7 Things About My Writing and a Kick Ass Contest

        Kallypso Masters challenged me on Facebook recently to write seven things about my writing.  After writing the post for Facebook, I thought I'd post it here on my blog and also some news about a contest I'm participating in that will be running for the next month.
         1.  I am a plotter and a pantser rolled into one. I’ll have the general idea of what my book is going to be about. Have all the physical traits of my characters, emotional baggage, and conflicts all plotted out on a character chart so I can keep all of it straight. And I have a story board I put all the plot points of first kiss, first love scene, black moment and etc.  down on.  But anything that happens in between is fair game and gets written down as it happens.
        2.  I story board my books so I can keep track of Character Point of View and because I’m an artist and a writer I need that visual aid. It helps me see in color—because each of the characters have their own color, this helps me track exactly how often each character gets to express their point of view. And it helps me recognize at a glance how the plot is progressing that way nothing stays static, suspense wise and emotional wise.
        3.  Dialogue is the hardest thing for me to write. There are days I really struggle at the beginning of the book until I figure out what my characters are like and who they really are, what they want to say, need to say, and how they’ll say it. Then it’s difficult for me to get them to shut up.
        4.  Action sequences are the easiest for me to write but take me a long time. Every action reaction has to be just right before I can let them go. Every word has to have an impact or I’m not happy with it. And the movement of character’s through space during an action sequence is difficult to capture unless you really know what’s around them. So you have to get a clear picture of the setting they’re fighting, running, making love in to write them.
        5.  Love scenes take me longer than the action sequences.  They’re so emotional and every word and action has to project that. It takes me forever to get them just right. I’ve spent up to 5 days on some.            6.  I get very attached to my characters and will cry over them, get pissed off at them, and miss them once I’ve put the book to bed. I cried all the way through Breaking Through. They become real people to me.
        7.  I write multiple genres. Paranormal, Military Romantic Suspense, Contemporary Romance, Historical Romance, Urban Fantasy, Children’s books. 
SEAL TEAM Heartbreaker Series , Historical Romances , Short stories , Paranormal Romantic Suspense  , Fantasy Romance
       The urban fantasy/ paranormal book I’m working on will be my 9th published full-length work.  I love writing long because it’s really-really difficult for me to write short. Kally and I are similar in that manner since we both think 98,000 words is short.

        I love to write. It’s better than food, better than watching movies, better than sex. Better than anything I can think of other than my children. I wrote my first book in second grade and I haven’t stopped since. Some are in boxes under the bed and will never see the light of day. I think I have nine manuscripts that will never be published. I call those my learning-the-craft stories. And now I’ll soon have 9 full length novels published to make up for those lost stories. Luckily the published works are nothing like the ones hidden away. But I learned so much by writing those practice books. They were each and every one worth it.
        I'm putting my CONTEST announcement in the form of a tweet in case any of you would like to tweet it for me.

           #CONTEST RT @teresareasor KEEP IN TOUCH WITH AN AUTHOR #PRIZE A $200 dollar Amazon Gift Card at http://cozymysterymagazine.blogspot.com/2015/03/200dollarPrize.html
         #ASMSG
         By entering this contest you will be eligible to win a 200 dollar gift card from Amazon and you'll learn about some new authors. Sign up for their newsletters if you think you'd like to, or like their author pages. That's all you have to do.

         So go on and take a chance. There's nothing to lose.  

        Read on,
       Teresa Reasor