Raina's Blog: Q&A with Sarah Winter

Meet Sarah Winter!

I hate writing bios, but people like a looky-loo into what might make a writer tick. I shall oblige. Hopefully it makes sense.

I started out life in northern Wisconsin, hunting and fishing and living the Northwoods life. It's the sort of place where nothing really happens, and everyone knows everyone. I grew up an avid reader, in a house full of other avid readers, with books on every available surface.

I've been married since I was 19 to my high school sweetheart, and we have two adorable sons. We moved to Wyoming in 2007 and decided to lose our minds completely in the fall of 2015, beginning the process of buying our first house! Should be fun (she says with her eyes rolled back in her skull). My life has a very sarcastic definition of 'fun.'

After quitting my job in summer 2013, I started writing my first novel, something I'd dreamed of doing for years but never thought I would ever get around to doing. I amazed myself and everyone else by finishing it within a few months. I self-published Snowbound, in January of 2014 and entered it in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest a month later, where it went on to the Quarter-Finals. My second novel, Over the Line, won a contract with Kindle Press through Amazon's Kindle Scout program, and was published in June 2015.

In my writing, I strip my characters of everything that makes them what they are outwardly, and return them to their basic selves. I want to see how people react to situations that force them to act on instinct, and to take away what makes them what they are so we can get them back to who they are. I also like taking common concepts and tropes in fiction and reinventing them to create different, unexpected outcomes.

My third novel will release on February 14th, 2016. It is entitled Beauty and the Beast, and it is (obviously) a bit of a departure from my previous two. It is my reworking of the original fairy tale.

Q&A

What are some books or authors that inspired you before you started writing?

I adore Stephen King, and have since I was a child. And yes, I mean that literally. I was an early reader and by the time I was nine, I was reading King's work. It was dark, scary, and very real. The first of his works I really remember being an inspiration was Rose Madder because of his character Rosie McClendon. I still reread that one every year, because her overcoming an abusive asshole of a husband was incredible to me.

What's your writing process like?

Brain vomit. Whatever comes to me, in whatever order, no editing until I'm done with the rough draft. I usually write the beginning first, then the end, then random scenes that make up the middle, and the last step to finishing is putting it all in the right order and adding anything that I missed, then fixing plot holes. I can only work on what interests me, or my brain flips me the bird and redirects me elsewhere.

Have any of your books had alternate endings or scenes that were changed during editing? If so, can you describe them or why they were changed?

My debut novel, Snowbound, had two endings. My heroine, River Tennison, has a choice to make between her long-time boyfriend and a man she rescues during an epic blizzard. I wrote both possibilities (and still have the alternate on hand), and copy-and-pasted each one in to see which one was the right one. When I pasted the wrong one on, I almost felt physically ill, and knew that the other one was the right one.

Have your books required any research? If so, how did you go about it?

I love research, so I tend to choose subjects that I know little about so I get to learn as much as possible. I haven't begun writing it yet, but my current project has required some very intense research. So much research that even after six months of hard learning, I still only have a bare outline and am still not sure I can start writing it for awhile yet. I use every resource at my disposal. I start with the internet, which is getting to be the source du jour for many a writer. If there are books I need I hit up my local library, which had a large network of other libraries I can get books from. If the libraries come up empty, I'm not afraid to buy the books I need. I am a documentary whore, as well, and watch the hell out of them when I'm in research mode. I am also a big believer in getting a hold of knowledgeable people to discuss your research, if needed.

What do you feel makes a good story?

Fast pacing, realistic dialogue, unique and dynamic characters, believable conflict. And for the love of God, do your research! If I find poorly researched information in a book, I'm out. It clouds everything else in the story and I can't get past it. When I read a well-researched book, though, I can dive in with both feet.

How important do you feel book covers are and is there a certain style you like your covers to have?

I think covers are very important and should not be overlooked by authors. I've bought books based on their cover alone, and left others on the shelf for the same reason. I love covers that are evocative of the story. I don't want the cover to tell me the story before I open the thing, but I want to see something on that cover that I will recognize at certain points in the prose. Each of my covers has an element that is in the stories I told. The cover for Snowbound is a snowy scene with a split-rail fence, which is part of hero Liam Freeman's journey. Over the Line has a plain cover with a beautiful tea bowl on it, which plays a role late in the novel. And the cover for my third novel, Beauty and the Beast, features a rose, which should be obvious to anyone who has ever seen or read any adaptation of this story. The covers are different, but as they all contain images from the stories I've written, rather similar. I like to keep them simple but visually stunning and I like using symbols and images written about in each novel.

What's your writing space like?

My writing space is my living room. I don't use a desk but a couch or recliner. I need to be comfortable, and I need noise in the background. I either have the TV going or earbuds in my ears. I usually have a couple things to drink, maybe a snack, and my phone near me so I can set an alarm for real life stuff. It's usually cluttered but cozy and warm, and full of everything I need to get my write on.

If you could go back in time to when you started your first book and give yourself advice, what would it be?

“Relax.” I hurried through the process because I didn't think I would ever actually finish a book on my own. I outlined, wrote, edited, and published it in under nine months. I wish I'd taken more time to perfect the book before putting it out in the world.

Your newest book, Beauty and the Beast, is a different genre than your other works; what inspired you to switch gears and take on reworking a classic fairy tale?

Beauty and the Beast is my favorite fairy tale, and my favorite Disney movie. I watched the Disney movie for the thousandth time right after finishing the first draft of Over the Line and thought to myself how fun it would be to write my own version.

What projects are you working on next?

Beauty in the Beast is, obviously, publishing soon, and my focus is on that right now. It's still possible I might be able to get it out sooner than the current date of 2.14.16. After that, my next major project is still in the research phase, and I have no plans to start writing that one anytime soon. I do, however, have two short stories outlined that I hope to get done and published in 2016-2017. One of them is already half-written, and the other is about a quarter of the way toward finished. I've been writing balls-to-the-wall for almost two years now and would like to take it easy next year. Of course, I had no intention of starting another novel right after finishing Over the Line, but I outdid myself by not only starting Beauty but writing my longest, most ambitious novel yet! So I guess we'll have to see how it goes.