Wicked Wednesday YA Know

I'm so excited about doing this. Welcome to Wicked Wednesday YA Know. This is a weekly planned blog post with authors Cate Hart and Kendal Ashby. Each week we will post on various topics about being a writer of Young Adult novels, life in general, and pretty much any non-sense that seems worthy of blogging about! Once a month, on the first Wednesday of each month we will discuss a novel. Beware! There may be spoilers. On August 5th we will be discussing a new book! Check out next week’s Wicked Wednesday YA Know to find out which book we will be reviewing.

Today, I’ve put together a few questions for Cate. Let’s pick her brain and see what naughties we can uncover!

Ok, here we go!

How (when/why) did you start writing?

The first experience I ever had with creative writing was actually in the third grade. It wasn’t much more than taking the weekly list of vocabulary words and creating a story instead of having a quiz. I loved it and it stuck with me. Ironically, those vocab words happened to Halloween words, like vampire and ghost. So I started out writing paranormal.
I continued to write off and on all through school, but when I was senior I realized that someday this was what I wanted to do. I switched from writing fan fic stories for my friends to writing my first historical romance – the one that maybe one day I’ll get back to.
As for writing YA, I just sort of stumbled upon it. I never imagined how comfortable it would be, or how easy my voice fits that of a teen. I think I must tap into my inner teenager, and that’s fun.

What do you write? Okay, the gimme is YA, but spill more details about the creations and babies of Cate!

Paranormal, I love it. I love reading it and that filters into my writing. It was the first thing I ever wrote, and it just stuck with me I guess. Another on my back burner is a …vampire romance, but I set it aside too. Right now, I’ve got two series I’m cooking up. The first is forbidden romance (I love that plot line) between a young girl and an angel in hiding. I hope for this story to continue through about four books. My general thought is that it will follow the trials of a sassy, but mild mannered girl who falls for an angel and through the story grows into a “Buffy-esque” demon slayer, protecting her hero.

I’ve also got a series I’m developing that takes children’s faerie tales and puts a new spin on things. The first one is called Redd, and it’s modern, snarky retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, full of wolf shifters, juvenile delinquents and one mother of an evil organization .

I just came up with the premise of a second in this line called Audrey. It’s a modern twist on Goldilocks, and it’s about a spoiled heiress who’s shipped off to wilderness school in Oregon.

Besides her misadventures trying to cope with wearing Prada heels in the middle of a forest, she has to deal with a couple of angry bears and their love-lorn son. It’s another shifter story too. I look at this one as more comedic where Redd is more snarky.

Tell me 3 things that few people know about you?

I am an avid Star Wars freak fanatic.
I love dragonflies, and I collect them.
I don’t watch TV. Instead, I rent movies. Or if the show is worth it, I’ll by the entire season on DVD, like Alias (one of my favorites), Heroes and True Blood.

What is your writing process – are you a pantser or plotter?

I used to be a pantser, and to some degree I still am. I let the muse take over and write as the story unfolds in my mind. Or sometimes, I have scene or conversation that spawns a larger scene, and I just have to get it down. But after hitting some roadblocks recently, I realized that I need to plot as well. I discovered using a big foam board with post-it notes is AWESOME. I can set the board up across from me and I know where I’m going with the plot. I can see what scenes have come before and know that H/h can’t mention that yet, or so on.
I guess I write organically, but then have to use the board to plot.

What has been your biggest hurdle as a writer?

Finishing a manuscript. Oh yeah and those little devils called commas.

Worse memory from high school?

Sneaking to get a ride with a friend in her older boyfriend’s car, then he never showed up
and I had to call my mom to come and get me. She was mad because she had a no riding in cars rule.

Best memory from high school?

Being Assistant Stage Manager for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and having the cast party at my house.


Thanks for reading! Check back next Wednesday, July 8th when Cate puts me in the hot seat!

Cheers!
Kendal

You can check out Cate's blog at http://www.catehart.wordpress.com/ and remember to check in every Wednesday for some new :)