Heather Hayden's Blog, page 11

Author Interview: Imogen Keeper

Please welcome Imogen Keeper, this month’s interviewee for the Blog World Tour: Science Fiction Edition!

Thank you for being here today, Imogen. Let’s start off with an easy question! How do you relax?

If I’ve got time? Eat something delicious? Drink wine? Take a bath? Go for a walk? Eat some chocolate? Talk to my mom or my sister or my best friend? Bug my husband? Take your pick. I’m pretty good at relaxing. It’s more finding the time that I struggle with.

I can relate to that. Time really is a commodity some days!

Now I’d like to talk about your writing. Is there anything you find particularly challenging when writing as far as content?

Yes! The science part of sci-fi. I write very, VERY soft sci-fi, but I still don’t want to get it wrong. I love sci-fi for the settings and the freedom the genre offers in terms of world-building, but since my background is largely art and English, any scientific elements are especially laborious. There’s a scene in the second novel in my series in which I wanted to explode a room in space with my characters inside. So I had to do a lot of research to find out how long they could live in a vacuum and what kind of problems it would cause. I’m always terrified I will get it wrong.

Even with my scientific background, I still need to do a lot of research at times for my own science fiction writing. As long as you do the research and write the scene to the best of your ability, I think your readers will be happy.

Did you come across any specific challenges in writing The Bonding?  What would you do differently the next time?

The Bonding is the first thing I ever finished. Which was great! But it was also a disaster. I learned as I went. And it’s a bit like deciding you want to learn to do DIY chores, and instead of starting with painting a room, or doing some easy wallpapering, you decide to renovate a kitchen. I just jumped straight on in to writing a whole novel.

It took me a year, and I had to do so much research, and so much rewriting, but in a lot of ways, it’s so much better for it. I slaved over every word in that story. I read it all aloud and rewrote it, deleted tens of thousands of words and started from scratch. There’s something to be said for laboring to that degree.

But it does mean that the second novel came out so much faster and so much more painlessly.

I know all about disasters like that! I pants my stories, but that does mean there’s a lot of revision required before they’re ready for the public to read. I wouldn’t have it any other way, though–I love the surprises that come from diving into a story without knowing what’s coming next.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Since I still have trouble calling myself a writer, no. I wouldn’t dare. If I could go back and tell myself anything to keep in mind back when I first started… I’d tell me not to be so afraid of making a mistake. I was so scared of doing something wrong that everything took so much longer. Writing should be fun. It shouldn’t feel like a chore, and I have a tendency to make life harder for myself than in should be. Now, I tend to just relax and let my characters take over, and they do fun things.

That’s good advice, both for your younger self and for other writers. Thank you for sharing! *glances at clock* We have time for one more question, so let’s wrap up with a fun one: What is your favorite movie and why?

Ooooooh. I can never answer this question. I love too many, and it all seems to depend on my mood. I have a soft spot for The Fifth Element. No clue why… well, okay, I guess I do know. It’s fun. I love the old Star Wars. I like scary movies, and RomComs. But honestly, when we had kids and time got slim, I had to cut stuff out of my life, and movies was one of the first to go. My husband and I tend to watch about an hour of TV in the evening before bed, but that’s all we’ve got time for. So I’m not really up to date on recent stuff. Some day, future-self, I promise!

I confess that I haven’t seen The Fifth Element yet, but a friend of mine insists I need to do so. Perhaps I will soon!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, Imogen!

 

About Imogen, in her own words: I’m Imogen Keeper. But please, call me Immy. I’m from the East Coast, born and raised and back here now with my husband and our son, who is a handful and a half. We just had a baby girl a couple weeks ago, so life just got even more hectic.

I discovered writing when my son was about six months old. It was something I’d always dabbled at in the past, but never really put on my serious hat. So, bored at home with a kid who truly took magnificent naps, I started studying up on the how-to’s and the how-not-to’s of writing. With about six active works in progress, I decided to knuckle down and focus on one.

It made me blush, and it made me sweat, and it made me cry a few times, but The Bonding came out. I had to get over the embarrassment of having people read sex that came out of my head, but get over it I did.

My first novel was just published, and I have to admit, I’m proud of it. Dirty sex and all.

 

The Bonding, an erotic science fiction novel, is available on Amazon.

