Questions from Lyn & Answers from Phyn, Sera Phyn ;)
To be found here: http://sera-phyn.com/faq.aspx
(Visit her website *hinthintnudgenudge*: http://sera-phyn.com/default.aspx)
Note: Sorry Kaiwynn. I forgot I am actually on people's lists for this account XD Stupid LJ...
• What's your book about?
You can read a short summary of Fallen on my Projects page.
• How much of your real-life experiences go into your writing?
This one is really hard to answer well. One day I may come up with a satisfactory answer to this question.
Consciously, none of my personal life goes into my writing. Subconsciously, I am certain that every single
character I create has some aspect of me in them. It's a hard line to draw, but I know that when I try to
purposefully create fiction that is true to my life, it either ends up flat or boring. I've given up on truly using
my life as a guide for my fiction.
Other authors will tell you the exact opposite--that everything they do is ruled by the things they have
experienced. It depends on the type of writer you are.
However, I have been forced to acknowledge that I share some very important characteristics with my main
character Sam including self-esteem issues and problems at school with other students. However, we're very
different people. So even using your own experiences to help yourself relate to your characters doesn't make
them you.
• Do the ideas for your characters just come to you, or do you have to work to get them created?
People who don't write think I'm crazy when I try to explain this. Keep in mind that I have yet to be
institutionalized. ;)
I have a city of people in my head, each one based in whole or in part off of someone I have met, read about,
dreamed up, etc. There are sections of this city for different kinds of creatures (humans, animal, alien, etc.) and
when I need a certain type of person for a story or book, someone shows up. Not necessarily right when I
need them to, but they show up eventually.
This isn't to say that I know everything there is to know about the character right off the bat, but I have a
pretty good idea of what they would and wouldn't say, what they look like, major mannerisms, etc.
Writing, especially a book, is a process of discovery for the writer AND the characters. They're figuring things
out about themselves they didn't know because you're throwing them in strange situations and you learn
even more because you're the one (mostly) controlling it.
Characters are, honestly, my favorite part of writing and reading. I am a sucker for a good, character driven
novel. It makes me happy. :D
• In order to retain all the information that you gather and observe about your characters, do you have to be
born with good memory , or is there some way to improve really poor ones?
Hahahahaha!!! Me? Good memory? Hahahaha!!!!
No.
Not so much.
For every character I create for a novel (every single one, no matter how minor they are) I also create a word
document with the following information:
Name:
Age:
Height:
Hair:
Eyes:
Skin:
Weight:
Build:
Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:
Currently Lives:
History:
Now, this doesn't necessarily get filled out in intricate detail for each character, but I put enough in so that I
can go back and remind myself if I decided so-and-so had brown or red hair, who is related to whom, which
characters are the shrimps, etc. It seems blasphemous that an author would ever forget anything about their
characters, but it happens. At least, it does to me. :)
• How did you find time to write a novel?
I made it happen. While writing Fallen, I was a full time college student and working approximately twenty
hours a week. Free time was usually devoted to keeping up with class assignments, but somehow I squeezed
writing time in there too. The truth of the matter is that if it matters enough to you, you'll find the time.
• How long did it take you to write Fallen?
Fallen, from conception to completion took approximately ten months. But, I was not working solely on
Fallen suring that period. My main focus was a novel I wrote half of before I realized that I didn't know where
it was going. I switched gears at the end of March (March 30th according to a friend of mine) with five
chapters of Fallen in hand. I then began to outline the rest of the book. From there, it took four months to
finish. I completed the first draft at exactly 2:12 AM EST on August 2nd, 2007. :D
• What's your favorite genre to read?
Growing up, I would almost exclusively read fantasy novels. Those big long ones most kids wouldn't touch. I
tore through them as if they were disappearing from the earth. However, in the past five years or so, I started
branching out more into mainstream and literary fiction and then backtracking into teen fiction (YA books). I'm
also now trying to catch up on a lot of "classics" that were never assigned in school. I'm reading some of Jane
Austen's work that I hadn't previously read as well as books like Little Women, Dracula (I was never really a
fan of vampire books before Twilight), Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, etc.
• Why did you used to not read much vampire fiction?
