My Writing Process Blog Tour

I was invited to take part in this blog tour by Susan Buchanan.

You can check out Susan's blog about her writing process here: http://susancbuchanan.blogspot.co.uk/...

The idea of this blog tour is to introduce readers to new authors. I have been asked to answer 4 questions about my writing process and then tag three more authors to take part.

Here are my answers to the questions:

What am I working on?

I'm working on a new collection of short stories in collaboration with another author


How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I don't believe in genres


Why do I write what I do?

Because I always have ideas popping into my head for stories that beg to be written

How does my writing process work?

Haphazardly. I usually start off with an idea for a story and work from there, without a plan, which leads to lots of continuity issues that need to be resolved during the editing process.

The first draft for me is always about getting the story down on paper (I tend to write my first drafts with pen and paper rather than on a keyboard). The first drafts are invariably very bad - the grammar is atrocious, spelling questionable, and the storyline usually needs a lot of work.

Then I edit, by adding and taking bits away. Then I read over it a couple of times. The next step is sending it to beta-readers to let me know what they think and tell me if they spot any mistakes.

Then the real fun (that's sarcasm) begins. I read the book over and over replacing words that are repetitive, like 'that', 'she', 'her', 'seem', 'look', etc., and taking out words that are not really needed, like 'very' or 'just'.

Finally, I try to find words to replace the more common words... with the use of a thesaurus, just to add a few more unusual words to give the book a bit of substance. I play about with sentences and add and take away words. I delete any sentences that don't really add to the story.

My editing process takes much longer than the actual writing, and involves late nights, coffee, angst, and grumpiness.

Then, when I'm done, I send to a proofreader to check for any typos. Things you can't spot easily for yourself in your own writing are words that can be spelt different like 'their' and 'there'. It's amazing how easy it is for us to use the wrong word even though we know what the right word should be. These sorts of errors are missed in a spell check on the computer. Hence the importance of proofreaders.

The thing about reading over our own work is that we tend to skim read after we've read it over 100 times because we just read what we think we know is there. Simple typo errors are easily missed. A fresh eye is needed to spot errors.

I can also guarantee that even after a thorough edit and proofread there will still be one or two errors that slip through the net.

Who said writing was easy, hey?


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The authors I have tagged for this blog tour:

Next week, my fellow authors Darcia Helle, J. Michael Radcliffe will be revealing their writing process and then later Julie Elizabeth Powell will also take part (she's unwell at the moment, but will post her blog as soon as she can).

If you're on Twitter, you can follow the various blogs in this tour by searching for the hashtag #MyWritingProcess

Here a few details of the upcoming authors on the tour and their blogs:

Darcia Helle


Suspense, random blood spatter and mismatched socks consume Darcia's days. She writes because the characters trespassing through her mind leave her no alternative. Only then are the voices free to haunt someone else's mind.

Join Darcia in her fictional world: http://www.QuietFuryBooks.com
The characters await you.

Link to the blog: http://www.quietfurybooks.com/blog

J. Michael Radcliffe


An avid reader of science fiction and fantasy novels all his life, Michael Radcliffe is the author of the 'Beyond the Veil' series of fantasy novels and short stories. He lives in rural Kentucky with his family and their six cats. His writing partner and muse is a small dragon statuette named Idris, who spends the evenings advising Michael on all things magical, and supervising his writing.


Link to the blog:
http://michaelradcliffe.wordpress.com/

Julie Elizabeth Powell(pen):


Julie says: "Hello everyone. If you haven't guessed by now I have a passion for words and have thirteen books published in a variety of genres...all thanks to Lulu and Kindle, much hard work and sleepless nights. I like to challenge my writing, hence the diversity, but fantasy will always be my favourite because there are no rules, and I never want to stick to other people’s formulas or ideas of what is acceptable.

"My eldest daughter has flown the nest and is married to a man who doesn't mind his mother-in-law though my son is still fluffing his feathers.

My middle child is off on a mysterious adventure, the like of which I can only guess...and tried to do so in my first book, Gone.

I love to read and am looking for ways to double time so to indulge in the mysterious and wonderful and delicious and strange...my favourite kind of story. 

Writing is my passion, though I enjoy creating handcrafted cards, jewellery making, scrapbooking and dabbling in encaustic art whenever I can. 

Oh yes, I used to teach or mark exam papers but now concentrate on writing and enjoying my new life, which materialised, as if by a miracle. Though still dislike all those necessary domestic chores that would, for me, be included in the Rings of Hell!

That's it. Thank you to anyone who reads my books...enjoy the flight!
Oh yes, sometimes I think I must be an alien because I see things differently – maybe that’s why I’ve never fitted into the ‘way things should be’."


Link to the blog: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...