On Facebook, fellow author—Dawn Montgomery challenged me to share 7 things about my writing. Honestly, I thought I didn’t have much to tell until I started writing them out. I have many knacks and quirks that you may or may not find interesting, or at the very least, amusing.
Needless to say, challenge accepted!
Okay, here we go…
1. My stories never end the way I thought they would, or more so, the way I want them to end. In my mind it plays out a certain way, but when I start typing, a different story comes out. This is the main reason I refuse to write from an outline, or a drawn out synopsis. I’ve tried to stay on the beaten path, but I always veer off. Does that make me a rebel? *giggle*
When I say my stories writes themselves, I’m not kidding.
2. While writing a love scene, I have to have a glass of wine in reach. Red or white, it doesn’t matter. I sometimes light scented candles as well and play some soothing, baby-making tunes. Sade, Floetry, Jill Scott, Jhene Aiko—just to name a few artists on my “Falling in Lust” playlist… The ambiance gotta be right for the scene to work, just like with foreplay and sex. Wine encourages my sexy thoughts and makes my muse happy.
I suppose I could say, I go all out to seduce my muse and get her in the mood. 😉
3. I write out action and love scenes before I tie the story together. The story never comes to me in order, but when certain scenes emerge, I have to get it out, especially battle scenes. They play out so vividly in my mind… every move, every swing, every strike. Sometimes it takes me days to perfect a fight scene. There’s emotion and a cause that has to scream from the words. If I read it later and I don’t feel that emotion during the scene, I’ll go into rewrite mode. It has to feel like I’m there with the characters or it gets tossed in the bin and I start over.
Hmm… Starting over… There’s a process that happens often during my writing. To make it right, sometimes that’s what it takes.
Alrighty, moving on…
4. I never write for word count. When I used to write for a publisher, I paid attention to word count because I was expected to, and I hated it, with a passion. Even as I type this, I’m grinding my teeth at the notion. In my opinion watching word count hinders my creativity. It can cause me to get too wordy or over-write a scene…
Now that I’m an indie author, word count can kiss my ass. I write the story and however many words I end up with, so be it.
5. When going back through my chapters, I read them aloud. During the dialogue read-overs, I change my voice to sound like the characters. *giggle* I used to do it just to rouse my own amusement. Now, I do it unconsciously. While it sounds intense and dramatic to me, it cracks my sons and hubby up. They love to listen to my read-overs.
6. I make characters out of people I meet and people in my life. Yes, if you’ve met me and made a lasting impression, you’ve probably made an appearance in one of my stories, OR, you’ll show up in my novel in the near future. I’ve only had one friend to see characteristics of herself in one of my characters. Funny thing is, I patterned that character after her. I just never told her. One of these days, she gonna figure it out and kick my butt for it. LOL!
7. I’m always writing, even when I’m not on my computer. My iPhone is my best friend. When a thought for a story, or a scene comes to me while I’m out, Siri jots it down for me. 40% of my writing is done through my iPhone. Thank you, Siri.
And that’s all she wrote folks! Thanks for swinging by my blog. *sips coffee* See you next time. 😉
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