Anne Osterlund's Blog, page 2

Redemption hits bookstores today. Aurelia, Robert, and I hope you enjoy their third and final story. Today is also the second stop on the Redemption Blog Tour. Check out Danica Page’s from Taking It One Page at a Time.

To purchase Redemption:
AmazonKobo Books
It is also available through iBooks and should be up on Barnes & Noble also, but looks like they are having technical difficulties so I will update with the Barnes & Noble link ASAP.
From Danica Page:Redemption by Anne Osterlund. F...

Today is the day. Redemption is out in bookstores. Aurelia, Robert, and I hope you will all enjoy their final journey!

To Purchase Redemption: The Final Novel in the Aurelia Trilogy

“Come on, Aurelia. It’s time to go to Live to Read!” I call to the heroine of my first complete series.

She is hovering at the top of the stairs. She has actually been dressed and ready for the first stop of our blog tour—in honor of REDEMPTION, the third & final novel of the Aurelia Trilogy—since about 4:00 a.m. Aurelia is the only participant in the tour who is a morning person.

Though if you ask her, she will probably tell you she has been prepared for her own personal blog tour her entire life.

“I’ve been ready,” she says. “Robert is the one who is dawdling.”

Robert is more nervous . . .


To read the rest, go to the first stop of Aurelia & Robert's blog tour at Krystal's.
Live To Read.

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It’s time to go to Live to Read!” I call to the heroine of my first <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">complete </i>series.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">She is hovering at the top of the stairs. She has actually been dressed and ready for the first stop of our blog tour—in honor of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">REDEMPTION, </i>the third & final novel of the Aurelia Trilogy—since about 4:00 a.m. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aurelia is the only participant in the tour who is a morning person.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Though if you ask her, she will probably tell you she has been prepared for her own personal blog tour...</span></span></div><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style></style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:78; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style></style>

I’m generally not a fan of scenes told from the villain’s point-of-view. I don’t like being there, in the villain’s head. I find that it gives away a lot of the tension within the novel—knowing what the villain is plotting. And, again, I don’t like being there.
This is, no doubt, close-minded of me. And you have to be careful, as an author, not to close your mind to possibilities. Because, eventually, you are going to have to break down that wall.
The problem with ignoring the major villain in...

My next book—the one after Redemption—is historical fiction. Not historical fantasy like Aurelia and Robert’s series. But genuine HF.
This means the research has to be more real. (In other words, I can’t cheat).
Don’t get me wrong. I do a lot of research for Aurelia and Robert’s novels. And it’s a blast. Scimitars. Loading rifles. Battle plans. Eighteenth century furniture, torture devices, high-heeled shoes. I get to use all kinds of crazy historical details within Aurelia and Robert’s books....

Release Date: Redemption, the final novel in Aurelia & Robert’s trilogy. October 17th, 2016!



Aurelia is jumping up and down. “I did it! I did it!”

Robert is just laughing at her, though of course, he knows he has worked every bit as hard at finishing their story as she has.

“We did it,” I say.

“We did it! We did it!” she shouts.

Robert is now jumping up and down with her.

They start shouting together. “We did it! We did it!”

Apparently that’s as much eloquence as I shall get out of them today. Why are we all jumping up and down with excitement? Because we have crossed the desert, climbed the Gate, and survived the trek through the myriad obstacles along the trail to publication.

And we sincerely hope you all enjoy the conclusion of Aurelia & Robert’s story.




Note: My apologies for the earlier coding of this post. Goodreads is not downloading the feed from my blog correctly at the moment. The tech experts are on the job; but in the meantime, I shall attempt to post a correct version directly here. Though viewing the blog on my site http://www.anneosterlund.com is probably always the best formatting.

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I did it!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Robert is just laughing at her, though of course, he knows he has worked every bit as hard at finishing their story as she has.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">We </i>did it,” I say.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“We did it! We did it!” she shouts.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Robert is now jumping up and down with her.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">They start shouting together. “We did it! We did it!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Apparently that’s as much eloquence as I shall get out of them today....</span></div><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-520092929 1073786111 9 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style></style>

I’m generally not the most organized person. I don’t keep a date book. I don’t record my travel expenses on a regular basis. I cram all my receipts into my wallet or dump them in a pile on my file cabinet.
And I’m lucky if I file twice a year.
In general, I warn my students that the teacher’s desk is the last place they should leave their stuff because there it will get lost.
So, not surprisingly, I don’t love keeping track of Aurelia & Roberts’ calendar.
I mean, really—the lazy part of my brain wants to say—this is fantasy. I haven’t bothered to invent a calendar for their world so why should I have to keep track of it?
But, you know, I do.
If you read a lot of modern YA, you’ve probably noticed that time-wise, the genre tends to run on the short side. For the author, this has a lot of allure. You get to fully flesh out the scenes. Nobody complains about your transitions. The pace should feel fast.
And for some books this works astoundingly well. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton being my favorite example.
But limiting your time frame also causes problems. Relationships can feel rushed, non-genuine, or superficial. You never get the long-term payoff you can grasp from a great coming-of-age novel. And vast, sweeping developments within the world? They don’t really feel real.
Don’t get me wrong. I love YA. I really, really do.
But most of my plotlines refuse to stick within a single week or a month.
And this means, things get messy.
Especially when you’re traveling on horseback across an entire country. And when news has to travel the same way.
Because in order for the followers of character A to run into the minions of character B at EXACTLY the most heinous possible time, I have to know the timeline for everything.
Which means I have to keep a calendar.

Aurelia is a fantasy. When I first began writing it, I thought of it as a story along the lines of Tamora Pierce or Patricia C. Wrede. I had no idea that it would become in any way “a horse book.” Though looking back now, I can see that the horses were already there—in Robert’s first conversation with Aurelia.
It wasn’t until chapter three, however, that I first met Horizon. Robert needed to go to the horse fair, and it was only natural that he ride a horse.
I didn’t realize at the time that I was creating a character.
Not an animal. Animals are easy. You guide them onstage, lead them around, and shoo them off when you’re finished.
Cars are even easier. You park one. You drive it. You wreck it. You have total control.
Not over Horizon. I should have known, from the beginning, that he was going to be a problem. He wouldn’t walk straight to the fair. Oh no, Robert had to ride him clear around the outskirts of the city. (Which allowed me to paint the setting and also to align the timeline within the book—character flaws can be useful!)
When I eventually needed to decide the climax for the novel, it just made since to have a horse race. By that point, I had a mysterious golden colt, a jockey for a villain, and a heroine who could ride. It didn’t matter that Horizon was Robert’s horse. Or that most women in this historical-fantasy era would have ridden sidesaddle. The race became the fastest—and easiest—scene I wrote within the entire book. And that includes all umpteen revisions.
It’s possible this success went to Horizon’s head.
You see, Robert has to ride everywhere. And after book one, he and Aurelia travel a lot. But they are never ALONE.
There is always this extra character getting in the way. I can’t open a scene without explaining the location of the horse. Is Robert riding? Is Horizon trailing behind? And if not, why not? Because you can’t just park Horizon anywhere. Or leave him with anyone. Not easily. Not without his having to protest. He is so real that I can’t refer to Robert as “he” without worrying that the pronoun might be confused with that of his frigging horse. (I have a similar issue with Falcon and Aurelia). Robert can’t even leave the country without having to say goodbye to Horizon.
Or return, in book three, without greeting said horse. Because, of course, Robert still needs Horizon in order to travel.
Truthfully, I can’t recommend turning your animals into living, breathing characters. It can be a royal pain.