Writing Process Blog Tour

Thanks to Regina Duke who blogs here for inviting me to be part of this tour. Regina writes smart, super-fun sweet romance, and I can’t recommend her highly enough.

Preamble

A few years back, I was struggling to write my first novel. It was a mystery about a guy named Martin Shovel who grew up on a cranberry bog in Wisconsin and moved to Tucson looking for his runaway dad, who (naturally) turned up dead.

Poor Martin never solved his father’s murder because while I was working on my book by fixing a light snack and listening to NPR, a story came on about a big writers’ convention, and I was struck by two things:

They were mostly women
They were having way too much fun!

That turned out to be the annual get-together of Romance Writers of America, and within a year I was lucky enough to find a nearby branch of the organization, which offers not only companionship for (male and female) writers but lectures, workshops, and advice on the subjects of writing craft, business, and career development.

Within weeks, Martin was out on his shovel and I’d begun an elaborately constructed urban fantasy/romance crossover which wound up as my indie publishing debut novel, Keys to the Coven. That book, combined with a late-onset addiction to the works of P.G. Wodehouse and a passion for  Downton Abbey led me to start a prequel historical urban fantasy series, Speakeasy Dead.

Meanwhile, my growing appreciation of romance as a genre got me going on a contemporary series, Brides of Paradise, about a family run resort in the US Virgin Islands which is apparently a magnet for billionaires in search of brides. (Coming fall 2014)

The moral of this long preamble? Believe everything you hear on NPR.

I did, and it’s led to wonderful things.

The Actual Writing Process Blog
What are you working on?

I’ve got four WIPs, which is writer-lingo for Works In Progress:

Speakeasy Dead II: Gaspar’s Revenge - Fantasies are slow to plot, so this one won’t be out for a while. (2015)
Vacation Bride (Brides of Paradise #1) – a sweet  contemporary romance (marriage of convenience) series set at the imaginary Paradise Resort on St. John, US Virgin Islands.(Fall, 2014)
Ten Years After - An erotic novella to be released under the pen name Lea Quick who, if you track her down, is definitely not me. (August 2014)
Construction Club – Man About the House #2 - Another (very short) novella by Lea Quick. This is (what I hope will be) a cute series about a woman getting over her obnoxious ex-husband by spending her divorce money remodeling her home and having…shall we call them adventures…with the caring, sensitive, extremely buffed workmen who arrive on her doorstep. (September 2014)

[Man About the House #1, Josh on Deck, is available HERE.]

How does your work differ from others of its genre?

The plots are very tight with (hopefully) unexpected twists and fun surprises.
In my Urban Fantasies, I try never to say directly what’s gong on. In a perfect world, that leads to building a story in the reader’s mind – a sort of global “show not tell” philosophy. In an imperfect world, it leads to hate mail :).
I waste a lot of time rewriting sentences in iambic pentameter. No, I’m not joking. Yes, you can laugh.

Why do you write what you do?

See above . It’s a unique combination of humor, pig-headedness, and the serendipity of finding incredibly nice romance writers who have become my role models and mentors.

How does your writing process work?

I wouldn’t call it a process. More a train wreck with benefits.

I almost always start with setting. I like to see, taste, hear where my characters are going to strut their hour upon the page. I’ve usually got two characters in mind to do the strutting (For example, Bernie and Clara), a problem (oops…zombies) and a pretty clear idea of how the problem will be resolved (that would be telling).
Then I go back and forth, writing, scribbling index cards, creating outlines I never use, sulking, and basically trying anything I can think of to wipe away the fog that keeps collecting on my computer screen between me and the story. About halfway through, I find a tipping point where I’ve got the whole book in my mind, and then it’s writing marathons and tambourine dances all the way home.

What’s Next?

June 23, the writing-process blog baton passes from me to two lovely, talented writers. Check back to find out what Caroline Mickelson  and Susan Winters have to say about writing. You can read a bit about their books below.

Caroline Mickelson writes a variety of lively romance and other fiction with wonderful characters and great dialog. Her 1940s cozy mystery From Mangia to Murder is my particular favorite. She’s also got a fun marriage of convenience, The Wedding Favor, under the pen name Caroline Andrews.

Susan Winters who also blogs here is a paralegal and freelance writer who’s added women’s fiction to her list of accomplishments. In Ever After two childhood friends join forces to find out exactly what their husbands have been up to…and to figure out why,

AmyLynn Bright (won’t be able to put up a writing process blog, but would have been my 3rd pick if she did) writes super-fun romances with characters you want to take home and settle into the guest room. She made her first hit with the Miss Goldsleigh Series (regency romance) and has recently added a Carina Press contemporary, Cooking Up Love, to her body of fun.

Regina Duke hit the USA Today best-selling list writing witty marriage of convenience novels set in the delightful town of Eagle Toe, Colorado — another place unexpectedly loaded with rich men in need of wives. Her latest release, My Vampire Wedding offers a unique take on vampire-human intimate relations.

Scrabble photo courtesy photos-public-domain.com