And the Brava question/answer game continues. For those who have emailed me to ask this or that or comment privately, you guys can post on the board, you know. If you’re wondering about something, then someone else probably is as well.

So, to Round Three:

Question: What motivated you to make a decision to become a writer?

Answer: Uh, insanity? Really, only a person filled with self-hate or rocks-for-brains would decide to go into a career with unstable pay, loads of rejection and hours of solitary confinement with a laptop (and not the online fun part). But, really, I became a writer because I felt compelled to do so. And, of course, because of that liar/great imagination issue I talked about yesterday.

Question: Are you a plotter or seat-of-the-pants writer? Which comes first characters or plot?

Answer: This answer will prove the insanity thing above. I am a pantser. I start with a kernel of an idea. I write about three chapters, then I go back and flush out characters and the direction of the story after that. But, no outline. No proposal. No idea where the hell I’m going. Tod Goldberg is a writing instructor and recently told me one of his first class assignments is to have the class write the end to their book. I found this horrifying. I have no idea what the ending will be when I start. The only reason I don’t stick a pencil in my eye every single time I’m faced with a deadline is that I once heard Jayne Ann Krentz speak on this subject. She said she can’t write outlines or proposals because if she did, the book would basically be written in her head and she wouldn’t be able to do anything else on it. That’s how it works for me.

Question: What is your favorite part of writing? Least favorite?

Answer: Favorite: I have so many. I love sending off the finished book to my editor. Seeing the cover for the first time. Holding the book in my hands and running my fingers over my name. Glancing over and seeing my book on a bookstore shelf along with writers I read and admire. Least: Actually sitting down and doing it. People say things like, “this book wrote itself” and I want to scream. I’d be thrilled if the little suckers wrote themselves, but they don’t. They expect me to write them. Stupid books.

Question: How in the world do you guys write the sex scenes?

Answer: I use visual aides.

Okay, that’s a joke. The reality is that the sex scenes are the least interesting parts for me to write. In fact, if I try to force it and add one where it shouldn’t be, I have a terrible time. I’ve heard authors who write for other imprints say the editor called and asked for more sex. If Kate Duffy did that I’d probably burst into tears. I’m not a throw-a-sex-scene-in-there gal. The goal, for me, is to have the sex scenes be intrinsic to the plot, realistic and true to the characters.

Did you notice how I kind of evaded that question…

Question: Who are the hero characters are based on? Are any of your characters based on real people?

Answer: It’s all fiction. There are bits of people and characteristics of people I know or have met (or am) in there. But, really, I try to create characters that are more interesting than real people but who still manage to be realistic.

Question: Have you ever had writer’s block?

Answer: No. I’ve avoided it by refusing to beleive in its existence. I’m not trying to be flip, but I don’t understand it. If I’m having trouble, I revise what I’ve already written and try to move forward from there. My biggest problem is not writer’s block, it’s can’t-put-the-butt-in-the-chair block. It’s a matter of discipline and, unfortunately, I don’t have any now that I write full time.

I’ll answer the rest tomorrow…

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2007 at 10:46 pm and is filed under About Me, About My Books, About Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.