You can learn more about Imogen Keeper through her social media sites:

Imogen’s Website

Twitter

Facebook

 

 

Ensign’s Log, Entry 48: February Month Map Week 1 Update!

It’s time for a (belated) update to my February Month Map! Things are going well so far this month!

 

Upgrade: When February started, I was almost done with Chapter 9. I’m now almost done with Chapter 13, and hoping to get through Chapter 15 today. Then only a few more chapters to go…

Skin As White As Snow: I’ve made progress on this story as well, although not as much as originally planned for the first week as I realized a deadline for another project was looming and said project wasn’t even started yet. Whoops.

Catching up on critiques: I completed 10 crits in the first week, with 25 to go. You might be wondering why that’s adding up to 35 instead of around 60–I trimmed down my backlog a bit after not hearing back from some of the authors I had previously planned trades with. Life happens, and sometimes people move on from Scrib or become inactive for a while. If I do hear back from them before the end of February, I’ll definitely add those numbers back in.

Secret project: This isn’t included in the month map, but I’m working on a short story for the Just-Us League’s next anthology. The word count limit is about 7k and I’m at about 3k right now, so hopefully my story wraps up soon in terms of word count and time–the first draft is due February 19th!

 

Goals for Week Two: Finished revising Upgrade and complete the first draft of my secret project.

How are your February goals progressing?

Ensign’s Log, Entry 47: February Month Map!

It’s time for the final reveal of my January Month Map, a brief discussion of how January went, and then… *drumroll* February’s shiny new Month Map!

First off, January:

Upgrade: I now have almost nine out of twenty chapter revised completely. If I manage one a day (starting today), I should be done halfway through February with this major revision, and then there’s just the minor revisions/polishing to go! (I hope)

Skin As White As Snow: Didn’t make as much progress as I would have liked, but did get a few good writing sessions in, and overall I’m happy with my progress.

Launch Party: This, as I mentioned previously, was a lot of work, but ultimately a successful first attempt. I learned a lot and will be even better prepared for the next one.

And now for February!

So shiny! So new! And so snowy! Mostly because there has been little to no snow where I am right now, and I miss it.

My goals for February are almost the same as January’s, with the difference that I do not have a massive party to plan for this month. Also, I only have 11 chapters of Upgrade left, and maybe five or six chapters of SAWAS (I think…it’s hard to judge length for my first drafts.)

My third goal is to catch up with all of my promised Scribophile critiques. By my count, I have about 60 critiques I need to do to catch up, not counting any new chapters that have been posted for my on-going novel trades. That sounds like a lot, but a few a day should get me to that goal without any problem!

How did your January goals go? What are your February goals?

Author Interview: Allie May

Today I’m interviewing Allie May, lover of fantasy and Disneyland, for the Blog World Tour: Fantasy Edition.

Welcome to my blog, Allie! I’m looking forward to interviewing you. *shuffles questions* My first question is about plotting! Do you prefer writing to an outline, or do you simply let the story go where it pleases?

I’m a crazy-thorough planner, so I like to know every detail about what I’m writing before I write it. I need to know where the story is going before I start. But my characters always have other plans.

That’s so cool! I can never follow a plan, so I usually just pants the first draft. Do you do a lot of research as well during the planning process?

Depends on what I’m writing, but usually the answer is too much. I will spend hours researching different types of fantasy creatures, magical abilities, and even real world countries that I use to inspire fantasy settings and events. I’ve got a Pinterest board full of research that I save to reference later.

That’s awesome! I’ll admit I’m at the other end of the spectrum when it comes to research… I love the idea of using Pinterest to keep track of interesting topics, though! On a semi-related now, how about character development? Do you already know who your characters are before you begin writing or do you let them develop as you go?

Because I usually get my ideas from dreams, I know generic character traits as I write the plot. I think the plot needs to correlate to the characters’ strengths and weaknesses to create a good challenge for them to overcome.

That makes a lot of sense–and it’s neat that a lot of your ideas come from dreams. Some of mine have as well. Leading back to your stories, what was the hardest thing about writing your latest book?

Pushing through to the end. When all these other newer and more exciting ideas are pushing at you, it’s hard to focus on just one!

Haha, don’t I know it! I think a lot of writers are in the same boat. Or plot bunny pen. One more question before we wrap things up–how do you plan on publishing your stories, and why?

