It is an exciting week here at the Debutante Ball. It is the time in which we 2020 Debs “pass the tiaras” onto our successors. I am delighted to introduce from The Class of 2021 Greta Kelly, who will take on the role of Contest Maven that I have managed for the past Debutante season. Her debut novel, The Frozen Crown, is forthcoming from Harper Voyager. She currently lives in Wisconsin with her husband EJ, daughter Lorelei and a cat who may, or may not, control the weather. Here is more about Greta:
Tell us about your next big project.
I am so excited for the next project that I’m working on. It is a fantasy adventure romp—sort of a Firefly meets The Gilded Wolves. It is about a crew of thieves who team up with a time-eating demon to steal an ancient stone idol from their city’s governor before it can be used to resurrect a vengeful god. Stay tuned!
Do you have a regular first reader? If so, who is it and why?
My older brother, Karl, is always my first reader. I know that writing advice always says to keep your first drafts away from family, but I’ve never been able to follow it. My big bro is always so excited and supportive about everything I write, and that excitement really helps carry me into edits. Love you, bro!
Have you ever traveled to do research for your writing? Where did you go?
While I’ve never traveled specifically for my writing, in college I both worked an internship in Japan and spent a very formative semester in Germany. While there, I was able to hop around much of northern and eastern Europe as well as north Africa. Seeing and learning about all those vastly different cultures has informed my life not only as a writer, but as a person.
Were you an avid reader as a child? What kinds of things did you read?
Reading and writing were actually a huge struggle for me growing up. I am dyslexic, so reading did not come naturally to me. The first book I can remember reading of my own volition was Gone with the Wind. I picked it out of my parent’s bookshelf the summer before sixth grade… and loathed every page. Seriously, I hate-read through every one of Scarlett O’Hara’s idiotic and selfish mistakes until it very much felt like, if I didn’t finish the book, somehow she would win. It makes me laugh to think about it now, especially because the heroine of my own novel is different from Scarlett in just about every way. Except stubbornness.
Tell us what you’re looking forward to reading.
I have been obsessed with the Crown of Shards series by Jennifer Estep ever since the first book was published. Deadlines (and children) have taken up most of my reading time recently, but I am just itching to dive into the latest installment, Crush the King. What can I say? I have a soft spot for indominable warrior women.
You can look forward to learning more about Greta’s writing life and maybe some tidbits about that intuitive cat in the weeks and months to come!
Greta, I’ve gotten pretty good at skimming these posts really fast, but when I read your comment about having dyslexia, I stopped in my tracks. I, too, have dyslexia, and I’ve worked in the dyslexia-related field for decades. (Currently, I’m the Executive Editor-in-Chief for the International Dyslexia Association.)
Anyway, as I start down the home stretch of the first draft of my novel, I sometimes have fantasies about how I’d answer that question, “Were you an avid reader as a child?” Love how you answered.
My torture book was David Copperfield. Had to read it when I was 13. I think it gave me PTSD. It’s a wonder I ever read another book. I suppose since I’m writing Historical Fiction, I should give David Copperfield another chance–especially now that I see Dickens first published it in 1849. That’s the year of the inciting incident that kicks off my novel. Oh, but I’m just not sure I can bring myself to do it.!
Anyway, way to go. Have a great deb year!
Carolyn