I’m a writing forum junkie. I like seeing people who are writers talking about writing. In mywriter-talk and forum perusing, I often see questions from new writers asking how they are supposed to write; what is the process and are they doing it wrong? The problem with answering this question is that there is no one ‘right’ way to write. Proper procedure is whatever gets the words on the page. Sure, you can try other people’s steps and ideas, but when it comes down to it, the writing process is as individual as writers. I’m not always sure of how I write. Most is done in my head. It’s all a pretty nebulous process.
I thought it might be interesting to follow my writing this year, with my focus being one book that is currently coagulating in my head. It’s one of several books I’ll write, and in all honesty, I have no idea how soon the actual words part of the process will take. Sometimes I build these ideas for years and other times I can spit an idea out into a story in a few weeks. I get the idea this will be a longer-term project.
Let me first share what my life as a writer looks like right now. I have three in-process books. The first of these is And She Liked It. This is a short story that is under contract at Ellora’s Cave. The editor has it, the contract has been processed, I have cover art and am waiting on first-round edits. This might take a few more weeks, because my editor has several books ahead of mine.
While waiting on edits, I’m revising a cowboy short story that didn’t make an anthology. My goal for it is to beef it up to be long enough to sell elsewhere. I’ve temporarily set it aside, or back-burnered it, while I decide how I want to proceed with it. I’m making decisions based not only on what I can do with the story, but on contractual obligations and what it might mean for future stories of this type. This story took me about 3 weeks to write originally.
I’m also on the first draft of a novella, the third in my angel series. If EC offers a contract on this book, I’ll officially have a series and get a series title. I’m 15K in and this one has taken me close to a year to write so far. Forsaking Eternity took a long time, too. Some books are just harder to get on paper.
While all of that is happening, I’m slowly building up a world of werewolves. Yes, I know this isn’t the Alaskan bush pilot I previously mentioned. The pilots are coming, and they are getting the same treatment as the werewolves. The wolves are pushier, so they are at the front of the line.
Anyhoo… Werewolves.
About a month ago I picked up a werewolf short story and was intrigued by the author’s setup for the piece. This is part of what we do as writers. We take the vague core of an idea and make it our own creation.
The idea has spent the last month morphing and growing. I’m plotting it. Not that anyone could tell by looking at me. I don’t write or record anything about the story or characters in this part of story building. I actually do a good bit of scene building while napping. Yes, napping. I’ve taken nap time in the afternoons since my kids were babies. I don’t actually sleep. I shut down and look like I’m sleeping, but I’m actually meditating. My body is resting but my brain is writing a story.
Anyway, I don’t have enough story to know how long it’s going to be. I’m hoping it will be longer, 60K or more, but there just isn’t enough plot stitched together to know for sure yet. I’ve given the story the working title of The Alpha’s Omega, and I know this will be a three-book series. I have a vague idea of where the second and third book will go, but for now I’m just focusing on book one.
So there is the birth of a book. I’ll share the gestation with you as it grows.
