Saturday, March 14, 2020

Blog Tour ~ Sting by Cindy R. Wilson



Check out my stop on the blog tour for Sting by Cindy R. Wilson from Entangled Teen!

Sting

by Cindy R. Wilson

Genre: YA Dystopian

Release date: March 3rd 2020

Entangled Teen


Summary:

They call me the Scorpion because they don’t know who I really am. All they know is that someone is stealing from people with excess to help people with nothing survive another day.
But then a trusted friend reveals who I am―“just” Tessa, “just” a girl―and sends me straight into the arms of the law. All those people I helped…couldn’t help me when I needed it.
In prison, I find an unlikely ally in Pike, who would have been my enemy on the outside. He represents everything I’m against. Luxury. Excess. The world immediately falling for his gorgeous smile. How he ended up in the dirty cell next to mine is a mystery, but he wants out as much as I do. Together, we have a real chance at escape.
With the sting of betrayal still fresh, Pike and I will seek revenge on those who wronged us. But uncovering all their secrets might turn deadly…

Purchase links can be found HERE! 

Excerpt 
“Don’t take another step.”
My breath catches. My fingers curl around the handle of my
knife, but my feet are glued to the ground three steps outside the door.
There’s only one Enforcer, but the others can’t be far away. His gun is aimed
at my heart, and a dark smile plays on his lips.
“Are you the only one here?” he asks, voice deep.
“Just me.” I hope River and Elle are already hiding. Or maybe
they left through the back. I resist the urge to look at Atticus’s and
Magellan’s transmissions on my watch.
He narrows his eyes. “Out here all alone. What is it you’re
doing at an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the night?”
“Delivering a pizza.” I give him an easy smile, but my voice
isn’t as steady as I want it to be. When he glares, I shrug. “I saw the
warehouse and got curious.” But I’ve heard pizza is really good.
“In the middle of the night,” he says. “Hmm. And what’s in the
satchel?”
It’s not my satchel he should be worried about. It’s the
throwing knife in my hand.
“Nothing special.”
“I’ve been hearing stories about a girl they call the Scorpion,”
he says.
My heart stops. The Scorpion. How do they know? I pinch the
blade of the knife between my fingers.
He smiles. “Is that you?”
My throat is too dry to answer.
There’s movement behind him. He whips around as River appears
near the dumpsters, hands up. Crap! With a flick of my wrist, I fling the knife
at the Enforcer. It lodges in his thigh, and he howls in pain. Before he can
recover, River yanks the gun from his grasp. Elle is right behind him, eyes
wide.
“Out of here. Now,” I growl, racing away from the warehouse.
River and Elle are close by my side as we rush through the streets, dodging
dumpsters and bags of trash. The slow burn of asphalt from the heat of the day
reaches my nose. Lanterns shine in some windows, but it’s late, and, for the
most part, we can only see our path by the glow of the moon. From here, the
Light District is countless blocks away, a firefly of light buzzing with
energy.
“Are you hurt?” River asks, glancing over.
“Not as bad as the Enforcer.” I brush off his concern even
though my leg throbs and blood rolls down my calf. I shut down my receiver to
save power. I’ll summon Atticus and Magellan later. “Lost my favorite knife,
though.” One of the few mementos I have from my dad.
He lifts his arm. “Got a gun.”
“I told you this was a bad idea,” Elle says, breath short. “I
heard what he said. The Enforcer.”
I slow down after we’ve put some distance between us and the
warehouse. My heart still races, and my mind whirls. The Enforcers know about
me.
“So did I,” River says. “That’s why they were there tonight.
They were looking for the Scorpion.”

About the Author


Cindy lives at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and loves using Colorado towns and cities as inspiration for settings in her stories. She's the mother of three girls, who provide plenty of fodder for her YA novels. Cindy writes speculative fiction and YA fiction, filled with a healthy dose of romance. You'll often find her hiking or listening to any number of playlists while she comes up with her next story idea.



What is your writing process like?

I’m not going to lie, starting a new story is one of my favorite things. It starts off simple, with just an idea that makes me excited. The idea for one of my stories came from reading an article about an awesome teenager who was changing the lives of people around her by just basically not letting the rules of society dictate what she did. The idea for STING came from watching the movie, The Count of Monte Cristo, with my daughter and telling her how cool it would be to see a steampunk or dystopian version of this story with a strong heroine who was trying to do the right thing for her people.

And there’s the idea! Before I continue, I make sure I have some major plot points and an ending to the story, and then I’m ready to keep going.

Next, always next, I make a playlist. The playlist is so important because it helps set the tone for the story. I typically end up with dozens of songs and then narrow it down to twenty or so that fit perfectly. Some of them even go with specific scenes. I listen to this playlist while I’m plotting, while I’m driving, and basically any other time (which is a lot) when I need motivation for the story. So basically, I live and breathe this playlist for several weeks.

Then I follow up with character sketches. I need to know what my characters look like, what their names are, and what their backstory is. I also make sure I know what’s motivating them to do what they do. And, because I can’t help myself, I give them (especially the MC) one or two quirks. I want to make them relatable and human, and it doesn’t hurt of there’s a little humor thrown in, too.

Finally, I get to plotting. I’m not a huge plotter, but I need to know where the story is going. I already have the major plot points and the ending at this point, so from here I just make sure I have direction. I despise revising, especially when I have major plot holes, so I do my best to write as solid a first draft as I can so when I’m editing after that, it’s more about developing the characters and make sure they get from point A to point B.


Then I’m ready to write. I like to keep my story fresh in my mind and keep in the flow of things. Because of this, I don’t like to take a long time to write a story. It makes me feel like the story is disjointed or I’m not being consistent with a story. So once I start, I don’t like to stop. STING took me about six to seven weeks to write. I loved it every step of the way, and now I’m so excited to share it with you!

Author Links:
Posted by at

2 comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)