Tag: writer

Authortalk with Karyne Norton

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Since it’s the beginning of the last quarter of 2026, we have a new episode of Authortalk. Allow me to introduce Karyne Norton!

Karyne Norton hasn’t found the key to time travel, immortality, or infinite lives, so she’s taking a break from nursing and photography to focus on raising four human beings while writing epic fantasy and science fiction. The third book in her epic fantasy series, The Half-Light Chronicles, is expected to release spring 2027 and her YA sci-fi debut is coming to Kickstarter fall 2026. Her standalone time travel thriller, The Things We Can Change, is currently being adapted to a vertical drama by Y+X Entertainment for their LumiView platform.

When she’s not writing, she’s reading, which is why she’s also the host of the Finding Fantasy Reads podcast, where she reads a new short story every week from a variety of fantasy authors.

Karyne, thanks for being here. I was on your podcast earlier this year, and it was so much fun hearing my short story, “The Greatest Adventure” brought to life by a narrator.

I’m interested in learning about your YA sci-fi debut currently on Kickstarter. Where did you get the idea for this Kickstarter?

A couple years ago, I started throwing around the idea of a subscription service and what that would look like. I think book boxes are fun, but they’re expensive and, being the practical person that I am, I don’t usually use fancy soaps, teas, stickers, etc. In my mind, I wanted a book a month, and I wanted the books to match up with seasons or holidays.

What a fun idea!

The logistics of that idea were a nightmare, so as I pitched the idea to a couple friends, it slowly evolved into a multi-author Kickstarter with 3 volumes of 9 books. And because fairy tale retellings felt overdone (although I still love them), we settled on classic retellings with sci-fi twists.

I immediately knew I wanted to “fix” Wuthering Heights, and any time something needs to be fixed, time travel is an excellent option, so my classic and twist were pretty easy picks. It was a relief to finally show a happily ever after for at least some of the characters in that story.

How did you get in touch with your “inner villain” to write the antagonist in this book?

I was super excited to highlight Heathcliff as a villain instead of a romantic hero (although Catherine could have easily been one as well). Wuthering Heights is a clear tragedy, but it’s brought on by the characters and the inner battles they face. As much as they’re victims of their upbringings and what’s likely undiagnosed mental illnesses, it’s never sat well with me when the romance of Heathcliff and Catherine is idolized. Their relationship was ridiculously unhealthy, and I wanted to show it.

You’re right—and there’s so many unhealthy relationships glamorized in fiction, especially in YA.

I will say that Tom Hardy’s portrayal of Heathcliff in the BBC TV mini-series (the edited version🫣) nailed the uncaring side of Heathcliff, and I often pictured him while writing my antagonist’s scenes. It was important to me that my version of Heath was equally able to manipulate and throw out hurtful words at any given moment.

Despite my dislike for all of Hollywood’s efforts to romanticize the story over the years, it’s still one of my favorite classics, flaws and all. Mostly because of the flaws. The people feel eerily real.

You’ve been writing for a while. What are your go-to writing resources that could help aspiring authors?

I’m a huge fan of the Novel Marketing podcast run by Thomas Umstattd on https://www.authormedia.com. The information he gives out for free on there is like gold, and the courses he provides are even better. The reason I’m able to do all the things I’m doing as a writer are because of the business practices I learned from him. And because I’ve so carefully put all his recommendations into practice, I’m now teaching at his conference next January on how to run Kickstarters. Even if you’re just thinking about writing, learning how to start your business out strong will save you so much heartache later.

Authormedia does have a wealth of information available for new (and old) writers. But information isn’t all that’s needed when you’re writing–you need creativity, perseverance, and inspiration. What keeps you writing when inspiration vanishes?

One of my favorite quotes is from Peter DeVries who said “I write when I’m inspired, and I see to it that I’m inspired at nine o’clock every morning.” I don’t have the luxury of only writing when I’m inspired. I have to work while my kids are at school, otherwise I’ll have to stay up late or get up early and the older I get, the worse both of those options sound. Getting sound sleep each night is pretty inspiring!

I feel that 100%!

I’ve honestly never experienced what people refer to as writer’s block. For me, if I get stuck, it’s because something’s wrong with my story, so I set it aside for a bit until I have a fresh perspective. But that doesn’t mean I stop working. I work on a different project or my podcast or the monotonous business tasks that require different parts of my brain and give my creative well time to refill. Because one of my other favorite quotes is from Marshall Vandruff, when he said, “One reason that people have artist’s block is that they do not respect the law of dormancy in nature. Trees don’t produce fruit all year long, constantly. They have a point where they go dormant. And when you are in a dormant period creatively, if you can arrange your life to do the technical tasks that don’t take creativity, you are essentially preparing for the spring when it will all blossom again.”

I’ve found time with family, being in nature, and just living life help “refill the well” so I can get back to writing. And for some reason, I get some of my best ideas in the shower–it’s like a short, creative reset. What’s your favorite part of writing?

Revision has always been my favorite part of writing. I’d much rather fix something that’s already finished than have an unfinished draft hanging over my head. But I will say that over the last two years I’ve really grown to love dictating. Staring at a blank page and rewriting the same sentence over and over can be paralyzing and SLOW. With dictation, I get the words out—even though they’re imperfect—and then I have that finished draft I like working with so much faster.

