"Your Writing Process" blog tour
I got invited to the "Your Writing Process" blog tour that's been going on. My actual date was April 14, 2014 but I thought I would copy it over to LiveJournal where you can find things again unlike FB which is like adding drops of water to an endless sea. But this is what I've been up to. I've got my pair of super hero romance stories at the editor's now, the cover art is being worked on by the amazing Laura Hidalgo, and I have an appointment scheduled with the formatter to make it look shiny and unique.
Hayson Publishing did a lovely job of capturing the spooky/chilling feel of The Under-Circus and Other Tales and I'm sure my next stories will look equally fabulous. But, back to the blog tour. :)
Today is my day to carry on the Writing Blog Tour where writers and authors get to weigh in and talk about their writing process. The wondrous Elizabeth Constantopolus (probably known as Eli Constant to you) author of Dead Trees and Dead Trees 2 invited me to this. You can see her work at:
http://authoreliconstant.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/my-writing-process-blog-tour/
So you want to know how I’ve done what I’ve done. Sure. Come have a nice sit-down and I’ll tell you while it’s still fresh in my mind.
What am I working on?
Well, currently I’m mostly wrapping up 3 novels. It’s tax season and the start of convention season for me so I’m not getting to write much at the moment. What you will be seeing from me shortly is a pair of twin tales in the genre of superhero romance in my new Lost Heroes series, and then a dark romance piece that will blow you away called “Love at the End of all Things”. When I have time, I try to get a bit more writing in for the first book in the Lost Heroes series which will be more action-oriented and I am doing research to get into the headspace of a pair of characters for the next pair of twinned stories in the middle of the series.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Well, in the genre of super hero romance, it’s just Nicole Zoltack and myself so far that I know of writing this. And given some of the absolutely terrible things said about women and the super hero genre this year, I was very grateful to learn I wasn’t the only one writing in it. It isn’t that sex or romance is not brought up in comics, but that I can’t name novels that are focused on the relationship side of super heroes. We all grew up, shouldn’t our heroes be allowed to as well?
As for my other piece, “Love at the End of all Things”, it’s a startlingly dark romance. It is to others in that category what dark chocolate is to milk chocolate. My tale reaches Donner party levels of darkness. But it is romance. Instead of a delicate upward slope of a story towards a climax, my tale is like a roller coaster ride or the measuring of a rapid heartbeat; it shoots up and down with great jags. For each problem solved, a new set crop up. You don’t know if the protagonists will really make it. But the most surprising difference is that the protagonists of this tale, Thomas and Cassidy Charm, are married. Most romances are about boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl (or vice versa) but mine shows you what a healthy, loving relationship is like when it is put under extreme duress. All couples face challenges, whether it is the loss of a job, a home, or dealing with a serious illness, trouble comes along. This couple is a true partnership. When one is down, the other rises. They work together as a team and complete each other. And that tale is rarely told, even with the plethora of romantic stories out there.
Why do I write what I do?
Honestly? I missed LARPing. That is Live-Action Role-Playing. I loved storytelling, although I needed the assistance of rules lawyers to make sure it ran smoothly. Writing is another way to let those stories out. I am also blessed with a husband who is a writer. He won my heart with his writing skills! But I didn’t expect to take this path for myself. However, taking this step has been a great joy and pleasure to me. I am surrounded by amazingly talented and wonderful authors and feel truly welcome and embraced by them. It is quite wonderful.
Aside from that, I learned to write horror and romance because that is what there were calls for. I actually love to read fantasy and urban fantasy. But I can’t seem to write it…yet. Horror came to the quill quite easily. I suspect it comes from channeling the difficulties faced in daily life. Romance, I had a hard time getting down. My first attempt was edited at least ten times. TEN. And it’s going to get yet another proof-read before it comes out in its final form. But I did learn how to do it, and I spend a lot of time trying to push my own writing limits. So expect a lot of eclectic pieces from me. Each thing I try expands my abilities and the things I master become arrows in my storytelling quiver. And no matter what your style-you have to push yourself to improve. You owe it to yourself and your audience. However, editors can help a great deal in speeding up the learning process.
And finally, it’s fun. Learning to write is like learning any other job, it takes time to get the hang of it. You have to retrain your brain to put ideas into written form, to sit there and solve the puzzles you come up with, and to keep going forward even when it is hard. Writing doesn’t just come to you. You have to chase it. Once your brain starts to make new connections and pathways for writing, it gets easier. So don’t give up until you give it at least a solid month of effort. Write a little (or a lot) every day while you are learning how to do it.
