Ask the Author: Layla Nash
Answered Questions (10)
Layla Nash
Yep! I'm working on it now. :) I'll add it to my library soon when I nail down the release date and when it'll be up for preorder.
Layla Nash
Getting even with people who irritate me by writing them into my books and making them miserable :D
And creating worlds and characters that readers really enjoy and connect with and can escape to. Life can be really difficult and the world can be an ugly place, so to know that I wrote something that brought a bit of happiness or laughter to someone's day is amazing. <3
But mostly it's creating characters based on people who are mean to me
And creating worlds and characters that readers really enjoy and connect with and can escape to. Life can be really difficult and the world can be an ugly place, so to know that I wrote something that brought a bit of happiness or laughter to someone's day is amazing. <3
But mostly it's creating characters based on people who are mean to me
Layla Nash
I can't write anything short!!!
uhhh...
Those hikers ignored the warnings, and when they hid,
The rangers didn't find them but the bears sure did.
uhhh...
Those hikers ignored the warnings, and when they hid,
The rangers didn't find them but the bears sure did.
Layla Nash
Ooooh. I have a book with my editor that I'll hopefully have out in a month that's about a cryptozoologist hunting cryptids in the mountains and searching for her missing brother. She stumbles across werewolves and a vampire, and things go downhill from there. Poor, poor Ada. Things go so wrong. I love it! :D
How I got the idea... I'm a total night owl and naturally revert to staying up all night given the opportunity to sleep past 9 each morning, so after having four days off my day job, I found myself watching TV around two in the morning and happened across some of the 'searching for Bigfoot' shows. The whole thing is fascinating -- the intensity of belief, the dedication to finding evidence, creativity, trying to apply different scientific disciplines... wow. So I wondered what would happen if they found something they really didn't expect: instead of Bigfoot, a vampire. Instead of a Snarly Yow, some werewolves. And things kinda built from there.
How I got the idea... I'm a total night owl and naturally revert to staying up all night given the opportunity to sleep past 9 each morning, so after having four days off my day job, I found myself watching TV around two in the morning and happened across some of the 'searching for Bigfoot' shows. The whole thing is fascinating -- the intensity of belief, the dedication to finding evidence, creativity, trying to apply different scientific disciplines... wow. So I wondered what would happen if they found something they really didn't expect: instead of Bigfoot, a vampire. Instead of a Snarly Yow, some werewolves. And things kinda built from there.
Layla Nash
Right now I'm on a gaslamp fantasy and steampunk kick. Since I'm working on War Witch 2 -- and it's kinda dark, not gonna lie -- I need something with magic in it but not as terrible as I'm being to Lily. Plus pretty dresses and funny manners!
The Bulletcatcher's Daughter by Rod Duncan, the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman, Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater, A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas, Tilly Walla's Manners and Monsters series and her paranormal historicals (Highland Wolves), Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw, Susan Dennard's A Darkness Strange and Lovely and the rest of the series, Shelley Adina's Lady of Devices series, Gail Carriger's steampunk... I could go on and on!
And the Secret History of the Mongol Queens for a little extra inspiration. ;)
The Bulletcatcher's Daughter by Rod Duncan, the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman, Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater, A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas, Tilly Walla's Manners and Monsters series and her paranormal historicals (Highland Wolves), Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw, Susan Dennard's A Darkness Strange and Lovely and the rest of the series, Shelley Adina's Lady of Devices series, Gail Carriger's steampunk... I could go on and on!
And the Secret History of the Mongol Queens for a little extra inspiration. ;)
Layla Nash
Hey! Book 5 will be out by the end of November, hopefully right after Thanksgiving. There miiiiiight be a Christmas novella for the Chase brothers, but that depends on how much writing I can get done around all the Thanksgiving preparations!
Kaiser and his guys are the next ones up for love after that, with Kaiser's book scheduled for early in January 2016, and maybe the Evershaw pack after I wrap up the bears.
Cheers,
Layla
Kaiser and his guys are the next ones up for love after that, with Kaiser's book scheduled for early in January 2016, and maybe the Evershaw pack after I wrap up the bears.
Cheers,
Layla
Layla Nash
Usually by reading diverse and interesting nonfiction. (For example, right now I'm reading an amazing book by Adrienne Mayor called The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World. Holy smokes, the plot ideas this is generating!!! She looks at all the different types of warrior women in antiquity, and connects them to the various myths/legends about Amazons. Amazing book, very readable.)
And some of my best ideas come when my imagination is totally captive and I can't distract myself with anything. I lived in Korea for a while and would intentionally only bring headphones and a notebook on the long flight to and from the States, so I could force my brain to spit out good ideas. Usually it worked. Now I take the dog to the dog park and let her run around until I've got an outline done or a few new ideas down. We both win. :)
And some of my best ideas come when my imagination is totally captive and I can't distract myself with anything. I lived in Korea for a while and would intentionally only bring headphones and a notebook on the long flight to and from the States, so I could force my brain to spit out good ideas. Usually it worked. Now I take the dog to the dog park and let her run around until I've got an outline done or a few new ideas down. We both win. :)
Layla Nash
Write -- a lot. And then write some more. Just keep writing. Reading books about writing is good, but actually practicing the craft is better. Sign up for a helpful critique group, whether in person or online, but spend your first couple of months GIVING critiques before you ask for someone to critique your work. I learn the most from critiquing others. It helps me spot issues in my own writing, or recognize patterns or assumptions I'm using as crutches. And keep reading. Be an omnivorous reader -- fiction, science, history, social science, psychology, travelogues and memoirs... You never know where one little nugget of information to complete a plot or character will come from.
Layla Nash
Well, I'm wrapping up City Shifters: the Pride books 4 and 5, so I'll hopefully have those all out by the end of October. (Yay!) I'm also outlining the next set of City Shifter books, which will be all about bears -- Kaiser and his guys are going to find love.
Layla Nash
I usually have to start by figuring out why I'm blocked -- am I burned out? bored with the plot? sick of the characters? run out of plot? gone down the wrong path and now I can't write myself out of the corner?
Usually once I've worked through why I can't write, I take the dog for a long walk or wash a bunch of dishes or sweep every inch of the floor while my brain works out how to fix the problem. Then it's just a matter of getting the words out -- which can sometimes take another day or two.
Usually once I've worked through why I can't write, I take the dog for a long walk or wash a bunch of dishes or sweep every inch of the floor while my brain works out how to fix the problem. Then it's just a matter of getting the words out -- which can sometimes take another day or two.
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