ON THE RAVENS WINGS INTERVIEW SERIES
On the Raven’s Wings is an interview series presented by Sumayyah of The Raven Desk blog. It interviews aspiring writers (both agented and un-agented alike) to get their perspective on writing, the business and life. Today, we've got Becca, owner of the blog Random Musings of an Aspiring Author. Be sure to check it out!
Q: Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?
A: Umm, I’m 18 annnd I like chocolate annnd I started writing in the first grade. My stories were written in brightly coloured markers and featured the vice-principal dying in various gruesome ways. Hehe. I assume she annoyed me in some way. I was a twisted child.
Q: What genre do you write? What attracted you to this genre?
A: I don’t really stick to one genre. I’ve got a couple fantasy books, a few contemporary ones, an attempt at sci-fi, and I’m dying to have a proper go at dystopian. I do really like the world building and the lack of limitations in fantasy-based stories though.
Q: What are you currently working on at the moment? How was the story inspired?
A: My WIP’s very lousy working title is Fire and Ice. It’s a borderline-fantasy kind-of-dystopian thing. XD Basically it’s about a girl whose life gets turned upside down when her home becomes part of the front lines in a massive war. Her parents send her away to try to keep her out of the army, but that doesn’t work out so well, and she winds up falling for this captain who is always getting perilously close to committing treason. Then it starts to look like he’s in cahoots with the enemy, planning to help them invade and end the war, and she has to figure out who to trust and so on and oh this is not a good synopsis.
But anyhoo, the inspiration thing is a funny story! My house is right on a lake and last April when the ice was melting my sister and I got the brilliant idea to go row around the bay on an old windsurfing board. The ice was thin enough to break through and as we were ploughing trails through it and admiring the odd way in which ice melts (it turns into all these mashed-together little icicle things) I started getting an idea for a strange climate and the culture - my MC’s culture - that went with it. I thought to myself, “Self, you and I should should write a book about this,” and Self said, “Well, what’s the conflict?” and the obvious answer seemed to be, “Let’s start a war!”
Q: Is there a place you like to go to write? Are there any rituals you stick to when writing a story?
A: I usually write in my room, where it’s nice and quiet and I can do weird things like “research” how hard it is to climb out a window without anyone noticing!
Q: What is your favorite thing about writing? Why?
A: Ooh, that’s a hard one. I guess I just love getting to know my characters in so much depth, and discovering their stories. It keeps me amused. I honestly have no idea what normal people with their free time! I can’t imagine spending all those writing hours watching TV or something.
Q: If you had to pick a soundtrack for your current WIP, what songs/bands would be on it?
A: Hmm. Apocalyptica, definitely. It’s got an epic-battle fantasy feel to it that really suits the plot. Also a lot of Taylor Swift, I think. A lot of her songs make me think of my MC, who I suppose is a bit of a hopeless romantic.
And:
Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance
Just a Dream by Carrie Underwood
Godspeed by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Travelin’ Soldier by Dixie Chicks (because they’re all sort of war-themed)
Laughing With by Regina Spektor
Oh! I can’t forget Get out of This Town by Carrie Underwood. My little sister came running into my room going, “Listen to this! Listen to this!” The lyrics (ignoring the cheerful tone) fit the beginning of my WIP freakishly well.
Q: What is your favorite thing about your current work? Who is your favorite character to write?
A: Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written anything set in an alternate world, so I’m having a grand time making up my own slang and inventing the culture and so on. The whole war thing has also given me an opportunity to get into some really dark subject matter, which I’m rather enjoying. Hehe. As for my favourite character to write, it’s written in first-person, so I’m kind of stuck with my MC. I secretly find the love interest and one of my maybe-evil minor characters way more interesting though. Which probably isn’t a good thing.
A: Ooh, that’s a hard one. I guess I just love getting to know my characters in so much depth, and discovering their stories. It keeps me amused. I honestly have no idea what normal people with their free time! I can’t imagine spending all those writing hours watching TV or something.
Q: If you had to pick a soundtrack for your current WIP, what songs/bands would be on it?
A: Hmm. Apocalyptica, definitely. It’s got an epic-battle fantasy feel to it that really suits the plot. Also a lot of Taylor Swift, I think. A lot of her songs make me think of my MC, who I suppose is a bit of a hopeless romantic.
And:
Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance
Just a Dream by Carrie Underwood
Godspeed by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Travelin’ Soldier by Dixie Chicks (because they’re all sort of war-themed)
Laughing With by Regina Spektor
Oh! I can’t forget Get out of This Town by Carrie Underwood. My little sister came running into my room going, “Listen to this! Listen to this!” The lyrics (ignoring the cheerful tone) fit the beginning of my WIP freakishly well.
Q: What is your favorite thing about your current work? Who is your favorite character to write?
A: Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written anything set in an alternate world, so I’m having a grand time making up my own slang and inventing the culture and so on. The whole war thing has also given me an opportunity to get into some really dark subject matter, which I’m rather enjoying. Hehe. As for my favourite character to write, it’s written in first-person, so I’m kind of stuck with my MC. I secretly find the love interest and one of my maybe-evil minor characters way more interesting though. Which probably isn’t a good thing.
Q: What plans do you have for the future writing wise? Any new ideas in your mind?
A: In my dream world I’ll get an agent and a book deal and in my uber dream world I’ll eventually make enough money off it to just write full time. *crosses fingers* I can hope, right? :D
I have one SNI floating around in my head. It’s still pretty vague but I think it will be dystopian and probably revolve around a society that’s run by the mafia. There’s a cute boy involved, of course, and Russian roulette.
Q: What keeps you from losing interest in your work? How do you make sure you finish a project?
A: Heheh, sometimes I do lose interest in my books. I think it’s probably because I haven’t worked out the plot well enough and it just sort of peters out - no real climax for me to work towards. I haven’t lost interest in my current one because I love the characters so much. There’s so much to them. They keep me entertained.
Q: What’s the best part of finishing up a novel?
A: Getting to query it! It’s one more opportunity to find an agent. :)
Q: What advice do you have for writers, both veteran and amateur?
A: Write what you want to write. And keep writing. Always, always, always keep writing.
A: In my dream world I’ll get an agent and a book deal and in my uber dream world I’ll eventually make enough money off it to just write full time. *crosses fingers* I can hope, right? :D
I have one SNI floating around in my head. It’s still pretty vague but I think it will be dystopian and probably revolve around a society that’s run by the mafia. There’s a cute boy involved, of course, and Russian roulette.
Q: What keeps you from losing interest in your work? How do you make sure you finish a project?
A: Heheh, sometimes I do lose interest in my books. I think it’s probably because I haven’t worked out the plot well enough and it just sort of peters out - no real climax for me to work towards. I haven’t lost interest in my current one because I love the characters so much. There’s so much to them. They keep me entertained.
Q: What’s the best part of finishing up a novel?
A: Getting to query it! It’s one more opportunity to find an agent. :)
Q: What advice do you have for writers, both veteran and amateur?
A: Write what you want to write. And keep writing. Always, always, always keep writing.
