"Interview" Tag
Tagged by dream-is-reality
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
Six? Seven?
How long does it take you to write a book?
O.O Oh my, that's a hard one. The Journey took just over three years. The Village took just under four years. (Bear in mind, I started writing it only a few months after I started The Journey. I'm constantly dividing my writing time between books.) A Cold Cry, a novella of about 12k words, took six months to complete. Flare in the Darkness, 22k words, took about four and a half months.
So. Clearly it varies.
What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
Usually it's like:
Brain: I have a wonderful, amazing idea! Let's write!
Me: *writes two chapters* *runs dry of inspiration*
Brain: This sucks. We'll work on our other stories and come back to it.
Two months later:
Brain: I have more inspiration! Let's go back there!
Me: *writes a couple pages* *runs dry*
Repeat over the course of three years.
Wattpad is good for me because it forces me to write. I have to if I want to satisfy my readers' voracious appetites. So while it is very hard ordinarily for me to sit down and make myself write, with the external force of waiting readers, I do it anyway. Due dates and deadlines are my lifesavers. They're the mother of inspiration for me. (like, literally. I can't start writing my school essays till the day before they're due. I have this block that won't let me put down a single word until Monday morning, with class on Tuesday.) Anyway, yeah. Currently I'm getting out two chapters a week for The Village, because I told myself I'd finish it by the 31st and I mean to do just that. So far, it's worked -- three weeks in a row.
What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Huh. Toughie. Maybe my ability to write so much when I have the time constraint -- as opposed to my lack of ability when I don't have it? I really shocked myself when I got almost 4,000 words written last Saturday. Still not over that.
How do books get published?
a.) You self-publish, which is easy to do in theory but does involve all of the advertising(and book-binding, if you plan to publish something other than e-books) being on your shoulders.
b.) You start contacting literary agents and find one who is willing to mediate between you and publishing companies until he finds one that is willing to take your book. Fun. You should try it.
Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
What do you mean? They just come. I didn't start writing because I wanted to write and so I found an idea to write about, I wrote because I had ideas and wanted to write about them. They come from everywhere and anywhere, books, sermons, conversation, scenery, paintings...
When did you write your first book and how old were you?
I'm going to go with not my first actual attempt but my first attempt of substance and say, "Caitlin's Adventures", which was planned to be something like "Little Women" or "Anne of Green Gables" in its structure and scope, basically a novel chronicling the character's life from childhood to the mid-late teenage years. It was meant to be, only half unconsciously, a "dream self" for me (don't many writers do that?) and included events based off what I thought was a dream life, what my friends had and I considered a dream life, and unnatural events like dolls coming alive.
I think I was eight or nine when I started it, but around age ten I left the magical and fake elements completely behind and continued it as a dedicated autobiography of me with names slightly changed. After a little while I stopped changing even the names. I'd unify everything in the rewrite, I thought complacently.
Never got to the rewrite. XD
What do you like to do when you're not writing?
Play the piano, work on Legea stuff/languages with my sister, interact with people on Wattpad, sled when it's not 15 degrees outside, read old writing.
What does your family think of your writing?
My Legea sister loves it. What do you expect? My siblings are all pretty enthusiastic about my passion, except maybe the youngest two who wouldn't care two straws except that they're not allowed to come in my room or bug me while I'm doing it. My parents like the fact that I'm so dedicated, and they've always encouraged me to pursue it and get me things like notebooks and writing guides, but they're really busy(like, the dad is rarely at home and when he is he's working in his study and the mom is, well, a mom), and so they have never actually read my writing. *sniff* Kinda sad about that.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Surprising things --? Hmm. One, I think, would be the truths I can teach myself and others through the medium of writing. While writing The Journey, I would just find these little truths slipping out, almost writing themselves under my fingers, and I love how writing will take things and let you see them with clearer eyes. C.S. Lewis had a quote about that but I'm too lazy to go look it up. XD
Another was how hard, and yet how fun, it is to come up with chapter titles.
How many books have you written? Which is your favourite?
To date, I have completed one full-length novel, three shorter stories, and two one-shots. In order:
The Journey, the first in the Ceristen series. There will be three more in that series, with a semi-standalone epic fantasy following a quarter of a century later. (The Village is almost done though, guys!)
Talking Car Town was the first book I ever finished, and unfortunately I think I lost it bare months after I wrote it; otherwise it would be in When I Was Rather Young right now. It was actually the only book I ever finished before The Journey, and I was probably nine or ten when I wrote it. It was about -- could you possibly guess? -- talking cars. Based off a game my siblings and I played with matchbox cars in the basement, I always considered it "above" the level of anything like Disney/Pixar's Cars or other books/movies with talking cars. It took place in a fascinating fantasy world and was, I declared, "Really as much of a good fantasy story as one with people or elves, just with cars in their place. It's not silly or kiddish at all." I began a rewrite at age twelve, which... I never finished. The number of unfinished works I have is unthinkably obscene.
A Cold Cry is a short story with thirty-two bite-sized chapters that I started for a winter contest prompt a couple months after I joined Wattpad. It was one of the winners! It's a very "different" sort of story. I wrote it with a deliberately high-archaic style and not the usual subject matter even for a high fantasy book. Considering its vast differences from the norm, it is really touching to me how much love it has received.
Flare in the Darkness: Holwena Talnre of Rothalon was a story that gripped me just before I finished A Cold Cry. Based off a legend that we invented for Legea years ago and beefed up slightly, I felt I needed to turn it into a real story and share it with all you beautiful readers.
A Farseeing Flame was a short that I wrote for another contest on here. It narrates the trial facing a man as he seeks to fulfill the mandate given to him, lest Legea fall ultimately into darkness and ruin by the werevultures. To me, the title encapsulates the main character: the farseeing is his gift, and his spirit burns like a flame.
When the River Rolls is the only fanfiction I have ever tried my pen at(unless you count the ridiculous half-Middle Earth based stuff I did when I was twelve). It's a very short story, but I do like it. I enjoyed writing Bilbo.
And I am in the throes of writing many more...
As for a favourite... I couldn't tell you that. They're all really quite different from one another in subject matter and even structure, and I love them equally in different ways(except maybe Talking Car Town... no, that one's special because it was the first one).
Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?
1. Read good books
2. Read more good books
3. Read good books about writing
4. Read some more good books
5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Write books
In all seriousness, that is the best advice there is. Read the books, read about writing books, and write. As much as you can.
Do you hear from your readers much? What kind of things do they say?
I have... *drumroll* AMAZING readers. They interact with me, get involved in my stories, offer me all sorts of feedback. I wish I could send them literal Christmas cookies. If you wanna see some of the prettiest things they have ever said to me, go look at a.) the quotes from readers on A Cold Cry's book description, and b.) the comments from nightwraith17 on the questionnaire at the end of The Journey. But I get the occasional criticism as well, and that is equally valued when it comes.
Do you like to write books for adults?
I like to think that my books could be enjoyable for 9-99, as the saying goes. I don't write aiming at a particular age group, but want to write something that people aren't going to grow out of. But my writing falls technically into the range of young adult, I believe.
What do you think makes a good story?
Good solid juicy characters with lots of meat on them-bones. A plot that jumps around like an electrified stream, but has direction and unity. Rich subplots that tie into the main theme. Tapping into reality, to let sadness temper the joy. A strong writing style.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Author. Wife. Mother.
Still hope for it.
Tagses!
Farewell, till we meet again!
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