Plus it gets me away from my desk because I can dictate while walking around my house or outside. Depending on the scene sometimes I have it in my head well enough to dictate while driving or doing laundry. So it’s a time saver in more ways than one, and it’s probably saving my wrists from major issues down the road.

I’ve been looking into dictating—it definitely seems like a timesaver! So let’s pivot to a couple silly questions: shoes or barefoot?

Are socks an option? Or slippers? In my mind, I’m picturing this question as indoors because in Arizona going out barefoot gets you burned. So socks or slippers!

Mountains or ocean?

Mountains any day. I like looking at the ocean, but sand drives me crazy. Sand and glitter.

Well, that’s it—we can’t be friends. I love glitter! (Just kidding.) Thanks, Karyne, for sharing about your writing and your new release on Kickstarter!

If you want to follow Karyne or support the Kickstarter, check out these links!

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/leafandlanternbooks/classics-rebooted

Website: https://www.karynenorton.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/karynenorton

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/karynenortonauthor

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@findingfantasyreads

Instagram: http://instagram.com/karynenorton

Going Deep in Your Story, Part 2

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There are plenty of ways to go deep into the story you’re telling. Many people think going deep refers to deep point of view, which I covered in last week’s post. Today, I want to discuss ways to add richness to your storytelling by going deep in other ways.

One way is to use all five senses (smell, sight, taste, touch, and hearing). Yes, I know this is a basic rule. But think…in this digital age, when was the last time you put your phone away and just looked?  Learn to be an observer of people and environments. People watch. What do you notice? What about your environment? What color of blue is the sky? How does the snow look when it falls slowly?

Take a scene you’re currently working on. Have you included what the character experiences? The purr of a sports car? The stickiness of a fast-food counter? Smells are sometimes overlooked, but I love these lines from Rudyard Kipling: “Smells are surer than sights or sounds/To make your heart-strings crack…”

Sometimes I’ll include the sixth sense, intuition (sparingly). You know that feeling of knowing when someone’s lying or when your hair rises on the back of your neck? This sense is great for creating tension.

I can imagine you’re thinking, “But I can’t write the story and include all of that at the same time—it’s too much!” You’re right, it is. So just write the story first. One of my favorite quotes is by Terry Pratchett: “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” Spill everything onto the page. Don’t edit, don’t fuss about word choice. It doesn’t need to be pretty—you can add the five senses in the following drafts.

Something else you can include in the second draft (& third, and fourth, and fifth, and…) is descriptions. Metaphors and similes add to the mood of the story as well. Make use of them (again, sparingly) through the character’s eyes. For example, a high society woman wouldn’t say or think someone was “as happy as a pig in slop.” Stay true to your character so the reader can stay in the character’s skin.

Show, don’t tell, how someone feels. Telling is much weaker than showing.

Shari felt anger sweep over her. Instead: Shari clenched her shaking hands into fists.

Ron was ashamed. Instead: Ron blushed and turned away.

The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is a great resource to use. It matches actions to feelings to help you make the shift from telling to showing.

Enjoy going deep in your next story!

Taglines vs. Loglines

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Are you planning for a writers’ conference this summer? Or perhaps you’re planning to start querying? (Good for you!!) Either way, words like tagline or synopsis or blurb can strike fear in your heart. For the next several weeks, my blog posts will help you identify what agents and publishers want. I’ll cover some of the major items in an author’s arsenal: synopsis, blurb, one sheet, and this week’s focus, Taglines and Loglines.

 

Tagline. Logline. They sound similar, but they’re not. What are the differences?

While not every book has a tagline, a proposal may require one. (Each publisher’s requirements may be a little different.) It can also be called a sales handle. A tagline’s main purpose is to hook the reader. It should be catchy, intriguing, and give a hint of what the book is about. One-liners work best and generally no longer than ten words. Some examples: “Remember it’s only a game.” (Caraval), “Let them fear her.” (Wicked Saints), “Let the magic begin.” (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) One of the best examples I ever read was for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. “Half boy. Half god. All hero.”

A logline is different. It’s one sentence (and one sentence only) about 35-45 words that shares what your story is about in an entertaining manner. You’ll need this when you sit down at a table to have lunch, and the acquisitions editor across from you says, “So what’s your story about?” This really happened to me. Since I was a total noob at the time, I stumbled over my words. She was interested anyway and invited me to pitch to her later. Hopefully, your logline will be better than mine and the other person will beg for more.

If this sounds like an elevator pitch, it’s not — it’s shorter. Some guidelines also call this a promo sentence. (Don’t you just love how there are several different labels for the same thing?) Anyway, the logline should establish setting, protagonist, problem, an antagonist, conflict/action, and goal.

Sounds difficult, right? But you can do this! Remember–practice makes perfect. Pick a few of your favorite television shows and work up a logline for them. (Bonus hint: Don’t use a rhetorical question in your logline—it has to be a sentence.) If you’d like more information on how to craft this magical unicorn, check out the article at https://blog.celtx.com/learning-series-lesson-1-creating-a-logline/. It goes a little deeper on how to begin setting one up.

One final note: while taglines display your knowledge of how to sell your book, an agent will probably never ask for one in a pitch. She or he will ask for your logline (“What’s your book about?”), so if you only have time to work on one of these things, make it your logline.