You don’t need to tell me a secret that maybe you covet as to how you work—I have a couple I’ll probably never share. But I wonder how other writers “start” their new books. From the germ of an idea before you get to Chapter one and/or the first word, how do you get it going?
I guess what I want to know is how you know “what” you’re going to write next from the genre or sub-genre to how you decide on who’s who in the book. How thought-out a process do you go through when you’re on to the next book? Or do you already have several story ideas in the queue so you’re just waiting for the time?
After I got my cozy done and out the door, I pulled open a couple of manuscripts I’ve been working on a for a while—this is where my lack of plotter really curses my arse. When I get stuck, the book will often just sit. And while I may tweak a word here and there, I don’t make great progress. As is the case with the two books from a while ago. So naturally, I decided to start from scratch hoping that would start the mental juices flowing. Silly me thinking it would be so easy. I literally stared at a blank word doc page for days. Not a darn thing was coming to me. I would never call it writer’s block as I wasn’t writing anything. Hell, I didn’t know *what* I wanted to write.
Then luckily, in small, slow bits it came to me. I got the idea for the heroine. The hero was a little more illusive but he did finally gel into a tangible character and after doing a phone consult with my BFF, I hammered out as much of the plot as I am comfortable doing. But I have to tell you, it was a few scary days when my mind was totally blank.
I guess if this question was asked of me, my answer would be… “it just came to me”. That’s so not helpful is it. (and a wee bit scary that that was how my process worked this time around.) I’m not going to knock it, and lets cross fingers I can actually get this book moving along … my ADD has been so high the past few months it’s really sad. Anyhoo, is that how it works for you too, just comes to you, or do you have a dedicated process you go through?
