Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

I'm happy to be a part of the tour for Cheryl Carpinello's book, Tutankhamen Speaks. Cheryl joins us today to talk about research and to offer a chance for you to win a gift card. Thanks, Cheryl! And now, take it away... *** Researching Historical Fiction: Determining What Type and How Much To Do By Cheryl Carpinello Many writers struggle with this, including me. Unless you’ve built your own world, it’s hard for most authors to physically visit the places their characters live. If you’re a writer of historical fiction, like I am, it is impossible to transport readers back to those time periods without extensive research. So far, I’ve written in two time periods: 400-500 Medieval England and 1330 BC Egypt. For my first two Arthurian stories set in Medieval England, I started with guidebooks and maps—both modern and historical. I used these to get a sense of the landscape, which may have changed a bit, but not that much over the centuries. I also have an extensiv...

It’s Friday! Time for Building Character in which you get to meet characters from a book. Talking to a character outside of their book is fun! Huge. Amounts. Of fun.  This week Strands of Thought plays host to Rosa from Sons of the Sphinx. Glad you could make it today, Rosa. Can you tell our readers a little about yourself, please? Hi! I ’ m Rosa. I ’ m 15 years old and a sophomore in high school. I ’ m your typical teenager — well, almost. I don ’ t have many friends anymore, but it ’ s hard to blame the other kids. If I was them, I ’ d probably steer clear of me too, at least most of the time. No one is ever mean to me; I ’ ve grown up with most of them, and on my bad days, they try to ignore me. Wish I could do the same to those who talk to me. Mostly I just shake my head and carry on. Well that sounds sort of sad, Rosa, but I admit, I ’ m really curious about why you ’ re on the outskirts. What kind of conflict are you up against? OMG. That is a loaded question...