#wchwriter

The water tugs at her hand as it trails over the side of the boat. As she drifts between islands, letting the familiar currents and tides do most of the work, she keeps a keen eye out for other craft.

Her mother’s old cast net lies at her feet, still damp and glistening in the mid-afternoon sun. The fish she’d caught lie in her belly. A warm temptation, to pull up on one of the passing beaches and to doze under a tree, washes over her. She flicks salty water into her face. Sits upright. Slowly scans what can be seen of the horizon.

An old white house peers out through the cap of trees on its island. The old captain lives there, and she visits once a week to make sure there’s enough food and to do any repairs. Today is not that day.

Splashing by the bow draws her eye. A flash of fin. A writhing tentacle, too big for comfort. Stories of creatures lurking in the channels between the larger islands had scared her as a child, and even now her skin crawls.

She decides to use the engine for the final stretch home.

Rounding the final headland she approaches her own jetty with relief. An unfamiliar boat comes into sight as she’s tying up, and she pauses to watch until it’s passed. A final knot of tension relaxes as they disappear behind an outcropping on rocks.

2. What is the oldest WIP that you’re still working on? How has it changed since you first started it?

The oldest is Red Rum, which is a fan-fiction I started in... 2014?  I’ve never posted it anywhere so I don’t feel bad about dragging it out.  It’s basically a guilty pleasure project that I go to when I have writer’s block.  The basic premise has always been the same-- impossible to catch serial killer Shadow meets his equal in some sort of detective/consultant/officer Vio, an odd affair of murderous games ensue, horrible drama and gay sex abound... but the specifics have changed so many times that I’ve lost count. 

3. What’s your go-to way of staying motivated?

I remind myself that I can’t be a published author if I don’t, ya know, actually write something to publish.  Usually that’s enough to make me put down a few sentences. 

4. What are your outlining methods? Do you outline at all, and if so, in what format and in how much detail? 

I usually outline as I go.  I have the basic skeleton of a plot in my head, but everything else I sort of just wing?  So I use my outline to keep track of the scenes I’ve started writing or intend to write, and it fills out as I go.  I outline in a numbered list (supposedly chronological) and each scene’s outline involves listing the POV, all characters, and a one paragraph synopsis of the scene.

5. What got you started writing? How long ago was it?

I started in the first grade, so... 12 years ago?  I started because my teacher had, like, “writer’s workshop” or something in the afternoons where we got to make our own cheap picture books--like, you know, write two sentences on a page, draw a picture on the top half of the page, hole punch a handful together and slap some cardstock on either side for a book cover.  I loved it.  I was a bookworm growing up (way more than I am now, though reading is still my favorite hobby) and saw writing as a way to “give back” to the world for all the great things I got to read, so I stuck with it. 

6. What book or author has been the greatest inspiration or influence on your life?

Probably J.R.R.Tolkien, if just because of how influential LotR is in modern fantasy.  I grew up reading LotR with my dad so I’d say it’s also been pretty influential in my taste in books and my love for world-building.

7. What are your future plans for writing?

I’m planning on publishing someday, preferably with a publishing house and all the crap that entails (I don’t feel I’d be successful as a self-publisher).  I’m hoping Eosophobia can be my debut novel but it’s in very early stages of drafting, so it’s too soon to tell. 

8. Is writing your main goal in life, or is there something more important to you?

Writing has never been my main goal since I’ve always been pursuing something else as a main career (so that was more important), but right now I’m going through an identity crisis and am not sure what that other “real” career is going to be.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

9. Have you ever done NaNoWriMo and would you ever want to (again)?

Yes!  I’ve won (won?) NaNo 3 outta the 4 times I’ve done it and love everything about NaNo--except that it’s in November (which is usually a busy month for me, school-wise).  I’m doing camp NaNo next month (April) and plan on doing the full NaNo again this year :) 

10. Do you share your work with anyone? How hesitant are you to share things?

I’m pretty hesitant.  I don’t mind sharing lines/paragraphs, but more than, like, 300 words?  I dunno... that’s a lot lol.  I also prefer sharing online like this than sharing with people I know--I get a lot more stressed about what the person thinks and trying to impress them if I know them, and that doesn’t make for productive sharing.