I would normally be posting a short story today (more about that in a moment), but today I'm participating in a blog hop. I'd like to thank my friend and mentor/sage of storytelling David Farland/Wolverton for inviting me. He posted about his process last week. Dave's official bio is pretty awesome. He is an award-winning, NYT bestselling author who has written close to 50 SFF books for both children and adults. (The Runelords series are among some of his most well known books.) He also teaches classes on writing and editing which is where I met him. He is a gifted teacher and I heartily recommend taking his courses if you can or read his craft books if you can't. He also has a "Kick in the Pants" newsletter he sends out that is full of writing/editing gold. I'm really enjoying the series he's doing right now dissecting less than stellar openings and how to make them better.
So what's this blog hop about?
This hop came around at a perfect time, because I'm finally ready to announce something I've been working on over the last couple of months: The Curious Leaf.
What is The Curious Leaf exactly?
It's a monthly collection of short stories and other fun stuff related to my novels. At least that's how it started. It was going to be simple at first. Pick a fairy tale/theme. Retell the fairy tale and add in two or three short stories that follow the theme of the fairy tale. And yay!
But as I thought on it, I wanted to add more so it was more like a magazine. So I figured out how to incorporate features from characters and series in the novels I've already written, as well as adding in a serial I'll be putting out on a monthly basis. The Curious Leaf would be a ship that had a hull made of half a walnut shell and sails made of bright red maple leaves. It would be captained by a girl who later became Kya. I thought I'd just have a page or so at the beginning of the magazine, sort of like an editor's note only written by the slightly fictitious Kya as she explored new realms and lands.
I had almost finished the first volume (releasing next month) when I realized Kya needed more than just a short intro. So I wrote an extra short story The Curious Leaf: An Adventure in Wishing that delves into who Kya is and how she came in possession of a faerie ship. (Releasing this in a week.) It was about here that Kya informed me in no uncertain terms that she would be having an adventure every issue, so I'd need to add a Curious Leaf feature to the magazine.
This is what I get for meeting my deadlines. :/
So I added her feature--she'd sweetened the deal by giving me the last line of The Curious Leaf :An Adventure in Wishing first--and ended up with the very first curiosity: CURIOSITIES OF THE MOON. It ended up looking like this:
I wanted to find a way to thank my newsletter subscribers and this is it. Each month, I'll be sending out a link so you can claim a free copy of the Curiosity of the month in PDF form. The free version will be slightly different than the copy I'll be uploading to Amazon et al. in that the new software I'm using to format ebooks doesn't allow for images yet, so the published copies won't have any illustrations I do, nor will they contain the So You Want to be a Faerie? comic. I'll also be posting 3-4 short stories from the curiosity a month on my blog. (Mondays.)
There you have it. The Curiosities of the Moon is going through edits at the moment, and will be released on the last day of each month. (Or two.) I'm also working on THE TROUBLE WITH MAGIC and am hard at work on the second Curiosity: Salt Water Curiosities.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
One of my favorite things about writing for children is that it's my job to remember how to see the world through a child's eyes. There is a whole galaxy of worlds out there just waiting to be discovered. Worlds that run parallel to ours, while others are all topsy turvy. And that's what is at the heart of everything I write: different worlds, wonder, enchantment, and people. I haven't yet been able to write solemn fiction, so there is plenty of humor in most everything that I write. I also try to tell stories that appeal to any age so long as you've got your wonder intact. :D
Why do I write what I do?
This is a lot like asking why I breathe or why I still can't remember which way is left or right. These stories are as much a part of who I am as my hands, my heart, or my social awkwardness. At the center of each story is a seed of truth or a question that beats in the chest of each of my characters. Stories were what kept me alive as a child in a very literal way, so it's only natural that I've got a lot of them bouncing around my bicuspid valve, ventricles, and coursing through my veins.
How does my writing process work?
In my brain, there are two rooms: my conscious and my subconscious. They are separated by a wall I haven't ever managed to breach. Shadowy figures slip under the crack of the door and seep in through the vents in my subconscious room. I have no idea what they do in there or what it looks like, but in time, a fully formed person steps out of my subconscious and knocks politely on the door leading to my conscious room where I sit with a donut in one hand and the fingers of my other hand resting on a dusty typewriter. (Actually, few ever knock politely. Mostly they crash through the door making all sorts of outlandish demands and waving a Story in my face. A choice few saunter over to me, snatch my donut, and smirk at me as they slip back into my subconscious.)
