Cassie Alexander is the writer of the UF Night-Shifted series, and a very prolific author. Here, she’s kind enough to share her writing process with us.
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Tamago: Do you have a regular drafting process, or does your drafting process vary from book to book. Can you describe it to us generally, or at least for one project?
Cassie: You know, even after fourteen books, I do it all pretty much the same. It works for me, so why change? I write novels in one looooong word document. I title it Title1, Title2 as my revisions reach significant points where I make big changes and I get scared I’m screwing things up, but the version I’m working on all stays in the same .docx until I reach the end.
The very last thing I do is put chapter breaks in. I think this works for me because it forces me, as I write, to make sure that each scene is punchy — I don’t think, ‘oh, this is in the middle of a chapter so it doesn’t matter’. And that doesn’t allow me to do ‘here’s a time-killing word montage to get me from A-D’. I just get my characters there. And then when I do chapter breaks at the end, I find that they naturally go where the scenes end, or at the turning point in the scene, where the cliffhanger is happening, which I have a lot of because of the way the no-chapter-method forces me to write.
(The second to last thing I do is take out all my extra commas, which I won’t be doing here, since I’m writing this very late at night. ;))
Tamago: Which part of writing–drafting, revising, critique from others–do you enjoy the most? Why? The least? Why?
Cassie: I like the part where I actually know what’s going on and I’m just writing it. That’s the best. Revision — once I know what’s going on — is a close second. The knowing what is going on is key ;).
Getting edits, from my reader Daniel or my editor, is like being freezingly cold and stepping into or out of a too hot tub. Every other page feels grand, where they’ve said nice things, and lord do I love that they both do that, but the ones in between are like a horror movie, I can barely peek through my fingers at the page. It’s so important, and reallllly hard, to get into that zen, “This is what’s best for the book, and thus, it must be done,” state. I usually fake it until I get there for real, or until the edits are through.
Tamago: How do you know when a story is working?
Cassie: I don’t outline. I have a few key scenes I know I want to hit, and some emotions I want to convey, the beginning and the end and I go from there. I’m a Cool x 3 proponent — every book needs a “cool person, cool place, & cool thing.” In my opinion (which I’ll share here because you’ve asked, heh, but normally I keep to myself) books don’t work without those three things. At the very least. They’re like pistons that keep a story running. When the character flags, there’s something interesting going on in the place, or when that wears out, then consider what else is around that makes them special, or their goals? Keeping those things in mind helps me to escalate my story each time — I’m never satisfied with ordinary stuff. I should say here though that my goal has never been to write subtle or quiet stories ;).
If I have 30k of a story in my head, that’s usually enough to keep an entire book up — I’ve had enough chances to show off my characters, and put in enough of them and made them cool enough to be interesting, so that complications naturally arise. (Don’t ask me how I know how much 30k of story is, I just do.)
When I’m writing, I know a story is working when I’m entertaining myself as I write it, and when it feels right. Characters will bounce off of one another, and goals will conflict and the location will reveal itself — one thing leads to another and it all starts to roll.
The hardest thing for me to learn as a writer was to trust my inner author-voice. If I think something isn’t working — it’s probably not. If it feels too much like pulling teeth, then I’m on the wrong track. Not that all my words are happy-happy on their way out, but I know story beats. I get story. I think everyone does — we’re all watching stories, listening to stories, having stories happen to us and around us all the time. When the story feels off, it’s time to stop and think.
And sometimes I just have to push through and finish regardless. You can’t fix what’s there until it’s down on the page, and so I have to accept that too. That sometimes I will have shitty placeholder scenes or bad blocking or whatever else I need to — but that’s the awesome thing about writing, is the endless chances to fix it later, until it sings.
But you know what? Even when I think I’m writing crap sometimes, and I feel deaf, it’s usually worth trying to go on for a few pages. Either I break through while I’m there — even if breaking through is realizing that I’m on the wrong track and need to scrap what I’ve done and start over — or I’ll break through later on when I’m in the shower or on the way to work, or I’ll read what I wrote the next day, and be all, “Damn, I’m a genius!”
I’ve learned that I’m my own best audience, and worst critic, so the getting the words down is the most important part.
Tamago: Do you write with a writing group, or do you write alone? Why do you make the choice you make?
Cassie: I used to participate in a lot of writing groups and they were absolutely vital. First off, so that as a writer you get to hang around other people that understand you, and you don’t feel like such a lonely freak ;). But secondly, because getting other people’s considered — considered! — input is the most important thing to help you polish your prose.
There’s no point in getting crits from people who don’t read or who are related to you just because they’re easily hunted down — that’s why finding groups of other writers is important. I could write a huuuuge essay on writers groups, who/what/where/when/and why and I sort of have on my website before so I’ll skip all of that here.
Currently though I’m not in any groups, although I certainly have friends I can call on and ping ideas off of. My local town doesn’t have many authors in it, and due to time constraints working night shift and working every other weekend, driving an hour or two to hang out with people in real life is hard.
