Writer Interview: Lori Scharf

Hello everyone! Welcome back to another blog post! I am so excited for this post because I got to interview one of my good friends, Lori Scharf! She is a wonderful writer and amazing friend! I am so glad I got to do an interview with her! Now let’s get on to the interview! 

***

• Tell us a little bit about yourself and your writing journey! 

Well, my name is Lori, and I’m a country girl from Southern Manitoba! I’ve always had an overactive imagination, so writing was the obvious next step lol.

• How long have you been writing? 

I used to draw wordless stories before I knew how to read and write. I think the first time I actually sat down at a computer to write was when I was around 8. It was actually my mom’s idea; I think she was tired of me going on and on about my latest imaginings and expecting her to listen. 😂 I didn’t actually take writing seriously until August of 2022 when the Young Writers Workshop (YWW) held an online summit for young writers and offered a $1 thirty-day trial for their online community and course library! That’s when I realized that not only could writing be a career, I could start now!

• Where are you in your writing journey right now? And what are you currently working on? 

As of now I’ve finished a full length fan fiction (20k words) and a shorter fan fiction (10k words) and a Cinderella retelling that I’m pretty proud of; as well as several other projects with several thousand words and no planning… 

As of right now I’m trying to push all my other projects aside and work on a new novel idea. My hope is to self publish said novel sometime next year.

• What is your favorite part about writing? 

For me, it is an outlet for feelings and emotions, as well as a way to reach people with a story they can relate to. 

I think my favorite part about storytelling is that you can reach people through your story in such an impactful way. Also, I just love diving into the lives and minds of characters.

• Who are your favorite writers? 

S.D. Smith, the author of the Green Ember series, is my hero. I don’t think I would be writing seriously at all if it wasn’t for him. 

I also really like J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Kara Swanson, Sara Ella, and so many others.

• What is one piece of advice you would give other writers? 

Two very important things that I’ve learned over the last year: 

Stick to One Project Whenever Possible!! One or maybe two, but no more than that! I started five different novels last year and I don’t have enough time or mental energy to work on all of them! If you have an idea mid project, jot down your idea and keep working on your project that you already started. Following through is a very important thing to learn. 

Plan, plan, PLAN!! None of the said five novels I started last year had a solid plan. My one project was almost half done, but I couldn’t move forward because it was sagging miserably in the middle. Now, I’ll have to go back and revise the entire thing before I can move forward with it. Taking the time to plan would have saved me a ton of work.

• What resources have helped you in your writing? 

The Young Writers Workshop was a huge blessing to me. It’s probably the only reason I’m not still just writing once in a while and not getting anywhere in my writing.

I would definitely check out the Young Writer blog, Kingdom Pen, and Story Embers. 

• Where can we find you online? 

You can find me at loristories.ca! Subscribe to be kept up to date about my writing and read some of it too!

• Anything else you would like to add? 

Thank you for the interview AJ! This was so fun!

***

I hope you all enjoyed getting to know Lori! Please make sure to check out her blog https://loristoriesdotca.wordpress.com! If you have any more questions for her, make sure to pop them in the comments below!

Until next time,