The Writing Process Blog Tour

Thanks to my Class of 2k12 sister Gina Rosati for inviting me to be part of the Writing Process Blog Tour.  Gina is a library volunteer and author of AURACLE, an awesome YA paranormal romance from Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan. Visit Gina's website, follow her on Twitter, and read about her writing process here.

As part of the blog tour, I've been asked to answer these four questions about my writing process:

What am I working on?
Something totally different from anything I've written before--a young adult novel called Crashing Woodstock, about a modern-day high school senior who time travels to the Woodstock festival and faces horrors such as naked hippies, paper maps, and no cell phone service.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Hmmm. Well, I don't know of any Woodstock time travel books, so there's that. It will start and end as a work of contemporary fiction, but the bulk of the novel will read like historical fiction. Also I think in most time travel books, the character travels back in time on purpose, and this will be accidental.

Why do I write what I do?
In everything I write, there are characters I want to follow so I can find out what happens to them. I write for children and young adults because I love those ages of discovery, when we're still figuring out who we are, who we want to be, and who we don't want to be. We can really connect to characters who are going through the same things. Plus, I love middle grade and young adult novels myself--the stories have to be compelling from start to finish to keep choosy readers hooked.

How does your writing process work?
Well, this is somewhat messy. I'm not much of a plotter; I wrote CHAINED one chapter at a time, oftenThe Hero's Journey in mind along the way, though, so I'd refer to that when trying to coming up with what should happen to the characters. It worked out in the end, but I would've had a lot less revising to do if I'd done some planning. But I enjoy discovering the story as I go, so I don't think I'll ever be a heavy outliner. Now I do some rough plotting, with at least a few turning points that will come up throughout the story. I do my best drafting when I'm freewriting with a pen and paper, then I pull some of those ideas into a list of scenes for the chapter I'm working on. I talk more about organized brainstorming and plotting for non-plotters here, and how I've met the plotting/pantsing needs in Writing Lessons From Dogs.
having no idea what was going to happen from one chapter to the next. I was keeping
Also, I'm easily distracted, so I work best if I lock myself out of the Internet for an hour at a time. I use MacFreedom so I won't be tempted to check on all my friends who live in my computer.

Here's a little about the authors I've tagged for the blog tour. Look for their writing process posts next Monday, April 14th.

Gretchen McNeil's YA horror POSSESS, about a teen exorcist, debuted with Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins in 2011. Her follow up TEN was a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, a Romantic Times Top Pick, a Booklist Top Ten Horror Fiction for Youth, and was nominated for "Best Young Adult Contemporary Novel of 2012" by Romantic Times. Gretchen's 2013 release was 3:59, and this year, Gretchen debuts her first series, Don't Get Mad. Check out Gretchen's blog, Facebook page, or follow her on Twitter.

Anne Greenwood Brown is the author of the Lies Beneath trilogy - a series about love, forgiveness, and murderous mermaids on Lake Superior. She is terrified of high places, deep places, falling from high places into deep places, and fish of all kinds. But other than that, she's up for anything. Visit Anne on her blog, Facebook page, or on Twitter.

Leanna Renee Hieber is the award-winning, bestselling author of Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels for adults and teens. Her Strangely Beautiful saga, beginning with The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, hit Barnes & Noble and Borders Bestseller lists and garnered numerous regional genre awards. Leanna's Magic Most Foul saga began with Darker Still, an American Bookseller's Association "Indie Next List" pick and a Scholastic Book Club "Highly Reccomended" title. Read more about Leanna on her blog, Facebook page, or on Twitter.

Thanks for stopping by!