Kate Brandes will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
The Promise of Pierson Orchard
by Kate Brandes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Women's Fiction
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INTERVIEW:
Interview
Questions for Rogue's Angels
1.
Can you give us a sneak peak into this book?
Green Energy arrives, offering the rural community of Minden the dream of making more money from their land by leasing natural gas rights for drilling. But orchardist, Jack Pierson, fears his brother, Wade, who now works for Green Energy, has returned to town after a twenty-year absence so desperate to be the hero that he’ll blind their hometown to the potential dangers. Jack also worries his brother will try to rekindle his relationship with LeeAnn, Jack’s wife, who’s recently left him. To protect his hometown and to fulfill a promise to himself, Jack seeks out his mother and environmental lawyer, Stella Brantley, who abandoned Minden–and Jack and Wade–many, many years ago.
Green Energy arrives, offering the rural community of Minden the dream of making more money from their land by leasing natural gas rights for drilling. But orchardist, Jack Pierson, fears his brother, Wade, who now works for Green Energy, has returned to town after a twenty-year absence so desperate to be the hero that he’ll blind their hometown to the potential dangers. Jack also worries his brother will try to rekindle his relationship with LeeAnn, Jack’s wife, who’s recently left him. To protect his hometown and to fulfill a promise to himself, Jack seeks out his mother and environmental lawyer, Stella Brantley, who abandoned Minden–and Jack and Wade–many, many years ago.
2.
What or who inspired you to start writing?
I’ve spent most of my career, not as a writer, but as an environmental scientist. That said, I’ve journaled all my life from the time I was in middle school. I’ve also been a life-long lover of fiction.
I’ve spent most of my career, not as a writer, but as an environmental scientist. That said, I’ve journaled all my life from the time I was in middle school. I’ve also been a life-long lover of fiction.
I didn’t start writing creatively until I was in my mid-thirties. I’ve always loved stories about complicated families and relationships. When I learned about fracking through my environmental science career, one of my first thoughts was that it would make a great metaphor in a novel about a fractured family. So that was the start. It took me eight years from there to get the novel to publication.
3.
How did you come up with your idea for your novel?
When I started this novel, almost no one had heard of fracking. I was fascinated by it early on because of my experience with looking at water problems deep underground. But also because I’m from a rural area of Pennsylvania, not unlike the rural places where fracking has taken place in Pennsylvania. I could see the struggle from the rural perspective that I didn’t think anyone was really talking about it. It’s complicated and I wanted to explore it through fiction.
When I started this novel, almost no one had heard of fracking. I was fascinated by it early on because of my experience with looking at water problems deep underground. But also because I’m from a rural area of Pennsylvania, not unlike the rural places where fracking has taken place in Pennsylvania. I could see the struggle from the rural perspective that I didn’t think anyone was really talking about it. It’s complicated and I wanted to explore it through fiction.
4.
What expertise did you bring to your writing?
I have a graduate degree in geology and worked in that profession for a number of years on groundwater contamination and supply problems in the subsurface. So I understand what happens underground with rock, fractures, and water.
From the time I was in middle school, I lived in a small rural Pennsylvania town, much like the one portrayed in the novel. As an adult I lived for about ten years in a small urban community. Rural and urban people view the land very differently and those are some of the themes I explore in the novel.
I have a graduate degree in geology and worked in that profession for a number of years on groundwater contamination and supply problems in the subsurface. So I understand what happens underground with rock, fractures, and water.
From the time I was in middle school, I lived in a small rural Pennsylvania town, much like the one portrayed in the novel. As an adult I lived for about ten years in a small urban community. Rural and urban people view the land very differently and those are some of the themes I explore in the novel.
5.
As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?
I’m at work on my second novel, partly inspired
by Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang.
It will be another book club fiction novel with an eco-bent, but it’s a completely
different story from my first novel.
6.
Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or
hinder your writing?
