Stephanie Elliot On Loving (And Hating) Social Media

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview. Always including in the WHAT is one random question to really dig down into the interviewees mind, and probably supply some illumination into my own as well.

Today's guest for the WHAT is Stephanie Elliot, author SAD PERFECT, which was inspired by her own daughter’s journey with ARFID, Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. She has written for a variety of websites and magazines and has been a passionate advocate of other authors by promoting their books on the Internet for years. She has been, or still is, all of the following: a book reviewer, an anonymous parenting columnist, a mommy blogger, an editor, a professional napper, a reformed Diet Coke drinker, a gecko breeder and the author of three self-published novels.

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

I didn’t really think, “Oh I’m going to write this book.” In fact I wasn’t even thinking of writing YA. I was in the middle of writing women’s fiction. My daughter had met a boy in a very interesting way, a sort of meet-cute, and I thought I would write a vignette about the way they met, maybe a quick one-page scene. And from there, I kept writing for three months.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

Sad Perfect is loosely based on my daughter’s eating disorder, ARFID (Avoidant /Restrictive Food Intake Disorder), her therapy, and her recovery so that was the basis for the plot.

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

Yes, but I don’t ever go in to a writing session expecting my plot to stay the same. I don’t plan to stick with everything I have in my mind—that would be pretty boring for me. Since I’m what they call a pantser, I go where the story takes me. It’s more fun that way, also a lot more surprising. 

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I think of story ideas all of the time. The hardest part for me is sitting down to write them. I have four story ideas on paper and in my head right now that I could sit down and get working on. Am I sitting down and working on them? No. I’m on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram! I hate social media! I love social media!

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

I either talk with my agent (who is also YOUR agent and a wonderful sounding board!), or I work on the one that I have fleshed out in my mind the best. Which is usually the one where the most characters are talking to me. 

I usually have a cat or two with me while I write. They’re good for a pet if I need a moment away from the screen, and don’t seem to mind if I ignore them completely as long as I’m sharing body heat. Do you have a writing companion? 

Facebook and Twitter, but I hate them! LOL! But seriously though, The Swanky Seventeens debut writing group has been a lifesaver in this journey. The authors are so supportive and motivating when I need someone to get me moving on my work in progress, or when I’m feeling down about something. They are my current companions in this crazy journey! But lucky for them, I don’t ask to pet any of them!

Announcing the Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire Podcast

In 2010 I signed with a literary agent after having spent ten years in the query trenches. Many of the mistakes I made were easily avoided, and I probably could have been published much more quickly if I'd done the necessary research. After learning the ropes through a large and scattered network of writer sites, blogs, and forums, I had finally found a measure of success.

I started this blog Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire shortly after landing my first book deal. I decided to pay it forward by hosting a blog where I asked published and agented authors all the questions I'd had when I was still aspiring.

This blog has been regularly updated for six years now, taking a lot of my time and attention, with no monetary return. Often I have thought it was time for me to hang it up, but whenever the thought crossed my mind I would get an email from a follower who let me know how the blog had helped them on their publishing journey.

In 2017 I decided that if the blog was going to keep existing it also needed to grow and offer my followers something new. The Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire podcast came from that idea. I am excited to bring this new medium to my followers, but it has also demanded an enormous amount of my time as I set up interviews, record, edit, and go through post-production with each episode. I'm a perfectionist, so I'm editing out filler words, dead air, and anytime that myself or my guest bumble about a bit.

If the blog or podcast have been of any assistance to you in your writing life, I would very much appreciate monetary support so that I can continue to produce them.You can support me by buying me a coffee in exchange for my content through Ko-Fi or PayPal.

New episodes will go up every week! Please follow the podcast to be notified of each new episode, or subscribe through iTunes.

And with that I bring you my first episode! Please enjoy my conversation with Kate Karyus Quinn about writing, publishing, gaining (and losing) an agent, and the pitfalls that exist even once you have a finished book in your hand.

Wednesday WOLF - Trivial

I'm such a big nerd that I tend to look up word origins in my spare time because I'm fascinated by our language. The odder the origin, the better. I've got a collection of random information in my brain that makes me an awesome Trivial Pursuit partner, but is completely useless when it comes to real world application. Like say, job applications.

I thought I'd share some of this random crap with you in the form of another acronym-ific series. I give you - Word Origins from Left Field - that's right, the WOLF. Er... ignore the fact that the "from" doesn't fit.

This week I came across something awesome and fitting. As I am such a big fan of the inane and trivial I looked up the origin or the word... trivial.

Trivial has its origins in the physical layout of Ancient Rome. Say what? No really. We've learned a lot from the Romans but one thing we didn't take from them is street grids. Ancient Rome was a twisty, turny city. There were many places where three roads converged, dumping all their foot traffic into a convenient location for temples and food carts. And who wants to eat alone? Lollygagging and gossiping became a trademark of these areas, and any news that one overheard there was usually of the non-important sort, thus it was tri (Latin prefix for "three") via (Latin for "way" or "road").