BLOG HOPPING ALONG!
I’m bloghopping again! It was just a few weeks ago
that I was tagged by one of Sucker Literary Volume 3 writers, Kristina Wojtaszek to jump on a blog tour for
writers of various genres. Take a look at that post here.
But many months have past, and I am an ever-evolving
and changing Gemini, so I found that I had something new to say about my work,
and myself—even just 5 months later.
I want to thank Sarah Towle, fellow sister-chick at
Hen&ink Literary, for inviting me along
with coopmate Pen Avey on the tour. Pen is posting today too, so
check her out here. I think
our bloghop started when Sarah was tagged by another sister-chick, author/illustrator Wendy Wahman. Wendy also
tagged our agent Erzsi Deak.
Keeping it all in the family. Cluck,
cluck!
First, a bit about Sarah
Towle:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMma_q4ZD1NhyYaTcw1S5xQmAaWJ_UNVXU31gO_UB5UoG0TLWV6FXKf0nCwmVhlU6vlNk3MW1dcplB-L1iMF48G0IUDn79GJCNMCKZrhBODpdovE14WWaVkyDATNh_90dWbp2tMg/s1600/BMLGprintcover_1024x1384.jpg)
Don’t go yet! I’ve got some updates on my new, steamy NA
book. Read on to hear about my writing.
What am I working on?
…a steamy NA story involving four different points-of-view. I wrote it
feverishly back in Nov ‘12 for my first (and so far, only) NaNoWriMo. Originally, this novel was part of another series, which is YA, that I finished
writing not too long ago. I wondered what happened to them 4 years after high
school and thus, the inspiration for the book.
I sent some of this to my agent (who is part of this blog hop!)
after polishing it up (back in November of last year) and her first response
was… can you change the character names?
Her advice wasn’t about the names, per say. Strategically
speaking, I understood what she was suggesting. For years I have been writing a
YA series that involve a specific set of characters. My agent’s suggestion was
maybe try to start fresh. Though I felt all kinds of heartache over the
decision, I wanted to grow—heck, isn’t that what we want as writers? So I came
up with new names for the characters and did a revision. She read it and what
became clear to both of us was that I needed to decide if this was a book from
the series I had been writing or if it wasn’t. More importantly, changing the
names wasn’t enough. Kind of like when Axil Rose tours now with what he calls Guns N’Roses but the
people on the stage, they aren’t the players of the Guns N’Roses I knew growing up. In other words, this
version of the book was trying to be something it really wasn’t.
So I decided to take a leap of faith and create all new
characters, which meant a lot of off-the-page work, with character interviews
and charts and plot sequencing and changing back-stories, etc.
But guess what? IT WAS FUN!
Though, at first, it felt like a betrayal, like I was replacing
my whole family or something…like I had left my husband and children and then
replaced them with new ones. I felt guilty, my inner Jewish mother was
clutching her hanky and crying, “Oy vey, my babies!”
However, as I did the off-the-page work, I felt the freeing
sensation of writing something brand new, and instead of feeling as though I
abandoned another set of characters (or my entire family) I came to the
stunning and mature realization that my creativity is not about the way I live
my real life! And, THAT’S THE POINT OF FICTION! Characters are not family or
children. They are us (we, to be grammatically correct), slices of ourselves
imagined into scenarios we create. This is FICTION. LET IT GO!
And I did! The new version was met with MUCH enthusiasm by my
agent. I think she said this was the best I’ve written so far.
Right now, I am doing another revision that’s all about uping
the voices of each character and fleshing out one in particular who was lacking
against the others.
And that’s what I’m doing now.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
My intention is to reveal the full
dimension of characters and to not censor relationships or the shadow side of
the human condition but I try to leave my readers with a sense of hope.
Why do I write what I do?
It’s fun. Seriously, I've answered
this all kinds of ways in the past. Poetry to writing, love letters to writing, etc. Don't get me wrong, I journal because I have to let out the shit that gets
stuck in my brain and causes me to tweak and freak. But I write fiction because
it is FUN and a perfect escape from everyday, adulthood life. I used to write
to right the wrongs I felt I had in my life as a teen or young adult. Now, as
an adult, I write about those years, but it’s more for the fun of it. Not to
mention my day job as tutor and coach to teens really gives me great copy!
How does my writing process work?
My rough drafts are fast and furious without censorship or
edits. Then I let it sit, let it gestate, let it breathe. Then I take it back
out and read and mark it up with what is wrong. Let it sit. Go into each
section that I’ve marked up and revise those areas first. Let it sit. Then
reread the whole thing for final-ish revisions. Send to agent and she says AWESOME
: ) The last part is my prayer.
Up Next On The Tour Is...
Thanks
for reading! Now check out Whitney
Stewart, who I've tagged for the next stop on our blog tour. Her post will be live on August 4th!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfy1SyhVYWeE4pVIeeh837nU_u5xUMiK40YPVF_0qMn5SZxlvDgKRmMMw2Zeso8d1dLn8mqBJkLeeUjM81fbzCnSMg5ACtPD-bRVGfJl4Bq6bgN5Dnm5yNVXoiZTHu8ioJ84x66w/s1600/author_sidebar_01.jpg)
Whitney also write for adults. Her current "Finding Reiner" series, about her adventure travel search for a missing WWII soldier, is gaining speed on TravelGumbo.com: http://www.travelgumbo.com/ blog/finding-reiner-disaster- to-discovery
For more about Whitney, follow her on Twitter at @whitneytewart2 or check out her website:http://www.whitneystewart.com.
1 comment:
Exciting writing news! Enjoyed the update and the insights.
Would you recommend the NaNoWriMo experience? Would you do it again?
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