![](\"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/P_Andrews.jpg\" "\\"P_Andrews\\"")
<\/p>\nIn the spirit of NaNoWriMo and this July’s Camp NaNoWriMo, I thought it would be fun to interview a writer who specializes in writing fast. In fact, that’s the name of his blog: How To Write Fast. Peter Andrews has been perfecting his own methods of prolificity and passing his knowledge onto his fellow writers for awhile. It is my delight to have him with us today!<\/p>\n
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PETER ANDREWS– WRITER AND TEACHER<\/strong><\/p>\n KARA: What genres (or sub-genres) have your explored? Which do you find the most challenging? Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n PETER ANDREWS:<\/span> I\u2019ve played with paranormal, SF, suspense, and various kinds of YA. Science fiction is the hardest for me because I never accept the given tropes, and I spend a lot of time world-building. Then I have to forget all that and get back to the characters and the story.<\/p>\n KARA:\u00a0How do you know when you\u2019ve hit your zone?<\/strong><\/p>\n PETER ANDREWS:<\/span> When the characters talk to me throughout the day. For some reason, they get especially chatty when I\u2019m in the shower. Nora Roberts once told me she kept a wax marker at hand for such occasions, but I\u2019m too lazy to scrub the words off, so I learned how to chain together ideas and hang onto them until I can get to paper and pen.<\/p>\n KARA:\u00a0Do you have a daily writing ritual?<\/strong><\/p>\n PETER ANDREWS:<\/span> All my drafting is done in the morning. I set a timer. More often than not, I keep writing after it goes off, but it is a signal to me to get to work. When I finish creating new material, I write down what I will do the next day. It\u2019s a promise to myself and an immediate starting point.<\/p>\n In the afternoon or evening, I do rewriting, and I go through a step-by-step process since \u201crewriting\u201d is too generic. Doing specific tasks (analyzing scenes, doing Kitchen\u2019s \u201cwriting backwards\u201d approach, proofing, etc.) in a specific sequence keep me from dithering.<\/p>\n KARA:\u00a0Are you a plotter, a pantser, or a hybrid?<\/strong><\/p>\n PETER ANDREWS:<\/span> I drafted two novels and a lot of short stories as a plotter. In 2001, I stepped away from fiction writing entirely for the best part of a year. When I came back, I was reborn as a pantser. It has given a freshness to my writing, and I am more easily involved and emotional as I draft now. I still rewrite as a hardcore plotter, analyzing the work on every level so the structure is sound, the story logic is solid, and all the hooks are in place.<\/p>\n KARA:\u00a0Do you prefer to write novellas, short stories, or full-length books? Which do you prefer to read?<\/strong><\/p>\n PETER ANDREWS:<\/span> I work almost exclusively in longer forms now, but I still have a special love for short stories and novellas. Like many writers, I overflow with concepts, and shorter works allow me to try them all out.<\/p>\n I stay in touch with this love primarily through teaching flash fiction and bigger stories. I point students toward samples and I get to read their work. We even develop ideas together on the fly \u2013 a sort of fiction improv \u2013 which is fun and scary at the same time.<\/p>\n KARA:\u00a0Who have been your greatest influences? Your biggest obstacles? How have you seen these shape you as a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n PETER ANDREWS:<\/span> In recent years, I\u2019ve gotten advice and some handholding from Kristan Higgins, Jessica Andersen, Max Adams, and Sharon Sobel, so here\u2019s a shout out to all of them! Kate Wilhelm and Peter Beagle have been important to me along the way, and I\u2019ve been privileged to have both as teachers. Twain and Austen both knock me out. A few years ago, I read Thackeray\u2019s Vanity Fair, which was full of love, humor, and social comment \u2013 and has an entirely different approach to novel writing. Add in Poe, Flannery O\u2019Connor, Harlan Ellison, and Thurber.<\/p>\n KARA:\u00a0When you feel a moment of indecision or self-doubt, what have you found to be the best method or trick to get out of that nasty funk?<\/strong><\/p>\n PETER ANDREWS:<\/span> Here\u2019s where my many years as a speechwriter comes in handy. I write in a different voice. It may be a character who is pivotal to the scene. It may be in the voice of an author I love. But, in my head, I hear them take on the material I can\u2019t figure out. They solve it their own ways, and I find something in the pages I write to adapt\/adopt in my own voice.<\/p>\n So I take myself off the hook and let someone else do the work.<\/p>\n KARA:\u00a0What is your favorite part about developing your characters? Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n PETER ANDREWS:<\/span> I interview them. And, thanks to the advice of Max Adams, I usually get them drunk first. I am always amazed by what they have to say.<\/p>\n KARA: Fantastic! \u00a0Now…a<\/strong> memory: You are looking at your very first published book, for the very first time in print or as an ebook. Tell me exactly what you are feeling? Emotions and sensations. Where are you? Who is the first person you tell?<\/strong><\/p>\n PETER ANDREWS:<\/span> My first time in print where I got paid was a book review for a publication that was given away free at colleges. I was in grad school at the University of Virginia, and it showed up in my mailbox, and I did a little dance. Then I walked around campus and saw everybody reading that little newspaper, and I presumed they were reading my work.<\/p>\n The first work of fiction was more peculiar. I rushed to the drugstore, bought an issue of the magazine, and I wasn\u2019t in it. Two months later, I bought the next issue, and I died when I looked at the table of contents \u2013 not there. But my story was in that issue, so I went from despair to elation in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n KARA: Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with me! Readers, I’ve got some great links to Peter’s blog and a few workshops, too. Check ’em out!<\/strong><\/p>\n –Kara xxooxx<\/p>\n LINKS:<\/strong><\/p>\n Great Pep talk for NaNoWriMo (still timely, if you are doing the July event!) Camp NaNoWriMo.<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.writenowcoach.com\/blog\/?p=1308 <\/span><\/p>\n Peter Andrews also presents online workshops. One is coming up in October through http:\/\/lowcountryrwa.com and one at\u00a0http:\/\/writerscenter.org\/summer2013classes.html#andrews1<\/p>\n Author Bio:<\/p>\n Peter Andrews is a full-time, independent writer of speeches, articles, and blogs. He has dozens of short stories and hundreds of nonfiction articles in print. He has worked professionally in PR, and as a Web producer, speechwriter, and a radio producer. His How to Write Fast blog can be found at http:\/\/howtowritefast.blogspot.com<\/p>\n http:\/\/howtowritefast.blogspot.com\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the spirit of NaNoWriMo and this July’s Camp NaNoWriMo, I thought it would be fun to interview a writer who specializes in writing fast. In fact, that’s the name of his blog: How To Write Fast. Peter Andrews has been perfecting his own methods of prolificity and passing his knowledge onto his fellow writers … Continue reading “Interview with Peter Andrews!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-656","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=656"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1153,"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/656\/revisions\/1153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karaashleydeyold.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}