GUTGAA Meet & Greet

Two of our contributors, Stacy and Triona, are participating in Deana Barnhart's Gearing Up to Get An Agent Blogfest! (She's wisely calling it GUTGAA for short.)

Stacy and Triona, along with our other blog contributors Jenn and Lauren, met at the Big Sur Writing Workshop in the spring of 2012. We became friends and critique partners, and then co-bloggers. We try to spotlight resources and information of interest to writers. Fun stuff like chocolate and knitting slips in from time to time, too!

Tell us about yourselves!

Stacy: I'm originally from Texas, but now live in the lovely town of San Francisco.  I'm a reader and writer of all things YA, currently shopping a YA Magical Realism manuscript and working on a YA Supernatural/Magical Realism Suspense Thingy. I have a secret love of puns (some say lowest form of humor, I say they're hilarious) and I love dark comedy movies (think Drop Dead Gorgeous or Freeway.)  Welcome to our blog and thanks to Deana Barnhart for throwing this little shindig!

Triona: I recently moved from southern California back to the Midwest. I love speculative fiction in all its forms, and my perfect story is equal parts sci-fi/fantasy, action, adventure, romance, humor, and suspense. Easy, right? I'm a Twitter newbie (@trionabmurphy) but a total addict already.

Where do you write?

Stacy: Mostly on my couch. Sometimes on planes when traveling for work or fun. Not very glamorous am I?  

Triona: At home or coffeeshops—probably about a 50/50 split. I find it easier to concentrate and tune out all the other things that should be getting done when I get out of the house. I also recently discovered that my local library of awesome has a lounge/workspace area, complete with vending and coffee machines. What could be a better place to write than one surrounded by books?

Quick. Go to your writing space, sit down and look to your left. What is the first thing you see?

Stacy: A window! It actually has a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge. The fog is rolling in right this very minute. Man, I love this city!

Triona: At home, my preferred writing space is just to the left of a huge picture window. So the first thing I see is morning glories. It's okay to be jealous :-)

Favorite time to write?

Stacy: I'm a night owl, so typically in the evenings. That said, I dream in stories, so some of my best ideas happen right when I first wake up.

Triona: Definitely evening. When I have everything done for the day, I can give writing my full attention. Before I moved, my husband and I used to frequent a coffeeshop that was open until 11 pm. We closed the place out many nights. Now that I live in the Midwest, it's a little harder to find places to write that stay open late, but I haven't given up looking!

Drink of choice while writing?

Stacy: Water. Wow, that sounds boring. But can't blame a girl for wanting to stay hydrated, right? Let's pretend I said something more interesting, like a margarita on the rocks with no salt, which happens to be my post-writing drink of choice.  Nom, nom, nom.

Triona: Coffee, coffee, and more coffee. But I try to balance all that coffee with equal glasses of water so I don't get too dehydrated.

When writing , do you listen to music or do you need complete silence?

Stacy: I'm a silence girl, but will sometimes put on my headphones and listen to classical music if it's noisy.

Triona: I love listening to music while writing! In coffeeshops especially, headphones and music are essential to tune out any conversations around me.

I have playlists I created in iTunes that are labeled things like "Sad Scenes" and "Action Scenes." Sometimes I pick an album that works for lots of different scenes. Some of my favorites are below: Radiohead's In Rainbows, Modest Mouse's Good News For People Who Love Bad News, and anything by Soul Coughing or Ben Folds Five.

What was your inspiration for your latest manuscript and where did you find it?

Stacy:  I had a dream about it. I saw this girl standing on a staircase, and I when I woke up I wanted to tell her story. I knew little bits and pieces about how she came to be standing on the stairs, and oddly knew exactly what the last sentence of her story would be. I barely slept that first week because I was so enthralled with her story.    

Triona: My current manuscript was inspired by an article I read in Popular Science last year. The author was talking about his plan to increase the human lifespan. To be honest, the science itself sounded a bit questionable—but it was interesting anyway! I started to wonder what society would be like if there was a drug that extended life by hundreds of years. When I thought of a truly horrible way they could be sourcing the drug, I knew I had a great idea for a novel.

What's your most valuable writing tip?

Stacy:  Stay positive and find good beta readers! Seriously, the best thing I've done for myself is to reach out to other writers for opinions, input and advice. I don't know what I would have done without all the fantastic beta and critique partners I've had this past year. I've also had the good fortune to read a lot of great manuscripts in the process.  

Triona: Keep writing and moving forward, no matter what happens. There are always going to be reasons why your novel might not get agented or sell, and many of them are beyond your control. Knowing when to move on to the next project is vital.

I'm querying my third novel in two years, and the only thing that's kept me from going stark raving mad is my practice of starting the next book while I query the current one. Each book has gotten better, both in concept and execution (and that's not just me talking. I've had more agent interest on this book than the previous two combined!). If this manuscript doesn't get me an agent—well, I have the next one all outlined and ready to go, and it's going to be awesome.