January 2019
Kennedy J. Quinn
I'm looking at your book book, The Unwitting Journeys of the Witty Miss Livingstone: Journey Key, from where did you draw your inspiration for this book?
I've always loved time travel and trains. When I moved to Snoq ualmie Valley, WA a decade ago, the train museum and restored depot caught my imagination. A fusing of the history of this place with a steampunk story was a natural, and Miss Livingstone emerged when I dressed for author, Jeffrey Cook's Dawn of Steam: First Light release party. Once she was conceived, I couldn't hold her back. I'm thoroughly enjoying writing her 5 book story.
Do you work from an outline or are you a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants ("pantster") kind of writer and why?
I've always been a pantser. Inspiration is rich and clear, and fortunately I'm able to spill it out in a linear manner, in most cases. However, a five book series has created need for significant back-outlining and resulted in at least basic outlining of the final books to keep consistency and bring all points to great conclusions as the readers deserve. But I believe good stories need to flo w from the characters as they emerge in the action, so I'd never stick to an outline or shape the story from beginning to end without a lot of flexibility during the process.
What was the hardest part of writing this book and why?
The length of the story arc for five books is daunting to hold in my creative brain, especially with the historical detail as well. Someone asked me how I knew it was going to be five books long if I hadn't written them. I laughed, since that had never occurred to me. I just knew. But the charting and consistency of detail is extremely time consuming. A series is a very different animal from a standalone story.
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
Without a doubt ch. 19-23 of book I where Miss Livingstone has a time tr avel adventure aboard the dirigible, Dame Fortuna. Since her character sprouted in appreciation of Jeffrey Cook's steam era alternate history Dawn of Steam books, I asked him if I could have her land on his ship and interact with his characters. The mix with Miss Livingstone's awe and verve when she encountered her heroes that she'd read about as a child, was thrilling and hilarious. I still love to go back and read that section of the story. It makes me smile every time. Thanks, Jeffrey!
Is there a clear villain in your book and if so, how did you get in touch with your inner villain to write this book?
The mysterious Mr. Manush is just that, mysterious. There's a dark , enthralling, magical kind of shadow over Miss Livingstone's adventures, but the reader will grapple with who and/or what the villainous element is at any given point in the story. I do think the villain lies within us all, and even nature is dark as well as light.
What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?
This was my first historically based novel. It's been a time-consuming but infinitely fun process jumping out of the story and into researching this detail or that. I often fall down the rabbit hole to my great delight. Especially since Miss Livingstone collects literature through time, I had many unexpected bonuses in learning about books and authors from earlier eras as well as historical news from around 1910, 1815 and 1941. And I passed as much along to my readers as I could naturally have Miss Livingstone portray.
What are your future project(s)?
Books I & II are published and available. Books III & IV are drafted, and I'll be writing first draft of Book V in November during NaNoWriMo. Then it's back to edit and publish book III in 2019.
I also have a Literary Fiction novel, The Voices of Ellsinore, written under my other author name, Sheri J. Kennedy, that I hope to publish by 2020.
Is there a message in your novel you hope readers will grasp?
The question behind it is: If you had it to do over again, would you? They can grapple with it as they wish. Certainly for Miss Livingstone the ability to choose her own fate - knowing her possible futures - presents complex and heart-wrenching decisions. That awesome power is, for her, bittersweet.
To learn more about Kennedy and the Witty Miss Livingstone visit her website: MissLiVAdventures.com and KennedyJQuinn on Facebook.
"I love it when readers send photos of themselves reading my books."
I've always loved time travel and trains. When I moved to Snoq ualmie Valley, WA a decade ago, the train museum and restored depot caught my imagination. A fusing of the history of this place with a steampunk story was a natural, and Miss Livingstone emerged when I dressed for author, Jeffrey Cook's Dawn of Steam: First Light release party. Once she was conceived, I couldn't hold her back. I'm thoroughly enjoying writing her 5 book story.
Do you work from an outline or are you a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants ("pantster") kind of writer and why?
I've always been a pantser. Inspiration is rich and clear, and fortunately I'm able to spill it out in a linear manner, in most cases. However, a five book series has created need for significant back-outlining and resulted in at least basic outlining of the final books to keep consistency and bring all points to great conclusions as the readers deserve. But I believe good stories need to flo w from the characters as they emerge in the action, so I'd never stick to an outline or shape the story from beginning to end without a lot of flexibility during the process.
What was the hardest part of writing this book and why?
The length of the story arc for five books is daunting to hold in my creative brain, especially with the historical detail as well. Someone asked me how I knew it was going to be five books long if I hadn't written them. I laughed, since that had never occurred to me. I just knew. But the charting and consistency of detail is extremely time consuming. A series is a very different animal from a standalone story.
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
Without a doubt ch. 19-23 of book I where Miss Livingstone has a time tr avel adventure aboard the dirigible, Dame Fortuna. Since her character sprouted in appreciation of Jeffrey Cook's steam era alternate history Dawn of Steam books, I asked him if I could have her land on his ship and interact with his characters. The mix with Miss Livingstone's awe and verve when she encountered her heroes that she'd read about as a child, was thrilling and hilarious. I still love to go back and read that section of the story. It makes me smile every time. Thanks, Jeffrey!
Is there a clear villain in your book and if so, how did you get in touch with your inner villain to write this book?
The mysterious Mr. Manush is just that, mysterious. There's a dark , enthralling, magical kind of shadow over Miss Livingstone's adventures, but the reader will grapple with who and/or what the villainous element is at any given point in the story. I do think the villain lies within us all, and even nature is dark as well as light.
What real-life inspirations did you draw from for the worldbuilding within your book?
This was my first historically based novel. It's been a time-consuming but infinitely fun process jumping out of the story and into researching this detail or that. I often fall down the rabbit hole to my great delight. Especially since Miss Livingstone collects literature through time, I had many unexpected bonuses in learning about books and authors from earlier eras as well as historical news from around 1910, 1815 and 1941. And I passed as much along to my readers as I could naturally have Miss Livingstone portray.
What are your future project(s)?
Books I & II are published and available. Books III & IV are drafted, and I'll be writing first draft of Book V in November during NaNoWriMo. Then it's back to edit and publish book III in 2019.
I also have a Literary Fiction novel, The Voices of Ellsinore, written under my other author name, Sheri J. Kennedy, that I hope to publish by 2020.
Is there a message in your novel you hope readers will grasp?
The question behind it is: If you had it to do over again, would you? They can grapple with it as they wish. Certainly for Miss Livingstone the ability to choose her own fate - knowing her possible futures - presents complex and heart-wrenching decisions. That awesome power is, for her, bittersweet.
To learn more about Kennedy and the Witty Miss Livingstone visit her website: MissLiVAdventures.com and KennedyJQuinn on Facebook.
"I love it when readers send photos of themselves reading my books."
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