To reveal a bit more about how I write, I’ve delved back into the author interviews I’ve done recently. Out of them, I’ve selected a few of the questions that asked specific questions about how I develop my stories.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR INTERESTING WRITING QUIRK?
Best way to describe my writing quirk to share my writing process…
In the purely inspirational phase, the story is like a mental movie that I watch and try to get the action down as quick as possible. That is the skeleton of the story.
Then in the developmental stage, as I read through the story time and time again, I compare it to my mental movie. I keep writing and re-editing the scenes I ‘see’ until the words relate, as best as they can, the images of the story to the readers. That is the face, flesh, and skin of the story.
Finally, I move to the proofreading stage where I concentrate on correcting spelling and grammar. Then after that I send it to my editor.
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INFORMATION OR IDEAS FOR YOUR BOOKS?
My fiction books have started from someone saying something that caught my attention or a random idea or thought and I couldn’t forget it. Then I’ll ponder it and let it simmer and percolate. If a viable idea or plot starts to emerge, then the threads are woven into a story. For some examples, once there was a phrase someone said and another time it was a conjunction of words while I was playing Scabble online.
Another way story lines can be started is simply things in life. Suddenly, a deep interest in something about an event will strike, and I will jot down the basic thoughts that hit me at the time it happened. Then later, when I read those notes, inspiration may hit and a story can emerge.
WHAT COMES FIRST FOR YOU –THE PLOT OR THE CHARACTERS — AND WHY?
The worlds. Most of the time I world build first. Then develop the plot, because even a fascinating world has to have something interesting going on in it. Then the characters.
However, there are a few stories where I started with characters.
And I have started with the plot.
I guess I don’t have a set formula on how I build stories!
The interviews did ask a few more questions about the writing process but I’ll share those on another blog. Do you have any questions? Let me know in the comments!