A Visit with Amber Stokes

Amber here! I was excited when, a while back, my fellow BB’ers agreed to spotlight me and my debut, Bleeding Heart, this week. Unfortunately, a combination of my procrastination and some really hard things in my life right now led to a recycled guest post and a last-minute Q&A (hence the reason I’m posting this instead of Yvonne). I just wanted to give you a heads up on that – and to thank the rest of the BB team for being so patient with me and still helping me to share my book with you! I’m honored by this chance to introduce myself to our readers and to share some of my thoughts on the life of a writer.

Do you write full time, or do you work it in alongside a full-time job?

Ummm… I wouldn’t say I write full time, but neither do I have a full-time job, per se. I’m in an interesting season of my life. I graduated with my bachelor’s degree from Corban University about a year and a half ago, and since then I’ve started a freelance editing & publicity business (Editing Through the Seasons), which I’ve been cultivating in addition to pursuing self-publishing and blogging here and at Seasons of Humility. So, I guess you could say that right now the book business, in general, is my full-time job. (There’s not a whole lot of money in it at this point, but I’m blessed by this opportunity to pursue my dreams while being with my family.)

Do you write every day? What does your typical writing day look like?

So far in my writing career…that would be a “no.” Well, at least as far as working on my novels! But I suppose I do write something pretty much every day, even if it’s just e-mails or blog posts. (That should count, right?)

My novel writing, though, has been rather sporadic. It took me years to complete the first draft of Forget Me Not, and it took me a couple of years to complete the first draft of Bleeding Heart. (As I’m getting ready to do rewrites/edits for Forget Me Not, I’m hoping I can be a little quicker with this stage, LOL!) I kind of go through seasons where I focus on the novel writing, though, and then it can be between a few hundred and maybe a thousand or more words a day. I don’t generally write a whole lot at a time – usually just a scene or two. It feels good, though, to celebrate the small accomplishments, and having accountability (either by having someone read as I go along, like my dear friend Amanda Stanley did for Forget Me Not, or by doing #1K1Hr “competitions” with writer buddies on Twitter) certainly helps! I’m hoping that I can now take more time to focus since I’ve published my debut and have launched my writing career. Since I’m self-published, I don’t have deadlines imposed on me by a publishing house, but there is the pressure of getting more books out there to my readers in a timely fashion!

Have you ever had a funny experience connected with being an author? For instance, has someone ever overheard you discussing the merits of one murder weapon over another or caught you shooting at a can of gasoline to see if you could make it explode?

Well, I’ve had some interesting talks with Gary Teel of TNT Stagelines… I remember asking some silly questions when I was working on the first draft of Forget Me Not (releasing Winter 2014) and an essay on Virginia City, such as, “How long were stagecoaches around?” To which he answered something to the effect of “I’m still using one!” LOL.

Also, my excitement over the “Sin in the Sagebrush” exhibit at the High Desert Museum a few years back might have come across as a little strange. I doubt there were many others taking notes about gambling and prostitution back in the day. *wink*

Are you a plotter, a pantser, or a combination?

I suppose I’m sort of a combination… You can call me a pantser-plotter, heavy on the pantser! I do like to have a general idea of the theme and the basic storyline before I start or as I’m starting, as well as the title. I might write down a few ideas or daydream about/ponder the story. But really, I’m pretty much a pantser (i.e.: writing by the seat of my pants). A lot of the details and scenes come as I’m writing. For Bleeding Heart, I had the title and some characters already in place as I started writing. I think my desire to explore different definitions of love came early on in the writing stages. But I believe even I was unsure for a while who my heroine was going to end up with and where things would go after I reached and passed the big plot twist. Really, so much of it comes together over time, as the story unfolds in its seasons.

How do you get your best ideas?

I like to think my writing is atmospheric (I hope readers would agree!), and I’m inspired by the places I’ve been – the beauty of nature, the history of a town, that hint of mystery and enchantment in the air. And the little things – like the name of a flower, verses from the Bible, an emotion or glimmer of a theme I want to explore – can easily send me off on a writing journey.

What’s your favorite method for keeping a story’s middle from sagging?

The thing is, my stories aren’t very long. My short stories are generally quite short, and my novels are at the lower end of novel word-count range. I guess you could say I’m short-winded…but I like to think that I write what needs to be said and leave it at that. *wink*

All that to say, at this point in my writing career, I don’t like to add word count just for the sake of adding word count, as long as I’m at a decent number. I don’t want any scene to be sagging – or distracting from the message and direction of the story as a whole. And I guess part of that is that I only write the scenes that I’m interested in writing, you know?

So one way to keep the middle from sagging is to have each scene be important. Each scene moves the story and characters along, and so the journey continues from page one until the last word. I’m sort of in love with the “journey” idea really – and so far I’ve incorporated that in my historical romances by taking the characters on physical journeys that emphasize the emotional journeys. I love making my characters travel, and I think the exploratory elements make a story exciting throughout.

And here’s a quote from Dr. Seuss I found on Pinterest that goes along with my philosophy:

Amber Stokes has a Bachelor of Science degree in English and a passion for the written word - from blogging to writing poetry, short stories, and novels. After her brief time at college in Oregon, she is now back home among the redwoods of Northern California, living life one day at a time and pursuing her passion via freelance editing and self-publishing.

