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"Have a Fulfilling LIfe—Then Write About It" with Candace Kade · WriterCon

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This week on the writer Con podcast.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: So I think this will have to go back to
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: the first excellent piece of advice I received in college.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: And this was the first time I had met a real,
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: live author and I asked her for advice.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: And it's still today the best advice I've ever received.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: So can't claim this that's my own, but I love it.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: And she said, live life to the fullest and then
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: write about it.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Welcome to writer Con, a gathering place for writers to
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: share their knowledge about writing and the writing world. Your
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: hosts are William Bernhardt, best selling novelist and author of
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the Red Sneaker books on writing, and Laura Bernhardt, Award
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: winning author the Want lnd Files book series.
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: Thank you, Jesse Ulrich. Hey there writers, thanks for joining
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: us today. So this is the last podcast before writer Con,
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: so you probably won't be price if I talk about
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: writer Con, which is the annual writers conference Laura and
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: I host this year at the scurve in Hilton in
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: Oklahoma City over a Labor Day weekend, which means August
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: twenty ninth through September one sixty more than sixty speakers
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: now over one hundred sessions. There's pitching, no additional charge, contests,
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: manuscript reviews, private consultations, great opportunity to meet other writers,
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: people who share your hopes and dreams. Maybe form a
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: critique group, or get some beta readers, or present your
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: work at the open mic. Our daughter Katie leads a gathering.
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: We've done this for several years now for people who
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: want to form critique groups. Lara, how many critique groups
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: would you guess have started since Katie started doing that
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: at the conferences.
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: I don't know, but I know that go with a
• 2:04
  Speaker 5: high number. I know that I know that they're active though,
• 2:07
  Speaker 5: I know that those connections stay solid and that they help.
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: So yeah, yeah, she's very good at it. And Jesse,
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: of course records every single session so registered guests can
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: listen to them after the conference. And remember six sessions
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: on Saturday probably, but five on the other two. So
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: do you have to buy extra mics or something?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean that's a question for our tiny av
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: people or whoever. I assume. I assume the Scurbon has
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: a more sort of robust conference area, so I assume
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: these rooms are already going to have sound in them,
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  Speaker 1: so I don't have to bring my own mics this time.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: And I can just walk into a board. But that's
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: something we'll talk about in that at couple of weeks.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: It seems like that would probably one can help necessary anyway,
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: great speakers this year are going to be great content
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: and great opportunity to take your writing career to the
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: next level. The website is writercon dot com. That's w
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: R I T E R c O N dot com.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: All right, our interview today is with Candice Kaid. She's
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: the author of the Hybrid series. That's a young adult
• 3:24
  Speaker 4: science fiction trilogy. The third volume has dropped. She is
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: also a certified let's say, if I can say this right,
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: Krav Magah instructor. And if you don't know what that is,
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: well I guess you're just going to have to listen
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: to the interview right, no other way to find out. Yeah,
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: and we will get to that.
• 3:47
  Speaker 6: But first the news.
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: News story number one, Well, this is a bit of
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: a change of pace and sort of personal, but you'll
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: understand in a minute. But I just thought, hey, change
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: of pace, let's have a news story that's actually kind
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: of nice. So this one's about the Siegel and Schuster Plaza,
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: which opened earlier this month in Cleveland, Ohio. This is
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: a story about Superman and his two creators, that's writer
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Schuster. And I'm not just
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: bringing this up because I'm a major Superman geek or
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: because i wrote that book, The Superman Wars that's coming
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: out next year next year, which is about Jerry Siegel
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: and his never ending battle. As some of you know,
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: Superman was an instant hit from the moment he appeared
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: in nineteen thirty eight, but Siegel and Schuster lost control
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: of the character and were not only fired, but had
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: their creator credit removed from their work. Both spent decades
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: hustling and scrambling, you know, to survive, while corporate owners
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: became quite prosperous. And anyway, the sad part of the
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: story to me, and what drew me to this, is
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: that it's so emblematic of how we too often treat
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: the creators who give us so much pleasure. But earlier
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: this month, Jerry and Joe got their due. A new
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: tribute was unveiled in Cleveland. That's the city where these
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: two kids there were seventeen when they came up with
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: the first version of Superman. They lived in Cleveland and
• 5:46
  Speaker 4: created Superman there. So the convention Center now displays Siegel
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: and Schuster Plaza, which has three statues, ones of course,
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: of Superman flying around, and ones of a phone booth
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: with I assume Clark Kent's clothes bundled up at the bottom,
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: and one of Jerry Joe and Joanne, the woman who
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: first modeled for Lois Lane and who later married Jerry Siegel.
