Guest Post | The Jumble Sale #BlogTour @rararesources

Delighted to be one of the stops kicking off the tour for middle grade fantasy The Jumble Sale and today I have a guest post from author Lily Rose about the inspiration behind her book.

 

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Zadi is part zombie, part fairy with a little bit of robot, which makes her a misfit monster. She lives with other misfit monsters, with their quirky parts in their makeshift town. They survive by hunting at the nearby hunting grounds taking items discarded by humans and making them into something useful. Hunting is risky because they could be captured by humans. Zadi is an excellent hunter and maker, but now she’s finding it difficult.

Something unusual has happened. There have been no new deliveries to the hunting grounds. This means there are no new items which can be used to recycle into something useful, and they are beginning to worry and fight with each other.

Can Zadi come up with a plan which will help the misfit monsters and bring them together as a community?

Enter the world of the misfit monsters, their quirky lives, and be part of their fun and adventures.

Amazon UK | Goodreads | Amazon US

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Inspiration Behind The Jumble Sale

A few years ago, I had a particularly creative moment, where a spark of an idea came to mind. Unexpectedly. Spontaneously. I had been considering how I could write about monsters who were fun, friendly, and original. Then bam. Perhaps all the monsters I liked and disliked, collided in my head. I don’t like zombies, and I love fairies. And robots, well that’s just down right quirky. My mind whirled through these ideas within in seconds, and I came up with a blended monster. One who was part zombie, part fairy, with a little bit of robot. In that moment, Zadi, came to life. Of course, Zadi had to have friends. Then I had fun coming up with other monsters like her. Firstly, there was her friend Tamra, part pixie, part goblin, with a little bit of jester. Then Terant, part computer, part ghost, with a little bit of giant. Others quickly came to life, made up of monsters, or other imaginary creatures. Some with the need to have electronic parts like Zadi, and Terant, just to give them a little bit of extra peculiarity.

Then I thought it was all good and well having these monsters who were made up of other monsters, but what were they called? What sort of monsters were they? I wasn’t wanting scary monsters. I didn’t want them to be goody two-shoes either. I wanted an odd blend of good and bad traits. Since I was in a particularly quirky mood, I came up with the term, misfit monsters. I liked this because it didn’t make them feel scary, and it reflected the parts that make them who they are. They are all individual, but they are a community, and their differences is something they have to consider so they can all get along.

I was only just beginning to create this world and there was a lot more to consider. Next, I had to think about in what unique way would these misfit monsters survive? What if they had to hunt in order to survive? But they didn’t hunt anything living. Another spark went off in my mind. What about if they went to a rubbish tip and hunted for items to recycle into something useful? What if those items were left by humans? And then I just had to make it that the misfit monsters were scared of humans. With environmental concerns a big issue, and waste and pollution a world-wide problem, I liked the idea of the misfit monsters using rubbish from humans to help them survive. A sort of twist to recycling.

The Jumble Sale, was beginning to take form. There was still so much more for me to think of. What was going to be the plot for this story? I couldn’t help thinking what would happen if there were no new deliveries to the dump from humans? What would the misfit monsters do? I could just imagine the misfit monsters getting themselves all worked up, and behave a little more chaotic than usual, causing them to fight between themselves. Who would help them overcome this problem? I just knew Zadi, was up for the task.

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Lily Rose enjoys world building and creating characters for these unusual worlds. She enjoyed creating the misfit monsters world, and is looking forward to writing more of their adventures.

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