Blog Tour: In the Light of the Eclipse by Bryan Caron ~ Spotlight ~ Excerpt ~ Guest Post ~ Giveaway!!!
In
the Light of the Eclipse by Bryan Caron
Virtual
Tour Dates: 12/2/13 – 12/16/13
Genres:
Young Adult, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
Young Adult, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
Blurb:
Where
God so loved the world, Heather (or as few have dared to dub her “the goddess
of condemnation”) holds a much crueler hand over her inhabitants. Every
seventeen years, under her ever-watchful eye, an eclipse renders her land dark,
taking the soul of everyone over the age of seventeen to the land of the
unknown nothing. In its wake, Heather bestows the gift of a child upon the
land. Some believe this child has special powers; others believe she inhabits
the souls taken by the eclipse. But no matter the belief, one thing is
certain—without the child, the land would crumble.
Most
accept the eclipse and live every breath with a love unmatched by any other.
This is especially true of Zoe, whose seventeenth year of breath nears ever so
close. Born under the eclipse, Zoe understands her life is a gift and that she
will return that gift in kind—whenever that day may be (that is until she falls
in love and discovers the dark secrets hidden in the heart of Heather).
Still
others yearn for a longer life and curse Heather’s name. One such person was
branded the name Kayla on her day of breath eighteen years ago. Unable to
comprehend the meaning of such viciousness, Kayla believes such a sacrifice is
unnecessary, even for the worst of mankind. Little does she know that a
mysterious traveler may hold the key to ending the eclipse forever.
Zoe
and Kayla are best friends.
This
is their story.
Excerpt
from In the Light of the Eclipse
From
Chapter Two – A Secret Morning Swim
(Read
Chapter 1 at http://publications.divinetrinityfilms.com)
On
the morning that marked the beginning of Kayla’s eighteenth year of breath, Zoe
got up an hour before the rooster’s crow and headed into Industry Quarters. She
had never walked the streets at night before so it was a bit scary, but also
quite amazing. The smell of baking bread was at its strongest and the bright
glow of the full moon turned the artwork all around her into a fluorescent
wonderland. It made it all the more brilliant to lie back in the shadows and
watch a couple of kids turn paint into such beautiful pictures. She almost
wanted to join them in taking brush in hand but she had something much more
pressing to do, and time was of the essence.
Zoe
inched her way through the slightly wilted bushes surrounding Kayla’s house and
pressed her hands firmly on the glass of her bedroom window. Kayla never locked
her window so it was quite easy to open and crawl in without rousing her,
though she hoped the change in noise level from the roar of the machines didn’t
do it for her. Thankfully, Kayla was still asleep when the room returned to
silence. Zoe snuck up to Kayla’s bureau and shoveled her swimming suit, towel
and a change of clothes into her pack, a task that took longer than expected
(it couldn’t just be any old clothes; it had to at least look good together).
When she was happy with what she had chosen, Zoe tiptoed back to Kayla’s bed
and kissed her cheek.
“Wake
up, sleepy,” she whispered into Kayla’s ear.
Kayla
groaned and rolled over. “Go away.”
“Kayla,
wake up,” Zoe said, shaking her shoulder.
When
Kayla finally realized who it was, she sat up quickly and looked around as if
her caretakers were hiding in the walls, waiting for just the right reason to
take her to Quorum Circle for punishment. “Zoe,” she whispered. “What in
Heather’s name are you doing here? What time is it?”
“It’s
time to give you my gift.”
Each
year, to mark the day of a person’s first breath, caretakers and friends would
do something special for that person, from taking over that day’s chores to
whisking them off to Serenity Lake for a grand snorkel, so long as it was
something that was unique to the presenter of the gift. For this, the last gift
Zoe would ever give Kayla, she wanted to do something more amazing than life.
She pulled Kayla out of bed.
“What
are you doing?”
“It’s
a secret. Come on.”
Kayla
felt a little blushed walking the streets of Industry Quarters in her sleeping
gown, especially when they passed Henry (who had a not-so-secret crush on
Kayla) sweeping flour out of his caretaker’s factory.
“Where
are you two lovely ladies headed off to so early?” Henry said.
“No
time to chat,” Zoe said, keeping from making eye contact. If she had, she would
have felt obligated to stop, and Zoe was in far too much a hurry to do that.
Henry did it for her.
“Just
wait, I’ll come with.” Henry set the broom against the inside of the door and
jogged after them. “Wait up.”
Now
Zoe had to stop. “You can’t come, Henry.” Her hand was outstretched, keeping
him from coming any closer. Kayla was pulled in behind her.
“Why?
What’s the big deal?”
“I’m
giving Kayla her gift. This is for her and I alone. So if you don’t mind…”
“Her
gift? What could you possibly be giving her this early?”
“None
of your business,” Kayla interjected. She stepped around Zoe, who felt a little
honored and shocked (though she didn’t know why). “Now be a good little boy and
get back to work. Go on.” She waved her hand. How Kayla could get away with
that was beyond Zoe, even if Henry was a year younger than her (and no more
than a couple of months older than Zoe, for that matter). Maybe she was using
his infatuation against him.
Then again, maybe not.
“No.
I want to see what this is.”
“We
aren’t moving until you leave,” Kayla said.
“That’s
fine. I have all day.”
“We
don’t,” Zoe whispered to Kayla. She acknowledged her, but with only the
slightest turn of her head so that Henry might not notice.
“I
don’t want to have to get physical,” Kayla said. Her voice was strong,
commanding. “But I will if I have to.”
