Sunday, June 26, 2005

THREE MORE FAQs (and answers)

Q: HOW do you pronounce Brynnas name? I don't get it.

A: Even though Brynna is named after a real wild horse wrangler named Bryan, her name rhymes with GRIN-uh.

Q: WHEN YOU WRITE your books, how do you do it? If I want to write a book should I get all the information and plot together first or do you just start writing?

A: Do whatever feels most natural to you, because that's what successful writers do. I can give you a snapshot of my process, but yours may be totally different. For me, a book usually starts with a mental picture sort of like the preview of a movie. Sometimes that's the first scene, but it could be something in the middle or end of the book, too. Generally, I have no idea which book that will go in, but I've learned to write down the description on an idex card (or scrap of paper or restaurant napkin...kinda depends on when & where it hits me), and keep it. Once I have an idea of the sort of book I'm writing, I write down other scenes on other index cards and then, eventually, put them into order. All during the process, I collect books, Internet articles, magazine and newspaper clippings and file them so that I will have people (yes, I call the real people, especially if I'm writing an experience I've never had) to contact and more leads to follow. That grows from my backround as a journalist, and I hope it gives my work more texture.

To start, you might try writing what you KNOW. At one point early in my writing career, an editor wanted me to write about horses racing and though I love horses, I just don't know about that world and I have no feel for it. The range is different. I know and love it, so that's where I started.

Q: WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG? If you're working on book 21, how come book 20 isn't in the stores yet?

A: There are lots of people and processes involved in publishing a book and I don't even know half of them, but here's part of why it takes about a year for a book to go from my computer to your hands.
While I'm writing the book, I get an idea for the scene I'd like the artist to do on the cover. Next, I tell my editor in New York about it. She tells the art director and she contacts the artist and tells him (sometimes shows him photos I've sent, too) what to do. Then, he does a sketch of the horse. I check it out, make suggestions, and then he does a painting.

The publisher, HarperCollins does SOMETHING with computers and prints the painting on the cover while it is still flat, then binds the pages inside in a huge factory.

While all that is going on, they send copies of the pages back and forth to me so that we can look for errors, and all over the world, sales people who work for HarperCollins go to books stores and tell them about the new books and see if the stores want to order them for their customers.

Thanks for asking,
Terri

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Posted by Terri Farley @ 3:17 PM

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