Mischievous

Inspired.... <img src="/images/emoticons/drunken_smilie.gif" alt="drunken">

Personally, I planned the entire plot line of the novel down to detailed sketches of how each chapter would progress before I ever started. Given the themes and plot twists in my novel, I needed to be very specific with all the subtle details and foreshadowing. I couldn't bring out a major plot twist half-way through without having been consistent from the beginning. I also wanted to give readers every opportunity to notice certain things that would seem irrelevant during the first half of the story but that would take on great significance during the second half... so readers would have that "oh my god", or "aha" moment later on.

When I write, unless I have a plot line well mapped out (even with short stories), I find that my writing can tend to wander quite a bit. I need to know what my point of view is in the storytelling and how one moment will progress to another.

I do fairly detailed character sketches, but I give myself more flexibility with them as I write. A lot of plot progression will come from dialogue and character actions which can evolve as I go. I have found with the novel that I'm working on, that characters really did come to life, and as I filled the basic outlines of my characters, I found myself starting to grow more attached and/or fond of certain characters I had originally seen as more two-dimensional when I was originally sketching out the plot. It hasn't changed the development of the plot line, but I've given certain characters more "air-time" as I've come to enjoy writing them. Sadly, each character has a very specific fate (some fates worse than others... lol), and that will not change, regardless of how much I've come to enjoy them.

Excited!

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So far I've only written about places that I'm familiar with. My novel takes place in NYC and I've spent quite a bit of time there on and off since I was in my early teens both for pleasure as well as for professional reasons. Details even down to restaurants, party locales, and living spaces have all been taken from my own memories. The city itself is very important to the theme of the story so I chose it carefully. It wouldn't work in any other city. And I started writing the story just after I returned from NYC a year ago after having been a little inspired.

There is a shorter segment of my novel that I'm writing now that takes place in a foreign locale that I haven't been to yet (yikes!). I've actually been doing quite a bit of research online, watching travel clips, and trying to get into the vibe of the locale. It's exotic and tropical and nowhere I had already been would have worked for this plot point so I'm going out on a limb with this one. Hope it works... <img src="/images/emoticons/happy8.gif" alt="happy8">

Everything else I have written has always used a location I'm familiar with. I'll typically use hotels and restaurants I've been to as well to keep things as authentic as I can.

Disturbed.

Do you feel that a writer can get typecast by their genre?

Many authors will choose to use different pen-names when they write in multiple genres (eg. Stephen King, Iain Banks etc.)

Why do you think this is?

Are readers unable to differentiate, or do you think that an image/expectation can be created by being associated with one genre to such a degree that you need an entirely different name/image in order to publish something different and be respected for it.

How much does the image of the author factor into someone's decision to read a story, and how much can it either add or detract from their credibility in a specific genre?

Eg. If you read romance novels... would you be inclined to pick a romance novel written by Stephen King? Or would you say forget it - that's not his genre and he probably won't know what he's doing.

I love your story series, Sprite. As someone who never really got into the Alice in Wonderland phenomena ( don't hate me...eek! ), I'm finding this piece very refreshing and entertaining! I like the darker aspects, so maybe that's why I'm finding it more thrilling than the traditional AIW story.

Do you find it difficult to switch to Alice's POV and retell the same story? I've read a few novel series where they have done this, and I found that I really enjoyed them. So far, which character's perspective have you enjoyed writing from the most? And do you think that's because the character is more relatable to you as the writer? I always wonder who the author identifies most with in a story series that deals with two different POV's.... <img src="/images/emoticons/icon_smile.gif" alt="icon_smile">