Good Day!
I am pleased to welcome the second writer in my current series. Those of you who were kind enough to read my previous post will know I'm featuring authors who have very kindly let me into their secret past and how they came to be established writers of today. Each writer has a unique tale to tell us that are as interesting as they are varied. Enjoy!
The Organic Author ~ Marissa Farrar
I suspect, like many writers, I started writing with only the view of getting my story out of my head and onto paper (or in this case, my computer). I’d been writing stories since I was a small child. My mother even has video footage of me at about seven years old, babbling on about a time travel book I was writing and how I was going to get it published.
That book never made it to fruition, but many others have since. The first novel I ever wrote from start to finish will never see the light of day. Considering it is about 90K in length; that fact is slightly painful. But I would rather run around naked in public than let anyone read that particular manuscript! It was a lesson in how not to write a novel. My main character was unlikable, my hero’s motivation suspect, my ending weak. I still like the premise behind the novel, but if I ever went back to it, I would be starting at the beginning and writing the whole damn thing over again.
Since then, I’ve written another eight novels, a number of novellas and numerous short stories. But it’s only been in the last year or so that I’ve actually started thinking about the technical aspect of novel writing: story arcs, plotting, over-used words.
In some ways, I’d like to go back to my pre educated days. Sure, it’s improved my writing, no question about that, but there was something true, earthy, organic, about purely putting a story I loved onto paper. I didn’t think about what other people might make of it. I was simply writing for the love of writing.
Nowadays, things are different. I’m painfully aware of the fact people will be judging what I write. Almost every day now I hear from readers wanting to know when the third book in my ‘Serenity’ series will be out. It’s fantastic that so many people are keen to read my books, but at the same time I worry about letting them down. I worry that it won’t be good enough or my characters will do or say something to let the reader down.
You see, in many ways I still view myself as a very organic author. I don’t plot anything. At all. I barely know what’s going to happen from one chapter to the next; I just let my characters do what they want and simply write it down for them. At the end of book two in the ‘Serenity’ series, ‘Buried’, I thought the book was going to end one way, but then right at the last minute, one of the characters jumped up and did something I totally wasn’t expecting. Book three, ‘Captured’, is now almost finished, and something similar has happened—a character had a secret even I didn’t know about, something that wasn’t unveiled until the last moment.
I know that must sound nuts to some people—I mean, it’s coming from my head—but that’s just how I feel. My characters are very real to me and I’m simply writing down their story for them. To alter how they behave to fit what my reader might want feels very wrong. It’s my character’s story I’m writing, not mine, or the readers.
After I’ve got the story out, then I got back and apply all the important technical parts—I get my editing head on, in other words.
I should probably be writing this from a padded cell (the voices in my head are telling me to do things) but until they catch up with me, I guess I’ll keep writing stuff down.
Book one in the ‘Serenity’ series, ‘Alone’ can be claimed for free at https://www.facebook.com/RedHotReaders. Just go to the giveaway tab and then look under ‘genres’, and ‘romance’ to get your free copy!
Author Bio.
Marissa Farrar is a multi-published horror and paranormal author. She was born in Devon, England, loves to travel and has lived in both Australia and Spain. She now resides in Devon with her husband, two children, a crazy Spanish rescue dog and four hens. She has a degree in Zoology, but her true love has always been writing.
Her dark take on a vampire romance, Alone, was first published in 2009 and has now been re-launched as book one in the ‘Serenity’ series. The second book in the series, Buried, is now available to buy. The third title, Captured, will be published March 2012. She is also the author of the horror novel, The Dark Road, and two short story collections.
Her short stories have also been accepted for a number of anthologies including, Their Dark Masters, Red Skies Press, Masters of Horror: Damned If You Don’t, Triskaideka Books; and 2013: The Aftermath, Pill Hill Press.
If you want to know more about Marissa, then please visit her website at www.marissa-farrar.blogspot.com. You can also find her at her facebook page, www.facebook.com/marissa.farrar.author or follow her on twitter @marissafarrar.
She loves to hear from readers and can be emailed at marissafarrar@hotmail.co.uk.
Thanks Marissa - that was really interesting and I'm sure readers will have enjoyed your post too.
Have a great week ahead everyone!
