Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
I do. I even completed it. It was a fantasy involving shape-shifters. It wasn't very good. But I was only twelve.
What is your writing process?
I have an inciting scene that comes to mind, not always the opening scene, but usually, and a general idea of where I want the story to go. Then I develop the characters until they tell me what is going to happen next. It is called 'pantzing' - or writing by the seat of my pants, and as a method it has its pros and cons. The pros are that my stories usually have unpredictable twists to them, and I am often amazed that something I just casually threw in at the beginning of the story then ends up playing a part further on. (For instance, the mention of coyotes bothering the herd in Last Second Chance, which leads to a reveal that a rifle is kept in the foreman's cabin - which then turns out to be an important thing to know later in the book.) The cons are that sometimes I write my characters into such a pickle that I get blocked trying to figure out how to get them out of it. But again, I think that makes for a much more interesting read.
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