I could handle horror movies and books, but I was never really a fan of them. I didn't see the appeal in reading
to be scared. I wanted to be entertained. I wanted authors and characters to make me laugh or make me cry,
but fear wasn't something I looked for in a book. So I naturally shied away from vampire books.
• What's your favorite genre to write?
I've recently made it my goal to attempt to write a book for every genre. So I will one day attempt a fantasy or
sci-fi epic. One day I will write a literary/mainstream fiction novel. One day I will write a tragic romance. And
then a novel geared toward children that adults could also find interesting. I have ideas for all of these, but
not the time to work on them. One series at a time. ;)
It's not the genre you should worry about, though. It's the story. Is the story you're writing one you would
want to read over and over again? Do you, when going back over your writing, get drawn in by your own
characters? If you do, then you know you've got something amazing on your hands.
• How have other authors/books inspired your own writing?
The two authors whose work I can say I have read and re-read and hold a very dear place in my heart are
Tamora Pierce (whom I have been reading since elementary school) and Stephenie Meyer.
Tamora's work (I can be almost certain... it was a long time ago) inspired my first desire to be a writer. I wanted
to create characters as real as hers and tell stories the way she told them. They were wonderful and I devoured
every book she wrote. In fact, I still do. An entire row of my bookshelf is dedicated to her.
Stephenie has been a more recent inspiration. I stopped writing for fun after high school, mainly because I
didn't have the time anymore. When I first read Twilight I was so excited about the characters and the story I
didn't know what to do with myself. I realized that I hadn't felt that in a long time and decided to take writing
more seriously. A little over a year (and a couple of failed projects) later, I was finished with Fallen.
This is not to say that there aren't other authors who have influenced my work, but I think my style most
reflects the influence of these two authors. I just hope that comparison does them justice.
• What do you think of your own writing?
I think my style reflects that of Pierce and Meyer. It is dialogue and character driven. It definitely has it's weak
points (I always have to go back and add in more description, or I did for Fallen. I'm getting better at it, I
think), but overall I think--and have been told--that I write very well.
Having confidence in your own work is crucial if you're going to make it past simply writing a book. What are
you going to do when you start getting rejection letters? Will you know that taste is subjective and that you
just haven't found the right place for your story yet or will you curl up into a ball and swear to never touch
pen to paper again (or fingers to keyboard as the case may be). You just have to be careful to steer clear of
egotism and the belief that you can do no wrong. If all you're getting is rejection letters, it may be time to start
taking another look at your manuscript.
• How influential has family/friends/others close to you been in the writing process?
My mom and sisters are wonderful. They're all perfectly and wonderfully supportive, but, at the same time,
they're not afraid to tell me when something isn't working. They have been and probably will always be among
my first readers. :)
As far as friends go, they have been supremely influential in Fallen. One of my friends is actually IN the book
as Sam's best friend and another friend of mine has helped me along the way, filling in plot holes and character
details and always asking the right kinds of questions--the kind that made my characters more 3-dimensional
than I ever could have made them on my own.
• Do you ever dream about where you want/hope your writing will take you?
Oh, sure! Wouldn't you? I would love to be invited to writers conferences and workshops, to teach guest
classes at universities, and all that, but I'm a quiet kind of person and I usually keep to myself. I am definitely
hoping to be able to support myself writing (I can't for the life of me think of anything else I would rather do),
but what kind of fame or role that brings with it is completely unclear.
• Do you feel that your story is very relatable/will do well with its readers?
I think that there is at least one character everyone can relate to in the books. Some people may be more like
Sam while others may find themselves drawn to Matt or Xander. But there's a whole cast of characters for
people to choose from. I think the books deal with issues that everyone can understand and empathize with,
even if they're dressed a little differently. Once people have a chance to read the book, I can go into more
detail on questions like these.
• Do you think that your novel(s) will develop a "cult" of sorts as Stephenie Meyer's has?
Haha! I think Stephenie's fandom has gone way beyond "cult". :D
My books, however, might end up with a following close to "cult"--a smaller group of devoted readers rather
than world renown. It's really hard to guess. And I feel kind of egotistical whenever I think about it, so I try
not to. ;)
• What do you think about fanfiction (as an author, though you are not yest published)?