How does our writing process work?
It varies wildly with me. I even wrote a short guide of tips on writing fan-fiction with an outline method using a skeleton. It’s cute and I really do use that for planning out the story arcs in a LARP. But I use it only a little in my usual writing. Ideas come in a flash, sometimes as a concept but often as a scene. I will then either research the living daylights out of it or just start writing. And sometimes too much research bogs down the writing process. I have 70 pages of notes for stories that are only 2 pages long so far. Hopefully they will see fruition. But at some point I will sit down and make sure I have a road map of where my characters are going. Sometimes I need to bounce it off a friend, sometimes I work up an outline alone. But the important thing with any outline or set of notes is that you need to have wiggle room in it. Quite often, your characters will do what they want no matter what you planned out. And you don’t get much say. That’s why you have authors sobbing as they hit the keys to kill off a beloved character. The characters run the story. You are almost a field reporter more than a writer. The characters dictate it.
Peter Beagle once said, “I know which characters to use when they speak to me. If they don’t have a voice of their own, no matter how much I like them, I know they aren’t meant to be in my story.” And there is a lot of truth to that. I’ll get a nugget of an idea, and start shaping a character around the needs of the story kernel. Once that character is fleshed out, if it starts talking, has a definite and clear style and presence, I know we are on our way. Another thing for me is names. I feel that names are very important to stories and should match. If a character tells me his or her name, even if I don’t think it’s a good match, I can’t change it. They will stop talking to me and the story will end. Any such changes have to be done afterward. Likewise if I have to do revisions against his or her nature, I risk not being able to continue. So I often have to be pretty far along before I can let others read my work.
I guess the other important thing about my style is that I do not write every day. That’s right. I do not do that. My brain won’t put up with it. My style is when I’m in the zone to write between 8-12 hours a day and even up to 16 hours when I’m facing a deadline. But once I’m done with it, I am done. I need to utterly break away, do other things and recharge. And I have had good success doing this. But it is how I do a lot of things in my life. You have to know yourself and be honest about it. I also discovered I write best at night. There are fewer tasks available to distract the brain so I can usually focus. I have a habit of becoming verbose at night as well. This is great for getting words onto the page. Sometimes being tired can help if you are frightened about doing query letters or biographies or summaries. Tiredness dampens fear so you just get it done. You can always revise later. But you have to get the words down first. And that is the secret to all writing: Get the words down onto the page. Start with putting that spark of an idea onto paper or into a computer document. You know you have little details that follow it, so put them down as well as they come to you. If you keep it all locked up in your head, it’s of no use to you or anyone. Put it onto the page. That act is what separates the writers from those who want to write. You have to write. Then go back and edit or entrust it so someone else to get it to completion.
And if you have trouble taking criticism, try writing for a contest. Knowing I had to beat the best of the best made me want to see my pieces come back looking like they had been on a slasher film set. I wanted them to bleed red with corrections, because every tiny improvement increased my chances of winning. And once you are used to that mindset, it isn’t so hard to keep it going for making your story be the very best it can be for your readers. Don’t forget that authors can only catch about half of their own errors. You need editors. And you will find them by getting to know other authors, getting into writing groups…or submitting. Even rejections help you see how close you are to hitting a bull’s-eye. And it’s a chance for a free opinion or edit job if you get accepted or even very close. Make the most of it. And caffeine is your friend along with some sort of distraction game or toy for when you have to distract yourself to think up solutions to puzzles. Just keep at it, and keep writing.
Thanks for coming by and reading my post. Next week I have lined up Chad Clark, Martin Spernau, and Lee Murray.
Chad A. Clark is an independent author specializing in genre fiction, mostly horror and science fiction. He is a life long writer with a deep love for language and his craft. His debut book, Falling To Dark is a collection of short stories coming out this May and he hopes to have his first novel published by the end of the year. "
www.bakedscribe.net/
A poet of the multi-verse, Martin Spernau's palms show two parallel life-lines, one of which is fading as he loses his physical sight, while the other shows his ability to portray the whimsical science of the fantastic with true insight and vision.
http://traumwind.de/tindertraum/
Lee Murray
Once, in a galaxy far far away, Lee Murray dreamed of natty suits with shoulder pads and a brilliant career in science management. Instead, she wound up globe trotting with her husband for a time and she tried out a few other career hats before turning to writing which has allowed her to wear her pajamas until lunchtime. Now she is the multiple Sir Julius Vogel Award winner and lives with her husband and teenaged children near the ocean in New Zealand.
