Writing Processes. Do I have one?

Today is Blog Tour Day. This blog tour is where writers and authors answer questions about their writing process. My friend and fellow Choc Lit author, Janet Gover, posted hers last week. It’s a great read. Very interesting. I love finding out how writers tackle novels. You can check out Janet’s writing process here.

I have four questions to answer.

You see, now I’m thinking of the Two Ronnies. This isn’t the first time. It’s the ‘four’ that does it. I’m instantly transported to a hardware store, watching Ronnie Barker harass Ronnie Corbett with ‘four candles.’ I’ll show you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz2-ukrd2VQ

As usual, I digress, but what a marvellous, comic display of writing and acting.

Without further ado, or forays into the past, I shall answer my four questions.

1) What am I working on?

I have Book 3 planned and underway. Its working title is What Doesn’t Kill You, and it’s an issue-driven romance, with a strong focus on family relationships. It’s set in Weymouth and Portland, an area I love with a passion. It has so much drama and beauty. The recent storms have provided the opening backdrop and set the tone of the story. My hero, Griff, is a coastguard – strong, protective, and in command. He is master of his own destiny. He respects and loves his father, a courageous, dominant being in his youth, but age, illness and disability has withered the old man, stolen his strength, and destroyed his independence, all things Griff fears. Throw into the maelstrom a demanding job, a two-year-old son and an errant teenage step-daughter, and Griff’s eighteen month marriage to Evie is at breaking point. His relationship is all at sea.

What Doesn’t Kill You is an insider’s view of the pressures and difficulties faced by today’s sandwich generation, and like Truth or Dare?, there will be dark before the dawn.

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

There is an edge to my work that is not always expected in a romance. One review of Truth or Dare? put it succinctly: ‘A love story without the soft edges.’ And my publisher, Choc Lit, have got my number: ‘Laura E James tackles some thorny issues in this new Choc Lit Lite, showing that contemporary romantic fiction is not all flowers and swooning heroines.’

3) Why do I write what I do?

I’m a big fan of Jodi Picoult, and love the way she tackles taboo subjects. This is reflected in my books, but because I also enjoy romance, my characters will always search for the hopeful or happy ever after ending.

4) How does my writing process work?

Hmm. That’s under debate.

I’m on book 3, and have made an effort to plan this one. For Truth or Dare?, and Follow Me, I had a beginning and an exact end – I knew what was being said, by whom and where. I had a rough idea of how to get from A to Z, but for the most part the paths were built on ‘what if’, as I went along.

I now have a cartoon image of manoeuvring rocks over tree trunks, pulling the last log out, and hauling it to the front, to continue the forward motion.

I enjoy the organic growth of the characters. On occasion, they surprise me, and one or two of them have been known to solve plot problems on my behalf.

For What Doesn’t Kill You, although I’ve planned, it’s not to the enth degree. There’s plenty of room for improvisation and what ifs.

I write in silence, and it can take me a while to enter ‘the zone’. I don’t set a daily word count – I write as much or as little as is in me, and I cannot switch off my inner editor. If something isn’t right, I have to fix it ‒ otherwise I cannot move on. I don’t write a dirty first draft, but I am acutely aware it is still the first draft, and I love editing – it appeals to my ‘correct’ nature.

 

NEXT WEEK:

I am thrilled my three friends, Sue Fortin, a fellow Romaniac, whose debut novel, Unites States of Love is available here, Nikki Goodman, recently signed by HarperImpulse, and Crooked Cat author, Kathy Sharp, Isle of Larus, have taken the Blog Tour challenge.  They will be sharing their writing processes next Monday on their blogs, as follows:

Sue Fortin: Sue writes women’s fiction; contemporary, suspense and time-slip. All with romance and a touch of danger.

Lover of cake, Dragonflies and France. Hater of calories, maths and snakes. Sue was born in Hertfordshire but had a nomadic childhood, moving often with her family, and for a time, did actually think her name was ‘The New Girl’. However, having lived in West Sussex all her adult life, it does feel like home and, these days, she knows what my name is!

Sue is married with four children, all of whom patiently give her time to write but, when not behind the keyboard, she likes to spend my time with them, enjoying both the coast and the South Downs, between which they are nestled.

She is a proud to be a spoke in the wheel of The Romaniacs – her lovely supportive friends who she wouldn’t be without and without whom, she says, she wouldn’t be here.

Sue is delighted to be part of the Harper Collins group, through Harper Impulse, who have published her debut novel ‘United States of Love’.

http://suefortin.wordpress.com/

 

Nikki Goodman: Nikki Moore lives in beautiful Dorset and writes short stories and sexy contemporary romances for Harper Impulse. The first chapter of her book Crazy, Undercover, Love can be read for free in the HI sampler at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Loving-Year-Love-Romance-HarperImpulse-ebook/dp/B00GWG5EEI

She is also a contributor to the RNA/Harlequin short story Anthology Truly, Madly, Deeply (2014).

A finalist in several writing competitions including Novelicious Undiscovered 2012, she graduated from the RNA New Writers’ Scheme after four years and has contributed to their magazine Romance Matters. She has far too much fun attending the annual RNA conference and has previously chaired a panel and taken part in a workshop at the Festival of Romance.

She blogs about some of her favourite things – Writing, Work and Wine – at http://nikkimooreauthor.wordpress.com/ and believes in supporting other writers as part of a friendly, talented and diverse community.

You can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NikkiMooreAuthor or on Twitter @NikkiMoore_Auth and she invites you to pop in for chats about love, life, reading or writing!

 

Kathy Sharp: Kathy Sharp is the author of Isle of Larus, a fantasy tale inspired by the Jurassic Coast, and published by Crooked Cat Publishing in 2013. She is now working on the sequel, Sea of Clouds. Blog:  http://tinyurl.com/pq8jenp

It’s over to you …

Laura x