Bloghop - My Writing Process
Originally published at K.T. Hanna. You can comment here or there.
I’ve been tagged. I’m it. I’m so bad at doing things like these usually, but I’m making a concerted effort to rectify that.
Brenda Drake tagged me to do this, and so, here I am - about to tag others.
But first, I’ll answer some questions
What am I working on?
I actualy have a couple of irons in the fire. I’m editing a YA Historical Horror to send to my agent at the end of the month. And then there’s this secret project I’m working on with a co-author - SECRET. It’s a very different genre and type of story for me, soooo that’s all I’ll say about that.
And then I have a couple of stewing plotbunnies that require intermittent stirring.
How does my work differ from others in its genre?
Because it came from my brain? I tend to come up with weirdly creepy twists to story ideas (or so I’m told), and veer off on a tangent of odd. I truly like to imagine things I’ve not seen done before, or turn the tropes on their heads, or even neglect the tropes all together. With fairly far reaching genres under my belt, it really depends on what I feel at the time. Science fiction, fantasy, horror, urban fantasy, thriller etc You name it, at some stage I come up with an idea for it.
I think it differs because I’m different. Each writer is. That’s how it works and even given the same premise to work from, I’m quite certain different writers would turn out completely different stories. Kinda like a corgi in a Skyrim box.
Kira in a Skyrim Box!
Why do I write what I write?
I write everything from MG, through YA, to Adult. My inspiration and settings dictate what category I write, just as they do genre. I write what I write because that’s how I think. I see a word, and it triggers a whole concept that I then expand on. Sometimes it’s a song, other times it can be a story of someone’s past.
I write what I write because to not do so would be to do an injustice to myself. Some people have mentioned that some things I write can’t be categorized - where would they sit on a shelf? And that doesn’t matter to me. I write the stories I want to read. It’s okay if only a few people end up reading them, because when it really gets down to it - I want to tell the stories in my head, not try to conform them to some standard.
How does my writing process work?
This is a loaded question for me. My writing process is huge and very binge like.
Short version? I get an idea and let it stew. Then I brainstorm certain elements, during which I usually come up with several snippets that pop into my head. After this I outline the basic story to make sure it works, then I develop my characters, settings, and things. Once this is done, I expand the plot in detail, define my antagonist and their motivations. All of this finishes off with research on places/things etc with links I can easily reference and an approximately 2-3k chapter by chapter outline of how the book progresses.
Never the how though, only ever the what. This way my characters can still take some of the reins. This whole plotting and planning stage can take a few to several weeks.
After all this is done, I sit down and draft in 20 minute intervals at:00 and :30 after the hour so I have two lots of ten minute breaks for coffee or twitter or anything. At the end of this writing I have a nice first draft of around 60-80k words.
TADAAAAA
My editing process is for another day.
And now I’m going to tag some victims friends
Leigh Caroline
Leigh Caroline is a phone monkey for a non-profit by day, sneaking words between calls. Though some claim she also sneaks extra hours into her day, she just really hates being bored. She interns under her real name for a brilliant agent, and daydreams about sitting on both sides of the desk at once.
She’s all sorts of awesome. An amazing writer and content editor - and my longest standing CP. How she’s put up with me for almost a decade I have no idea.
Heather Rebel
Writer, reader, RN, and mom (to 2 beautiful Iggy girls). True born Rebel and proud of it. Rep’d by @mollykh
Another of my immensely patient crit partners.
Kathleen S. Allen
Computer game writer. YA author. Educator. Edits things. Bio: http://www.pinterest.com/kathleea/short-bio-about-kathleen/ … Tumblr blog is here: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/kathleea