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How I Write: Jenny Fulton

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Writing fiction isn’t easy; writing in multiple fiction genres is definitely not easy, but Jenny Fulton is making it work. Writer of YA and children’s books, today she’s talking with me about how she writes.

Welcome, and thank you so much for being here today! Let’s start with genre: how did you pick yours?

I think my genre picked me, or God led me to it. Without ever having written an entire book, I was hired to write a YA Speculative Fantasy novel. Through this process, I realized how much I really enjoy tying in the supernatural elements to the physical ones.

Looking back, I can see how this interest has nearly always been there. When I was young, I collected angels and loved fairy tales. This inclusion of the spiritual seems to show up in anything I write now. I’m currently working on some children’s books that merge angels and fairies, and writing a Bible study on the book of 1 Corinthians that highlights of the work of the Spirit.

What’s the most difficult part of writing your genre? How do you work through those challenges?

With children’s books, the difficult part is a creating simple, meaningful, and endearing story that both children and adults will enjoy. The word count is limited and descriptions are left more for an illustrator to bring out than for the writer to describe. Since I’m not an illustrator, I’m left with the options of either pay to have someone illustrate my books and go the self-publishing route or depend upon the books getting picked up by a publisher who will find the illustrator. Either way, I’m dependent on others in order for my books to be published.

As far as the Speculative genre, I think the most difficult part of that is giving myself permission to not be completely theologically accurate with the depictions of angelic and demonic figures. I want to communicate an idea and a spiritual truth through them and not worry about the accuracy. For example, when I was young, I loved the idea of beautiful, delicate guardian angels as depicted in some of the paintings. Now, are angels these delicate fairy-like creatures or are they strong masculine warriors? Does it matter? When I was young, they represented a security in knowing God was with me. This is the ultimate truth I want to communicate in my Speculative genre, regardless of what form His presence takes.

What’s your writing day like?

I have three young girls ages 7, 3, and 21 months, so my writing times are very limited. I wake up at 5 am and, on the good days, I have until 6 am before my girls wake up. Sometimes, depending on the project and how the morning goes, I’m able to think about what I want to write about so that by the time naptime/quiet time rolls around in the afternoon, I already have an idea of what I’m going to write about. I can usually get about an hour in during the afternoon, but with my 7-year-old hanging out with me, there’s no guarantee of how much uninterrupted focused time I’ll have. So, I work with what I have, do what I can, and try not to put pressure on myself to do more. I’ll have plenty of time to write as they get older.

How do you combat writer’s block?

I try not to put too much pressure or stress on myself. I find that the more pressure and expectations I place upon myself, the more likely I am to get blocked. I remind myself that God has always given me what I need when I need it, and this includes the time and words to write. Sometimes when I’m blocked, I’ll talk to other writers and artists, or take a break to do some reading for fun. Some days, I need to put away any thoughts of writing and just rest.

How do you prepare to write your books: pantser, plotter, both, something completely different?

I usually outline first to get an idea of where I’m going with the story and why my main point or goal in writing the story is, and then within each scene do a free-write to get my ideas on paper and try to communicate the scene that’s playing out in my head.

Now my favorite part of the writing process—editing! Have you ever worked with a freelance editor? How did you find that editor, and how would you describe the experience?

I found my editor on a Facebook writer’s group, looked her up, looked at her work, and emailed her to find out about her rates. It has been a great experience. She has edited a couple of my children’s books at a very reasonable price and provided some great feedback.

How do you self-edit your manuscript?

I usually read my work out loud because I find that I catch more errors that way. I tend to skim more when I read silently, but reading out loud forces me to slow down and notice errors I would otherwise miss. It also helps me determine how well the writing flows. If it doesn’t come smoothly from my tongue, then I need to change something.

What does your revision process look like?

As I read my work out loud, I make notes about what I want to change or add. For the YA Fantasy books, I read them out loud to my husband and made notes about his feedback. Then I went back and started making the adjustments. Sometimes, if I was doing some major revisions, I’d check with him afterward to see if the revisions were working.

With her quarter-Navajo blood, Jenny’s been referred to by family members as a “white Navajo.” Her full-blood Navajo grandma grew up on the Navajo reservation and married a full-blood German missionary. Jenny grew up hearing stories of the supernatural workings, especially as they revealed themselves on the reservation. As a child, she collected angels and loved anything related to fairy tales.

