Authors: Deborah Adams & Kimberley Perkins
Title: Waypoint
Publication date: December 1st 2018
Genres: Adventure, Post-Apocalyptic, Thriller,Young Adult
Publication date: December 1st 2018
Genres: Adventure, Post-Apocalyptic, Thriller,Young Adult
Synopsis
How far will they go to restore the power?
How far will they go to restore the power?
It’s been lights-out for three months and society is already falling into chaos.
Teenage tech-genius Simon Harper and
his team of fellow gamers have been searching for the cause of the
outage since it went down. Simon and his twin brother West are often at
odds, but when the key to restoring power drops into their hands,
they’ll risk everything and join forces to bring it back.
Descend
into an epic, young adult adventure, featuring family and friendship
with a heart-skipping side of romance by debut authors Deborah Adams and
Kimberley Perkins.
Mysterious deaths and disappearances
are piling up, and unknown enemies are everywhere. As the brothers make
their 500-mile journey to Waypoint they’ll have to decide who they can
trust, and which secrets can be told.
“Thanks to its tantalizing pace,
well-established consequences, and complicated character development,
this novel is worth writing home about. I didn’t feel ready for it to end.” -Independent Book Review
Purchase
Author Interview
Tell us a few things about Waypoint.
Waypoint follows
twin brothers, Simon and West, on their journey to try and bring back
the power after a mysterious global outage. It’s a fast-paced plot
with a lot of humor to balance the serious tone. The brothers split
up early on and have to try and make it alone…except they both meet
someone along the way. In my honest opinion, it’s hardly a story
worth reading if there isn’t a little romance. However, these girls
both have secrets of their own and trust is not easy when you are on
the run from an unknown enemy trying to kill you.
What was your favorite chapter (or
part) to write and why?
Kim – There's
one scene where Simon reaches out to his online community for help.
He plays this game called Arcadian Fortress, and all the people who
play it call themselves Arcadians. In Arcadia, Simon is one of the
top players. At this point in the story, he needs the help of his
fellow Arcadians. He has to convince them to put themselves in
harm’s way for the sake of the world. I loved writing his speech
and the community’s reactions. I think that it really shows a
different side of Simon and a different side of gamers that isn’t
usually explored.
Deb – I wrote a
chapter that takes place when two of our characters who have started
having feelings for each other land themselves in a dangerous
situation with the enemy. It was a fun chapter to write because I
love exploring feelings and facing that decision of: do I dig deeper
and risk being hurt or do I walk away? It’s also packed with
constant fear and then laced with humor. It was just everything I
like all wrapped together.
What has been your biggest challenge
when writing Waypoint?
Kim - Before this
story, I had only written fanfiction and wasn’t great at taking
criticism about my writing. Early in the process, I would be so
attached to the words that I had written that the suggestion of
changing them was hard to handle. We eventually found a co-authoring
and beta process that worked for us, and I got over my hang-ups about
needing to be in control of my chapters.
Deb – I wanted,
very strongly, for our characters to have their own unique voices and
to feel like real people. It was what influenced our decision to
separate our characters by author. This would mean that often, if I
were writing something that Kim’s character needed to say, I
wouldn’t always know exactly how they would say it. Luckily it was
easy to just put in a place holder and ask Kim “what would Simon
say if Riya said this?”
What makes Waypoint different from
other books out there in the same genre?
Deb – I think
man post-apocalyptic stories really take place when everything has
changed for humanity. Waypoint is a little different in that it
starts just a few months after this power outage when things have
really begun to deteriorate, but people are still expecting that any
day it will all work itself out. It was an interesting place to
explore how different people were adapting.
Can you share a little of your
current work with us?
We are currently
working on Constellation, the sequel to Waypoint. We
are only a few chapters in because we decided to write a prequel
novella called Intel so I hate to share anything that will
likely change. However, Intel takes place at the time of the
power going out, and since it’s coming out on December 7th, we can
share a little snippet of it! This scene is between our main
character Quinn and her mother.
“You did good work today. Though, I hear it didn’t start out
quite as well as it ended.”
The wry comment nearly made Quinn wince. Considering the stiffness in
her limbs, she’d be feeling this morning’s butt kicking for days
to come.
“I may have been less prepared than I thought I was,” she replied
diplomatically.
“If you want to take this seriously, you’ll need to be either the
best or one of the best in every area, and I’m not just talking
about fitness. We both know your hand-to-hand combat skills are
inadequate.”
“It’s a new requirement, and while you didn’t have to come into
the program with fighting skills, all of the interns will be expected
to cultivate them.”
“But, that’s ridiculous! We’re deskers,” she all but shouted.
“This conversation is over. Adapt or go home. Do you still want a
bag packed?” she asked as she stood to pick up her briefcase and
put away the documents she’d been reading.
Quinn bit her tongue to stop more words from spilling out before
nodding.
“Very well. I should be able to have it here in an hour.
Goodnight.” With that parting statement, she pointed Quinn out the
door.
Any tips for aspiring writers?
Kim – Having an
idea for a novel is great, but unless you make yourself sit down and
write it, you will never hold your book in your hands. Make time for
it. Force yourself to make it happen. If you get writer’s block,
keep writing anyway. Even if everything that you put on paper is
garbage, know that you’ll push through it. I’ve started scenes
where I hated every word that I typed, but eventually a character
would react to the scene in an intriguing way. After that, all I had
to do was edit the part that I didn’t like at the beginning and
make it fit with where the scene went. One of the most dangerous
things you can do when writing is stopping because of a block and
saying to yourself: “I’ll step away from this novel and come back
to it later when I feel inspired.” Don’t let yourself fall into
this trap, because it’s very easy to not come back.
Deb – I hate to
add anything because Kim just said it so well. My only addition is
read. Read a lot. A reader will develop instincts to write, and
everything you learn along the way will translate to pen and paper.
Thank you Kim and Deb!!!
AUTHOR BIO
DEBORAH ADAMS and KIMBERLEY PERKINS are friends and coworkers. They
share a love of coffee, literature, and teenagers saving the world. By
day, they work for a defense contractor in Huntsville, Alabama as the HR
Director and an Excel-wielding Analyst, respectively. By night, they
build worlds with words and devour stories. For more information about
Deborah Adams and Kimberley Perkins and their foray into writing, check
them out on social media.
GIVEAWAY!
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