Creative Process and Shanna Swendson
CREATIVE PROCESS
Here's a bit of Shanna Swendson's interview taken from her blog.
Q: Describe your creative process.
A: I love to plan books. Sometimes that's the best part. I do character sketches and a point-by-point plot outline. And then I don't even look at that stuff once I start writing. I usually fly through a first draft, doing a little editing along the way, then struggle with revising the book. But that's likely to change book-by-book because the process seems to be different for every book.
SO INTERESTING...Robin's creative process...sit down and write until the inspiration is done...or sit down and open a vein and let the words drip out like blood until the wordcount is done..lie on the waterbed and stare at the ceiling, exercise, mow the lawn for bits and pieces of ideas that might be good in the book. Write. Think. Play. Write. I usually try and write a scene rough, then revise several times for critique group, and as much as I can before I turn it in...then MORE.
Here's Shanna's Blurb and a link to her EXCERPT, and, of course, the cover!
Shanna Swendson's debut mainstream novel, ENCHANTED, INC (Ballantine Trade
Paperback Original, $12.95, May 31, 2005) is a magical story featuring Katie Chandler, a 20 something, small-town Texas girl, who finds that being average in New York City is anything but. Katie loves the energy of Manhattan, andif she finds some of the people odd, well, that's New York, right? Where else would you see a person on the subway wearing fairy wings? In fact, if Katie wasn't completely sure those wings must be a costume, she'd think they were real, the way they flutter in the breeze. Certainly the gargoyle that perches above the door of the church she passes on the way to and from work isn't real. Its eyes seem to follow her, and she could have sworn it winked at her once, but now that she thinks about it, it was really hot that day,and she hadn't eaten lunch....
Katie is still adjusting to life in the big city while working a for a nightmare boss, when she gets a fantastic offer to work for a mysterious company, MSI, Inc. Through her new job and the magical folk she meets, Katie comes to find out she isn't quite as average as she thought; and the fairytale life she has longed for begins to come true in surprising ways.
What Katie doesn't realize is how rare and important being ordinary can be.In fact, it is her ordinary characteristics that make her the perfect secret weapon for MSI, Inc. Suddenly the very qualities she thought made her average are what make her special! Now she has magicians and fairies meddling in her attempted romances, a secret life she needs to keep hidden from her non-magical friends, not to mention that dangerous pull she feels for Owen, an attractive but shy wizard who might be the most powerful magicman since Merlin.
ENCHANTED, INC is a magical delight that will be a fun summer read foranyone who's wished upon a star or hoped for a sprinkle of fairy dust.
http://www.shannaswendson.com/excerpt.html
EXCERPT
Here's a bit of Shanna Swendson's interview taken from her blog.
Q: Describe your creative process.
A: I love to plan books. Sometimes that's the best part. I do character sketches and a point-by-point plot outline. And then I don't even look at that stuff once I start writing. I usually fly through a first draft, doing a little editing along the way, then struggle with revising the book. But that's likely to change book-by-book because the process seems to be different for every book.
SO INTERESTING...Robin's creative process...sit down and write until the inspiration is done...or sit down and open a vein and let the words drip out like blood until the wordcount is done..lie on the waterbed and stare at the ceiling, exercise, mow the lawn for bits and pieces of ideas that might be good in the book. Write. Think. Play. Write. I usually try and write a scene rough, then revise several times for critique group, and as much as I can before I turn it in...then MORE.
Here's Shanna's Blurb and a link to her EXCERPT, and, of course, the cover!
Shanna Swendson's debut mainstream novel, ENCHANTED, INC (Ballantine Trade
Paperback Original, $12.95, May 31, 2005) is a magical story featuring Katie Chandler, a 20 something, small-town Texas girl, who finds that being average in New York City is anything but. Katie loves the energy of Manhattan, andif she finds some of the people odd, well, that's New York, right? Where else would you see a person on the subway wearing fairy wings? In fact, if Katie wasn't completely sure those wings must be a costume, she'd think they were real, the way they flutter in the breeze. Certainly the gargoyle that perches above the door of the church she passes on the way to and from work isn't real. Its eyes seem to follow her, and she could have sworn it winked at her once, but now that she thinks about it, it was really hot that day,and she hadn't eaten lunch....
Katie is still adjusting to life in the big city while working a for a nightmare boss, when she gets a fantastic offer to work for a mysterious company, MSI, Inc. Through her new job and the magical folk she meets, Katie comes to find out she isn't quite as average as she thought; and the fairytale life she has longed for begins to come true in surprising ways.
What Katie doesn't realize is how rare and important being ordinary can be.In fact, it is her ordinary characteristics that make her the perfect secret weapon for MSI, Inc. Suddenly the very qualities she thought made her average are what make her special! Now she has magicians and fairies meddling in her attempted romances, a secret life she needs to keep hidden from her non-magical friends, not to mention that dangerous pull she feels for Owen, an attractive but shy wizard who might be the most powerful magicman since Merlin.
ENCHANTED, INC is a magical delight that will be a fun summer read foranyone who's wished upon a star or hoped for a sprinkle of fairy dust.
http://www.shannaswendson.com/excerpt.html
EXCERPT
posted by FantasyAuthor RobinDOwens | 5:34 PM
3 Comments:
Hehehe on your creative process, Robin :) I can relate.
That looks like a fun read.
I try to plan for my books, but it doesn't happen. I never look at it later either. I just have to sit down, turn off the internet, and write to get the job done.
Sometimes it IS rough, just writing, but sometimes I get into a scene and it starts going very well. And, naturally, we all like blessings from the muse when an idea comes, we sit down, and do fabulous and easy work...
Love to all,
Robin
Post a Comment
<< Home