I
want to thank author Lena Jakes (Hardened Hearts) for tagging me into
this blog hop. You can read about her writing process at: http://www.lenajakes.com/blog This is what she says about herself: Well, I am Lena. In my real everyday life, I'm a single mom of two
teenage boys, three dogs, with an over active imagination and manage a
law firm in Arizona. In my other life, I am putting my daydreams
into words—which believe it or not is quite a feat considering I've been
writing since before we had computers... or typewriters... or time not
devoted to someone/something else.
MY WRITING PROCESS
What are you working on?
Right
now, I'm writing Book Five in the CHRONICLES OF KASSOUK series, it's
titled SNOW CHEETAH, and will cap the end of the series, with the
official discovery by humans from Earth of the planet where the series
takes place. The last book in the series was a prequel, NOAH'S ARK,
telling the story of how humans happened to crash on that unknown planet
in the first place. Like all the books in the series, it's a romance as
well as a science fiction adventure. The heroine, Natalia, is a human
hybrid with psychic abilities, and the hero is the captain of the ship, a
nano-enhanced Space Marine, with a secret mission. Like in the other
books, cats play a role in the story, and in this one, it's a Cheetah.
The book comes out in November of this year. Look for the gorgeous
award-winning cat covers.
And
in July, I'll start writing the next book in my medieval fantasy
series, The Curse of the Lost Isle. It will be Book Six in that series.
It will be set upon the backdrop of the First Crusade.
How does your work
differ from others of its genre?
My
books are not typical romance and touch on other genres, like sci-fi,
fantasy, historical, or a mix of at least two genres. I also take the
time to create worlds where the reader wants to stay a while, but always
keeping the action and the romance going. My logline is Blasters,
Swords, Romance with a Kick.
Why do you write what you do?
I
write what I love to read. A romance novel without any action would
bore me, and an action story without a relationship would leave me
disappointed. As for sci-fi and medieval settings, some say I'm a time
traveler and I have known all these timelines.... the truth is, I do
intensive research, even when I write sci-fi.
How does your process work?
I'm
usually on deadlines, so I have to plan in advance, and figure out what
works best for me. I usually write a chapter a week, not a draft, but a
polished chapter. After five rewrites during that week, I present the
chapter to my critique partner, she makes comments, then I rewrite it
again, print it, set it in the binder with the other finished chapters.
When the book is finished, I revise the entire manuscript several times,
before sending it to my publisher. A month or so later, I get the first
edits, then second edits, then a final copy to review before it gets
published.
Next author speaking on the writing process;
I'm
tagging my critique partner, multi-published author Linda Andrews, very
successful in the Dystopian genre. She also writes science fiction and
historical romances set in the American West, and is currently working
on a series of WWI romances, set in Belgium (1914-1918). You can find
more about her on her website at: http://www.lindaandrews.net/ and visit her blog at: http://lindaandrews.wordpress.com/
Vijaya Schartz - Blasters, Swords, Romance with a Kick
FB: https://www.facebook.com/vijaya.schartz
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vijayaschartz
