Welcome to the Writing Process Blog Tour, wherein authors share a little bit about their writing process, then tag three victims friends to share some info about theirs.
First, a big thank you to my critique partner, Brighton Walsh for tagging me.
About Brighton Walsh:
Brighton Walsh spent nearly a decade as a professional photographer before deciding to take her storytelling in a different direction and reconnect with her first love: writing. When she’s not pounding away at the keyboard, she’s probably either reading or shopping–maybe even both at once. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and two children, and, yes, she considers forty degrees to be hoodie weather. Her home is the setting for frequent dance parties, Lego battles, and more laughter than she thought possible.
Her New Adult debut, Caged in Winter, will be published November 4, 2014 from Berkley/Penguin. She is represented by Mandy Hubbard of D4EO Agency.
Find Brighton here:
Website Twitter Facebook Goodreads Pinterest
Catch her post about her writing process here.
My Writing Process:
What am I working on?
Right now, I’m finishing up a new adult contemporary romance. A naïve art student travels to Paris looking to find herself and recover her muse. She’s swept off her feet by a charming ex-pat who’s running from family drama.
Sex, lies and self-discovery ensue.
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I write smart, sexy romances about people who don’t quite feel like they belong. I bring a literary flair to stories of everyday romance. And I often center my stories around people from slightly different walks of life – scientists, artists, academics. They might not always be your typical romance heroes, but they are real people, needing love and acceptance, and who find it over the courses of my stories.
Why do I write what I do?
Because if I didn’t, I’d go insane.
I have a lot of feelings about love and acceptance and all the ways that people hurt themselves and each other. Writing stories about those feelings, creating worlds where all the lonely people find the other lonely people who fill up the holes in their hearts…it fills up the holes in my heart.
I’m not sure what I’d do if I didn’t let those stories out.
How does my writing process work?
I’m a something of a modified plotser?
I typically start with a germ of an idea. It might be a character, or a moment between two characters, or an idea about a scene. I take the time to flesh out the highlights of the story: where it begins, where it ends, and a few of the important turning points that happen along the way. I do some basic character sketching: appearance, motivation, weaknesses.
And then I start writing. Usually, I figure out the story and the voices of the characters somewhere in the first 10-25k words. I modify my plan for the story as needed—usually, whatever I discover in the process of writing adds another layer of subtext or symbolism to how I originally conceived the plot.
Not infrequently, at a round the 80% mark, I stop and go back to re-read the book from the beginning, cleaning it up and adding in the seeds for any plot arcs that emerged while I was writing the second half of the story. It’s also a great chance to remind myself about what the heck the book is supposed to be about, which tends to lead me to the conclusion the story needs.
Once drafting is finished, I give it a few days, then take one more editing pass. Then it’s off to critique partners, who help me see the things I missed when I was too deeply involved in writing. I incorporate their feedback into the final manuscript, then send it off into the world.
Next On The Tour:
Amanda Weaver
Like many writers, Amanda Weaver spent her childhood constantly telling stories. College steered her in a different direction and into a successful career as a designer. Several years ago, she picked up writing again strictly as a hobby, to blow off some creative steam. One thing led to another, National Novel Writing Month happened, and here we are.
Amanda Weaver grew up in Florida and now lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, daughter and two crazy cats.
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Pinterest
Anna C. Bowling
Anna C. Bowling read her first historical romance at age eleven and knew she’d found what she wanted to read and write for the rest of her life. She considers writing historical romance the best way to travel through time and make the voices in her head pay rent.
Heather McGovern
Mild mannered corporate employee by day, glitter bomb throwing author by night, Heather McGovern writes humorous, heart-warming and hotter than hell contemporary romance. If she’s not working or writing, she’s playing superheroes with her son or working out. She loves to talk books, fandoms, fashion, make-up and men. You can find her blogging about these things, sometimes all in one blog post, at BadGirlzWrite.com.
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Nice post, Jeanette. I like how you said you go back at the 80% mark to clean up, plant seeds and remind yourself what the story started out being about. I go through a similar process, first at about 20%, then 50%, then 75%…which is why it takes me so damn long to finish the book!
It seems to be a popular work pattern for pantsers and plotsers. At this point, I know going into every book that I’m probably going to have to go back and make some big adjustments once I get to the main conflict. There’s just always something I have to go back and seed in from the beginning to twist the knife 🙂