, you’re going to love our discussion about creating memorable characters. Kiersten goes into detail about crafting a page-turner novel with multi-layered characters, and how to create authentic characters by channeling your inner feelings. We dig even deeper and talk about how understanding your characters’ motivations will help your readers understand your characters’ decisions.

We also discuss how to overcome rejection, and how to grow from it and make it work for you, rather than against you. We unpack the value a strong editor can bring to your manuscript, and the influential ways a writing partner can help strengthen your craft. You’ll even hear tips and advice on finding the writing partner suited for you.

Say 'Hi' to Kiersten on Twitter and check out the books/resources mentioned in her episode over at her shownotes page by clicking here! :) 

Happy listening!

Xo

Yin

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 “Never give your readers a reason to put the book down.” -Kiersten White (Click to tweet)

“Even when I’m not writing I’m thinking about writing.” -Kiersten White (Click to tweet)

“Writing is all moving parts. You can have the exact same goal accomplished in forty different ways.” -Kiersten White (Click to tweet)

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WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM KIERSTEN'S EPISODE: 

The value a strong editor can bring to your manuscript The story behind the title of Kiersten’s novel  “And I Darken” How to craft memorable characters in your stories How to write a page-turner with multi-layered characters Kiersten walks us through the historical research process for her series How to create authentic characters by channeling your inner feelings How understanding your characters’ motivations will help your readers understand your characters’ decisions The influential ways a writing partner can help strengthen your craft Tips on finding your writing partner How to deal with rejection and grow from it, and make it work for rather than against you