Nora St.Laurent's Page

ABOUT TOSCA LEE: Tosca M. Lee is a sought-after speaker, consultant, and writer. She received her BA in English and international relations from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, with special studies at Oxford University. She holds the titles of Mrs. Nebraska-America ‘96, Mrs. Nebraska-United States ‘98, and first runner-up to Mrs. United States. Tosca has appeared on radio and television to promote women’s charities, health, and family causes.Finding time to write isn’t the problem—-it’s finding time to sleep! When I was in my 20s I was far less mortal. Living on two hours’ sleep a night wasn’t ideal, but it wasn’t a big deal, either. I stayed up through the night if necessary to do what I needed to get done. These days, around 11pm or midnight or 1am… when my eyelids start dropping and I literally find myself nodding off, fingers on the keyboard, bed becomes so much more important than chugging a vat of coffee. I start thinking of viable ways to push back deadline, or what I can cut out the next day to get the extra time I need-—and some sleep.
I will write through the night if necessary--I wrote 84 pages between 5pm and 7am the night before Demon was due (I have no idea how). But I definitely don’t like it.

I work as a Senior Consultant for a consulting and research firm. I travel almost every week. So writing happens in airports, on planes, in hotels sometimes. Days at home are more conducive to good writing since all my research and stuff is there, but it’s hard to be disciplined at home; I’m totally one of those people who doesn’t feel able to concentrate or be productive if my kitchen is messy or my laundry isn’t done, or my hairbrush has hair in it, or my garbage can needs to be washed or I suddenly realize I haven’t polished my silver jewelry in a decade. Seriously, I can find just about any excuse not to write.

The best times for me are mornings and nights. During the afternoon I feel sluggish and stupid. Noontime I’m hungry and distracted. So I either have to get up early and tell myself I’ll clean/run errands/answer e-mail/sanitize my vacuum cleaners later in the day or stay up late.

Some writers plot out what they are going to write step by step and others say they write by the seat-of-their-pants, which style of writing best describes your style?
Part 1 of Linda Evans interview - Story Line for Demon
Something mostly in between. With Demon, the story unfolded as Lucian telling his life story. I went in later and added Clay’s story alongside the unfolding of Lucian’s.
With Havah, I had a really messy list of ideas and scenes all jumbled together. I went through the file and started moving things around mostly in order as much as I could. I never got more organized than that. I printed that sucker and just crossed off ideas as I used them.
I seriously fantasize about having storyboards, about detailed scene outlines with tension and arcs all neatly outlined in order so that when I sit down to write all I have to do is just that—-write. I also fantasize about world peace, which is likely to happen first.
How did you come up with the idea for Havah? What was your inspiration? What research did you do for this book?