Writer’s Process Blog Tour

Dr. Evil/Austin Powers Memegenerator.net

This writer has been invited to participate in Project Bacon. At least that’s what I’m calling it. It’s a sort of six degrees of separation for writers that author, LaDonna Cole, turned me onto. Sharing ideas on the writing process serves to both inspire and make us not feel so weird. If we’re all weird together, we’re normal. Hey, that is my new motto, and all thanks to LaDonna Cole, author of The Torn, writer extraordinaire of books about the dangers of quantum physics.

Last week LaDonna wrote a blog about her writing process and introduced three authors. One of them was me. Today it’s my turn to expose some of my glittery skeletons, and to introduce you to three pretty amazing writers that you may not have yet had the pleasure of knowing.

When you ask a writer to talk about their writing process, someone is bound to do the Dr. Evil finger quotes in the air. Just try to stop them. This is probably because we all have our own way of writing. It’s like how do you make potato salad, or of the six remotes on your coffee table how does one go about actually turning your TV on? Today I'm going to answer four questions about my writing process, and a week from now my featured authors will do the same about their writing process, on their blogs. 

So let the writing process questions commence!

• What am I working on? Oh, the pressure! My last novel released yesterday, give me a break. Seriously though, it was actually released last week and I’ve already written 150,000 words of the next book in the Warrior of the Ages series (this is actually true, just not since last week). I’m considering having giant stickers made up that say But I’m writing a novel to slap on dust bunnies and weeds. Instead of sleeping enough or tending to housework, I write a lot. There were many years when I couldn’t write much at all, and I’m making up for lost time. 

• How does my work differ from others of its genre? My genre is Action Adventure with a Twist of Fantasy. My work is different, I’ll admit that. It tends to straddle lines. The Warrior of the Ages series is spiritual without being religious. It can be sad and funny sometimes in the same paragraph. It can be both literary and light. There are some romances that don’t fit any mold, in my opinion real romances aren’t stereotypical. My work has a hard time fitting into a genre. I think that alone makes it different within any genre it tries to squeeze into. 

• Why do I write what I do? Perhaps it is selfish, or perhaps it is self preservation, but I write what thrills and intrigues me. If I’m going to spend months working on a story, I want detail, depth, and characters that I either enjoy or love to hate. The Warrior of the Ages series is something I wrote and allowed my fingers and the muse to control. I write stories that grab me and refuse to be ignored. 

• How does my writing process work? Frankly I can be obsessive. Total immersion is how I write. When I’m writing a story it’s usually close to the surface, even during rewrites scenes are often close by. That means I’m thinking about it when I’m walking, working out, falling asleep, and waking up. I devote as much focus to getting the first draft done as possible—although admittedly I do reread scenes and tweak as I go. It works for me. I like to work and rework a scene while I have the muse’s attention on it. I also tend to research as I go. After the WIP is finished, I reread and rework it to a more reader friendly story. It goes to beta readers for comments, and I tend to rewrite scenes again with many of those comments in mind. It’s a process. There is nothing fast about book writing. After that it goes to the editor for redlining and another few go-around’s, story edits and line edits.

Author W. Franklin Lattimore

Now this is the fun part, meeting other authors. First in my glittery line-up is W. Franklin Lattimore. Let me warn you about this author’s work. He writes the books you can’t put down, where you walk around trying to do things while reading. That costs a few stubbed toes, not to mention that Freedom Fight had me sleeping with the light on for a couple of weeks.

 W. Franklin Lattimore is the author of the Otherealm Saga, beginning with Freedom Fight. Freedom War and Freedom Zone are complete and going through final edits, with Freedom Cry, his WIP. His former involvement in the occult as a teenager was the springboard for writing the Otherealm Saga. His novels are written, not just as entertainment, but as wake-up calls to those dabbling in, curious about, or heavily active in witchcraft and other "spiritual" activities. OtherealmLife.wordpress.com

Author Parker J. Cole

Next is the amazing and multi-talented, Parker J. Cole, and her glittery fifty shades of green. Although you’re going to want to leave your light on for at least one of these books, not to mention clear your schedule, because you won’t be able to focus on anything else until you finish the story anyway.

Parker J. Cole is a writer and radio show host who spends most of her time reading, knitting, writing, cooking, and concocting new ideas for stories. Her first novel, Dark Cherub, won Best of Spring Reading 2013 from eMediaCampaigns. She lives in Michigan with her husband and their beloved dog, Sarah. Blog Link: thewritestuffradio.wordpress.com

Author Jeff LaFerney

The mysterious grittery grit of the illustrious and multi-published Jeff LaFerney is next.

Jeff writes both mystery and time travel in a refreshing and unique way, and I have no idea how he gets it all done, but I’m just glad he does. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure, you’re going to want to jump on over to Amazon and check Jeff’s books out.

Jeff has been a language arts teacher and coach for nearly twenty-eight years. He’s a Michigan native with a beautiful wife and two awesome kids. Loving the Rain is his first suspense novel in the Clay and Tanner Thomas series.  The second, Skeleton Key, and the third, Bulletproof, are paranormal mysteries.  Jumper is a time-travel, action/adventure. Jeff loves competing at sports, connecting to good books, and creating words that make people laugh. The Red Pen blog link:  http://jefflaferney.blogspot.com/