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  Speaker 4: This is a recognition for an author that I think
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  Speaker 4: is long overdue. Laura, I've dragged you to a lot
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: of writers' homes. You want to go see Siegel and
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: Schuster Plaza?
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, definitely. I love when we go and see writer homes.
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: Those are great memories and this would be super fun,
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: especially in light of your upcoming book.
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: We should probably get the van and take the kids
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  Speaker 4: and just make it a family thing, because this is
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: kind of a family book. It's how a family stuck,
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: excuse me, stuck together and eventually it worked out. Jesse,
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  Speaker 4: I feel like you should do a book signing there
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  Speaker 4: in Cleveland, do you think? Yeah? At the plaza both
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: just for people walking by on their way to work.
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  Speaker 5: Just take a card table, settle it up, your books
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: out on it.
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  Speaker 1: I mean definitely stop in Cleveland for sure. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's interesting what comes out of Cleveland.
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: So like it's roll Superman. Those are the two greatest
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: inventions of the Cleveh century.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: The Cleve as it was called in thirty Rock.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: Is that all right?
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're making a joke about how everyone want to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: leave New York for Cleveland and they called it the Cleve.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: It's just something I've remembered, like fifteen years later. That's
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: how my brain works.
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: All right, let's move on to craft corner. Craft Corner, we're.
• 7:48
  Speaker 7: Talking about the value of writing conferences on Craft Corner.
• 7:51
  Speaker 7: Writer conferences can feel intimidating at first. You're a writer,
• 7:55
  Speaker 7: after all, preferring to express your thoughts and ideas through
• 7:59
  Speaker 7: the written world, often buffered from direct contact with the
• 8:02
  Speaker 7: outside world, and maybe you prefer it that way. But
• 8:06
  Speaker 7: hear me out. Writer conferences like writer Con and so
• 8:10
  Speaker 7: many others offer tremendous value, and it goes beyond the
• 8:15
  Speaker 7: typical networking opportunities that you know I'm going to talk about.
• 8:19
  Speaker 7: I have four vast reasons to attend writers' conferences that
• 8:23
  Speaker 7: should not be ignored. Plus there's a final bonus reason
• 8:27
  Speaker 7: that might surprise even the veteran writers out there. Number one, Yes,
• 8:33
  Speaker 7: connections matter.
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  Speaker 4: You're going to.
• 8:35
  Speaker 7: Meet fellow writers and be able to network and forge
• 8:39
  Speaker 7: relationships that last a lifetime, and it's going to provide
• 8:42
  Speaker 7: you with so many opportunities. But there's more. Don't forget
• 8:47
  Speaker 7: about the literary agents and the publishers, the editors who
• 8:51
  Speaker 7: you're going to meet. Being able to network them and
• 8:54
  Speaker 7: have them maybe accept your pitch is something that you
• 8:58
  Speaker 7: just can't get online. Number two real world industry insight.
• 9:04
  Speaker 7: You're going to gain practical advice on querying, publishing trends,
• 9:09
  Speaker 7: market expectations directly from professionals in the field. And that
• 9:14
  Speaker 7: means that they might be sharing things in person with
• 9:17
  Speaker 7: you that they might not necessarily be saying out loud.
• 9:21
  Speaker 7: Be ready to get insider insights you didn't even know
• 9:25
  Speaker 7: you need it. Number Three feedback that you can actually use.