I’d like to publish traditionally, but all the publishing stuff goes over my head. I’d much rather focus on writing and let someone else do all the complicated parts.

Traditional publishing does have the nice benefit of someone else handling the fiddly stuff! I wish you and your stories the best. Thank you so much for being here today, Allie May!

Allie May is a fantasy author and the mother of the world’s cutest dog. She runs the blog, Hypergraphia. Hypergraphia means the overwhelming and uncontrollable impulse to write, and she combats it by writing fantasy novels and blogging twice a week. When she’s not writing or working, she’s usually at Disneyland. Allie is currently editing her novel, Powerful, while working on another novel that she started when she was twelve called A Fairy’s Tale. On the weekends, you might catch a glimpse of her in the shadows as a lightsaber-wielding superhero. Maybe.

You can connect with Allie May through her various social media:

Blog

Facebook

Google+

Pinterest

Twitter

Ensign’s Log, Entry 46: January Month Map, Week Three Update

This is a few days late, but unsurprising given how busy I was last week with the Launch Party! I’m happy to report that I’m not longer sick and am also a lot less stressed now that the party is over. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!

Here’s my map for this month so far:

It’s not looking too impressive so far, is it?

Part of the problem is I underestimated how much time and effort would be necessary to plan and coordinate the launch party. There were a lot of people participating, but I wound up hosting twelve hours of the event, and even with my co-hosts’ help, that was a LOT of material to gather, write, and prep for.

I also wasn’t expecting to be sick for the first two weeks of the month. Granted, colds are rarely something one can anticipate, but it’s unfortunate I lost so much time.

However, all is not lost! Considering how much time I spent on the party and what my goals for the rest of the month are, I’d like to reveal my new and improved month map now:

“But wait!” you might be saying. “You can’t just change your month map like that! That’s cheating! And what about your writing plans? You’ll fall behind!”

Actually, I won’t. I originally planned to complete Skin as White as Snow and Of Beauty Within in order to accomplish my 50,000 word goal for JanNo ’17 (supplemented by other writing, I don’t believe either story has 25k left to go.) However, between being sick for two weeks, then spending a good part of a week planning and conducting the party, I simply don’t see that goal as still being feasible.

Instead, I’m going to return to my original plan of writing 250 words a day. That might seem like a minuscule amount, but it adds up quickly, and often leads to more words than that once I get started. I haven’t been doing very well with this goal so far, but if I can pick up the slack, I could have almost 8k written in SAWAS by the end of the month. That’s at least two chapters, if not three–and that should bring the story close to the end.

Ultimately, I may only accomplish one of my original goals this month (revising Upgrade), but there will be progress nonetheless, and that’s what I’m aiming for.

How are your month’s goals progressing? Any changes in them, or unexpected obstacles?

Author Interview: Dawn Chapman

Today’s interviewee for the Blog World Tour: Science Fiction Edition is Dawn Chapman, author of The Secret King series, and Director of TSK Productions Ltd.!

Welcome to my blog, Dawn! I’m glad you could be here today. My first question for you, as one science fiction writer to another, what drew you to write in this genre?

As a child I always watched scifi, action or drama. So that to me meant there was a world out there that just begged to be written.

I grew up reading science fiction (didn’t watch a lot of things), and that influenced my writing. It’s interesting how the things we enjoy can influence the paths our writing takes. Do you have any tips on what to do and what not to do when writing?

Write what you want to. Don’t always try and please others. Get some beta readers you can trust and work had to keep them. If one person says something is wrong you can ignore it, but if 5 people say it…then think about what they’re saying.

That’s good advice–I said something very similar during a recent author talk I gave. After you finish a first draft, do you let it stew for a bit? Leave it for a month or so before returning to edit it?

The fact my editors and other people have it while I work on other projects is long enough for me.

I do like to come back to a project after a good while, at least a month or more.

It’s good you’ve found a method that works for you. You’ve been writing for a long time–longer than I’ve been alive, actually! What are your ambitions for your writing career?

As The Secret King’s growing so quick already, it’s not just about my writing. Of course I want people to enjoy my work, but I also want them to enjoy the work of others.

Those are both good goals! *glances at clock* We have time for one more question. What do your fans mean to you?

