Victoria Schade: Letting Characters Have Agency in the Drafting Process
Victoria Schade is a dog trainer and speaker who serves as a dog resource for the media and has worked both in front of and behind the camera on Animal Planet, as a co-host on the program Faithful Friends and as a trainer and wrangler on the channel’s popular Puppy Bowl specials.
She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, her dogs Millie and Olive, and the occasional foster pup. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Victoria Schade
In this post, Victoria discusses how mapping out her story changed it, why it pays off to let characters have agency in the drafting process, and more.
Name: Victoria Schade
Literary agent: Kevan Lyon
Book title: Unleashed Holiday
Publisher: Berkley
Release date: September 26, 2023
Genre/category: Romance
Previous titles: Life on the Leash; Who Rescued Who; Lost, Found & Forever; Dog Friendly
Elevator pitch for the book: When an old rival appears right before the holidays, a professional dog trainer must decide if melting the frost between them can make up for their ruff past.
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What prompted you to write this book?
I’ve always wanted to write a holiday book, but I wanted to include all of the holidays in the lead-up to Christmas because I love them too! Unleashed Holiday takes readers from Halloween through Thanksgiving, and then finishes up with a Christmas happily ever after. I wanted to write a book that puts readers in that joyful holiday headspace.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
My concept changed quite a few times as I worked out the details. At first the story was going to be set on a Christmas tree farm—I know the owner of a local tree farm and I tapped him for research early in the process. (I love the research phase!)
But as I mapped out the story I realized that I wanted to go with the enemies to lovers trope and totally shifted gears. Maybe the tree farm story will make it to the page some day?
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
Since this is my first Christmas book, it’s all new to me! It’s a different type of sales cycle and I’m eager to see how it all plays out. I do love the idea that Unleashed Holiday makes the perfect Christmas gift!
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
I’m a “pantser” so there are always surprises when I write. I have my beginning, middle, and end mapped out, but I allow the characters to help lead the story.
With this book I kept stressing out about a specific plot point I couldn’t untangle, and over time my characters slowly revealed the answer to me. It wasn’t an “a ha” moment, it was a gradual realization, and when it all came together I couldn’t help but think, “It was there the whole time!”
But that’s the beauty of letting characters have agency and giving them an active role in the writing process—they surprise you!
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope my readers will get all the holiday feels, along with some fun goat facts! I always try to include little dog training tips in my books given my 20 years of dog training background, and this time around I’ve got goat training tidbits in the story too!
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Be aware of writing “rules” but know that you can break them too. For example, common advice says writers shouldn’t edit as they go, but I’m a huge fan of doing just that!
In fact, I don’t think I’d be able to write without making changes as I go. Writing isn’t “one size fits all”—do what works for you.