Sara Creasy

Let’s Visit an Abandoned Copper Mine

In The Beat Goes On (book 10), Xay finds himself in an abandoned copper mine in Arizona. I did some research on what these places look like, and what the dangers are, and thus a storyline was born.

To orient ourselves, the image above shows the landscape surrounding the Dragoon Mountains in Cochise county (in the far southeastern corner of Arizona). Touchstone Pass is the (fictional) closest town to the ashram and is based on the location of Dragoon, elevation 4600ft (1400m). The highest peak in these mountains Wynter saw in the distance growing up is 7500ft (2300m).

Somewhere out there in the desert scrub is a mine entrance:

Broken Strings (Wynter Wild Book 9) is OUT NOW in paperback

Broken Strings is book 9 of the Wynter Wild series, and it’s OUT NOW in paperback.

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Given the downfall of one of my (five) favorite characters, this was perhaps the hardest book to write so far. The quote on the image there is from Patricia, who senses something isn’t quite right in the Fairn household – but this is a family that keeps things “in the family”, so nobody is talking about it.

The book takes place over a few months late in the year and through Christmas – Wynter’s third on the outside. Will this finally be a good Christmas for her? She’s struggling with a medical issue that develops into a psychosomatic one, threatening her career as well has her academic plans. Xay is waiting in the wings for her, hoping to recreate the closeness they once shared.

And wasn’t there a tiny new character introduced in the last book? He has a huge impact on everyone’s lives, but can they keep him?

More family secrets come unraveled in this latest instalment of the Wynter Wild saga, and two brothers must reverse roles to face a reckoning.

Also… a puppy that looks like an Ewok!

Clickable Book Covers in Your Goodreads Profile

Whether you’re an author or a reader, Goodreads is a busy, complicated website. There’s so much going on that it can be hard to figure out not only where to find information, but how to change and customize that information as an author.

Wouldn’t it be great if readers could click on your books directly from your profile page, without having to scroll down or scan all the other busy sections on the page?

So, how can you add clickable book covers to your author profile on Goodreads?

Read on for step-by-step instructions, along with a downloadable template for the HTML code.

Minor Key (Wynter Wild Book 8) is OUT NOW in paperback

Minor Key is book 8 of the Wynter Wild series, and it’s out today in paperback!

If you’ve been collecting the paperbacks and want a matching set, grab this one quick. In a few months I’ll be relaunching the series with new covers.

It’s been well over a year since I finished this book, and at least three years since I wrote some of the chapters. Looking back, I have to say it includes some of my favorite scenes to write.

Some of the events were planned from the very start, even if I hadn’t written them yet, while others evolved as I was planning the book in detail (after finishing #7 Duet).

A detail that evolved while I was writing was Caleb’s new relationship. I always had a feel for who the lucky lady would be, but hadn’t figured out how to incorporate her into the story. In the end, she’s a vital part of the family’s career in ways that are ongoing through #10 The Beat Goes On (which I’m currently writing).

Three years ago, Xay Morant left Wynter to face the nightmare alone. She’s been searching for him ever since–and now he’s found her first.
But it’s not easy to pick up the pieces of a past you’re trying to forget. As Wynter and her brothers prepare to head off on tour with their band, Xay needs to figure out where he fits in.
When tragedy strikes this already wounded family, where will they find healing?

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Rule212 Playlist

I’ve made my Rule212 playlist public on Spotify – take a listen below. You can also follow me on Spotify to find other playlists related to the books.

I’ve resisted being too specific in the books about Rule212’s sound, beyond a vague “indie rock” (which could mean anything these days) and a lot of electric guitars, which moves them more into the hard rock category. Or nu-metal, post-grunge… whatever new-fangled label seems applicable. So this list is “representative” of their sound but don’t take it too literally.

The Wynter Wild Wiki has more information on their music.

RULE212 SPOTIFY

Family Entanglements (SPOILERS GALORE)

This post contains serious spoilers for all ten books. Links take you to pages on the Wynter Wild Wiki, which is also full of spoilers.

