Charlotte E. English is the author of the Draykon: Omnibus Edition Books 1-3, about the mystery of a mysterious gemstone, its origins and the impact its discovery has on the lives of my characters. She sits down with fellow StoryBundler Geoff Morrison to discuss writing, editing, and the “right” amount of description.

How did you approach your first book? Is that different from how you approached the next? The most recent?

I approached the writing of my first book as a purely fun activity. I filled it with many of my favourite things and tried to make it as colourful as possible. I wandered away from that approach with later books, but I have recently come back to it as the most successful way for me to complete a project.

What did you learn writing your first novel? Your most recent?

My first novel primarily taught me how to plan and complete a full-length project - though it took me several revisions and many months to accomplish it! My most recent project taught me that it is important to preserve that sense of fun and adventure that I enjoyed with my earliest work.

How much do you plan out in advance, and how?

That has varied from book to book, but by this time I like to have a rough outline - not too much detail - so that I know where I am going, but the story remains flexible. I am often surprised by the ideas I come up with when I’m actually writing, and I like to have room to incorporate the good ones.

How do you approach writing characters?

I like to write believable characters that readers can relate to. As such, it’s important to ensure that each one has an interesting mixture of strengths and flaws, and their actions and choices should be a mix of inspiration, heroics and mistakes.

How do you give individual characters their own “voice.”

I think about each character’s background, homeland, education and the things that are particularly important to them - and how they would like to represent themselves to others.

How do you decide on pacing?

This is something that happens, I suppose, largely by instinct. I try to maintain a pattern of tension/action interspersed with periods of quiet (which usually means character development or world building).

How do you decide what to reveal to the audience, and when?

This can be tricky to decide. I usually try to reveal information slowly, as I like to maintain as much mystery as possible. I often end up revealing too little, however, so I usually have to revise for this at the end of a project.

When it comes to description, do you think there’s such a thing as too much? Too little? How do you decide what’s your “right” amount?

Personally I quickly grow bored with too much description, so I try to keep it to a reasonable minimum. I’ve noticed that reviewers have reacted very differently to my books on this point, however - some say there is far too little, some say there is far too much. Opinions appear to vary widely on what constitutes “enough” description.

Do you have a specific place to write? A separate computer?

I have a separate desk with a separate computer for writing, and all other related work. I work from home, so it helps to have a distinct place to go when I’m working - and to walk away from when I’ve finished.

Do you listen to music as you write? If so, what?

I almost always listen to music when I’m working. It helps to block out the real world, I suppose. I have a collection of playlists on Spotify that I update all the time, and I listen to a really wide variety of things.

Do you finish, then edit, or do you edit as you go?

I find that editing as I go along tends to stall the project, so I leave it until the end. But I keep a document with editing notes handy, so I can write down anything that occurs to me that I’ll need to fix later.

Do you wait until you have an idea, or do you sit down and write every day no matter what?

I write every day. If I waited until I was struck with inspiration, I’d get very little done.

What’s your biggest hindrance to finishing a book?

I find it harder to start things than to finish them. Once I’ve got properly underway with a project I don’t usually find it difficult to get it done.

How many people get to read your unfinished, or recently finished, work?

Nobody reads any of my work until it is finished (by which I mean, fully drafted). My partner gets the first read after that, and then I usually have about half a dozen test readers who read an edited draft and send me notes.

What do you feel are your strengths as a writer? What advice would you give for someone who wants to improve that aspect of their writing?

According to my readers, my strength as a writer lies in my characters (which doesn’t surprise me entirely, as it is probably the aspect of storytelling that I find most interesting). My advice on this would be to observe as much as possible. People are endlessly fascinating: complex, contradictory, magnificent and pathetic all at once. Don’t be afraid to show all the peculiarities, foibles, strengths and weaknesses that real people tend to have.

What would you like to improve with your writing, and how would you go about doing it?

If I could improve my ability to produce good outlines - and stick to them - I could tackle more complex plots. I’ve been reading books on outlining, and making sure to do it for every new title I work on.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out, trying to finish (or start!) their first novel.

Try not to take it too seriously at that stage. It took me a while to get going on my first, because I badly wanted to be a writer and I felt like there was so much riding on it. I didn’t start to make serious progress until I forgot about what might happen in the future, and concentrated on just enjoying the process.

Who are your favorite authors?

Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, Kage Baker, Tamora Pierce, Victoria Clayton, Jim Butcher.

If you could ask your favorite author one question, what would it be? What would you like to learn from them?

Jane Austen very rarely describes anything, even the appearance of her characters, and yet one barely notices; they have so much personality that we don’t need the rest. I would love to ask her why she omitted all the description, and how she could contrive to make it work so well.

What’s your favorite book of all time?

I have two books that tend to war with each other for that title: “Emma”, by Jane Austen, and “Wives and Daughters” by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Have you read any useful books that helped you with story, characters, or writing in general?

I recently read Dave Farland’s book on outlines, which was very useful. On the whole, though, I tend to avoid how-to books on writing as they can conflict with my instincts and cause a lot of confusion. To learn how to do fiction, I mostly read fiction.

How did you approach your cover artist, and what was that experience like?

When I began publishing, I was already working with my cover artist on our web comic, Spindrift. She offered to do my first book cover for me, which was magnificent, and since then we have maintained the arrangement. Getting my first book cover from her was so exciting: it was such a beautiful piece of art, and it made it feel real.

What software do you use, if other than MS Word?

I just use Word for writing. I also use jEdit and Calibre to produce my ebooks.

Are there any websites you found helpful in regards to eBook formatting?

BB Ebooks and Guido Henkel

Any tricks you’ve learned in eBook formatting?

I don’t think I’m good enough at it to have tricks to share. I manage to get by!

Do you sell across all eBook platforms? Has one done better for you than others?

I sell books everywhere I can; I don’t want to exclude anyone who, like me, finds it difficult to access Amazon stores. Amazon is still my biggest seller, but I also do quite well at Barnes and Noble.

How do you feel about KDP Select (i.e. Kindle Owners' Lending Library)?

I can’t use it as a reader because that option isn’t available where I live. That makes me wary of it as an author; I think it excludes an awful lot of readers.

Do you sell print versions of your books? If so, what company do you use, and why?

I do. At the moment I use CreateSpace, because it is a simple, fairly easy to use system. I’d like to look into Lightning Source sometime in the future, too.

Do you do any marketing? If so, what works for you, what hasn’t?

Marketing is very much my weak point. I do guest posts on blogs from time to time, I occasionally purchase advertising and I have a presence on a few social media sites. That’s about it.

Did you enjoy being a part of your StoryBundle? Have you seen an increase in sales separate from the Bundle?

StoryBundle was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone looking to reach new readers.

Charlotte E. English was born and raised in one of the oldest cities in the UK, and grew up to be a decided history buff. Now a resident of the Netherlands, she enjoys cooking, crafts, gaming and, of course, reading. She likes to write colourful, imaginative fantasy novels outside the usual conventions of the genre.

Website: http://www.charlotteenglish.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Charlottenglish
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharlotteEEnglish

Geoffrey Morrison is a freelance writer and editor. His first novel, Undersea, was featured in the first StoryBundle. You can follow him on Twitter @TechWriterGeoff.