About A.L. Kessler:
A.L. Kessler is known for her Amazon Best Selling series Here Witchy Witchy. She’s a member of the Midnight Writers and Pikes Peak Writers in Colorado Springs Colorado. Her addiction to coffee and chocolate keeps her going through her busy life as author, mother, and wife.
What inspires you to write?
Keeping my sanity is what inspires me to keep going. I’m a stay at home mom, so I spend all day with no adult contact unless we go somewhere. Writing allows me to keep what sanity I have left and find that nice break that I need from reality. Now where I get my inspirations for my ideas come from all over, could be a song, could be something a friend says whatever it is, I take it and run with it, never looking back.
Tell us about your writing process.
I start with one or two lines about the story (some people call this a pitch line) and then I write out a brief synopsis- this might change as I write the story. I don’t go in with a full outline because I find it too restricting. I keep track of characters as they pop up, using OneNote, but I write in Scrivener and I edit in MS word. If I’m not doing Nation Novel Writing Month, then I go back and edit what I’ve written previously, this makes the final clean up before beta reads easier.
Then it’s off to beta readers, then more editing, then to the editors.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Yes! I also tend to think of them like friends. Things like “Oh Abby would like this.” Or “That sounds like something Lucius would say.” They are very much a part of my life and I hear them in my mind. They guide the story (another reason I don’t do a full outline) because the story is about them. If I get stuck, I’ll actually sit down and write and interview with them to help me see why I am stuck.
What advice would you give other writers?
Find a schedule that works for you. You’ll hear a lot of people say “Write every day” but that’s not plausible for some people, if you can only write on the weekends, make that work. Set a goal and stick to it. Also, doubt is part of the process, just don’t give into it and keep going.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I was accepted into an anthology with a small press back in 2011, when the anthology was released I received a few emails wondering what else I’d written or when my next work would be out. At the time I’d been pursuing traditional publishing. It was my husband who sat me down and told me to make a choice. I weighed the pros and cons for me and made my choice to go the indie route for publishing. So far it’s been a good choice.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I think we’re going to see a lot change and the indie route is going to be harder to succeed at and so is traditional publishing. We’ve seen so many small presses pop up only to be squashed down a few years laters, so I don’t think we’ll see a lot of them in the future. I don’t see print books going away any time soon, there’s still a market out there for them.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print, Audiobook
Website(s)
A.L. Kessler Home Page Link
Link To A.L. Kessler Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
