| Q&A FEATURE |
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Q: When did you begin writing?
A: I began writing when I was three years old. I remember a picture
of me standing in front of a chalkboard writing actual letters.
Okay, that’s true but seriously I’ll never forget this one class in high
school. I was sixteen. Computers were more accessible and we had a
technology class in school to help prepare us for the workforce that
would require computer skills. Our teacher told us to practice typing
while she graded papers or something. I typed a story. It was an
innocent story of two underprivileged children who weren’t sure if
Santa would visit, due to their circumstances. I showed it to my
teacher; she printed it and hung it on the bulletin board outside the
room while she paid me compliments about having created this off
the top of my head.
This remains one of those special moments that I look back on. It
offers a form of reassurance for me in choosing this path.
Q: How long did it take you to write this novel?
A: I wrote THE UNXPECTED over a period of two years, then
took about three months off before I made thorough revisions from
front to back. (Altogether three years.)
Creative writers can generally produce a reasonable 2nd or final draft
in 8 months to a year considering that they are writing constantly and
have solid creative space, time and creative energy.
Why did it take me so long? There were a lot of distractions around
me. My son was younger and just becoming more independent. I was
working a full-time job. Family, friends, relationships, difficulties at
work, differences in school, you name it and I let it get in the way
until I learned how to prioritize and use certain situations to my
advantage.
I finally started taking writing more seriously during an independent
study course in my undergrad curriculum. Professor Orlando Warren
remains involved in my writing world today. We sat down and he
said to me “We’ve got a whole semester. What do you want to do?” I
didn’t know what I wanted to do, or I feared that I would choose
something outside my reach and fail (no one likes submitting to
failure). We called the course “Writing the Novel.” I learned
tremendously and carried on from there.
Then there was simple fear and self-doubt. I constantly debated
whether it would be better to stay on the safe route committed to the
job or take a leap out on faith into a field that I was most passionate
about.
I prayed for a long time and I must admit God answered by clearing
the way for me to move forward.
Q: What is THE UNXPECTED really about?
A: THE UNXPECTED is a fiction romance depicting a woman’s
journey to find love and balance amidst the chaos surrounding her.
Q: How autobiographical is THE UNXPECTED?
A: I internalize everything. I would rather take time alone to process
things so my writing tends to reflect situations that I’ve encountered
or formed an opinion of. There is no particular character that solely
embodies me, but across the story there are some character traits,
which I am proud to have or proud to be working on. I think my
ability to acknowledge my flaws brings more depth to the characters
and therefore makes the story that more realistic.
Q: How did you come up with the concept and the title?
A: At first I had written a short story that was 8 pages. A friend read
it and challenged me to continue it. I can be stubborn quite often,
but I also suffer from this need to prove myself. So initially there
wasn’t a concept, there was a bet that I didn’t want to lose.
The concept was derived when I reached 124 pages and started
actually reading what I’d written. The theme stems from situations
that I experienced first or secondhand, read about, or watched on
television and thought could be used to spin into a powerful story.
The title was given to me, by the same person who initiated the
challenge, based on the story having so many unexpected twists and
turns. Emmanuel took the “e” out of “unexpected” to focus more
on the “x” factor, which we called the unknown.
Q: Why did you end the book this way?
A: One thing that scared me when I was writing is having characters
talking to me while I was watching TV or riding the train or trying to
get some sleep. I thought I was going crazy. I would hum on the
train to block them out. When they broke through, I would stare at
everybody on the train to make sure they didn’t know what was going
on in my head. Midway into the novel I was losing it. Having writers
around me helped me understand that this is "normal" for us.
Once I was able to accept that this is what we have to go through I
was able to submit to them and listen to them telling their story.
That's also why the narrative changes from 3rd person to 1st person
as often as it does. There were some things I could relay in objective
narrative and other things the characters had to relay in their own
way.
When we reached the end of the novel, my characters and I, they
walked away. I tried to tie it up in a nice package where everything
was pretty and all of them got what they wanted, but none of my
attempts came out right. I didn’t choose that ending, they told me it
was over. I’m fine with that because in reality we can’t “fix”
everything. I’m hoping my readers will give it some thought and give
me some feedback as I'm compiling the next one.
Q: Is there another novel in progress? When should we expect it?
A: I have a load of ideas, but no focus on any at the time. I sincerely
want to do the children's book first, to foster innocence and
understanding in the lives of our children. I can't put my finger on
what will happen. I'm serious about getting this MFA so I'll be
writing my thesis from Fall to Spring. That might be another novel.
We'll see. For right now, I'd like to enjoy having this first novel in
circulation.
