Saturday 23 March 2013

Guest Post - T. Rae Mitchell

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How Fate’s Fables Came To Be

            For some reason all my best ideas come to me in the shower. And that’s exactly where I was––hogging all the hot water––when the idea for Fate’s Fables poured in. But before I get to that, you need to know I was pouting. My favorite bookstore had closed. A charming little place full of eye-catching book displays, hardwood floors patched with copper plates and book ladders that rolled along the brick walls of the century-old building, which had originally been a granary. So as I thought about the emptiness left behind in that hollowed-out store, I wondered what I might see if I peeked through the windows. Had anything been left behind? Strangely enough, my crazy imagination offered up a giant ten-foot tall book, a magic Book of Fables to be exact.
            Hmm, interesting.
            My frown turned upside down as a girl named Fate stepped into the deserted bookstore. I’d never had a character just pop in fully named before. I usually spend a lot of time choosing names, looking up the meanings and really making sure it fits the character. But that was her name and I knew Fate was destined to plunge inside the Book of Fables.
            Okay, this is fun.
            As the water streamed over me, so did the story. An innocent girl is unwittingly sucked into a grim Wonderland, where she must journey through eight dark fables and somehow rewrite them into happily-ever-afters.
            With my story downloaded, I stepped out of the shower, a little on the pruney side, but floating on that eureka moment every writer hopes for. I finally had an A to Z story I could sink my teeth into. And that’s pretty much how I wrote the entire novel, hanging out in the shower.

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Fate Floyd loves adventure –– as long as it’s enjoyed from the comfort of her couch. So it’s probably best she has no idea the future of the universe rests squarely on her shoulders.
Summoned by a desperate stranger’s spell in a last ditch effort to fix a colossal screw-up, Fate’s cast into a secret world bound by the ancient Book of Fables to retrieve a magical object powerful enough to set everything right. The only problem is, once she’s inside this savage wonderland, her only way out is to change the endings of the book’s eight dark fables into their mirror opposites. Fortunately, she doesn’t have to run this gauntlet alone because she meets the mysteriously familiar Finn, who’s as inexplicably drawn to her as she is to him.
As they endure horrors beyond imagining, Fate awakens to powers she never knew she possessed and Finn questions his very existence, while an insidious darkness changes him in frightening ways. Ultimately, Fate must confront the faceless evil concealing itself behind the eyes of her one true love or remain trapped within the Book of Fables forever.


Bio:
T. Rae Mitchell is an incurable fantasy junkie who spent much of her youth mesmerizing her younger sisters with stories sprung from her crazy imagination. Over the years, her craving for the rush of being transported to fantastical realms became more acute. So it was only a matter of time before her habit got the best of her. Grief stricken one day upon discovering that her supply had dried up (her favorite bookstore had closed), she decided she’d had enough. Abandoning her career as an award-winning graphic designer, she entered a fantasy world of her own making called Fate’s Fables. She lives in British Columbia with her husband and son who are helping her cope with her addiction. Fate’s Fables is her debut novel.



Check out the Trailer: 

T.Rae would love to know: How do you come up with your best ideas? Answer in the comments below!!!

6 comments:

nora snowdon said...

great post, t. rae! and how great that you were able to multi-task to get clean and think up a fabulous plot at the same time. my best plotting comes when i'm drifting off to sleep at night. the scenes that remain in the morning are usually keepers. maybe to save on water you could try plotting while walking in the rain??? good luck with your book!

barmybex said...

Thanks to T.Rae for being on my blog!
I'll take a go at answering the question to set things off.

My best ideas come from everyday things or comments. Hearing snippets of conversations and wondering what the story could be behind those comments, imagining the context behind them. :D

Unknown said...

Great post and congratulations on your new book and the success at your book signing! I usually spend ages thinking up my plots and my character names. I'm trying your trick tomorrow morning.

Unknown said...

Great blog post! Always interesting to see how authors come up with their ideas. Your ideas sound very intriguing, T. Rae. I'll have to try your shower trick.

T. Rae Mitchell said...

Thanks to everyone who stopped by for a quick chat! Bravo to Becky for building a beautiful book blog. Did I get enough 'B's' in there? :D

T. Rae

barmybex said...

Yeah thanks for dropping by all. :D
And you did very well with all the B's Terry - you know I love alliteration. :)