Today, T. Michelle Nelson, the fabulous author the of the Lily Drake Series, published by InkSpell Publishing, has stopped by to share a little bit about her unique writing process. Her second book "Til Death Do Us Part" will be released April 24th, so add it to your TBR list and mark it on your calendar! You won't want to miss it!
I’m not writing this article about the
correct way to go through the process of writing a book, I’m going to write
about how I do it. LILY DRAKE was my first book to be published and
‘TIL DEATH DO US PART is only the second in the series. I’m by no
means an old pro at writing, but I will tell you what works for me.
I’m not one of those plotters who
have an outline and know how the story will end before I even type the first
word. Halfway through the story I don’t even know how it will
end. I have ideas of events I want to happen, I usually have several
ideas for little snippets of dialogue that I want to include and some scenes
here and there, but nothing much more. I let the story develop as I
write. By working this way, I have notes all over the place
though. Post-its stuck in my car, on my planner, notes written on
napkins in my purse. Yeah, I’m one of those. I’ve created
my own type of organization.
When a rough draft of the
manuscript is complete and I’ve gone through it to check for any spelling,
typos, grammatical things, etc and given it a good once over, I print it. The
printed version gets holes punched in it, thrown into a giant binder and I read
it again with a pen and highlighter. For some reason actually having
a real copy in front of me instead of on the computer screen seems to help me
edit and polish the story. Of course after that it goes to my
editor, and we do all that electronically, but to get started I prefer to have
something tangible.
GIVEAWAY: Enter T. Michelle Nelson's photo contest to win some fun prizes!
Don't forget to drop a line, we'd both love to hear from you!
Deb, thanks sooo much for having me!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure! You're welcome here anytime!
ReplyDeleteHi, Michelle. It's nice to meet you! My writing process sounds much the same as yours. I let my stories develop as they unfold and rarely know how things will end even by the middle point. Usually at the 3/4 mark I hit a moment of panic where I worry how I will tie everything together, but somehow it always works out. I used to print and bind my first draft too, marking it up with pen but I've since moved to doing it on the screen. Other than that our systems are much the same!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your releases!
Thanks so much! I actually smiled when I read the part about your "moment of panic." I think we may be related somehow! I have plenty of those!
ReplyDeleteAh yes... those wondrous moments of panic... ;D
ReplyDeleteI'm a write by the seat of your pants writer as well ;) Maybe if I outlined I would be farther along in my writing process, but alas, it is what it is.
ReplyDeleteI do want to say, if you haven't read the first book in this series you should. It's a bit of a different storyline from your typical vampire romance and I think everyone should give it a try. I enjoyed it tremendously ;)
Thank you so much for stopping by and for your sweet comment Evanlea! I agree, everyone should give the Lily Drake series a try!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun one...I'll have to give it a try...Thanks for sharing Debbie and Michelle..
ReplyDeleteThe books ARE fun! Thanks for stopping by Tammy, you know I love to hear from you!
ReplyDeleteCreative disorganization is a perfectly acceptable way to do just about anything.:)
ReplyDeleteI think every creative person has a different method. The important thing is to do what fits your personality. Fighting against nature is a shortcut to writer's block.
I couldn't agree with you more! Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDelete