Clare Davidson, a lovely YA author from the
UK, tagged me in the writing process blog hop. Woot!
The internet is such a fun place. I’m always
meeting new and amazing people from all over the world. I “met” Clare a little
over a year ago, when she invited me to participate in a huge indie blog hop. Clare is really fantastic at bringing writers together and organizing
fun and interactive blog tours. I always enjoy being a part of her online
events. Her YA novels are pretty amazing too! You can find out more about Clare
and her writing process here.
Now for the hop questions…
What am I working on?
I am juggling several projects, which I
really don’t recommend. At least, not to the extent I’m doing right now. I’m
finishing up edits and rewrites for PSYCHOPOMP, the fourth novel in my Lana
Harvey, Reapers Inc. series. I am also trying to work on BACKWOODS ARMAGEDDON, a
comical hillbilly apocalypse novel I’m coauthoring with my husband. I have
several short stories I’m working on for magazines, and I’m polishing some
synopses and outlines for two different series that I hope will attract the
agent I’m stalking—er, I mean querying.
How does my work differ from others of its
genre?
My Lana series, which is my baby, is
technically urban fantasy. I love vampires and werewolves, but they’ve been
done. A lot. I was afraid that I wouldn’t have anything new to offer in that arena.
I still knew I wanted to stick with urban fantasy. It just sets my heart on
fire. I really enjoy studying world religions and mythology, so I decided to
take my writing in that direction. My series is set in a modern afterlife,
where all the faiths are right and all the deities exist… and have to work
together. So, while it’s an urban setting, it’s still not quite “of this world”,
and I’m playing with less familiar supernatural beings than most urban fantasy
readers are used to.
Why do I write what I do?
Aside from my love of urban fantasy, I thought
it would be fun to put my mythology and religious research to good use. I’m
also a big supporter of religious tolerance, and while the deities in my series
don’t always get along, my readers are still learning things about different
faiths that they might not have known before. Intolerance is a cousin of ignorance. We fear the things we don’t understand. While my primary goal is
entertainment, I still like the notion that I might also be subliminally
promoting tolerance and peace.
How does my writing process work?
Not very well. I wish that was a joke.
Ok. Seriously… I have a plot board. I’m a bit
OCD and ADD, so I NEED the plot board to stay on track. I have oversized
post-its that represent my chapters. The post-its are big enough to hold a 2-3
sentence description of what’s going down in that particular scene. I fill out
the big events first and shuffle them around until they make some sort of
sense. Then I fill in the chapters where foreshadowing needs to happen, where
character bonding and development is crucial, ect. ect. ect. Until I have
somewhere between 25 and 35 chapters.
Then the actual writing happens. Once again,
ADD, so the plot board comes in handy. I do not write my books in order. I
often have the last chapter written before the fourth or fifth. If I don’t feel
like a lovey-dovey scene, I skip ahead to a fight scene. If I’m not feeling the
dialog in one spot, I play with the scenery or narrative somewhere else. My
muse has mood swings, so I just go with it. Eventually, I have a book written.
Then I read through it and make sure everything is still in order. I do some
shuffling again. I polish up a scene here or there. I rebalance the dialog/narrative
ratio where it feels off.
Then I email the draft to an author friend or
two, a couple beta readers, my husband. I print it out and deliver it to my
former college comp professor who volunteers to edit my novels (this is why he
has the honorary title of THE professor—he also teaches Shakespeare, and he introduced
me to Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series, so I trust his judgment and taste
in literature). Then I’m bombarded by a plethora of plot holes, grammatical
errors, and general typos… which I face palm my way through as I fix. A final
read through and BING! It’s done. Yes, it sounds like an Easy-Bake Oven in my
head. This has happened in a matter of three months… or a matter of three years.
Once again, I wish that was a joke. I have become more consistent and
persistent over the past few years, so I’m hoping that means it’s a skill I’m
able to hone… and not just a sadistic muse I’m at the mercy of.
Want to hear how other authors do it? (Cue
immature giggles here.) I’m tagging two awesome authors to share their secrets
next week. These ladies rock! Check them out.
: )
Monica La Porta is an Italian who landed in
Seattle several years ago. Despite popular feelings about the Northwest
weather, she finds the mist and the rain the perfect conditions to write. Being
a strong advocate of universal acceptance and against violence in any form and
shape, she is also glad to have landed precisely in Washington State. Stop by
her blog to read about her miniatures, sculptures, paintings, and her beloved
beagle, Nero. Sometimes, she also posts about her writing. http://monicalaporta.com/
Elisa Nuckle is a twenty-something fantasy
and science fiction novelist. It's always been her dream to chase ideas down
and put them into concrete words. Currently, she's undergoing enlightenment at
University of Houston, and plans on getting an English major in the
hopefully-not-too-distant future. http://elisanuckle.com/
