Skye Ballantyne is a penname. Therefore, this bio will be short. Skye has always had a passion for literature. As a child when her class was given a writing assignment, Skye went to town, writing more than was required and often needing more paper. She felt like writing was a safe space where she could freely express herself. She has siblings and is the youngest.
1.What are you currently working on, and can you tell us a bit about it?
I am working on two different projects at the moment. One is a trilogy that plays on fairy tales. The other is a stand-alone book where my characters get transferred to their favourite book and are now living in the story and must decide if they want to stay in that world or try and find their way back to the real world.
2.Which part of the writing process do you find the most difficult?
The actual writing isn’t too difficult, it’s everything after the writing that is the hard part. Honestly, I would say that the marketing and getting my books into stores and being sold is probably the hardest part for me.
3.Where do you draw your inspiration from?
The stories just come into my head. Sometimes I’ll be watching or talking about something and a story idea or a scene or something will come to mind, but mostly, the stories and characters just come to me, and I write about it. I do have a blog where on a prompt a day, my friend chooses some of those prompts, my family has come up with some, but I find most of my prompts on Pinterest – so in that way, Pinterest is my inspiration, but often I’ll be looking for a prompt and I get a pull in my gut, a knowing that this is the prompt, that there’s something there and I need to write about it.
4.How do you make time to write around your other commitments?
It’s like anything else, if it’s important to you, you make the time for it. I multitask a lot, so I’ll be going about my day and either write something in my notes on my phone or I sit down and write. I write while I watch movies, while I’m talking to other people, on drives, on vacation, etc. I don’t really block out any time for it, but I make room for it when inspiration strikes.
5.What do you need in your writing space?
I don’t have a dedicated writing space. I’ve written anywhere and everywhere. I just need something to write with, a laptop, pen and paper, or my phone in my notes app (although I don’t like using my phone, and I only use my phone for quick ideas when I am out and about and don’t have anything else with me).
6.What advice would you give to other writers?
Just start. People get caught up in setting up their writing space, the writing process, how to plan it out, get a character sketch etc. They get so bogged down in all of that that they don’t write, so just start. Start writing and figure out your process as you go, the most important thing is to get it down on paper, after that’s done, you can edit and evaluate what worked and what didn’t and go from there.
7.If a writer only has enough in the budget to pay for one service, which would you recommend they spend it on?
I would say marketing.
8.Which book do you wish you’d written?
That’s a toss-up between the Inkheart Trilogy and The Thirteenth Tale.
The Thirteenth Tale because that story was absolutely amazing. Her word choice and the scenes she created out of words were amazing. Reading The Thirteenth Tale was delectable.
Inkheart Trilogy because it’s my favourite book. It’s my go to when I am upset, when I am having writer’s block, or when I’m in a reading/writing slump. It inspires me. I want my books to give my readers the same thing that Inkheart gave to me.
9.What are common traps for new writers?
There are a lot:
– Thinking they don’t have a story or that someone else has already told their story.
– Believing that they can’t write, or they don’t have time.
– That their first draft/story must be amazing – it doesn’t. I have written my fair share of things that I look back at and cringe.
– That they have to follow a certain writing process.
10.Besides writing, do you have any other talents or hobbies?
I read a lot, play the piano and crochet.
11.How do you develop your characters? Are any of them based on people you know?
I have only developed the characters in a book that I co-authored with some friends (The Catch Me Series), and yes, the main female characters are pretty much based on the authors. Aside from that, I don’t really develop my characters. They come to me, and I write about them. At most, I might have to hunt down a name, and to do that I go to Pinterest or Google some names and just flip through until I find one that feels right.
12.If you could be on your own little writer’s retreat, where would it be, and would you take anybody else with you?
Somewhere in Scotland, by the water. I would take my friends or my mom.
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