Welcome Melissa. What do you enjoy about being an author?
I love creating an experience that elicits emotions. I want my readers to feel what I intend them to feel. I want them to cry, to laugh, to swoon. It’s a powerful feeling, and very difficult. I’m always writing new genres and trying new techniques to improve my craft. What surprised me most was horror. I tried writing short stories in 2021, and every single one turned into horror. I think it is the result of my love of Goosebumps and Are you Afraid of the Dark. One day I’ll write a MG horror series, to rediscover that love.
Tell us about your road to publication.
My story starts, as many do, with fanfiction. I was a huge fanfiction writer, mostly for Yu-Gi-Oh! and Inuyasha. One day I got a comment from a reader who lamented my excessive use of “purple prose”. I became irrationally angry and decided to “show them” by writing a whole book. I discovered NaNoWriMo and wrote the first draft of MARKED FOR HARVEST in 2018. It was a totally different book then, based on an uncomfortable work trip where I was the only woman in a room full of old men and was treated like a secretary. When I finished writing that book, I realized it was incredibly boring!
I went to the library and read books on editing and watched hours of YouTube videos by a popular Book-Tuber. That’s when I realized that I could join their discourse and find a critique partner. For the next year I bounced around critique partners, reading dozens of manuscripts and learning how to provide meaningful feedback.
I started querying in 2019 and received several lovely rejections. I even queried a publisher who said they went back and forth before declining. I didn’t realize how amazing that was at the time and shelved the book. I wrote three more books, querying two of them, before returning to Marked For Harvest. I decided it was too short to be attractive to agents, so I sent it to small presses, and got a revise and resubmit in 2021!
I spent months on that R&R, really poured everything into it. Unfortunately, the result was another rejection, which utterly crushed me. I decided to give Marked For Harvest one more chance. A writer friend mentioned Wild Rose Press, and I sent in a query, expecting another rejection. Much to my surprise, they accepted!
Let's get a blurb:
Hunted by a creature that wants to consume the ghosts on her skin, Elena Cain flees to her family home to find her childhood friend, Chloe, floating face down in the pool. Accused of following in her mother's murderous footsteps, she teams up with the one man who believes her, the victim's brother--and her former flame.
Sebastian Castillo can’t forget the girl who broke his heart--even though her mother murdered his brother. So when he finds Elena with his sister’s dead body, he accepts her claims of innocence and together they unravel the tangle of secrets at the heart of their small town.
As the spark between them kindles into an inferno, they must choose between justice for Chloe and keeping Elena safe, before she becomes the killer's next target.
How about an excerpt?
Her neck tingled, and then, with a sound like rushing water, the snake faded from the woman’s shoulders. A sharp pinch told her the shade had materialized on her chest. She peeked beneath her shirt to see a slitted snout staring up at her. The snake’s mottled yellow and white body was curled into a heap with only the tip of its triangular-shaped head peeking out from the folds.
The snake flicked its tongue at her. Its memories itched at the back of her mind, but as she mentally reached for them, they squirmed away. She tried again, stretching herself thin, hoping to feel some flicker of intelligence, and found a wisp, the last remnants of the soul’s consciousness. She grasped onto it and was catapulted into a memory.
“Please! No!”
Hands clasped like iron bands around her neck and pushed her face-first into the pool. The murky water flooded her mouth and burned in her lungs. She fought, kicking against her assailant, but the cold sapped her strength and burned her eyes.
Through the rippling water, her attacker grinned.
The memory dissolved like sand blowing in the wind, and Elena gasped with recognition. She touched the snake’s head with her fingers and sniffed.
“I’m so sorry, Chloe.”
My story starts, as many do, with fanfiction. I was a huge fanfiction writer, mostly for Yu-Gi-Oh! and Inuyasha. One day I got a comment from a reader who lamented my excessive use of “purple prose”. I became irrationally angry and decided to “show them” by writing a whole book. I discovered NaNoWriMo and wrote the first draft of MARKED FOR HARVEST in 2018. It was a totally different book then, based on an uncomfortable work trip where I was the only woman in a room full of old men and was treated like a secretary. When I finished writing that book, I realized it was incredibly boring!
I went to the library and read books on editing and watched hours of YouTube videos by a popular Book-Tuber. That’s when I realized that I could join their discourse and find a critique partner. For the next year I bounced around critique partners, reading dozens of manuscripts and learning how to provide meaningful feedback.
I started querying in 2019 and received several lovely rejections. I even queried a publisher who said they went back and forth before declining. I didn’t realize how amazing that was at the time and shelved the book. I wrote three more books, querying two of them, before returning to Marked For Harvest. I decided it was too short to be attractive to agents, so I sent it to small presses, and got a revise and resubmit in 2021!
