First off! I’ll be at LONDON’S MCM COMIC CON!! In a month! So if you’re attending, COME FIND ME ON SATURDAY! And Sunday! I’ll be signing both days!
And then, I’ll also be at the Cymera Festival a week after that! Hooray! I’ve never been to Edinburgh, and I’m so excited!
As for all my tour stops, don’t forget to grab tickets!
Monday, 27 May
Tuesday, 28 May
Wednesday, 29 May
Thursday, 30 May
It has taken me a full year to get through all the AMA questions from last April, but I have now reached the last! (I guess that means it’s time to do another one soon.)
@ro asked:
Apart from the obvious heart-wrenching scenes (that were meant to be heartwrenching because that's the point of what happened!), what were the most heart-wrenching scenes for you to live through in each of your series, especially if the reader probably wouldn't have guessed how impactful they really were for you to put in? (I hope this counts as a book question, not a writing one!) <3
Totally a book question, Ro, and I love it!
I think there are (as you mention) some moments that are obviously challenging to write—emotionally, I mean. I am someone who feels the emotions of my characters as if I am the character (like method actors, I am a method writer), so when a character is having a tough time…
I am too.
But you’re right there are other scenes that can wrench my heart a little. Since becoming a mom, scenes with parents tend to get me. Happy scenes make me happy; tough scenes make my chest hurt.
The big one that might surprise you though are the COOKIES. When I finally get to write a cookie…
I cannot express to you the intensity of what I feel.
It can actually be a real challenge. When I write climaxes of my books (Bloodwitch stands out as one that was especially intense), I often have to pause and pace for a while. Just to calm my nervous system down.
I get so locked in to the story! And because I’ve usually been waiting to write a cookie for a while, it can feel like I’m finally releasing something that was caged for too long.
You guys: the number of cookies in Witchlight…It’s basically just a cookie cake at this point. 😂 This has been both incredibly satisfying (finally, I get to write what I’ve been imagining since 2013!), but it has also been super tough. I know what I want it all too look like, but how do I lay down every detail so that it connects exactly as I see it?
For example: there is a whole sequence of scenes in Witchlight that’s just massive—like 40,000 words long. It is the biggest cookie of this entire series, and I’ve been writing toward it since 2013.
So, OH BOY. It took me so many days to both corral the intensity of my feelings into actual words for those scenes. I set you free, cookies!
But on top of that, as indicated above, the vision is so clear! I’ve been imagining these scenes for so long; my characters have worked so hard to get here; how can I possibly do that vision justice on the page and convey to readers how impactful it all is?
Carefully, ha. That’s the answer. 😉
(There’s a similar epic cookie sequence at the end of The Whispering Night. It was so exciting and emotional for me to write. But phew, I had to get everything in the plot lined up just right before I could fully set it free from the “cookie cage.” Fortunately, the Luminaries trilogy is a much simpler, shorter series, so it took weeks to corral the cookie climax into the proper shape instead of months.)
So there you have it! Thanks for the question, Ro. As I finish off Witchlight now, this is a good reminder for me to be patient! The words want to burst forth, but to convey with clarity, I know I have to take time.
Until next week.
💚 - Sooz
P.S. Oh gosh, is anyone else craving cookies now?
I am *so* excited for Witchlight \(‘0’)/ \(‘0’)/
I’m finding that I love writing angst and pain the most, don’t know what that says about me! But when I get to a scene where I get to break a character a little, the words just pour out (along with the tears lollll).
So, so excited to read all these cookie (cake) scenes!!