Lisa Manterfield

  • Home
  • Books
    • The Smallest Thing
    • A Strange Companion
    • Shorts
    • Non-Fiction
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • For Book Clubs
  • Meet Lisa
  • Contact

October 30, 2017 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

When Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

When Truth is Stranger Than Fiction by Lisa Manterfield -lisamanterfield.com

In A Strange Companion, a lot of peculiar things happen around Kat. Another character in another story might have chalked up all these signs as coincidence, and then maybe I’d be writing a romance novel about a girl who falls for a guy who bakes a wicked chocolate hazelnut marble cake (*see below for more about this). But that’s not this story. This story is full of strange coincidences that may or may not prove that Gabe is back.

A while back, I wrote a post about some of the weird things that happen when you’re dealing with grief. If you’ve ever lost someone you love, you’ll know that nothing is beyond the realm of possibility as you try to come to terms with someone being gone.

There’s always a danger of crossing a line in fiction and making coincidences unbelievable. I mean really, what are the odds of Mai calling Kat by the pet name Gabe gave her, or having a birthmark in the exact same spot as his? But while I was editing the book, I got a sign of my own that weird coincidences happen in real life, not just in fiction.

On my office wall, I have Plot Planner, a long sheet of brown paper where I keep track of my novel and its various storylines. I like to gather pictures as I write, images of how I see the characters and some of the settings. It helps to get the story clear in my head.

I found the perfect picture of Mai, cut it out, and stuck it on my story board. It wasn’t until weeks later that I took a close look at the picture and realized that the dress the little girl is wearing is made from identical fabric to my living room curtains!

Is this a weird coincidence or a sign of something else? I’ll leave you to decide.

* Owen’s chocolate hazelnut marble cake was a big hit with Kat and it was an equally big hit with Mr. Fab when I tried it out on him. If you’d like to get the recipe to make your own, plus recipes for five other dishes mention in A Strange Companion (including Kat’s mother’s prawn cocktail and Jon’s blackberry lavender scones) I’ll send you a free recipe book (plus a collection of short stories) when you sign up for my newsletter.

Filed Under: The Story Behind the Story Tagged With: A Strange Companion, Author, book, books, fiction, loss, love, novel, paranormal, reincarnation, YA, young adult Leave a Comment

October 9, 2017 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

Grab “The Smallest Thing” for Under a Buck (or a Quid or a Loonie)

Grab “The Smallest Thing” for Under a Buck (or a Quid or a Loonie) by Lisa Manterfield - lisamanterfield.com

If you haven’t snagged yourself a copy of The Smallest Thing yet, now’s your chance.

This week only, it’s on super duper wahoo sale. Yup, you can download a copy for less than the cost of a convenience store Styrofoam cup of artificial pumpkin-flavored coffee. I mean, really, which would you rather have?

So, click on your bookseller of choice, make yourself a proper cup of coffee (or tea) and settle in for a juicy read.

Nook

Still not convinced? Here are what reviewers have to say:

“Lisa Manterfield’s richly detailed novel…is graced with themes of self-sacrifice, the power of human touch, and the need to act in the face of horror.”
~ Catherine Linka, author of A Girl Called Fearless


“It grabbed my attention from the start and held it to the end. The detail in this story is simply chilling.”
~Amazon reviewer


“Tense thriller. Transcends the YA genre.”
~Amazon reviewer


“Lisa Manterfield is one brilliant author.
The Smallest Thing will stay with me for many years to come.”
~Amazon reviewer

And I swear, none of these reviews were written by my mum!

So, linger no longer. The offer is only good for a week.

Nook

Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: Author, book, books, deal, The Smallest Thing, YA, young adult Leave a Comment

September 25, 2017 - Lisa Manterfield 2 Comments

If You Love YA, You Won’t Want to Miss This

If you love discovering new authors, you won’t want to miss the YA Scavenger Hunt.

In case you’ve never heard of it, the hunt showcases 140 new and upcoming YA releases. There are tons of prizes, including individual giveaways and seven Grand Prizes, plus each author will release special bonus material, only for hunt participants. Sound interesting?

This fall the hunt features seven teams of twenty. I’ll be participating on the Orange Team.

The blog hop begins Tuesday, Oct 3rd and runs through Sunday, Oct 8th. It’s easy to play. All you have to do is either check in here on October 3rd, or head directly over to the YASH website. There you’ll find a list of all the authors participating as well as an answer sheet you can print off to gather the info you’re hunting for and to keep track of any bonus contests you may have entered.