As an adult, she’s a published YA fantasy author and freelance writer with a B.S. in elementary education, an endorsement in K-12 ESL, and over ten years of experience teaching in a variety of cultural and educational settings, both abroad and in the United States. Her days are now spent raising three young daughters and writing as much as time and opportunity allow.

Website: heart-soul-mind.org/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JennyFultonWriter/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorFulton
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennyannfulton/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jafulto/boards/
Faithwriters: https://www.faithwriters.com/member-profile.php?id=37392

How I Write: Tara Ross

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It’s always a pleasure to meet debut novelists — what books and conferences are influencing the next generation of writers? Tara Ross is here today to tell you all about her writing journey, including her mentors and tips for other newbies.

Thanks for being here Let’s start with: what do you write? How/why did you pick your genre?

I write contemporary and inspirational young adult (YA) fiction. I have always loved reading about first loves, coming of age stories, and fierce young women conquering their fears. So, writing a book that included some of my favorite story elements made sense. I have also worked with teenagers for over ten years now and felt like there were important stories that needed sharing from our current point in history.

I do have a real itch to extend my writing to new adult and women’s fiction, however, many agents and publishers will ask that you stay within a particular genre to help establish your brand. I’ve intentionally tucked away these other genre ideas for now, but have a feeling they will need to be heard at some point.

If you’ve written multiple books, which was harder: the first book or the following books?

I’m still a newbie to the publishing world, but given that my first novel took me five years to brainstorm, draft, revise and edit, and then my second novel poured out in less than two years, I’d say it’s getting easier.

I liken it the quarantine trend of making bread. First you salivate over other people’s bread (books), tasting from a variety of recipes (genres). Then you begin to research recipes (craft books) and what ingredients you will need. It takes a few attempts before you get a result that is edible (i.e. that never to be seen first story), and even then, the steps are new and require you to look back to the recipe and YouTube videos. But finally, after the fourth or fifth attempt, the steps have become more automatic, and you need fewer references along the way. I feel like I’m somewhere in between. I can make a decent loaf of bread with guidance, but the more complicated recipes, like sourdough, I have yet to master.   

What’s your favorite book on writing? What do you like about it?

The Emotional Craft of Fiction, by Donald Maass has been stationed on my bedside book pile, and my writing desk, and my Good Reads TBR list for the past six months. This book is thick with guidance, despite its average page count. Each chapter asks you to look deep into your story elements, then Maass gives you takeaway assignments for your own work. It goes beyond structure and character arcs to the underlying heartbeat of your story. Maass also gives you a mini literary foray by including masterful examples from across time and genre to illustrate each new principal. I’d suggest picking up this book once you have a rough draft in place.

What writing book do you want to read next?

I’ve heard fantastic things about Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert. Shawn Smucker and Maile Silva, hosts of The Stories Between Us, read it as part of their podcast book club. They shared some fantastic highlights during their review episode. I also feel that after my debut novel comes out, I will be needing the encouragement this book offers.  

What conference do you most want to attend?

I’d love to attend the ACFW conference or Mount Hermon. There is something transformational about being in the same space as authors you have read and admired for years. To hear them speak about the craft of writing adds extra level of splendor. From research I’ve done in the past, these conferences also offer mentorship tracks and opportunities to talk face to face with literary greats. I wouldn’t have wanted to attend these conferences earlier than now, however. I think if you are going to make the investment of traveling to a national conference, you want to have a firm grasp of your writing gaps, a plan for the future and a manuscript or two ready to share.  

If you’ve ever worked with a freelance editor, how did you find that editor? How would you describe the experience?

If not for my first freelance editor experience, I honestly don’t think I would be a published author today. I met my editor, Sara Davison, through a writing contest I entered and won. She was one of the judges and shared in her feedback that I had a great start and that with a little bit of assistance I could make my story into something special. I chose to hire her to work with me in a mentorship style relationship to not only edit Fade to White but also teach me about my mistakes as I continued to grow as a writer. We worked slowly, a few chapters at a time, and with each new chapter, I applied the lessons learned to make the next chapter just a little bit cleaner. It was the best education in writing.

What does your revision process look like?

I think it’s important to understand how someone writes as a starting point, because revising as a planner versus a pantser may look very different.

