Overview

Kristina has written both fiction and non-fiction. This is more than most authors, so we have a great discussion on what it's like to write both - how they're different and what to expect.

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Transcript

Let's do some author talk. So before we get onto our topic You've been writing for a while and you wrote fiction and now some nonfiction.

So what are some things that you have learned that you're doing differently than when you started?

Kristina: Okay when I started out writing fiction, I was very much by the book. Everything was, I would take a class and I would follow the rules and it was holding me back. And what I've learned to do is trust myself.

And now, although I will still outline cuz so for a thriller, it would be plotting, right? Plotting a little bit outlining, but for nonfiction, you really have to have everything figured out. You can't just go by the wayside BEC just go in circles and write in a circle because you're never gonna get the point across.

It's a little bit more structured and needs to be. So I've taken what I've learned from plotting. Thrillers and what works for me and my voice and translating that into non-fiction by doing something very similar, completely different content, but I really need to make sure that my book is outlined before I even write a word because it for non-fiction, it's a very specific message you're sending and you wanna make sure that somebody's getting out of it.

What you intend. And so it just going through that process and writing thrillers, I had to translate that over to nonfiction and just having exercised that for so many years was really helpful. Also the casual conversation. Writing in a casual way, like I'm speaking to the reader very helpful, and non-fiction, it's easy to get bogged down in science and data and facts.

And I think you've gotta be able to translate that. So like anybody who's reading it will understand. And so that was so helpful for me. And just being, just learning all of those things about writing and the art of writing and the craft of writing. It works. What, no matter what you're writing, it works. You're obviously not doing character development in a nonfiction book, but you're still telling a story. There's an element of storytelling. A lot of my nonfiction is telling my story and why this is important and what I learned and how it can be translated for the reader. So there were a lot of things that kind of actually did work from just years of training and editing and taking classes and fiction.

Stephen: Nice. Yeah. Something, we could talk a little bit more about in a bit. But the skills you learned in one translated to help with the other, and you even mentioned your non-fiction trying to do it in a narrative fashion. And I think that's a not trend necessarily, but I think more non-fiction is doing that nowadays.

It's not so cut dried business. Like they're making it in the story, making it accessible for people. I think that's a big thing that's changing in the non-fiction. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So what software and services do you use?

Kristina: So I use velum. I also use Scrivener. I have. So a Scrivener is really where I was using writing my fiction.

So I still do a little bit in there, but I really have trans vem is really the product that will produce the book. But I also like writing in there because I feel like it gives me a visual. I'm very visual with things. So I need to see what my cover's gonna look like. That motivates me. I wanna see the chapters.

I wanna see what they're gonna look like. And that just it's almost as if when I plot it out and I put everything in vem because it is showing you what the book's gonna look. The book is already written, even though I haven't written it yet, I have my chapters. It gives it pushes me forward.

It's already done, so you have to finish it. It's just a psychological thing. A trick.