Leti Del Mar from wordswithletidelmar asked me to be a part of the Writing Process Blog 'tag' Tour. I am using the opportunity to celebrate the release of my latest book: Decay (Tesla 2). Leti asked me these four questions. I hope it lends some insight into my process.
1) What am I working on?
I have dedicated this year to steampunk. As such, I am writing my third book in my Tesla saga (Faraday) and a steampunk retelling of Cinderella (Cinderbox). There is also collaborative work going on with some comics artists with involvement with two graphic novels (one based on Tesla).
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I’m not one for sticking to a solitary genre. I bounce around a fair bit within one book. I’ve been called genre-busting. I feel I follow the story that needs to be told rather than getting bogged down in genre-rules. I’m hoping at one point I’ll be able to focus on one style, but I haven’t found it yet.
3) Why do I write what I do?
I think life is better if I have some creative outlet, be it music or writing. I happen to be in writing mode now. And when writing I am usually inspired by a grand motif that I want to examine. In my latest (Decay) I’m looking at bullying. I believe you need a reason to write, you have to have something to say. Yes, there is a big market for the soap opera style novels where people bounce around between each other, but I need to feel I’m offering something more. At the moment I’m in steampunk, next year I’d like to write some contemporary fiction novels about some things in the news that annoy me. Unfortunately, the ideas are piling up a bit faster than I can write, but mainly the foreseeable future is taken up with expansions on current series (that is my Ellen Martin Disasters, Lucid world, Tesla saga).
4) How does my writing process work?
I am a recycler. I plan then I write until I get stuck, then I go back and rewrite what I have. I am now getting into sentences, so as I write I am analysing the sentence and determining if it is good enough. Sometimes I’ll write down a reminder if I can’t get it right then come back to it later. But this generally means I stagger through the first draft, then do an edit for a second, then it’s off to the editor.
Next up on the tag are a couple of great writers. They will be up on May 4.
Nate Fleming:
Nate loves the life of the expat, having spent the last fifteen years living in Kazakhstan and China. In Kazakhstan, he founded the Kazakhstan English Language Theater, the first English language theater in Central Asia. Nate is also an educator, and has taught upper Elementary and theater in some pretty far-out international situations. He's the proud papa of three brilliant and beautiful children, and the husband of the lovely Koolyash
Check out Nate's debut novel and his blog at: http://thimblerigsark.wordpress.com
Steve Turnbull:
When he's not sitting at his computer building websites for national institutions and international companies, Steve Turnbull can be found sitting at his computer building new worlds of steampunk, science fiction and fantasy.
Technically Steve was born a cockney but after five years he was moved out from London to the suburbs where he grew up and he talks posh now. He's been a voracious reader of science fiction and fantasy since his early years, but it was poet Laurie Lee's autobiography "Cider with Rosie" (picked up because he was bored in Maths) that taught him the beauty of language and spurred him into becoming a writer, aged 15. He spent twenty years editing and writing for computer magazines while writing poetry on the side.
Nowadays he writes screenplays (TV and features), prose and computer programs
Check out Steve's great work at: http://steveturnbull.me