As a storyteller, I can't resist. So I drop my donut and start typing. While I'm doing that, the character stands very still so I can slip under their skin and into their shoes. So long as I do this, the Story hums along merrily. If I ever forget myself and try to impose my own ideas, I find myself smacking into the floor where I rub the goose egg on my head and glare balefully up at Story who regards me with crossed arms and a look that would rust iron.
In my writing process there are Boundaries and I do my best to keep within them so I can keep listening to that lovely song of Story unfurling from my typewriter in the most interesting colors.
This, of course, is seen only by me. If you were to observe me at work, you would find me with glazed eyes typing away at my laptop as fast as my fingers can fly. Every so often a Story point will need clarification, so I pause the narrative and fire up Google. Unless I'm seeping into a new culture, I generally do my research as need arises. There are also times when you might see me, fingers still, gaze perplexed, muttering at my screen. It is usually at such times that I have crossed a Boundary and have to backtrack to where I stopped listening to my source. Mostly, though, I type. Stop and listen. Type some more. Repeat. Often, I have to prioritize, so the loudest stories are the ones that get told first.
So there you have it. You're in for a treat next week. I haven't heard back yet from all the authors I've contacted, but once I do, I'll update this page as well as write a new post detailing the who's and where you can find them. :)
“We writers share these things, but informally during workshops and at conferences (and, for a handful of established writers, in printed interviews), but not so much through our open-forum blogs. With the hashtag #MyWritingProcess, you can learn how writers all over the world answer the same four questions. How long it takes one to write a novel, why romance is a fitting genre for another, how one’s playlist grows as the draft grows, why one’s poems are often sparked by distress over news headlines or oddball facts learned on Facebook… “What am I working on?
This hop came around at a perfect time, because I'm finally ready to announce something I've been working on over the last couple of months: The Curious Leaf.
What is The Curious Leaf exactly?
It's a monthly collection of short stories and other fun stuff related to my novels. At least that's how it started. It was going to be simple at first. Pick a fairy tale/theme. Retell the fairy tale and add in two or three short stories that follow the theme of the fairy tale. And yay!
But as I thought on it, I wanted to add more so it was more like a magazine. So I figured out how to incorporate features from characters and series in the novels I've already written, as well as adding in a serial I'll be putting out on a monthly basis. The Curious Leaf would be a ship that had a hull made of half a walnut shell and sails made of bright red maple leaves. It would be captained by a girl who later became Kya. I thought I'd just have a page or so at the beginning of the magazine, sort of like an editor's note only written by the slightly fictitious Kya as she explored new realms and lands.
I had almost finished the first volume (releasing next month) when I realized Kya needed more than just a short intro. So I wrote an extra short story The Curious Leaf: An Adventure in Wishing that delves into who Kya is and how she came in possession of a faerie ship. (Releasing this in a week.) It was about here that Kya informed me in no uncertain terms that she would be having an adventure every issue, so I'd need to add a Curious Leaf feature to the magazine.
This is what I get for meeting my deadlines. :/
So I added her feature--she'd sweetened the deal by giving me the last line of The Curious Leaf :An Adventure in Wishing first--and ended up with the very first curiosity: CURIOSITIES OF THE MOON. It ended up looking like this:
- Kya's first adventure, which was naturally a trip to the moon.
- The main fairy tale is a quirky little story called The Buried Moon that I've retold.
- So You Want to be a Faerie? is a short comic featuring Thorn and Cherrie from my novel BITTEN.
- Moonflower is a short story introducing a character whose story I've already written and is awaiting edits.
- A Character Interview with the moon from my TALES OF THE SNOW QUEEN.
- Moon Bait, a short story featuring the moon from my TALES OF THE SNOW QUEEN.
- Ask Nerissa is a fairy tale advice column.
- Moonbright is a short story from the time during which Nerissa was a wicked faerie in APPLESPELL.
