Welcome L.A.!
You write paranormal romance, most notably monster romance. What attracted you to this genre?
I was celebrating my completion of an emerging writers' program and went to a dinner with people who'd completed the program within the past 3 years. NONE of them were still writing. That was shocking to me because the program itself took 2 years to complete. I realised the best way to make sure that didn't happen to me was to make my ADHD brain happy with dopamine and write what I felt like, which was short works and monster romance, both of which have a really playful, fun vibe. It worked, I'm still writing!
Are you a plotter? Panster? Or somewhere in-between?
I'm an extensive planner which includes plotting. I use spreadsheets for my novels now that mark up my favourite beat sheets (save the cat, romancing the beat) with their approximate chapter in the book, and when I'm writing a new genre or length I look to my favourite comparable books and chart them in the spreadsheet before I plot my own book. It will change in the writing, but the beats help me keep pacing in frame and I use comps to help guide elements like length of chapters, point of view balance, 75% conflict etc.
In another tab I keep a character grid with their archetypes (from Heroes and Heroines 16 master archetypes), goals, flaws etc (from 'take off your pants') and tags and traits (from Jim Butcher's blog).
It might seem a bit overdone, but my 3 top Clifton Strengths are Learner, Arranger and Focus. I'm into learning new stuff then using it to arrange "pieces and resources" for maximum productivity to obtain a long-term end goal.
What is your favourite part of the writing process?
Planning is my favourite part now. It really draws on everything I've learned about book marketing (which is mostly about positioning your book in the market) and I know it saves me time on rewrites. I rewrote my first book 14 times and I never want to do that again.
I not only have 'this is a good idea for a book' lightbulbs now, I also start thinking about the 25%, 50% and 75% conflicts, the character archetypes, and what's in the market that looks like my idea. I also think about my voice and whether I can write it well. And then I get to read books for research, which is pretty fun lol. By the end of the process, I know I'm not going to waste my time or get stalled if I write the book.
What is next for you?
I released 12 short indie titles last year. It was like a hands-on Masters degree in publishing, both fun and stressful. After I finished writing the final book in my orc romance series in January, I reassessed why I'm writing and what I want to write. I realised I'd never written something I was really passionate about and I'm more interested in improving as a novel writer right now than making money.
I made a list of things I hate in the world and things I love to help guide me. I drew from my 'id list' which is things I love in books like characters, tropes, settings etc. Marketing was also a consideration, but I wanted to write a book I could write better than anyone else (I think I read that in an Elana Johnson book and it stuck with me). When I got closer to an idea then I went into planning mode, which I wrote about above - considering and mapping out comps.
I spent 3 months researching and planning (while doing a million other things like the ADHD squirrel I am), 6 months drafting, and 2 months polishing and pitching (to Penguin, Harper Collins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster) an 80k novel. As part of my process I picked a title, designed a cover and created a playlist to help land the tone. (More planning!) It's a 'Buffy meets Bladerunner' vampire romance and it's a significant shift from my previous work. I have not got a contract as yet, but have had great feedback on pages after only a couple of weeks. The speed of the feedback is a great sign because it means my book is well-placed in the market so I nailed my positioning and pitch. If this book doesn't get picked up I am likely to do the same process next year.
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