E.G. Keith enjoys a huge turnout at book signing

 

[March 28, 2022] 

With a level of maturity far beyond her eleven years, E.G. Keith fielded questions about her first published novel, “Havoc” on Saturday afternoon at the Lincoln Woman’s Club.

Keith has published that first novel, and is almost done with the writing of her second. On Saturday afternoon, she was the center of attention at a book signing and reading event promoting her first book.

The day began with a large number of guests arriving for the signing and reading. The meeting room at the Woman’s Club was filled as guests purchased their books at the door, then proceeded toward the front stage area for Keith to affix her signature on the inside cover.

She visited with several people and accepted congratulations on her accomplishment.

In addition to the signing, the event was a celebration with the room decorated to the hilt with black, orange, red, and yellow balloons in massive displays on black clad tables. A large buffet of finger foods included meats, cheeses, fruit, cupcakes decorated in the theme colors and a take home bag of sugar cookies in specially designed bags bearing the name of the new novel by E.G. Keith.

E.G. Keith is the daughter of Ryan and Jennifer Keith of Lincoln.

At 2 p.m., Jennifer Keith stepped up to the podium to introduce her daughter. She noted that E.G. has a long standing interest in writing and had at various times in her life told her parents that she was ready to start penning her own novel. Jennifer Keith said that up until last year, there had been a number of started attempts, but that after the first chapter E.G. had ditched her would-be book.

However, last year, in February of 2021, E.G. told her parents that she was going to write a book, and this time, the writing continued far beyond the first chapter. Jennifer Keith noted that the process had begun in February and in October of last year, E.G. announced that the book was finished.

Jennifer Keith then turned the podium over to her daughter.

The event was well attended with standing room only by the time E.G. took the podium to read the prologue of her book. Written in the Fantasy genre’, the prologue set the scene for the rest of the book with murder, mayhem and magic filling the pages. In the prologue, the narrator witnesses a confrontation between one of the primary characters, Ash and Ash’s mother who apparently has an evil streak and has taken a bribe from some other party who wishes to see Ash put to death. A battle ensues between the mother and daughter with Ash utilizing her mystical power over fire to bring to an end the life of her mother.

The book is written in first person by one of the primary characters. Elysian, Lys for short, tells the story of the struggle between two camps, Havoc and Serenity, and the struggle between good and bad elements.

After the reading Keith fielded questions about the book, her writing techniques and plans for the future.
 

E.G. was asked if she had plans to write additional books. She responded that she does. She is already working on the sequel which will be entitled “Serenity.” She said that she currently has written 70,000 words for the second book and noted that her first novel was 85,000 which indicated that she was close to finishing that second book.

She was asked about her inspiration for the book and did her favorite books and authors influence her writing. She said that she had been an avid reader since she was very little. She loves the written word, and has a particular interest in the Fantasy books and authors such as the stories of Harry Potter and several others. That genre was where she was most comfortable in her reading and her writing.

E.G. was asked about her methodology, did she outline the story then write it? She said not really. Her methodology includes creating her characters and their personalities first, then she lets the story go where it will. She said that in the list of characters, some are “dense” and don’t have much substance or depth. She said those characters are quite easy to define. But others she said are much more complex and developing their personalities was more of a chore.

She was asked why she had chosen fire as the magical power for Ash. E.G. said that her characters are all modeled somewhat based on the elements. She said right from the first she knew she wanted a primary character named Ash. To her it made sense that fire makes ashes, thus Ash should be the one who controls fire.

E.G. was asked if she saw herself in any of the characters of the book. She said to a certain degree she sees herself as Lys. While Lys is quiet and shy, she feels bolder and more outspoken. The common factor is that like Lys, E.G. wants to do good and help people.
 

The next question screened concerned her publishing process. E.G. said that she had opted to self-publish through Amazon. She said first it was a relatively simple and easy process through publishing tools provided by that company. Then she said that she might have gone through a more traditional publishing company, but she wanted to capitalize on the fact she was only 11 years old. She said that if she had to wait a couple of years to release her book, she would have been 13 or so, and it would have been less of a novelty.

A member of the audience asked if E.G. had determined her career, would she always be an author/novelist. She said yes that was her plan. She was queried about having a long term goal at the age of 11 and she said that she felt that was the way it should be. It wasn’t too soon to be deciding her future including her college goals. She said that she had her mind set on attending Columbia University because it was an Ivy League School with an excellent writing program.

As the questions died down, Jennifer Keith came to the podium one last time. She thanked everyone for coming, invited all to stay and enjoy the food and more time visiting with E.G. She ended noting there was one more special word of appreciation she wanted to express to John Jameson. Jennifer Keith said that Jameson had been a huge help to E.G. after she completed her book, walking her through getting it published.

E.G. Keith’s novel, Havoc is available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle version. Look for news to come perhaps later this year of the publication of her second novel in the series, which will be entitled Serenity.

[Nila Smith]