Monday, September 3, 2012

MEET & GREET!


Questions for the Meet and Greet

-Where do you write?
Usually in the office (lucky to have an office), sometimes on the porch and sometimes late at night in bed.

-Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see?
A pile! Encyclopedia of the Strange, Mystical, & Unexplained (Rosemary Ellen Guiley), my book bible (three ring binder filled with names, myths, inventions, and what-ifs),  Steampunk Bible (Jeff VanderMeer), a journal, and a composition notebook. It's a good pile of stuff. 

-Favorite time to write?
Either early in the morning or late at night. But anytime I can carve out is my favorite.

-Drink of choice while writing?
Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee. Unless it's late at night then a glass of red wine is nice -- and helps quiet the editor!

-When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?
I like to gear up for writing with music -- I like to find my own soundtrack for the book I'm working on, but I want quiet while I'm actually writing. Now, brainstorming to music is great.

-What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?
It was a long route...but my own pre-teen years and the movie Thor.

I had finished the first(ish) draft of a Contemporary YA -- and was having a hard time with one of the heroes, as in: What is he? What's the mythology? Etc. And, because I like to make things difficult for myself -- or I can't face the difficulties -- I thought, why don't I plop this in the 1800s and instead of a parapsychology center(which I really lived in for a while as a kid) I'll make it a school for "exceptional" kids...and, hey, what if myth and legend were actual history...

So, it ended up being it's own story -- nothing made it from the original YA (which is good, still need to figure that one out) 

-What's your most valuable writing tip?
Writing leads to ideas, ideas lead to more writing (a tip I often forget!). And use a beat sheet! Blake Snyder or Alexandra Sokolloff -- it's like a WIP GPS.

Excited to meet people!

53 comments:

  1. Your story sounds fascinating. And beat sheets are great tools. ^_^

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    1. Hi Angelina -- the story keeps wanting to be bigger! I have to rein it in, plus, have been working on it far too long...sigh. Beat sheets rule, I agree! Good to meet you -- I'll drop by soon.

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  2. I am intrigued to hear more about your story! Sounds fab.

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    1. Hi VikLit, sometimes, I'm intrigued to hear more of my story too! Kidding. Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Nice to meet someone else writing historical! Yours sounds like it has some fantasy elements.

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    1. Carrie-Anne, mine has a boat load (or AirPirate ship load) of fantasy/paranormal elements in it with some Steampunk thrown in for good measure. But I am trying to get the true history of St. Paul on the Mississippi true to the time.

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  4. My heart is with YA contemporary but my current WIP is a historical also. My goal was to make it feel contemporary but to work in a lot of historical details.

    I love the idea of making a soundtrack for a story. I've tried that a bit by listening to different stations on Pandora.

    Here's my GUTGAA Meet & Greet: A Girl and Her Diary

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    1. Hi Stephsco, that sounds cool! And I think readers would find it more interesting. Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. Hi Amy! Love the story of the inspiration for your manuscript--it sounds fascinating. And I'm a unrepentant coffee addict too :-)

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    1. Trina, if I could drink coffee all day I would, but my cut-off is around 1:00, otherwise I'm awake at 3am! Great to meet you!

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  6. Hold up! You lived in a "parapsychology center" as a kid? That sounds really interesting! :)

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    1. It sounds more interesting than it was! I keep meaning to write posts about it...and then I don't. I lived there with my mom from 1969-1971. There were classes on ESP, palmistry, handwriting analysis. It certainly gave me an open mind! Thanks for stopping by Jessie!

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  7. Hi Amy! You know you intrigued all of us with the "parapsychology" bit. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your writing which has to have been informed a bit by that interesting bit of background!

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    1. Dawn, I think it just made me more open to possibilities. And maybe that's why I can't quite get my YA cont. polished -- because, I based setting and circumstance on me -- although I never talked to ghosts or had 2hunky boys who lived at the center...darn.

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  8. Can I just say that I'd spend a WEEK in your "pile of stuff"? How awesome are you to have all that cool stuff in books and binders? I bet you're a scrapbooker. I'm just scrappy. Good luck in GUTGAA!

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    1. Ha! I'm kind of scrappy too. No scrap books for me, I'd have to be organized. And my book bible is a hot mess -- I know when I next organize it I will find all kinds of gems.

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    1. Hi Aidyl, thanks -- you know how you can never really tell if something is cool or stupid? Yeah, that's how I always feel about my ideas. Thanks!

