Christa Avampato Introduces Emerson Page Series

**** Book 1 is FREE on Amazon April 23 for World Book Night****

The many jobs of a writer

By Christa Avampato

I grew up as a Sesame Street kid and my favorite character was Grover because he had so many different jobs. He was a waiter, reporter, cab driver, detective, superhero. He followed all his interests and fearlessly tried new things.

As a writer, I have the chance to be Grover. Through my characters, I’ve been a rare book collector, astronomer, anthropologist, café owner, inventor, and forensic linguist. Through the act of writing, I take on many different roles during the process.

First, I’m a cartographer:
My outlines are maps. They lay out the path to reach my destination. They are usually a long and winding road. There are some dead ends and false starts. They have plenty of detours. Just when my characters think they’re finally on the path they want, a roadblock appears, and they must set off on an unplanned adventure and chart new territory. It’s all in the map.

Second, I’m a painter:
Once I’m happy with the map, then I can start adding details, color, and texture to the journey to make a highly detailed outline. I make notes about who’s in each scene, bits of dialogue, what the action is, why the scene matters to the story, and what the reader will learn in each scene that will make them want to turn the page and keep reading. I always want them to finish each chapter and ask, “And then what happened?”

Third, I’m a mason:
Now I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and start the hard work of constructing a first draft. With my map and detailed outline in-hand, I start to lay down the foundation of the story, word by word, scene by scene. I make tons of notes along the way, mostly details I eventually want to add in later drafts. But those details aren’t my concern at this stage. I’m focused on framing the story with the most basic text so I can get to the end of the first draft.

Here’s my dirty secret: I hate first drafts. Can’t stand them. They’re ugly, gangly, and no one would ever be able to make sense of them except me. They’re that messy. Let it be the stinkiest, ugliest, messiest thing I’ve ever created. I don’t care. It just has to exist. That is the only purpose of the first draft – to be.

No one has ever read a first draft of my work. And no one ever will. The first draft is for me and only me. And there’s a freedom in that. I’m not writing it for anyone except me. Though my draft doesn’t look like much to celebrate, I do a happy dance as soon as I finish the last word of that first draft. I turned my outline and notes into prose. Hallelujah! I got from the beginning of my story to the end. I got some dialogue down. I wrote the action sequences. Now I have something to work with. I embrace the hideous first draft and revel in its creation. Huzzah – time to party! I try to finish my first draft in a month.

Fourth, I’m a tourist:
Time for a vacation from my draft. I put it away until I forget what I wrote. For me, that’s about a month. Sometimes two. This way I come back to it with fresh eyes, ready to edit, rewrite, and get to the detail work I love. In that time, I may work on another project.

Fifth, I’m a sculptor:
After my vacation from m draft, I’m ready to add in all those sumptuous details. I’m ready to make that dialogue sing and make it believable. Now is the time for poetry. Now I’m really getting into my craft, and all because I’ve got something basic and functional to work with. The edit and the rewrite (many times over in my case!) is where I fix everything and make it better.

If measured time I spend writing a first draft versus the time I spend editing my work, it would be more accurate to call myself a re-writer rather than a writer. That’s exactly how I like it. I love to take something from awful to something I’m proud of. I love the detail. I love the refinement. I love incorporating all the research I’ve done, and I do plenty more research in the edit. I mercilessly and gleefully tear things up and put the pieces back together in new ways. Re-writing is my happy place.

The great Dr. Seuss said, “Reading can take you places you have never been before.” Writing does that as well, and lets you bring others along for the adventure. Writers take on the job of being tour guides, too.

 

Interview with Christa Avampato

What do you do when a new idea jumps out at you while you’re still working on a book? Do you chase the squirrel (aka “UP syndrome”) or do you finish your current project first?

I love using Trello (a free to-do list app and website – Trello.com) to keep track of all my projects, writing and otherwise. I have a list of board for each project. When I have an idea, I just log it in Trello. That way it’s there for me when I need it and I can move on with my current work. I don’t want to miss any idea, but I also like to finish what I start (even if it takes a very long time to finish.) Once I finish a draft, I let it sit for a long time before I start editing so sometimes, I’ll pick up a new idea and run with it before I start editing my original project.

