Tuesday, June 10, 2014

"My Writing Process" Blog Tour

By now, I'm sure most of you have heard about the ongoing "My Writing Process" blog tour, which has been making the rounds. The girls over at The Write Shelf were kind enough to tag me, so here are my answers to the now-familiar questions:

What am I working on?

I'm kind of bouncing back and forth between Steve and Clyde at the moment, but since Clyde's latest draft is currently open on my desktop, let's go with him for now:)

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Clyde's a quirky MG contemporary, so he's got a lot of company. I'd say the most unique thing about him is that he's a retelling of a biblical story. I suppose any underdog story could be considered a retelling of David and Goliath, but I really tried to incorporate some of the plot points from 1 Samuel into Clyde's storyline.

Why do I write what I do?

I tried speculative YA stuff, both fantasy and sci-fi, for the first few years, didn't have a ton of success, switched over to realistic MG (sort of), and had lightning strike. I landed an agent and two book deals within a year and a half, so I'm a huge proponent of trying something new if what you've been writing for a while isn't getting you where you want to be.

How does your writing process work?

I started out as a pantser, made the leap to plotter, and ultimately went back to pantser. If I spend too much time not-writing, the whole thing starts to feel like homework, so I let myself just go, go, go when I'm writing a first draft. But once I've raced through that first draft, I spend a ton of time revising (like, two or three times as long as I spent writing the first draft, and that's BEFORE I start working with an editor). In other words, most of the work gets done on the back end for me.

Next up, Myrna Foster and A.L. Sonnichsen! These two have been good writing friends for almost as long as I've been blogging, and I can honestly say I wouldn't be where I am without them. Definitely check out their blogs (and keep an eye out for their posts next week!).

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the update. It is amazing how you can juggle so many things in addition to several stories. I guess I am in the same boat. Lots of family stuff mixed in with some writing time, but it is crazy fun though. Good luck with your projects.

Krista Van Dolzer said...

And good luck with yours, Karen! *high-fives*

Stephsco said...

Very cool how you switched genres and found that level of success. :)

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Stephsco, I think quite a few writers--and even some published authors--could be writing in genres that their natural writing styles don't favor just because those genres are in or they think they can't write anything else. There's something to be said for writing the ideas that come to you (so if your ideas are in one genre, I don't think you should necessarily force yourself to switch), but if you do have an idea that you think might take you out of your comfort zone, I definitely think it's worth trying.

Jenny said...

It's always nice for me to hear other authors affirm that writing is re-writing, and share how much work comes after that first draft. It's one of my most needed and encouraging affirmations.

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Jenny, I spend SO MUCH TIME revising. When I first started writing, I thought I was one of those writers who spit out finished drafts on the very first try. How wrong I was:)