Writing Interview: My Work in Progress and my writing process and INT giveaway!

The awesome Jamie Krakover tagged me to answer these four questions about my WIP (work in progress) and my writing process! I was excited to answer these since as some of you know, I'm in the midst of writing my first novel.

1.      What are you working on right now? 
I'm currently working on my first novel, a contemporary coming of age story about a first year medical student struggling to find her place in her highly competitive school as well as to navigate her turbulent love life. My goals with this novel were to introduce readers to the world of medical school and what a career in medicine might be like as well as develop characters that people would root for. 

2. How does it differ from other works in its genre?

I think that all coming of age contemporaries have a thread in common-- the growth of the main character over the course of a novel. That said, I think that because of my background in medicine, I can introduce readers to a unique viewpoint on what training for a medical background would be like and what struggles people in this track go through. A lot of what happens in my novel is inspired by real life situations-- either in my life or the lives of other people I know. 

3. Why do you write what you do? 

I'm actually a bit surprised that I started with a contemporary that isn't even a YA book. I hope to expand to some of my favorite genres, which include dystopian, science fiction, and fantasy/paranormal. I figured that I should write what I know for my first book to get it written, and I find that I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. I already have ideas for three other contemporaries (companion books to my current novel) in the pipeline. 

4. How does your writing process work?

I'm still figuring this out, but I started off just writing an idea I've been tossing around for years. This is a book that my sister has been begging me to write for a long time, but I don't think I had either the time or the confidence to start it until now. I originally was planning to cover the four years of medical school in a single novel, but I quickly realized how difficult it is to write over that span of time. At that point, I cut down the time scale to one year, and in addition, I wrote out an outline. I don't always follow it, but it's really important for me to have a sense where I'm going at all times. I go back to the outline and revise when my characters dictate a different direction. 

I also spend a lot of time thinking about each of my characters-- what are their backgrounds? What are their motives? I detest one dimensional characters, so for example, the "mean girl" Chelsea, ends up being probably my favorite character. When I figure out their personalities, I go back and edit scenes and conversations to fit them. 

My sister is serving as a huge sounding board. I send her a chapter every few days, and she gives me broad comments as I write. She's one of my toughest critics, so I know she'll always be honest even if it may hurt my feelings. Furthermore, her constant involvement forces me to reach my own self denoted deadlines because I know she's always waiting for another chapter.

Every morning, I write for an hour without fail. It may be only 500 words, but it's 500 words down on paper. It adds up!

Lastly, I've set up several crit partners and beta readers in four to five different editing stages so that this manuscript will be the best it can be before I try to get an agent. I have to give a shout out to the wonderful Antony John, author of Elemental and Five Flavors of Dumb, and Fiona Paul (AKA Paula Stokes), who wrote the Venom trilogy. They have been instrumental in getting me to write this novel, and have already given me the most wonderful advice.

I hope you've enjoyed this interview, and can't wait to reveal more about my book in the coming months! 

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