Meet Lauryn April:
College student and Indie Writer
author of:
I’m Lauryn, I’m 23. I’m studying psychology at UW Oshkosh, have 2 dogs, and love to write. my debut novel “Into the Deep: explores the intricacies of the adolescent mind and what it means to feel alone… there’s also a snarky bad-boy, the paranormal element of mind reading, and explosions.
What is your favorite place to write?
Honestly, just in my living room. Usually I’ll turn off the TV, get comfy, and pull out my laptop.
What is the best piece of constructive criticism you ever received?
“You need an editor” After sending out my book to beta readers some of them had words of praise, but there was a lot of harsh criticism as well. It’s hard to catch your own mistakes, but you don’t really realize how many of them you make until someone else points them out.
How did you choose the title and the main character’s name?
“Into the Deep” was titled as so partly because of how my main character, Ivy, develops her powers (although originally she fell into the deep end of the pool so I suppose it made more sense then, but it fit the story better to have her fall and hit her head in the shallow so I changed it) It also is somewhat of a metaphor for Ivy developing her powers. The deep- the subconscious, Ivy discovers something that was deep and buried in herself.
As for Ivy’s name, I wanted to pick something that was short, two syllables, and Ivy is a symbol for friendship which is one of the themes of the book.
How do you overcome “writer’s block” ?
When I get stuck writing I take a break. Sometimes I’ll pick up a book and just read for a while, and sometimes I’ll start writing or taking notes for another book. (I started the sequel to “Into the Deep” before I even finished writing “Into the Deep”).
What was your writing & publishing process for Into the Deep like, from start to finish?
I talk about a lot of this on my blog as I wanted to document it as I went. First I finished the book. I spent a few months writing – the first draft. Then I re-read it a few times (each time thinking that it was “done”) So, then I found beta readers, some family, some friends, and a few strangers. It was after reading their feedback that I realized that I was far from “done”. I read through my book another dozen times, did more re-writes, added, deleted, then had a few more people read through it. After that I found an editor. When I got my book back from her I read it a few more times, then finally deemed it “done”. After that it was all about publishing. I already had accounts at Createspace and KDP, and I had drawn my cover months earlier. So, I just had to format (which took me days to get right) and then put it all together. All together it took about a year, but there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t do some work on it.
Why did you decide to become an Indie Writer?
I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but after doing some research I felt that the market is moving to a place where indie and self-published books are going to be the way of the future. I don’t think traditional publishing is ever going away, but I think self-publishing is here to stay and that it’s going to continue to change the way we read books. That’s why I chose to go indie.
What is the next book you want to write?
I have a sequel planned for “Into the Deep”, as well as a ghost story that involves lost love and bootlegged wine. I’m currently working on both of them now.
Thanks again.
Whimsically Yours,
PnC
Whimsically Yours 