• 9:32
  Speaker 7: Critique sessions and workshops. They offer clear, actionable input about
• 9:37
  Speaker 7: your manuscript, maybe helping to identify what's working, what still
• 9:42
  Speaker 7: needs revision. It's a bit like going back to school,
• 9:44
  Speaker 7: but it can be invaluable because they're going to talk
• 9:47
  Speaker 7: to you about your work, not give generic advice. And
• 9:50
  Speaker 7: this is especially good for new writers in the industry
• 9:54
  Speaker 7: who really might need a little bit of extra handholding.
• 9:58
  Speaker 7: Number four. All right, As a book marketer and promoter,
• 10:03
  Speaker 7: I see how writers' conferences can help prepare writers for
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: the real world of book promotion. Let me say the
• 10:12
  Speaker 7: quiet part out loud. Okay, you ready for some hard truths.
• 10:16
  Speaker 7: Many authors have unrealistic expectations. They don't always see where
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: their book sits in the marketplace or understand some of
• 10:24
  Speaker 7: the challenges that they're going to face. Are the opportunities
• 10:28
  Speaker 7: that are out there for them and their book and
• 10:31
  Speaker 7: their voice. Writers' conferences help you get a realistic grasp
• 10:37
  Speaker 7: on market trends, on things like social media and the
• 10:42
  Speaker 7: promotional tools, all of that knowledge. That is something that
• 10:46
  Speaker 7: you need and it's going to serve you so far
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: long after your first book launches. Okay, now be ready
• 10:54
  Speaker 7: for something that you might not have expected. Learning to
• 10:57
  Speaker 7: talk about your book without cringing. That's my number five.
• 11:02
  Speaker 7: Conferences are going to teach you to describe your book
• 11:06
  Speaker 7: in natural conversation. You get to practice saying what your
• 11:09
  Speaker 7: book is about in hallways over coffee with other writers. Well,
• 11:14
  Speaker 7: waiting for the elevator by the time you meet an
• 11:18
  Speaker 7: agent or an editor, or are talking about your book
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: on your favorite literary podcast, You're going to be able
• 11:25
  Speaker 7: to share your books part without fumbling or feeling nervous,
• 11:29
  Speaker 7: and that confidence can set you up for promotional and
• 11:34
  Speaker 7: literary success far far down the road. So if you've
• 11:38
  Speaker 7: been on the fence about whether you should attend a
• 11:40
  Speaker 7: writer's conference this year or next year, consider it an
• 11:44
  Speaker 7: investment in your writing journey. You never know who you're
• 11:47
  Speaker 7: going to meet, what piece of advice is going to
• 11:49
  Speaker 7: unlock a crucial element in your writing, or how it's
• 11:52
  Speaker 7: going to change your view of your own unique writing journey.
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: Thank you, all right to talk to Candace Caid. Candace Caid,
• 12:10
  Speaker 4: Welcome to the podcast.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: be here.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: I'm glad you could come. Okay, first question, if you
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: could offer writers one piece of advice, what would it be?
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: So, I think this will have to go back to
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: the first excellent piece of advice I received in college.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: And this was the first time I had met a real,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: live author and I asked her for advice and it's
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: still today the best advice I've ever received.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: So Cake claim this that's my own, but I love it.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: And she said live life to the fullest and then
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: write about it. And I have found that to be
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: so good. And there's so many things I never would
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: have thought to do to try out to face some
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: of my fears, things like in college, you know, my
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: fears were karaoke and going with my friends and singing
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: in public, or dancing or public speaking, or I had
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: all these things that I had never tried before.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: And the more of.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: Life that I experienced, you know, brewing my own kombucha,
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: experimenting with sourdough, bread making, enrolling in martial arts, all
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: these things that I probably wouldn't have thought to try,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: and all these little life experiences have greatly enriched all
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: of my storytelling, from sci fi to fantasy everything in between.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: So that's the advice I love to give writers, no
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: matter where you're at in your process, is have hobbies,
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: have fun, take risks, try new things, live life to
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: the fullest, and then go write about it.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: As terrific answer, Thanks so much. All right, let's start
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: at the beginning. How did you get started writing?
