Tell me a about yourself. What got
you started in writing?
I’ve been an avid reader all my life.
Wanting to write a book myself had been on my mind, but it sort of simmered on
the back burner while I went to become a computer engineer. Much later in life,
I was happily working as a telecommunications business analyst when the fangirl
in me stumbled against an unsatisfying ending of a favorite young adult series.
I had to get my perfect happily ever after, so I started writing my own take on
it. It was supposed to be just one scene. Never thought I’d enjoy the process
so much and fall for it.
I continued writing after that,
mostly in my free time, or at night after the family had gone to bed. A few
years later I had a complete novel in my hands. Another year later, I had a
couple more novels completed. There was no looking back after that. I was hooked.
How and where do you write? Do you prefer a lap top or do you prefer writing freehand?
Except for some note-taking now
and then, which I do freehand with paper and pen, I write exclusively on my
laptops. I use two laptops, one a Windows VAIO where all my manuscripts take
shape, and a MacBook Pro for formatting and creation of advertising graphics.
Someday, I’d like to have a
dedicated writing room, but it hasn’t happened yet. At the moment, the guest bedroom
in my house doubles as my writing studio.
What's your favorite part about
writing? Your least favorite part about writing?
Starting a new project is hands
down my favorite part of the writing process. Diving into a new story with
brand new characters is a thrill ride. It’s like starting on a treasure hunt in
uncharted territory.
The least favorite part is
editing, particularly the final proofread. By that time I’m so eager to set my
story free that every minute spent ruminating feels like a cruel test of
patience. But presenting my stories in the best form possible is extremely
important, so there’s no skipping over it either.
How do you come up with your
characters? Why would readers want to get to know them?
They come to me in my dreams. No,
really, some of them do. Sometimes, I wake up with the vivid memory of a dream,
complete with characters and the outline of a story. Out comes the paper and
pen! Sometimes characters come to me from other stories I love, when I go what
if this were different? For example, after reading Cinderella, I might think,
what if the stepmother was trying to force Cinderella into this marriage with
the prince and Cinders ran away from home to prevent the union instead? Off I
go outlining! Other times, characters pop into my mind from random conversations
with friends. And sometimes, I simply want to write an interesting story about
a character with certain traits or in a certain world.
My characters are true to life.
Some are broken, some are heroic, but none are perfect. Just like most of us.
Readers would easily identify with my characters or sympathize with their
flawed human behavior, be it conflicted teenager Maia from The Lightbound Saga series or Noell, the young mother who puts up
with domestic abuse for years in my Kindle Scout winning The Eternity Prophecy.
What types of marketing do you
do to promote your writing?
I mostly use online ads to
promote—online book promotion services, Facebook ads, AMS ads. I have a few
favorites among the book promotion services, such as Robin Reads, FKBT, Fussy
Librarian. I have had good experience with AMS ads also, and they are perfect
to keep a trickle of promotion going in between major advertising campaigns.
Once in a while, I do blog tours also.
Other than online, I try to go to
local events—book fairs, library events—as time permits.
How do you schedule your
writing time? When do you write?
I’m lucky to be a full-time
writer, so I don’t have to schedule my writing time around a day job and
related activities. I do have a young family and I schedule my routine around
the family’s activities. My writing time is from 10AM to 3:30PM, a solid chunk
during school hours. I spend any free slots between 3:30PM to 6PM for marketing
and support related work. I try to get another block of writing time from 10PM
to 1:30AM. This routine usually generates about 2000 words every day, unless I
have a severe case of block or family commitments.
What are you currently working
on? Do you have a new book out?
Call me crazy, but I like to have
at least three projects on simultaneously. I’ve found that having multiple
projects on hand is helps keep the pesky writer’s block away. Whenever I hit a
plotting issue or I’m simply tired of writing one story, I switch to one of the
others. Usually this gives me time to ruminate on new ideas and come back with
a fresh ideas when I get back to the temporarily sidelined project. Right now,
I’m working on two novels for a pen name and the fourth book for my YA science
fiction series, The Lightbound Saga.
I have a couple of new books out.
My Kindle Scout winning book, The Eternity Prophecy came out a few months ago.
You can find it on Amazon - The Eternity
Prophecy. It’s currently on a month-long
promotional at a discounted price of $1.99.
An anthology from Kindle Press
authors just came out with a story about one of the characters from The Eternity Prophecy. Here’s where you
can pick up a copy of that book - Summer Solstice.
Do you have a project on the back burner? Tell me about
it.
I have a whole bunch of them. I
actually have a binder where I put all the ideas that I think of but I know
won’t get into the production cycle soon because the ideas might not be
developed completely yet or I may have a lot of ongoing projects already.
There’s one project that I want to
work on as soon as I can. It’s set in a tidally-locked planet named Twilight.
The story is about an evil empire, an uprising against said empire, a rebel
spy, and a general the empire sends to Twilight to root out the rebellion. I
wish I could write it now, but only have 24 hours in a day. So . . . 2018 it will be. I’m also considering
submitting this novel to Kindle Scout.
What would you tell a beginning
writer who wants to publish but doesn't believe he/she has enough talent?
Writing, publishing, and achieving
success takes hard work and often, a lot of time. Talent is useful but what you
need more of is, perseverance and openness to learning and trying out new
things in case the first way isn’t successful.
Before you get into publishing,
learn about the process as much as you can. In this age of the interwebs, we’re
lucky to have great resources are online. Read about current trends from blogs
(Joel Friedlander’s thebookdesigner.com, Joanna Penn’s thecreativepenn.com, The
Passive voice thepassivevoice.com, Derek Murphy’s creativeindie.com) and online
forums (kboards.com). Also study the genre you’re interested in, from
bestselling cover designs to common tropes. Read extensively, particularly from
the genre you like to write in.
While you soak up information,
keep on writing. Finish that book and publish. Then write the next book. And
keep on doing it.
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