The Writing Process Blog Tour

Being a writer can be exhilarating, fulfilling, freeing, frustrating and isolating in varying combinations. Every writer has their own rituals, processes and habits.

It's fascinating to hear what works for other writers and how they view their work and methods. 

What keeps us motivated and drives us to disappear into our our minds and pour our souls out through a keyboard for little or no financial gain?

When Gill Hamer, asked me to participate in this blog tour I was delighted to do it. Like any geek, writers love talking about what we do. We learn from and support each other but also want to open ourselves up to our readers, to help them to understand what makes us tick.

Discover some writers to inspire and entertain by touring their blogs and getting to know them and their creative process.

Here's Gill's response to the blog tour: http://gillianhamer.wordpress.com/2014/03/23/the-writing-process/

This week it's my turn:

1) What am I working on?

I have just finished the first draft of the second book in the Sheridan and Blake Adventure series. The next book is called 'Solomon's Secrets' (blurb and preview: http://bit.ly/P79mZE) and I've just sent it off to the printers so I can get copies to my test readers and editors.

The book is a follow up to 'The Bronze Box', published last year and available in eBook and paperback from Amazon: http://amzn.to/1jd0sDE. 

Set a year after the end of the first book, it's not a sequel but throws my hero; Tom Sheridan, and heroine; Sasha Blake, back together into an increasingly tangled web of conspiracy, rivalled only by the increasingly complex nature of their relationship.

2) How does my work differ from others in the genre?

The best known writer of thriller fiction such as mine is Dan Brown, and in the genre generally there are few female writers. 

There is a tendency for these types of books to be 'men's books written by men'. 

Granted, I have been told I'm more bloke than lady (I drink pints and been known to have public flatulence!) but, I like a good edge of the seat thriller.  I also like thrillers to be multilayered and intelligent with a historic context. 

Kate Mosse is perhaps the best known female writer in the genre. I'd wouldn't mind being compared to her one day!

3) Why do I write what I do?

Like most writers, I write what I like to read. My favourite author is the late Paul Sussman. 

Few people seem to have heard of him, which is a tragedy because his writing is brilliant. His characters are vivid and complex, his stories are full of historic references, so it feels like you are learning something. There are complex webs of conspiracy and satisfying relationships, intricacies and metaphors.

I want to be able to write like that. It's going to take a lot of practice!

I also choose historic references and subject matter that fascinate me, which gives me a great excuse to do lots of research.

4)  How does my writing process work?

It usually starts with a spark of an idea, very often with a 'what if'. The idea will marinate, sometimes for days, weeks, months, even years.

Then I'll have other ideas that will brew away in their own little crock pots. The starting point is usually when I mix a couple of things together that feel like they'll fit. 

I day dream a lot, playing out scenes in my head until I find them satisfying enough to commit to words.

I'll start forming a basic plot structure in my head and draw some initial flow charts on big bits of paper with scenes on post it notes.

When I finally feel like I have something solid I write the first chapter and the last chapter. I then write the scenes that I've been day dreaming and jotting in notebooks and juggle them about to slot them in. This starts to give me a solid story arc. 

I think of it like a map; There's a starting point, a destination and various places I'd like to visit along the route. Next I plan how I'll get there.

I always have a wider strategic view of where the story needs to go and will steer it in that direction, but I keep it pretty fluid as I write. Often a character will start talking to me and showing me where they need to go. I like to prod them, make them uncomfortable and connect them to each other in ways they may or may not appreciate!

I'm constantly reviewing the overall structure and the plan for the story and it will slowly start to tighten up as I settle into it's rhythm.

I then go through rewrites. Involve beta readers.Take chapters along to a writers crit group for scrutinising. More test readers and editors until eventually it becomes a proper book.

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The next three writers on this Writing Process Blog Tour on Monday 7th April, are a mix of bloggers, novelists, non-fiction and short story writers. They represent a great cross section of different writing disciplines:    
  
A brilliant writer I have recently discovered who writes in the same genre as I do.  Laurence O'Bryan is a tireless supporter of other writers.

Laurence O'Bryan is the author of a series of mystery novels published in 11 languages. The series starts with The Istanbul Puzzle, continues with The Jerusalem Puzzle and then there is, The Manhattan Puzzle, the current novel.

Laurence is working on the fourth novel in the series, The Nuremberg Puzzle. In it the puzzles revealed in the first three novels will be answered. That answer is a shocking revelation regarding why so many people died in the Second World War.

Laurence lives in Dublin. He teaches digital marketing and helps other writers get discovered through his site booksgosocial.com. Laurence lived in London for ten years until his daughter was born.

See lpobryan.com for more

Sandy Bird  - has a blog/journal about her experiences as a Canadian wintering in Florida and exploring the area on her motorcycle.

Sandy is a creative soul who naturally has a talent to create designs and work with colour. As the outside world inspired her, destiny led her to use the creativity that resided within her to design visually appealing messages through print and the web. All the while a hidden writer was yearning to escape. The passion for writing grew over the years in the form of poems and musings until she found her niche as a blogger. 

http://www.thefrozencanuck.blogspot.com

Mirjam Penning ('Penning' is such a perfect name for a writer!) - Is a non-fiction writer and blogger.

Mirjam says:

Slowly I shifted one career for another.

I became an author of non fiction articles about true crime cases. My writing can be defined as 'based on the truth', in the languages English and Dutch. Ive kept a blog since 2006. Currently working on a more professional looking website. An ongoing process.
I got into web content by creating 'simple' websites and editing (web)texts for entrepreneurs. My big project is expanding skills, writing e books and becoming a web content manager.

http://mirjampenning.wordpress.com

Lynne Cobine - Writes fiction and non-fiction and has so far had short stories published. She is a blogger and keen supporter of other writers

Lynne says:
I have a website to help writers to publish their short stories and to raise money for charity.  I am a writer too, and have had articles published online and in printed magazines, but really love creating fiction for people to enjoy.

If you want to discover new writing, and enjoy short stories, this website is a must: http://boxofwords.weebly.com/about-us.html 

Lynne also explains that - Box of Words: is a play on words from the New Zealand expression Box of Birds, meaning very happy.

Enjoy the next leg of the tour!