Guest Post by Kate Hinderer (The Emerald Isle Blog Tour)

I'm pleased to welcome Kate Hinderer, author of The Emerald Isle, to the blog today! She's discussing how the writing processes differed for her contemporary novel Aurora Undefined and her paranormal novel The Emerald Isle.

First, a bit about the book and the author:

"To escape a bad break-up and fighting parents Audyn takes a job as a lifeguard at Fascination Island. The posh five-star resort lives up to its name in every way, including the strange rules the owner has about entering the water at night. Despite declaring it a boy-free summer, it isn’t long before the shy, endearing Levi and the mysterious, tattooed Tristan begin vying for her attention. When Levi tries to push his advantage and Tristan comes to the rescue, Audyn realizes there is more to both these boys and the island they inhabit. Suddenly, she’s forced to acknowledge a reality she’d never considered and to pick a side in the conflict that has been waging for decades." (from Goodreads)

"Kate is a journalist by profession. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications such as The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune special sections, The Milwaukee Business Journal, RelateMag, The SuperMelon, MercatorNet's Tiger Print blog, Sadie Magazine...

She started writing stories and novelettes in 7th grade. Her teachers thought she was copiously taking notes, but really she was penning stories about her classmates. That passion only increased in high school. The stories became longer and the passion for writing was deeply ingrained. As a junior she resurrected her school's student-run newspaper and opted to pursue a journalism career to harness her love for writing into a payable profession. Still the stories never stopped flowing.

Kate also writes a fashion and lifestyle blog called ModlyChic." (taken from the author's website)

And now the guest post:

Hey, I’m author Kate Hinderer and I’m lucky enough to be guest posting for the day as part of the blog book tour for The Emerald Isle. This book is part paranormal part contemporary fiction and it’s all fun.  (The book can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.)

When I wrote my first book, Aurora Undefined, the process was vastly different from that of my second book, The Emerald Isle.

Auora Undefined is a contemporary young adult novel and something that could easily take place today in any high school. A lot of the scenes are things pulled from my own experience and that of my friends and relatives. As a result, there wasn’t much research that needed to take place to write the story. I mapped out the story line and started writing.

The Emerald Isle, on the other hand, mixes contemporary characters with paranormal elements. I wanted Audyn, the main character, to be relatable and realistic while having her fall prey to something out of her realm of experience. I took her out of environments I know myself and put her in the midst of Fascination Island, a luxury resort where anything can happen. The writing took more research and plotting since I needed to feature things I don’t have first-hand experience of: five-star resorts, life guarding and, of course, mermaids.

The notes I took filled sticky notes and word documents. I would sketch random parts to better visualize the scenes and the characters. For more than three months I carried around a color-coordinated map of what Fascination Island looked like in my head, memorizing it to better be able to describe where the characters are going.

I spent way too much time researching mermaid folklore on the internet. I spent a lot of time watching movies and TV shows that feature mermaids… the Australian show H2O, Aquamarine, Fishtales, etc…

Unlike other paranormal characters (vampires, werewolves, etc..) there isn’t a unified front on what mermaids are all about. Oh, sure, they are beautiful and such, but beyond that what exactly is a mermaid or merman? I needed to come up with my own definition of merfolk and what they were really all about. It was an adventure and something I loved fleshing out on my own.

Thanks very much, Kate, for dropping by and sharing a glimpse into your writing process! The full blog tour schedule can be found on Kate's blog here.

And just a heads-up: Kate is also holding a giveaway on her fashion blog, ModlyChic, to celebrate the release of The Emerald Isle, so you might want to head on over there and enter!