KB once smashed into a tree while skiing. The accident led to a concussion, a cracked sternum, temporary notoriety as a sixth grader returned from the dead, and the realization that fictionalized accounts are way more interesting than just slipping on the ice.

Druids live among us, or at least they do in her YA series WIDE AWAKE released October 2018. When Gigi reverses the spell her mom died casting, she discovers that witches, werewolves, and magic aren’t just bedtime stories. They’re her story.

A WORD FROM KB ANNE: I love writing in first person present tense because I’m one of those people who likes to be in the action with the main character from the safety of my living room with all-you-can-eat dark chocolate at my disposal. However, there are a lot of limitations and writing obstacles unique to using this POV and tense.

Obstacle #1:
A limited POV. I can only share what’s happening in the story from my MC’s POV, but there’s a lot happening in the background. In an early version of WIDE AWAKE, magic and spellbooks weren’t introduced until much later in the story, but in order to attract fantasy and paranormal readers, I knew I needed some fantastical elements early on. That’s where Breas came in, but he’s kind of a dick. Okay, he’s a huge dick, and I couldn’t get into his character voice. I toyed around, revised, and retooled, until finally I began introducing the spell book and other fantastical elements earlier in the story, so Breas’s POV got the ax. So here’s one of his scenes that went the way of the DoDo.

Chapter Three
Breas
She’s changed much since our last meeting. The Druid called it a juncture. It is a struggle instead. A struggle between light and dark. A struggle between life and death. She always refused to acknowledge the power of the darkness, reproaching anyone who entertained a fancy for it, but her hair marks the struggle—the life taken, the death avoided. A mighty spell has been laid upon her. She is weak. Fragile as the Druid called it. Strong medicine masks the remainder of her power, but it compares not to what she once wielded. Her interaction with the female is pure and innocent, so very human. She smiles. She tilts her head. I even hear laughter part from her lips—it is not often I’ve heard such enjoyment for life. The fire in her eyes lights a fire in my soul. A seed blossoms within me taking root in the dull light of this land. I yearn for interaction with her. The roundness of her cheeks begs for my tender caress. When my name falls from her lips, the intense desire to touch her, to be near her, overtakes me. I reach out to caress her sweet skin beneath her fingertips. It is a temptation I cannot resist.

Her books fall from her hands as she crashes to the floor. Her eyes turn back into her head. The witch warned me not to bombard her too quickly with memories. She worried that she might break before we were ready for her. The witch should know I take what is mine. I listen to no one. Not even the one who conjured me.

Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the GOLD team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

CONTINUE THE HUNT