Pic courtesy of freelancedream.com
Today I’m talking about my writing process as part of a Blog Tour on the subject. My friend Margaret K Johnson talked about hers last week. You can check out what she said here. Margaret mainly writes women’s fiction, romance, and readers for people learning to speak English, and has been known to go to great lengths to research what she wants to write about. In 2012 she completed the Go Ape Tree Top Challenge and also performed stand-up comedy in London. You can read about these challenges on her blog!
Okay, so here’s my writing process (if it can be described as a process 😉 ):
What am I working on?
Multiple projects! I’m mainly concentrating on short fiction at the moment: for my blog, for other bloggers, and for submission to magazines and anthologies. In addition, I’m taking a Creative Writing course with the Open University. This means I have deadlines for pieces of work to be handed in, so I’m trying to stay on top of that. My neglected work-in-progress novel is on the back burner just now!
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I love stories of vampires and werewolves, but why is it always the guy who’s the undead, and who rescues/falls in love with/seduces the lady? Why not the other way round? WITHOUT said lady being the evil seductress and villain of the piece? I like to twist things a bit and tell stories where the human boy falls for the strange girl.
Why do I write what I do?
Simply because I love it. I got hooked on reading fantasy of all kinds when I was about nine, and it has remained my favourite thing to read and write. Obviously I started reading erotica a bit later, but I enjoy writing that with a strong, often dominant 😉 , female character as well.
How does your writing process work?
Ha ha, well, that is the question, isn’t it? As some of you know I’m a driving instructor by day, so what I try to do is conduct the majority of my driving tuition in the morning and afternoon, and write for a couple of hours in the evening. Doesn’t always work! I don’t set myself a minimum number of words per day or anything like that. However, my Creative Writing course has been great in that respect, as in order to keep up with the coursework I really have to write something every day – I usually do at least 500 words per day, often lots more.
Depending on my mood and also if there’s a deadline, I can complete a first draft of a short story in a couple of days – but I have drafts I’ve still not completed after more than a year! The first draft is followed by editing and usually three or four revised drafts before the final one. So of an evening I can be working on a first draft of one or two pieces, and editing a couple more.
I am a serial procrastinator and am easily distracted by computer games, pics of hot men, and my cats being cute. So I’m fighting against my nature to get stuff done all the time!
The tour continues next week with J E Nice, a fellow blogger, who was one of the first people to support and encourage me when I started putting my writing ‘out there’ last year:
J E Nice is a speculative writer of fantasy, sci-fi and horror, and a lover of books, films, TV and all things geek. Her blog is predominantly about writing, with a smattering of film reviews and the odd off at a tangent.
You can see why we hit it off when we met online! Please check out her post next week.
Kaz Ess 