About Julie Dawn:
Julie Dawn grew up in southern Jersey, spending the summers collecting bee stingers in her feet. After graduating from Richard Stockton College, she dipped her toes in the environmental field for a few years, got married, moved to North Carolina, and finally got to become a mom. Four years of living in state parks was enough to make her relocate to the Oregon Coast. Under bright stars, she started writing again, determined to change the world one story at a time.
What inspires you to write?
Life inspires me to write. I watch a lot of documentary and listen to audiobooks in the car. Tidbits of those things find their way into whatever I’m writing at the time and influence who I’m changing into. A lot of what I write now, I look back and find in my writing from 20 years ago. When I’m stuck on a scene, I don’t force it. I wait to find what I need from the world around me.
Tell us about your writing process.
I write as it comes. This makes editing a lot more work, but I am always surprised when a scene takes a huge turn I never saw coming. I’ve tried post-it notes, printing out chunks of manuscript. When it comes down to it staring at the wall was more useful. The first novel is the hardest. So try everything and see what works for you.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I’m always thinking about my characters and the story. There are nights I wake up and scribble a new idea down, dinner gets interrupted while I search for a piece of paper, and ink bleeds from the paper as I reach out of the shower to jot down a new twist. I’m never alone, but I wouldn’t confess to talking to my characters. I just listen.
What advice would you give other writers?
Write what you love. Anything you do should be enjoyable. When its not, the reader will be able to tell. And there will be times when its frustrating. Those are perfect times to take a walk, read Stephen King’s ON WRITING, and find contentment that your story just needs more time to simmer. It is a long journey. A slow journey. But you’ll get so much out of it.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
When I started writing I wasn’t concerned with being published. Halfway through, I began researching traditional publishing and wish I hadn’t. Once I began to worry about what agents thought, my writing went down and it took a lot to get to the point where I started writing it for me again. I had a small publisher request my full manuscript and pulled it from submission. I lost someone very close to me and I wanted to complete the publishing process on my own. I felt all alone and needed to do what I did for me.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
We live in an amazing time for writers. Authors get a choice, control over their careers. Deciding what enhances and inhibits one’s own creativity is extremely important. I’ve discovered that the path I desired, was not the one I chose.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: Horror, New Adult, Science Fiction, Suspense
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Julie Dawn Home Page Link
Link To Julie Dawn Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
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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.
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