My Writing Process Blog Tour

Traci Kenworth

Step One: I’ve been asked to take part in the My Writing Process Blog Tour by author Rebekah L. Purdy. Link back to her site to see her responses to these questions. Rebekah’s one of those caring, supportive individuals and I’m proud to be her critique partner along with a group of other ladies at YoungAdultFictionFanatics or YAFF. She’s also one of my favorite contemporary and fantasy writers.

Step Two:

1. What am I working on? I’m actually working on three projects at the moment. I find I concentrate best when I’m doing multiple stories. The first is set in an apocalyptic future where more than humans walk the earth. Hint: not a zombie in sight. The second is also set in the same world but features different characters. Both are standalones. A new source of terror awakes in this second book. Again: non zombie. Not that I don’t like zombies, I’m addicted to The Walking Dead just like many of you. The third story is a short one about ghosts and demons. I’ve currently set it aside to wait for a little while before revision.
2. How does my work differ from others in its genre? I believe I’ve created unique creatures to fear. It’s also set in a Wild West setting. Sort of like things revert back to the way the West was minus the guns. I love world-building and this was a lot of fun to create.
3. Why do I write what I do? Easy. I want to shine a light in the darkness and show there’s hope. Of course, not all my stories end happily ever after or even sort of good, that wouldn’t be realistic. But my characters get more than a sporting chance in them.
4. How does your writing process work? When I get an idea, I sit on it a while then little by little I poke at it, discovering characters to populate it, filling in their backgrounds, and then I figure out a setting to put them in. I just keep at the idea until it grows and grows. Recently, I’ve begun using outlines. Though I don’t do in-depth ones, I get enough down to sort of connect the dots through the story. Sometimes this info changes as I go along (the pantster in me), but I have three major points I want to hit: the inciting incident, the mid-crisis, and the resolution. When I come across a snag, I let it sit for a day or two and then when I pick it up again, it’s ready to untangle. While it’s aside, I work on one of my other projects. This way I’m always making progress and working on the problem at the same time.

Step Three: On May 8^th, I’ve tagged Amy Laura Jackson and Jenny Keller Ford. Here are their bios:

Amy Laura Jackson is a YA writer from New Zealand. She loves emotional turmoil and witty banter.

As a young Army brat, Reader’s Choice award winner J. (Jenny) Keller Ford, traveled the world and wandered the halls of some of Germany’s most extraordinary castles hoping to find the dragons, knights and magic that haunted her imagination. Though she never found them, she continues to keep their legends alive.  Her story, The Amulet of Ormisez, is available as part of the MAKE BELIEVE anthology. Dragon Flight, is slated for publication in December 2013.  When not at her keyboard breathing new life into fantasy worlds, Jenny spends time collecting seashells, bowling, swimming, riding roller coasters and reading.  She works as a paralegal by day and lives on the west coast of Florida with her family, three dogs, and a pretentious orange cat who must have been a dragon in his previous life.