Writing Process Blog Chain

Today I am participating in the Writing Process Blog Chain, where writers answer four questions on their writing process, then tag a friend to keep the chain going.

A big thanks to the lovely Karla Gomez for tagging me (click on her name/link to see her part)! Karla is a fellow blogger and graduated with a B.A. in Literature and Writing. She obtained an internship with the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency and shortly thereafter started working at law offices and as a freelance developmental editor for a boutique publishing house. She is currently working on her WIP which she hopes to self-pub later this year.

Alright, now my answers...

1. What am I currently working on?

I'm currently working on a YA fantasy/romance that I've been referring to as M2 on this blog. I've been working on it since the end of October last year and am currently 2/3 done with my third draft. In May I will be sending it out to beta readers and getting feedback via a YA workshop. After that, I'll get my fourth draft of revisions done and start line-edits.

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

What differentiates writers from each other are the unique perspectives we all have. My work differs from others of my genre because of the perspective I have and the experiences I have been through; all of that translates into my imagination and I project it in my words, my stories, and above all, my characters. My work is different because it comes from my mind and my heart. That's my unique stamp on it, and there's no duplicating or imitating it, because we as people are all different, and we as writers, write different things. Sure their might be common denominators in our stories, but that's just like life, isn't it? We as people share common interests, may have similar backgrounds, but when it comes down to it, we all look different, we have differnt thumbprints. And words for writers and how we shape them are our own unique thumbprint. Our own unique perspective.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I keep the young adult genre close to my heart because it's shaped who I am. The books were my friends in solitude, the characters showed me it was okay to be different, and the writers that created them made it okay for me to feel instead of hide.

As a child traversing through the unknown, you need something to anchor you. Books were that for me. It gave me an escape when I needed one, but it also kept me grounded. I don't know if that makes sense to you, but that felt like magic to me.

I write young adult, because I think of the little girl that used to be me: scared but brave, hopeful but pessimistic, a romantic yet a cynic, and more than anything I want to reach out to her and say that it's okay. Everything will be alright. Get lost in my story and maybe when you surface things will start to look different.

The thing is, their are probably a lot of young adults who have felt the way I've felt, so writing is really a way of giving back. Like the writers before me, I want to give young adults a place to escape, a place to love, and make them dream up the impossible so that the chain of unexplicaple magic that books give us, continues.

4. How does my writing process work?

There's one quote by Ira Glass that I found extrememly helpful and agree with immensely:

I think I'm still figuring out how my writing process works. I've tried outlines, detailed notes, character and setting sheets, but I never really stick to them. I do, however, keep a notebook just for story ideas and jot them down, list ideas for scenes, and somehow when I've collected my ideas I arrange and rearrange them until a story forms and I just keep writing. And writing. And writing.

Then I revise, and revise, and revise. After, I edit, and edit, and edit (you get the idea, right?).

I highly recommend Scrivener to those working on a large volume of work. It makes it easier to organize your story and jump from one place to the next quickly instead of scrolling through a large document.

I hope you found my answers helpful and interesting. Happy writing all!

I'm passing this chain onto my friend and fellow blogger Monica Mansfield. Tune into her blog next Monday to see her answers!

Monica Mansfield writes for young adults. Her stories lean toward (or submerge themselves shamelessly in) the mythical, magical and otherworldly. She also has a degree in mathematics which she puts to use counting words, calculating discounts, and every week at her day job. She balances her love of words and numbers in and around Boston.