The Four Questions

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The Four Questions

Welcome to the Writing Process blog tour. I was tagged by my good friend Shéa MacLeod, an author of paranormal romance. What’s the tour all about? Authors talk about their writing process, as well as briefly touch on their current projects. Then, they pass the torch to three other authors.

1. What am I working on now?

That’s easy — Lord & Lady Hetheridge #4, Black & Blue, and Dr. Benjamin Bones #1, Marriage Can Be Murder. Both are cozy mysteries with a heavy emphasis on characterization. The Hetheridge series is set in present-day London; Chief Superintendent Anthony Hetheridge, a baron, acts as Scotland Yard’s liaison to the wealthy, not all of whom play nice, either with the Metropolitan Police Service or each other. The Dr. Bones mysteries will be set in a small English town outside Plymouth during what the Brits called “The War At Home” — that period during the Second World War in which the English endured a great deal, including the Blitz, to safeguard their homeland and way of life.

2. How does my work differ from others in the genre?

That’s tough, since the answer is really for readers to decide. I will say, I think my characters are not only fun, but intriguing enough to capture the imagination. They are all quite real to me, down to the supporting characters who only get five lines per book, and I hope they’re real to my readers, too.

3. Why do I write the things I do?

I’m an Angolophile from a very early age, with no idea how or why it happened. My brief visit to London in March 2013 far exceeded my expectations, and only increased my desire to write books set in England. I’ve loved mysteries, both hardboiled and cozy, for many years now, so it’s also a case of adding to the bookshelves I adore. Some of my favorite mystery writers include Ruth Rendell, M.C. Beaton, and Alexander McCall Smith.

4. How does my writing process work?

Now here’s where I’ll get in trouble with those who craft How To Write A Book columns. I write what comes to me, when it comes to me. Then I rewrite it a bazillion times, get it edited, and turn it loose on the world. Setting a daily word count goal doesn’t work for me — I can do it (heck, this is already at 385 or so) but invariably, I end up deleting whatever was forced out. Once, as a young, young writer, long before I went full time, I could sit down and type and type and then spend months if not years trying to fix a mountain of pages. Trying to decide what stayed, what went, what needed reworking and what was good enough. It was awful, and the result was unreadable.

Now I await the vision and write like a woman possessed when it comes.

This makes me slower than some of my colleagues, especially for readers who only know me as Emma Jameson — then it will seem like forever until I get the next one out. But the truth is, I’d rather be slow and proud of my work. Churning out a product according to schedule doesn’t work for me. I did it once, under another pen name, and ended up pulling the book. Although its sales were modestly successful, and reviews were good, I knew I’d rushed it to make an artificial deadline set by me, to appease some “publish every ninety days” rule. Never again.

Thanks for reading! Now it’s time for me to pass the torch.

Cheryl Bradshaw is a USA Today bestselling mystery author. She recently released Bed of Bones, her fifth Sloane Monroe novel. Link to the very first, Black Diamond Death, below:

Sarah Woodbury is the author of the tremendously success After Cilmeri series. Her latest book, The Fallen Princess, is available for pre-order on most ebook venues. Book #1, Daughter of Time, is free everywhere. Click the cover for the Amazon link.