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Today I have a guest post from Junying Kirk, plus links to the other stops on the tour so you can check through them all and see what there is to see, so let's go, shall we? And don't forget to stop by on Monday, when I'll be hosting a giveaway as well!
Guest Post: A Hard Book to Write, Yet a Must-Write
By Junying Kirk
Katy, my kind hostess today, as well as my editor for my previous e-book edition summed it up perfectly when she commented that Trials of Life was a much more difficult book than The Same Moon, the first in the series. In her words, ‘the bulk of the book has to do with a truly despicable person named Dick Appleton, and having to spend so much time in his head made me want to scrub my skin with pumice and then pour lye into my eyes - he was really awful.’
Partly for that reason, this second book of mine was the last of my trilogy to be turned into a paperback which was officially released on Amazon just two weeks ago. Katy wasn’t the only one who has a problem with Dick Appleton either. As his creator, I have found it extremely difficult to go over the previous editions, a challenging task I imposed on myself. Even my husband John Kirk, who agreed to help me with the final edits this time, told me how hard it was for him to be reading about Dick and the kind of problems this antagonist had created for Pearl, the fiery protagonist in my ‘Journey to the West’ trilogy.
Although this is the second in my trilogy, it was the very first full-length novel I completed - following a harrowing experience not unlike Pearl Zhang’s in the book, I spent three months pouring over the first draft, writing day and night. As hard as it was to write, I was propelled to write it, and writing it helped me to deal with the aftermath of a year-long stressful legal battle against a powerful machine behind a rotten personality. The wound was raw and painful, yet deeply felt at the time. Had I left it to later, I am not sure that I would write the same book as I did.
Now a decade has passed since the incidents and the early version of Trials of Life, I ‘forced’ myself to go back to it, with the sole intention of making it better as a book of fiction. My writing has been improving all the time, and I feel that I can somehow detach myself to look at what had happened in a more objective way. I have also taken into account what my e-edition readers had to say and addressed some of the issues raised by them.
The current edition has kept the multiple Points of Views (PoVs), as I personally believe that it is the best way to tell this story. Although a few readers have found the different voices confusing, the majority of my readers liked the way that different narrators were used to explore the events leading to an eventual Employment Tribunal. One reader told me that it was like looking at a vase from a different angle.
I have, nevertheless, made a conscious attempt for a more consistent PoVs. Like Land of Hope, the final book of my trilogy which also employed multiple narrators, as long as you pay attention to the heading of each chapter, you should not be lost as to who is telling the story.
With great anticipation, I hope that the new paperback, as well as the updated e-book edition will engage more readers, and they will find it an interesting and informative read. I have not made massive changes to the original story, although readers will enjoy more dialogues, tighter plot lines, slightly less of that horrible man Dick Appleton and a little more action, even a tiny weeny bit of suspense and mystery to make this book a worthy follow up to The Same Moon.
During my 8-day book tour, there are three e-book give-aways in three different sites, including Sandra’s on the 22nd, Katy’s on the 26th and Eden’s on the 28th of August. Three chances to win a brand-new e-book. Good luck to you all!
Author Bio
Junying Kirk was born a spice girl, hailing from Sichuan Province in southwestern China. In the summer of 1988, a British Council scholarship led her to study English Language Teaching at Warwick University, followed by further post-graduate degrees at Glasgow and Leeds. In her career spanning from the East to the West, she has played various roles as an academic, administrator, researcher, teacher and cultural consultant. Currently working as a professional interpreter and translator, she reads vivaciously and writes with passion and dedication. She enjoys drawing from the wealth of life itself to create stories, which are both engaging and exciting. She travels widely and keeps her mind and heart open for the new, the good, the bad and the ugly. Her ‘Journey to the West’ trilogy, “The Same Moon”, “Trials of Life” and “Land of Hope” have been published in both electronic form and paperbacks. She lives in Birmingham, UK with her English husband.
To follow her world wide travels and other creative pursuits, please visit www.junyingkirk.com.
Buy Links for Junying’s Journey to the West Trilogy: Amazon UK, USA, Brazil, Canada, Spain, France, Germany, Japan and Italy.
Blog Tour Schedule August 2013
Many thanks for the feature today, Katy - your constant support has always been noted with gratitude! Have a super weekend!
ReplyDeleteYou as well. And you're, as always, very welcome.
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