Coffee Talks

With Tani Hanes

Hi Tani, thank you for taking the time to get involved with Coffee Community. It's great to hear from authors like yourself and get to know a little bit about what motivates you to write longer works of fiction.

Hello, and thanks for having me!

So, to begin, tell us a little bit about yourself as an author on Wattpad. For anyone who hasn't met you before, how would you describe your fiction?

Probably smutty romance works best lol, though I have really made an effort to stretch and go for different categories. To date, I've made contributions to Romance, ChickLit, Paranormal, TeenFic, and Historical Fiction. Except for the Historical Fiction, all are romances, like I said, though I have really tried to make my MCs as different as I can. I don't like everything I read to be about a bad boy and a shy but beautiful girl, so I try to mix it up.

I'm one of the luckiest people I know in that I have lots of time to do this and a peaceful, stress-free environment in which to do it. I don't know what I'd do if I had to carve out time in a noisy, busy household, honestly. I have a quiet apartment with just a kitty and maybe some One Direction for company!

What top tips would you advise for getting a novella or a longer piece of fiction off the starting line? What kind of story developments motivate you to see it through to the end?

I'm not necessarily a "write every single thing down" kind of gal, but I do believe in having the beginning, middle, and end all thought out before I begin. I like to have all of the characters' bios in writing somewhere, along with a summary of the story, including any specific points or even sentences I might want to use before I begin typing. Then I usually set a word count goal. For Wattpad, I like 2000 words as a ballpark figure; sometimes it's more, sometimes less, but that's a good number to aim for, I think, and I try to hit it, every day, believe it or not.

How much do you edit on the fly? Or do you prefer to edit after you've finished the initial draft?

I don't do a whole lot of editing, but I guess what editing I do happens as I go; I like to carve as I write. Editing is like pruning a rose bush, though, I think, in that the more you cut, the more obvious what else you need to cut becomes. If you're not sure, leave it, and if it needs to go, then, by the time you come back to it, it really sticks out like a sore thumb, you know?

Personally, what kind of novella -- be it any style, theme, or genre -- would you like to see emerge from the Open Novella Contest?

Oh, I don't know. I like Stephen King's style, I suppose; strong narrative carried by fascinating characters, with a hint of magic, maybe. Yeah, sounds good.

Lastly, because we're always curious... What was your ever first experience with the power of the written language?

I wrote a story in third grade about a duck and a boy at a fair, and it was the first time I realized I could actually write from a POV other than my own. Let me tell you, it was a real eye-opener! I don't think it occurs to an eight-year-old that it can be done, and it felt amazing to actually become the duck. I was hooked.

It's been great hearing from you, Tani, and thank you for sharing your valuable knowledge in storytelling.

Thank you for your interest in me!

Best wishes for your future endeavours from Coffee Community.

Our goal is to bring you many more exclusive interviews with people who aren't just Wattpad Stars or Staff, but also some pretty awesome authors.
In that quest, next we will be talking to Jeff Norton, so stick around for more fun!