Interview with Keri Halfacre : Author of 'Natalie's Diary' | Over Spilt Necsafe With Sammy Ep 04

Its truly amazing that I got the chance to interview Keri who is an amazing author and I absolutely love her book, Natalie's Diary, which is also a Watty award winner. And without further ado I present to you Keri Halfacre!

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1. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?

Honestly, I wrote most of Natalie's Diary while working a 55 hour work week. My goal every week was just to finish the newest chapter by Friday (for ND, about 2,000-3,000 words). Currently, my schedule is pretty lax (I work in film and my TV show is wrapped for the season), so my goal write now is to write 40,000 words this month. I like bigger goals because they're more flexible than trying to make daily goals.

2. What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

My boyfriend makes fun of my facial expressions while I'm typing. Maybe everybody makes faces, though.

3. What do you think makes a good story?

Characters and Obstacles. If one of those two things is really solid, I think a story can survive weakness in other areas. If the characters are really excellent, a reader will stick with them. If the obstacles are really engaging, a reader will stick around. The golden ticket is to be really good at both.

4. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up (other than writing of course!) ?

Well, I took theatre and film instead of say, getting a BA in English or something. And I did end up in film and theatre.

5. What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?

Hmmm. I know I remember where I learned certain words. The first time I ever heard 'supercilious' was my teacher reading Inkheart out loud. That's just not the kind of word you'd hear spoken out loud without a book. It doesn't come up in conversation. That's a small example of stories expanding knowledge.

6. If you had to do something differently as a child or teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do?

Mmmm. To be honest, I don't know if I'd changed a lot. I shared a lot of my early writing with my friends and had their support. My mom typed stuff up for me. I went to a writing camp hosted in a city nearby. My mom arranged me a meeting with a local indie author. I gained a lot of my writing skill and contacts by joining writing role plays (I still talk to lots of RP partners who are now moving into novel-writing). I entered contests. The only thing I waver on is wishing maybe I found Wattpad earlier. Maybe it was better that my early, early stuff was just between me and my friends.

7. How long on average does it take you to write a book?

Ah, good question. I'm trying to get faster. Natalie's Diary was finished in I think five months? Others have taken a year. Outlining is the key to success for me.



8. What was the earliest idea you had that inspired you to write 'Natalie's Diary'?

I think... back in high school. So, probably like ten years ago. I tried writing it, but the characters were too boring at the time and I abandoned it. When I joined Wattpad, I decided to take another go at it and make it work.

9. What does literary success look like to you?

My goals are pretty malleable. Being published would be amazing (and the easiest version of writing 'success' for outsiders to understand), but I'm interested in writing narrative as like a sustainable career. There are lots of career options! Writing for TV, writing for games and apps. Mostly, I try to get into everything at once and see what happens. I just want to write all the time.

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Thanjooberrymush Keri for agreeing to do this interview and I hoped you all enjoyed reading a little bit more about the author. I definitely recommend you guys to go read her works. I will link her accounts below :)

Wattpad : kerihalfacre
Goodreads: Keri Halfacre
Pinterest: kchalfacre
Twitter: pointfiveacre
Instagram: pointfiveacre
Tumblr: movingpictureshowdown
Web : www.movingpictureshowdown.wordpress.com

Till next time,