Today Krista Wagner stopped by to share her Path to Publication Story. Without further ado, here’s Krista…
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My first novel, Intent, a spiritual dramatic thriller, came to me as a surprise. The plot, the characters, their growth, all of it came at me suddenly and developed in a matter of weeks. The idea for my book formulated during my Advanced Screenwriting class for my MFA in Creative Writing degree. At first, I knew the premise and I knew how the story would end. How to get to that conclusion proved challenging because I had to make Raylee, the main protagonist, able to figure out who the villain was. That meant she had to break free from the mundane life, overcome her bitterness and heartbreak from losing loved ones, and question those she had once trusted. Within four weeks, I had the entire outline of each act completed and an entire screenplay ready to go. That was in May 2013. The next month, on a family road trip, I completed the novel version of Intent. I wanted to get this published. It took over fifty query letters to agents and to two publishers to get a contract. In August, 2014, TouchPoint Press released Intent. I was thrilled to see my work in print, and my family and friends were just as overjoyed! That’s why I kept writing, publishing my second novel Rian Field, a mystery thriller in January 2016 and my third novel The Gold, a middle-grade fantasy.
I wrote a three page story “The Gold” back in 1998. It always held a special place in my heart, but I didn’t ever think about turning it into a novel until last year. It was amazing to me how the story expanded. It became a simple little tale that grew into a more complex and fantastical story than before. I sent several query letters to agents and a couple of publishers and I heard back from a few, but it was only Clean Reads that wanted to publish it. I can’t say I ran into any “lows” with publishing this one (my third novel). In January of this year, Clean Reads sent me a contract, by March we started edits, and then got scheduled for a June release. I’m amazed not just with the product and the depth of its plot but also by the smooth process of getting THE GOLD out there for all to read.
About the Book:
Ten-year old Amanda is constantly teased and tormented in school. Her home life is less than satisfactory where her widower father, often away on business trips, leaves her in the care of her indifferent teenaged sister. Worse, not a day goes by when Amanda doesn’t miss her mom. To escape reality, Amanda creates fantasy stories, but when she discovers a talking golden pebble, her imagined world turns into a new-fangled reality.
Buy Link: Amazon
About the author:
Mother of three and Adjunct English Instructor Krista Wagner has been crafting short stories of dramatic events like murder and kidnapping since she was in high school, and has been writing in general since she was seven years old. Wagner received her B.A. in English from UMBC, her M.A. in English Composition with a Literature Concentration from CSUSB, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from National University. Her debut novel Intent, a spiritual dramatic thriller, was published by TouchPoint Press in 2014. Outside of her professional life, Wagner enjoys watching suspenseful films, reading the Bible, and spending time with her family. Her psychological thriller Rian Field was released January 2016.
Contact Krista:
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