Hello and welcome to my blog tour post for
AT WOODS EDGE by E.M. Fitch!
Today I have a guest post by the author for you about world building. Plus there is a giveaway so make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom! But first, let's learn more about the book.
AT WOODS EDGE
Author: E.M. FitchSeries: Of The Trees #2
Publisher: Month9Books
Publication Date: March 27, 2018
Summary:
It’s only a matter of time before he gets what he’s come for.
Cassie Harris has turned her back on best friend Laney Blake. She had no other choice. Laney is one of them now, a creature of the trees. As Cassie’s senior year wears on, the woods grow quiet, snow blankets the ground, and the murderous beings who once taunted her have drifted away like the brittle leaves of Fall. Though the woods no longer stir with rushed whispers and wind-blown laughter, the fear remains.
No one understands this fear better than Cassie. She wishes she could tell them not to worry. After all, the shape-shifting men of the trees and the women who travel with them, seeking out girls to abduct from carnivals, are gone. And the one that stayed behind? He isn’t interested in anyone but her.
Now, Aidan’s interest in Cassie is a chilling reminder of the what lurks at woods edge. He stalks her home, her school, her bedroom. He won’t stop until he can find a way to lure Cassie into the forest to become one with him forever.
The world of … (World Building)
The world of the OF THE TREES series is very personal to me. It’s loosely based off my own hometown. I grew up in the town I live in now, and whenever I need world-building inspiration, I draw on my own experiences growing up. Like Dorothy Gale, I don’t have to look any farther than my own backyard.
My hometown and my experiences in my teen years colored this entire fictional world, from the Gray Lady Cemetery featured in the books, to the annual carnival that wandered through town with busted lights and broken rides, to the “World Famous” (or at least that’s what the banner hung over Main Street says) Fair that everyone in town attends. The local pizza joint, our one stoplight, the woods that invade everyone’s back lawns, it’s all featured in the world that Cassie Harris grows up in. Of course, it’s not all the same. Though we have our fair share of local ghost stories—what New England town doesn’t?—the ghost stories that saturate the world in Of The Trees and its sequel, At Woods Edge, are inspired by the poetry of W.B. Yeats and his darker musing of the Fae. At Woods Edge is heavily influenced by some popular urban legends, and I had a fabulous time incorporating some of those well-known campfire tales and scary stories into the world of Cassie Harris and her stalker, the creature of the trees, Aidan.
World building can be rich and expansive while remaining intimate and truthful and real. The main thing is to not lose sight of your world. Wherever you want your story to blossom, make sure you understand the grounds, make sure you know where the roots will be buried. Picking my hometown, a place I know and love, made this easy for me. But any place you choose to write about eventually becomes your hometown. Your characters live there, and so a piece of you will always live there, too. Make sure you know your home, and love its beauty and its flaws, and the reader will come to feel its presence through you.
E. M. Fitch is an author who loves scary stories, chocolate, and tall trees. Her latest novel, OF THE TREES, is a Young Adult horror/fantasy inspired by haunted cemeteries and the darker musings of W.B. Yeats. Its sequel, AT WOODS EDGE, will be released in the coming year from Month9Books. She is the author of the Young Adult zombie trilogy: THE BREAK FREE SERIES. Her story, BETWEEN SHADOWS, was recently featured in the Fragments of Darkness anthology; and her new collection of short stories entitled THE VEIL: GHOSTS, GOBLINS, GHOULS is coming soon! She has been published in Pulp Metal Magazine, Under the Bed Magazine, and her short stories RELEASE and THE CREEP were featured respectively in
CHBB’s Lurking in the Shadows and Lurking in the Mind anthologies. When not dreaming up new ways to torture characters, she is usually corralling her four children, or thinking of ways to tire them out so she can get an hour of peace at night.
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This book has been on my TBR. Sounds suspenseful and creepy!
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