Ah, fanfiction. This is a big debate and I don't think anyone argument is right, but here is my opinion:
Fanfiction is a good starting point. Not only do you have characters already created for you, you have a
whole world with its own rules, pitfalls, and villains. This makes it a lot easier for amateur writers to practice,
honing their skills and tightening their writing. After a while, however, fanfiction becomes pointless. It is not
anything that you can publish and, in some cases, it's practically copyright infringement--which is bad, by the
way.
Some writers never make it out of fanfiction because they either don't have the desire or the mindset to
create original stories, but for those of you who have it in your head to pursue a career in writing, get out of
fanfiction. Use it as a diving board and then spring into your own work. Carry with you the lessons all that
writing practice taught, but leave the characters that someone else created behind. You have your own
waiting for you somewhere.
• Do things such as religion and world events play into the development and symbolism of your writing?
I can't say that I am completely unaffected by them, but I don't consciously pull plot points or symbolic
references from world events. At least, not for Fallen. In fact, I made a real effort to keep current pop-culture
references out of the story to keep it from "dating" the book. What if I mention that Sam likes 10 years and
then, when the book is actually published, that band is so old and out of style that people wonder why in the
world I would reference something like that. Or worse, no one knows who I'm talking about. I also steered clear
of referencing world events for the same reason, although it was also because they played no real part in the
plot of the story.
As far as religion goes, I do no subscribe to any set of doctrine. I do not now, nor have I ever, considered
myself religious. I do however recognize that may people do, including some of my characters. Religion does
play a role in the Fallen series. I'm not going to detail what kind of a role, but it is at least mentioned.
• What is the greatest compliment you have ever received about your writing (in general/directed towards
your novel)?
I've been told numerous times that I work very well with dialogue, that it's one of the strong points of my
writing. But, I think that the best, most giddy moment I have ever had wasn't even a direct compliment.
During my Sophomore year I took a Junior level writing workshop. The teacher even warned me away from the
class, but I stayed in it. Near the end of the semester we each submitted a short story for the class to read and
critique. Most people's workshop sessions consisted of people telling them how to rewrite their story, how to
fix major syntax and grammar problems, or why something in their story didn't work. When my turn came
around, I was braced for the worst and prepared to write down as many of their comments as I could so I
could rewrite the story later. But that wasn't what happened. Instead of a critique of my story, the entire class
spent twenty minutes discussing the motivations of my characters. What was the meaning behind this
particular line of dialogue? What did it imply when she hid behind her hair? Why did he leave? It was an
absolutely amazing feeling hearing people ask the same questions I had hoped people would have when they
read the story. To this day, I've yet to have a writing experience to match that.
• Have you ever received any negative feedback (on anything)? (If you have, what was it and how did you
react to it?)
When I was young (elementary school age) I had an incredibly hard time taking constructive criticism. I hated
feeling as though I wasn't good enough and it killed me to hear people tell me that I was doing something
wrong (I was a bit of a perfectionist). I would burst into tears at the mear hint of criticism. Eventually, though, I
learned that most people are not trying to hurt you, but help you. People, especially those close to you, want
to help you become the best you can be. I'm not saying this is universally applicable--although it should be--
but in most cases it holds true, even if it doesn't come off right at first.
I didn't start writing other than school work until middle school (our assignment was to create and illustrate a
ten page children's book. I wrote a thirty page crime thriller) so it wasn't until after I'd learned how to take
constructive criticism that I started getting any feedback on my writing. I'm not saying that every comment
I've ever gotten has been positive (I have stacks of edits from classmates to prove that's not the case), but
none of the comments were what I would call negative. I have never had someone tell me that they flat ou
hated what I wrote. I've never had someone tell me that I did something wrong without the intention of
helping me correct it. So, in my mind, I've never had negative feedback.
The trick is to make yourself see everything someone tells you about your work in the right light. How did
they read it? Did they understand what you were trying to say? Whose fault was it that they didn't
understand--theirs or yours? Even the most well intentioned comment can seem negative if you let it become
so.
