Happy Friday! I’m so thrilled to have author, AJ Super on today’s Friday Five.
AJ’s novel, Erebus Dawning, is available now.
Let’s dive into the interview!
Angela earned two Bachelors’ degrees from the University of Idaho in the Creative Writing and Theater programs. Currently, she lives in Kansas with her husband and fuzz-brained kittiots. Her debut from Aethon Books, Erebus Dawning, book one of the Seven Stars Saga, came out on May 11th, 2021.
What is your writing process like?
I am chaos incarnate in the world of writing. LOL! I’m a pure pantser. I write from a blank page EVERY DAY. The most I plan is a quick brain storming session with the hubster the
night before I write a chapter. And honestly, it’s 50/50 whether I use that
information we think up. I tell my stories to myself, fresh, from the tips of my fingers. THEN,
when I do my first edit, I pretty much do the same thing. I run through the manuscript and find
what I feel isn’t working and fix it right on the spot. If it messes with something else down the
road, I keep a note in my brainpan and when I get to that spot, I fix it, but I don’t jump forward
and fix it until I’ve read what’s in between. Sometimes it means I have dozens of notes in my head that I literally have to list before each editing session so that I remember them. But I have yet to forget an important change, alteration, edit, or such. Because if it’s not important, it’s not
worth remembering… Same goes with drafting. If I have an idea for a story while drafting, I don’t take notes. If I forget it before I get it down, it wasn’t worth putting in the story in the first
place. Like I said. Chaos incarnate. LOL!
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Persist. Simply persist. This is a very hard business to be in. From the beginning, you’re told no. There are terribly long waiting periods. And it doesn’t stop once you get published. It only gets worse, because what happens if you can’t get your second, third, fourth books published? The anxiety is real and the imposter syndrome never goes away. But you have to persist
through it all.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received for writing?
It isn’t even writing advice, per se. It’s just general life advice that made writing a possibility
in my life. And to top it off… It was a fortune cookie. “If you can shape it in your mind, you will find it in your life.” If you can imagine it, so many things can come your way. Granted, there are some things that I can’t even imagine that have happened to me so far that have made this journey interesting. But all through this, if I ever want something, I imagine it, work for it, and I get it. Of course, the big caveat is the “work for it” bit. You can’t have imagination without work.
What the hardest thing about being a writer?
The waiting. You are always waiting for something. Responses to queries. Edits. Approval of your next books. Book covers. ARCs. Whatever it is, you are always waiting. (Then suddenly
you’re not and have a TON to do and not a lot of time to do it in.)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllBrevityWit (@AllBrevityWit) FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/angelajsuper/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angelajsuper/ (@angelajsuper)
Leave a Reply