Virtual book tour- Quintspinner by Dianne Greenlay

Good morning, peeps!

Please join me in welcoming author Dianne Greenlay, as she talks about her debut novel, Quintspinner.
Details about her giveaway at the end of the post! Enjoy!

Hello, and welcome, Dianne!

Hey Lisa, thanks for hosting me today! And congrats on your own tour for Obsessed. Book tours are a wonderful way to meet people and connect, aren't they? And speaking of sharing, here is more than you maybe wanted to know about my writing journey....

Who was your favorite character to write? I started off, being most in love with my protagonist, Tess. She is young, impetuous, and headstrong, in a time that it was dangerous for a woman to be so. I have two daughters and I wanted my story's main character to be someone that they could relate to. I also have four sons, and so shortly into the plot, a secondary character, William, became a fellow who had traits that I admire in my boys. (Equal representation keeps peace in the family, ya' know?). Mrs. Hanley worked her way into my heart as well - I didn't even know that she was going to be part of the adventure until she appeared, but once she did, I just had to keep her around. (My loyalties are fickle, I know.)

Likewise who was the most difficult? Spoiler alert!: Edward, Tess's dangerous fiance was the hardest to bring to life. I knew he was going to be the least trust-worthy and his evil qualities had to go undetected for quite a while, so hints at his real character were subtle, but like most evil characters, he's manipulative while he attempts to present himself in a more favorable light. Readers have told me that they were totally drawn in by his deceit.

What inspired you to write about pirates? I came across a search result of "women pirates" and found it intriguing. Before that, I was under the mistaken impression that women were not allowed on ships, let alone to be crew members. To some extent this was true - a woman on board a ship was often considered to be "bad luck" by superstitious sailors - but there are many documented cases of women having become renowned (and quite vicious) pirates through the ages. At first I was fascinated by the stories of Mary Read and Anne Bonny, two of the most famous pirates, but their stories have been told numerous times and the details of their lives have been argued over by thousands of people worldwide. One could never write a better story about them than what has already been done. In reading about them, I learned that life in the 1700's was very intense and often gruesome - great stuff for fiction.

Initially, I thought that I could write my own story, in the same time and place, and perhaps have my characters interact with Anne and Mary. My characters, however, had different ideas and took the story on adventures that had no time or room to include the famous ladies. Nevertheless, pirates, famous or not, seem to have a universal appeal to nearly everyone. An editor that I worked with suggested that I make my protagonist's age 16 to entice the YA audience as well as cross-over into adult. This seems to have worked well as Quintspinner has won Book Awards in both YA and Historical categores.

My pirates are not warm and fuzzy, like Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, but they are not the blood-spilling buccaneers of people's nightmares either. (Well, maybe not buckets of blood any way....) Once I was immersed in the story, I could actually see the sea battle going on in my mind, and after writing a scene of cannons blasting, (sniff, sniff) I thought my clothes even smelled a bit smoky. (How's that for getting into a story?) Maybe it was just the breakfast bacon I'd cooked....

Do you find writing in a historical setting a challenge? Ha ha! I had no idea of what I was getting into when I started. Writing in the historical genre is very time-consuming, not for the writing of the actual story, but for all of the research that must be done. Fortunately it didn't seem like an exceptional amount of work at the time, because I was enjoying learning about ships, sailing, and the down-and-dirty of day to day life back then. It's only in retrospect that I now realize that authors who write in other genres set in present day don't have to spend quite so much time just learning about their characters' lifestyles.

Readers are very smart and many have a wide knowledge base  - the story will be ruined for them if there are glaring errors in the historical details, so the author has a responsibility, I think, to stay pretty close to the facts as we know them. That's not to say that a little bit of literary license can't be taken or (my personal favorite) embellishments done, but don't give eighteenth century historical characters machine guns and wrist watches! (Unless, of course, there's a time travel element... hmmm, and a pirate ship suddenly manifests in the middle of Central Park in New York City... Quick! Back to the keyboard, Matey! I feel a new book coming on!)

 Blurb: In the year 1717, 16 year old Tess Willoughby witnesses a murder near a London marketplace and becomes the keeper of a legendary Spinner ring. Even so, she never imagines that she will find herself an unwilling passenger on a merchant ship bound for the pirate-infested waters of the West Indies and forcibly betrothed to the murderer. Longing to be with William, a young press-ganged sailor, but unable to escape her dangerous fiance's clutches, Tess struggles to survive in her new set of circumstances. During a pirate attack, she unravels the legacy of her strange Spinner ring and its power, realizing that her own life and those of everyone she loves, are in jeopardy. As a powerful hurricane overtakes the ship, a slim opportunity for her own escape presents itself, and she is forced to make the most chilling decision of her life.  

Having won multiple Book Awards, (ReaderViews, ForeWord Connections, Creative Arts Council, Sask Book Award, Eric Hoffer Award) Quintspinner is a tale of pirates, secrets, betrayal, and romance on the seas of the West Indies, all bound together by a dash of ancient magic.

Excerpt 1:

   The Crone's fingertips remained in light contact, feathering over the skin of Tess's birthmark. Her touch seemed to produce a soft buzz on Tess's neck. Pulsating warmth, not unpleasant, spread down her neck, but still Tess shrank from the woman's touch.

   "Aye," the seer clucked to herself, "Her soul knows the Touch, it does." Again the green eyes shone from the dark recess of the hood as though lit from within. She peered closer at the birthmark. "Aye, a Spinner ye be, yet truly ... a Quintspinner," she exhaled in an awed whisper.

   "A what?" Tess once again felt the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stand up.

   "Lass, ye bear the mark of the Source. A silhouette of the acorn, seed of the most powerful tree and lasting life form of this land in which ye were born. And it trails five seedlings below it." She held Tess in her stare. "Five spinners will seek ye in your lifetime. May ye live to harness their power." She grasped Tess's hand in her own.

   "You're crazy, old woman! Let me go!" Tess pulled her hand back, but the woman held fast. Her grip was surprisingly strong and Tess's hand remained locked between the deformed digits; a bejewelled band of gold encircled one of the twisted fingers. 

   A sudden loud knock on the door made them both jump. A wisp of fear flickered in the Crone's eyes, and then it was gone, replaced by a look of grim expectancy. She freed Tess's hand and stared at the door. "Hide yourself so as not to be found!"

   The knock swelled into a fierce pounding.

Dianne's Bio: Saving lives by day (physiotherapist, EMT) and spinning lies by night ( writer/author and playwright/director of Community Theatre), I live on the Canadian prairies with my husband in a lovely historical home that we share with a consortium of cats. Having raised a family of 6 kids ( and, amazingly, everyone lived through it!) , I have plenty of their escapades still fresh in my mind, to weave into my fiction. Whenever possible, I travel to exotic locales to research my novels and to seek out new adventures to fuel my already overactive imagination.

Links:

Web page www.diannegreenlay.com 

blog http://www.writeonthewaytosomewhere.blogspot.com 

Facebook Group http://on.fb.me/kFmjca 

book trailer http://youtu.be/HPltUhH-b2w 

available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Chapters/Indigo

Giveaway details:

Dianne will be giving away a Quintspinner T-shirt and a $10 Amazon GC to one random commenter along her tour. The more you comment, the greater your chance of winning! For information regarding other tour stops, check out Goddess Fish Promotions.