Guest Post - Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone (Introducing "Waiting Fate" by W.B. Kinnette)

Today on my blog, I get to introduce "Waiting Fate" by W.B. Kinnette, who is one of the sweetest, loveliest people I know, and talk to her a bit about her experience in writing it.

 

Sometimes Fate hides in plain sight while you stumble through darkness.

 

Ivy escapes from an abusive husband, finding peace with her daughter in her childhood home. She’s determined to keep her past a secret to protect those she loves.

 

Archer has been in love with the same girl since seventh grade. When Ivy comes back into his life—bruised, broken, and haunted by secrets—he knows he can’t lose her again.

 

But Ivy made a promise to her daughter. No one would hurt them again. She’s afraid to trust, afraid to be wrong again, and afraid that the one man she’s loved forever will break her heart.

 

Fate might take its time, but it won’t wait forever.

 

Buy: Amazon

 

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This was a difficult book for W.B. Kinnette to write, so here are her thoughts on it.

 

 

First of all, thank you Laura SO MUCH for letting me visit. Readers, Laura has been my guru since I took my first step into publishing and had no idea what I was doing. I would be so lost without her!

 

So Laura suggested I post about writing outside my comfort zone. Waiting Fate is about escaping from abuse and finding new love, and it was much harder to write than I thought it would be. Many tears were shed. Many nightmares were had and memories revisited – memories I would prefer to leave forgotten.

 

Did it make me stronger? Was it therapeutic? At the time, I thought no. I thought it was dragging me back to a place that I didn’t want to be and was making me that person again. But now, I see that it did make me stronger. Also, exploring that side and how to write about it made me a stronger writer, as well. It isn’t easy to write while IN your comfort zone. It’s mentally exhausting even when you’re having the time of your life. But writing outside your comfort zone is a whole different experience, and your writing changes a bit.

 

How did I do it? I relied on my adorable husband to tell me I could. I had awesome writer friends talking me through the hard parts. I had friends and family who had no idea what I was doing but offered their prayers and support. Basically, I wrote outside my comfort zone by leaning on the strength of others. I know that’s not how most do it. Maybe I’m an odd little duck, but it worked for me!

 

It doesn't make you sound odd to me, W.B.! I think a lot of writers lean on the strength of others when writing--I know I do, at least! What about the rest of you writers out there?

And now, a little bit about our lovely author and how to connect with her!

 

 

W.B. Kinnette was born and raised in Utah, the baby of the family and spoiled rotten. She lived briefly in Texas and Alaska before coming back to raise her family only a few miles from her childhood home. She’s loved writing since she was small, because daydreams demand to be written down. She believes that dreams must be chased, if only so she can tell her children honestly that dreams do come true if you work hard enough – and never give up! 

 

 

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"Write Like You're the Only Person in the Room." Also, links to blog tour stop #2 and a giveaway.

Aside from the release of Rising Book 1, this week has been full of awesome stuff. First, I was hired as a freelance editor for Whiskey Creek Press, which I'm super excited about. I get the opportunity to combine three things I love: editing, reading fiction, and helping other writers with their books. I'm really looking forward to working with this publishing company and being a part of the process of helping authors get their books ready for publication.

Second, my son (who is turning nine in a few weeks) passed his most recent belt test in Taekwondo. He's a green belt now, so he starts advanced classes, and I have to get him sparring gear. My husband and I passed our tests as well and got our yellow belts. The helpful thing about having a son who's more advanced than us is that when we get stuck on a new pattern, we can be like, "Um, help, please?"

I did a post before on how Taekwondo is like writing. I've learned another thing about writing from Taekwondo, which ties in a lot with the Darth Vader/Comfort Zone stuff I was talking about recently. I've never done well when I have to perform in front of people. When I took gymnastics years ago, I was always super self-conscious about the fact that even mothers were watching. Well, when my son and I went to take our belt tests the week before last, there were like three hundred people there. About a third of them were testing, and about two thirds were watching, and there I was, a beginner student, expected to get up in front of judges and the whole room and show what I'd learned. Granted, they did have us test in groups of three or four, but I was so nervous when we walked into that room. I was self-conscious about even practicing in front of all those people. I leaned toward my son and told him, "I am so nervous. I'm going to forget my patterns or something. There are all these people watching!"

My son looked at me very earnestly and said, "Mommy, you just have to imagine you're the only person in the room."

