A
Misplaced Child
The
Misplaced Children Book 1
by
Heather Michelle
Genre:
YA Fantasy
Torn
between two worlds, which will she embrace?
Elodie
Harper is heir to the magical kingdom of Aluna. Trapped by an evil
wizard in an illusion; Elodie grows up caught between two worlds, one
of magic, and one of technology.
As
the facade of her mundane life of lies and fake smiles cracks, her
kingdom crumbles in the absence of its ruler. Join Elodie as she
navigates both lives not knowing which to embrace, and which to push
into the back of her mind and forget as a bad dream.
Excerpt #1
“You need to judge the source those words are coming from. If you don’t value the person, don’t put any value into the words they spew. You are you, and that’s perfect.” She stepped in close to Elodie, and tapped her on the nose. “You were created for a plan and a reason, so embrace it, and forget anyone who tries to tell you anything else, because this is junior high, and if this was gonna be the pinnacle of life, well, we might as well end it all now.”
“Vanessa, if any of the teachers heard you say that, you would be in as much counseling as I am.” The earthy wet cardboard smell of the paper towels grounded her and helped regain her focus.
“No, you missed the point, I’m not saying we should end it, I’m saying if junior high was what life was all about, then we should. But it’s not! My dad says the things we experience today may play a small part in who we are someday, but overall, this is just like a tiny blip in our lives. We just have to get through the hellhole that is being a teenager.”
Excerpt #2
Elodie ripped a small tab off the flyer with the competition’s web address and something glittering and shimmering caught her attention from the corner of her eye. Turning, she saw Jackson and a few of his gang rounding the corner toward her. They were joking and shoving each other, one of them dribbling a basketball, and didn’t seem to have noticed her.
The boys were not what had caught her attention. Her eyes refocused and all at once she saw the shimmer rise up, swirling in front of her, between her and the boys. She didn’t have a moment to do anything but inhale with a gasp, before the ruakh was around her.
There was a sharp rich odor of freshly tilled earth, and the skin over her whole body tingled. A wind picked up, and she felt a pressure on her bones like something held her tight. She was pulled hard to the left and tumbled through nothing. The nothing moved around her like a raging storm and a gentle breeze. After an extended moment of empty chaos Elodie landed hard on her back. Dirt kicked up around her and she choked on the dust.
With a cough, Elodie said a bad word.
Do you read yourself and if so what is your favorite genre?
I love to read. When I’m not writing, I’m probably reading. For me to be productive with my writing, I can’t be in the middle of a book or series I’m super into, so I try to be intentional with my reading, not starting a book towards the end of the week if I want to have a productive weekend for example. My favorite genre is young adult fantasy, and that is what I plan to write. I also enjoy all types of fantasy, middle grade, adult, some urban fantasy. I also like some sify, but I’m a little more picky with it. Give me magic, or horses or swords, and throw in some strong characters who get themselves in and out of trouble, or fight against all the odds, and I’m sold.
Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why?
Noise isn’t a problem for me, as long as it’s steady, like music, or rain or a storm, or my roommates living their lives around me. I can’t work in the same room as a TV that’s on unless I have ear plugs, and it’s out of my line of sight, and if people are having a conversation close to me, I will usually put on music. But I do love to write around people and activity. Being alone in a silent empty room can just be sad, or make me feel like I’m missing out on other things. I atleast need a window or my cat.
That all being said, when I’m editing, I need a LOT less distraction, so people not talking at all, or very loud music.
Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time?
I do work on one book at a time when I’m drafting a rough draft while also outlining and making notes for later books. When you’re working on a book that will be a series you run into a lot of plot ideas and thoughts that need to be included in later books. When I finish with one draft, I do leave it alone for a while, give it to betas, and work on another book outline or draft.
Pen or type writer or computer?
Computer. I do like taking physical notes, but keeping all notes in one place and being able to organise them is so valuable. For writing, having a word processor is so helpful. I’ve hand written a few scenes before, and the time it takes to retype into a doc is so not productive.
Tell us about a favorite character from a book.
One of my favorite characters in A Misplaced Child is Gedas. He’s a wizard who looks to be in his 40’s although there are lots of jokes that he’s much older, but only looks young because of his magic, so we never really know how old he is. Wizard is a ranking among magical users in the Twoshy, it’s the highest ranking, and there aren’t many wizard class mages alive. This means Gedas could have quite a lot of political power if he chose, which he does not, because he doesn’t like the kind of people you have to interact with when you have political power. Gedas is dismissive and almost cruel to people he doesn't care for, but he dotes on Elodie and they have a very close relationship, more like family than a mentor and student.
What made you want to become an author and do you feel it was the right decision?
I’ve always loved stories, coming up with them, acting them out, doing whatever I needed to so I could share them with others. When I was younger, and a very poor reader this translated to me wanting to be an actor, and putting on skits and plays with my friends. As I’ve built my confidence with my own skill as a writer, I now see this is the perfect fit for me. I love writing. I love getting these ideas and characters and worlds out of my head and written out in a complete way. I hope these worlds and stories go on to touch other people and over an escape as fiction has for me for my life.
A day in the life of the author?
Weekdays:
I work a pretty early schedule of 5am to 2pm at my day job. I work from home, so with the lack of a commute when I’m off work I can take a short break, then spend some time writing or editing. If I’m in the middle of drafting a story, I try to do at least 250 words a day, knowing that is obtainable, so days when I don’t want to I can still push for it, and days when I’m feeling it, I can knock out a few thousand. After writing, I will work on my to do list things, like responding to emails, or setting up files for betas ect. I try to be kind to myself. If I need to take a break from writing, I do it. If I need to take a week from writing, that’s fine too. Because I know I will come back to it, recharged and ready to go. Working a full time job and writing means I have to be very intentional not to reach burnout, and I’ve worked hard to identify the differences between burnout and what other people call writers block, so I know when to push myself, and when to give myself a break.
Weekends:
On the weekends, I love to sleep in. During the week I get up at 5am, so sleeping in is still waking up early for most people. Once I’m up, I shower, and get ready for my day, eat breakfast, then set in on writing. I will usually try to write first, then work on to do list things I have to get done. On a weekend I can usually get in 2-9k words on a productive day. My most productive weekend day was 13k. I don’t always write or edit both days of a weekend. I may take Saturday or Sunday off depending on how rough my day job was that week, or what I need to get done. I try really hard to focus on small wins. I may not have gotten to any writing in a day, but I did take a bunch of pics for instagram next month. Productivity when trying to publish is so much more than just writing, so a word count isn’t always the best indication of success.
Heather Michelle is
an emerging author of young adult fantasy. She lives in Acworth, GA
with her cat Mister Bingley and a slew of unique roommates.
Growing up, Heather
Michelle spent more time living in her imagination than outside of
it. Small town life sandwiched between the redwood forests and
the Pacific ocean provided a rich scope for the imagination. Before
the age of twelve, Heather Michelle was not a reader, but a chance
encounter with a rented audiobook launched her into the vast world of
the printed word, and she never looked back.
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