Let's get a blurb:
Hunted by a creature that wants to consume the ghosts on her skin, Elena Cain flees to her family home to find her childhood friend, Chloe, floating face down in the pool. Accused of following in her mother's murderous footsteps, she teams up with the one man who believes her, the victim's brother--and her former flame.
Sebastian Castillo can’t forget the girl who broke his heart--even though her mother murdered his brother. So when he finds Elena with his sister’s dead body, he accepts her claims of innocence and together they unravel the tangle of secrets at the heart of their small town.
As the spark between them kindles into an inferno, they must choose between justice for Chloe and keeping Elena safe, before she becomes the killer's next target.
How about an excerpt?
Her neck tingled, and then, with a sound like rushing water, the snake faded from the woman’s shoulders. A sharp pinch told her the shade had materialized on her chest. She peeked beneath her shirt to see a slitted snout staring up at her. The snake’s mottled yellow and white body was curled into a heap with only the tip of its triangular-shaped head peeking out from the folds.
The snake flicked its tongue at her. Its memories itched at the back of her mind, but as she mentally reached for them, they squirmed away. She tried again, stretching herself thin, hoping to feel some flicker of intelligence, and found a wisp, the last remnants of the soul’s consciousness. She grasped onto it and was catapulted into a memory.
“Please! No!”
Hands clasped like iron bands around her neck and pushed her face-first into the pool. The murky water flooded her mouth and burned in her lungs. She fought, kicking against her assailant, but the cold sapped her strength and burned her eyes.
Through the rippling water, her attacker grinned.
The memory dissolved like sand blowing in the wind, and Elena gasped with recognition. She touched the snake’s head with her fingers and sniffed.
“I’m so sorry, Chloe.”
How do you develop characters?
I always start with irony. I love my characters to be mirror images. So, I might start with a character afraid of the water, and then match them with a sailor, or a mermaid. What is the furthest thing from a sailor? Maybe a pilot. So, I have a pilot and a sailor, how do I make them meet? Maybe the pilot crashes into the ocean and is rescued by the sailor. Then the challenge is how to figure out how to keep these two together, when one longs for the sea, and the other for the sky.
I always start with irony. I love my characters to be mirror images. So, I might start with a character afraid of the water, and then match them with a sailor, or a mermaid. What is the furthest thing from a sailor? Maybe a pilot. So, I have a pilot and a sailor, how do I make them meet? Maybe the pilot crashes into the ocean and is rescued by the sailor. Then the challenge is how to figure out how to keep these two together, when one longs for the sea, and the other for the sky.
What is your latest book and how did you come up with the idea to write it?
I am currently on submission with my amazing agent, Lane, for an adult Victorian historical romance called Companion To The Count. It features an autistic female lead, Saffron, who sees her dead brothers face in the newest painting from a famous anonymous artist. The idea started with a male lead who made corsets, and a female lead who had a sister drown in a corset. Along the way it somehow changed to painting instead, inspired by the artist Bansky.
What’s your next project?
I am currently writing an adult paranormal suspense called Escape From Wolfpoint about a remote camp where ghosts go to learn how to reincarnate. The main character, Maura, makes a deal with the werewolves that lurk in the mist to return to her life. It’s based on two summers I spent working at remote fly-in fishing camps in northern Ontario.
Sounds intriguing! Here are the buy links for today's featured book, Marked For Harvest and social contact information for Melissa to keep up with her future writing:
Buy links
Universal: https://books2read.com/MarkedForHarvest
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Marked-Harvest-Melissa-Kendall-ebook/dp/B0BD2VM6FD
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/marked-for-harvest-melissa-kendall/1142099800
Social Contacts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MAKendallAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makendallauthor/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MAKendallAuthor
Website: https://melissakendall.ca
I am currently on submission with my amazing agent, Lane, for an adult Victorian historical romance called Companion To The Count. It features an autistic female lead, Saffron, who sees her dead brothers face in the newest painting from a famous anonymous artist. The idea started with a male lead who made corsets, and a female lead who had a sister drown in a corset. Along the way it somehow changed to painting instead, inspired by the artist Bansky.
What’s your next project?
I am currently writing an adult paranormal suspense called Escape From Wolfpoint about a remote camp where ghosts go to learn how to reincarnate. The main character, Maura, makes a deal with the werewolves that lurk in the mist to return to her life. It’s based on two summers I spent working at remote fly-in fishing camps in northern Ontario.
Sounds intriguing! Here are the buy links for today's featured book, Marked For Harvest and social contact information for Melissa to keep up with her future writing:
Buy links
Universal: https://books2read.com/MarkedForHarvest
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Marked-Harvest-Melissa-Kendall-ebook/dp/B0BD2VM6FD
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/marked-for-harvest-melissa-kendall/1142099800
Social Contacts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MAKendallAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makendallauthor/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MAKendallAuthor
Website: https://melissakendall.ca
Thank you, Melissa, for being my guest. Any comments or questions for Melissa?
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I think the mirror of characters is briliant
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