I’ll have all the details here next week, but for now, here are all the books featured this season, so you can start looking for your favorites:

Filed Under: Cool Stuff for Book Nerds Tagged With: Author, books, fiction, giveaway, YA, YA Scavenger Hunt, YASH, young adult 2 Comments

September 18, 2017 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

When Tragedy Strikes, Supporting Characters Suffer Too

When Tragedy Strikes, Supporting Characters Suffer Too by Lisa Manterfield -lisamanterfield.com

Over the past couple of weeks, the threat of tragedy has set many people on edge. First Harvey swept into Texas, then Irma battered the Caribbean and headed for Florida. Meanwhile, Jose and Katia built, bringing more uncertainty of what they would become or where they would go.

People in the direct path of the storm faced the very real possibility of tragedy. They stood to lose their homes, livelihoods, pets, and even their lives. Many were called upon to tap into reserves of strength and courage to get through a situation for which they had little time to prepare.

Meanwhile, many of us outside the danger zone could only watch and wait. Although I didn’t have anyone close to me directly affected by the storms, my social media feeds were full of posts from friends who did have loved ones in danger. Lots of people were afraid of what might happen, but felt powerless to do anything about it. That kind of stress can have a huge emotional toll.

I thought a lot about the effects of powerlessness while writing The Smallest Thing. On the pages of the main story, Em finds herself stuck in the middle of an unimaginable tragedy that she is completely unprepared to handle. She does what any of us would do, which is to figure out how to survive. She doesn’t always make the best choices, especially at first. She has no role models or experience to call upon, but she does what she has to, and then she does what she needs to do. She finds her inner strength and a side of herself she never knew existed. And while she thinks she is powerless, she finds ways to take action.

Meanwhile, in the fictional world beyond the book, Em’s mother and little sister Alice experience the powerlessness that many of us felt last week as Hurricane Irma barreled towards our loved ones. Although their story isn’t told in the book, I’ve imagined them watching helplessly as Em and her father fought for survival.

I imagined that Em’s mother, like many us last week, would carry enormous guilt that she had gone to visit her sister and so had avoided being swept up in the quarantine. She’d feel helpless because there would be nothing she could do to protect her loved ones. She’d be terrified and probably frustrated that she didn’t know, at every second of the day, what was happening to them. She’d have moments of fury when others judged her actions or those of her loved ones, without full knowledge of the situation (hello, social media haters) and perhaps relief when one kind person asked how her family was doing and how she was holding up.

In fiction, and in our real-world tragedies, the stories of the supporting characters aren’t generally the ones that keep us riveted. But if you were a supporting character in the recent news headlines, you know, like Em’s mother, that you have your own story, too.

Filed Under: The Story Behind the Story Tagged With: Author, book, death, Eyam, fiction, grief, Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma, loss, love, parent, plague, story, The Smallest Thing, YA, young adult Leave a Comment

September 11, 2017 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

The Smallest Thing on Tour

I’m on tour with The Smallest Thing this week. Over the course of the next six days, I’ll be visiting the sites of more than thirty bloggers as they review the book.

If you’d like to follow the tour and see what others are saying about the book, you can find the schedule below or on the official tour site.

Official Blog Tour Schedule

If you’d like the chance to win a signed copy of The Smallest Thing, hop on over to any of the tour stops or go to the giveaway widget at the end of this post.

I’ll be dropping in at all the tour spots this week. Hope to see you there!

September 11th
–Smokin’ Hot Reads Book Blog
–Moohnshine’s Corner
–CrazyKalm
–Archaeolibrarian – I Dig Good Books!
–Kourtni Reads

September 12th
–Shelf Rider
–6 Feet Under Books
–The Queen Reads
–Eru Books and Recs
–hauntedbybooks13

September 13th
–Port Jericho
–Rockin’ Book Reviews
–Mes Livres
–Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile
–Shh, I am Reading

September 14th
–anie’s blog: diary of a wannabe writer
–I Read Indie
–Lori’s Little House of Reviews
–The Booklandia
–Truly Booked

September 15th
–100 Pages A Day
–Literary Flits
–Adventures in Writing
–Lauren’s Crammed Bookshelf
–Huntley and Books

September 16th
–Swoonworthybooks
–The Literary Apothecary
–Livre It To Me
–The Avid Reader
–What Cathy Read Next
–Books With Keri

 

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: Author, book, books, Eyam, fiction, novel, The Smallest Thing, YA, young adult Leave a Comment

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next Page »

Connect with Lisa

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Find Lisa on Goodreads

Lisa Manterfield on Goodreads

Copyright © 2021 Lisa Manterfield · Privacy Policy · Cookie Policy · Designed by Kate Tilton's Author Services, LLC

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkRead more