Writing Advice With: Molly Evangeline

I'm excited to share these excellent tips on writing from Molly Evangeline, author of The Pirate Daughter's Promise! :)

 

What is your favorite part about writing? Why?

Molly: The characters, most definitely. I LOVE characters. Getting to know them can be difficult if they are uncooperative (which some always are), but once I do, they’re almost like my friends. :) I love writing all sorts of relationships and interactions between characters. Siblings are especially fun for me to write, and being a hopeless romantic, I always love the relationships between couples.

Who helped you the most while you were beginning to write?

Molly: My mom, for sure. If not for her, I probably wouldn’t have started writing in the first place. She’s been writing since she was a teen. Watching her write when I was little put the itch in me, and once I started, I never stopped. Her decision to homeschool me also played a huge part. I probably never would have pursued writing seriously if I had not had all the free time to really develop my love for it.

What first gave you the idea for The Pirate Daughter's Promise?

Molly: I think I’ve always been interested in pirates. I have pictures of playing pirates with my brothers and cousins as a young teen. Then I saw the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie for my fifteenth birthday and that’s when I thought, hey, I should write about pirates. Another big influence at that time was Wings of the Morning by Lori Wick. It was the first historical romance I had ever read and revolved around ships and pirates. Between the two, I developed a real love for sailing and the ocean.

Do you have any more projects in the works?

Molly: I am currently in the middle of a six book fantasy series called Ilyon Chronicles. Book one, Resistance, is scheduled for publication in May. It’s the biggest project I’ve ever undertaken and has challenged me like no other, but it is, without a doubt, my favorite of anything I’ve done. It started with inspiration for my main guy, Jace, and pretty much exploded from there. He’s a half-blood former slave/gladiator who society believes to be soulless and no better than an animal. He has more struggles than anyone I’ve ever written about, but I’ve connected with him better than any other character I’ve written before. The whole story revolves around his fears and his struggle to find the truth. I’m very excited about it. I’ll be publishing it under my new pen name, Jaye L. Knight.

If you were to start over, what would you do differently? (Providing that you still had the knowledge of writing you do now?)

Molly: I think I’d work on building a platform and getting to know people better from the start. I really didn’t have a clue what I was doing when I started and hardly knew any other writers or anyone who had anything to do with publishing. It took me a long time to make good connections. In a way, with my new pen name, it’s almost as if I’m getting a second chance and a fresh start. One of the biggest things I’m focusing on is taking plenty of time to get Resistance ready to publish. I’m using beta readers for the first time and hiring an editor. With my other books, I really rushed it. I read over each book a few times and thought, “Okay, it’s done,” and published it. I didn’t take as much time as I should have to polish them. That’s definitely something I’m doing differently now.

Remembering when you were first starting out, what was the most important thing you were told, or learned along the way?

Molly: Impatience is much of what drove me in the beginning. Impatience to have my books out and in my hands, and that is what kept me from taking the necessary time to craft each book fully. Learning not to give in to it is one of the most important things I’ve learned. It’s definitely hard to wait, but worth it in the end. Also, another thing I’ve learned that I believe is very important is that, no matter how much time you do spend on a book, there really is no such thing as perfect, because everyone’s definition of it is different. And so are people’s tastes in books. I’ve had people both hate and rave about my books. Everyone sees your work differently. It’s important to write the story you feel called to write and learn what you can from negative opinions, but don’t let it discourage you. It certainly may hurt at first, but just keep pressing on. After all, you get a little bit better and learn a little more with every story.

Thanks Molly for taking the time to share these tips with us! :)
God bless!

~Ysa~