A STORM OF ICE AND STARS by Lisa Lueddecke – Guest Post

How I Write

By Lisa Lueddecke

 

If you’re interested in how I go about writing the books that you read, then this is the place for you. Let me just caveat this post by saying that this is a description of my normal writing life, when I’m not pregnant and repulsed by coffee, etc.

My writing days always start very early. I have long been a morning person, far more inspired by the dawn than the dusk. Particularly when I was writing A Storm of Ice and Stars and living in Cumbria, England, I would set my alarm for five or five thirty am every day, when it was still very dark outside (I wrote most of the book over winter), and after feeding the cat and making my first cup of coffee, I would get into my writing room just as the sun was starting to come up, or close to it. For me, especially when writing fantasy, I find that early morning, pre-dawn time more inspiring than anything else. I even mention it from time to time in my writing, those early hours when the sun is just began to yawn and wake up.

In addition to coffee and mornings, one thing that I usually cannot write without is a scented candle. For A Shiver of Snow and Sky and A Storm of Ice and Stars, I most often wrote with a forest/pine/evergreen/fir scented candle, with the occasional Christmas one sprinkled in. Writing, for me, needs to be a very immersive experience, so I can really feel and see and smell and hear the world. Alongside my candle, I would play some sort of ambience to fit whatever scene I was writing, like an icy cave or crashing waves on a beach. I find that by doing my best to recreate elements of the scene that I’m working on, I can better immerse my readers in the world. I find more details, more descriptions, more bits and pieces that make the world seem real. My fantasy stories have always been very setting-based, and I think that’s why I need so many elements to have a successful writing day. I have to believe in it in order to make other people believe in it.

Although I have moved to America, my writing routine has not changed. I still write very early in the morning, and I try not to set word count goals for myself unless I’m on a very tight deadline. I have to just let the words and the scenes flow, or I feel like my brain stops working with me. I write until I start to get distracted, or I realize that I’m forcing the words out, and then I just let it be for the day, or until the afternoon when I’m feeling fresh and revived. I’m not one of those people that thrives when writing somewhere like a coffee shop. I wish I was, because I usually love coffee, but I’m not. I need mostly quiet, save for my ambiences or my wordless music, and I write either at my desk, or sitting my my couch.

Even if my country and my writing space changes, the way that I write does not, and I’m not sure that it ever will. Scented candles, relevant ambiences, and coffee have always been necessary for me, and I suspect they always will.

 

A STORM OF ICE AND STARS by Lisa Lueddecke out now in paperback (£7.99, Scholastic)

@LisaLueddecke      www.lisalueddecke.com

#ICEandSTARS

About Caroline Fielding

Chartered School Librarian, CILIP YLG London Chair, Bea-keeper

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