I start with a fairly detailed outline. I have a spread sheet that I use to track my progress through each new scene and chapter. I veer from this as the story unfolds, but it helps me to check that I am reaching the big plot points at a reasonable pace. From the outline, I write a messy first draft. Once I have all the words down, I go back through and read the entire manuscript without changing anything. I make notes for each chapter about big picture changes or pacing issues. I then take those notes and write my synopsis based on chapter summaries from my spread sheet.

Once I have the synopsis, I consider what themes have emerged, and a lot of the time they are different from what I had intended to explore. With this in mind, I begin to flesh out character voices and motivations more heavily to represent their respective story arcs.

 At this point, I am exploring the idea of sharing a rough draft with beta readers. Then, I go back to the beginning and begin to edit with their suggestions in mind and begin to add setting details, richer prose, and those small details that really peel a story off the page. I then allow someone else to read through for the overall flow and all the grammatical and punctuation errors I’ve have missed … and there are many. I finally send it off to my agent.  

What advice do you have for new authors?

This is not a race. Writing is something I came to later in life, and it has been so therapeutic for me to share words at my own pace. Sometimes in the writing community, there is this sense of urgency to get your story out there, but I think there is something special about waiting for the right moment when you know you have put your best effort forward. I am a perfectionist and likely take longer than I should, but if I had rushed that first book and tried to query it before my masterclass with Sara, I never would have had a chance to reach this point.

Tara K. Ross lives with her husband, two daughters and rescued fur-baby in a field of cookie-cutter homes near Toronto, Canada. She works as a school speech-language pathologist and mentors with local youth programs. When Tara is not writing or reading all things young adult fiction, you can find her rock climbing the Ontario escarpment, planning her family’s next jungle trek or podcasting/blogging at www.tarakross.com.

Fade to White is her debut novel.

Connect with Tara online:
www.tarakross.com
https://instagram.com/tara.k.ross/
https://twitter.com/tara_k_ross
https://goodreads.com/author/show/18889509.Tara_K_Ross
https://facebook.com/profile.php?id=100014749334644
https://amazon.com/author/tarakross

Coping with Deadlines by Annette Irby

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I’m on a few deadlines. In addition to editing work, the first book in my series will release this September 1st, and the second book is due this summer as well. I’ve had to prioritize and strictly enforce my schedule lately and I’ve spent hours and hours at my computer, writing and rewriting for my summer deadline. I have other projects in the works, so the sooner I hand this project off, the sooner I can work on the others that have been on the back burner.

Prioritizing

So, how do I decide what to set aside during crunch seasons? How do you decide? For me, I set aside social media, even marketing, until I can focus on it. I ask myself: what’s due soonest? Timing helps me in many ways—it both motivates and dictates my schedule. I set aside reflexively checking my e-mail, and I close all unnecessary tabs and apps/programs on my computer in order to stay focused on the necessary ones. My family needs my attention, so they are a priority. Sometimes you have to say no to extra tasks. That’s a hard one for some of us. I sometimes struggle with that. Even when I say no, I sometimes feel guilty later, which doesn’t help me focus on work. But our jobs as writers is important. If we honor our writing time, others will begin to respect it too.

Permission to Take a Break

Summertime is an especially challenging time to have to work 8-12 hours a day, so I do take breaks, which are so necessary. I recommend finding a peaceful setting to decompress. When the sun moves around the house to my flower garden, I love to go out and tend my plants. (Here’s a photo from one of my hanging baskets on a rainy day last spring.) The warm sun, so different from my cool home office in the basement corner, feels good. And tending my flowers makes me happy. I catch myself walking around, smiling from the joy of a simple hobby. Breaks are also helpful for working out plot points and overcoming writer’s block. And they’re probably good for our health. We must take care of ourselves, even on deadline.

Back to Work

The thing about breaks is, you have to set a time limit and discipline yourself to get back to work. Your book won’t write itself. So, I’ll take time away for family get-togethers, and meals, and even a trip to the pool so my youngest gets a chance to swim, but then it’s back to work. 

Best Advice for Deadline Crunch Time

My writing sessions involve a lot of prayer. Prayers for grace, help, words, wisdom, insights, for the story to come together, for my readers, and for God’s glory and message to come through. He honors our prayers as we write for Him. Sometimes when I know I only have, say, a half hour left before I’ll be away from my computer for a while, panic will set in, thinking about all I have to do. Then I ask the Lord to help, and He does. Pretty soon, my fingers are flying over the keyboard and enjoying the thrill of a scene coming together in a profound way with word counts piling up.

How about you? What are your tricks for meeting deadlines and surviving the deadline crunch? I’d love to hear.

Write on, friends!

(Original post found on Seriously Write)

Annette M. Irby has been writing since her teen years. She has several books and short stories published. She has served as an acquisitions editor, and she currently works as a freelance editor. In her off hours, she enjoys gardening, photography, and music. Her family lives in the Pacific Northwest. Learn more at www.AnnetteIrby.com

Links:

Website: www.AnnetteIrby.com
Facebook reader friend group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/252272708574760/
Twitter: @AnnetteMIrby
Amazon author page: www.amazon.com/author/annette_m_irby.com
Writing blog: www.seriouslywrite.blogspot.com

Are You Setting Goals or Simply Dreaming? By Karin Beery

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Why set goals? Because you can either control your own destiny or hand it over to circumstance. (James Scott Bell, The Mental Game of Writing)

goalsIn case you missed it earlier this month, I’m reading another book by James Scott Bell. Though most of his books are about writing for writers, The Mental Game of Writing is inspiring my freelance work as much as it’s inspiring my writing. Last week I talked about the mental game of self-employment. This week I’d like to talk about goal setting.

Goals are necessary because they establish absolutes. You can say that you want to be a successful web designer, but how do you make that happen? First you have to know what you mean when you say success (see last week’s post). Then you have to figure out how you’re going to achieve that. Those are your goals.

You can successful set real, applicable goals in two simple steps:

  1. Set Your Goals
  2. Make a Plan

Set Your Goals

Be specific. Coming up with a mental list of things that might work is a good start, but don’t stop there. You need to create an actual list of goals that you can refine and review.

Make sure your goals are also something you can achieve. “Win a prestigious award” isn’t a realistic goal, because you have no control over the nominating or judging process. “Enter a contest” is a great goal – you have the ability to figure out the guidelines and meet the deadline.

Make a Plan

Goals without a plan are just dreams. You need to know how you’re going to achieve your goals. Using the previous example of entering a contest – plan out your steps. For example, if I entered a writing contest, my plan might look like this:

  • Finish rough draft by November 1
  • Finish edit by November 15
  • Have it critiqued by December 1
  • Finish re-write by December 21
  • Proofread on or before December 31
  • Submit to contest on or before January 5

Plans or Dreams?

Don’t leave your business success up to chance. Set your goals. Make plans. Succeed.

The Mental Game of Self-Employment

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defining-successFor many people, being self-employed seems like a dream (especially when you can work from home!). No boss. No rules. No dress code.

But also no accountability. No incentive programs. No support from co-workers.

While there are many benefits to self-employment, there are also many challenges, and one things I regularly struggle with is motivation, especially in the dry times when nothing seems to go right. It’s easy to start wasting time, or to use more of your time for house work than “work” work. The trick is to self-motivate, but how?

I recently picked up The Mental Game of Writing by James Scott Bell. More than just a writing guide, this is a self-employed/freelance workers book of motivation. Subtitled “How to Overcome Obstacles, Stay Creative and Productive, and Free Your Mind for Success,” I knew it was a book I needed to read. It only took a chapter to know I’d made the right decision when I bought the book.

I’m sure I’ll reference this book a lot in the next few weeks (months), so strap yourselves in. And the first reference I’ll make? Success. You don’t know if you’ve succeeded until you can define success for yourself.

So what exactly is success?

“Peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.” John Wooden

Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill

“Success lies not in achieving what you aim at, but in aiming at what you out to achieve, and pressing forward, sure of achievement here, or if not here, hereafter.” R.F. Horton

Before you can succeed in your freelance endeavors, you need to be able to define what it means to you.

So … how do you define success?

ABOUT ME

Editor. Teacher. Novelist.
A passionate lover of fiction, Karin doesn't just write novels, she helps others write their best stories! A certified substantive editor with the Christian Editor Connection, her goal is to help authors to put her out of business by equipping them with the tools they need to become better writers.

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Lover of all things fiction, I also love University of Michigan football, the Detroit Lions, Tigers, and Red Wings, kayaking, gluten-free cupcakes, and my husband.

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