The Bear of Rosethorn Ring Blog Tour: Interview with Kirsten Fichter

I am so excited to have Kirsten Fichter here to interview her! I have squealed time and again over her books and now I get to do so all week! 😀 The book releases tomorrow!!!

About the book:

Release date: April 6th, 2021

The Bear of Rosethorn Ring: A Snow White and Rose Red Story (Once Upon a Twist
Tales, Book #4)

How far would Snow White and Rose Red go to save the man behind the bear?

When their father runs away, Marita and Diamond Kadlec realize how different twins can be.
Marita’s ready to forget Lucas entirely, but Diamond wants to give him the second chance she’s
never been able to give before. That’s before they discover that Lucas is indebted to the ill-
tempered D’vard and his traveling circus, the Rosethorn Ring. The Ring’s entertainment lacks a
bear, and Lucas must play the part of the savage creature to regain his freedom.

Lorcan D’vard cares only for three things: tending to his beloved beard, promoting his
Rosethorn Ring, and eradicating the assassin out to kill him. With time running out, D’vard
agrees to cancel Lucas’s debt and let him go free – if Marita and Diamond can apprehend the
assassin before the assassin ends the show.

This is Snow White and Rose Red with a twist like you’ve never seen it before.

Find it on Goodreads and Amazon

About the Series:

Once Upon a Twist Tales are your favorite fairytales retold backwards and upside-down, with a
little bit of steampunk thrown in for fun!

Other Books in the Series:

Book One ~ The Rose and the Balloon: A Beauty and the Beast Story

Book Two ~ Spindle Dreams: A Sleeping Beauty Story

Book Three ~ Diamond: A Rapunzel Story

Goodreads | Amazon

About the author:

Kirsten Fichter is a twenty-something Christian writer who loves being the wife to her favorite
person ever, mommy to two precious blessings, a piano enthusiast, a dragon buff, a serious
bookworm, and an INFP synesthete. Fairytales have always fascinated her, and she has made it
her goal to rewrite as many as possible and become known as the “Grimm Dickens” (i.e. mixing
Grimm fairytales with a Dickens style). She is present in many online circles under the name
“Kiri Liz” if you care about things like that. As you read this, she’ll be somewhere under a maple
tree – trying very hard to finish the seventeen and half other stories she unwisely started all at
once.

You can connect with her at Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Blog | Goodreads

Interview:

Jen: Who is your favorite character in The Bear of Rosethorn Ring?

Kirsten: Ooh, this is such a hard question to answer! This book allowed me to go back and visit some of my
favorite characters from the series, namely Felix and Samson. Although they’re not a huge part of this
book (since I tried to focus more on the sisters and their father), I still had some fun scenes with them.

If I had to pick a brand-new favorite, I’d have to say Dove Darnell. She’s a performer for the Rosethorn
Ring, a highwalker who claims to be able to fly like the bird she’s named after. She’s got a bubbling
personality and a contagious smile, and although she can sometimes be a bit of a flirt, she’s got the most
loyal heart when it comes to the people she cares about.

Jen: What was the easiest part about writing this book? The hardest?

Kirsten: The easiest was knowing I wanted to write the book. XD In my original plans, this book didn’t exist in
the line-up for the series. Once I finished writing Diamond, I was so dissatisfied that I’d written about two
sisters who’d never even gotten to meet. I wanted a book with them together, and what better sibling
fairytale to use as a retelling than one of my absolute favorites, Snow White and Rose Red?

The hardest part was definitely editing. Since I hadn’t had a detailed outline to follow while writing (I do
tend to pants most of my books), I ended up with some scenes in the wrong spots, some scenes that didn’t
matter at all to the main plot, and some scenes that were skipped over. Rewriting took a good bit of work,
but I’m so pleased with how it all turned out in the end.

Jen: What do you hope your readers will get out of reading your book?

Kirsten: One of the biggest themes in my books (that I often write without realizing it) is the importance of family.
Marita and Diamond have both been betrayed by their father, and both react differently towards him.
Diamond has never before gotten the opportunity to give him a second chance, so she wants to give him
one; but Marita is done being burned when giving him a second chance. In The Bear of Rosethorn Ring,
Marita, Diamond, and their father make up a slightly broken family, and I particularly wanted to focus on
the importance of never giving up on someone.

Jen: Are there any characters whom you’ve based off of people you know?

Kirsten: To be honest, not in this book! XD It’s actually very rare that I’ll base a character off of someone I know.
They normally come to me with their own names and personalities, and they’re not always pleased with
me if I assign them to be like someone in the real world.

Jen: If you were transported into your story for a day, what would you do?

Kirsten: Oh, goodness! As much fun as it would be living with everyone at the Rosethorn Ring, I really don’t
consider myself “circus folk.” And by that, I mean I have little to no talent that would be of any use in the Ring. Maybe if they needed a singer – or, more likely, a cook. I’d keep myself busy off to the side somewhat, and try to stay out of the way of the more dangerous performances. There’s no way I’d wrestle a white tiger.