Describe your writing process. Do you outline, plot, and plan, or is your writing more organic?

I am a big planner and outliner. I approach a book the way a painter approaches a canvas. I start by sketching the big arc of the book, then I gradually fill in the details of the outline, getting more and more granular with each round. Once I’m at the point where I have specific scenes, I’ll put each scene on an index card and move them around until I’m happy with the flow. Then once I have that flow in a good place, I’ll start writing the scenes in Scrivener, a software program for writers. Once I finish drafting all the chapters, that’s the point at which I’ll let it sit and get dusty. Once I’ve let it sit for a good long while, I’ll go back to edit each chapter. I’ll go through many rounds of editing until I’m happy with the final work.

Have you been able to incorporate your previous experience in your jobs/education in your writing?

I see writing a book like creating a product and launching a business (work I do aside from my writing life!) I also bring nature and history into a lot of my writing, so those aspects of my life and career also come into play in my writing. I always find that business, science, and storytelling / writing, the three pillars of my career, all support one another. Business has taught me how to manage a project, market and promote work, and stay focused on a customer. Writing and storytelling has helped me hone my communication skills in multiple mediums. Science has helped me find wonder in natural world and use my business and communication skills to help protect the planet.

Do you identify with your main character, or did you create a character that is your opposite?

Very much so. I think of Emerson Page as the person I aspire to be. She’s the best version of me. But to be honest, all the characters I write are reflective of me or part of me or a past version of me. I identify with all of them in some way. This connection helps me to humanize them, and by extension helps me help the audience understand them and how they got to be who they are. None of them are perfect, just as none of us are perfect.

Describe the book/series in 10 words or less for people just learning about it.

Emerson seeks a mythological book connecting her to her mother

Is there anything you would like people to take away from your book?

So many things! If I had to choose just one, I would say I want people to feel less alone and to know that family takes many shapes – sometimes we’re born into it, sometimes it’s found, and sometimes it’s made. Though we may not always understand why something happens to us, we can make everything that happens meaningful.

What has been the toughest criticism you have received as an author? What has been the best compliment?

I put my writing and myself out there every day, and every day I face some kind of rejection. I’ve gotten so used to rejection at this point that it rarely impacts me. I think of it like a muscle. There are times when I’ve been massively disappointed, but I’ve found there’s very little value in dwelling on those times. If I can get feedback to learn, grow, and improve, great. And if I can’t, that’s okay, too. I know that those opportunities weren’t meant for me at this point in life and moving on to find what is meant for me is a better use of my time.

Share some advice for aspiring authors. What advice would you give to your younger self?

Keep going. I became a writer through years of practice. I don’t have a degree in writing. I’ve only taken one formal writing class in my entire life, and it was for screenwriting. I learned to write by reading, reading about writing, and years of daily practice. I’m sure there are people born with genius writing skills. I am not one of those people. That’s okay. I cultivated my writing skills one more word at a time.

Also, everyone writes terrible first drafts and everyone who’s ever written a book has written it the same way – one word at a time. It’s taken me years to write both of my novels. Writing is the work of a lifetime.

 

Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters by Christa Avampato

 

Emerson Page and Where the Light Leads by Christa Avampato 

Blurb: On New Year’s Eve in Times Square, Emerson Page comes face-to-face with a friend-turned-traitor. They begin a dangerous race against time, both willing to give their lives for the lost treasure her mother died trying to protect: an ancient book authored by the Greek muses that contains the secrets to unlimited creativity. Its wisdom is both a powerful tool and a dangerous weapon.

To find the book, they’ll have to convince a series of mythological creatures to usher them deep below the streets of Dublin, Ireland into the land of the faeries. There, they’ll have to convince the faeries to give them the book by exchanging it for a priceless gift of their own.

With her best friends by her side, can Emerson finish the work her mother began and protect the power of human imagination, or will her enemy capture the book to boost his own power?

 

About the Author

Posted April 23, 2024 by Julie S. in Author Appearances, Blog Tours / 0 Comments