The world of Independent Publishing wouldn't be the same without fantastic authors putting out amazing work. This month, we're featuring, Allison Martin. She's an Indie author who's been on the scene for quite some time. She's written a slew full of engaging Young Adult, and New Adult titles over the last couple of years, and she's not planning on stopping anytime soon.
On top of her novels, Allison has just released her Quick Plotter Journal, which is a fantastic tool for anyone who wants to try their hand at writing a book too. In fact, it's great for authors of all levels. And who wouldn't want to take cues from someone who's already made a name for herself in the business?
Lucky for you, Allison sat down with me to chat about what she loves about being in charge of her own novels, the fun of re branding, her own writing process, and all of the excitement surrounding the Quick Plotter.
You're always working with books, be it writing them, designing them,
promoting them. Was it always something that you knew you wanted to do,
and which thing came first?
Creating was always important to me, and writing is something I've done since I was a child but I hadn't considered it a career path until my mid 20s. The boom of self publishing was what pushed me into actually putting my work out there to the public.
The design side of things came after and completely by accident. My post secondary education is in graphic design and one of the reasons I decided to self publish was to keep control over the creative side of publishing. I designed the cover for my first book Tight Knit and immediately had other authors commenting on it and asking who my designer was.
I started doing some publishing related design for friends and it spiraled into a fully formed business, Makeready Designs.
Creating was always important to me, and writing is something I've done since I was a child but I hadn't considered it a career path until my mid 20s. The boom of self publishing was what pushed me into actually putting my work out there to the public.
The design side of things came after and completely by accident. My post secondary education is in graphic design and one of the reasons I decided to self publish was to keep control over the creative side of publishing. I designed the cover for my first book Tight Knit and immediately had other authors commenting on it and asking who my designer was.
I started doing some publishing related design for friends and it spiraled into a fully formed business, Makeready Designs.
You've just currently re-released all of your novels, how does it feel looking at your body of work so far?
I think I'd be a typical Creative if I said I am simultaneously proud of and critical of my current body of work. I'll always be trudging forward, devouring all the knowledge I can on writing and publishing, and I'll always feel like there is more to learn. I have so many more stories I want to tell!
I think I'd be a typical Creative if I said I am simultaneously proud of and critical of my current body of work. I'll always be trudging forward, devouring all the knowledge I can on writing and publishing, and I'll always feel like there is more to learn. I have so many more stories I want to tell!
When writing, are you a plotter or a panster, and how does that affect your writing process?
I was a pantser in the beginning. It was glorious. It was messy. It stopped working for me after my third book. Pantsing became chaos once I had a good grip of story structure and my plots and characters became more complex.
Over the course of writing 15 books (have I written that many already?) my process changed, as I believe it should. I'm always wary of anyone that places themselves firmly in one box. I even struggle with the term "I am a writer" because I'm not. I'm a person who sometimes writes. I also sometimes do other things...Anyway, I digress.
Once I found out that pantsing wasn't working for me anymore I tried outlining and let's just say it didn't go so great either. Part of the appeal of writing to me is discovering my characters as the story progresses. If I outline an entire novel I am no longer interested in writing it. It's kind of like, I know what happens now so why bother writing it...
Out of this I discovered that I'm really not a pantser or an outliner. I'm an organizer. This realization birthed the QUICK PLOTTER, which is a journal I wrote and designed to help organize a novel from idea to publication. The beauty of this journal is that it can be used before, during, or after the first draft of the novel. I use it a little before and a little during, organizing plot points and jotting down things I discover as I write.
It's still feels like pantsing but with WAY less rounds of revision and rewriting. A win win in my eyes.
You've self published YA, NA, and short fiction over the years. What is your favorite thing about self publishing?
I was a pantser in the beginning. It was glorious. It was messy. It stopped working for me after my third book. Pantsing became chaos once I had a good grip of story structure and my plots and characters became more complex.
Over the course of writing 15 books (have I written that many already?) my process changed, as I believe it should. I'm always wary of anyone that places themselves firmly in one box. I even struggle with the term "I am a writer" because I'm not. I'm a person who sometimes writes. I also sometimes do other things...Anyway, I digress.
Once I found out that pantsing wasn't working for me anymore I tried outlining and let's just say it didn't go so great either. Part of the appeal of writing to me is discovering my characters as the story progresses. If I outline an entire novel I am no longer interested in writing it. It's kind of like, I know what happens now so why bother writing it...
Out of this I discovered that I'm really not a pantser or an outliner. I'm an organizer. This realization birthed the QUICK PLOTTER, which is a journal I wrote and designed to help organize a novel from idea to publication. The beauty of this journal is that it can be used before, during, or after the first draft of the novel. I use it a little before and a little during, organizing plot points and jotting down things I discover as I write.
It's still feels like pantsing but with WAY less rounds of revision and rewriting. A win win in my eyes.
You've self published YA, NA, and short fiction over the years. What is your favorite thing about self publishing?
To be completely honest I have a love/hate relationship with self publishing. I do love the control of the design and marketing stage but it also eats up a ton of time. The best thing about self publishing is the real time results. I can see how ads are performing, I can redesign covers and relaunch books at any point, and I don't have that dreaded panic about release week. If my book doesn't do well I can just repackage it, or forget about it and let it sit until I see a swing in the market that is more in line with my work and focus my marketing efforts then.
But the dangers of this freedom can be more of a hindrance than a help. I am a big believer in Author Brand. Changing a cover every other year can be a way to freshen the book and make it look new. Changing the cover every other week can make it look like you are floundering and unsure of your book.
When you write, what comes first? The characters, the plot line, or does it depend on the project?
Strangely enough, the title. Every book I've written has stemmed from a phrase that birthed an odd hobby which morphed into a character, that lead to a plot. Sometimes I end up changing the title somewhere along the line but it always comes first. Except my Sci Fi. I still and always will call it my Sci Fi, because it started with a character and has had about ten different titles.
All of my main characters also have odd hobbies for their age/personality. A sixteen year old girl who knits with her grandmother to control her anxiety, a fifteen year old who collects perfect memories, A seventeen year old girl who hand builds furniture.
Can you tell us a bit about your most currant work? And what is coming next?
I'm currently working on the followup to my Sci Fi. It's a novella in the POV of one of the male characters (Yes, I'm writing a love triangle and I love every bit of it ;P ). I really can't tell you much more other than it picks up right after book one ends and leads directly into book two. I can also tell you that it's not just events retold from his point of view with no purpose beyond that. The plot of the novella is very much centered around this guy and his own skeletons and it's been a ton of fun getting to know him better.
The Electro trilogy will consist of three full length novels and three accompanying novellas. Book One ELECTRIC STORM is out now on Amazon and other retailers. The rest of the series will be released later this year!
If someone reading this is thinking about diving into writing their own novel, what piece of advice do you think they need to know?
Don't get to hung up on advice. No one can tell you how or what to write. There is no advice that will get that book written if you aren't willing to work for it. You can read a million articles, build a massive platform, and listen to a bunch of authors tell you their process, but the only way your novel will get written is if you sit down and write it (or pace and write it as I'm wont to do). Write first and worry about all that other stuff later.
My other bit of tough love advice for new writers is that your first book is probably going to suck. My "debut book" was not the first book I wrote...A lot of new authors spend years and years on their first book trying to beat it into a working story. Don't. I wasted three good writing years editing the same crap story that will never be a good story when I should have been writing new stories and learning more about storytelling.
Follow Allison Martin Here:
No comments:
Post a Comment