“Do
you promise?” Henry said, which disgusted Kayla to no end.
“Just
leave us alone.”
“Tell
me where you’re off to and maybe I will.”
“No.”
Henry
shrugged. Zoe grew ever more irritated. The sun would be up soon; once it was,
her gift would be ruined. If she weren’t such a lady (or had been taught to be
such by her caretakers), she probably would have popped him one (or urged Kayla
to, in the very least) just to make her point. Luckily, she didn’t have to.
Buy
Links:
Guest Post: The Evolution of a Story
You may have
heard from various writers that a book is a living, breathing entity. That
might seem weird if you’re not a writer, but for those who are probably
understand what I’m talking about.
A finished
novel is almost always nowhere near the same as when it was a simple outline in
the writer’s mind. That’s because most writers choose to let the characters
take over the narrative, allowing them to guide the writer in new, fresh and
unexpected directions. (I say ‘almost always’ because I’m sure there are some
writers out there whose books are exactly as they intended them to be, and I’m
not sure what the evolution of a non-fiction book is, as I’ve never written one
before.)
For me, I’m
not happy unless I’m being led, as that is when I know I’m going in the right
direction. Without the characters telling me where they want to go, I would
simply be forcing my way through the narrative instead of allowing it to
organically grow into what it’s meant to be.
In fact, I
haven’t written a book yet that hasn’t been completely altered from my original
notes, which consist mostly of main character descriptions, their overall
journey, what they’re going to learn throughout the story and maybe a few notes
here and there about subplots, research and the like. Sometimes it’s a little
more vague, sometimes a bit more detailed, but no matter what, I always look
forward to the moment that I can throw all of it out the window because the
characters have taken me down a completely different and exciting new yellow
brick road.
One novel
that I wrote, for example, took me on a much longer journey than I was
expecting. I mean, the characters wouldn’t shut up. At times, as the book
continued to grow and morph into a much richer vision than I had originally
imagined, I tried to make them stop. But if I had done that, I would have lost
the depth that they were creating. So I held on for the ride and let them carry
the story to its natural conclusion. (Hopefully, this book will be published
near the end of 2014. Time will tell.)
By now, I
know you probably think I’m a crazy, ranting lunatic, especially if you’re not
a writer and haven’t had that feeling of losing control of a manuscript. But it
is true, and to explain it a bit further, I’d like to relay an example from my
new young adult novel, In the Light of
the Eclipse.
(If you’ve
read the book, great, this will hopefully give you some insight into the
writing process. If you haven’t, don’t worry—this won’t spoil anything.)
When I first
wrote out my notes (as with almost anything I’ve ever written), there were
several characters that I hadn’t even conceived of yet, but knew I would be
creating in order to keep the narrative flowing and add conflict. One of these
characters, though, was originally written only in passing— a throwaway
afterthought; a detail thrown out for the sole purpose of developing Kayla’s
backstory, never to be heard from again. His name: Henry.
Halfway
through the third chapter (well, actually the fourth chapter at the time, as
the majority of the first chapter eventually hit the cutting room floor), I
found myself writing him into a major subplot. From then on, I could no longer
ignore him; Henry was screaming to become a major role in the events that took
place.
Throughout
the rest of the book, his character grew exponentially, slowly evolving into
the main villain of the story. It turns out that without him, a lot of what
happens would never have taken place. He became such a major force that I had
to go back in subsequent drafts and focus a little more on him to beef his part
up. In fact, I blame Henry for changing so much of the book… but in a good way.
This is, of
course, just one example of how In the
Light of the Eclipse evolved from the idea stage (originally titled,
“Darkness in Heather”) to the finished product. I could go on for pages and
pages about other aspects of the story, characters and themes that changed as I
got to know Zoe and Kayla a lot better, and where they dictated the story to
go, but I’m sure Katie and Satarupa would frown at such a long post, so let’s
just say that events I originally had planned were scrapped and new ones were
born because it was more to my character’s liking.
When all is
said and done, a writer is nothing more than a tool the characters use to tell
their story.
About
the Author:
Bryan Caron is a
multi-talented, award-winning artist with works in several mediums, including
print, film and design. After acquiring a bachelor’s degree in creative writing
and an associate’s degree in computer graphic design, Bryan studied filmmaking
and film editing while working at a performing arts studio in San Diego,
California. He took this knowledge to write, direct and edit films under his
banner, Divine Trinity Films. Soon after, he would team up with the Fallbrook
Film Factory, a non-profit film consortium, to continue his growth in the areas
of writing, directing and editing, all the while fleshing out his talents in
fiction writing (publishing Year of the Songbird and Jaxxa Rakala: The Search
in 2013), working as a graphic designer, and beginning his first blog: Chaos
breeds Chaos.
His works as writer and
director include the short films My Necklace, Myself (Best Screenplay, Short
Film, 2009 Treasure Coast International Film Festival) and 12, the feature film
Secrets of the Desert Nymph, and the commercial Charlie’s Ticket, which ran on
dozens of television stations and in movie theaters in San Diego County to
advertise the Fallbrook International Film Festival. Works as editor include
the short film Puzzle Box and No Books, the first of several episodes he has
edited for the online sketch-series, Treelore Theatre.
Bryan
currently resides in Riverside County.
www.divinetrinityfilms.com
chaosbreedschaos.com
Connect
with Bryan Caron:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bryan-Caron-Writer-Filmmaker-Graphic-Designer/447034522017950
Giveaway:
Bryan
is giving away 3 signed copies of his book. USA only. Enter through Goodreads!
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