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: I've been writing since I was sixteen years old. I
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: grew up in China, my family moved there when I
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: was four years old, and so I was going to
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Chinese public school at part time and then being homeschooled
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: my English school part time. And I always loved reading
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: and writing. And when I read the book Aragom and
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: realize a fifteen year old had written it, that's when
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: the light bulb really clicked in my mind and I realized, oh,
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: you don't have to be an adult to be an author.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: You can start writing at any age. And so sixteen
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: is when I decided I'm going to be an author someday,
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: and I started writing, and I just fell in love
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: with it and have been doing it ever since.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: Nice, Okay, you're still doing it clearly yep. And you're
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: married and you've got two children. I think maybe I'm
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: not a creeper, but I do research for the interviews
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: and anyways, So how do you find time to write?
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: Oh? Man, it's different in every season. And so this
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: is something I always tell writers too, is like experiment
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: with different patterns, experiment with different ways of planning your
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: book and finding time to write. You know, when I
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: was in high school, it was just in the afternoons.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: It counted for part of my class.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Part of my.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: Homeschooling class was a writing class, so it counted towards that.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: In college, it was really you know, I had internships
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: and I was working, and so it was only during
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: the holidays that I had time to write. And then
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: when I was working a corporate job, it was early,
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: early four thirty in the morning sometimes weekends. But now,
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: you know, as a mom, me and my husband tag
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: team a lot of watching our kids, and so I'll
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: have one day and he'll take the kids, and then
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: the next day I'll take the kids and he'll go
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: and work, and so it's one day on one day off.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: But for me, I've found in the mornings is the
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: most productive time for me, and so that's why I
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: try and get all my writing done. Don't look at
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: my phone, don't I literally will keep my phone and
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: do not disturb mode till I get my writing done,
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: all the creative things done that I need. I know
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: it's hard to get a hold of me. It's everyone's
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: really annoyed. I'm sorry. I apologize mom and all my friends.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: I know I'm impossibly get a hold of. But yeah,
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: I keep my phone and do not disturb mode until
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: I've done all the things that require the most creative
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: energy from me. And then in the afternoon, you know,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: if I need a post to social media, if I
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: need to write my newsletter, all the business things that
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: come into being a writer.
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: That's why I trying to get those things done.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: Yeah, all right, let's talk about your books now. Tell
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: us about the Hybrid series.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is a young adult near future sci
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: fi series. It's set one hundred years in the future
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: where everyone has genetic enhancements sort of like superpowers, so
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: enhanced intelligence, enhanced physical stuff, the ability to breathe underwater,
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: and so in this world, society is divided sharply by
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: those who have all these amazing genetic enhancements and then
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: those who are born naturally and are at a huge
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: disadvantage and are stuck in the gritty outskirts working in
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: the AI factories. And so the main character, she's born naturally,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: doesn't have any enhancements, but is adopted by accident into
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: the enhanced elite society and has to hide this fact
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: or it'd be very deadly for her and her family.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: So there's forbidden love, futuristic motorcycle races, AI games. But
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: this is a series about a girl trying to find
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: her place where, find her place in a world where
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: her DNA determines her destiny.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: Sounds like something Alan would love me too, but especially him.
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: All right, so you are a certified crub MAGA instructor.
• 17:21
  Speaker 5: Is this correct?
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: Yes?
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: Yes? Can you tell me about that?
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: So back to me in high school trying to write
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: my first ever fantasy novel.
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: Course, there's lots.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: Of epic battles and fight scenes, and every time I
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: would just have this big blank in my story where
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: it's aid insert epic fight scene or about I.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: Just couldn't write it.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: And you know, years later the manuscript was done except
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: these fight scenes and these training scenes, and I just
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: could not figure out how to write them. Was having
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: such bad writer's block. And so finally, when I was
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: in grad school, I decide, you know what, I'm just
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: going to roll in a martial arts class. Just go
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: a couple times. I just need to know how how
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: do you even throw a punch? Like?
