About Lee Anne Wonnacott:
On any given day you can find her speeding on the Five, harassing the clerks in Wal-Mart or sitting in her car with a DoubleDouble. Her religion is the National Football League and an Oakland Raider fan since 1967. She prefers a Sheriff over a city cop, a pickup over a coupe and a Colt.45 over a 9 mm. She’s a sucker for children under three and anyone in their 90’s. She believes that all dogs smile. She will happily put you on hold until next week. Every book she writes feels like her first one. You’ll find Lee Anne searching for sea glass near the Oceanside, CA pier.
What inspires you to write?
I get awakened in the middle of the night by an argument between characters in my head. I’ve learned to just get up, turn on the word processor and type it all out.
I was told stories of the old west as a small child. I lived around cowboys, cattle, horses, ranches and farms. Memories of grandparents and great grandparents turn into chapters in my mind.
Tell us about your writing process.
• I’m big on character sketches. It takes an incident to happen to a character before the rest of the book happens. Someone is hanging off a cliff. Well, how did that happen? How did he get that way. I wish I could outline, really. I’ve helped others do outlines, but it feels to confining for me. People die in my stories and I have to figure out what method causes it. I often leave some story lines unfinished. I edit, edit, and edit again. I don’t trust beta readers so the constructive and developmental editors get a work out. I can go from 122k down to 95k words in an edit so I’m not afraid of slashing. I taught my grandchildren to do this when they were in elementary school.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
My fiction characters smell smells, feel the wind, taste flavors, and hear lots of sounds. From time to time, one of them will cock their head at me and say, “Watch this.”
What advice would you give other writers?
Go work on all kinds of single paragraph writing prompts. My favorite is the grocery list one. Write 5 things on a grocery list. Now write one long sentence about who and why someone would need to go to the store to get that.
I write business non-fiction for people who decided this morning to start up their business. These are people who still work day jobs and are formatting their product and service while they sit in the drive-thru line.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
My grandson looked at me and said, “Grammy, that would make a good book. Why don’t you write one?” On those occasions where I imbibe too much tequila, I tend to tell stories about some of the characters in my head. People tell me that I should write a book all the time. Western fiction is a minuscule niche that does have maybe 2 dozen authors. So go pick 5 tiny niches, like underwater basket weaving, and write 30,000 words.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
In American schools, children are required to read for 45 minutes every night. They learn to hold a book in their hands. It forms a habit. Throughout an adult’s life they will come across interesting people who have written books. Some will be inspired to buy that book, sit down and read for 45 minutes. From papyrus to eReaders, people will always read books and books will always be published.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer
What genres do you write?: Fiction-Western Action and Adventure, Non-fiction Business
What formats are your books in?: eBook
Website(s)
Lee Anne Wonnacott Home Page Link
Link To Lee Anne Wonnacott Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on other site
Your Social Media Links
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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.
