KristinaStanley

Special Saturday Post: Maxwell Huxley’s Demon

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 9 Comments

Exciting new novel just published by Canadian Author Michael Conn.

Why am I so excited? Michael is my brother. In Maxwell Huxley’s Demon you’ll encounter  . . .

In MAXWELL HUXLEY’S DEMON, when nine-year-old Maxwell Huxley and three others break free from their mountain-top “school” for gifted children – a place where kids mysteriously vanish when they turn ten – a fantastical chase around the world begins. Pursuing answers and freedom, Max unintentionally creates a new world: a world where friends and family meet their demons, where artificial beings come to life, and where nanotechnology is indistinguishable from magic. Maxwell pays a heavy price, the loss of friends and family, to discover what he was bred for.

One part Ender, one part Jason Bourne, and a dash of Harry.

If you get the chance it’s on amazon.

How Do You Exercise Your Dog in the Heat?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

I don’t know about your dog, but mine gets lazy when it’s too hot out and doesn’t want to go for a walk.

My last dog, Chica, a beautiful yellow lab, needed a lot of exercise or she was a handful. I worried about her overheating, so for us, water was the answer.

Here she is diving into a pond (and yes I photo-shopped this photo) at the magnificent Greywolf Golf Course in Panorama BC.

The pond was only a few minutes from our house, but still, I had to drag her there. She knew lying is the shade was a good answer, but once I got her to the water she could retrieve floating objects forever.

If only I could have stopped her from stealing golf balls.

Where do Characters Come From?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 9 Comments

Do you plot or do you let the characters do the plotting?

Each writer is unique in how they create a story. I don’t like to plot the entire story before I write. I find it boring. Once I’ve plotted it, I’m no longer interested in writing the novel.

I don’t want to give the wrong idea about how I write. I’m very organized. I keep track of everything in a spreadsheet. At the end of a day of writing, I make myself update the spreadsheet. It’s not the most exciting thing to do, but since I haven’t plotted the story, it’s important for me to keep track of it.

Sometimes when I update the spreadsheet, the next scene magically announces itself to me. Then I jot a few notes, leave it for the night and have a starting point the next morning.

I have a general idea of what the story is, sometimes I even know the climax, but I never know when or where new characters are going to appear. I don’t base characters on people I know. I find this hard to do as it is restrictive, and again, not that interesting. I like to make them up from scratch.
For me new characters usually appear when I take my protagonist to a new location. Somehow that stimulates my brain.  Mostly, it’s the nastier characters that appear out of nowhere, so I don’t know what that says about me.
Where do your characters come from?

Related articles

Traveling with a Dog

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

The two thousand kilometres from Ottawa to Winnipeg is a lot easier to travel in a car when you take a break. The temptation is not to stop, to keep covering miles as the pavement slips by, barely touched be out tires.

Farley, our wheaten, makes sure we don’t take the drive for granted. With him along, we stopped for hikes at some amazing places. Another great reason to travel with a dog.

This photo was taken somewhere in Northern Ontario, but is typical of the beauty we discovered. My husband is trying not to get his feet wet while Farley tastes the cold river water.

Farley’s on a leash because there are bears in the area, and we don’t really want a dog-bear encounter. Who would?

How I Signed with a Literary Agent

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

I signed with Margaret Hart of the HSW Literary Agency last July (2011). We met at the Humber School for Writers Summer Workshop.

Sounds easy, but it was a long journey to get there.  I attended the Humber School For Writers correspondence course with Joan Barfoot as my mentor. At the completion of that program my novel wasn’t ready to submit to an agent.

Throughout the course I compiled many tips from Joan and used these to improve my writing.

After spending a week with Mary Gaitskill at the summer workshop in 2010, Mary introduced me to Margaret, and she kindly agreed to read Fracture Line. I spent another month updating the manuscript, this time based on comments from Mary Gaitskill, before sending it to Margaret.

Margaret’s first feedback was that she liked the novel, but I had to pick up the pace. I asked a few specific questions about what she meant and then got to work. Four months and a lot of rewriting later, I resubmitted Fracture Line. This time Margaret was happy and she offered me a contract.

There are many ways to sign with a literary agency, but getting connected through the Humber School for Writers sure helped me. If your interested, the summer workshop is starting July 7, 2012.

Mattina on the Hard

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Part of our cruising lifestyle includes putting our boat on the hard for the summer. I’m always sad to put her away, but ecstatic when we get to launch her again.

Mattina, our Lagoon 380 S2, is on land, tucked safely away. She’s in a marina in Florida. Our only worry for the summer is a hurricane, and there’s not much we can do about that, so really why worry.

There is value in decommissioning and re-commissioning  each season. The process forces us to evaluate each piece of equipment, deep clean storage spaces, fridge and freezer, determine if repairs are needed and perform any yearly maintenance. I think if we didn’t get off the boat each summer, we might not get around to some of these tasks because we are too busy enjoying sailing the boat.

So for now, while our boats takes a rest, I’ll stop my Wednesday blog about cruising and start it up again in the fall.

Crime Writers of Canada

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 1 Comment

At every writer’s conference, I hear how important it is for writers to have a platform, but when you’re just starting out, how do you create a network of people? If you’re a Canadian Crime writer and looking for a way to build your platform and make connections in the writing world, the Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) might be for you.

This is my third year as an associate member, and all of a sudden I realized I belonged to a group that could help me expand my network and connect me with people who write in crime genre.

Now here’s the delightful surprise. I sent LinkedIn invitations to the other CWC members, and I’m getting messages back almost as fast as I can read them.

CWC has professional members (those who have published their work) and associate members (those who are unpublished), and I’ve connected with many authors in both groups.

This members’ list can be found at Bios on the CWC website  along with writer’s webpages and profiles. It’s a great way to explore Canadian crime novels.

I spent the weekend being amazed at how generous people are with their time and how willing they are to add me to their network.

Related articles (just a little insight into the CWC) . . .

Do Dogs Need Role Models?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

#Dogs

Joe, the 120 lb retriever, teaches Farley, the 15 lb wheaten terrier, some manners.

Farley arrived home at 8 weeks old, and Joe spent a few months teaching him how to behave like a dog.

Joe is a very tolerant and gentle dog, and even though he is huge, he made a great leader for Farley.

The best friends played, slept and ate together.

Driving Across Canada

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Ottawa to Winnipeg: 2000 Km of writing time – except when it’s my turn to drive.

The views are spectacular, the roads winding (until you hit the prairies), and there are ample passing lanes.  But what do you do with your time, hour after hour, in the car?

I find my mind wanders and with time to think, I get inundated with ideas. I keep a notebook handy to capture my thoughts. If I’m driving, my husband has to write them down. If only I could get him to write neatly.

Living is such a big country and having family in several provinces, along with the crazy notion that driving is the right way to get there, gives me lots of hours to write. I’ve written entire scenes without noticing what town we passed through, or that maybe we should stop for lunch, or that we are arriving.

As this is posted I am somewhere between Wawa, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba hopefully coming up with some great ideas for my fourth novel.