Writing Process Blog Tour

Greetings all!

The mega-fantastic Laura Salters has tagged me in this blog tour (check out her process here!). So, this morning I will be answering some fun questions:

1. What am I working on?

My current WIP is an as-yet-unnamed YA urban fantasy. When I first started rolling the idea around in my head it was as Veronica Mars meets Narnia, if the traffic flow through the wardrobe was going in the other direction – and if Veronica was descendant of Chugach shamans and Irish Aos Si.

I finished the first draft the week before last, twirled around in excited circles until I threw up and am currently wrestling with the first round of editing.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

This story takes place in a New York where humans are very aware, although nowhere near fully accepting, of the fantasy creatures with whom they share their city. The fantasy creatures in this world are born from various American lore. From lumberjack folklore, argopelters, cactus cats, jackalopes and jersey devils all make appearances. There are also azebans, chickcharneys, fastachees and thunderbirds (to name a few), which hale from Native American folklore.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I’ve always enjoyed reading a lot of different genres. Because of this, I frequently have many different ideas for a whole variety of stories popping into my head. However, my fantasy characters are always the ones who yell the loudest. They are so persistent in their demand for my attention, I just don’t have the heart to refuse them. That, and when I try, they don’t let me sleep. I really love sleep.

4. How does my writing process work?

Generally, I start with a character – one person who really interests me. From there I build out into the people who surround them and start looking at their relationships. After I have an idea as to whether or not certain people get along (and why), I expand to the world they’re living in.

As I write fantasy, this step involves the most research. In my WIP, there’s a large focus on folklore in the United States, with particular concentrations on that of the northeast (creatures) and Alaska (creatures and shamanism). I’ve not yet mastered the art of being organized in my research, so information I find ends up in notebooks, Word files and the not-so-occasional napkin.

Once I have a decent understanding of my world – both large scale and individual to my MC – it’s time to figure out what’s about to make my MC’s life go sideways. I like to sketch out the inciting incident, the midway point, the climax and the ending. Then I just write, even on the days where it seems as though every word coming out of my mind is going to end up on the scrap pile. 

By New York Zoological Society [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

For me, drafting is all about powering through. Revisions are where I have my fun. No more terrifying blank pages, instead I get to play with a bunch of characters I already love until I make their lives the best I can.

So, that's how I approach things. How about the rest of you writerly types? What's the method to your madness? 

Thanks to Kelley Harvey for kicking this all off!!

TAG, YOU’RE IT!

Lauren Grimley

Lauren lives in central Massachusetts where she grew up, but her heart is on the beaches of Cape Cod Boston University she became a middle school English teacher.

where she spends as much time as possible. After graduating from

Her loves are lounging on quiet beaches, laughing with good friends, and curling up with the cat and a great book on a rainy day.

As for her first novel, she has her seventh graders to thank for starting her on this path. A few years back, they convinced a skeptical new teacher vampire stories were worth reading. She now spends her time writing them when she should be correcting papers.

Website: http://www.laurengrimley.com/

Twitter: @legrimley

Megan Just

Megan is a freelance and fiction writer living with her husband and toddler daughter on California’s Central Coast.

She’s horribly long winded so her fiction writing is naturally of the full-length-novel type. Sometimes, when she’s feeling ambitious, she’ll attempt a short story. On the freelance side, her favorite assignments are features with a sociology edge and personal essays. She occasionally takes on copy editing jobs and writes book reviews.

Website: http://meganjust.com

Twitter: @meganjust

Jack Lewis Baillot

Jack is an author. Basically, run. She is not impossible, just a little bit unlikely.

She is not a king or queen of Narnia, though she would be if her wardrobe was working. She is Spartacus. She was not born on another planet though when she retires she is moving to Mars, or the Moon. She can wear a red shirt because she is Scottish. She sleeps in a bed because her hammock developed a fault. Also, she has never kissed a frog, not sure what she would do if it turned into a prince.

Website: http://www.jacklewisbaillot.com/

Twitter: @MsJackLBaillot