Critique_This_WIP

Author Interview: Kristen Yard

As promised last week, we at CritiqueThisWIP have decided to start an Author Interview Series. Sounds fun, right? I won’t lie—when we started talking about doing interviews, I was stoked! And right from the beginning, I knew who my first victim would be.

Kristen Yard is a favorite in my writing circle. Does she know she’s in my writing circle? Probably not—but because I’m kind of a stalker, she can’t really get away. I met Kristen on Twitter and she’s never failed to entertain me. As a matter of fact, this chick has been a shoulder for me to lean on, time and time again. Ready to hear more? Read on…

Kristen Yard was born. She picked up a crayon (probably a turquoise or fuchsia crayon since it was the 80’s) and scribbled. She liked it. She learned how to write and that was the beginning of the end. Throughout adolescence she wrote and wrote, taking a break in her early twenties to start a family. But when a good friend reminded her how happy writing made her, she plunged back in head first never looking back. Kristen is usually locked away typing up a YA storm like a crazy person. Lately she’s working on the sequel to her second novel The Little Death. She can be found at her blog Take it As it Comes, Facebook, or Twitter. Just be sure to bring your own crayon. She doesn’t share.

Courtney: Whooo! Thank you so much for agreeing to an interview with us, Kristen. I thought I’d have to bribe you or something… So let’s just jump right in, and see where this interview takes us, k?

When did you start writing?

Kristen: When I was a kid I wrote short stories, poems, scripts for TV shows, and newspapers that I gave to my parents (lucky them:). As a teen I wrote angsty poems and songs, played my guitar in coffee shops, and sang in a band. I dabbled in all of the arts but always came back to writing.

Courtney: What’s your favorite genre to write?

Kristen: YA paranormal. I’m toying around with an all human YA, but I feel strangely naked not having the supernatural twist to it that I’m used to.

Courtney: What’s your favorite genre to read?

Kristen: YA paranormal. Although I will read anything once and then a bazillion times if I love it.

Courtney: How do you come up with your characters?

Kristen: This is the part of the interview where I might come across as Schizo. I don’t come up with my characters. They come to me. Yep… it’s a party in my head pretty much all the time.

Courtney: Where have some of you best ideas come from?

Kristen: Well, it wasn’t a dream- but I was woken up out of a dead sleep at 4AM on December 3^rd 2009 with the idea for The Little Death. I actually started the action inside the book on that day. I scared my husband half to death because I jumped up in bed and leapt for my laptop. He’s used to my bouts of insanity, but I suppose that would scare anyone if they were asleep. *shrugs*

Courtney: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Kristen: *giggles* I have never pantsed anyone. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Just kidding. Both. It depends on my mood, I’ve been known to work either way. With The Little Death I mostly pantsed it, but now that I’m working on the sequel I’m plotting more to make sure that there aren’t any loose ends that shouldn’t be there.

Courtney: Which of your characters do you most relate with (please give a brief explanation of why you relate to him/her)?

Kristen: In The Little Death, there is a character by the name of Luke. He had to grow up kind of quick and had a lot of responsibility thrust onto his shoulders at a young age. I can identify with him quite a bit, there. One big difference though- he’s a boy. A very cute boy. And I am not.

Courtney: What’s in a name? How important is it for a character to have the right name, or will any name do? And do you spend much time finding your character’s names?

Kristen: This is another iffy one that depends on the situation. In The Little Death, Sari and Luke named themselves, but Mavros made me work for it. He forced me to Google like it was my job and find him an awesome name with meaning to it (you gotta love high maintenance characters *insert eye roll*). He’s scary so I agreed. Certain characters in that book I also researched names for, but others came to me. Marta is named for my best friend as a thank you for always supporting my writing.

Courtney: How do you “get in the zone” when writing? Do you listen to music? Look through art? Something else? What is your writing environment like?

Kristen: I have a few requirements that my husband teases me about…something about being high maintenance??? Pfft. Anyway, I prefer to write at night. Sometimes I’m lucky enough to wake from a dream about my WIP and write first thing, but that’s rare. I have a writing candle (I need a particular scent to write. Weird I know) My best friend is a graphic design guru, and she makes me posters for each manuscript I write so my desk has the poster of whatever manuscript I am working on along with pictures of the characters hanging all around it.

My work area probably looks like the hideout of a crazy person- like in A Beautiful Mind when the protag’s wife finds the shed with all the pictures and clippings…yup. That’s my desk, lol. I also HAVE to have music. This above everything else is NOT negotiable. Each manuscript has a specific playlist and I have to have it playing in order to work on that particular project. Artwork definitely helps too. That is what I love about the arts, they all feed each other.

Courtney: Do you use critique partners, groups, or beta readers to help you with your story? Why or why not?

Kristen: In the beginning I only had my best friend. I was so lucky to have her! Not only did she encourage me to write again (if it wasn’t for her constant encouragement I might not have!) but she knew what she was talking about since she loves YA paranormal herself. She was completely honest with me. A lot of the time if you have someone too close to you critting your work they will go easy on you because they are your friend or family member or whatever. She helped me a ton with my writing and still does. My hubby also listened to a lot of readings until his eyes would glaze over. Well, until mention of a car or motorcycle came into play, then he was all into it. Any references to cars or anything mechanical in my work is thanks to him. He helped me to make it as authentic as possible.

