Thanks to the lovely Sallie Tams and her Plottdog for passing me the baton for the blog-hop called My Writing Process. You can read Sallie’s post on her beautiful blog here: http://sallietams.com/2014/02/10/the-act-of-showing-up-mywritingprocess-blog-hop/
– and there is the twitter tag #mywritingprocess if you’d like to track down more links in the chain.
So, on with the job in hand. There’s a set of questions for me to answer before hopping you on to the next blog. These had me thinking – and that’s a dangerous thing to happen on a Monday!
Without further ado:
1) What am I working on?
Several things, as always. For me, the best way to combat writer’s block is to have at least two projects on the go. Then if I find myself drying up on one piece, I switch to something as different as possible. Of course, this only works if I don’t have a tight deadline on any of them, so I like to arrange my writing commitments with plenty of elbow room.
Hey – it works for me!
At the moment, there’s the latest book, Just Add Writing. Publication date of today so I’m busy promoting that all over the place. I sent off all the pre-ordered copies last week, along with stock for Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Just-Add-Writing-Release-inside-ebook/dp/B00IG8L8MC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1392649012&sr=1-1 and copies for the Legal Deposit people at the British Library. Launch party over on Facebook if anyone wants to join us for virtual drinks and nibbles. All welcome! https://www.facebook.com/events/606496329431142/617468688333906/
Once that one is laid to rest, I’ll be focusing most of my writing time on the next Chrystal book – the second in the series begun with Chrystal Heart last year. It’s been gestating in my head for a good few months and is ready to get typed up. In Chrystal Travels, our two heroines set out to make their way home from Meso-America, where we left them at the end of the first book. There will be thrills, spills, motorbikes, modern Steampunks and traditional wrestling in this instalment. And some nasty surprises for our friend Sam.
I’ve also got a magazine article in its very early stages and a possible radio play coalescing in the dark, shadowy recesses of my brain.
There’s always a sort of lull after finishing a large project like a book. I’ve had a few weeks since sending Just Add Writing to the printers and now I’m starting to ramp things back up to normal.
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
That’s a very good question. Steampunk is a bit of a niche genre anyhow, so you’re asking if my book has its own niche within a larger niche? Cosy!
Most Steampunk is set in an alternate history that differed from our familiar world during Victoria’s reign. Mine is set in the 21st Century, but with a main character who has been alive since Victorian times. Steampunk is such a varied genre, it’s really hard to generalise it at all. People can’t agree on a definition of Steampunk, so how can I say where mine falls outside the general type?
In brief, a young lady is attacked by thieves in 1851 and rescued by a group of Tibetans who replace her damaged heart with the Chrystal Vitalis, a legendary gem believed to have healing powers. It not only saves her life, it keeps her alive far beyond a normal person’s years and, now calling herself Chrystal, she’s still around in the 21st Century. She teams up with a modern woman and the two of them set out to save the world. There are many familiar Steampunk elements, such as ætheric science and pirates, but I believe it’s unique in having a Victorian main character who’s hiding in plain sight in this way. Look closely at any Steampunks you meet – one of them may be more genuinely Victorian than you think.
3) Why do I write what I do?
It’s easy to say why I write my factual books and articles. I’m asked the same questions about disability time and again – so I put my standard answers down in book form. The MonSter and the Rainbow had to be written – I wanted to tell the story of life viewed from a wheelchair, about a world that isn’t as equal as it thinks it is – but without the self-pity so common in many biographies.
Then, Just Add Writing is a pocket book of tips for writers finding their feet and wanting to take their writing to the next level. It’s the book I wish I could have read when I started as a writer. And lots of exercises and random prompts to send even an experienced writer’s brain off at a tangent to reality, into the dimensions where the stories are.
It’s harder to say why I write my fiction. It’s something to do with wanting to create something tangible. Fiction comes as light relief after living with my MonSter (MS) for so many years; they say fiction has to make sense, whereas reality doesn’t! I have all these ideas inside me and stories are a great way to set them free into the world. I enjoy the process of writing and I get a tremendous satisfaction from my work; it comes naturally, somehow – I think I was born to be a writer. Maybe I spent all those years in grown-up employment frustrated by the lack of creative outlets.
4) How does your writing process work?
The amount of time I have for writing varies from day to day, depending on other commitments and my health. So I’ve learnt to think about writing – working on plot details and character twists – when I can’t write. My works always start in my head where I can fine-tune the plot details before setting any words down and once I’m happy that I have enough of a structure and some of the details, I can start writing.
I write on a laptop, right from the first draft. (Even my doctor says my handwriting is illegible!) If I’ve done enough plotting, the first draft is usually written very quickly and enjoyably. At some point, my characters start doing things I didn’t expect and I know the story’s coming to life. I try not to stop this first draft for anything. If I need to research a detail, I’ll make a note to come back to it. Writing like this has its own momentum and a whole book can be written in a matter of weeks. Then comes the much longer process of editing it into shape.
I use a spreadsheet to keep track of my progress through the different stages – and to remind me that I am moving forward. So long as those numbers change every day, I know I’ve done some work!
In broad terms, I try to write the first draft and then focus on different aspects with each redraft. In reality, it’s hard to stick to a disciplined editing scheme and I admit to breaking my own rules occasionally. Well, more than occasionally, to be honest. I have beta readers for each book and I like to let them loose on a draft so that I can make any changes that arise from their reading before I polish my final version. (It’s a similar process for magazine articles, but I skip the beta reader phase and sometimes end up with minor changes to be made after I’ve sent it to the magazine’s editor.)
Eventually a book is finished and emailed on to be printed and bound. I get a few weeks to recover from that and the whole cycle starts again. If I haven’t done any writing for a few days, I start to get twitchy. And you won’t like me when I’m twitchy.
Well, thank you for reading this far. Next week, #mywritingprocess passes on to Marit Meredith, an ex-pat Viking from Norway who’s now rooted half way up a Welsh hillside (surrounded by her large family), where Shakespeare is said to have found his inspiration for Midsummer Night’s Dream – she even wrote an article on the subject once. She can be found at: http://wherefactsandfictionfuse.wordpress.com/
I’ll leave you in Marit’s capable hands as she talks about her own Writing Process.
Filed under: Chrystal, Disability, For Writers, Steampunk | Tagged: blog chain, Blog-hop, Chrystal, writing life | 1 Comment »
Meg Kingston 