One thing that I love about books is the extra add-ins— you know like maps, comic strips, notes, etc. that make the story come more alive. Chuck Vance’s new novel, Sneaking Out, includes a map of the school where the story is set. I’m always intrigued by maps, and had to ask Chuck about the map of his world.
There are three components that comprise a novel: the world, the characters and the story. It can be hard to break it down as there is a chicken and egg factor, but usually one of the three sparks the imagination of the writer and that is how they come up with their novel. And it often varies. For me, the idea of SNEAKING OUT came from the world. I wanted to write about boarding school because I had attended boarding school and there was just so much fodder. I also love mysteries and murder, so I had to throw one in the mix.
After I wrote SNEAKING OUT, my editor commissioned a map of St. Benedict’s, the fictional Connecticut school featured in the novel. You can find it on my website (ChuckVanceauthor.com) I’m grateful to the artist because it took careful reading to get the lay of the land. What’s cool is that the map shows how this school is a little microcosm of buildings surrounded by lush woods. It’s an aerial view, so you can really tell how the forest ominously presses into the campus, and there is something claustrophobic about these small clusters of buildings around a man-made pond. When you are at boarding school it consumes you and can feel like your whole world. I think pretty much every high school is like that actually, not just boarding school, although there is something relentlessly oppressive about sleeping at school. But when you step back and look at it from this angle, everything seems small and a bit insignificant.
In general, I love maps because I love to travel. I always look at maps. When I fly, I have my television monitor set to the map setting, tracking my journey, and I always check out the route guides in the in-flight magazine. When I was at boarding school I took African history and our teacher made sure that we knew where all of the countries were in Africa and to this day I test myself on that. (They often change names because of coups etc. so you need to make sure to keep abreast of the news.) My family makes fun of me for this but I find it really empowering to know where to place things on a globe.
What is also important about this map is that Luke Chase, the hero of SNEAKING OUT, is an expert outdoorsman and skilled at survival and topography amongst other things. This is a guy who can figure out how to get in and out of that forest you see around the school and is pretty much able to navigate different landscapes. He has had to do it before and he will have to do it again. I look at the CHASED series as a journey, and this is the roadmap that you will need to start it. Thanks for taking it with me.
More about Sneaking Out
Title: SNEAKING OUT
Author: Chuck Vance
Pub. Date: March 6, 2018
Publisher: Dunemere Books
Pages: 404
Formats: Paperback, eBook
Find it: Amazon, B&N, TBD, Goodreads
Could you sleep next to a murderer?
Luke Chase—yes, that Luke Chase, a modern hero ripped from the headlines—didn’t mean to get caught up in Mrs. Heckler’s murder. He just wanted to hook up with the hot new British girl at St. Benedict’s, and if that meant sneaking out to the woods after hours, then so be it. But little did he know someone would end up dead right next to their rendezvous spot, and his best friend and roommate Oscar Weymouth would go down for it. With suspects aplenty and a past that’s anything but innocent, Luke Chase reluctantly calls on his famous survival skills to find the true killer.
For fans of “A Study in Charlotte” and boarding school lit, “Sneaking Out” (book one in the “Chased” series) immerses readers in the privileged prep school world, with a mystery that exposes the dark side of life on a residential high school campus.
Chuck Vance is a pseudonym for a bestselling writer of both adult mysteries and novels for young adults. Vance attended boarding school in Connecticut and graduated from Columbia University. Vance has lived in New York, Moscow, London, Paris and Los Angeles and is frequently on the move.
1 winner will receive a finished copy of SNEAKING OUT & a $30 Amazon GC, US Only.
Be sure to catch the other stops on the tour!
Week One:
3/26/2018- BookHounds YA– Interview
3/26/2018- Bookish In Bed– Review
3/27/2018- Christen Krumm– Guest Post
3/27/2018- Between the Pages– Review
3/28/2018- The Desert Bibliophile– Review
3/28/2018- Twirling Book Princess– Excerpt
3/29/2018- Crandom– Interview
3/29/2018- Blushing Bibliophile– Review
3/30/2018- Novel Novice– Guest Post
3/30/2018- two points of interest– Review
Week Two:
4/2/2018- Writer of Wrongs– Guest Post
4/2/2018- Life of A Simple Reader– Review
4/3/2018- books are love– Review
4/3/2018- Charlotte Brand– Review
4/4/2018- Kati’s Bookaholic Rambling Reviews– Spotlight
4/4/2018- Hauntedbybooks13– Review
4/5/2018- Sweet Southern Home– Excerpt
4/6/2018- Two Chicks on Books– Guest Post
4/6/2018- Wonder Struck– Review
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