Until next time,
Lorinda
A: I began writing when I was three years old. I remember a picture
of me standing in front of a chalkboard writing actual letters.
Okay, that’s true but seriously I’ll never forget this one class in high
school. I was sixteen. Computers were more accessible and we had a
technology class in school to help prepare us for the workforce that
would require computer skills. Our teacher told us to practice typing
while she graded papers or something. I typed a story. It was an
innocent story of two underprivileged children who weren’t sure if
Santa would visit, due to their circumstances. I showed it to my
teacher; she printed it and hung it on the bulletin board outside the
room while she paid me compliments about having created this off
the top of my head.
This remains one of those special moments that I look back on. It
offers a form of reassurance for me in choosing this path.
Q: How long did it take you to write this novel?
A: I wrote THE UNXPECTED over a period of two years, then
took about three months off before I made thorough revisions from
front to back. (Altogether three years.)
Creative writers can generally produce a reasonable 2nd or final draft
in 8 months to a year considering that they are writing constantly and
have solid creative space, time and creative energy.
Why did it take me so long? There were a lot of distractions around
me. My son was younger and just becoming more independent. I was
working a full-time job. Family, friends, relationships, difficulties at
work, differences in school, you name it and I let it get in the way
until I learned how to prioritize and use certain situations to my
advantage.
I finally started taking writing more seriously during an independent
study course in my undergrad curriculum. Professor Orlando Warren
remains involved in my writing world today. We sat down and he
said to me “We’ve got a whole semester. What do you want to do?” I
didn’t know what I wanted to do, or I feared that I would choose
something outside my reach and fail (no one likes submitting to
failure). We called the course “Writing the Novel.” I learned
tremendously and carried on from there.
Then there was simple fear and self-doubt. I constantly debated
whether it would be better to stay on the safe route committed to the
job or take a leap out on faith into a field that I was most passionate
about.
I prayed for a long time and I must admit God answered by clearing
the way for me to move forward.
Q: What is THE UNXPECTED really about?
A: THE UNXPECTED is a fiction romance depicting a woman’s
journey to find love and balance amidst the chaos surrounding her.
Q: How autobiographical is THE UNXPECTED?
A: I internalize everything. I would rather take time alone to process
things so my writing tends to reflect situations that I’ve encountered
or formed an opinion of. There is no particular character that solely
embodies me, but across the story there are some character traits,
which I am proud to have or proud to be working on. I think my
ability to acknowledge my flaws brings more depth to the characters
and therefore makes the story that more realistic.
Q: How did you come up with the concept and the title?
A: At first I had written a short story that was 8 pages. A friend read
it and challenged me to continue it. I can be stubborn quite often,
but I also suffer from this need to prove myself. So initially there
wasn’t a concept, there was a bet that I didn’t want to lose.
The concept was derived when I reached 124 pages and started
actually reading what I’d written. The theme stems from situations
that I experienced first or secondhand, read about, or watched on
television and thought could be used to spin into a powerful story.
The title was given to me, by the same person who initiated the
challenge, based on the story having so many unexpected twists and
turns. Emmanuel took the “e” out of “unexpected” to focus more
on the “x” factor, which we called the unknown.
Q: Why did you end the book this way?
A: One thing that scared me when I was writing is having characters
talking to me while I was watching TV or riding the train or trying to
get some sleep. I thought I was going crazy. I would hum on the
train to block them out. When they broke through, I would stare at
everybody on the train to make sure they didn’t know what was going
on in my head. Midway into the novel I was losing it. Having writers
around me helped me understand that this is "normal" for us.
Once I was able to accept that this is what we have to go through I
was able to submit to them and listen to them telling their story.
That's also why the narrative changes from 3rd person to 1st person
as often as it does. There were some things I could relay in objective
narrative and other things the characters had to relay in their own
way.
When we reached the end of the novel, my characters and I, they
walked away. I tried to tie it up in a nice package where everything
was pretty and all of them got what they wanted, but none of my
attempts came out right. I didn’t choose that ending, they told me it
was over. I’m fine with that because in reality we can’t “fix”
everything. I’m hoping my readers will give it some thought and give
me some feedback as I'm compiling the next one.
Q: Is there another novel in progress? When should we expect it?
A: I have a load of ideas, but no focus on any at the time. I sincerely
want to do the children's book first, to foster innocence and
understanding in the lives of our children. I can't put my finger on
what will happen. I'm serious about getting this MFA so I'll be
writing my thesis from Fall to Spring. That might be another novel.
We'll see. For right now, I'd like to enjoy having this first novel in
circulation.
Until next time,
Lorinda
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