what follows is an interview pertaining to my written work. since no magazines, etc., were jumping at the opportunity to do one, i decided to ask myself a bunch of questions found at random via google. you know - in the interest of saving future wikipedia curators time.
Q: When did you first realize that you wanted to be a writer?
A: I was a voracious reader, one of those kids that you used to see coming out of the library every Saturday with a stack of books tucked under their chin. When I was 10 or so, my mom gave me a paperback copy of The Princess Bride. It changed my life. From then on, I knew that I wanted to write.
Q: How long does it take you to write a book?
A: The writing part is relatively easy; I can usually churn out a first draft in about 6 months. Editing takes just as long. But it can take years to get the story right.
Q: What is your process when you're writing?
A: In the early days of a book, I usually do a fair amount of research, taking notes and building up an idea of the characters and the world they live in. Then I usually do a bullet list of story points in Excel, and swap them around until the order feels right. Sometimes I'll write key scenes down first, just so I know what I'm writing toward. I used to do character sketches and whatnot, too, to help me picture them better.
When it comes time to do the actual writing, I try to stick close to the bullet points, unless something new occurs to me (this always happens), at which point I slip in new bullet points and sometimes change the order around again.
I used to edit as I wrote, but I've found that it's easier for me to finish a book if I just charge blindly ahead with the writing, no matter how ugly it is, then refine it and give it a solid beat during editing.
Q: You work full time at a day job, plus have a family. How do you find time to write, paint book covers and so on?
A: You have to make time. In my case, I stay up long after my family's gone to bed, plus I write during lunch breaks at work or whenever there's an unproductive moment. I also keep a small digital recorder in my car, so that I can record plot ideas, scenes, thoughts about business, and song lyrics at stoplights.
Q: Do you have a set number of words or pages that you try to hit each day?
A: No. Once I start writing, I keep on until I have to stop, either because I have to get back to work or because I fall asleep. If I'm away from it too long, I lose interest in the current story.
Q: Where do you get your ideas?
A: Port Huron, Michigan. It's that kind of town. People from PoHo - or Port Yorn or Port Urine, if you're a native - tend to either become musicians and leave, or stick around and drink a lot. Sometimes both.
Q: When did you write your first book?
A: I was 16, and wrote the first draft of The Ring Around the Rose for a creative writing class. Well, not really - I wrote it for a girl that I liked; the assignment was just an excuse. I gave her the original manuscript one day - the only copy - and never saw it again. I had to work from memory for the version that Amazon published.
Q: That was your first full-length novel, wasn't it? How did it feel to finally publish it?
A: Terrible. I still wasn't sure if the editing was right, and I knew that it had to be to get readers interested in the 2nd book. Luckily, Amazon lets you edit a book even after it's been released. I still find myself going back and tinkering with it. There are some bits that I've always liked, but I've learned so much since then!
Q: When will the second book in that series come out?
A: On my deathbed, probably. I learned everything that I know about deadlines from George R.R. Martin. It's all there in longhand notes, or a lot of it, and a friend was kind enough to type up the first 21 pages or so. I know how it goes, and it's a good story, but finishing it is going to be a lot of hard work, so I keep kind of hoping that people will stop asking. If they don't, I may actually have to finish it one day, and then they'll start whining about the 3rd book.
Q: There's a 3rd book?
A: Who told you that?
Q: What do you like to do when you're not writing?
A: Spend time with my family. Our daughter is heading off to college next year and our son isn't far behind, so I want to spend as much time with them now as they'll let me. We like to travel. I also write songs and paint.
Q: How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
A: Two novels (Red, which will soon be republished under the title Nerd Girls Go to Hell, and The Ring Around the Rose), and a short story collection called Grimmer. Next up will be a new horror novel (Rest Stop), set once again in PoHo, but with a different set of characters than Red.
My current favorite is Red, because the main character is so funny, and she's easy to write.
Q: Do you have any suggestions for new writers?
A: Write all the time. When you're not writing, read. If you don't do both of those things constantly, you're a doodler, not a writer. There's nothing wrong with being a doodler, but if you want to be a writer, take it seriously. Learn as much about spelling, grammar, and punctuation as possible. Writing is no different than any other job - you have to have good tools. If people can't understand you, they're not going to listen to anything that you have to say. You can't expect to pick up a guitar one day and become a famous musician the next. Everything takes work - lots of it. Anyone who says different is selling something.
Q: What do you think makes a good story?
A: Characters that we can relate to and care about, living in a world that we can smell and taste. From there, any obstacle or problem can be thrown in; we just want to see what the characters do, and compare it to what we'd do in a similar situation. Anything more than that is icing on the cake.
Q: Who are your favorite authors?
A: In no particular order, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, William Goldman, Hunter Thompson, William Burroughs, Clive Barker, Christopher Moore, Tim Dorsey, and Kurt Vonnegut. When I was younger, I read a lot of Stephen King, too.
Q: Do you do all your own editing?
A: I do, but I also have a muse who reads all of my stuff and tells me when people will have a hard time understanding what I mean, or what they probably will or won't like. I don't always agree with her, but I always listen, and I write with her in mind. She's an excellent barometer.
Q: How about book covers? Is it better to hire them done, or create your own, as you do?
A: Not if you're no good at it, and by that I mean, would people buy your book based on your cover art alone? Your cover is all about selling your story's tent pole character or idea. Every book sold on Amazon is a thumbnail image that you're trying to persuade shoppers to click.
Stay away from fancy fonts - if the title and your name aren't clear in the thumbnail, people won't buy your book. A generic cover that doesn't really have anything to do with your story won't help, either - especially if you copied it off the web, which can lead to lawsuits for copyright infringement.
Q: Is it possible to make a living selling your work on Amazon?
A: No - not unless you're already J.K.Rowling or George R.R. Martin. Although Amazon made publishing on the Kindle platform easy (for which I am eternally grateful), self-publishing has substantially upped the number of authors that you're competing against. It's difficult to rise above the noise, unless you've got a large advertising budget, which most self-publishers don't. And like anything else, most of the competition is crap. That's what got me started writing in the first place: I read a book by someone else, and knew that I could do a better job than they did.
Q: Did you?
A: No. My first stories were even worse. But I worked at them, and tried to figure out what I liked about my favorite authors' work. Some of the best advice I ever got was to be merciless when editing. Never use a long word when a shorter one will do. Hack out anything that doesn't have to be there, even if you've fallen in love with it. That's hard; editing is hard. Three-quarters of everything that I write ends up in the circular file, and some of those pages are my favorite parts, but it's got to be done. If it doesn't have to be there, rip it out.