“My Writing Process” Blog Tour #mywritingprocess

Many thanks to the lovely Georgina Troy, author of the enchanting island romance A Jersey Kiss and soon-to-be released A Jersey Affair, for asking me to take part in the My Writing Process blog tour. To find out more about Georgina and her books set on the largest of the Channel Islands, I can recommend visiting her Author Website and Blog or you can Follow Georgina on Twitter.

What am I working on? 

I’m currently working on the third draft of a novel. It’s a two-person narrative, provisionally entitled He Said, She Said. As you can probably guess from the title, it’s told from the perspective of both accuser and the accused and details the fallout that ensues after certain accusations are made against a popular high school teacher. I’m also working on a collection of short stories and putting another completed novel out on submission.

How does my work differ from others of its genre? 

I’m really interested in getting inside a person’s mind, discovering their motivation and finding out what makes them tick, which means I enjoy giving a voice to the accused as much as to the accuser, as happens in He Said, She Said or to the stalker as well as their target, as was the case in my previous finished novel. I don’t necessarily want to engender empathy, or even sympathy, for that person but I do want the reader to understand why it is they do what they do. I want to give these people a voice and enable them to tell the story from their point of view for at least part of the book.

I write about subjects, themes and people that interest me. Questions that I have, things that I would like to explore. Like I said above, it’s partly about trying to understand people’s motivations and reasons for choosing to live and act in the way they do. I’m an as-yet-unpublished novelist and I’m enjoying the freedom that comes with that to explore my interests.

I tend to come up with a subject that I want to explore first, then I’ll have a period of jotting down random lines & dialogue, ideas and descriptions or character sketches. I’ll usually be working on something else as my main focus while this is all bubbling away. I didn’t do this for the first book I wrote but for the last two, I’ve warmed up by writing short stories featuring the main characters. It’s helped me get to know them a bit better before starting on the novel. Kind of like going on a mini break before deciding to travel round the world together, I suppose.

By the time I start writing the first draft, I’ll have a rough (and I mean, rough!) outline to work from, have decided upon the main characters and who’s telling the story and why… and I’ll also have laid in stockpiles of tea and chocolate, which are both critical to my process.

I take as long as I need or want to work on that first draft. I can always cut later. The lawyer in me has no problem getting the red pen out! So I use the first draft to hash out ideas, go off at a tangent and generally get to know my characters and their world as well as I can. Then I put it away for at least a month, if not more, before going back to it for a read-through and the long process of knocking it into shape over several drafts begins. Again, this is the part that the lawyer in me really enjoys: pulling something to pieces, testing it, discarding what’s irrelevant and then trying to put it back together stronger and more resilient than it was before. The writer in me sometimes hates that same lawyer for what doesn’t make the final cut, but grudgingly acknowledges that it probably needed to go. Running it by my beta readers usually confirms this.

And that’s enough about me!

I’d like to nominate the following three writers to take part in the My Writing Process blog tour:

Sarah Callejo was born in England, but has lived in Spain all her life, which means she has a bit of both countries in her blood, but she’s always an outsider. She aspires to become an author one day, but is lucky to have a bread-earning job that she loves. She’s been a translator for many years now, and she still loves the daily challenges it provides (most of the time). She lives near Madrid, surrounded by cows and goats, and quite a few tapas bars. You can Follow Sarah on Twitter or find her on her Blog.

Nicola de Gouveia is a South African living in Scotland, an Avid Reader, a Hopeful Writer & Life Enthusiast! You can Follow Nicola on Twitter or find her on her Blog.

Effie Merryl is a Writer of short stories & much more, the Owner of an award winning business, Mum, Wife, EDS person, Ex-Cop, GSOH & a tad clumsy. You can Follow Effie on Twitter or find her on her Blog.