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: I just need to know some basics here.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: And so I asked an ex cop, Hey, for a woman,
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: what's the best martial arts that I should take? Like,
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: what's the most practical? How can I actually learn how
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: to defend myself. If I'm going to go to a
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: couple classes, I might as well learn something. And so
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: went to a Krapmagod class and loved it so much
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: I just kept going even after those scenes were written.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I just fell in love with it to
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: the point where I got my instructor's certification and just
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: absolutely loved it. So, yeah, it was for the sake
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: of writing, but I got a little distracted, took a
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: little detour there.
• 18:37
  Speaker 5: That's very interesting that you came to it to help
• 18:40
  Speaker 5: your writing. You were just talking about how you have
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: to try new things. Yes, because it happens to me
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: write about and it brought something to your life that
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: you love.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: Action scenes are the hardest thing to write. Dialogue I
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: can do that all night, but having action and fighting,
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: that's tough. I've bet well, I'll come to your session now,
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: or maybe there will be somebody there recording them all. Jesse,
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: what do you think? He's all fine?
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: Okay, Well, I see that you and your husband are
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: learning Mandarin, which I've been told is one of the
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: hardest languages in the world to learn. Is this just another.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: Another thing to challenge yourself? Is this for a book?
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: What brought this about?
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: So? I actually already speak Bandarin, having lived in China.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: So it's my husband and my boys who are learning it. Okay,
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I speak to my boys exclusively in Mandarin,
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: and then he speaks to them in English and so wow, Yeah,
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: our three and a half year old is already bilingual.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: And then my husband is actually learning Mandarin from my boys.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: It's really funny.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: When I have time, I teach him to but most
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: of it he's learning from our boys. You know. They'll
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: come up and say something to him and he's like
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: and heard that word before?
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: And I come over to me be.
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: Like, Jurju have you is jurjuish Chinese word? And I'm like, oh,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: Jurju like that spider? Where did they say that? Like, yes,
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: that's important word.
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: So all his.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: Mandarin he's learning through our boys. It's really fun.
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: That is beautiful, nice, really neat? Do they ever you
• 20:20
  Speaker 5: ever get confused? So I had I had a nephew
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: in a similar situation, and when he didn't get the
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: answer that he wanted, he tried the other language.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Oh we have a lot of Chinglish going on in
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: this house.
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: Yes, for sure, so cute, sweet, it's a lot of fun.
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: Well, why don't we talk about the writing process? How
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: do you get started? Are you on is there going
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: to be book four in this trilogy? Or are you
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: starting something new? Now?
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the three books. That's the end.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: I'm a trilogy kind of gal. I don't go on four, five,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: six books. Gosh, maybe someday, but no, no, I'm a
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: triller kind of girl.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: So that'll be the end.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: And then right now I'm working on a fantasy trilogy.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: But you know, again, for each book, I think my
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: process has been totally different. For the first fantasy novel
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: I ever wrote, it took me ten years, and my
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: process was all over the place. You know, the people
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: talk about your first book, you.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: May call the mistakes. I definitely did.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: And then after that I discovered Save the Cat writes
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: a novel, and that was just so helpful for me
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: to understand plotting and how do you think about pacing
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: and what are the big beats you're trying to hit?
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: And so after that I changed my process and now
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: I typically have a very rough outline that loosely follows
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: Save the Cat, and then once I have that, I'll
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: start worldbuilding more so I thinking about my characters more.
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: I'll do brainstorming. Usually.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: I like to have if I can, six months just
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: to do kind of in the back of my brain,
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: maybe while I'm working on edits for something else or
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: different project, but just at the back of my brain,
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: having these ideas flowing. And then I like to sit
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: down and do a really quick one month push to
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: write a fifty thousand word rough, terrible first draft, and
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: then I spent a lot of time editing it. But again,
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: my process can look different. When I wrote Enhanced, I
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: actually had moved back to China and was working there,
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: and so I knew I had always wanted to write
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: something loosely inspired by Chinese culture, and so while I
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: was there, I decided, you know what I've been working on,
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: you know that first novel, the Fantasy series for a
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: long time, I want to work on something new. I'm
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: going to write this Asian inspired novel. And so for
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: that one, because my relocation assignment was only a year long,
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: I didn't do the six.