I do have an alpha reader though — his name is Daniel and he’s a genius. He’s brilliant, he understands story in an amazing fashion, and he’s really good at encouraging me while calling me on my shit when I get lazy. I can send him drafts where, “And then a big fight happens and XXX dies” just fine. But he won’t let me not have characters deal with the ramifications of that action or death in the next scene. He knows how to bring me back in.
I found him through a writing group, which I am everlastingly thankful for.
Tamago: Do you discuss your initial ideas or drafts with others? Why or why not?
Cassie: I discuss things with Daniel, and my husband, and friends, and sometimes my agent when they become more real.
I have a lot of awesome writing friends who know how to be encouraging when things are in a delicate stage. Sometimes they do shoot lame ideas down — sometimes I ask them if things are lame just so someone will tell me that they are so I’ll admit it and drop it and move on ;). But on the whole, we’re all there for each other which is really nice.
I do like to get a lot of input on things, even if that input hurts. I’m generally headstrong enough to ignore things that don’t feel right for my story. But I really do try to listen. I find that if I’m making excuses for the way I want things to work, the ‘but-but-but’ stage of things, generally I’m in the wrong, or what I’m trying to do isn’t on the page. Me making excuses is a key sign that something needs to be worked on.
Tamago: How many drafts of a project will you write? What do you do in each draft?
Cassie: I don’t have specific draft purposes for each book. I write as many drafts as it takes. I very frequently realize something needs to be changed, at 10k, 20k, 30k, etc. Sometimes I can put in a note to change it later — other times whatever I’ve learned changes the tone of the book, and I feel like I need to go back to the beginning to get it all right before I can move on. I’ve learned that I can’t be freaked out by that — all that matters is that I’m improving the book.
Because of the way I re-title things at major turns, I know how many drafts I’ve had in a way. I’ve had books take as few as 8 and as many as 14 before I thought they were done. That doesn’t count the one after my editor gives me notes, or another one that I might do if my agent’s notes come in before hers.
Tamago: You are a very prolific writer. Has your process changed as you’ve started writing to meet deadlines?
Cassie: In a weird way, I’ve freed myself to make more mistakes. I’ve learned that I need to write as hard as I can for as long as I can every time I sit down. Sometimes that means writing the wrong thing, but that’s the only way to find out where the right story is. It does choke me up sometimes though when I think, OMG this book is due SOON. So I try not to think about that.
I give myself a week to a month off between books, which can mean that I’m writing a book in five months, but I need the downtime to work on other things, do reality-based-stuff like dentist appointments, read whatever the hell I want, and play around with research. It helps me to refresh.
Also, if I’m super freaking out, I take an Ativan. I used to have time to have panic attacks and be moody for days — I just don’t anymore. Therapy and meds help, and I see them as being an integral part of the writing-machine me. It’s funny how much easier it is to take care of myself — which includes getting to the gym, so sitting in a chair a lot doesn’t shred my back, eating healthy, and having an appropriate amount of caffeine — when I have Being An Author Who Meets Deadlines as a goal, as opposed to years ago when I was much more wild-brained and less gymmy but the only one who would have benefited from me being better was ‘just’ me.
Tamago: Does your “real life” occupation influence any of your writing?
Cassie: I think having a job helps me to focus on writing when I need too. I’m lucky that I only work part-time — it’s enough to stop me from feeling too ‘I have all the time in the worldddddd’ and slack, but not so overwhelming that I panic. I’m also very lucky that in my chosen field, nursing, as long as I can feel like I’ve done a good job for the day, I get to leave my work at work. No one calls me at home about it, and as long as I don’t screw up, I don’t obsess about woulda-shoulda-couldas anymore. (Now, woulda-shoulda-couldas occupied my first 2-3 years of nursing, heh. And just because I’m generally competent now doesn’t mean that I don’t sometimes care too much and can’t let go.)
Tamago: What is your favorite genre to write in? Why?
Cassie: Hmmm. That is a really hard question. I don’t think I can really narrow myself down, other than saying I like ‘genre’ stuff best. I’ll never whip out a literary book. But as far as choosing between science fiction, fantasy, adult, or YA — I like all of them pretty much the same, even if I haven’t been published in each of them yet.
Tamago: After the initial break-in moment (your first book, agent, or assignment), what are the moments/accomplishments that you feel define you as a writer?
Cassie: Writing two books a year in one year was big for me. I sort of knew I could do it (and of course, when my agent asked me I could, I was all, “Yes!” — and to my credit, I had done it before, just not in a long while.) Pulling that off, and having them be good books, that my editor wound up liking, was rad. While doing that wasn’t precisely ideal — it’s nice to know that I can do it. And honestly, I sort of want to keep it up.
Most recently, it was the fact that I realized I hadn’t looked at Goodreads for two whole days. I’m hoping I can keep that up in incremental bursts 😉
