Ask the Author: Jen McConnel
Answered Questions (4)
Jen McConnel
Right now, I'm working on the next book in the RED MAGIC series, due out from Month9Books in 2015. It's so fun to be back in Darlena's world, and there are a bunch of new characters in this book that I can't wait for y'all to meet!
Jen McConnel
That's a great question. The short answer is: it depends.
For me, from start to finish, a book takes at least a year and multiple revisions before I'm even ready to send it out to my publishers. Then, once it's been acquired, there are usually at least three more rounds of edits: developmental edits, where we work on the meat of the story; line edits, where things get a bit more picky; and copy edits, where it's all about spelling, grammar, and punctuation. So far, my books are averaging two to three years from first draft to publication (but I'm not editing that entire time; I have multiple projects going at once, all at different stages, and I shift back and forth).
For me, from start to finish, a book takes at least a year and multiple revisions before I'm even ready to send it out to my publishers. Then, once it's been acquired, there are usually at least three more rounds of edits: developmental edits, where we work on the meat of the story; line edits, where things get a bit more picky; and copy edits, where it's all about spelling, grammar, and punctuation. So far, my books are averaging two to three years from first draft to publication (but I'm not editing that entire time; I have multiple projects going at once, all at different stages, and I shift back and forth).
Jen McConnel
Drop the aspiring and write; you are the only one who can give yourself permission to be a writer, and as hard as that is, it's incredibly powerful, too. OWN IT: no one else can tell your story!
Jen McConnel
I don't edit while I'm drafting; I'm a big fan of NaNoWriMo and Anne Lamott's "shitty first draft" style of writing, and I've found that starting a draft without expecting it to be perfect really helps me push past writer's block. Writing even a little bit every day helps, too; usually, if I sit down for fifteen minutes, even if I'm stuck, I find myself staying in the chair for a half hour or more, and before I know it, the story has pulled me past whatever was blocking me.
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