Writing Process Blog Tour
My good friend and critique partner, Cheri Roman, asked if I’d like to participate in a Writing Process Blog Tour. Always one to support a fellow writer, I agreed. I asked a couple of other writers on other boards I follow to participate as well, but unfortunately no one would commit. So here are my answers to the four questions on the blog tour:
- What am I working on at the moment?
I have three books in the works right now, with the first of the Élan Series due out mid-May. I have been pushing back the release date because of conflicting schedules between my writing and the “paying” job. Echo is a paranormal New Adult novel set in Tennessee that centers around Tara McAllister, a first-year teacher, who discovers that she has visions of the future but never saw the life-changing secret her new boyfriend, Derek Williams, kept from her. Blur and Bound, books two and three in the series, are in various stages of progress, but will hopefully be out sometime this year as well.
- How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I haven’t read much in the paranormal New Adult genre to be able to compare my work to others in that subgroup. However, the fact that my novels are New Adult and contain elements of the paranormal makes them stand out from others being released today. My characters are not only dealing with everyday issues of becoming adults, but they also have the added burden of psychic gifts to manage.
- Why do I write what I do?
I write about the paranormal because it interests me. I write New Adult because that was the age I remember as being the most fun. I write about controversial topics because I believe that people make choices in life and should be held accountable for their decisions. My hope is that my writing will resonate with younger readers and help them to see that their behaviors have consequences, but adults take responsibility for their actions.
- How does my writing process work?
When I first started writing a few years ago, I wrote scenes as if they were movies playing in my mind. They were out of sequence, and usually not tied to anything else. Those first scenes were very evocative; the emotions that threaded through them had me blushing, sweating, crying, and laughing. I felt what my characters felt and wrote like I was standing right there next to them, witnessing it all.
Now, I try to map out the direction I want my story to go. I like to know the end before I start; it makes my writing more focused and purposeful. I still put myself in my character’s place and write as if I’m the one in the scene, feeling the love, the betrayal, the loss; but I try to know how the scene will wrap up.
To be more accountable, I have tried to create a writing schedule (like the “professionals” do) and aim for a daily word count of 200-500 words. I’ve used apps like WordTyrant to help motivate me. I’ve even written blogs about how I will start writing more and posting updates on a regular basis. All of this did little to increase my daily word count; I have to feel emotionally moved to write. Sometimes that doesn’t happen for a few weeks, during which time I brainstorm new short story and book ideas or I edit my current works in progress. Other times I can sit down and knock out 2000-3000 words and realize I have been in front of my computer for hours.
So, that’s my process for writing what I write. You can visit my friend, Cheri, at The Brass Rag.