I have belonged to critique groups in the past, particularly when I first started writing. I found them helpful for a time. But I will say at this point for me the most helpful thing is to trade draft manuscripts with other novelists. Often in a critique group, people are only able to read small sections of the book at one clip and then a lot of time can pass before a writer has another chance to offer another section of the story, so it’s hard to get feedback when the review of work is so broken up.
I have belonged to critique groups in the past, particularly when I first started writing. I found them helpful for a time. But I will say at this point for me the most helpful thing is to trade draft manuscripts with other novelists. Often in a critique group, people are only able to read small sections of the book at one clip and then a lot of time can pass before a writer has another chance to offer another section of the story, so it’s hard to get feedback when the review of work is so broken up.
7.
When did you first decide to submit your work?
When I started my novel, I was new to creative writing and so I didn’t know yet how to tell a story. It took me a long time to figure that part out through a lot of rabbit holes and misdirection. I knew I wanted to wait before I started submitting to agents until I thought the manuscript was truly ready for that kind of high-level review. So I didn’t start that process until I’d been working on the book for five years. And even so, it was still another two years before I was able to land a publisher and agent.
When I started my novel, I was new to creative writing and so I didn’t know yet how to tell a story. It took me a long time to figure that part out through a lot of rabbit holes and misdirection. I knew I wanted to wait before I started submitting to agents until I thought the manuscript was truly ready for that kind of high-level review. So I didn’t start that process until I’d been working on the book for five years. And even so, it was still another two years before I was able to land a publisher and agent.
8.
What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding
writing or publishing)
The worst advice I’ve ever received was that I should write on a strict schedule. I started writing my book when my sons were one and three. I also had a full time job and more volunteer work on my plate than I should have. Still I worked on my novel. But I did it sometimes fifteen minutes at a time anywhere and whenever I could. My life was too busy and unpredictable to have a writing schedule, so I crammed it in when I could. That’s how my first book got written.
The best advice I’ve ever gotten was to love my characters, particularly the troubled ones. I think if a writer judges her characters on the page, it never works. So much better to understand and then show why they make the choices they make, especially the bad choices.
The worst advice I’ve ever received was that I should write on a strict schedule. I started writing my book when my sons were one and three. I also had a full time job and more volunteer work on my plate than I should have. Still I worked on my novel. But I did it sometimes fifteen minutes at a time anywhere and whenever I could. My life was too busy and unpredictable to have a writing schedule, so I crammed it in when I could. That’s how my first book got written.
The best advice I’ve ever gotten was to love my characters, particularly the troubled ones. I think if a writer judges her characters on the page, it never works. So much better to understand and then show why they make the choices they make, especially the bad choices.
9.
Do you outline your books or just start writing?
I do a loose outline. I like to know where I’m starting and where I’m ending so I have a clear direction about where I want to go eventually. The part in between the beginning and end I keep more open since I don’t know exactly the journey my characters will take along the way.
I do a loose outline. I like to know where I’m starting and where I’m ending so I have a clear direction about where I want to go eventually. The part in between the beginning and end I keep more open since I don’t know exactly the journey my characters will take along the way.
10. How do you
maintain your creativity?
I think the key is giving yourself space in your life for creativity. As a mother of two with a now part-time job and other interests, this is my biggest challenge to maintaining creativity. I need to heed my own advice here.
I think the key is giving yourself space in your life for creativity. As a mother of two with a now part-time job and other interests, this is my biggest challenge to maintaining creativity. I need to heed my own advice here.
11. Who is your
favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?
My favorite character in the book is Jack because I think he’s the most courageous character. He’s a broken damaged person who’s got to dig really deep to get what he wants by the story’s end.
My favorite character in the book is Jack because I think he’s the most courageous character. He’s a broken damaged person who’s got to dig really deep to get what he wants by the story’s end.
Please answer 10 to 15 of the questions. Oh, and don't forget to use
examples from your book to elaborate on the questions.
Also, please renumber in order that you answer 1- 10 or more) Please
feel free to leave off the numbers.