Getting that little message from a fan–“You had me in tears”–means so much, it means I’m doing my job right and invoking emotions.

When someone leaves a review on a piece it means even more because it helps to show others the emotional impact that your work had on a piece. My latest review on Lethao read:

WOWZA! NO… FREAKIN’ WOWZA!

A nail-biter from the first, I quickly became emotionally invested in the characters. Intrigue, secrets (hard to do when emotions are literally written on your arm) and mystery. Prophecy. Politics. And a planet destroyed by a star going nova. Such a wonderfully complex plot.

I listened to the audiobook.

The narrator did a fantastic job. I loved the unusual accents the characters had.

That’s what we’re aiming for

Ensign’s Log, Entry 45: January Month Map, No Update This Week

Yes, that post title is correct, there’s no Month Map update this week. Though I did manage a few things earlier this week, the majority of it was spent fighting off, and eventually succumbing to, a cold. Or flu. Some sort of bug, anyway, that left me with very little energy up until a couple days ago, when it proceeded to hit me solidly over the head.

Today, I’m finally starting to feel better, thanks to forced rest, cold medication, and plenty of good tea. With any luck, next week will be much more productive, fueled by my desire to get ALL the things done once I’m feeling better and can do so.

On a brighter note, next weekend is a celebratory Facebook party for the anthology From the Stories of Old. Details can be found on the party’s page. I hope you’ll consider stopping by–there’ll be discussions, games, and a raffle!

In conclusion, I hope you all have had a good week, and that the rest of your month is good (and productive!) as well.

Magic Monday: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill

When I was first planning this blog post, the first Magic Monday book review of 2017, I thought it would be the first book I read this year, Iron Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill. However, I then picked up The Girl Who Drank the Moon by the same author (which I didn’t notice at the time, whoops!)

Hours, pages, and many emotions later, I lowered the back cover and stared at the book for a moment. I’d been expecting an upper middle grade fantasy story akin to a fairy tale, with a good dash of magic and adventure. That is, after all, what the cover and blurb advertise:

Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the forest, Xan, is kind and gentle. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster named Glerk and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon, Fyrian. Xan rescues the abandoned children and deliver them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.

One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic. Xan decides she must raise this enmagicked girl, whom she calls Luna, as her own. To keep young Luna safe from her own unwieldy power, Xan locks her magic deep inside her. When Luna approaches her thirteenth birthday, her magic begins to emerge on schedule–but Xan is far away. Meanwhile, a young man from the Protectorate is determined to free his people by killing the witch. Soon, it is up to Luna to protect those who have protected her–even if it means the end of the loving, safe world she’s always known.

If I had to guess, I’d say the bookstore I bought it from mis-shelved it. Except that it’s marked as middle grade elsewhere as well. So not mis-shelved. But definitely not what I was expecting. The story was much deeper and more complex than several YA novels I’ve read recently, with characters that come to life straight off the pages.

The writing is beautiful, the story is tightly woven, and I loved the characters–Luna, Xan, Glerk, Fyrian… Glerk might actually be my favorite–the grumpy swamp monster who enjoys poetry and knows more than he lets on. Fyrian’s flightiness is endearing, too (he’s that cute little dragon on the cover).

The magic in this story isn’t simply magic from moonlight–it’s in the love-madness that brings paper to life and the sorrow suffocating a town and the strength of the ancient protecting the young… And it’s in the stories people tell each other, about the witch in the forest and the volcano beneath it and the wizards who once walked through it. Some stories lie, some stories twist the truth, some stories are painful truth…and some stories are pure truth.

Ultimately this story is about love, hope, and discovering who you are. I highly recommend it for fantasy readers, young and old.

If you’re intrigued, The Girl Who Drank the Moon is available on Amazon, as well as other retailers. You can learn more about Kelly Barnhill through her website. I’m going to hunt down more of her books in hopes they’re as good as the two I’ve read so far!

Ensign’s Log, Entry 44: January Month Map, Week One Update

It’s time for the first month map update of the year!

Despite being sick the first few days of January (I’m still very tired), I did make some progress on both Upgrade and Skin as White as Snow. I’ve edited three chapters and two interludes (brief scenes set between certain chapters) so far for Upgrade, and made progress towards finishing Skin‘s first draft.

