Living the Dream

I used this photo (Thanks to Craig Chrissinger for taking it!) a couple of weeks ago, but it’s too appropriate for this week’s topic to pass up using it again. Our topic at the SFF Seven is our fantasy dinner party. We’re asking which SFF authors and characters you’d invite to a soiree.

The thing is, one of the best perks of being an author is getting to make other authors be your friends. So my fantasy dinner parties have mostly happened! Case in point: above I’m having dinner with Martha Wells, Darynda Jones, and Kelly Robson. Yes, it was a great conversation. I feel so blessed and fortunate that I pretty much get to have my fantasy dinner parties on a regular basis now.

Last week I got to have dinner with Amanda Bouchet, Maria V. Snyder, Jennifer Estep, H.R. Moore, and Maria Vale. On another evening, I sat between Juliette Cross and Chloe C. Peñaranda, later joined by Carissa Broadbent.

The one person I have yet to meet in person – and hopefully have dinner with! – is Neil Gaiman. But I do have his cell phone number and have chatted with him on the phone, which gives me all kinds of happiness right there. Since it’s a fantasy, Anne McCaffrey, Tanith Lee, and Vonda McIntyre could all come back from the dead and join us.

My younger self would be thrilled.

 

Pantsing Doesn’t Mean Lots of Revising

This week at the SFF Seven, we’re talking about our revision process.

I’m running behind, as I seem to eternally be doing these days, and posting this a day late, but I feel it’s important to talk about my revision process to dispel a huge myth about intuitive writers. I feel strongly enough about making this case that I’m using the term “Pantsing,” which I almost never use.

(As an aside, the reason I don’t like that term is that it comes from “to fly by the seat of your pants,” which implies a lack of control that I think comes from the pre-plotting end of the spectrum. Writing without outlining beforehand does not mean having no control of the story. It also doesn’t mean that intuitive writers don’t plot. All writers plot; otherwise there wouldn’t be a story. The difference lies in whether we determine the plot before writing or during it.)

A consistent message I hear from those espousing pre-plotting is that writing a book without creating an outline first leads to many blind alleys, cutting huge chunks of prose, and spending even longer on revision. While this can be true of some writers – which is fine! Figure out what your process is and own it, I always say – this is not true of me.

Intuitive writers like myself have often internalized story structure. We know how to write the novel without resorting to external guideposts like an outline. I also think that I draft faster by writing intuitively, by submersing myself in the creative flow of the subconscious. It takes me typically 55-60 working days to draft a novel of 90-100K words. Then I spend about 14 working days revising. I typically cut 1-2K words in revision and add ~10K.

Explaining everything I do in revision would take longer than I have in this blog post, but in essence, my process is this:

  1. Write the story beginning to end, skipping nothing, never jumping ahead.
  2. Revise from the beginning. This involves:
    1. layering in foreshadowing and other clues for stuff I figured out along the way and about the ending.
    2. smoothing character arcs
    3. removing extraneous information, red herrings, doorways to routes I didn’t follow, tweaking word choices.
  3. When done, I read out loud one more time to catch any consistency errors or clunky wording.

 

And that’s all she (I) wrote!

First Cup of Coffee – January 12, 2024

The TWISTED MAGIC audiobook is on its way! Also thoughts on reading subjectivity, how reading a book even a few years apart can totally change, sample bias, residual impacts of the pandemic, and writing the whole book.

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - January 12, 2024

January 12, 2024

Jeffe Kennedy

The TWISTED MAGIC audiobook is on its way! Also thoughts on reading subjectivity, how reading a book even a few years apart can totally change, sample bias, residual impacts of the pandemic, and writing the whole book.

Register for SFWA's HEA Quest here https://membership.sfwa.org/event-5461969

Join my Patreon and Discord for mentoring, coaching, and conversation with me! Find it at https://www.patreon.com/JeffesCloset

You can always buy print copies of my books from my local indie, Beastly Books! https://www.beastlybooks.com/

If you want to support me and the podcast, click on the little heart or follow this link (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jeffekennedy).