You can connect with Amber on her personal blog (Seasons of Humility), Twitter, Pinterest, Goodreads, Shelfari, and LinkedIn. You can also learn more about her books at www.bleedingheartnovel.blogspot.com and www.forgetmenotnovel.blogspot.com. 

Don't forget to stop by tomorrow to enter to win a free Kindle copy of Amber’s debut, Bleeding Heart!

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Seasons of a Self-Publishing Journey by Author Amber Stokes

College…a time of big dreams, of crushed dreams, of readjusted dreams, of surprising dreams. I finished my first inspirational historical romance manuscript my second year at Corban University – and I confess I was quite proud of it. It was a story that had been with me for years, one that took a lot of time and dedication and heart-tears in order to get to “The End.” So as soon as I was done, I thought for sure I had a winner on my hands. (Isn’t that how we all feel when we complete a story?) 

I started contacting author friends I had met through blogging, looking for some help to prepare a proper query and, of course, someone to pat me on the back for a job well done. While I was certainly blessed by encouragement, I was also introduced to a world both foreign and terrifying: the world of publishing, of what comes after “The End.” And, to be honest, I didn’t want to face it! My story was perfect just the way it was, thank you very much, and who wanted to boil it all down to a cold, unfeeling blurb that may or may not catch an agent or editor’s eye eventually? 

As I’m sure you would agree, that sort of attitude was a sign I wasn’t ready for the world after “The End.” So I set my first baby aside and went on to begin a new story…

Two years later I came to “The End” of that second story – the sequel to the first. During those two years I had grown in my thinking (courtesy of a well-rounded education), developed a platform with my blog, graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in English, and returned home (who knew that publishers don’t just beg for you to come work for them after you graduate?). And you know something? Everything was different the second time around.

From friends and connections I had made online, to witnessing self-publishing success, to having reached a point where the world after “The End” looked promising instead of insurmountable – this time, I felt ready to prepare and share my story. 

Here’s a different look at the journey, told through the titles of my stories:

Forget Me Not (the title of my 1^st book, soon-to-be-self-published prequel) ~ There’s an initial idea, a first love, that shouldn’t be forgotten. Sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you expect it to, but it’s a part of the journey all the same. We need those times of excitement, of optimism, of being thrilled with that first step without the burden of worrying about the steps to come. This is the magic of the first draft.

Bleeding Heart (the title of my 2^nd book, recently self-published) ~ No matter what publishing route you take, there’s a time of hardship. It doesn’t have to be all grim, certainly! But it does involve struggle on some level. For traditional publishing, this might be the waiting – the waiting for an agent to respond, the waiting for a publisher to accept your story, the waiting for a book to go through all the hoops before it can be truly published. There’re also the edits, which should hopefully be a part of any publishing journey. For self-publishing, the struggles are a little different. There’s the editing, yes – and finding the right editor(s) to hire. There’s the investment needed to hire a good editor, a good cover designer, and possibly a good publicist (even bartering services involves an investment, of time instead of money). There’re the formatting woes, the craziness of marketing, the research, the wading through opinions of what works and what doesn’t, the precarious balance between overload and underachieving. Your heart bleeds and your brain bleeds…and yet you love it all (when all is said and done).

Morning Glory (the tentative title of my 3^rd book, yet-to-be-written sequel) ~ Then light starts to stream through the windows of your soul… It starts out with thin rays reaching hesitant fingers through, then blooms into a full-out burst of sunshine. The little moments that add up to a big blessing: the encouraging tweets, the people who come alongside you to answer your questions, the reviewers who word their thoughts so eloquently, the celebrations, the day your first paperback arrives, the joy that comes with knowing your characters are alive for other people and their journey can be used to touch more than your own heart. 

It’s a hard but rewarding process, no matter which route you take. And the thing about seasons is…they’re cyclic in nature. The world after “The End” leads right back to the beginning again, because writers aren’t generally one-hit wonders. We’re full of stories to explore – and marketing, developing a readership, and moving forward in the industry all build off of the promise and potential of more stories. 

So I’m preparing to revisit Forget Me Not, and I’m hoping to write and share Morning Glory someday. Each story has a season… (The name I gave my publisher is actually “Seasons of a Story,” so you know I love this concept!) For Bleeding Heart, that season came before Forget Me Not’s, and that story bloomed in a self-publishing environment. The world after “The End” can be bright when viewed at the right time and cultivated in the right season.

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

 ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1

Amber Stokes has a Bachelor of Science degree in English and a passion for the written word - from blogging to writing poetry, short stories, and novels. After her brief time at college in Oregon, she is now back home among the redwoods of Northern California, living life one day at a time and pursuing her passion via freelance editing and self-publishing.

You can connect with Amber on her personal blog (Seasons of Humility), the group blog she contributes to (The Borrowed Book), Twitter, Pinterest, Goodreads, Shelfari, and LinkedIn. 

To learn more about Bleeding Heart, visit www.bleedingheartnovel.blogspot.com. 

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