• What is the hardest thing you have ever had to do for your writing/novel?
I have an intense fear of getting things wrong. Not plot points or things like that, but places and descriptions
of things I've never seen. Fallen, for example, is set in L.A., a city I have visited once in my post-toddler days.
I don't remember the city well enough to know how things work there, but that was the place that worked for
my story. So I researched. A lot. I looked up real estate and restaurants and schools and malls and stores and
people and weather and anything else I could think of. I scoured the web for pictures and links and anything
helpful. I think that this is one of the hardest parts of the process once you have your story idea set.
• How would you describe your overall, past to present, educational experience (having to do with writing and
otherwise)?
How would I describe it? Long and often tedious.
The only formal training in writing that I've gotten (the creative kind, not the analytical kind) was during
college. Education before that was a mix of classes I was interested in and classes I had to take because the
governor said so. But, at the same time, I think my experience in school has had a huge impact on who I am
today.
For example, I had six amazing elementary school teachers. They were all incredibly helpful and supportive
and there are at least two of them whom I can still go back and visit without having to reintroduce myself.
They helped inspire confidence in my intellectual abilities, even when I wasn't doing as well as I should have
been, and made it obvious that they cared about my future. In fact, I have been extremely lucky with teachers
throughout my school career. I've always had at least a single teacher each year who would go out of their
way to help me out. While none of them taught me much about the craft of writing, they all had an impact on
my life which, I think, lasts a lot longer.
• What is the thing you least like about writing/the writing process?
Research. Can't I just know everything already? Geez. ;)
• What are you most embarrassed about (when it comes to your writing)?
Embarrassed? Actually, nothing. Writing is one of the few things I don't really get embarrassed about. I think
that's one of the secrets of finding something you can spend your life doing--you're completely comfortable
with it.
• Dialogue is pretty difficult for most writers to, well, write. Do you feel as if any of your stories/your novel
have really quotable/memorable lines?
What is memorable for each person is different, I think. There are some sarcastic lines I think some people may
find funny, some romantic ones others may remember after reading it, and some that are just unusual. So, I
guess yes? It feels kind of egotistical to think that. ;)
• How does your dialogue come to you/how do you write it? How much do you struggle with it? Do you have any
tips for those of us inferior writers who struggle with it?
I have always been more of a listener than a talker. I think that, because of this, I learned naturally how people
talk. What kind of phrases they use and where they pause, what words they would say and what no one ever
says. Because of this (maybe) I've always been able to hear my characters talking in my head and I know when
something sounds unnatural coming from them. Each person and each character has a distinct voice, the trick
is learning what makes one person's voice different from someone else's. For example, if someone who
sounded exactly like someone you see every day and pretended to be that person, how long do you think it
would take to figure out that it wasn't them? What would clue you in? Is your best friend the only person
you've ever heard use the word "splendiferous"? Does your mom have a habit of starting sentences with
"Nevertheless"? Do you know someone who pauses between every third or fourth word?
Pay attention to these little habits people have. Sometimes they can be telling character traits. You could even
start keeping a dialogue diary. Buy a small notebook (palm or pocket sized) and start writing down interesting
things you hear people say. Sometimes eavesdropping on other people's conversations in public places can
be quite inspiring. ;)
Besides the notebook, I highly suggest reading what you write out loud. When you read silently, you
automatically skip over words. You may not even realize you are doing it, but your eye fills in spaces with
what it thinks should be there instead of what actually is there. When you read something out loud, you read
every word and it is far easier to find awkward phrases and misplaced or misspelled words (this has little to do
with dialogue, but I once read a story where a girl had written giggly for jiggly and gifted her character with
"giggly thighs". I burst out laughing in the middle of class when I caught that).
As far as how much I struggle with it... It depends on the scene. Sometimes the characters are really reluctant
to tell me anything. When this happens I try to figure out why this is. Most of the time it has more to do with
the fact that there is something I'm not understanding about their motivations and not figuring out what
they're going to say.
• How fun is it to talk to fictional characters inside your head?