Sign up for my newsletter here! (https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2y4b9)

You can watch this podcast on video via YouTube https://youtu.be/xKTiPsfIG8s

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First Cup of Coffee – January 17, 2023

I’m explaining how to decode the message when agents & editors say a genre is dead. Also thoughts on whether writing cross-genre is actually hip these days, why Murderbot is cool, and an exciting new cover reveal!

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - January 17, 2023

January 17, 2023

Jeffe Kennedy

I'm explaining how to decode the message when agents & editors say a genre is dead. Also thoughts on whether writing cross-genre is actually hip these days, why Murderbot is cool, and an exciting new cover reveal!

You can find the Murderbot diaries by Martha Wells here https://www.marthawells.com/murderbot.htm

FIVE GOLDEN RINGS is now available here: https://jeffekennedy.com/five-golden-rings SAPPHIRE is available here: https://jeffekennedy.com/sapphire and PLATINUM is available here https://jeffekennedy.com/platinum. RUBY is available for preorder here https://jeffekennedy.com/ruby

THE LONG NIGHT OF THE RADIANT STAR, a midwinter holiday fantasy romance in the Heirs of Magic series, now available!! https://jeffekennedy.com/the-long-night-of-the-radiant-star

SHADOW WIZARD, Book One in Renegades of Magic, continuing the epic tale begun in DARK WIZARD. https://jeffekennedy.com/shadow-wizard is out now! Including in audiobook!

Interested in Author Coaching from me? Information here: https://jeffekennedy.com/author-coaching

ROGUE'S PARADISE is out (https://jeffekennedy.com/rogue-s-paradise). Buy book 1, ROGUE'S PAWN, here! (https://jeffekennedy.com/rogue-s-pawn) and book 2, ROGUE'S POSSESSION, here! (https://jeffekennedy.com/rogue-s-possession).

If you want to support me and the podcast, click on the little heart or follow this link (https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jeffekennedy).

You can watch this podcast on YouTube here https://youtu.be/H-UETBJ2onY

Sign up for my newsletter here! (https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2y4b9)

Support the show

Contact Jeffe!

Find me on Threads
Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.com
Follow me on Amazon or BookBub
Sign up for my Newsletter!
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Thanks for listening!



First Cup of Coffee – May 21, 2021

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - May 21, 2021

May 21, 2021

Jeffe Kennedy

I crashed on wordcount yesterday - so it goes - but I also had good conversations with excellent writer friends. Also a bit on the growing segregation of the reading audience, 21 Bridges, and Murderbot.

THE PROMISED QUEEN is here (https://jeffekennedy.com/the-promised-queen).

You can register - for FREE! - for my launch day conversation with Jennifer Estep here (https://www.therippedbodicela.com/events-and-tickets).

You can watch the You Tube video of the podcast here (https://youtu.be/0FI8i7YiuK8).

First Cup of Coffee is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find more outstanding podcasts to subscribe to at Frolic.media/podcasts!



Support the show

Contact Jeffe!

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Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.com
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First Cup of Coffee – May 11, 2020

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - May 11, 2020

May 11, 2020

Jeffe Kennedy

How I'm feeling done with video meetings, bailing on a book at 90%, buying a new car, middle books, and how fun it is to have a screenwriter talk about how they'd film your book.

This is the wonderful article I mention on the real "Lord of the Flies." (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/may/09/the-real-lord-of-the-flies-what-happened-when-six-boys-were-shipwrecked-for-15-months)

First Cup of Coffee is part of the Frolic Podcast Network. You can find more outstanding podcasts to subscribe to at Frolic.media/podcasts!

Support the show

Contact Jeffe!

Find me on Threads
Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.com
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Sign up for my Newsletter!
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Thanks for listening!


First Cup of Coffee – July 5, 2019

 

First Cup of Coffee with Jeffe Kennedy

First Cup of Coffee - July 5, 2019

July 05, 2019

Jeffe Kennedy

Today is the 1 year anniversary of this podcast! Being very on-brand, I ramble about the last year, how the podcast has focused (and not) on being a career author, and also about Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries, and the new movie Plus One. 

This is the article I mention: https://medium.com/neurotrack/menopause-and-alzheimers-1c455f29fe16 

Support the show

Contact Jeffe!

Find me on Threads
Visit my website https://jeffekennedy.com
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Sign up for my Newsletter!
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Thanks for listening!