My Writing Process

Thank you Molli for inviting me to do this awesome post on "My Writing Process" blog tour! <3 I love to talk about writing, but don't really get many opportunities to, so this is great. ^_^

Molli is a Southern writer who doesn't consider her day complete if she hasn't written. She loves coffee and talking fast, things she attributes to being raised by Gilmore Girls. She's a romantic at heart, and brings that to her books. When not reading or blogging, she can be found obsessing over Doctor Who, cuddling her various pets, or spending time with friends, family, or her girlfriend.

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1). What am I working on now?

Right now I'm finishing up Not Until Tonight, a New Adult novella. It has been taking me much longer than I thought it would. I originally planned on releasing it in February, but life got in the way a few times. So now I'm aiming to publish in May. Not Until Tonight will be the first in series of NA novellas with a similar theme (stories that take place in 48 hours or less). I *finally* picked a series title this last week: This Night. So that's exciting! Once I finish Not Until Tonight, I'm going to start on the next novella in the series, Our Chances Are. And after that one is complete, I'll work on the third novella, Any Second Now. I never really thought I would write a series, but since it's not exactly like most series (it's not even a companion story series) I think it works well for me.

I'm still strongly considering writing a second full-length Young Adult novel this year. It's called Before We Knew. I started writing it the summer before I first wrote If Only We. I was 10,000 words in and really wanted continue with it but decided to finish IOW first. I've been getting little inspirations for it, and I even pulled that document up to see if I would be able to salvage what I started (OMG, my writing back then was atrocious). We'll see what I really start next!

2). How does my work differ from others of it's genre?

It's more along the lines of ordinary life--people spending time with friends and family, discovering who they are, and having a good time. Some of the NA I've read have characters that have these larger than life jobs or unrealistic lives. It's nice to write about a woman with a normal life who is an extraordinary person, because those are the people I know personally: wonderful twenty-somethings making their way through life the best they can. Not to say I won't delve into a different kind of character in the future, because I do have ideas. For now, I like writing about someone I can relate to.

3). Why do I write what I do?

When I first decided to actually write with the intent to publish, I thought I would always write in the Young Adult genre. That's where most of my earlier ideas stemmed from. Then I got older. Now that I'm in my late 20s, it just feels right to step into writing New Adult, because that's where I am. I really (REALLY) enjoy reading NA books right now and I find myself more in tune with their feelings and emotions and struggles than teenagers. I'll still write YA books too (I have plenty of ideas I can't let go of from years ago) but for now I'm going to spend some time in NA.

4). How does your writing process work?

Oh, that's all over the place, to be honest. Some days I'm all, "Let's do ALL THE WRITING!" and other days I just can't focus. More often than not, I come up with scene ideas and dialogue while I'm in the middle of other things and can't stop to type it up. What I do instead is write notes in my phone and then later before I go to bed I'll type it up. While I'm typing it into the document on my laptop, I'll start to add in little details, like emotions and inner dialogue. Sometimes that little note of 100-300 words will generate 800-1000 words in a single writing session because it starts to flow.

For Not Until Tonight, most of it has been written in little snippets from the notes in my phone. I've got the basic plot set in mind, but then scene ideas come to me that occur throughout the story and I write them down. Currently, I have about 6-8 different dialogue sections written out that take place in the last 2-3 chapters of the novella. All I have to do is find a way to connect it all together.

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So, there you have it! I'd pick another author to pass this on to, but, I don't know who. Sooo... hey! If you want to post one of these and link back to me, that would be awesome! I love to hear about other authors and their writing process, and get sneak peeks into their upcoming stories. ^_^

If you don't feel like posting one of your own, feel free to comment below about YOUR writing process. Like I said, I'd love to read about it!