Just as a story has to have conflict, there also has to be sidekicks. Friends. Family members. Acquaintances. Mentors. Any kind of ally. The purpose of the sidekick is to encourage the main character to keep going or to think differently about the world.
Here are the friends my main character, Starlight, makes in my upcoming book.
Feature Characters: The Foxes
In this fantasy tale, there are Arctic foxes who live on the streets, and each one has a different personality.
Fairy Floss is the big sister figure who guides Starlight in navigating the big world. She also believes that some humans are good, as some have been changed by the Son of the Father of Lights. Like Starlight, she was also raised by dogs, only instead of living in an alley like Starlight’s old pack, she lived at a campground (where a Bible camp would take place).
Moonglow is a no-nonsence fox who’s more skeptical about humans than Fairy Floss. When she was a pup, she lived at a lumberyard, so she knows what an axe is. She can be bossy at times, but a good thing about her is that she steps up to the plate as needed.
Cinnamon Heart is an innocent soul who’s mute, but she has a special way of communicating with others. She wags her tail for “yes” and says “mm-mm” for “no.” Her old home was in a town, just like Starlight, and like Starlight she was also harrassed by her adoptive siblings.
While Fairy Floss is the mini-mom of the foxes, Glimmer is the super-mom of them. She can fly and create golden light with her tail, and she teaches Starlight how to fly, too. With a mama bear drive, she fights off predators, even humanlike ice beings who wield axes.
Feature Character: Ky-rah the Agropelter
If you don’t know what an agropelter is, it’s an apelike creature from American folklore that can fling tree branches and knock humans out (Picture is from Agropelter – North America’s Aggressive Cryptid.). Ky-rah does the same, only it’s geared toward his enemies. At first Starlight is intimidated by this strange creature; then she gets annoyed by his know-it-all persona (as he lectures her on healthy eating and her so-called lack of intellectual knowledge). However, he proves his loyalty by sticking with her for her protection, and when characters get hurt, he tends to their wounds.
Don’t forget to check out Starlight when it releases this December!
I’m back with more character bios, and I have to share the villains in my story. Every good story has to have conflict, and Starlight is up for some major conflict with dogs within and outside her family.
By the way, this book is Book 1 in my series called “Wonder Around the Corner.” It’s a series of fairy tale retellings set in both an urban and woodland world, and this story is a retelling of the Ugly Duckling.
Anyway, here are the villains.
Feature Characters: Rocky and Anne
Rocky and Anne are Starlight’s adoptive siblings, and they’re both Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. However, don’t let their cuteness fool you. They harass Starlight for her quirks, i.e. her nose-diving, her slinky-like body, and her graying fur. When they move out of their old pack, they pick the wrong pack to join, and that further endangers Starlight.
Feature Character: Magma
He’s a Pitbull-type dog who has an appetite for rabbits, even if these rabbits are more like dogs. It means Starlight, thanks to her high-jumping, makes her more rabbit-ish to Magma, so he develops a craving for her. He does whatever it takes to get her, and he can even attack her friends if he wants to eat them.
Feature Character: The Queen of Frost
While not as prominent as my dog villains, she is an important character in “Wonder Around the Corner.” She hunts particular foxes for their magic powers, and she hires teenaged boys to do her bidding.
Foxes, watch out for her icicles. She flings them to injure her prey.
Feature Characters: The Boys
Yes, I do have everyday humans in my book, and some of them are teenaged boys who are rebellious against their parents and happy to serve the Queen of Frost. They use axes for their weapons, and the Queen puts a spell on them that makes them more dangerous.
As far as violence goes, very little blood is described, and villains are defeated when they drown, are clobbered on the head, or are electrified. I keep the content fitting for readers aged eight to twelve, but parents of course need to know their kids as far as what violence they can handle.
Is your interest piqued? Look out for Starlight‘s release in December.
You may have seen that I have a middle grade book coming out this December. It’s Starlight, the story of an arctic fox who, after being ostracized by her own adoptive siblings, finds out where she belongs.
During the next several weeks, I’ll be sharing bios of my prominent characters. First up is, of course, my main character.
