As a special holiday gift, you get two doses of Author Interview. 😀
Bren Kyveli is one of those people, who at first meeting, is sweet and friendly. She has that look about her, like you can trust her with anything. Then you look in those eyes and know she’ll just be loads of sneaky fun. The mischief that lurks just behind those sparkling blue eyes is the antidote to winter doldrums. 😀
Since I like to know different authors processes and since I’d managed to victimize rope in interview two this month, I wanted to use the same questions. See how much we have in common or not.
J.W. Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?
B.K. I try to aim for a minimum of 500 but not really a set amount. I sit down from 9:30am-11:30am Mon-Fri while my kiddo is in preschool and I make sure I write. No social media, no online shopping just writing. Usually I can belt out about 1000-1500 words in that window. Sometimes more sometimes less.
J.W. Nice self-discipline and what a great goal. It seems pretty doable. So do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?
B.K. I’m a plantster, so I have an outline of the main events and how I want the ending but other than that I write off the cuff. In fact, my current novel “A Thousand Wishes” I had to write the entire ending off the cuff. By the time I got to my planned ending, it wasn’t enough. But I wanted to have the whole novel done by the end of NaNo (which I did!). So I let the pen scratch across the page of it own accord and suddenly I not only had my ending but the hint at a possible second book which was never in the plans.
J.W. I bet that was a nice surprise! 😀 That makes for great ideas for future works. That being said, what for you, is the easiest thing about writing?
B.K. That’s a tough one because each stage has its perks and downfalls. But for me the easiest is probably the editing part, because you’ve already told yourself the story. Now your polishing it up so that everyone else can see the story as you do in your head.
J.W. That’s funny. That’s the part that’s hardest for me. So I’m glad to know it comes easy to someone. Now I want to know, do you let the book stew – leave it for a month and then come back to it to edit?
B.K. Well normally I write flash fiction and short stories, so I can edit as I go. But that’s significantly harder to do with a novel. If you ever want to actually finish it that is. So for my novel, first I hand wrote it all in a journal over a span of three months. I haven’t edited a thing yet but I finished it by the NaNo deadline. Now I’m transcribing the whole thing into a word process verbatim but I’m making notes as I go. So then when it comes time to edit, I’ll basically be on my third draft and almost ready for beta readers.
J.W. That sounds like an interesting process, and I love that you handwrite. 😀 I have to tell you, the comment about “actually finishing” made me laugh. So how are you publishing this book and why? (*e.g. Indie, traditional or both)
B.K. It’ll be self published through Amazon both as an ebook and as traditional print. Traditional publishing grants you a certain prestige but it can take years to get your book into readers hands. By the time you get readers one traditionally published book, you can get them five to ten self published ones, depending on how quickly you can write them of course.
J.W. Awesome. I’m with you. Instant gratification. LOL Thank you so much for your time in answering these. It’s been great getting to know your process. 😀
B.K. Thank you so much. 
Bren Kyveli is a stay at home mom of a spirited three year old little girl and a couple of rescued mutts. She’s been happily married to her high school sweetheart since 2005. She’s had a deep love for the written word since she was a toddler; reading everything she could get her hands on and always writing in a fancy journals with a pretty pens. Bren writes contemporary Romance, Erotica and Drama in the hours left at the end of the day when her house has gone to sleep.
You can find additional stories and poems at thepolkadotcoffeecup.com or follow her on Twitter at @AuthorBKyveli and if you’re really brave you can check out her Muses at work on Pinterest.
