My Writing Process Blog Tour

The lovely Melody Marshall tagged me on The Writing Process Blog Tour! We met through an online writing contest and subsequently had the privilege of meeting in person at the latest NE-SCBWI Conference. Check out her blog for book reviews, author interviews, and general thoughts on writing!

Now to the questions at hand:

1) What am I working on?

My current focus is zeroed in on my YA High Fantasy Novel. After having written it once, with 16 different edited versions, I decided to rewrite the entire thing this past spring. Now, I am editing the new manuscript!
For a hint as to what it is about--the story stemmed from a couple of "what if" questions: What if cupids weren't the fluffy, lovey cherubs we have preconceived them to be? What if something bad happened when a cupid fell in love?

2) How does my work differ from others in its genre?

My first instinct with this question was to quick find all the extraordinary aspects of my novel that make it unique, because, hey, who doesn't wan to be special? The honest truth of the matter is that I think I've simply taken a bunch of tried and true tropes and reassembled them in my own voice. There's romance. There's action. There's grief and laughter. So what makes it differ? Well ... to sound perfectly egocentric ... ME. The author. I write with a perspective and voice that no other writer has and that is what makes my story separate from others in its genre. 

3) Why do I write what I write?

Fantasy is powerful. It stirs imaginations to life and colors our perspectives, if just for a little while. That is enough reason for me.

4) How does my writing process work?

I'll give you the most universal of my writing processes since every manuscript is different:

Become seized by brilliant idea.
Toss the idea into Scrivener and pound out somewhere between 50-90k.
Read the first draft and cringe.
Edit. Edit more. Edit 'til I bleed.
Rewrite loads.
Tear out hair over need for more internals (my unfailing weakness).
Employ liberal use of thesaurus and edit again while looking for overused words and phrases.
Have CPs and Betas read.
EDIT.
Repeat.

Now, I am passing the pen to Miss Kathryn Trattner, a writer from my fantastic online writing group! Her blog is full of beautifully written musings about life and writing. I look forward to reading about her writing process!

Getting Rid of Over-Used Words in Your Manuscript

I recently searched for the word "stomach" in my manuscript and discovered I was using it as a scapegoat for emotion.

In fact, I am fairly certain my main-character's stomach was a more active character in the story than my main character herself. There were FIFTY-SIX instances of the word in my manuscript!

Her stomach really is quite remarkable for all that it does. It curdles, curls, clenches, reels, growls, churns, turns, drops, rolls, hollows, knots, dives, swoops, tumbles, heaves, caves, ... and the list goes on, my friends! Oh, but the list goes on!

I realized as I went through the "stomachs," that I was missing a grand opportunity for internals.

At first, I was simply seeking substitute words for "stomach" (erm ... "gut?"), but that only cheapened the emotion I was trying to convey. Get rid of the easy physical ways of demonstrating feeling (i.e. "dread pooled in her stomach") and you find yourself relying far more on the thoughts of the character. These thoughts, in turn, influence the thoughts of the reader and bring about a natural shift in emotion for both the character and the reader. 

(Note: I did not say parallel shift. The reader and character may feel very differently about something that has happened, but if you give the thoughts that propel those emotions, you will get something genuine.)

Now, I did not get rid of all "stomach"s because I believe that there is a time and place for everything. But as someone who frequently struggles with including enough internals, this has been vastly beneficial.

HINT: This practice also gives you a chance to deepen your voice--that ever-ambiguous voice that we writers seek to shine!