Then I began blogging and stumbled across my critique partner Tiffany. I had been reading all of these stories of other writers who found the perfect critique partner and I was jealous and hoped I would find that for myself. She’s amazing, we basically share a brain. She’s completely devoted to my stories, as much as I am. She’s my cheerleader and boot camp sergeant when she needs to be. More than that she has become a very close friend and I can’t believe I did this writing thing for so long without her! I have a few other beta readers and I’m looking into joining a group this summer once my classes are over.

Courtney: How do you respond to criticism? Love it? Hate it? Learn from it?

Kristen: I would be a liar if I said it doesn’t sting. Your story is your baby, your creation. It hurts to have it criticized. But if you stop and take into consideration the fact that someone is taking their time to critique your work, they’re doing it for free, it’s taking away from their own writing and time that could be spent with their family it makes you appreciate it. If you find a good critique group or partner you know that they are being honest with you because they care about your story as much as you do and they want you to succeed. With that in mind criticism is a lot easier to take! I always learn from it (once you get past the initial bad taste in your mouthJ )

Courtney: How many projects do you work on at once? Do you write one book at a time, or do you have a few going at once?

Kristen: Normally one at a time and I write down notes for any other ideas that come to me but right now and into the summer I’m working on four projects, one is a YA novel called “Path” that I’m co-authoring with my wonderful critique partner Tiffany Neal. It’s really fun to have a partner to work with!

Courtney: Writing exercises? Do you use them?

Um. Does Twitter count? Lol. I do sometimes write up character sheets and interview my characters before starting the story just so that we all know each other before getting into it. Also, if I find myself stuck at some point in the story I take a break and write a scene that I have already written in a different character’s point of view so that I can get a wider view of what is going on. This exercise has helped me to understand the secondary characters and I feel that it makes the story more engaging and the characters more believable.

Courtney: How about Blogfests? Do you participate? If so, do you write a new scene for the fests or do you use scenes from your WIPs?

Kristen: Blogfests are awesome! They are a fun way to meet other authors and get feedback on your work. For the most part I use stuff from my WIPs and finished manuscripts but there was one Blogfest where I made something up the night before. It was an MG Blogfest and I don’t normally write MG so I had to come up with something. It’s been sort of gnawing at me that I just left those characters hanging though… *sigh* make that 5 projects for the summer…

Courtney: What’s your favorite part of being a writer?

Kristen: The escapism. There’s just something about writing that is good for the soul- it reenergizes you and allows you to take in the tiniest detail of life and appreciate it.. It’s my only vice and I adore it. As a writer you get to not only become any person that you want to (like an actor) but you get to control the story so you are both actor and director- it’s amazing. There’s nothing like reading over a final product and knowing you created it (minus the fact that I can’t ever get through one of my manuscripts without wanting to change a million things) lol.

Courtney: What’s you least favorite part?

Kristen: The self-doubt. But from what I understand that doesn’t ever fully go away even after you are signed and have a book deal. Honestly, what career isn’t ridden with self-doubt?

Courtney: Do you ever have trouble with writers-block?

Kristen: Sometimes. It helps if I do the exercise where I look at the story through another character’s eyes or take a break, bounce ideas off Marta or Tiffany, read, watch a movie or play with my kids. Sometimes I even move onto my next project. I’m willing to work with any character who’s willing to talk to me.

Writer’s Block should be called over thinking- because that’s what I think it is at least for me. If I start contemplating the direction of the story too much, I know that I need to take a break so that it can just flow and come to me.

Courtney: Most of us write part time. How do you spend your time when you aren’t writing?

Kristen: Well I have a nine-year-old stepdaughter, a two-year-old daughter and a 29 year old teenage guy husband so I’m pretty busy with them and taking care of the house. I’m also a full-time student working on my B.A. in Creative Writing. I love to read books, comic books, watch movies, hang out at Borders and basically do anything else that doesn’t involve grocery shopping.

Courtney: Favorite books? Authors? Movies? Songs?

Kristen: Books: Great Expectations, The Complete Works of Poe, The Giver, The Hunger Games, Shiver (Yay Mockingjay and Linger!!!)

Authors: Edgar Allan Poe (the reason I love horror), Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Kate Chopin, Suzanne Collins, Maggie Stiefvater

Movies: Here’s the deal. I love psychological thrillers and any corny 70’s horror movie. I just can’t handle the slasher movies where someone jumps out at you. I hyperventilate every time, I’m working on it though J Some of my favorites are Rashomon, Theater of Blood, and Requiem for A Dream. LOVE zombie movies.

Songs: This changes depending on what I’m working on but in general, Anything by 30 Seconds to Mars but in particular Hunter, Beautiful Lie (gives me chills) One of my all-time favorite songs is Paranoid Android by Radiohead.

Courtney: Want to share a favorite line from one of your books?

Kristen: “Snow whirls up around us, as if we are in a snow globe, instead of a metal coffin that’s dangerously close to launching us to our deaths. “

Courtney: Would you like to share anything else with the readers?

Kristen: This summer while Tiffany and I write “Path” together we will be starting a new joined blog that will record our experience with co-authoring a YA novel. We have no idea how we are going to do it yet so we figured that we could document it as we go. Could be a fun read (it’s likely to be amusing because Tiffany and I are sort of... “interesting” when we work together :)… pop in and see if we lose our minds! We’ll post links to it on both of our blogs.

Courtney: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me Kristen—if I didn’t know you before, I certainly do now…and so do all of CritiqueThisWIP’s readers! *cue ominous music* If you have any questions for Kristen that I didn’t get around to asking, feel free to post a comment and I’ll make sure she get’s back to you =)

If you’d like to partake in your own Author Interview, email us at CritiqueThisWIP@gmail.com.