My Writing Process
OH MY GOODNESS it’s been way too long (as in six months — sigh/cringe/oops). I have been writing, I swear, AND blogging if you can believe it (check out movellas.com!) but when my agency sister, the amazing Jayme Woods,pinged me for the #mywritingprocess blog tour, I knew it was time to dust off this site and actually post something. Here’s goes….
1) What am I working on?
Right now I’m working on the second book in my deal with Simon & Schuster’s Saga Press. It’s historical fantasy, I’d say something of “The Departed” meets “Boardwalk Empire” meets “True Blood” . . . but with sorcerers. Yikes that sounds like a tall order to pour (and that’s how it’s feeling these days!)
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I think a lot of historical fantasy focuses on the middle ages, the era of kings and knights and wizards and witches — I don’t know if this is because magic and witchcraft was more accessible and part of life during those times, or if it’s just an appealing era to write about. But I think the 1920′s America was such an incredible time — of money and excess and change — that it feels a really rich backdrop for a story where impossible things become possible.
3) Why do I write what I do?
Because I can’t write anything else, haha. Seriously, I have tried to write straight-up contemporary (though I’d still like to think I have a book in me!) and I have tried to write lush fantasy with a world and its complications far different from our own. I always end up blending the two, making the familiar strange, and the strange familiar. As a reader, it’s my favorite gray area to travel through as well.
4) How does your writing process work?
Gah, it changes a little depending on the project, but speaking in general terms, it goes something like this:
1. A spark!
2. Notes on the spark.
3. Dreams about the spark.
4. Mad scrawls of storylines relating to and fleshing out the spark.
5. So many notes and mad scrawls that I’ve got no choice but to start organizing them.
6. The beginnings of a rambling outline.
7. Some kind of compass: a synopsis (especially if my agent or editor has asked), or at least a vague act-by-act breakdown.
8. Fast, messy first draft (often without dialogue punctuation / stream of conscience / longwinded, cringeworthy passages)
9. A BREAK, then turning back and reading the first draft and gathering big picture issues that need to be addressed/what needs to changed/what’s working.
10. A slow painstaking revision based on the above analysis.
11. A BREAK, followed by writing a “revision letter” to myself with targeted issues that need to be addressed in the second draft.
12. A (not as slow) painstaking revision based on the above analysis.
13. Polish, polish, polish.
Thanks again to Jayme Woods (@writejayme!) and to all of the amazing writers who are part of this blog tour — tags to come :)!
