There's all this stuff in my head...: Writing in layers

Okay so it looks like I fell off the planet. Promise - I'm still here. The last four years have been ... hard. There's no other word for it. Everything is fine. I'm fine, but I've been the caregiver of my mom who has Dementia. Between her needs, work, etc I seem to have lost control of my time. I am still writing and am trying hard to get back to my blog.

In case you weren't aware Phaze and HSWF which where under the Mundania Umbrella have closed. I was smart enough to get my titles back before all this happened. I'm happy to say the three books I sold to HSWF have been picked up by Melange Books and are available through their Satin Books imprint. I have even sold a new title to them called Magical Quest due out in 2022

I have also been lucky enough to find a publisher for my Vespian Way series. I'm now with Blushing Books under the name of Bethany Drake. I have five titles out with them right now and am close to submitting two more. There's Desire's Destiny, Desire's Duty and Desire's Promise. Then there is two in my werewolf series, Tears of the Queen and Legend of the Tears. I have just finished the rough draft of the third book in the series and have plans for a fourth one the moment I submit it.

I'll probably still be sporadic here on the blog. Unless I win the lottery and can hire someone to help me I can't avoid it, but know I'm still here still working hard in the background and am hoping to do better at keeping my blog alive.

Barb:)

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Writing in layers

I'm what they call a pantser. I don't plot out my story before I start writing. To me that takes away form the joy of writing. I seem to write from beginning to end. That is the way all my stories come to me. Have I had scenes pop in my head out of sequence? Sure. But they normally stay in the back of my head waiting for their turn. I think that is what makes some of my scenes so visual. The longer they sit the more detailed they come out.

You see I write the bones of the story first. Mostly all dialog with a few descriptions if I have them. That is my rough draft. Then I go back and read the book to make sure it flows, you connected all the dots. Add scenes if I need them. Then I go through again to flush it out the way it should be. Then I go through one or two more times to give it a good polish.

Each of us have a different way of doing things and this one seems to work the best for me.