www.leemurray.info
Hayson Publishing did a lovely job of capturing the spooky/chilling feel of The Under-Circus and Other Tales and I'm sure my next stories will look equally fabulous. But, back to the blog tour. :)
Today is my day to carry on the Writing Blog Tour where writers and authors get to weigh in and talk about their writing process. The wondrous Elizabeth Constantopolus (probably known as Eli Constant to you) author of Dead Trees and Dead Trees 2 invited me to this. You can see her work at:
http://authoreliconstant.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/my-writing-process-blog-tour/
So you want to know how I’ve done what I’ve done. Sure. Come have a nice sit-down and I’ll tell you while it’s still fresh in my mind.
What am I working on?
Well, currently I’m mostly wrapping up 3 novels. It’s tax season and the start of convention season for me so I’m not getting to write much at the moment. What you will be seeing from me shortly is a pair of twin tales in the genre of superhero romance in my new Lost Heroes series, and then a dark romance piece that will blow you away called “Love at the End of all Things”. When I have time, I try to get a bit more writing in for the first book in the Lost Heroes series which will be more action-oriented and I am doing research to get into the headspace of a pair of characters for the next pair of twinned stories in the middle of the series.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Well, in the genre of super hero romance, it’s just Nicole Zoltack and myself so far that I know of writing this. And given some of the absolutely terrible things said about women and the super hero genre this year, I was very grateful to learn I wasn’t the only one writing in it. It isn’t that sex or romance is not brought up in comics, but that I can’t name novels that are focused on the relationship side of super heroes. We all grew up, shouldn’t our heroes be allowed to as well?
As for my other piece, “Love at the End of all Things”, it’s a startlingly dark romance. It is to others in that category what dark chocolate is to milk chocolate. My tale reaches Donner party levels of darkness. But it is romance. Instead of a delicate upward slope of a story towards a climax, my tale is like a roller coaster ride or the measuring of a rapid heartbeat; it shoots up and down with great jags. For each problem solved, a new set crop up. You don’t know if the protagonists will really make it. But the most surprising difference is that the protagonists of this tale, Thomas and Cassidy Charm, are married. Most romances are about boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl (or vice versa) but mine shows you what a healthy, loving relationship is like when it is put under extreme duress. All couples face challenges, whether it is the loss of a job, a home, or dealing with a serious illness, trouble comes along. This couple is a true partnership. When one is down, the other rises. They work together as a team and complete each other. And that tale is rarely told, even with the plethora of romantic stories out there.
Why do I write what I do?
Honestly? I missed LARPing. That is Live-Action Role-Playing. I loved storytelling, although I needed the assistance of rules lawyers to make sure it ran smoothly. Writing is another way to let those stories out. I am also blessed with a husband who is a writer. He won my heart with his writing skills! But I didn’t expect to take this path for myself. However, taking this step has been a great joy and pleasure to me. I am surrounded by amazingly talented and wonderful authors and feel truly welcome and embraced by them. It is quite wonderful.
Aside from that, I learned to write horror and romance because that is what there were calls for. I actually love to read fantasy and urban fantasy. But I can’t seem to write it…yet. Horror came to the quill quite easily. I suspect it comes from channeling the difficulties faced in daily life. Romance, I had a hard time getting down. My first attempt was edited at least ten times. TEN. And it’s going to get yet another proof-read before it comes out in its final form. But I did learn how to do it, and I spend a lot of time trying to push my own writing limits. So expect a lot of eclectic pieces from me. Each thing I try expands my abilities and the things I master become arrows in my storytelling quiver. And no matter what your style-you have to push yourself to improve. You owe it to yourself and your audience. However, editors can help a great deal in speeding up the learning process.
And finally, it’s fun. Learning to write is like learning any other job, it takes time to get the hang of it. You have to retrain your brain to put ideas into written form, to sit there and solve the puzzles you come up with, and to keep going forward even when it is hard. Writing doesn’t just come to you. You have to chase it. Once your brain starts to make new connections and pathways for writing, it gets easier. So don’t give up until you give it at least a solid month of effort. Write a little (or a lot) every day while you are learning how to do it.
How does our writing process work?
