Sonia Poynter is back sharing about her young adult fantasy, The Last Stored. Welcome, Sonia!
How did you get the idea for your book?
Us writers are constantly asking ourselves what if questions and observing details around us that others don’t necessarily notice or care about, but often we fall into our own heads, creating stories, characters, and worlds. We live in two places—one foot in reality, the other in our imagination. Sometimes those dreams come together and our fingers can’t work fast enough to get the story out. That was the Last Stored for me.
I grew up in the forest, traipsing under fallen logs and splashing through creeks. A part of me, no matter where I am, is always there. Something about the forest, with its earthy smell, and peaceful sounds contains magic. That got me to thinking, what if, I found a door to another world and a girl was stored on Earth to save that world. Don’t we all feel like we don’t belong, that we are meant for greater things! Amber Megan Peel feels that, and deeply, and a boy is about to bring her home, to Tali!
Look around you, life is filled with magic, we simply need to believe it!
Why will we love The Last Stored?
Amber is a lot like you and me. She feels different, a calling for bigger things, yet she doesn’t know what that calling is. Cree knows his duty; he’s known it since he was nine. He must protect her at all cost. Together they attempt to save a world and put things right!
The Last Stored takes you on a ride of a lifetime. It’s quick and pulls at your heart-strings. Believe me it is a page turner!
Is anything in your book based on a real life experience?
Yes! In the book, Amber goes through the grief of her parents. My own father died a few years prior to me writing this book, and I tried to capture that feeling. It actually helped me to deal with that emotion. Funny, how writing relieves and eases your own emotions. To some extent, I think that Amber helped me come to terms with that period of my life.
And on a lighter note, because this is getting heavy, Amber is very claustrophobic. At one-point she must navigate through a cave and descend in an elevator. I can’t set foot in a cave, although as a teen I used to do it all the time, but I had an incident once. We’ll just leave it at that, lol. I tried again this past fall to enter Mammoth Cave and chickened out. (That is putting it lightly, lol. I had a full blown panic attack.) Hey, elevators still give me issues, but I handle them better. Maybe someday, I’ll write a book about claustrophobia… now that’s an idea!
What does your writing process look like?
Lots of time staring out the window. Seriously, I do that a lot. But to get to the nitty-gritty, I outline, using post-it-notes, and reserve each sticky for a chapter. I then place them on a poster board and see where I need to feel any holes. Once I am satisfied I write the chapters. Now, that doesn’t mean that my story doesn’t change, hence why I used sticky notes. I’m a little OCD, oh who am I kidding, I’m a lot OCD. Next, it’s second drafts, third drafts, beta, critique partners, then editors. Writing isn’t a quick sport, although I’d like it to be!
Are you a plotter or a panster?
See above, no just joking, I’m a plotter. For me I need to see the story in my head, from beginning to end. Often, I’ll know the ending before the beginning, and I’ll plot backwards to get me to a starting point. But, that doesn’t mean that my characters don’t run off the rails. Sometimes, it’s like herding cats, they just won’t behave like you need them too.
Where can readers find you online?
Web site: www.soniapoynter.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SoniaPoynterAuthor/?ref=bookmarks
Twitter: @soniapoy https://twitter.com/SoniaPoy
Is there anything you’d like to say to your readers?
Find the magic in the everyday, and enjoy it! It only gets better from here. God has blessed us with an imagination so dream big!
You can find The Last Stored on Amazon at THIS LINK.
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