It's the third book in Sunayna Prasad's series Alyssa McCarthy's Magical Missions. Check out an excerpt from this installment and then read on to find out the author's thoughts on making this into a movie. Be sure to follow the tour for more. Best of luck in the giveaway!
Cursed by a sorcerer’s hex, Alyssa McCarthy finds herself in a fight she can’t afford to lose, or everything she knows will be lost!
After she finishes her final year of junior high, fourteen-year-old Alyssa faces an uncertain future in more ways than one when a sorcerer casts a hex that leaves her with involuntary magical powers that are too dangerous to remove.
Unable to control her newly gained abilities Alyssa’s end-of-middle-school sleepover ends in disaster when she knocks her friends unconscious when her powers go out of control. If Alyssa can’t learn to master her magic soon, she will be cursed to forget her loved ones and serve as the warlock’s slave for all of eternity.
Her only hope is to focus on controlling her emotions if she is to break the curse. However, the difficulties of adolescence, along with the perils and growing disasters she faces, make Alyssa struggle even more. From putting her friends’ lives at risk to losing their trust, she continues to fear what will become of her if she fails.
Will Alyssa be able to break the hex and become the enchantress that she was meant to be, or will she become enslaved to the sorcerer forever?
Read an excerpt:
A lot of authors dream of having their books make it to the silver screen. However, it’s usually only traditional publishers who are major bestsellers who get to sell movie rights. But once that happens, unless they are highly elite, like J.K. Rowling, they don’t get to have any creative control whatsoever.
What I notice, though, is that with those movies, it is common for them to get mixed or mostly negative reviews from the books’ fans and readers. They will complain about elements that were cut or changed, such as how a character looked or acted nothing like he or she did in the books. Even the authors become dissatisfied with their movie adaptations. Many successful book series only get a few films at most since they basically fail to please audiences.
Filmmakers, however, state that if authors not big like J.K. Rowling got to be involved with the movie-making of their books, it would be unlikely to succeed. They say that what looks fine in text would not necessarily translate well to the screen. I get where they are coming from. However, with both fans and writers being unsatisfied with their book’s film versions, I believe that it’s about time that filmmakers allow the authors, at least, some creative control, even if it’s limited.
I once tried to sell my first book for movie adaptations to a site called “Greenlight My Movie.” I received no success, and I am glad about that now.
One, the story was not in a good enough place. It was the original version of the first book in my “Magical Missions” series, “The Frights of Fiji,” then titled, “From Frights to Flaws.” I realize that I was promoting it to filmmakers prematurely. And two, I would not have gotten to get any creative control. That would be difficult, especially since I am a huge control and have very specific envisions of my characters, settings, and much more.
I once considered animating my books into movies myself. However, that’s not realistic for one person, even in Adobe Animate. It would have been an overkill and probably inhuman.
So even if my book sales did drastically increase (which I hope they do), I would not sell any rights to anything where I wouldn’t get to have creative control. That would mean no foreign language or movie rights, or traditional publishing. I also feel that it might be better for my books not to be a super-famous. People would probably make fan-fiction and conspiracy theories that would displease me.
Alyssa could not risk performing sorcery anymore after ridding herself in autumn of the powers that a warlock had forced upon her. A skeleton called Errol had jinxed her with involuntary magic, landing her in lots of trouble, including near-expulsion from school. He had claimed that it’d been the only way for him to regain his old, human looks. Alyssa had needed to boost her confidence and bravery levels in order to overthrow Errol. That had taken a few weeks.
She would not allow this new hex to force her to remain home all summer. Otherwise, she’d have to miss travel camp at the end of this month and a trip to New York City with Alex in August.
Her palms heated, and beams shot out, bouncing against the ceiling and splitting in different directions. One tipped the bookshelf, and all the books tumbled out onto the wooden floor. It merged with the other shaft, smashed into the desk—knocking everything down—and disappeared in a snap.
Alyssa stared, her fist clenching and her face reddening. Without admonishment, another glimmer flew out of her hands and hit her bed, causing everything to tumble into the air. The blankets crumpled, and a few pillows were tossed onto the rug by the mattress. The ray vanished.
Alyssa gazed into her palms because that catastrophe reminded her of the enchantments she’d performed in the fall.
“Ugh!” She covered her face.
The downstairs door shut, suggesting that Alex had returned from walking Scooter, the yellow lab.
“Alyssa, is everything okay?” he asked.
“No!” She sat on her bed, not wanting to remake it, even though Alex required it when she didn’t have school. I’m never going to get through this stupid mess.
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If My Books Were Turned into Movies
A lot of authors dream of having their books make it to the silver screen. However, it’s usually only traditional publishers who are major bestsellers who get to sell movie rights. But once that happens, unless they are highly elite, like J.K. Rowling, they don’t get to have any creative control whatsoever.
What I notice, though, is that with those movies, it is common for them to get mixed or mostly negative reviews from the books’ fans and readers. They will complain about elements that were cut or changed, such as how a character looked or acted nothing like he or she did in the books. Even the authors become dissatisfied with their movie adaptations. Many successful book series only get a few films at most since they basically fail to please audiences.
Filmmakers, however, state that if authors not big like J.K. Rowling got to be involved with the movie-making of their books, it would be unlikely to succeed. They say that what looks fine in text would not necessarily translate well to the screen. I get where they are coming from. However, with both fans and writers being unsatisfied with their book’s film versions, I believe that it’s about time that filmmakers allow the authors, at least, some creative control, even if it’s limited.
I once tried to sell my first book for movie adaptations to a site called “Greenlight My Movie.” I received no success, and I am glad about that now.
One, the story was not in a good enough place. It was the original version of the first book in my “Magical Missions” series, “The Frights of Fiji,” then titled, “From Frights to Flaws.” I realize that I was promoting it to filmmakers prematurely. And two, I would not have gotten to get any creative control. That would be difficult, especially since I am a huge control and have very specific envisions of my characters, settings, and much more.
I once considered animating my books into movies myself. However, that’s not realistic for one person, even in Adobe Animate. It would have been an overkill and probably inhuman.
So even if my book sales did drastically increase (which I hope they do), I would not sell any rights to anything where I wouldn’t get to have creative control. That would mean no foreign language or movie rights, or traditional publishing. I also feel that it might be better for my books not to be a super-famous. People would probably make fan-fiction and conspiracy theories that would displease me.
About the author:
Sunayna Prasad enjoys writing fantasy books for children, as well as cooking, creating artwork, watching online videos, and blogging. She has also written The Frights of Fiji and A Curse of Mayhem. She is passionate about modern-day life in fantasy stories, worldbuilding, and even humor. She is constantly brainstorming new ideas and using her creativity.
Sunayna graduated from college in 2017 and lives in New York.
https://www.sunaynaprasadbooks.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Sunayna-Prasad-468868846787369/
https://twitter.com/sunaynaprasad
https://www.amazon.com/Sunayna-Prasad/e/B00F21NN38
Sunayna Prasad will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your guest post and book details, I would love to see your books get turned into movies!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the guest post and the excerpt, The New Enchantress sounds like an excellent book to share with my granddaughter! Thanks for sharing it with me and have a spectacular weekend!
ReplyDelete