It varies wildly with me. I even wrote a short guide of tips on writing fan-fiction with an outline method using a skeleton. It’s cute and I really do use that for planning out the story arcs in a LARP. But I use it only a little in my usual writing. Ideas come in a flash, sometimes as a concept but often as a scene. I will then either research the living daylights out of it or just start writing. And sometimes too much research bogs down the writing process. I have 70 pages of notes for stories that are only 2 pages long so far. Hopefully they will see fruition. But at some point I will sit down and make sure I have a road map of where my characters are going. Sometimes I need to bounce it off a friend, sometimes I work up an outline alone. But the important thing with any outline or set of notes is that you need to have wiggle room in it. Quite often, your characters will do what they want no matter what you planned out. And you don’t get much say. That’s why you have authors sobbing as they hit the keys to kill off a beloved character. The characters run the story. You are almost a field reporter more than a writer. The characters dictate it.
Peter Beagle once said, “I know which characters to use when they speak to me. If they don’t have a voice of their own, no matter how much I like them, I know they aren’t meant to be in my story.” And there is a lot of truth to that. I’ll get a nugget of an idea, and start shaping a character around the needs of the story kernel. Once that character is fleshed out, if it starts talking, has a definite and clear style and presence, I know we are on our way. Another thing for me is names. I feel that names are very important to stories and should match. If a character tells me his or her name, even if I don’t think it’s a good match, I can’t change it. They will stop talking to me and the story will end. Any such changes have to be done afterward. Likewise if I have to do revisions against his or her nature, I risk not being able to continue. So I often have to be pretty far along before I can let others read my work.
I guess the other important thing about my style is that I do not write every day. That’s right. I do not do that. My brain won’t put up with it. My style is when I’m in the zone to write between 8-12 hours a day and even up to 16 hours when I’m facing a deadline. But once I’m done with it, I am done. I need to utterly break away, do other things and recharge. And I have had good success doing this. But it is how I do a lot of things in my life. You have to know yourself and be honest about it. I also discovered I write best at night. There are fewer tasks available to distract the brain so I can usually focus. I have a habit of becoming verbose at night as well. This is great for getting words onto the page. Sometimes being tired can help if you are frightened about doing query letters or biographies or summaries. Tiredness dampens fear so you just get it done. You can always revise later. But you have to get the words down first. And that is the secret to all writing: Get the words down onto the page. Start with putting that spark of an idea onto paper or into a computer document. You know you have little details that follow it, so put them down as well as they come to you. If you keep it all locked up in your head, it’s of no use to you or anyone. Put it onto the page. That act is what separates the writers from those who want to write. You have to write. Then go back and edit or entrust it so someone else to get it to completion.
And if you have trouble taking criticism, try writing for a contest. Knowing I had to beat the best of the best made me want to see my pieces come back looking like they had been on a slasher film set. I wanted them to bleed red with corrections, because every tiny improvement increased my chances of winning. And once you are used to that mindset, it isn’t so hard to keep it going for making your story be the very best it can be for your readers. Don’t forget that authors can only catch about half of their own errors. You need editors. And you will find them by getting to know other authors, getting into writing groups…or submitting. Even rejections help you see how close you are to hitting a bull’s-eye. And it’s a chance for a free opinion or edit job if you get accepted or even very close. Make the most of it. And caffeine is your friend along with some sort of distraction game or toy for when you have to distract yourself to think up solutions to puzzles. Just keep at it, and keep writing.
Thanks for coming by and reading my post. Next week I have lined up Chad Clark, Martin Spernau, and Lee Murray.
Chad A. Clark is an independent author specializing in genre fiction, mostly horror and science fiction. He is a life long writer with a deep love for language and his craft. His debut book, Falling To Dark is a collection of short stories coming out this May and he hopes to have his first novel published by the end of the year. "
www.bakedscribe.net/
A poet of the multi-verse, Martin Spernau's palms show two parallel life-lines, one of which is fading as he loses his physical sight, while the other shows his ability to portray the whimsical science of the fantastic with true insight and vision.
http://traumwind.de/tindertraum/
Lee Murray
Once, in a galaxy far far away, Lee Murray dreamed of natty suits with shoulder pads and a brilliant career in science management. Instead, she wound up globe trotting with her husband for a time and she tried out a few other career hats before turning to writing which has allowed her to wear her pajamas until lunchtime. Now she is the multiple Sir Julius Vogel Award winner and lives with her husband and teenaged children near the ocean in New Zealand.
www.leemurray.info