My Writing Process – Blog Tour

Scheduled to post while I’m away.

Leigh Ellwood tagged me for this one. If you haven’t checked out her blog or her writing, you’re missing out. Run. Now. You can come back here later. Leigh also writes for Silken Sheets & Seduction. Make sure to catch her posts every second and fourth Thursday of the month.

So here we go:

I’ve managed to finally decide on just three—no, wait—four WIPs to work on for now. This means I’m resisting all new ideas that try to sneak in, but unfortunately some of them make it past my defenses.

Anyway, to answer what I am working on, instead of what I’m not, my current WIPs are the following:

a) The Tenant: Contemporary Romance with a snarky, persistent hero and a heroine who won’t cut him any slack. I’m two chapters from done, and can practically see myself typing the words “The End.”

b) Cherry Blossom: PNR/UF andthe sequel to Cherry Stem. I’ve been working on this one for more than a year now, but other things keep cutting in. I’m determined to finish it by Christmas, because Cherry wants to tell more of her story, and who am I to keep her from doing so?

c) Short PNR – not set on a title yet: What’s a girl to do when house-sitting for her parents, cat-sitting for one of her best friends, and finding a stray right outside the door? Nothing but fall in love with the shifter of her dreams. (No, this isn’t the official blurb.)

d) BBW m/f/m story: I’ve written ménage before, but never published it. If this story goes the way I plan for it to, it should be interesting to write the dynamics in such a complicated relationship.

And then there’s Banana Guy, an already finished Contemporary Romance which needs major re-working, so I’m not adding it to the official WIP pile.

God, the more I think about it, the more things I remember having in the back-burner. I need. More. Time!

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

If we deem Romance as my genre, I’d say I like more humor (in and outside of the bedroom/sexytimes). I like my heroes to grovel from time to time—I don’t mind them losing their Alpha membership card if it’ll win them the woman of their dreams—and I like my women to have a past they’ve enjoyed, which I’ve seen is not the case in many romance novels. I like writing flawed people, making mistakes and having to deal with them, but sometimes also sitting back and loving the fuck out of them.

3) Why do I write what I do?

I had to go back, find my previous answer to this question and paste it here verbatim, because I feel this will always be my answer.

Because I can’t not write it. I love making up stories, building characters and fleshing them out to the point they feel real to me. I believe in true love, and I know people have issues, so I combine the two in my stories, whether they include supernatural elements or not. I particularly like writing my ladies reluctant to fall in love—why should it always be the men who are afraid of commitment? Why should women be programmed to want more out of a casual relationship?

I’ve found readers aren’t always sympathetic to stubborn women who don’t swoon at the first hint of a smile from the dashing leading man, but some are, and they make it all worthwhile.

4. How does my writing process work?

If you knew how disorganized I am in RL, you’d be surprised by how organized I am when it comes to my writing. I jot down ideas at all times. I have a WIP folder in my Dropbox and a copy of it in a flash drive hanging from the charm bracelet I always wear, so I can save ideas there for further exploration whenever inspiration strikes.

When an idea keeps nagging at me for several days in a row, I decide on an ending (can’t start something if I don’t know how it ends), then outline it. I come back and flesh out the outline until it’s a complete story, and then start working on each chapter. I rarely if ever write ahead unless I’m perfectly satisfied with the previous chapter.

I’m not sure it’s the most productive way, but it works for me 🙂

And now I’m tagging:

1) My friend and extremely talented author, Sofia Grey. Whatever her process, she never fails to write stories that pull you in from the first line and hold you tight until days after you’ve finished reading them.

2) One of the first authors I ever talked to, and eventually became friends with, and a lady whose imagination and writing skills make me green with envy. Jolynn Raymond is the queen of kink, but can also write plot like no other.