How I Write

My friends, most of whom have known me since I was a kid, have asked me how I write my stories. I also see a lot of new authors asking how established authors create. I am by no means an expert. In fact, I'm still learning. But here is what I do and what I believe.

First, what I believe. I don't think there is a correct way to write, but I do believe there is a correct way for an individual to write. We are all different. With that in mind, you have to figure out what's best for you. While in my personal life I like structure and plans, when writing, I absolutely HATE them. You have to figure out if you like planning the story ahead of time or if you want to just wing it (pantser). Many writers meticulously write out plot, characters, twists, tropes they wish to include, scenes, etc. If building a world (sci-fi), it's important to establish rules beforehand to make sure each character or scene adheres to those rules. For most other genres, you don't have to worry about things like that. Well, in most cases. If you're a planner, plan. If not, consider planning, but don't beat yourself up if you can't or don't want to. It'll all work out eventually. In other words, do you!

As for what I do, I'm a complete pantser. It's not that I can't outline, it's just that I don't. The reason is simple. I don't like limiting my story. If I plan it out, then my mind feels like the story HAS to go a certain way. The beauty of creation to me is in the journey. My characters and I have blindly gotten on a train and we have no idea where it's going. We have no clue how many stops are on the way either. When we run out of track, that's when we've arrived.

Some of my best twists would have never happened if I outlined. On my first story Victims of the HUNT, I tried to take notes the first couple of times when I finished writing for the day on where I was taking the story. The next day when I sat down to write, I reviewed the notes and prepared to write after visualizing the next step to that predetermined destination. When I started typing, it was like my mind immediately closed off that destination and re-routed us to a new landing spot. I actually couldn't continue the story in the direction I'd left it. My mind immediately rejected the idea of closing off possible ways to take the story. The moment I stopped taking notes during that story, I never had problems writing anything. The story was there. In fact, it was begging to come out.

I've completed seven stories (I have to re-read two of them before sending them into editing) and have three more in various stages of completion. So, with 10 stories either completed or in progress, only one story did I know the ending to before I began writing. That was The Ghost's Tale: Attila. The funny thing is that I knew the ending to that book. What I didn't know was that the story was the first in a trilogy. Even though I knew the ending, it was only the final scene I knew. Nothing else about the book was known, the idea popped in my head as just that final scene. And in the original thought, all that was there was the main character was saved in a way I can't tell here (mwahaha) because that book isn't published yet. But the main character was originally a human. When the story was finished, the main character was a ghost.

Here I was with the ending, but nothing else. When my mind made the decision to write that story, I simply sat down and found out during the first paragraph that the main character had died 200 years ago and was telling his story to the world (yes, inspired by Interview with the Vampire by the amazing Anne Rice). About halfway through writing that story, I knew there would be a second book. By the time I finished the first story, I knew it was a trilogy. But I had no idea how books two or three would end.

When I'm writing a new story, I don't think about it at all when I'm not writing. The moment I sit down, it's there. And it comes out fast. But it comes out free with no limitations. That's what works for me. My mind needs to be free to do whatever it wants. If yours is that way, awesome. If your mind needs to know beforehand who, what, when, where, why, and how, then that's just as awesome. Don't force anything. Do what works best for you. If only one way worked, then everyone would be doing it that way.

Stay strong and believe in yourself. Tell your story.

Till next time, thanks for checking out my blog. I hope it helped and/or entertained.