I always love hearing and learning about other writers' writing processes and how they deal with various milestones and roadblocks. I am happy to participate in the Writing Process Blog Tour and I'd like to thank my co-writer Tina Moss for inviting me to do so. Please visit her blog,
Writing Your Guilty Pleasure, and follow her on Twitter @Tina_Moss.
#1 What am I working on...
I'm working simultaneously on a few different projects right now:
1) I just finished a short story with my co-writer, which will be a part of a romance anthology called Love Is...which comes out in August. The story is a sequel to A touch of Darkness and is called Embracing Darkness. Other, full length, sequels are in the works as well.
2) I'm writing another short story, which is a futuristic romance that involves an illegal underground fighting ring, a cop bent on bringing it down, and a fighter who can help her. More to come...
3) I'm about a quarter way through the first book in a new urban fantasy series. The series draws on the places of my childhood and their folklore.
#2 My work differs from others in its genre...
A Touch of Darkness is a cross-over between urban fantasy, thriller and paranormal romance. There is a lot of play on gray areas over black and white, and the concepts of good and evil.
Part of the new urban fantasy series takes place in a location that is not common for the genre, and I incorporate the creatures and myths that have to do with my background and the culture I grew up in. I love setting my stories in different places all over the world.
#3 I write what I do because...
I read many genres, including paranormal romance, historical fiction, literary fiction and action thrillers. However, urban fantasy remains perhaps my biggest love.
Once in a while, we want to be taken away to a different world, experience events and feelings that are not the norm in our everyday lives, and know what it would be like to be someone else. Urban fantasy can provide an escape into this other life, a temporary reprieve, a vacation in a manner, that gives us a fresh new perspective into our own lives, or provides us with respite, if nothing else.
That is
what reading urban fantasy is all about. It is also why I write in this genre.
Creating a fun new world, a unique twist on a certain mythology, characters
that have exceptional abilities is an exciting job. The characters in urban
fantasy overcome problems in ways that we would often like to overcome our own
problems. They conquer their fears and fight on, no matter what needs to be
done. We don’t always get to be heroic in our everyday lives, but there are
always situations where we can encounter and overcome our own fears. I believe
that is one of the main attractions of the genre, what many relate to within
it.
The
appeal of the urban fantasy is that it's about putting magical, supernatural
and unexpected into the recognizable, comfortable, commonplace world. We get to
build a world that is accessible, yet not real, scary, yet fun, challenging,
yet heroic.
One day in the future, I
would also like to try my hand in writing historical fiction.
#4 My writing process works...
When I'm flexible. I'm definitely a "pantster", with my preference often been on sitting down and just writing. However, I've realized over the years of trial and error, and occasional writer blocks, that I need to do more outlining. I also do a lot more outlining when I co-write, and there is no question that it makes life much easier. I am bringing more and more of this approach into all my writing. That is not to say that I still don't sometimes sit down at the computer and start pouring the words onto the page without knowing exactly where I am going to end up. It can be fun and productive. Flexibility is everything.
Be sure to check out the next authors in the Writing Process Blog Tour next week, when they talk about their own writing way and what they are working on currently.
Brenda Corey Dunne originally trained as a physiotherapist and worked several years as an Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force before meeting the love of her life and taking her release. Since that time she has had frequent military moves with her husband and family, living in such places as Nova Scotia (Canada), Watchfield (England) and Elizabeth City, (NC). She is currently relocating from the Ottawa, Canada area to Vancouver Island.
Brenda completed her first full-length manuscript in 2008 as a bucket-list item. Since then she has self-published a work of YA historical fiction (Treasure in the Flame), and has several other manuscripts in various stages of completion. Dependent is her first traditionally published work.
More than anything, Laci enjoys spending time with her family. She and her husband support their children on the soccer pitch and off. She enjoys the outdoors, and of course reading and writing (and chocolate). She currently resides with her family in Hampton Roads.
She enjoys reading young adult romance, and erotic romance. She like the genres so much that she also write them (YA work are under a different pen name to protect her younger readers).
Catch her post next week on her blog.
Matthew Wilbur lives in Santa Rosa, California, in the heat of the Redwood Empire. He has been writing
stories since his teenage years, slowly getting better. Besides writing, he enjoys reading, all sorts of music and is a long-time gamer. He works in coporate retail but dreams of something better. One day he hopes to actually publish something he's written.
Check out Matthew's post next week on his blog.
