Vivian Trask tagged me to answer four questions.

Vivian Trask?  Who is Vivian Trask.  Click here to find out and to see her answers!!!

My answers are below.

1) WHAT AM I WORKING ON?

I’ve hit my bottom.  Like a drug addict stealing their mom’s Honda for more heroin, I have sunk as low as I can.  I’ve officially hit my limit at five books.

The Juniper Wars:  Thorn Sisters – Epic sci-fi/western – A girl with two troubled sisters falls in love with a mysterious boy during a post-apocalyptic cattle drive

In Too Deep – Contemporary Romance – When a disgraced sea captain with a habit of losing ships and a hunky celebrity chef accused of poisoning his food come together to save their careers, the last thing they need is to fall in love (Co-writing this with the wonderful Andrea Stein).

Sass McQueen and the Kung-Fu Princess – Silly Middle Grade – Two extraordinary girls have to learn how to control themselves to save their school, Poopenkitten Elementary

Sparked – YA sci-fi/romance – A girl learns about life and love from a self-aware android trained to kill

Elizabeth’s Midnight – YA Contemporary/Fantasy Lite – Emotionally-stunted, overweight girl travels to France with her grandmother to see the grandmother’s love from World War II whom she claims is a sorcerer-prince from another world.

2) HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS OF ITS GENRE?
Genre.  I hate genre.  I understand I need to accept it’s yoke, but I am plotting to destroy the master and be my own, free man.  Until then, I won’t surrender, but I will comply.

With all the books upon books upon books, we’ll take the next project to be published, which is Elizabeth’s Midnight.  Hurray!  Bella Swan from Twilight was vanilla, but likeable.  I mean, she did have that power-which-is-not-a-power thing, but in the end, she was your every girl.  Bethie Meyers in my book is not likeable.  She is fearful and troubled and doesn’t really want to go on grand adventures.  Until she finds herself on one. Slowly, but surely, she becomes the hero of her story, which is how it should be.

How are my books different?  Ha.  In my critique group, one of the women laughed and said, “Aaron, only you would have this dumpy, fearful girl and her demented yet dynamic grandmother looking for treasure in a cramped bathroom in the ruins of some ghetto apartment complex.”

So, yeah.  There you have it.

3) WHY DO I WRITE WHAT I DO?
I struggle.  I know, it’s a cliché, the struggling artist, but no, really, I struggle with the day to day stuff.  The easy stuff.  Sleep.  I screw up sleep on a regular basis and that’s pretty much just lying down and closing one’s eyes.  I thirst for meaning.  I hate the mundane.  I am driven to write down the stories that plague me, and the stories come from every direction, all the time.

I like character arcs because my life has been one long character arc.  I went from huddling in the basement , watching T.V., fearful, always so fearful, to traveling the world, to writing books, to getting the books published, to marketing the books as best as I can.  It’s a struggle.  It’s a character arc.

And I like drama, and huge climaxes, and guns, swords, magic, impossible quests, unbearable odds, tears, lots of tears because if my characters aren’t crying, I’m not doing my job.

Darkness, death, defeat, despair and then…hope.  Genre?  Death to genre.

4) HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS WORK?
I write and write and write and write and write and write and write and write.  I don’t stop to edit.  Wait, hold on, before I do all the writing, I do this:

I write the pitch.  The pitch of the story is the heart of the story and I need to know what that is.

I do a “Save the Cat” 14 beat outline.  I am a slave to the outline.

I do a quick synopsis based on the outline because I’ll have to do one anyway even if I self-publish.  Might as well take a crack at it sooner rather than later.

Wait!  Wait, before the pitch, the outline, the synopsis, I go for a long walk and I tell myself the story.  I get bored easily, so after about ten feet of walking, I start up the story machine in my head.  I walk the story and then I do that other stuff.

Finally.  I write, write to the power of ten, and I don’t stop until I get to that ever-loving denouement.

Then I send it to my critique, beta readers, my Grandma Dot, though she’s dead, and  I polish and take out as many of the dumb words and awkward sentences as possible.

Then?  I publish by ANY MEANS NECESSARY.  I don’t get to have trunk novels anymore.  Nope.  That part of my life is over.  Now I publish, pimp, and on to the next story.

I get my work out into the world.  Oh, it’s scary.  Oh, it’s great.

If you liked this blog post, this ain’t nothing.  I tagged three friends and their answers are epic!!!  Click on their names to be WHISKED away!

Christine Ashworth — So, about me. The short version of the bio is, I’m still 17 at heart, I used to be a ballet dancer and yes, I still miss dancing the way I did when I was 17. I’m a romantic from way back, and I’m a writer who currently has a Day Job as an Office Manager. I grew up in San Diego, fell in love with another dancer, and married him. We’ve got two tall sons and live in Ventura County, California. But probably one of the most important things to know about me is, I’m a hugger. I hug. I touch. It’s one of the ways I process people. So if you see me coming, know I’ll reach out and give you a hug.

Gail Delaney — Gail R. Delaney has been actively writing ‘for publication’ since 1996, but wrote her first novel at the age of sixteen. That first novel — a high fantasy with Biblical connections — is still sitting on her computer, waiting for the major rewrite that will make it acceptable. She says she has learned a great deal since writing that book, and it shows when she looks back at that rough draft. Gail has had several novels published in the genres of contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and futuristic romance. Her novels have received several nominations and awards since she was first published in 2005. Gail’s website is www.GailDelaney.com, but she also maintains two active Facebook pages. www.Facebook.com/AuthorGailRDelaney is her page for all her writing, and if you are a lover of futuristic sci fi, be sure to like www.Facebook.com/PhoenixGailRDelaney

Ross Willard — Ross is a Texas resident who has been writing speculative fiction in one form or another for as long as he can remember. Besides being an avid bibliophile, he is a part time farmer, and plays a mean game of scrabble. Ross can often be found reading or writing at his local independent coffee shop, or working on his website.  Click his name to be swept away.

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