Starlight is a white fox cub who starts her life in the winter. She’s adopted by a family of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, who are strays living in an alley next to a restaurant. What is a hobby of hers? She enjoys leaping high and nose-diving into the snow (If you’ve seen YouTube videos of foxes jumping this way, you know how fun it is to watch.). To add to the merriment, as she’s half-buried in the powdery white, she lets her hind legs dangle in the air.
However, it makes her look funny to her adoptive siblings, who taunt her for it. Also, a ravenous stray dog thinks her more like a rabbit than a dog, which makes him want to eat her. This isolates her from the canine world, and to add to her problems, when summer approaches, her fur turns fully gray. She thinks the color is ugly, and it brings on more ridicule from her siblings.
When she’s fully grown, she leaves to find her own home, which sets her on a journey of found friendship and self-discovery. She gains more confidence in handling the outside world, and in the midst of it all, she has a great love for pizza found in the dumpsters.
Want to read more? Check out Starlight, coming this December.
Hi, Summer Bash guests! Party crashers are welcome, too.
For those of you who followed me for a while, you may already be familiar with what I write. However, let me share more about my writing journey by answering Who, What, Where, How, and Why questions.
WHO am I?
I’m K.A. Ramstad (of course), a creator of fantasy and fairy tale retellings. I write for children, middle grade, and teens, and you’ll see me write a review on a picture or middle grade book every once in a while.
WHAT got me into writing?
While I have enjoyed writing stories since I was a kid, what helped me launch into the career of writing was, of all things, reading a fanfiction story. It was a fun gender bended retelling of Sleeping Beauty (where it’s the prince who’s sleeping), and it got me intrigued with the idea of writing tales.
Reading, as well as watching movies, fed my love for stories in general. Additionally, the book God of the Fairy Tale by Jim Ware opened my eyes to see that even secular stories like Cinderella illustrate God’s truths without being on-the-nose. With Cinderella, she was a girl who went from rags to riches, just as Jesus started His life on earth in poverty but now rules as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. How cool is that?
WHERE did I learn more about the craft of storytelling?
I became a member of Realm Makers, a Christian group where authors get together virtually and learn from each other. I even joined a critique group through them. Let me tell you, when I shared my writing with my critique partners, I realized I had a lot to learn when it comes to creating a novel. It isn’t just slapping words onto a page and thinking you wrote something interesting. It’s called art for a reason. So, I took my critique-ers’ suggestions and improved my art.
But critique groups aren’t the only way of developing one’s writing, which leads to the next question.
HOW did I improve further?
Did I mention Realm Makers’ has a conference? I attended three of their conferences online, and they’re the best writing events I’ve attended. There’s so much rich information they offer you, and they’re taught by well-known authors like Nadine Brandes, Steve Laube, Kathy Tyers, Steven James, and more.
Oh, and there’s always writing books. The ones I recommend are:
Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s Thesaurus series (The Emotion Thesaurus, The Positive Trait Thesaurus, The Emotional Wound Thesaurus, etc.)
5 Editors Tackle the 12 Fatal Flaws of Fiction Writing by C.S. Lakin, Linda S. Clare, Christy Distler, Robin Patchen, and Rachel Starr Thomson
WHY do I write fairy tale retellings?
There’s something about fairy tales that tend to stick with me, particularly their plots involving:
Heroes and heroines braving dangers.
Characters being redeemed and experiencing unconditional love.
People rising up from deathlike sleep.
It’s especially awesome that they’re retold in a way that allows me to experience them in a fresh way.
I discovered Beyond the Bookery, a publisher that releases fairy tale retellings, through Liv Hammonds’ blog. It was that post that announced openings for writers to submit their works. I couldn’t pass the opportunity, and I happened to have a story at the back of my head that would turn into a fairy tale. That story became “Friend of the Dire Wolf,” and it’s a Little Red Riding Hood story that’s now in the anthology Of Dangers and Dreams.
So, if you’re looking for publishers for your story, search the Internet. Even use keywords like “fairy tale [or whatever genre] submission.” You’ll never know what you’ll find.
Bonus Question: What’s next for me?
I’m now writing a middle grade fantasy that’ll be released in December. It’s an Ugly Duckling retelling, where the main character is a pup adopted by a family of stray dogs. The problem is, she’s different from her littermates. She jumps in the snow in a funny way, and her fur turns gray during the summer, causing her littermates to tease her. Not only that, but someone ventured to say she’s actually a fox. Is it true?