Faithx
I am pleased to welcome the second writer in my current series. Those of you who were kind enough to read my previous post will know I'm featuring authors who have very kindly let me into their secret past and how they came to be established writers of today. Each writer has a unique tale to tell us that are as interesting as they are varied. Enjoy!
The Organic Author ~ Marissa Farrar
I suspect, like many writers, I started writing with only the view of getting my story out of my head and onto paper (or in this case, my computer). I’d been writing stories since I was a small child. My mother even has video footage of me at about seven years old, babbling on about a time travel book I was writing and how I was going to get it published.
That book never made it to fruition, but many others have since. The first novel I ever wrote from start to finish will never see the light of day. Considering it is about 90K in length; that fact is slightly painful. But I would rather run around naked in public than let anyone read that particular manuscript! It was a lesson in how not to write a novel. My main character was unlikable, my hero’s motivation suspect, my ending weak. I still like the premise behind the novel, but if I ever went back to it, I would be starting at the beginning and writing the whole damn thing over again.
Since then, I’ve written another eight novels, a number of novellas and numerous short stories. But it’s only been in the last year or so that I’ve actually started thinking about the technical aspect of novel writing: story arcs, plotting, over-used words.
In some ways, I’d like to go back to my pre educated days. Sure, it’s improved my writing, no question about that, but there was something true, earthy, organic, about purely putting a story I loved onto paper. I didn’t think about what other people might make of it. I was simply writing for the love of writing.
Nowadays, things are different. I’m painfully aware of the fact people will be judging what I write. Almost every day now I hear from readers wanting to know when the third book in my ‘Serenity’ series will be out. It’s fantastic that so many people are keen to read my books, but at the same time I worry about letting them down. I worry that it won’t be good enough or my characters will do or say something to let the reader down.
You see, in many ways I still view myself as a very organic author. I don’t plot anything. At all. I barely know what’s going to happen from one chapter to the next; I just let my characters do what they want and simply write it down for them. At the end of book two in the ‘Serenity’ series, ‘Buried’, I thought the book was going to end one way, but then right at the last minute, one of the characters jumped up and did something I totally wasn’t expecting. Book three, ‘Captured’, is now almost finished, and something similar has happened—a character had a secret even I didn’t know about, something that wasn’t unveiled until the last moment.
I know that must sound nuts to some people—I mean, it’s coming from my head—but that’s just how I feel. My characters are very real to me and I’m simply writing down their story for them. To alter how they behave to fit what my reader might want feels very wrong. It’s my character’s story I’m writing, not mine, or the readers.
After I’ve got the story out, then I got back and apply all the important technical parts—I get my editing head on, in other words.
I should probably be writing this from a padded cell (the voices in my head are telling me to do things) but until they catch up with me, I guess I’ll keep writing stuff down.
Book one in the ‘Serenity’ series, ‘Alone’ can be claimed for free at https://www.facebook.com/RedHotReaders. Just go to the giveaway tab and then look under ‘genres’, and ‘romance’ to get your free copy!
Author Bio.
Marissa Farrar is a multi-published horror and paranormal author. She was born in Devon, England, loves to travel and has lived in both Australia and Spain. She now resides in Devon with her husband, two children, a crazy Spanish rescue dog and four hens. She has a degree in Zoology, but her true love has always been writing.
Her dark take on a vampire romance, Alone, was first published in 2009 and has now been re-launched as book one in the ‘Serenity’ series. The second book in the series, Buried, is now available to buy. The third title, Captured, will be published March 2012. She is also the author of the horror novel, The Dark Road, and two short story collections.
Her short stories have also been accepted for a number of anthologies including, Their Dark Masters, Red Skies Press, Masters of Horror: Damned If You Don’t, Triskaideka Books; and 2013: The Aftermath, Pill Hill Press.
If you want to know more about Marissa, then please visit her website at www.marissa-farrar.blogspot.com. You can also find her at her facebook page, www.facebook.com/marissa.farrar.author or follow her on twitter @marissafarrar.
She loves to hear from readers and can be emailed at marissafarrar@hotmail.co.uk.
Thanks Marissa - that was really interesting and I'm sure readers will have enjoyed your post too.
Have a great week ahead everyone!
Faithx
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