My husband (who couldn't make it to that testing) told me pretty much the same thing when I frantically texted him before testing started.

So I took a deep breath and did just that. And I did fine. Then I used the same analogy recently in discussions with a fellow writer, because it's completely relatable to writing. Those scenes that make me nervous, I will remind myself to write as if I'm the only person there. I mean, I'm the only person looking at these scenes as I type, but I write them knowing that soon they'll be going to family and friends, and eventually, they'll be released into the world.

Those invisible eyes can be daunting. If you find yourself questioning what you're writing or worrying what other people are going to think, my advice to you is this: Write like you're the only person in the room.

Do the invisible eyes get to you or do you already write like you're the only person in the room?

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And finally, today's Rising Book 1: Resistance links and information:

1. Yesterday there were people who participated in the release event for the book. I had been going to give away several e-copies of the books and announce the winners today, so here it is: everyone who participated in the Rising Release Event will receive an e-copy of the book. If you signed up and participated in that yesterday (or had told me you'd be doing it Monday or today), you should have received an email from me; if I somehow missed you, please email me at the address under "contact" at the top of my blog and let me know. Thank you all so much for your help in spreading the news!

2. Rachel Morgan is hosting today's blog tour. She's an incredibly generous and wonderful person and I'm thrilled to be featured on her blog. If you're not already following her, you totally should be. To check out my interview on her blog, go here: Blog Tour Stop #2

3. Laura, whom I met through Twitter some months ago, is giving away a paperback copy of Rising Book 1. She did this entirely on her own—she asked me about signing a copy of the book, but she put the whole thing together because she loved the book and wanted to share it. (Thank you, Laura!!) Her giveaway runs through this Sunday, the 26th, and you can check out the contest and enter it here on her blog: Rising Paperback Giveaway.

Breaking Out of Your Comfort Zone - AKA The Darth Vader Scene

The other day, I wrote possibly the most horrible, torturous scene I have ever written. It was the Darth Vader of scenes.

I could have said it was the Darth Sidious of scenes, because that dude was just pure evil, but just like Darth Vader had some redeeming qualities, I suppose this scene had...um...well, the only redeeming quality is that it helped me understand a lot better what one of my characters had been through.

I didn't want to write it, but the stupid thing was right there, poking me obnoxiously, threatening to slice me up with the lightsaber if I didn't write it. (Translation: when I need something expelled from my brain, it's best to write it, because then it's out and free and it leaves me alone.)

This scene isn't even going to be in my book. The effects of that scene and the aftermath of it, yes. This is pretty normal--I write things all the time not knowing if they'll ever be used, just because I need to get the scene out. Sometimes I'll write it at full-blast intensity and then pick what I need from it and figure out how to tweak it for the tone of that particular book.

As I said, it helped me understand the suffering of this character. It also helped me figure out what some steps toward healing will be. I'm big on moving toward hope and healing--but I sometimes break characters quite a bit before that comes.

I kind of wonder, what does it say about me that this could have come from my head? Then I go, I think it means I'm a writer.

I can't bring myself to actually look at this scene. I can't bear to see those words. I'm not even sure how I wrote them; they just poured out, and then they were done.

It's okay if I can't look back at it, because it's over and I don't have to think about it anymore. And after I wrote it, I went straight into writing a different scene of future help/healing/happiness, because I couldn't leave that awful moment suspended there.





My writing has taken me to some very dark, uncomfortable places. It has also taken me to some very happy, but still uncomfortable places. (And it's taken me to some flat out happy places, but that's not the point of today's post.) I've had to learn a lot about breaking outside of my bubbles. There have been times my beta readers/CPs have nudged me outside of my comfort zones and pushed me to do better, to give more, for the sake of the stories and the characters. I've found that when this happens, I tend to dive full-in. It's kind of all or nothing. (Which is why the next beta readers then have to go, "Um, Laura, this is a bit too much." And then I rewrite more and find a balance.)

It all comes down to the characters. If I'm not willing to let them be themselves, to explore their pain and their joy, even if I cringe at it, how am I going to be able to to do justice to their story? But it can be very hard, and exhausting, and take a lot out of a writer to portray that pain.

How do you deal with writing your characters' agony? Has a character ever pulled a scene out of you that you couldn't stand to look at afterward because the thought of what was suffered was too terrible? *waves hand* This is not the run-on sentence you're looking for....