Monday, April 15, 2013

The Writing Process - Guest Post by T. Michelle Nelson


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.

 I’ve never asked other authors how they draft their manuscripts, although my technique may be a little different than some, it works for me.  “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

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!



11 comments:

  1. Deb, thanks sooo much for having me!

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  2. My pleasure! You're welcome here anytime!

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  3. Hi, 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!

    Congrats on your releases!

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  4. 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!

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  5. Ah yes... those wondrous moments of panic... ;D

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  6. I'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.

    I 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 ;)

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  7. Thank you so much for stopping by and for your sweet comment Evanlea! I agree, everyone should give the Lily Drake series a try!

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  8. Sounds like a fun one...I'll have to give it a try...Thanks for sharing Debbie and Michelle..

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  9. The books ARE fun! Thanks for stopping by Tammy, you know I love to hear from you!

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  10. Creative disorganization is a perfectly acceptable way to do just about anything.:)

    I 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.

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  11. I couldn't agree with you more! Thanks for stopping by!

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