#authorinterview Lone Wolf by Gretchen S.B. @GretchenSB @SDBookTours

Stay with a cheating fiancé or else…

Lone Wolf

What book do you think everyone should read?

Currently, I think everyone should read Goblin Candy. It is a monster romance about a goblin coming to earth and basically meeting his soulmate on Halloween. It is adorable and I love it so much. It is so cute and it’s like a nice little candy bar of a book because it’s relatively low stakes and you can root for the couple, you don’t hate either one of them at the beginning of the book, it’s just a very warm and fuzzy story.

How long have you been writing?

I think the first story we found that I wrote was from first grade and it was about a cat that went to school with its owner and like played on the monkey bars and stuff. But I finished my first full-length story, which is my book Berman’s Wolves, back in 2007. My first published story, Lady of the Dead, is going to have its 10th anniversary this Halloween.

Do the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write? 

Because I’m a pantser, predominantly most of my characters come to me as I write. I usually have one or two at the beginning that may or may not be the main character that I start with and then it branches from there. Based on the scenarios that the characters are in what I feel the story needs or if one just popped in my head screaming very loudly, I don’t think I’ve ever had all the characters from the get-go.

Do you see writing as a career? 

Eventually, not at the moment, because it isn’t quite making enough money to replace my day job.

What do you think about the current publishing market? 

I think the current publishing market is incredibly fast-paced. It’s always changing and it’s sometimes hard to tell where it’s going. So it definitely keeps you on your feet if you’re actively publishing books.

Do you read yourself and if so what is your favorite genre? 

I do, I read a lot. My main genres are paranormal romance and urban fantasy. However, I do go on binges of cozy mysteries as well because cozy mysteries are just delightful.

Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why? 

It’s nearly impossible for me to write in silence, I just find it distracting. But since I dictate my stories, I don’t need as much background noise because I’m hearing the sound of my own voice for hours at a time. And that can be just as uncomfortable as you think it could be. 😊

Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time?

Unless a book is short and just sparks my attention, I am very rarely working on just one book at a time. Because I have so many series open, I’m usually working on several, which slows down everything. But some days I’ll feel like working on my paranormal cozies and then other days of feel like writing my small-town romances, and then yet other days paranormal romances and I don’t want to force myself to write something I don’t feel like in the moment, because I found that what you end up writing isn’t as good and you have to do heavy edits to later. So it’s just easier if you write what you’re feeling from the get-go.

The advice they would give new authors? 

My goodness, is there a lot of advice out there for new authors. There are lots of ideas and tips and it’s an amazing, wonderful, wild ride. But what you need to keep in mind is that what works for one famous or rich author might not work for you. It could be that you don’t have experience in that field or it could be genre specific. So just because one set of advice doesn’t work doesn’t necessarily mean there’s something wrong with you or your book. It might be that you just have to find another avenue for success. You shouldn’t give up, you should just constantly be learning new techniques and new aspects. And I know that is time-consuming and exhausting, so don’t overwhelm yourself, but don’t get discouraged if one piece of advice that worked for some people doesn’t work for you.

What makes a good story? 

Characters and plot make a good story. But I think characters are slightly more important because even if the world is amazing and wonderful and the story is crazy, if the characters are not relatable, or interesting, or if you just hate them you’re not going to want to read the story. So having good characters or interesting characters is very important but they can’t necessarily carry a book if there’s actually no plot or if the plot is anticlimactic.

What are common traps for aspiring writers?

I think editing while you go tends to trap new writers. Once you stop the process of writing to edit, you’re going to sort of ruin the groove. So, if you edit once you are finished for that day, that’s fine. But I find that what has trapped newer authors that I have met over the years is editing as you go instead of just getting the whole story out and then going back and editing.

What is your writing Kryptonite?

New story ideas! I have a very active imagination and am very easily distracted. So, the kryptonite of any story that I’m writing is the next story or the random new idea stuck in my head that I can’t get out. I flit from story idea to story idea, so sometimes it’s really hard to focus on just the one I should be working on.

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Work on one series at a time and complete it instead of writing three series simultaneously. While I’ve gotten into the habit of writing multiple series at once, it does mean that I only have one completed series which I’m sure readers don’t love. So, I would tell my earlier self to work on a full series or at least partway through before starting a new one and publishing it.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

It depends on the book honestly. In my paranormal cozy mystery novella series, I wrote the first book in nine days and only three or four of those nine days was I actively writing. I also wrote my book Lady of the Dead, a paranormal romance, in seven months I believe. Also, the second book in my Berman’s Wolves trilogy which is about science-made werewolves, took me 18 months to finish. So, it depends on how I am feeling about the story, where I am mentally, how long the story is, and how much of an idea I have about the plot of the story.