In the end, she finds a new family and discovers she has a superpower. What is that superpower? This Elf on a Shelf clip gives a clue.
The fox creating the Northern Lights is from Finnish mythology. However, with my MC, I have her just create the blue light, and other foxes contribute to the Northern Lights with their colors. As you can imagine, these foxes are a fellowship and a family.
How does the MC view humans? She isn’t sure of them at first, but she finds some who are not only nice but also enjoy her unique quirks.
Whew! That’s a lot I just shared. I hope you had fun during the Bash, and enjoy the rest of your summer.
Beyond the Bookery’s Summer Bash is coming to Facebook. It’s your chance to win a free copy of Of Dangers and Dreams, featuring my retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. That’s right, it’s F-R-E-E.
On June 30, you’ll see a special post by me at 5:00 PM MST. You’ll see how I got into writing, tips on how to be a better writer, and more of a sneak peek of my upcoming middle grade book Starlight.
Don’t forget. June 30 is my special post, and below is where you can find out more about the Summer Bash.
You may have already heard about the Summer Bash hosted by Beyond the Bookery. It’s an online party where you can explore different authors and potential favorite reads. There’s even a giveaway to win cool stuff, like BtB releases, highlighters, and fun goodies like a possible crocheted bookmark.
And guess what? You’ll get a chance to win your own copy of Of Dangers and Dreams (featuring my dire wolf story)!
The event is on Facebook (which will also feature a guest blog post from myself), and it’s happening June 26-30. The link with all the details is here:
Here’s a book for grades K-3 about a dad who, even though he’s on the road working a lot, he still takes time to visit his kids. Here’s Brian Monica reading “Always My Dad.”
Remember when I told you I have a story about a fox that makes light for the Northern Lights?
I found a publisher for it! It’s going to be the same publisher that did my “Friend of the Dire Wolf” novella. This new book, called Starlight, is fit for a middle grade audience who loves fantasy and fairy tale retellings.
For those who haven’t read my past blog posts, this story is essentially an Ugly Duckling retelling where instead of a duckling, it’s an Arctic fox. The fox’s name is Starlight, and she was adopted by a family of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. She grows up feeling like the odd one, as she nose-dives into the snow, which is something dogs don’t typically do. Her fur also changes color per the seasons, and during the summer, it turns into a dingy gray.
But like the Ugly Duckling, she learns who she really is in the end. For a bonus, this is a Christmas book.
[This photo represents Starlight’s “ugly” season, where she has gray fur during the warm months.]
[Here’s Starlight during the winter, where she’s out of her gray coat.]
[How does Starlight add to the Northern Lights? She sweeps her tail across the snow, and blue light wafts into the night sky.]
Writing a search-and-rescue story? Imagining a mountain-climbing expedition? Looking for ideas on how to write an adventure story and make it as plausible as possible?
Check out this article on Hannah Ruth Johnson’s site, where guest M. Liz Boyle shares tips on research and character development. One advice I love is directly asking professionals on how to flesh out certain scenarios. Experts like search-and-rescue dog handlers, small airplane pilots, etc. That way, you get deep insight on their careers and the world of outdoor rescue missions. Also, if you’re a homeschooling parent, it’s a good excuse to teach your kids about real-life heroes (and maybe go on a field trip).
You may have heard the sad news, but author friend C.E. (Connie) White left this world in April after an intense fight with cancer. She is with the Author of Life now, so cancer didn’t win the battle, but let’s pause to remember her as a thought-provoking storyteller and a serious, die-hard follower of Jesus.
I wrote a review of her picture book When Your Dragon Is Too Big for a Bath, which was posted on Jennifer Hallmark’s blog. Click on the button to learn more.
She also wrote the middle grade novel Vincent in Wonderland, which I got to read before it was published. Let me tell you, it’s a unique twist on the classic story and the historical artist. Lorehaven wrote a review on it, so click here to learn more:
There’s a prequel to the Vincent book, too, and I’m currently listening to the audiobook version of it. I say it’s an intriguing story so far, and it’s great for fans of A Wrinkle in Time. If you’re curious, here’s Lorehaven’s review:
