I Published My NaNo Novel: Kate Danley on Writing Habits that Can Pay Your Rent

Kate Danley is a NaNoWriMo veteran from Los Angeles, CA, who has sold 130,000 copies of her first NaNo-novel, Maggie for Hire. She’s also a veteran of the stage and screen. We talked about her writing process as a best-selling author and how her experience on stage influenced her writing:

Five of your bestsellers are NaNoWriMo novels. What was your experience like when you participated in NaNo and what do you find helpful about participating?

I self-published my very first book, The Woodcutter. It took me a year to write and I went through five years of rejection letters, and afterwards, I was faced with the great “What Next?”

Was I going to be a one-hit wonder or was there another book lurking inside my soul? That’s when I discovered NaNo.  

It seemed a great way to get started on my next project. I could dive into the deep end and just start swimming. At the time, I was still balancing a full-time job and full-time acting career, so NaNo was wonderful for getting focused. I have met so many talented authors over the years, authors I believe are much more talented than me, but they get distracted and forget to write. All of their wonderful, gorgeous words just sit there dying on their hard drive. 

The biggest gift of NaNo was teaching me how to write just a little every day, how to meet goals, and how to make it fun.  There is joy in gathering up other writers in a cool coffee shop and hacking out some words.  It is a riot turning writing into a group event.  I attended The Night of Writing Dangerously twice and wrote some of my best stuff! 

As I made the transition into being a full-time writer, the habits I developed in NaNo became the tools which keep my rent paid: write every day, set goals, and get yourself a supportive posse. Every day is NaNo now!  

You have a lot of experience performing on stage. What is your approach when writing a story versus performing one? How has your theater background influenced the stories you write?

Four of my NaNo books are in my snarky urban fantasy Maggie MacKay: Magical Tracker series. When I started writing them, I was doing a lot of sketch and standup. There is nothing like bombing in front of an audience to make you better at writing a joke. But more than just writing jokes, I figured out that the strongest stories, either performed or written, are the ones with rich characters. You are shooting yourself in the foot if you go onto stage to “be funny.” But you will be funny if you step onto the stage as an honest character with a specific world view which is just… a bit… off. 

In the writing world, it is impossible to write anything good if you’re sitting at the keyboard with the objective of “writing the Great American novel.” But you can write the Great American novel if you have a three-dimensional character with a story that must be told.

When I prepare a character for stage, it is important to know what drives them. What do they want in a scene? What are their hopes? Their dreams? Their favorite color? How do they style their hair? What kind of shoes to the wear? It is in analyzing how their brain works that you can step into their skin and bring them to life.

As time has passed and I have written more series books, defining a character in the early stages becomes more and more important. Write these character traits down! There is no hell like trying to remember the favorite sandwich of a character you introduced in book one while you’re writing book five! If I need to write a book a year after I have last visited these characters, defining them gets me back in the game faster. 

Has your writing process changed after winning awards and reaching bestseller status?

There is a certain level of pressure that comes once you start seeing some success. You feel a responsibility to create something which will delight the people who have supported you. Sometimes that can be overwhelming.  

I think Neil Gaiman said it best: never do anything your heart isn’t in. I made the mistake of working on projects for the “opportunities.” The opportunities all imploded and I was left with projects that didn’t make my heart sing. You are a unique soul and the stories in your brain cannot be told by anyone else in the world. Honor that! Collaborations are fine, but make sure to place your art, your world, your gift first.

What is your advice for writers who are struggling with revising their work?

Sadly, much like housework before a party, it is just something you have to buckle down and do before you can have fun. I work with the timer method (I credit The Fly Lady with introducing me to this). The premise is that you can do anything for fifteen minutes. So, sit down, set the timer for fifteen minutes, and get cracking.  

I find that once I get started, it is easy to keep going! But if for some reason I’m having one of “those days”, once I do my fifteen minutes, I can get up guilt-free and enjoy the rest of my day. Editing is like eating a whale: do it one bite at a time.

What is your favorite play? How has your acting experience influenced your screenwriting/playwriting?

Once every five to ten years, I will have the privilege of doing a show which is divine. It is the perfect balance of an incredible script, incredible cast, wonderful role, and a darling production team that you just want to hug 24/7. The last I did was called Blake… da Musical!  It was written by the wickedly smart Rick Batella with music by comedian Henry Phillips. They would do anything for a laugh.

I played a meth-head, trailer park, fairy godmother who was followed around by two mullet-wearing mechanics and a bubble machine. It sounds kind of goofy, but what made that show so special was that it was filled with such gentle affection. Every performance was a joy. It was like a summer camp which lasted for a year.  It was my Firefly. The play went on to win the Ovation, which is Los Angeles’ version of the Tony, and rightfully so. It has been eight years since that show closed, and my heart is still broken that it didn’t get to go on forever.

What that experience taught me was the importance of love in art. Writing and acting, in their highest forms, should feel like flying, should feel better than anything else in the world. There are times I get away from that, times I get blocked, but it is love which ultimately will bring you back. Whether you are writing for the page or the stage, search out the things that delight you. Chances are, there are some other folks it will delight, too.

USA Today Bestselling author Kate Danley began her writing career with the novel The Woodcutter (47North). It was honored with the Garcia Award for the Best Fiction Book of the Year. Over 250,000 copies of her books have been sold internationally.  Her plays have been produced in New York, Los Angeles, and DC Metro area. She trained in on-camera puppetry with Mr. Snuffleupagus and played the head of a 20-foot dinosaur on an NBC pilot.  She lost on Hollywood Squares.