Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Books or manuscripts? I finally shelved my first book last year, and wrote my current one, which is coming out November 29th.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My upcoming book is called The Complete Guide to Being Evil, and it was *grimaces* inspired by a dream. It was way more coherent than my dreams usually are, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it after I woke up. So I wrote it down, then realized I had a rough outline for a book, and it all came from there.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I *have* to write my first draft on paper, by hand. The blank screen terrifies me, and eats up my creativity. The notebook is what I started with, it smells good, and I love it. I remember when I first started writing more often than an hour or two in my free time. I was in middle school, and in the classes I didn’t care for, I’d just start writing, and my hand would start going at a furious pace. After a few weeks of it, I got a huge, purple bruise where the pen rested on my middle finger. That place now bears a thick callus that has never waned.
Some authors say they won’t write by hand ever again since typing is so much faster, but I do first drafts much faster by hand, since if I was sitting at a computer I’d be sitting there doing nothing for the greatest portion of the time.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
CS Lewis, first and foremost. Then JRR Tolkien, Harry Potter, Jim Butcher, Terry Pratchett, Brandon Sanderson, and Rachel Aaron. The last two have great information for writers on the internet.
Harry Potter is the series that got me into reading and The Chronicles of Narnia deepened that love. I fell in love with Lewis’s adult books and read them all several times. I’m about due to read LotR for the third time. Dresden Files were the only urban fantasy I read before writing my own (don’t worry, I’ve caught up a bit now). And Terry Pratchett inspired the humor I used (though mine is a more American humor than British).
What are you working on now?
I’ve started outlining two different novels. I’m not certain yet which I’m going to pursue first. There’s another urban fantasy, set in the same world but a different series from The Complete Guide to Being Evil. It’s about a mage employed by the government to hunt down and kill “dangerous” magi. He finds out, though, that they’ve been lying, and they’ve been sending him after every mage they find. Working title: Mage Assassin.
The other one is a heroic fantasy about a girl who sees her parents murdered by dragons in the collateral of a war starting up. She runs and hides in the woods, and when she’s starting to starve, she sees a dragon land to lay its eggs. She tries to break into one, but it won’t break, so she rolls it around with her, waiting to eat the hatchling. But when it hatches, they bond, and she raises it instead. Working title: From Unbreakable Eggs.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The jury’s still out on that one, since I’m awaiting my release date, but so far I’ve found a few people ready to buy my book on Goodreads, just by joining some book clubs that fit my genre.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write a lot. Every day until you finish a book. Edit that first book for a while, learn how to edit. Then shelve it, take a few weeks off writing, and start something better. You can’t implement everything you’ve learned about writing into that first book, and the basic plot and characters are probably flawed in some way you can’t yet see.
It’s okay not to write every day if you need a break for a few weeks. But those breaks should primarily take place between projects, so you don’t have to relearn everything about your book before working on it again. If you’re struggling with something you’re in the middle of, figure out what the problems are, then go take a walk for an hour. A little blood flow does a brain good.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
That’s really hard. I assume you mean writing advice. I guess the one thing that stands out the most for me is Rachel Aaron’s triangle of productivity. Know what time of day you produce the most, where you produce the most, and what you’re going to write before you write it. When those three meet, you’re at your most productive, and can write 2-5X more per day.
If you’re talking about the best life advice, it’s that when a deer crosses your path at night, slow down. There’s probably another deer behind it (they don’t travel alone). That advice has saved me from wrecking into two deer so far.
What are you reading now?
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It’s awesome.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I believe I spoke about the books I’m working on? On a larger perspective, I have three different series I’d like to work on, as well as a MG trilogy.
What is your favorite book of all time?
The Great Divorce by CS Lewis. The idea is really interesting, and backed with the clarity of writing it’s just phenomenal.
Author Websites and Profiles
Laura Stephenson Website
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