Author Joanna McKethan stopped by to tell my readers about her life telling stories. Take it away, Joanna!
When I lived in Germany, I would take my legal
sized, thin-lined pads of yellow paper in a leather open binder to a nice Lokal with plenty of pens to do my
writing, creating my own private closet much more exciting than sitting at home
thinking I need to clean my bedroom. There is nothing quite so exhilarating as
an impersonal but lively atmosphere for getting the juices flowing. And the
miniscule bits of action that come in such a location can inspire their own
novels--I have two waiting in line that grew out of exactly that environment.
German restaurateurs are quite happy with authors who want
to write on their premises--you can stay all day, unlike at American
restaurants where the owner threw me out for staying too long. How humiliating
was that!
My whole 9-year stay in the Munich area of Germany supplied me with countless
themes, since we traveled out from there on secret missions into many of the
East Bloc (Communist) countries crossing numerous scary borders in the Cold War
days.
Take me back to Camp
Monroe, a Presbyterian
camp near Laurinburg or Wagram,
North Carolina, and you will see
me telling scary camp stories to my roommates in the screened-in, primitive
porch, loving to hear them scream in horror as destruction approached. So in a
way, like Grandmother used to say, “You’re a born story teller, Daughter,” I
just kept on telling stories to create effect. And to think, I’ve been
criticizing Stephen King and Daphne du Maurier for liking to do what I liked to
do way back then, and now.
Because what I like to do is to search the normal for the
one thing that is ‘off.’ Having an extremely suspicious mind, I can do that. I
am also by turns gullible, so that sets the stage for playing one of my sides
off against another. I also pick the ordinary for bits of intense tenderness or
romance. It is amazing, once on the hunt, what you see--in newspapers, among
friends, a whirlwind love story, a tragic accident or suicide.
I guess the clue is seeing, really seeing, and remembering, really
remembering, because when you do the insight just jars you awake, and you
think, why didn’t I see that before? Why did that not strike me. So staying
close to people who are not always soothing, but who challenge the status quo
is something I’m committed to doing, even when it is off-putting, because they
are the people who jar loose the story threads, the moments of intense hunger,
passion, love, and evil, the ones who discover the plot that makes the story.
‘What if’ clauses excite me, because they are so true. Although I write fiction, I do it
because there is often more truth to fiction than to life.
And now that I’ve finished telling the story in Stone of Her
Destiny which has at the very last minute spawned a sequel, I can’t wait to get
back to my yellow legal-sized pads of thin-lined paper and my gel fountain pens
to write fresh copy, fresh story.
Book Blurb of Stone of Her Destiny
Two unlikely characters meet--Kenna, a spunky but
sophisticated heroine of Scottish descent, and the man of her dreams, Lane, Scottish
owner of Blackheart Heights Castle--but it doesn’t look hopeful. He is betrothed
to another and must keep his promise in order to keep his castle. Taste Scotland’s
lovely atmosphere, the delicious food they eat, the sporting games they play,
and the cold, but unique castle in which she stays during her visit. Kenna
possesses a unique gift, which makes delving into her ancestry an exciting
adventure, but at times can make life among the locals precarious. An old
letter and an older still Stone speak, but you’ll have to read the book to find
out if these star-crossed lovers end up in one another’s arms and how the Stone
changes her future.
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More About the Author
Joanna A. McKethan grew up in the country of the Old South
in Harnett County, one of the offshoots of the
Scots Presbyterians who came up the Cape Fear River
in the 1700’s. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill she lived 9 years abroad
in Germany
and Austria
working in Communist Bloc countries. She now writes and paints full-time from
her studio in North Carolina.
She loves everything Scottish and secret, loves combining gothic romance with
thrillers and ‘a little Armageddon’ thrown in.
Joanna is a member of Romance Writers of America with PAN status, Heart of
Carolina Romance Raleigh
area, and North Carolina Writers’ Network. She has attended numerous writers’
conferences in many states.
She has completed six novels to date. She is an Amazon
Author with three novels for sale on Amazon, two released for promotional, and
one which is being soft-launched prior to publishing on Amazon.