I started the Wynter Wild series with five characters in mind – the three Fairn boys, the two sisters – along with a few adults in their sphere. As their world expanded across ten books, I ended it with 365 named characters (admittedly, that does include the chickens). Somewhere along the way, a few of those characters became entangled in ways I hadn’t envisioned when I set out.

A primary example is Xay. I created his character at the same time as I created Wynter’s past in the cult – an Aussie boy she secretly befriends who leaves her behind. But making him Harry’s son was an idea that came later (although before I started writing in earnest). Other ideas came when some of the books were already complete, and it’s no easy task to weave revealed secrets into the plot when you didn’t even know those secrets yourself!

As an insight into my writing process, I thought I’d lay out how some of my decisions evolved.

Duet (Wynter Wild Book 7) is OUT NOW in paperback

New paperback out today!

Duet is the seventh book in the series and introduces a new POV character Xay.

We’ve already heard a bit about him in the previous books, of course. Getting into his head was a refreshing change from the other four characters. He has a positive optimistic outlook on life, making the best of things, but harbors bitterness over what happened to him and his best friend Roman at the ashram. When he finally discovers that Wynter escaped the Light and is living what he believes is a dream life in Washington, it raises all kinds of self-doubt in Xay.

Meanwhile, the road trip at the start of this book, where Wynter and Jesse head south to rescue Indio, was one of my favorite sections to write in the entire series! I love putting these two together in a confined space just to see what happens!

Jesse and Wynter set out on an adventure-filled road trip to San Francisco, to rescue Indio from drugs and despair. Back home, eldest brother Caleb resolves to take control of his family as once-close relationships deteriorate.
Meanwhile, in Sacramento, Xay lives with his ailing mother and a whole heap of bitterness over his year spent in the Light. He’s doing okay, all things considered. But he’s never forgotten the girl from the ashram who used to climb through a hole in the fence in the dead of night to listen to rock songs on the radio with him…
As family secrets are revealed, this divided family draws ever closer to the truth… and to each other.

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Natural Harmonics (Book 6) is OUT NOW in paperback

I’m slowly converting my ebooks to paperbacks, and the newest release is Natural Harmonics (Wynter Wild Book 6). This is one of my personal favorites in the series because I finally got to write about the family out and about in Seattle playing their music.

Wynter and her brothers are ready to rock venues all over Seattle. No one can deny the natural chemistry Rule212 has on stage. Behind the scenes there’s tension brewing.

It’s not easy to work, play, and live together. Family means everything to Wynter and she’ll do whatever it takes to keep it together.

But something at the very heart of this family is ripping it apart. They are finally learning that things went wrong years before they were born. No secrets or lies—it’s one of Caleb’s house rules. So why does everyone keep breaking it?

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Broken Strings (Book 9) is Out Now!

This was probably the hardest book to write in the series so far, for two reasons.

Firstly, because it was the first book where I was starting from scratch. While I wrote half a million stream-of-consciousness words a few years ago that became the basis for all ten books, once I put the scenes in order, I only “completed” 8 books before I started publishing book 1 on Wattpad. I don’t really mean completed, as I was rewriting and editing (and adding thousands of words to) the books as I published them, but essentially the plotting and two-thirds of the writing was done.

Book 9 had a bare-bones plot and a few scenes written, but I was writing on the fly for the most part, and under a little self-imposed pressure to keep updating regularly on Wattpad (where it was uploaded chapter by chapter every few days).

Useful Free Internet Tools for Writers

Gone are the days when writers had to spend hours in the library researching how to care for their character’s pet python, or on the phone exploring the price of a plane ticket, or at the bookcase in the next room flicking through classic novels to find the perfect quote.

Everything’s at our fingertips – and not just for researching our stories, but for editing and publishing our books as well. Here I’m focusing on some of my most-used tools and websites, and they’re all free. Some do have paid services that expand the options available, and for others you will need to make an account (often, signing in via Facebook or Google is possible).

I’ve mentioned a couple of these tools before, and added lots of new ones.