It's is immensely fun to have people to talk to in my head. I love it, really. But it can cause headaches when
things start getting out of control. For example, there was a period of time in 2006 when I was working on FIVE
different novels. There were over 100 characters clamoring for my attention but, not only that, they were
beginning to talk to each other without my permission. Characters from different books who shouldn't even
know the other existed began having in depth conversation before I realized that I had to focus on one book
at a time, if only for my own sanity.
• You mentioned before that you are getting better when it comes to description. What about it was so hard for
you before? How did you overcome these obstacles and improve?
What was hardest for me was figuring out where to add in a character's physical description. I hate it when
books break out of narrative to give you a full run down of a character's appearance. I think that, unless it's
added in a little at a time in a more natural way, it draws the reader out of the story too much. So, in trying to
avoid that, my first draft of Fallen was practically devoid of any character description.One of the first major
edits I did on the book was going back through and adding it in. Having to do that was, in itself, one of the
best ways to improve. As I went back through and added the descriptions, I saw why they fit where I was
putting them and how much more vivid and real the story was with those additions. The adage "Practice
makes perfect" is actually pretty accurate. :)
• Where did the cover you are using for Fallen right now come from?
I made it with photoshop. I found the picture of the eyes online and made a cover out of it. I would have liked
the eyes to be light brown (Sam's eyes) or smoke blue (Xander's) but you can only be so picky when
you're not taking the picture yourself. ;)
• How has reading/writing changed your life?
Well, I guess the best way to explain that is to explain what I was doing before writing.
When I started college, I had no idea what I wanted to do. Ideas like historian, cultural anthropologist,
teacher, writer, and psychologist were all floating around my head, but I didn't really know what a career in
those fields would be like. So, through my liberal arts classes, I slowly narrowed down my options. I realized
pretty quickly that I didn't want to be a cultural anthropologist and that historian wasn't for me. After that I
decided to major in Psychology and English and see where life took me. For a short time I thought I wanted to
be an elementary school teacher (my own elementary school teachers had a huge and wonderful impact on my
life) but the more I learned about the school system, the more I wanted to stay away from it.
So I turned to Psychology and decided that, if I couldn't teach, I would teach teachers how to teach by
conducting classroom applicable research. I stayed on that path for about a year and a half and then I read
Twilight. After the jolt that book gave to my creative mind, I started writing again and I haven't stopped since.
Writing, therefore, has given me a direction and a goal in life. I was nearing the end of my college career with
no clear idea where to go next. Now, no matter where life takes me geographically, I'll be able to write. I can
travel and work or hide away in a cabin in the mountains and it won't change a thing. Writing has given me a
sense of freedom I hadn't had before.
As far as reading goes, I honestly can't remember a time when reading wasn't a huge part of my life. Even
when we went on family vacations, I would beg my parents to stop at a bookstore because I had read my way
through all of the books I had brought. So reading hasn't changed me as much as it shaped who I am. In fact,
how much I read growing up is probably a huge factor in how shy I still am today.
• Have you ever written a summary for your novel? If you have, was it easy or difficult/how did you do it?
I shudder at the thought of summaries. I hate writing them and I find it very hard to do so. I think that this is
because I see how each small part plays into the whole and I have a hard time boiling the story down to "A
goes to B, C happens, D gets involved, and then E solves the problem." To be quite honest, the first time I
needed a summary for Fallen, I got a friend of mine to write it. ;) Thank you Sara Elyse!
When the time came to begin writing a query letter for agents, I took the summary she had given me and
expounded upon it. It was a lot easier to do once I had something to start with.
• What do you feel is the hardest thing about writing? (Or, more specifically, about the writing process -- i.e.,
the story-making, etc.)
"Hardest" is a relative term. What is hardest for me one day may not be hard at all another. For example, I
recently had a lot of trouble with two of my characters trying to figure out how they would react to each other
in a certain situation. I was stuck on this chapter for over a week writing and then deleting chunks of text that
just didn't work. I kept going, "No, he wouldn't say that" or "But why would she even think to go there?" or
something like that. Eventually I finished the chapter and it all worked out, but it was hard for a while. Other
days, however, and in other sections, this is no problem at all for me to figure out.
But, I guess that because of this, the hardest thing about writing is not letting yourself say, "Oh, screw it! I
give up."