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Paying It Forward Blog Hop

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Loni Townsend

I mentioned in my last post that Chrys Fey, author of Hurricane Crimes, tagged me in the Paying it Forward blog hop. Thank you, Chrys!

This blog hop consists of four questions:

What am I working on? How does my work differ from others of its genre? Why do I write what I write? How does my writing process work?

What am I working on?

Right now, I’m focusing on finishing up minor changes to Cera Chronicles: This World Bites before handing it off to the fabulous people who agreed to beta read for me. (If you want to beta read as well, don’t hesitate to speak up.)

As soon as that hand-off is done, I’ll be back to putting words down for Isto, book 2 of the Niniers.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

For the Niniers, it’s hard to say. I’ve read a lot of fantasy, so other worlds, new races, deities, and mystical powers aren’t anything I can claim as unique. Maybe throw in a homicidal alter ego, and yeah, that might be a bit different.

CeraChroniclesOn the other hand, the Cera Chronicles takes a group of travelers from an epic fantasy world (created in the niniers series) and throws them onto other worlds. How does this differ from every other run-of-the-mill interdimensional travel story? Every Cera Chronicle aims to spoof a particular genre/theme.

Why do I write what I write?

The Niniers series has been with me for half my lifetime. The same could be said for Cera. I’d have written the Ninier series even if no one read it, because Derek demanded I tell his story.

Cera is pure, silly fun, usually influenced by my husband’s crazy ideas.

How does my writing process work?

My writing process differs based on project.

In a world of plotters and pantsers, some might call me a hybrid. I’ve known people who knew how many chapters were in a story, word counts for each chapter, and specific series of events for each section…before they even type a word toward the story.

I don’t have that type of plan, but I do have a plan of attack.

yWriterWith the Niniers, I know who my POVs are, what each character’s (both major and minor) goals are, and the key events that propel things forward. The rest is discovery. I use yWriter for my novel writing, which lets me drag and drop scenes to rearrange chapters on a whim. And I never have to delete anything, I just mark it as unused. That’s great, because I hop all over the timeline when writing. I write whatever scene is vivid in my mind, and find a way to tie it together later.

The Cera Chronicles are completely pantsed. I go into a story with a target genre or theme (like Wild West World, which turned into Murder Most Fowl), storm up all the tropes related to that theme, and plunge into the story without a plot in sight. These, strangely, I write chronologically and in a single document.

Well, that’s it for me. Hope I didn’t disappoint you, Chrys. 🙂

To pay this forward, I’ve chosen the creative Aldrea Alien, the prolific Milo James Fowler, and the super humorous Sarah Brentyn. These three people captivate me from the moment I start reading. They make me laugh, grip the edge of my seat, and all around go, “whoa.”

Have you read Chrys’s action-packed story? Are you a plotter or a pantser? Do you have the same writing process for all your projects?

3 thoughts on “Paying It Forward Blog Hop”

  1. Alex J. Cavanaugh says:
    July 1, 2014 at 5:39 AM

    A homicidal alter ego? That would be tough to live with.

    Reply
  2. Southpaw says:
    July 1, 2014 at 7:13 AM

    My writing process is all over the place. I think like each story has it’s own character, each story has it’s own process.

    Reply
  3. Aldrea Alien says:
    July 1, 2014 at 5:11 PM

    Your writing process sounds a lot like mine. The first part of hopping all over the place was certainly my MO for The Rogue King. On the other hand, Golden Dawn came out chronologically (and with no chapters); the writing seemed to flow better for it.

    Reply

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Welcome to my blog. I post here on Wednesdays most of the time, but you can find me on social media any day of the week. My topics include my stories and writing, life at the Town's End, creating and tinkering with graphics, things I learn and think might be helpful to others, and the occasional amateur photo. Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you around.

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