Author Blog Hop

I've been tagged by two dear authors to participate in a blog hop! Thank you Rachel Pudelek and D.M. Andrews for the invitation! I've linked your websites to your names so everyone can read your answers to the same questions I'll be answering today. 

D.M. Andrews writes middle-grade fantasy and hilarious parodies. Rachel Pudelek writes dark YA with fantasy elements, a little horror, and a little middle-grade. 

Here it goes…

1. What are you working on? I'm writing book four in The Guardian Herd series. It's the final book in Star's story arc, and it's surreal because I don't want to reach the end. I've been with Star and his friends across four novels, so I'm truly luxuriating in every sentence, but the end is roaring toward me anyway.
2. How does your work differ from others in its genre? Most middle-grade fantasy novels include people/kids. There are no people in this series--only animals. Middle-grade fantasy worlds are often…well…fantastical! But I set my series in the natural world. I write about pegasi who have no magical abilities and their environment is harsh, unforgiving, and the pegasi themselves are fierce warriors. There is one special foal who will inherit magical starfire, but the leaders of the herds plan to execute him before that happens. 
3. Why do you write what you write? I've written books about outer space, vampires, princesses, teens, and kids--but I've always wanted to write about animals. I'm inspired by the novel Watership Down, which I read as a child. It blew my mind! But the right story for a book like that eluded me--until one day, it didn't! The plot to STARFIRE (book 1) possessed me in one fell swoop, and I feel this is the series I was born to write. It includes my favorite animal--horses (but they're even cooler because they have wings), politics, friendship, love, and destiny. 
4. Describe your writing process? I write daily and try to complete an entire chapter each day. I don't stop and edit my first drafts. I take notes as I go, but I keep going. The first draft is fragile--best not to look it in the eye. When I'm finished, I let it set for a week and then I implement my notes--these are things I already know I have to fix//add/delete. Then I go to work on a new project and let the draft marinate for four to six weeks. Now I can read it with a fresh eye, and I find new issues that need to be fixed/added/deleted. When I'm happy with it, I send it to my editor at HarperCollins--and then real work begins! 

Book One, STARFIRE, releases 09/23/14

Next up on the blog hop, Ngaire Elder, author of the Cecilia Spark Picture Book Series
&
Molly Snow, YA author of the BeSwitched Series and Other Novels