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The Trouble with Toads
Once upon a time a young girl wanted revenge. But first, she wanted to be beautiful.
Twelve-year-old Bettony has read enough stories that begin with ‘Once upon a time’ to know what happens to the ugly stepsisters at the end, and she’s determined to escape that fate by any means necessary—even by magic.
Unfortunately, when it comes to magic, there is no place for regret, refunds, or exchanges. Even if you accidentally turn your older sister into a toad.
If Bettony wants her Happily Ever After to end well, she’s going to have to find a way to turn her sister back into a person before their mother finds out she’s been dabbling with magic and grounds her for life.
Tracking down the family magic turns out to be surprisingly easy. Now, if only it came with directions . . .
THE TROUBLE WITH TOADS (45,000 words) is the first book in a new upper MG series The Secret Stepsister Society. The second book will be released June 2013.
Author Danyelle Leafty
Danyelle Leafty writes upper MG and YA fantasy, and is the author of THE FAIRY GODMOTHER DILEMMA series. Danyelle has always loved fairy tales, and prefers stories where someone gets eaten, or at the very least, transmogrified. Much of her inspiration has come from fairy tales, because as G.K. Chesterton so aptly states, “Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
In her spare time, she collects dragons, talking frogs, and fairy godmothers. She also collects books, and one day hopes to make a house out of them. She enjoys learning languages, fiddling with her harp, and perfecting the fine art of mothering. (It’s a lot like trying to herd chickens during a lightning storm while a goat stampede is going on.)
One of her heroes is Albert Einstein, particularly for the following quote: “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The most important thing is not to stop questioning.”
Website * Twitter
Is this your first book or have you published before?
The Trouble With Toads is the eighth book I have published. 🙂
Are you working on anything else?
Yes. I usually juggle a number of projects. Right now, I'm working on the sequel to The Trouble With Toads, a Halloween serial, and editing a companion novel for my Bitten series.
Once I finish the sequel, I'll start working on the second tale for my Snow Queen series.
Do you have any advice for authors wanting to publish? (Why did you choose to go indie? If this applies – If not why traditional)
My advice is to work hard, treat writing like an art and publishing like a business, and to keep learning. 🙂
I decided to self-publish (technically I'm a micropress now that I've set up an LLC, so I guess I am indie publishing) because it made the most sense for me from a business perspective.
(Caveat: everyone's path is different, so what works best for me won't necessarily work best for someone else.) I work hard and am fairly prolific, so it made sense to pursue an avenue of
publishing that would allow me to use that as a strength rather than sitting on manuscripts until they sold and/or a publishing spot opened up for them. I also really enjoy being involved
in choosing the cover art, doing the interior design for the paperbacks, and being able to choose which editors/proofreaders I work with. I think the editor-story-author voice match is vital
for a book to reach its full potential.
Self-publishing is definitely not a shortcut. Like trade publishing, it's a lot of hard work and persistence. Some areas overlap and some are different from what trade authors are expected
to do. For me, I enjoy the freedom of setting my own schedule and branding my own books, as well as the responsibility that comes with doing that. From the business perspective, being
paid monthly and 70% of gross, rather than every six months at 25% of net, is definitely a plus!
What is your favorite writing snack?
I'm usually so wrapped up in the words of the story that I've lost the ability to type and eat at the same time. >.<
What gets you in the mood to write?
Characters nudging me and/or refusing to quiet down until I've written some more. When that happens, it's the best kind of writing feeling for me. I usually don't wait for inspiration to
strike, though. I have a daily writing schedule that I try to stick to whether or not I'm in the mood to write. I've been amazed to find that after a few minutes of forcing myself to just write,
inspiration usually follows. 🙂
Who is your favorite character and why?
My favorite character is usually the character whose story I'm working on at the moment, although I have a special place for Cherrie and Thorn from my Bitten series.
While I'm writing the story, I *am* the character, and it's fascinating to see what makes them tick and how their world view works.
Favorite book of all time?
Riddle-Master by Patricia McKillip. It has everything I love in a story: gorgeous prose, and incredible story, characters that are complex, a world I love to sink into, humor
wit, and just sheer awesomeness. 🙂
What made you want to write this book?
I'd have to say it was Bettony (the main character) coming to me with the idea of ugly stepsisters deserving their own happily ever afters–even if they accidentally turned
their sister into a toad. If you think about it, technically even Cinderella was a stepsister to her two stepsisters. It's all a matter of perspective. Bettony also put forth the
idea that being an ugly stepsister was harder and more complicated than it looked, and the idea of how much importance society places on being beautiful. Plus,
her story voice made me itch to see what was going to happen next.
I think breakfast says a lot about a person, what is your perfect breakfast?
I'd have to say strawberry crépes drowning in sour cream and strawberry sauce. 🙂 They're filling, delicious, and would definitely make me look forward to waking up in the
morning!
Do you have a favorite period of time that you like to write about or would like to live?
I work best in a sort of alternate medieval time period. My worlds are loosely based off of life in the middle ages, but like all fairy tales, that world is a lot shinier and cleaner
than the actual middle ages would have been. The world I'd love to sink into is the world my novel Slippers of Pearl takes place in. It has a warm, rosy glow in my memory,
even though things are definitely not all warm and rosy there. I love the idea of simple, smaller magics that can go on to do great things, and all the possibilities that opens
up.
Please tell us in one sentence why we should read your book!
Bettony's story is one of longing, so if you've ever wanted something with all your soul–something you want so bad you'll even resort to using magic–then I think you'll enjoy
The Trouble With Toads. (Also, for those of you who have ever–on accident–turned your annoying, elder sister into a toad!)
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The Trouble with Toads
