La-Tessa Montgomery

Today I’m joined by new author Christine Ashworth, sharing her experience with overwriting– an affliction that many newbie authors suffer from.  I’m sure most of you authors out there have similar tales as Christine, if so please share.  There’s no judging here  

Hi La-Tessa, thanks for having me on your blog to blatantly promote my first published novel! But before I get to that, I wanted to share how I went from overwriting, to writing to sell.

When I wrote my first novel, I put everything in it. Ballet dancers, gay men, straight men, alcohol, sweat, snow, gorgeous imagery, sexual tension, heartbreak, omniscient POV, deep third POV, Paris, New York, San Diego, Los Angeles, hot tubs, nakedness in the kitchen, really great lasagna, sex with inappropriate people…should I go on?

Needless to say, that novel, while remaining a darling in my heart, is on a dusty section of a hard drive that no longer exists. Ten long years have passed – eleven complete novels and over a dozen partials later, and I’m still struggling not to put everything plus the kitchen sink into a book.

I know now how to plot just enough that the thought of writing the story doesn’t bore me. I know how to go back through a book and see what’s missing, and how to add it in. I write fast, mainly to get through the writing to the rewriting, which has become my favorite part of writing. (Which is good, since selling means rewriting.)

But it’s taken me a long time to accept my method of writing and then rewriting. I had a friend ask me if I keep all the words I write in a day (typically 2k-5k, depending on the day, the story, and life in general). At first I thought, well of course I do! But in retrospect, when I rewrite a story for sense, romance, plot, and character, I do change/add/delete quite a bit of words. I’ve tossed out entire chapters because that dragged in a fourth POV, which the story didn’t need. So do I keep all the words I write? No. My bet is, few writers do.

I’m no Gustav Flaubert (Madame Bovary), who would at times agonize over a paragraph for a month before he was satisfied with it. (Plus, you know, he was writing in French.) Rather, the words fly out of my brain and onto the screen because if I think too much I can’t write – therefore, the words that make it to the page aren’t always appropriate for the story, but they lead me to the next bit, and the next, and before I know it, the book is done and the real work (fun!) begins.

No writing is truly wasted. When I say I “toss” words, I really mean “put in a delete folder for all eternity”. Because someday, those words might come in handy! Yes, I still over-write – add in elements to the story that don’t really fit. But they get put into the delete folder at the appropriate time, because my brain has finally figured out what happens next.

Christine, thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your experience.  You weren’t kidding about trying to put everything in your first manuscript were you?.  Personally, I’d like to know how all that could possibly exist in one story, but I suppose that’s a tale for another day.  Great lasagna indeed-LOL. 

Before I let Christine go, I ‘d like to mention her 1st release, Demon Soul is out and available for purchase.  Here’s a bit about it:

…to retrieve his soul, she’ll become fire… Gabriel Caine stands on the edge of the abyss. A vampire has stolen his soul and if he doesn’t get it back soon, his next step will be into hell.

Rose Walters has been sent back from the dead to complete one task – save Gabriel Caine. But this muscled guy in leather, black jeans and a dangerous aura didn’t look like he needed anyone’s help.

Rose has touched the whole of Gabriel, making him yearn for a love he believes he can never have. Her willingness to put her human life on the line for him forces him to bring all three parts of himself – demon, human and Fae bloodlines, and the traps and gifts of each – into harmony, and into the fight that will decide their fate.

Demon Soul is available for purchase on Amazon and All Romance eBooks. 
You can find Christine over at her website and on Twitter.

I had the pleasure of attending the book signing for Beautiful Creatures and meeting the authors Kami and Margaret back in January.  Of course, I got caught all up and I’m just now getting around to posting my recap of the event. 

I attended the book signing with one of my local writing buddies.  We both found it to be very interesting event.  For one, these two authors have one of the most unlikeliest, fairytale-ish, comedy-of-errors type of road to publication.  The short version of the story is that neither author had finished a story on their own, so their kids dared them to write and finish a book.  Being the sports they are, they accepted the challenge.  The proceeded to write the book, turning over the completed chapters to their kids to read as they were done (and as proof they were actually writing the book-lol)

By the time they were finished, they had several students (like 100′s)  that attended school with their kids wanting to read their finished product.  So they were going to post it to the net so all of the kids could have access to it, when one of their friends (who just happens to be a published author) stepped in and stopped them.    Said friend also sent the book to his agent, and the agent loved it.  The story gets really funny now (in a Lucy & Ethel type way), but long story short, after several mishaps and thinking the interest of the agent was a practical joke, Kami and Margaret are now proud authors of their first published book, which also happens to be the first book either of them has ever written.

Their story is a YA/Paranormal/Southern/Gothicy mix that has gotten rave reviews both on Amazon and from the radio DJ’s that I initially heard talking about it.  Listening to the authors describe their story and their influences really piqued my interest as well.  So I did something I rarely, if ever do.  I purchased a book–a hard cover no less–written by authors that I knew nothing about (other than what I’d heard than night) or whose books I’d never read before.

The one quote/piece of advice these ladies gave, that I will always remember, is “There’s no such thing as a bad book, just a bad draft”.  This was their response when an aspiring author asked them for insight into their writing process (which, in an of itself quite hectic).  This matra is the one thing they both kept in mind to keep them going, and I think it’s worth remembering & repeating.  I will definitely be pulling this one out the next time I have a crisis of confidence regarding my writing–or– the next time I recieve a rejection. 

For one, I’m really digging the book cover, and cover art usually doesn’t play a strong part in my book buying decisions.  But something about it appeals to me, and I LOVE the title font, it’s very fluid and artsy.  But I’m really looking forward to reading this one.  It’s next on my TBR list.

Oh, and did I mention?  Beautiful Creatures has been optioned for a movie.  Congrats ladies!