Thanks, the Angels
BLURB:
In the
novel, Green Energy arrives, offering the impoverished rural community of
Minden, Pennsylvania, the dream of making more money from their land by leasing
natural gas rights for drilling. But orchardist, Jack Pierson, fears his
brother, Wade, who now works for Green Energy, has returned to town after a
shame-filled twenty-year absence so desperate to be the hero that he’ll blind
their hometown to the potential dangers. Jack also worries his brother will try
to rekindle his relationship with LeeAnn, Jack’s wife, who’s recently left him.
To protect his hometown and to fulfill a promise to himself, Jack seeks out his
mother and environmental lawyer Stella Brantley, who abandoned Minden—and Jack
and Wade–years ago.
When LeeAnn’s parents have good
reason to lease their land, but their decision leads to tragedy, Jack must
fight to find a common ground that will save his fractured family, their land,
and the way of life they love.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
Pa
A
brand new black pickup was parked between LeeAnn’s red Chevy and Jack’s old
beater. A man stood beside it, with his hand raised in greeting, but he said
nothing more. Coming from the bright light of the barn into the dusk prevented
Jack from making out the man’s face. Jack stared in his direction. Some tug of
memory caused him to hesitate. There was something familiar about the slight
curl in his shoulders.
LeeAnn
emerged from the edge of the orchard and the man turned at the sound of her
boots on the gravel drive. “LeeAnn?” the man said.
She
stopped. “Wade Pierson?” She hesitated a moment more and then walked slowly
toward him. “Is it really you?”
There,
right in front of him, was his brother. Wade. Back after twenty years. He was
still alive, at least. Wade’s arms encircled LeeAnn.
Jack
clenched his fists and went back into the barn. He offloaded the fruit from the
wagon, bruising most of it. He washed apples with shaky hands and then crushed
them for the cider press. LeeAnn and Wade came through the doorway.
“Jack,
look who’s here.” Jack glanced up and then couldn’t take his eyes from his
brother’s face for a long moment. He wasn’t a sixteen year-old kid anymore.
He’d grown taller than Jack and filled out. Damn if he didn’t look even more
like their dad now, with that same dark red hair and fair skin. That curl of
the shoulder used to give Wade the look of someone unsure of whether he
belonged. But now Wade stood there smiling, like he would be welcome. Like he
could just show up after all this time with as much warning as he gave on the
night he left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
An environmental scientist
with over 20 years of experience, Kate Brandes is also a watercolor painter and
a writer of women’s fiction with an environmental bent. Her short stories have
been published in The Binnacle, Wilderness House Literary Review, and Grey
Sparrow Journal. Kate is a member of the Arts Community of Easton (ACE), the
Lehigh Art Alliance, Artsbridge, the Pennwriters, and the Women’s Fiction
Writers Association. Kate lives in a small town along the Delaware River with
her husband, David, and their two sons. When she’s not working, she’s outside
on the river or chasing wildflowers.
Personal Links
Website:
http://katebrandes.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/kate.a.brandes
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/katebrandes3
Bookclub Giveaway: In celebration of my upcoming book launch, I'm offering 8 signed
paperback copies, 8 small prizes, a $25 Amazon gift card and a list of
book-related discussion questions to one lucky book club member to share with
your club. All you have to do to enter is tell one person about the book and
sign up here: http://katebrandes.com/books/the-promise-of-person-orchard/
Contest runs through my book launch date, April
22, 2017. The winner will be announced the following day! Good luck!
Buy Links
https://www.amazon.com/Promise-Pierson-Orchard-Kate-Brandes/dp/1942545517
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Kate Brandes
will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter
during the tour.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f2211
Thank you for hosting!
ReplyDeleteQuestion for readers: What are you reading right now?
ReplyDeleteInteresting interview and excerpt. Hope your tour is successful!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Genene!
DeleteWelcome to the Angel's blog. I hope you have a great tour. Allana Angel
ReplyDeleteThanks, Allana!
DeleteThank you for the interview and chance to win!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kim:)
DeleteI enjoyed your interview, Kate. Thanks. Especially your answer to question 9.- a nice blend of order and creativity in the outline. Good luck with 'The Promise of Pierson Orchard'.
ReplyDelete