MJ Compton has tagged me as part of a blog tag, where writers share a bit about their writing process and their books. It also involves answering four basic questions.
1. What am I working on?At the moment, that's a bit up in the air. I recently got 20 of my books back from their publishers, having met their contractual obligation, and 10 I hope to get back in June. So I'm working to re-edit them, including giving them new ISBN numbers and covers, and re-releasing them on a currently one-per-week schedule.
In the meantime, I've finished my stand-alone sci-fi romance, Zonaton, and am editing it as well, before sending it off to the editor for a final polish. Look for its release in April.
I've also started three more books, each one part of a series. I hope to have Runner's Moon: Yarrolam, The Gifting, and HeartStorm finished this year. As well as AEquana's Quest, Breacher #3, and Ghost of the Swamp (Subwoofers #2, Pud's story.) Once I retire in June after 35 years of teaching, I can work finally as a full-time author. Yay!
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?That's hard to pinpoint. I guess I could say my heroes are flawed, and definitely not Alphas. I also take chances on putting non-human characters together with human ones, to make loving couples (and praying I don't squick out people in the process).
I also have flawed and sometimes physically-challenged heroes and heroines. I try to make each book a bit different than what people expect, and include a surprising twist.
Because I love the fantastical. The avant guarde. The mystical, mythical, and mysterious. I want to explore the unknown. And if I can't, let me make it up. Let me create whole worlds and situations and people. Don't tell me people "can't do this and that", or go "here or there". Don't tell me such and such doesn't exist, because I'll make it exist! I'll go there, and I'll have my characters do it, and experience it, or battle with it. And the love they discover in the meantime will be rich and genuine and forever.
Miraculously. Seriously, it's a miracle my ideas become cohesive at all. Sometimes I'll come up with a title or an idea, but no clue as to what to do with them. Other times, I'll see a picture, photo, or piece of art, and decide I want to write a story about it. Or I may finish one book, then realize I haven't finished telling that story. And at other times, it's all because someone said, "When are you going to write another story about XYZ?" When any of those happen, I just sit back and give myself time, letting the ideas whirl around in my head and gather more ideas and details like iron particles to a magnet. More often than not, by the time I start to put the book into words, the large majority of the story has already been written in my head.
I keep notes in a journal to help me keep on track with names and dates, and details. I try to get in a minimum of 500 words written a day, but there are times after a stressful day teaching I may not get anything written, and evenings or weekends where I may pump out a whole chapter.
Do I get writer's block? Actually, it's more exhaustion block than anything. But once the love of the characters and their stories start to permeate my dreams, I won't let go until I have it all written down.
Well, that's it. Thanks again to MJ for tagging me!
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