MY WRITING PROCESS REVEALED

REVEALED

A writer’s job is undefined. It varies because all writers are different. There are things to do to prepare to write and all the things you do after you have finished writing a book. Here are 10 things I have to do in order to finish a book. There are no hard fast secrets but these are the things that work for me. I’ve tried daily goals and words count goals. That never seemed to work for me. My lofty goal is to try to focus on one book at a time. This is a glimpse into my writing process.

1.  I have to envision my characters as real actors, models, singers, celebrities or I will never write the book. I can have an idea all day ever day but if that idea does not develop into a face I will never write that book. It will end up in the graveyard file that I call (Novels Not Finished).

2. My ideas almost always come from a dream. The trick is waking up and remembering what I dreamed. This is a very difficult task when you have a lot of things on your mind. Sure I see various things while I’m awake but I actually dream scenes. So an idea is just an idea but the dreams fill the ideas with words. I can think about something all day but I have to dream about it to write about it.

3.  I need a playlist to write and finish a book. Music is essential. I have to have my music to write. Since my musical taste very I have a mix of everything. Sade’s Ordinary Love has shown up an over 80% of my author’s playlist. That song seems to fit for almost every book I write. When I grow tired of my author playlist I listen to random Classical music, which always includes Beethoven.

4.  I write from partial outlines that never are complete. I use either; index cards, post-it notes, notebook paper or the outline is typed in Word doc. I can never finish a complete outline. My ideas keep changing so my outline rarely matches the finish product.

5.  I have to transfer all works in progress into my old original Kindle Fire over 20 times before I finish. This is a weird ritual. But I have to have an updated copy of my latest work with me at all times.

6.   I keep research notes and along with character outlines in various binders.  I also keep notes in pretty little notebooks. I need the notebooks to refer to things I may forgot because I have too many characters at this point to remember what car they drive, their middle names, their favorite food etc.

7. I ask men what if’s to add authenticity to all my books. For example: I asked three separate Caucasian men what they would do if they found out their brother was cheating on his wife. Research for Mason and Mike Rizza’s relationship in the Balls To The Walls Erotica Series. If you remember Mike found out Mason was cheating with Kari. Fiction is fiction but it’s nice to place as much reality into it as possible.

8.  I sneak and listen to people talking (men usually) and take sentences and phrases and put them in my books. For example Mason Rizza in the Balls To The Walls Erotica Series repeats words three times. (Go, Go, Go! or No, No, No!)

9.   I have to spend sometime in the gym rereading and revising my finished book before I can release it. 

 10. I bounce my ideas off of people. I talk about my book with a few people that don’t read books AT ALL. Sure this probably makes no sense. I know they don’t read so I’m interested in what would hold their interest. If I can tell them the story and they ask questions it leads me to believe that avid readers will be interested.