- The Highly Secret, Very Important Musings of a Fairy Stepsister is a journal kept by none other than Bettony from THE TROUBLE WITH TOADS. (I'm hard at work on the sequel that explains how she went from magical mishap to championing stepsisters as a sort of fairy godmother. This post explains why it's taken so long for me to put it out.
- Mira Morganstein: Queen of the Nearly Dead Fae, Tale 1 is my serial featuring the girl who one day becomes queen over all the nearly dead fae in the realm. (Not as zombieish as this sounds. They aren't quite dead. Just mostly.)
- From the Files of Bodkins is a file that features creatures introduced during the current installment of Mira Morganstein:Queen of the Nearly Dead Fae.
- And last, but not least, a sneak peek into whatever I'm working on. In this case, it's THE TROUBLE WITH MAGIC. (Sequel to The Trouble With Toads.)
I wanted to find a way to thank my newsletter subscribers and this is it. Each month, I'll be sending out a link so you can claim a free copy of the Curiosity of the month in PDF form. The free version will be slightly different than the copy I'll be uploading to Amazon et al. in that the new software I'm using to format ebooks doesn't allow for images yet, so the published copies won't have any illustrations I do, nor will they contain the So You Want to be a Faerie? comic. I'll also be posting 3-4 short stories from the curiosity a month on my blog. (Mondays.)
There you have it. The Curiosities of the Moon is going through edits at the moment, and will be released on the last day of each month. (Or two.) I'm also working on THE TROUBLE WITH MAGIC and am hard at work on the second Curiosity: Salt Water Curiosities.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
One of my favorite things about writing for children is that it's my job to remember how to see the world through a child's eyes. There is a whole galaxy of worlds out there just waiting to be discovered. Worlds that run parallel to ours, while others are all topsy turvy. And that's what is at the heart of everything I write: different worlds, wonder, enchantment, and people. I haven't yet been able to write solemn fiction, so there is plenty of humor in most everything that I write. I also try to tell stories that appeal to any age so long as you've got your wonder intact. :D
Why do I write what I do?
This is a lot like asking why I breathe or why I still can't remember which way is left or right. These stories are as much a part of who I am as my hands, my heart, or my social awkwardness. At the center of each story is a seed of truth or a question that beats in the chest of each of my characters. Stories were what kept me alive as a child in a very literal way, so it's only natural that I've got a lot of them bouncing around my bicuspid valve, ventricles, and coursing through my veins.
How does my writing process work?
In my brain, there are two rooms: my conscious and my subconscious. They are separated by a wall I haven't ever managed to breach. Shadowy figures slip under the crack of the door and seep in through the vents in my subconscious room. I have no idea what they do in there or what it looks like, but in time, a fully formed person steps out of my subconscious and knocks politely on the door leading to my conscious room where I sit with a donut in one hand and the fingers of my other hand resting on a dusty typewriter. (Actually, few ever knock politely. Mostly they crash through the door making all sorts of outlandish demands and waving a Story in my face. A choice few saunter over to me, snatch my donut, and smirk at me as they slip back into my subconscious.)
As a storyteller, I can't resist. So I drop my donut and start typing. While I'm doing that, the character stands very still so I can slip under their skin and into their shoes. So long as I do this, the Story hums along merrily. If I ever forget myself and try to impose my own ideas, I find myself smacking into the floor where I rub the goose egg on my head and glare balefully up at Story who regards me with crossed arms and a look that would rust iron.
In my writing process there are Boundaries and I do my best to keep within them so I can keep listening to that lovely song of Story unfurling from my typewriter in the most interesting colors.
This, of course, is seen only by me. If you were to observe me at work, you would find me with glazed eyes typing away at my laptop as fast as my fingers can fly. Every so often a Story point will need clarification, so I pause the narrative and fire up Google. Unless I'm seeping into a new culture, I generally do my research as need arises. There are also times when you might see me, fingers still, gaze perplexed, muttering at my screen. It is usually at such times that I have crossed a Boundary and have to backtrack to where I stopped listening to my source. Mostly, though, I type. Stop and listen. Type some more. Repeat. Often, I have to prioritize, so the loudest stories are the ones that get told first.
So there you have it. You're in for a treat next week. I haven't heard back yet from all the authors I've contacted, but once I do, I'll update this page as well as write a new post detailing the who's and where you can find them. :)
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