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  10. Got to echo the above comments about your story, sounds intriguing. Also liking the sound of the historical setting, and high-five for the steampunk bible - historic fiction is my favourite genre, but SP isn't far behind. Anyway, have a good GUTGAA!

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    1. Robbie, one of my favorite authors is Y.S. Ling she writes a series set in late 1800s in London, it's YA about an all girls "detective agency" -- so good.

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  11. Haha. Your WIP sounds super interesting!

    *waves* so nice to meet you!

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    1. Hi Kelley, thank you and thanks for stopping by!

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  12. I definitely have to look into this beat sheet business. I adore Alexandra Sokoloff's work. Just watched the movie Thor for the first time last night...great inspiration!
    -Jenna

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    1. Jenna, whenever I get, even remotely, stuck I go back to the beat sheet. Do you read Alexandra Sokoloff's blog? Brilliant.

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  13. Hi Amy! Nice to meet you. I'm a YA reader myself, which can be awkward at times since I'm an adult librarian. (Not good when patrons ask if I've read the latest James Patterson or if I read those Dragon Tattoo books...or even if I liked the last book I read.) But I love 'em! Your WIP sounds excellent. Keep at it! And hopefully, we'll all land an agent soon. :)

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    1. Hi Sarah -- sounds like you should be helping the children's/teen librarian on reading lists! I adore reading YA (but I throw in some adult books too!). YA has so many choices, none dull --Dragon *cough* Tattoo *cough*.

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  14. Wow, love this premise. And THOR, lol. Good luck with GUTGAA.

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    1. Thanks Angie! Having fun with the Thor premise, especially since his "essence" is in a girl.

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  15. Hi Amy! Great to meet you! Never checked out a beat sheet, but I'll have to give it a look. Thanks for the tip, and best of luck with GUTGAA!

    http://thinkingtoinking.blogspot.com

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    1. Hi SStokes, anything that used to hint at pre-work for writing would make me cringe. Pantser all the way, until my last first draft left me with more questions! Thanks for stopping by.

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  16. Nice to meet you! Your current work took a winding path to make it into the world, but it seems like it was meant to be told. How does Thor fit? See you around the GUTGAA trail!

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    1. I replied -- but it disappeared. So, Hi Jeannette, my heroine has the "essence" of Thor in her -- it's been fun.

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  17. Hi Amy, it's great to meet you! I'm a total plotter too...I have a crazy version of a beat sheet, and it's a lifesaver. Good luck with everything!

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    1. So Tif, you made up your own version of a beat sheet? Incredible. Good luck to you too!

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  18. Thank you for stopping by my blog, fellow GUTGAA'er! I LOVE Mythology and YA (Youth Services Specialist, of course!) I can't wait to hear more.

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  19. Nice to meet you! Your blog background is beautiful and your story sounds cool. Not like anything I've heard of recently but a very neat new idea.

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    1. Hey Jessica, thank you. But you know how that goes...you think you have a unique idea, and blam! Everyone's suddenly writing about what you thought you made up. It's all in the ether just waiting to be grabbed.

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  20. You really do need to figure out the parapsychology center idea--sounds awesome! :D

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    1. Robin! I think I have it, it's just working up the enthusiasm to go back to it and fix it. Thanks!

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  21. I love the idea of throwing a spanner in your own works, so to speak, like you did with changing your book setting to the 1800s :)

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    1. The funny thing is though it just became its own thing. The beast didn't want to be the same. But the idea of throwing it into the 1800s is what opened up my imagination.

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  22. I like that ideas create ideas and writing leads to writing.

    http://otherworlddiner.blogspot.com/2012/09/deana-barnharts-gearing-up-to-get-agent.html

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    1. Thanks Mia, it's like the physics theory: bodies in motion tend to stay in motion!

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  23. I'll be stopping by more blogs tomorrow -- too tired now...

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  24. Red wine = inner-editor kryptonite. :) Happy writing!!

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  25. Love Blake Snyder's beat sheet! Just reading Save The Cat! Strikes Back. That guy was a genius.

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    1. Save the Cat Strikes Back is actually the first Blake Snyder book I read. I was in San Francisco in 2009 for RWA -- Blake Snyder was giving a talk, I thought: I've got to do this other really important thing and didn't attend his workshop. I still haven't stopped kicking myself.

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  26. Hi just hopping around for gutgaa meet awesome writers. Great advice:) Nice to meet you~!

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  27. Hi Paula -- I just went over to your blog, very pretty! Thanks for stopping by.

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