Friday's How She Does It featuring Juli D. Revezzo

We all know there are six elements of fiction. Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. I believe the first five lead to the sixth which for me is plot. What's your take on this?


My take on it is that that's actually the elements of a non-fiction article more than the elements of fiction. My big points are What? and Who? and sometimes Where? What's going on? who's it affecting (and conversely,who's doing the saving)? and why comes in if there's a mystery about what's going on (like in my Antique Magic series). My where, lately, has all centered in the same place, Florida, so it tends to come in only in the characters complaints about how hot or (or strangely cold) it is for the area. ;) How is just a by-product of the others.

1.      How do you create your characters? Do you have a specific method?

 Not really? They always seem to (to answer your next question) come in on their own and show me what they're like. I just fill in the empty spaces in between their pixels, so to speak, as I write. For instance, in the beginning of my latest two romances, I didn't except immortal warriors to walk into Passion's Sacred Dance, nor a Faery Godmother to end up helping out a ranch owner in my forthcoming title Changeling's Crown. They basically always start out with the question "this is the situation" who can deal with it (or not ;))"?

2. Do your characters come before the plot?


Honestly, usually they come together. Every first inkling of a story I get there's a girl or a guy always trying to do something.

3. Do you know how the story will end before you begin? In a general way or a specific one?
 
No--well, sometimes, not always. Sometimes I'm a few chapters in before I know the end.

4. Do you choose settings you know or do you have books of settings and plans of houses sitting around?

There's a joke around my house that I am the map queen! *lol* So, when I know where my character's going to be (roughly) if it's somewhere outside an area I'm familiar with, I'll look up the area to find a map, and (since I write paranormal and fantasy ) I noddle around with it until it's set just the way the characters need it. When I was younger I wrote high fantasy and so I used to actually sketch my world's  maps in notebooks (and sticky pads, and pieces of loose leaf paper!), now I just write down "somewhere squeezed in between this city and that".

5. Where do you do your research? On line or from books?
 Both. Books are my first choice if I can get them, online if I have to.

6. Are you a draft writer or do you revise as you go along and why? Do you sketch out your plot or do you let the characters develop the route to the end?



 In most cases, I'm a draft writer, and yes I do revise as I go along. Why? Because I always find something that I missed the first 500 few times through!