A
Clue for Adrianna by Charlotte Kent
The first novel in the women’s fiction series Captain’s
Point Stories, A
Clue for Adrianna, written by multi-published, internationally known
From Women’s Pens authors Annie Acorn and Juliette Hill under the pseudonym
Charlotte Kent, offers the reader romance, mystery, humor, and adventure in a
story of love and personal growth.
Forced to return to her ancestral home in Captain’s Point, a
small town on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Adrianna Montgomery receives a shock
and a challenge when the terms of her great-aunt’s will are read. Faced with a
haughty attorney, a crumbling old house and a clue, she must draw upon the
resources found in those around her as well as her own inner strengths in order
to solve the riddle and secure her inheritance. Little understanding the
adventure and danger she will encounter along the journey ahead, she accepts
the challenge and ultimately learns who she is destined to be and discovers the
meaning of true love.s
Don’t miss this chance to fall in love again!
Juliette Hill About the author:
Juliette Hill is the pseudonym for a creative writer who is
passionate about all things vintage, traveling with her husband and exploring
family history. She enjoys treasure hunting at local antique markets and estate
sales, searching for her next great ‘find’ that will spark her imagination. Her
desire to discover the story behind each treasure motivates the writer within.
Juliette’s other interests include planning family gatherings, scrapbooking,
cooking, shopping and dining out, to name a few. Her stories involve
multi-dimensional characters and generational plots which bridge the gap
between the past and present. She is currently working on several projects for
Annie Acorn Publishing.
Charlotte Kent About the author:
Charlotte
Kent is the pseudonym used by Annie Acorn and Juliette Hill when writing their
collaborative romantic women's fiction series Captain's Point Stories.
Annie Acorn About the author:
Annie Acorn is the pseudonym of a prolific, internationally
published author, whose readership recognizes her mainly for her women’s
fiction, cozy mysteries and richly woven stories with a warm southern flair.
She is a founding member of From Women’s Pens – A Cooperative of Women Writers.
Annie is the mother of two sons, one of whom is married to the best daughter-in-law
in the world. She lives in the Washington, D.C. area, where she has done
extensive technical writing as a contractor. She owned a tri-state medical
outsourcing business for a number of years and was the Director of a behavioral
healthcare firm. She once flipped a comic book and collectible retail company
comprised of five stores, and she has managed cemeteries and funeral homes. She
is the owner of Annie Acorn Publishing LLC. Ms. Acorn has published in The
Inspirational Writer, and she edited an in-house publication for the State of
Mississippi. She is a contributor of ezine articles. In her spare time, Ms.
Acorn enjoys reading, writing mysteries, listening to classical music, playing
cards, and spending time with her family and friends – often at a restaurant
serving delicious food.
Guest Post:
Juliette Hill’s Guest Post for the A CLUE FOR ADRIANNA Blog
Tour 2013
A
Clue for Adrianna, recently released by Annie Acorn Publishing
LLC, is the first novel in the contemporary romantic woman’s fiction series
Captain’s Point Stories that I am writing in collaboration with writer and
publisher, Annie Acorn under our pseudonym Charlotte Kent. The pseudonym celebrates our efforts and sets
them apart from our individual work as Juliette Hill and Annie Acorn. Our
collaboration has been smooth, exciting and rewarding, as well as lots and lots
of fun!
It all began back in January when Annie and I were
discussing upcoming WIPs for the year. She offered me the opportunity to work
with her on a romance series that she had been thinking about writing for years,
but was still fluid in her mind. I
always intended to start a series of my own at some point. Who would have imagined that, in approximately
90 days, we would have written, edited and published our first full-length
novel?
The process was amazing, as we’ve truly experienced two
creative minds being better than one, melding our similar writing styles, voices,
and visions. Our individual ideas about setting, characters and plot
development wove seamlessly together, creating a romantic, suspenseful,
contemporary, often humorous, women’s fiction novel. It’s our belief that readers will find
themselves falling in love again as they follow our main character’s journey of
personal growth and discovery of true love!
The fictitious town of Captain’s Point on Maryland’s Eastern
Shore is the setting of our series.
Living in Maryland as we do, Annie and I both have a soft place in our
hearts for the Eastern Shore with the area’s deep roots in history, its
picturesque towns and scenery, friendly residents and, of course, the close
proximity of both the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. The commerce and lifestyle of the area blend
with our storylines, enhancing their beautiful imagery and larger than life
characters.
A strong cast of characters, who will grow and change
depending upon whatever curve balls life throws at them, are introduced within
the first book. Adrianna Montgomery, the
series’ central character, is a modern young woman who meets a number of
challenges that life throws at her. Doors
close, and she embraces others as they open.
As her character exploded onto the pages, Adrianna guided us through the
episodes of her journey, dictating and influencing our approach to her
interactions with the other main players.
The series, as it’s developing, proudly embraces our
characters’ pasts and heritage while dealing with present day situations and
issues. Storylines highlight Adrianna’s
development of friendships and relationships with the residence of Captain’s
Point and beyond. Serious writing has
already been completed on the next three novels, within which the series merges
our characters business lives with fun, romance, courtship, marriage, children,
friendships, human failures and flaws as well as personal triumphs and
successes.
A Man for Susan, the second novel in the series will be
available August 1, 2013. The future for
our readers is bright indeed as we explore the wonders of Captain’s Point
together!
Interview by Juliette Hill of Annie Acorn
Question #1: We were
able to write and edit A
Clue for Adrianna, the first novel in our Captain’s Point Stories
series in the contemporary romantic fiction genre in approximately 90
days. Besides churning out sometimes
thousands of words a day, what do you feel was the secret to accomplishing such
an ambitious goal?
