Writing Process Blog Tour!

So, I was invited to participate in a writing process blog tour, and so here is my post. I am so sorry that this took so long, to all of those who were expecting this. First and foremost, thank you to Megan Easley-Walsh, for nominating me. I will have links to her blog and a bio for her up soon. Ok. Now for the questions.

1: What am I working on?

Well… Currently, I am writing both the sequels for The Last Pages, and Frozen Flames. It has been tough to work on them both at once, but I enjoy the challenge.

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

Ok, well The Last Pages is pretty much a traditional fairy tale, so no surprises there. But it also has a modern twist. It is written for the teens of this century. Frozen Flames is a novel about superheros. Yes, a novel, not a comic book. I attempted to write about about what I had so often read in comic books, and I think it really turned out well.

3: Why do I write what I do?

What I write is pretty much a snippet of my heart. My thoughts, my dreams, my ideas, everything. I write my characters after who I would like to be, or who I think would just be awesome if they actually existed. My worlds are places I wish I could visit. The plots, well, they just fall in place after everything else is put together. Really, the characters run their own stories.

But as for why I write what I do? Well, I write it for teens (and everyone else with that inner kid in them 😉 ) like me. Teens who want to get lost in another world to escape this one for a while. Those who want to get to know a character and root for them the whole way. People who just want a good story to read and talk about with friends. I write for those like me who long for a good book.

4: How does my writing process work?

Well. We could be here for days while I explained this, but I will try to lay it out simply.

Step one: Figure out who my characters are. Design them. Picture them in my mind. Get to know them a little. I need to know who I’m working with.

Step two: Figure out the setting. Where on earth is my story taking place? What setting would rattle up my characters the most?

Step three: Figure out a basic plot line, or a couple plot points that work well with the characters and setting. Does betraying fit in? Do I want to add in some chase scenes? Maybe some treason? Murder? Perhaps I’ll stir a little deception into the mix.

Step four: Write that stupid thing. Yup. The whole manuscript. Let’s actually write it out, shall we?

Step five: Read, re read, and edit. Big edits. Take out scenes, change the plot here and there. Tweak the characters.

Repeat step four and five until satisfied.

Step six: The intensive edits. Nit picky stuff. Grammar, spelling, punctuation. The whole shabam.

There you have it! I nice, large, finished product of my blood, sweat, and tears.

Take note that sometimes I do not follow this outline. In fact, for The Last Pages, I just wrote out a scene on my phone because I had an idea while on a car ride, and then the scene after it on my laptop, and then continued on and on until I had a fully fledged novel!

 

All right folks. There you have it. Continuing after me will be Shawn Whatley. (and two others, once I find them 🙂 Feel free to volunteer by commenting if you want to be a part of this 😉 )

Here’s his bio:

Patients suffer from unrecognized anti-patient concepts embedded in healthcare process, structure, and training.

I started writing about emergency department process improvement.  As our team gained success, I realized that we were attempting to change cherished concepts in healthcare, not just ED process.  [You can still find our province-leading success stories from stoppatientwaiting.com in the archives.]

Our success needed different concepts; thinking had to change first.

Most of my clinical experience comes from emergency medicine, but I also work in family medicine, and in the past as a coroner, in a vein clinic, doing cardiac stress testing, and as a surgical assistant.  Since 2008, I’ve enjoyed working in leadership in a large, suburban hospital, and provincially, on the board of a medical association.  Most of my work experience is on LinkedIn.  I promise to follow back on  Twitter.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Lara