I had two suggestions on the topic thread, and they both have pretty short answers, so I figured I’d go ahead and address both.
The first was about what writing books have helped me and how. What if I told you I haven’t actually read any? Well, besides the textbooks I had in school, which I can’t even remember. I read a lot of novels in my genre and pull from that. Not stealing ideas, but seeing what techniques are working for readers nowadays.
As far as how I write, that’s just something I’m experimenting with on my own. The Rose of Petrichoria was essentially complete by the time I started releasing it to the public, while Faith in Concordia has been one book at a time. I will likely go back to the first way when this series is complete. I tried outlining. It didn’t really work for me.
The second was what musician or song inspires me. I like a lot of music. Sometimes the lyrics speak to me. Sometimes it’s the catchy tune. When I wrote Rose of Petrichoria, I listened to a lot of Pentatonix. Harrison was actually cast as Scott Hoying from the group in my head. Rose was a young Anne Hathaway. Frank was Josh Hutcherson. Peter/David was Stephen Amell. Ella was actually my BFF, who I won’t advertise in case she doesn’t want her personal life out there on the interwebs. That’s off-topic, though.
I started writing Fire of Southland, which was angry girl music like Pink and No Doubt. Faith in Concordia has been strong ballads like Say Something by A Great Big World, and songs from the perspective of someone who prefers to be alone like Here by Alessia Cara. Everything I write has a different tone, so it has different music to match.
Is there something else you’d like me to write about? Post in the Topic Tuesday Suggestion Thread when it’s posted on Mondays.
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