{"id":1224,"date":"2017-08-23T16:51:32","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T16:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/?p=1224"},"modified":"2017-08-23T16:51:32","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T16:51:32","slug":"guest-post-jeffe-kennedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/?p=1224","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Jeffe Kennedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Jeffe Kennedy is here and has been kind enough to answer a set of questions I asked her. She set to release the third in The Uncharted Realms series. I have a review of The Shift of the Tide that I will post next week. The cover is just as gorgeous as the writing inside. It is a very worthy addition to the series.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine Jeffe and I sitting together sharing a glass of wine and talking. If you know either of this, it will not be hard.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s JEFFE,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s fun to be here, virtually visiting my friend, Brenda. We had a great time drinking a lot of free wine together at the Siren\u2019s conference in Denver last fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brenda asked me an interesting set of questions: Who do you write for? Who do you have in mind when you write a story? An audience? A specific person? Or yourself?<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s something that newbie writers get asked a lot, but that I haven\u2019t thought about in a while. I always found the question hugely aggravating back in the day. It seemed that two kinds of people asked it \u2013 writing teachers\/critiquers and agents. Who is the audience for this book?<\/em> They\u2019d ask, in this earnest, quasi-helpful way. To my ear it sounded like the agents were saying, \u201cCan you think of more than five people who would buy this?\u201d and the teacher\/critiquers were dancing around telling you that it was a hot mess that no one could possibly want to read.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond the annoying subtext, I also hated the question because I never knew the answer. The first image that sprang to mind was always one of those street shots of commuter time in New York City with thousands of people walking up and down the sidewalks. I felt like I was supposed to freeze-frame that and circle likely faces.<\/span><\/p>\n

Look! My audience! Out there\u2026 somewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

People were hung up on this question. Who are you writing for?<\/em> Some advice-giving types would nod sagely and say you should have one special person that you tell your stories to. Kind of a combo soul-mate\/muse. I love my husband and he\u2019s great support, but he doesn\u2019t read fiction. I\u2019ve had a lot of first readers over the years. Usually several at once, which I guess makes me a polygamist, special reader-wise.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I like how Brenda phrased this: Who do you have in mind when you write a story?<\/span><\/p>\n

Because sometimes that happens. I hear enough from my readers that I know by now which ones will love<\/em> certain aspects of a story. I write parts and smile, thinking of them wriggling in delight. Sometimes I put in a detail that I know will mean something to one person, and it\u2019s a way of sending them a hug and a wink.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, for the most part, having anyone\u2019s reaction in my head while I\u2019m writing is a problem. I have a sign over my desk that says, \u201cWhat would you write if you weren\u2019t afraid?\u201d I look at that when I find myself anticipating reactions to what I\u2019m writing, good or bad. For me, that \u201cafraid\u201d means worrying about what other people will think. And that just gets in the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

The best writing \u2013 and by that I mean, the kind that flows without pause, that seems to come to me from another place, not necessarily the best quality or most inspired, though they\u2019re often the same \u2013 happens when I have no one in mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s why I always hated that audience question. While I truly believe the cycle of art is completed when it reaches another person, I also think it\u2019s best born and nurtured away from anyone else\u2019s gaze. It\u2019s like quantum physics \u2013 as soon as someone else\u2019s consciousness touches the thing, it changes. There\u2019s a time for that, and it can be an important part of the story\u2019s eventual growth, but not during drafting.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, Brenda, when I write, I try to have nothing and no one in mind. Not even myself.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

About Jeffe Kennedy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award.\u00a0Her award-winning fantasy romance trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms<\/em><\/a> hit the shelves starting in May 2014. Book 1, The Mark of the Tala<\/em><\/a>, received a starred Library Journal review and was nominated for the RT Book of the Year<\/a> while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose<\/em><\/a> received a Top Pick Gold and was nominated for the RT Reviewers\u2019 Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014<\/a>. The third book, The Talon of the Hawk<\/em><\/a>, won the RT Reviewers\u2019 Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015<\/a>. Two more books followed in this world, beginning the spin-off series The Uncharted Realms<\/em><\/a>. Book one in that series, The Pages of the Mind<\/em><\/a>, has also been nominated for the RT Reviewer\u2019s Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2016 and is a finalist for RWA\u2019s RITA Award. The second book, The Edge of the Blade<\/em><\/a>, released December 27, 2016, and is a PRISM finalist, along with The Pages of the Mind<\/em>. The next in the series, The Shift of the Tide<\/em><\/a>, will be out in August, 2017. A high fantasy trilogy taking place in The Twelve Kingdoms<\/em> world is forthcoming from Rebel Base books in 2018.\u00a0She also introduced a new fantasy romance series, Sorcerous Moons<\/em><\/a>, which includes Lonen\u2019s War<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Oria\u2019s Gambit<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>The Tides of B\u00e0ra<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>and The Forests of Dru<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> She\u2019s begun releasing a new contemporary erotic romance series, Missed Connections<\/em>, which started with Last Dance<\/em><\/a> and continues in With a Prince<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0In 2019, St. Martins Press will release the first book in a new fantasy romance series, Throne of Flowers<\/em>.\u00a0Her other works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns<\/em><\/a>; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion<\/em><\/a>; an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera<\/em><\/a>; and the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under<\/em><\/a>, which includes Going Under<\/em><\/a>, Under His Touch<\/em><\/a> and Under Contract<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.\u00a0Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com<\/a>, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog<\/a>, on Facebook<\/a>, on Goodreads<\/a> and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy<\/a>. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency<\/a>.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/jeffekennedy.com<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Author.Jeffe.Kennedy<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/jeffekennedy<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/author\/show\/1014374.Jeffe_Kennedy<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

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Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeffe Kennedy is here and has been kind enough to answer a set of questions I asked her. She set to release the third in The Uncharted Realms series. I have a review of The Shift of the Tide that … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[242,9],"tags":[273,261,300,301],"class_list":["post-1224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-interview","category-writing-tips","tag-interview-with-jeffe-kennedy","tag-jeffe-kennedy","tag-the-shift-of-the-tide","tag-who-do-you-write-for"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1224"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1230,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224\/revisions\/1230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.writingwhiledistracted.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}