Alaska Writers Guild Conference
This year has been a whirlwind, both personally and professionally. When I completed my master’s last summer, I honestly felt both ecstatic and lost, like although I had completed such a fantastic milestone, I still knew not what I would do next. Months later my friend and I decided we would go to an Alaska Writers Guild meeting, and ironically, we both wanted to cancel but went anyway. A few weeks later we went to the Guild’s writing conference and continued to build our little cozy endeavor, a writing group we co-founded called CreativiTea Alaska. It’s grown so much in the last year and has given me an opportunity I’ve wanted for many years – to teach.
I decided earlier this year that I wanted to teach at the Writers Conference, but my mind kept forgetting to submit my proposal. When I finally submitted my program this summer, the slots had been filled. To my surprise, one of the other facilitators dropped out and my program was placed on the agenda.
As a writer of science fiction, fantasy, and romance, worldbuilding is a huge part of my storytelling, though it is in every genre, and I knew I wanted to teach the most basic components of worldbuilding to whoever wanted to listen. I built my Worldbuilding 101 presentation and had planned to speak way longer than I actually did, but fortunately I went through slides quickly. This allowed me to open for questions.
We all have experience to share with the world, and on 30 September I did just that. I spoke to 15 people, and having a small group allowed us to facilitate dialogue that had me reflecting on inspiration, process, perspective and creating. When asked where I find inspiration for my worlds, I thought back to when I first built Clover Bay, one of the settings for The Fury’s Light, and where my small-town knowledge was derived. How shows and books like Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries inspired some of the Bay’s main street and some of its surrounding homes, or how Hogwarts and the magic school from Charmed inspired my own magical academy.
Being able to finally share my muse, my inspiration for how I built my worlds, allowed me to expand on my experience and journey to where I am now – preparing to launch its sequel.
I completed the first draft of The Fury’s Curse in 2014, and have since revised it to its sixth version – its final version. Despite this, I still don’t think it’s ready and probably never will, but when I read an excerpt after our writing exercise, the feedback received from the audience struck me. Readers pick up on subtlety, they pick apart discourse, and in just two short paragraphs this attendee did just that. She asked if I had been deliberate with my words, if I had been specific in the language used.
Aren’t all writers deliberate?
I loved this question, and how this person who did not know me or had not read my work before that day could so easily pick apart those paragraphs and realize there was a deeper meaning, some foreshadowing to something greater within the story arc. I only hope she decides to read my work and see for herself what I alluded to in that workshop.
As a writer, what is your process? Now, this question wasn’t asked, but as I stated earlier, I’m in a reflection mood. I did speak on plotting versus pantsing, one of the phrases often used in writing circles to describe those who outline versus those who “fly by the seat of their pants” or write stream of consciousness. As a resident pantser, I prefer the ability to set my characters on a path with possible landmarks that guide them but allow them to make their own decisions with a little bit of a nudge here and there. However, I also understand and find value in outlining, though I still struggle with sticking to one.
Maybe this is why I can’t finish book 3, but that’s a story for another time.
I knew when I wrote The Fury’s Light that I didn’t want to outline, but I did want to put thought and effort into certain aspects of the story. For example, I wanted each Fury – an immortal being who can control a single element – to have a name that corresponded with their element. Aiden means Fire, while Dimitri means Earth. Erion means Air, yet he goes by EJ to keep the story modern. I also wanted each of the elements to correspond with a gemstone that they would occasionally be called by, like the Amethyst for Light. Why I chose that is a mystery, other than that my favorite color is Purple. Do I see myself in Lana, no, but hey – it’s a pretty color and I’m the writer – I do what I want.
Just kidding. There is another reason why I wanted gemstones acquainted with their respective Fury.
See, writers are deliberate.