Annie Acorn: It isn’t
only the number of words we produced each day that led us to accomplishing such
a goal–the key to writing a good novel, which was our goal, is saying what you
intend to say in a way that will be entertaining and helpful to the reader, if
they should chose to learn from the experience of the characters presented.
I am personally proud of what came out of our daily
collaboration, during which we continually reminded ourselves who these
characters were, what their lives were like, what their hopes and dreams were
and their baggage (or what they as individuals had to overcome) in order to
become the best they could be.
We put ourselves in the position of our characters to truly
understand their actions and individual growth.
Question #2: Did you
ever experience writer’s block while we were working on A
Clue for Adrianna or while you were writing any of your prior literary
works? If so, how did you deal with this
issue?
Annie Acorn: I can
honestly say that I have never experienced writers’ block. Scenes will come to me unexpectedly like a
gift but when writing a daily quota, what I do is reread the previous scene and
ask which one of the characters would take the next step, or who might show up
at the door–that sort of thing.
Question #3: How did you find the experience of our
collaboration on such a large undertaking like A
Clue for Adrianna?
Annie Acorn: I have
always had an overactive imagination and obviously you do, too, Juliette. Every time I thought I had a story line, you
brought just as much to the table. By
bringing our creative perspectives together in the book, we produced vastly better
material than we could have on our own.
Saying that, there were three things that I found during my
experience: (1) knowing I was checking in with you each day kept me writing;
(2) having daily collaboration discussions helped me focus on characters’ motivations,
dreams and goals; and (3) I often saw your role, Juliette, in collaborating as
keeping me on track–true to the characters by insisting that a character had to
do something or not do something.
Question #4: How did
you approach this undertaking, given that this novel is the first in the
Captain’s Point Stories (romance) series, compared to any of your previous
works such as your highly successful Chocolate
Can Kill, the first in the Emily Harris Cozy Mystery series?
Annie Acorn: First,
in a mystery series, the author is constantly looking to move the sleuth from
one environment or group of people to another so that the reader has a fresh
suspect or set of suspects to choose from.
With a romance series, a writer wants to set up an environment and a
broad group of strong characters that the reader will want follow as they move
forward together in the series.
When writing a mystery, one usually wants to limit the
number of characters to between 12 and 15.
While in an ongoing romance series, the more characters that are
casually introduced the better, without confusing the reader.
Question #5: What if
any, surprises or unexpected challenges did you encounter during our
collaborative effort?
Annie Acorn: I was
surprised by how much fun that it was!
At the start, I had carried around a setting for a series for 30 years–a
young woman that inherits a large money pit property in a small town who meets
a cast of characters who change, broaden and enrich each other’s lives. On Jan. 10, 2013, I had no plot, no
characters, no message beyond the single woman and the house. In point of fact, the town of Captain’s Point
is small but the house is not at all what I had envisioned nor is the character
of Adrianna. After we started, Adrianna
took on a life of her own. When she
became defined, she dictated how we would move forward imagining the people
around her and who might be thrown in her path that we could draw upon for the
story.
The second surprise would be how much fun it could be to
write collaboratively with another author who’s voice and vision are so
similar. I found it stimulating working
with another accomplished author such as yourself, Juliette. Our brainstorming sessions were amazing.
Question #6: Working
with you on this endeavor has been a dream-come-true for me and I have learned
so much about completing a full-length novel.
What would you say is the greatest lesson that you’ve learned from this
experience?
Annie Acorn: Having
written for more decades than I care to reveal, after all, Annie Acorn writes
blog posts as– A Tired Older Woman… , it was wonderful to reaffirm that you’re
never too old to take on a new challenge and stretch your talents such that
they may be.
Second lesson: Annie
Acorn really does need 8 hours sleep a night rather than 4!
Question #7: Was
there anything about the collaborative approach to writing this novel that has
surprised you?
Annie Acorn: At
times, A Clue… poured out of me! So many
words wanted to come out that it would have been physically painful not to put
pen to paper.
For days on end, I would go to bed, only to wake up three
hours later having to complete one or two chapters that were ready to be
borne. Being A Tired Older Woman… this
took its toll–flipping my days and nights, forgetting to eat–a slave to my
words. At the end of the day, reading A
Clue for Adrianna–it was all worth it!
Question #8: Since A
Clue for Adrianna is your first novel which would be categorized primarily as a
romance, what have you found to be the most appealing aspect of working in this
genre?
Annie Acorn: Having
the opportunity to fall in love again. I
have occasionally on my blog annieacorn.com mentioned that I’ve been a widow
for almost 20 years, writing this story of two, three-dimensional true to life
young professionals, whose paths have met at a crucial time during which they
fall in love, has allowed me to relive the time when I fell in love and married
my soul mate.
We set out to write a romance and what we wrote was a
romantic women’s fiction novel taking our work way beyond our initial
expectations. Our characters are so
strong!
Question #9: What do
Charlotte Kent’s readers have in store for them in the near future?
Annie Acorn: Lots of fun and romance! A Man for Susan, the second novel in our
series has a projected launch date of August 1st! Substantial writing has been completed on
this work. At the moment, we have five
books in the works with others to come.
Romance and humor consistently flow through all five books as do a
strong cast of characters experiencing and learning from life surrounded by
friends and family at Captain’s Point.
Thank you so much, Annie, for spending this time with us and
sharing your personal experiences, so that our readers and fellow authors have
a better understanding of what motivates and influences you as a writer, as
well as insights into our new collaborative undertaking, the Captain’s Point
Stories series!
Links
and Contact Information:
Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/A-Clue-for-Adrianna/book-KmVDYNFLsUqO_qjKmZNq1w/page1.html?s=iG18SlPCCEmR-d3LP_opCg&r=10
CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/4253341
On
Twitter: @CharlotteKent20
@JulietteHill1
@Annie_Acorn