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: Month long planning plotting.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: I just dove right in and wrote it very very quickly.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: So again I tell people try different things, different seasons,
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: different books call for different things, but generally I do like,
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: especially if it's a heavy world building book, sci fi fantasy,
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: I do like to give myself time to just at
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: the back of my brain be thinking about, you know,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: the magic elements or sci fi elements, or what is
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: this world going to look like, the characters, and then
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: sit down outline it, and then get that first draft
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: done really quickly.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: Very cool.
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: I'm gonna hot back to your bio for a second.
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: It says you can be bribed with boba tea, fluffy puppies,
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: and breakfast tacos. Is this true? Did we just fill
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: all the tea?
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: Yes, you did. Boba tea. I grew up on that
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: in China. I love it so much.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: I'm so glad that we have it here in America now.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: And then breakfast tacos.
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: It's so funny.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Because when I moved back from China to the United
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: States for college, I moved to Oklahoma, and then I
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: moved to Texas for grad school, and then Austin different
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: part texts for work, and I didn't know breakfast tacos
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: were a thing. I thought people were just making fun
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: of me being from Oklahoma and China. I was like, Eh,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: this sounds like I'm you know, this doesn't sound real.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: It sounds like breakfast burritos. I know that that's a
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: real thing, but I was not convinced breakfast tacos were
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: a thing for a while.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: But then yeah, discover them and fell in love with them.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: So breakfast tacos, fluffy tuck, fluffy puppies, and Boba t
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: r some of my favorite things.
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Very cool.
• 24:19
  Speaker 5: I have to ask, from China to Oklahoma, what brought
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: you here?
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: What was that? Yeah? I mean college.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: But when we came back to the States to visit family,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: A lot of my family is based in Oklahoma, so Oklahoma,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: out of all the United States, felt the most like home,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: even though it still felt very much like.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: A foreign country moving here to college.
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: At least people, Yeah, very cool.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: Can we talk about Ryder Con for just a minute
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: because you're coming.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: Right, Yes, I'm so excited.
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we're very glad you could make it. So what
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: are you going to do? You're teaching some class, right
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: I am.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: I'm teaching a session called Galaxies and Kingdoms and it's
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: all about world building. So from sci fi to fantasy worlds,
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: how do you really bring those to life with vibrant
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: details and I'm so excited. I love talking about world buildings,
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: so it's gonna be really fun.
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: Great, thank you again for coming. Hey, what do we
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: what should we be looking for next? If you know
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: what's what next, thing is going to have your name
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: on the cover.
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: I mean the fantasy ones a long ways off, so,
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: but but keep your eye out. There will be a
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: fantasy trilogy coming at some point.
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: Okay, well there, we need to make it a series.
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: Then you have to come back on the podcast periodically
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: to update us on where you are on the project.
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: Absolutely all right, Candice, thanks so much for being on
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: the podcast.
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me. See you guys soon.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah bye bye. Now, just a few parting words, Laura Jesse,
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: is there anything I've left out about writer Con and
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: why all our writer friends need to be there? Like
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: Hotel us Haunted.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Hotels Haunted, it has a working hot tub that was mine.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: I was gonna remind Jesse there's a hot You don't
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: have to remind me.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: I know it's in the basement.
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: And Laura and I will be there and Jesse will
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: be there and everyone we've talked to this month, Sydney
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: and Candice and Abigail and about sixty other writers and
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: agents and publishers and people in the industry.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: It's just a great time. There's great energy. It's a
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: great space for creators to be in. As someone who
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: is not a writer, I enjoy being around different creatives.
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: It feels great. Yeah. Thanks, all right, go visit the
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: website writercon dot com. It's not too late to register.
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: We would love to see you there. Let me also
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: remind you that we have a free newsletter and if
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: you don't want to miss out on the next issue,
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: go to substack and search for writer Con. And if
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: you're enjoying the podcast, hey, subscribe, then rate or review
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: it wherever you get a chance to get your podcasts.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: It does make it easier for new listeners to discover us,
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: and I like that. All right, until next time, keep
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: writing and remember you cannot fail if you refuse to quit.
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: See you next time.