Writing Process Blog Tour for 8/27/2014
I was tagged by the amazing and writerific, Megan Lee Hosa, to participate in a running blog tour about writers and their process. Megan’s post can be found on her blog, The Hideous Garden, and her answers are fascinating. Go check them out.
Now, it’s my turn to let you peek into my writing cave and brain, and find out how the magic works.
1) What are you working on?
I just finished the final edits and proofs of the third book in my YA paranormal thriller series, GHOST HEART. And it feels soooo good. This book was challenging to write. I stretched myself by branching out of the one character, first-person POV I’d used in the first two books to incorporate four additional character POVs. It was a blast.
Now that the book is in the hands of the formatter, I’m busy sending out ARCs and gearing up for the launch parties and blog tours. Plus, I’m going to take fall off from writing because it’s my favorite season. Plus,I need to spend some time with the real characters in my life, like my two teenagers and awesome husband.
2) How does your work differ from others of its genre?
I write YA paranormal, but it has no werewolves or vampires or angels. My series is about a paranormal birth defect based on the real phenomenon of phantom limb syndrome, which I honestly haven’t seen done anywhere else. My YA is fairly gritty and realistic. It has romantic elements, but tension and actions, not romance, drive the narrative. Most people who read my series say, “Wow. I’ve never read anything like this, but I like it.” And they are page-turners. One of my goals of writing the books was to create a story you just couldn’t put down until you were done.
3) Why do you write what you do?
I love to read YA, so I wrote the story I wanted to read. I also appreciate the way YA doesn’t take itself too seriously and has such a sense of innocence, discovery, and transition. Oh, and I also have two teenagers of my own who beta read all my books and make sure I keep them real and current.
4) How does your writing process work?
It’s half magic, half sit-in-the-chair-and-make-words. I’m a panster, not a planner or outliner. I write for the same reason I read, to find out what happens. I’m delighted when my characters and my plot surprise me. I marvel when something small I wrote in book one becomes something huge in book three. Writing is my joy and bliss.
But practically speaking, I sit a lot and live in my head. I forget to eat and drink and bathe, and the people who love me (and my cat) have to come nudge me back into the world everyone else lives in. That’s the not so romantic part.
Tune in next week when authors Mary Holland and Maggie Lynch post on their blogs about their process.
Mary Holland writes fantasy and speculative fiction for grownups. She managed a corporate research library in Silicon Valley for twenty-five years, mostly to support her book buying habit. She’s now writing full-time. Her books, Matcher Rules and The Bone Road, are available in ebook from all online vendors and in paperback from Lulu.com. She’s currently working on her third novel, which might be titled The Dog of Pel. It’s not about a dog. She lives in the Santa Cruz mountains in California with three cats and one husband.
Maggie Lynch loves to learn. With careers ranging from counseling families with special needs children to leadership in academic computing, she has had plenty of opportunities to learn, meet new people, and travel widely. Throughout it all writing has been her first love. Her publications include four non-fiction books, over 35 short stories, and nine novels. She now writes full time as Maggie Jaimeson for adult fiction and Maggie Faire for young adult fiction. Her fiction is often cross-genre including SF, Fantasy, Suspense, and Romance. She continues to write non-fiction under Maggie Lynch.
Now, it’s my turn to let you peek into my writing cave and brain, and find out how the magic works.
1) What are you working on?
I just finished the final edits and proofs of the third book in my YA paranormal thriller series, GHOST HEART. And it feels soooo good. This book was challenging to write. I stretched myself by branching out of the one character, first-person POV I’d used in the first two books to incorporate four additional character POVs. It was a blast.
Now that the book is in the hands of the formatter, I’m busy sending out ARCs and gearing up for the launch parties and blog tours. Plus, I’m going to take fall off from writing because it’s my favorite season. Plus,I need to spend some time with the real characters in my life, like my two teenagers and awesome husband.
2) How does your work differ from others of its genre?
I write YA paranormal, but it has no werewolves or vampires or angels. My series is about a paranormal birth defect based on the real phenomenon of phantom limb syndrome, which I honestly haven’t seen done anywhere else. My YA is fairly gritty and realistic. It has romantic elements, but tension and actions, not romance, drive the narrative. Most people who read my series say, “Wow. I’ve never read anything like this, but I like it.” And they are page-turners. One of my goals of writing the books was to create a story you just couldn’t put down until you were done.
3) Why do you write what you do?
I love to read YA, so I wrote the story I wanted to read. I also appreciate the way YA doesn’t take itself too seriously and has such a sense of innocence, discovery, and transition. Oh, and I also have two teenagers of my own who beta read all my books and make sure I keep them real and current.
4) How does your writing process work?
It’s half magic, half sit-in-the-chair-and-make-words. I’m a panster, not a planner or outliner. I write for the same reason I read, to find out what happens. I’m delighted when my characters and my plot surprise me. I marvel when something small I wrote in book one becomes something huge in book three. Writing is my joy and bliss.
But practically speaking, I sit a lot and live in my head. I forget to eat and drink and bathe, and the people who love me (and my cat) have to come nudge me back into the world everyone else lives in. That’s the not so romantic part.
Tune in next week when authors Mary Holland and Maggie Lynch post on their blogs about their process.
Mary Holland writes fantasy and speculative fiction for grownups. She managed a corporate research library in Silicon Valley for twenty-five years, mostly to support her book buying habit. She’s now writing full-time. Her books, Matcher Rules and The Bone Road, are available in ebook from all online vendors and in paperback from Lulu.com. She’s currently working on her third novel, which might be titled The Dog of Pel. It’s not about a dog. She lives in the Santa Cruz mountains in California with three cats and one husband.
Maggie Lynch loves to learn. With careers ranging from counseling families with special needs children to leadership in academic computing, she has had plenty of opportunities to learn, meet new people, and travel widely. Throughout it all writing has been her first love. Her publications include four non-fiction books, over 35 short stories, and nine novels. She now writes full time as Maggie Jaimeson for adult fiction and Maggie Faire for young adult fiction. Her fiction is often cross-genre including SF, Fantasy, Suspense, and Romance. She continues to write non-fiction under Maggie Lynch.
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