Unsearchable RichesChristian. Veg*n. Writer. Wife.

Lisa Mantchev was kind enough to answer a few questions about her writing process for me. For more information about her, her books, and their backgrounds, much of it is given here on her FAQ page.

Jess: The fairies have a great love of treats. What’s your favorite kind of pastry or pie?

Lisa: I guess “Every kind!”  isn’t really an answer, is it? My mom has two recipes that don’t get made very often, because they are so baking-intensive, so of course they are my favorites… one is a cream-cheese filled cinnamon roll, and the other is called flat apple pie, which is baked in a cookie sheet super thin and topped with a lemon-powdered sugar glaze. OM NOM NOM.

Jess: How is Bertie like and unlike you?

Lisa: Bertie has my good-and-bad habits as far as hair dye, coffee, and dessert, but she doesn’t have the grounding that comes with knowing who she is. I have a wonderful relationship with my mom and my sister, my husband and my daughter. Bertie doesn’t have those people, although she has friends who care about her a lot, so her journey is to find herself and where she belongs.

Jess: When you wrote the first book, did you know how certain elements would play into the future books (like the scrimshaw)?

Lisa: Some things get planted with purposed (the medallion and the identity of Bertie’s mother) and other things end up being seen with a new-and-exciting light when working on subsequent books.

Jess: Which fairy is your favorite?

Lisa: I couldn’t have answered this question a year ago, but the fairies really are based on our dogs, and we lost our princess of a Chow Cho–who was our Peaseblossom–last October to renal failure and old age. I still miss her every day, and writing Peaseblossom in the third book was very bittersweet.

Jess: How has becoming published affected your writing process? What was different for Perchance to Dream, if anything? Same question, but how has it affected your reading process, if at all?

Lisa: The biggest change in my writing process is the deadlines (!!!) and the interaction I have with my editor. It’s different than working with critique partners and beta readers because it’s more a collaborative process, and it’s very much a professional working situation.

As for my reading process… well… at times, it’s ruined it! When I’m editing, I can’t hardly read fiction without noticing Every Little Thing in a novel (and thus tend to stick with nonfiction research.) If I’m between projects, then I’m back up to my eyeballs in new reads and old favorites.

Jess: Best piece of advice for writers? (yours or someone else’s)

Lisa: Stephen King said in On Writing that you can only wear one hat at a time: the writer hat or the editor hat. That piece of advice becomes invaluable when writing that first draft.

Thanks so much, Lisa, for stopping by! Remember, if you comment on the interview, or the review of EYES LIKE STARS or the review of PERCHANCE TO DREAM, you’re entered to win a copy of ELS. Contest ends Thursday at midnight (that’s tomorrow!) and winner will be announced on Friday.