Jen: How does this book tie in with the previous three? Or can it be read as a standalone?

Kirsten: I tried to write it so it could be read as a standalone, but it does link to Spindle Dreams (book #2) and
Diamond (book #3) pretty closely, since it’s all of the same characters. It was tough to try to recap enough
so that a new reader wouldn’t feel lost reading The Bear of Rosethorn Ring, but I did try to leave enough
of the details in the dark so they’d want to go back and catch up on the adventures they missed.

Jen: If it’s not a spoiler, can you share a favorite snippet?

Kirsten: Some of my favorite parts to write were the scenes with D’vard, the circus owner who I based off of the original dwarf character from the fairytale. He takes his circus and his beard VERY seriously, and I had
way too much fun with his scenes. Below is the first time Marita and Diamond meet him.

~*~

A lone gentleman, obviously wealthy by the state of his clothing, was leaning over into the berry bushes
by the stream. His thick, white beard was very fine and would have hung to his knees except that it was
hopelessly tangled in the thorny bushes. The man was tugging and pulling at the beard, wrenching it this
way and that. To Marita’s eye, however, his vehement efforts only made the tangled mess worse.

“Help me!” he shrieked when he saw the sisters. “Don’t just sit there gawking! I’m stuck!”

Diamond’s hold on Marita tightened. “What’s wrong?”

“Stay with Nutbrown,” Marita told Diamond. “He’s just an old man who got his beard tangled in the
thorns.” She swung herself off the horse’s back and approached the yelling stranger. “How did you get
stuck in the first place?”

The man stopped tugging at his beard long enough to glare at her. “Odious girl! What does it matter,
except that you must get me free?” He emphasized his words with a few more hard yanks.

Marita raised an eyebrow at him. Clearly, this gentleman doesn’t have the same noble manners that Felix
has. “I must?”

“Well, you’re here, aren’t you?” the man returned hotly. “You have the gall to laugh at my misery. Your
parents should have raised you to respect members of nobility. Especially when they’re older than you
and clearly in need of desperate assistance.”

Marita’s jaw firmed at his attitude, and she deliberately drove her teeth into her tongue to keep from
saying anything. She prided herself on not having a quick temper, but she’d never met anyone like this
bearded annoyance.

“Do you need help?” Diamond called behind her.

“No,” Marita said quickly. “I can do it.” She reached for the beard. How can I get this all off?

“Hurry up, you goose!” the man shrieked. “With all the time you’ve already wasted, I could have had
someone else rescue me.”

She couldn’t hold the retort back. “Would you prefer someone else?”

“Just get me free! Whatever you have to do, do it now!”

So, Marita did it now. She snatched off the knife she kept belted to her waist and, grabbing the entangled
beard, cut it from the offending bushes.

The man fell back with the loudest screech yet. “No! No, no, no!”

~*~

~ Thank you so much for this fun interview! I had a lot of fun with these questions. 😀

You are so welcome! Thank you for answering my questions! I, and I’m sure my readers, loved reading your answers!

Blog Tour Schedule

April 5th

• Welcome & Giveaway @ A Synesthete Writer
• Author Interview @ Living Outside the Lines (You are here)
• Favorite Fairytales About Siblings (Guest Post) @ Lands Uncharted
• Book Review @ Christine Smith
• Book Review @ Tower in the Plains

April 6th

• Snow White and Rose Red Tag @ A Synesthete Writer
• Author Interview & Book Review @ Madi’s Musings
• Looking Ahead at the Twist Tales (Guest Post) @ Virtual Paper
• Book Review @ E. Kaiser Writes

April 7th

• Snow White and Rose Red Mad Libs @ A Synesthete Writer
• Inspiration for The Bear of Rosethorn Ring (Guest Post) @ Ink Castles
• Favorite Characters from the Twist Tales (Guest Post) @ Living Outside the Lines
• Book Review @ Shieldmaidens of Shiloh
• Book Review @ Live. Love. Read.

April 8th

• The First Chapter @ A Synesthete Writer
• Awesome and Obscure Fairytales (Guest Post) @ Madi’s Musings
• SWRR Elements in The Bear of Rosethorn Ring (Guest Post) @ Abigail Falanga
• Book Review @ Blooming with Books
• Book Review @ C.O. Bonham

April 9th

• Winner & Wrap-Up @ A Synesthete Writer
• Author Interview & Book Review @ Virtual Paper
• Retelling an Unknown Fairytale (Guest Post) @ Live. Love. Read
• Book Review @ Living Outside the Lines
• Book Review @ Ink Castles

What did you think of this interview? Weren’t Kirsten’s answers amazing!? Have you read any of the previous Once Upon a Twist Tales books? Who else loved that snippet? *raises hand* Have you ever read a Snow White and Rose Red retelling?

Let’s Chat! 😀