Verity's Book

"Interview" Tag

Tagged by dream-is-reality

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

Six? Seven?

How long does it take you to write a book?

O.O Oh my, that's a hard one. The Journey took just over three years. The Village took just under four years. (Bear in mind, I started writing it only a few months after I started The Journey. I'm constantly dividing my writing time between books.) A Cold Cry, a novella of about 12k words, took six months to complete. Flare in the Darkness, 22k words, took about four and a half months.

So. Clearly it varies.

What is your work schedule like when you're writing?

Usually it's like:

Brain: I have a wonderful, amazing idea! Let's write!

Me: *writes two chapters* *runs dry of inspiration*

Brain: This sucks. We'll work on our other stories and come back to it.

Two months later:

Brain: I have more inspiration! Let's go back there!

Me: *writes a couple pages* *runs dry*

Repeat over the course of three years.

Wattpad is good for me because it forces me to write. I have to if I want to satisfy my readers' voracious appetites. So while it is very hard ordinarily for me to sit down and make myself write, with the external force of waiting readers, I do it anyway. Due dates and deadlines are my lifesavers. They're the mother of inspiration for me. (like, literally. I can't start writing my school essays till the day before they're due. I have this block that won't let me put down a single word until Monday morning, with class on Tuesday.) Anyway, yeah. Currently I'm getting out two chapters a week for The Village, because I told myself I'd finish it by the 31st and I mean to do just that. So far, it's worked -- three weeks in a row.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

Huh. Toughie. Maybe my ability to write so much when I have the time constraint -- as opposed to my lack of ability when I don't have it? I really shocked myself when I got almost 4,000 words written last Saturday. Still not over that.

How do books get published?

a.) You self-publish, which is easy to do in theory but does involve all of the advertising(and book-binding, if you plan to publish something other than e-books) being on your shoulders.

b.) You start contacting literary agents and find one who is willing to mediate between you and publishing companies until he finds one that is willing to take your book. Fun. You should try it.

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

What do you mean? They just come. I didn't start writing because I wanted to write and so I found an idea to write about, I wrote because I had ideas and wanted to write about them. They come from everywhere and anywhere, books, sermons, conversation, scenery, paintings...

When did you write your first book and how old were you?

I'm going to go with not my first actual attempt but my first attempt of substance and say, "Caitlin's Adventures", which was planned to be something like "Little Women" or "Anne of Green Gables" in its structure and scope, basically a novel chronicling the character's life from childhood to the mid-late teenage years. It was meant to be, only half unconsciously, a "dream self" for me (don't many writers do that?) and included events based off what I thought was a dream life, what my friends had and I considered a dream life, and unnatural events like dolls coming alive.