Interview with Allison Pang!

Posted by mahalia2010

I’m sitting here with Allison Pang finding all about her writing process! Pleas join us!

Hales: When did you seriously sit down, and say to yourself, I’m going to write a novel?

Author: The summer of 2008 is when I first started investigating what it took to become published. I’d written a few small things with other people for fun, but June of 2008 was when I joined RWA and started the beginnings of A Brush of Darkness (formerly known as Shadow of the Incubus.) I farted around with it for the rest of the year and in January of 2009 I had about 30k written. When I signed up to do the Romantic Times convention in April 2009, I decided I wanted to have a finished project to pitch, so I stopped making excuses and wrote the next 60k in 3 months.

Hales: What do you find the most difficult to write? Dialogue? Back story? Emotion?

Author: I think it varies, honestly. I’m probably best with dialogue (particularly the snarky stuff), but every scene has its challenges.

Hales: Have you ever found that you didn’t like your Hero or your Heroine? If so, what did you do to change that?

Author: Sure. If things start heading down a path I don’t want to go with a particular character, I do pull back a bit and try to reevaluate what their reactions are. I’m mostly a panster so sometimes it’s just a question of changing something a little bit – i.e. their dialogue, for example and then everything changes.

Hales: If you were to start again, with the knowledge you have now, what would be the first thing you do?

Author: Don’t take anything for granted and listen to your gut.

Hales: Do you write full time, what is your schedule for the day? Or do you have a full time job, if so, when do you find the time to write?

Author: I work full time and I have two small children. I don’t usually find time to write until the evening when they are in bed – so anywhere between the hours of 10 PM and 1 AM is when I write. I aim for at least 1000 words a day that way.

Hales: Do you have the support of family and friends?

Author: Absolutely.

Hales: What has been the biggest challenge of your career?

Author: Just trying to balance it all out between “real” work and finding time for myself. It’s hard for me to relax, both in finding the time and also letting myself have that down time.

Hales: Where do you expect to be in five years?

Author: Well, I’d love to be able to write more. I suspect I won’t be able to write full time, but I’d love to be able to make enough from my books that I can move to part time work with the day job.

Hales: Are you a plotter or a pantser? If you are a plotter, what are you methods?

Author: Panster, mostly. If I get stuck somewhere, I’ll try to outline a bit, but otherwise I just see where the words take me.

Hales: How have your techniques for character development changed since you’ve been writing? Is it still the same, or has it developed over time, if so how?

Hales: It’s still pretty much the same. Most of the time I have a vague impression of the character and their back story, but honestly the characters don’t really take shape for me until I start writing them.

Hales: Do you have a book coming out? If so what? Do you have a web site? Do you have a blog? My space?

Author: My first book – A Brush of Darkness – was just release on the 25^th of January. (The sequel should be out next year.)