This upcoming week, I hope to catch up with my editing for Upgrade and finish at least two chapters in Skin, which should bring me close to the climax…and after that, only a few chapters to the end of the book! I have a couple scenes that need to be filled in earlier in the novel, but that won’t take me long.

How are you doing with your January goals?

Author Interview: H.S. Cook

Today I’ll be interviewing H.S. Cook for the Blog World Tour: Fantasy Edition! She’s a fantasy writer like me, although she writes epic fantasy! Her current work-in-progress is the series, The Blood King Chronicles.

Welcome to my blog, H.S.! It’s a pleasure to have you here. The first thing I’d like to have you do is describe your typical day. How do you juggle writing with everything else?

If I have slept, I am up early. I swim before I go to university. I spend 8-12 hours on average in the lab (though some days take no time at all) and I catch up on paperwork or write while experiments are running. I am usually home by 10PM for dinner. I then write until tired – though not always on my WIP.

Eight to twelve hours in the lab? I remember that from my summer internship a few years ago… Those are long hours to work! I’m impressed you find the time and energy to write. When at the lab, do you write on paper or with a computer? What’s your preferred writing method while at home? Typewriter, computer, dictation, or longhand?

I write my first draft longhand on A4 paper (Pukka Pad) with a fountain pen. I usually use my extra-fine dip pen, allowing me to write 30-40 words to a line (around 1000 words to a page).

I then type up into Scrivener, separating scenes, checking continuity and correcting big mistakes. To check spelling, punctuation and grammar, I read it aloud and where possible, I record to listen back.

I wish I had a typewriter, if only for the cool factor. I find dictating embarrassing.

Typewriters are fun, though they take some getting used to–we have both a manual and an electric one and the keys do take more force to press down than a normal computer keyboard. That’s so awesome that you use a fountain pen! I’ve always wanted one of those–they sound a lot cooler than a typewriter (as well as more difficult to manage.) You say you can cram 1000 words per page; do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?

During NaNoWriMo, Camp NaNoWriMo and JuNoWriMo, yes. I set a goal for the month and aim to stay on track each day. Otherwise, no. I write what I can, when I can.

Given how long your work days are, I don’t blame you. It’s awesome that you find the time to do NaNo and its offshoots–NaNo was my first introduction to novel-writing (may that draft never come to light.) Especially during NaNo, I find it a lot easier to “pants” my novel, making up all the characters on the spot. When you develop characters do you already know who they are before you begin writing or do you let them develop as you go?

I start off with rough ideas and allow them to grow as the story progresses. I feel like they more organic that way. It also allows me to maintain a small amount of control over the story, directing it before they take charge themselves.

I do the same. Though my characters tend to run off on me a lot! What’s your favorite method for coming up with names for your characters (and locations, for that matter!)?

What letter do I like today? String together random sounds. Repeat until I have something I like. A few places are named for significance – the Sea of Kedrin or Fate’s Passage for example. I work more with sounds, however, so that they fit the world and each other well.

I love that idea. Never really thought about using sounds to create names before, but I think I’ll try that in the future. *glances at clock* We have time for one more question… This is one of my favorites to ask people! What is your favorite quote?

“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” – Thomas Mann

This really strikes a chord with me. There are so many quotes that ring true, but this hits home hardest. Writing to write is an art firm. As writers we seek perfection in the tales we spin, and so writing as a writer holds more weight than any other writing we do. It’s simple to write words, but far harder to weave a story. Neil Gaiman said something similar: “Being a writer is a very peculiar sort of a job: it’s always you versus a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen) and quite often the blank piece of paper wins.”

That’s a wonderful quote, H.S. Thank you for sharing it with us. *clock chimes* Sounds like it’s to wrap things up. Thank you for being here today.

Thank you for taking the time to talk with me. By the Blood, may the Fates show mercy.

It was my pleasure. By the Blood, may the Fates show mercy!

About H.S.: Working in a world of logic and reason, while dreaming of one filled with magic, H.S. Cook lives between her scientific research and her fantasy writings. A molecular biologist by day, she finds ways to inject the magic of her worlds into daily life, making time to write. She is currently working on an epic fantasy series: The Blood King Chronicles.

You can learn more about H.S. and her stories through her website, and connect with her through Twitter and Facebook.