Today’s post is a first for me; today I’m taking part in a Blog Tour.
I was invited onto the Tour by Scott Moon, who is not only a superb science fiction writer but also I good friend. His Kin Roland Chronicles are great fun to read and he has been phenomenal help to me with my own writing.
Scott Baughman started this blog chain off, so make sure to check out his webpage Write Great, Scott.
1) What am I working on?
Right now I am currently finishing up re-writes and edits for my first novella “Second Star to the Right”, which will be the first in a series of five. It is a science fiction re-imagining of classic children’s tale. I played around with the idea for well over a year before I actually decided to start working on it. I contacted the Rights holder and after they gave me the “go-ahead” it was off to the races. My plan is to get it out to beta readers in August, then to an editor in September with I loose publication date for the middle of October.
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
With Second Star, I would say that it falls into the adventure subclass of sci-fi, but I don’t like to confine my writing to one specific genre. If something works for the story, I will use it, no matter what genre it typically fits into.
I try to focus on what moves the story forward. Books that go on for pages with descriptions of the landscape and what people are wearing are fine and have their place (I even like reading some of them) but that type of writing isn’t for me. I don’t have the patients for that; I like to get to the point.
Realism is something else I strive for, which is almost a contradiction in terms when talking about science fiction. (Like military intelligence.) What I mean is; I need to believe what is happening, even if it a sword-wielding monk charging head-first into a wall of evil robot hamsters, I want to believe that he’d actually do it. As a person, not just a pawn of the writer. This is something I have been working hard to get right in my own work after reading so many other books where I’m like, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t do that.
3) Why do I write what I do?
I write because I love to write, it’s something that I’ve done off and on for almost 20 years. It has always been a hobby, but this year I decided to take it seriously and over the last few months, I have been amazed at how my dream is slowly becoming reality. I can’t wait to see what next year brings.
4) How does your writing process work?
Most of my projects begin, as notes jotted down on my phone, then eventually become an expanded Scrivener file. For my Second Star series, I spent 3-4 days brainstorming and outlining in Scapple before I even started to write.
I have found over the course of Second Star that I am going to have to do a lot better job at outlining in the future and that the outline I have at the start of the book might not necessarily look the same when I finish. It’s a fluid process, but I think I have it figured out now and I should be able to punch out my second book much faster than the first.
After a few rounds of edits in Scrivener I compile the manuscript into Word document for another round of edits, then it’s off to beta readers. I still am working out how many beta readers I want to use, right now I’m thinking five, but we’ll see. After I get feedback from them and make corrects and changes as needed, I will send it off to an editor.
I’ve invited Samantha LaFantasie to join in the tour and definitely encourage readers to check her out.
Samantha is the author of the Nepherium Novella Series, Made to Forget, and its sequel Echoes of Memories. Her debut novel Heart Song continues to do well and she is hard at work on the third Nepherium book as well as several other projects. Be sure to check out her website: www.samanthalafantasie.com and her Facebook page: Samantha LaFantasie Fantasy Writer. She is also on Twitter and Goodreads.
I was invited onto the Tour by Scott Moon, who is not only a superb science fiction writer but also I good friend. His Kin Roland Chronicles are great fun to read and he has been phenomenal help to me with my own writing.
Scott Baughman started this blog chain off, so make sure to check out his webpage Write Great, Scott.
1) What am I working on?
Right now I am currently finishing up re-writes and edits for my first novella “Second Star to the Right”, which will be the first in a series of five. It is a science fiction re-imagining of classic children’s tale. I played around with the idea for well over a year before I actually decided to start working on it. I contacted the Rights holder and after they gave me the “go-ahead” it was off to the races. My plan is to get it out to beta readers in August, then to an editor in September with I loose publication date for the middle of October.
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
With Second Star, I would say that it falls into the adventure subclass of sci-fi, but I don’t like to confine my writing to one specific genre. If something works for the story, I will use it, no matter what genre it typically fits into.
I try to focus on what moves the story forward. Books that go on for pages with descriptions of the landscape and what people are wearing are fine and have their place (I even like reading some of them) but that type of writing isn’t for me. I don’t have the patients for that; I like to get to the point.
Realism is something else I strive for, which is almost a contradiction in terms when talking about science fiction. (Like military intelligence.) What I mean is; I need to believe what is happening, even if it a sword-wielding monk charging head-first into a wall of evil robot hamsters, I want to believe that he’d actually do it. As a person, not just a pawn of the writer. This is something I have been working hard to get right in my own work after reading so many other books where I’m like, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t do that.
3) Why do I write what I do?
I write because I love to write, it’s something that I’ve done off and on for almost 20 years. It has always been a hobby, but this year I decided to take it seriously and over the last few months, I have been amazed at how my dream is slowly becoming reality. I can’t wait to see what next year brings.
4) How does your writing process work?
Most of my projects begin, as notes jotted down on my phone, then eventually become an expanded Scrivener file. For my Second Star series, I spent 3-4 days brainstorming and outlining in Scapple before I even started to write.
I have found over the course of Second Star that I am going to have to do a lot better job at outlining in the future and that the outline I have at the start of the book might not necessarily look the same when I finish. It’s a fluid process, but I think I have it figured out now and I should be able to punch out my second book much faster than the first.
After a few rounds of edits in Scrivener I compile the manuscript into Word document for another round of edits, then it’s off to beta readers. I still am working out how many beta readers I want to use, right now I’m thinking five, but we’ll see. After I get feedback from them and make corrects and changes as needed, I will send it off to an editor.
I’ve invited Samantha LaFantasie to join in the tour and definitely encourage readers to check her out.
Samantha is the author of the Nepherium Novella Series, Made to Forget, and its sequel Echoes of Memories. Her debut novel Heart Song continues to do well and she is hard at work on the third Nepherium book as well as several other projects. Be sure to check out her website: www.samanthalafantasie.com and her Facebook page: Samantha LaFantasie Fantasy Writer. She is also on Twitter and Goodreads.