My writing process blog hop

A couple of weeks ago Camilla Kyndesen contacted me and asked if I'd be willing to participate in a writing process blog hop. After a little research, I said I'd love to. So that's what today's post is about.

First a little information about my nominator, Camilla:

Camilla Kyndesen writes stories in genres like fantasy, crime, or paranormal, usually for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and June Novel Writing Month (JuNoWriMo). When she’s not writing or busy with her day job as a web editor, she spends her time with her boyfriend and their three cats in Copenhagen, Denmark. Camilla blogs about her writing and about food, books, and life in general at apopcornaddict.wordpress.com. See Camilla's writing process post here.

And now on to my part in this blog hop, to answer four questions about my writing process.

Four Quick Questions
1. What am I working on?
I'm working on a collection of short speculative fiction stories that all touch on the theme of conformity. So far I've finished four of these stories, three of which have been published ("Zombie" on thedarkerhalf.com, "The Usual" in Inaccurate Realities, and "Unborn" in Ugly Babies, Vol. 2). Five more short stories are in various states of undress stages of drafting. When I've finished writing all of the stories and the rights to publish them all have reverted back to me, I plan to collaborate with artists and self-publish the collection with illustrations.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I've noticed that many of these stories remind me a bit of fairy tales in the way they're coming out. I'd say the style of most of the stories is minimalist - highly condensed prose that at times borders on exposition with no unnecessary description, and some without any dialog at all. Definitely not what's been in fashion.

3. Why do I write what I do?
Because I feel like a weirdo who has never really fit in, and writing this collection is a way for me to explore not only the advantages and disadvantages of conforming to norms but also what values and beliefs I hold that I perceive to be different from those norms.

4. How does my writing process work?
I get an idea that sets my brain on fire, scribble down in my notebook everything I can think of that comes into my mind about it, and then write a first draft of the story in Scrivener. Then I let it rest for a week or two, reread and tweak until I can't figure out why it's not doing what I want to, and then send the story to a writing friend (or two or three). After considering their feedback, I freeze up, panic, and then eventually figure out what I might be able to do to improve the story. It may take several rounds of feedback and several rounds of revision for me to feel like the story has finally clicked into place and is doing what I want it to. Then I start looking for places to send it for publication.

Passing the Torch
I'm tagging the following two fabulous writers, who will be posting about their own writing process next week.

With effort, writer and filmmaker Jo Custer has made cab driving a seasonal enough profession to be able to focus on Cab Fare: The Real Cost of Driving a Cab for the next few months. A journalistic look at the taxi industry in the emerging "sharing economy," the book will pay particular attention to the development of modern cab culture and its implications in the unique and untamed "Big Easy."

Jo holds a B.A. in journalism from Penn State University with additional screenwriting and film production credits at Pittsburgh Filmmakers and the University of New Orleans. Her latest short film as writer/director/producer can be viewed on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/42000706). Recently solicited to write a webisode for the "Fran and Penny" web series, Jo is also set to direct in the fall, pending funding.    

Jo's essay "Chopsticks" appears in The History Press' volume "Western Pennsylvania Reflections: Stories from the Alleghenies to Lake Erie" under her literary pseudonym, Jules Alder. Her poem "meta in marcato Or, on the qui vive" appears in "The Write Side", Volume 11, one of Penn State's satellite literary journals. She also has a collection of short fiction in progress, individual pieces of which she will soon start feeding to the cogs in the great wheel of submission and rejection. All hail our elusive literary overlords.

Visit Jo's blog here: http://jocuster.wordpress.com

Sassy Jacksun is a multi-media author and artist who is an avid reader, a dog lover, a sometimes singer, and an amateur salsa dancer. Filmmaking is another huge part of Sassy Jacksun's life. Sassy published her first poem, "Women's Work" in a  Creative Arts Journal for the city of Cincinnati (created by the University of Cincinnati) in 2008.  Her first novel, In Between, will debut at the end of the summer, 2014.

Sassy firmly believes the heart will love who it's supposed to love. It will not discriminate, so why should we? She believes stories that move people to believe, move people to think, and move people to love are worth sharing. Relationship characteristics necessary for her characters are: sapiosexuality, primal urges, safe words, integrity, and highly sensitive personalities (which usually means help from beyond the veil, in some form or another).

Sassy's favorite genres: Contemporary Romance, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal Thrillers, and Erotica.

Visit Sassy's blog here: http://www.sassyjacksun.com/blog