An author's collection of thoughts and stories
Seemingly ages ago I used to maintain a FictionPress account that I updated regularly, and I realized the other day that I really missed posting new chapters on a schedule. I created a new FictionPress account with my pen name, and it will be updated [sporadically] Friday.
https://www.fictionpress.com/u/1095993/
I tell myself this all the time.
(Not to single out Twilight specifically, since other series like 50 Shades of Grey were also popular).
We bought a Nintendo Switch.
I have been a huge Zelda fan ever since I was a little kid.
So . . . I’m going to be pretty distracted for awhile.
At this point, I suppose that I’ve been writing for long enough that I tend to feel a bit of relief when I chop up and rewrite entire chapters during the editing process. I don’t have the same emotional attachment to words that I used to have when I was younger. I don’t think about the time and energy that was initially invested in writing them anymore — it’s all part of the process.
Instead, I care more about telling the story the way it wants to be told.
But I sure remember the angst I used to feel.
It often seems like every other writer needs to cut out paragraphs and scale back on superfluous prose during their editing process, and I have seen quite a few blog posts on the internet that make me wonder how someone can take so long to say so little. When I was in college, one of my classes required a 400-word essay, and all the other students complained about how hard it was to write something so short. Most people naturally write long.
Me? I’m the exact opposite. I adore being concise.
In fact, my first draft tends to be a little too bare-bones, and the second draft is all about putting in details to improve the pace — I don’t want to leave my readers feeling like they got swept up in a whirlwind of events flying by too quickly to process. My second draft tends to be twice as long as the first, yet still comparatively terse. After all, if *I* get bored of slogging through countless words, then I can’t imagine my readers enjoying it either.
It has dawned on me that thus far, I’ve been painting myself as a ‘generic author.’ Part of that is my compulsive need to stay secretive, especially since I have a book in progress and I don’t want to reveal much about it until its ready. But that doesn’t mean I have to be generic!
My favorite genres are:
Gothic romance
Dark fantasy
Horror
My stories are usually combinations of all three.
I am an eclectic pagan; I read oracle cards, burn incense, and talk to trees. I include a number of elements of spirituality in what I write.
I’m also a huge fan of corsets.
By Autumn Rain 