My Writing Process - Blog Tour

This is about how organized I feel sometimes.

First, a huge thanks to Isabella Norse at http://isabellanorse.com/ for inviting me to be part of this blog tour!

Here are the four questions:

1. What am I working on?

Currently I'm writing furiously to finish the first draft for the third Lycanthropy Files book, Blood's Shadow so I can set it aside for the week and have the rest of the month to revise it before my April 30 deadline. Beyond that, I'm pondering steampunk. I just sold a short story, and I have an idea for a trilogy.

2. How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I write urban fantasy mysteries with a scientific twist. The first Lycanthropy Files book The Mountain's Shadow was called a "werewolf mystery/medical thriller" by one reviewer. The second one Long Shadows, which just came out on Tuesday, continues with the mystery/suspense theme. The third one pushes the boundaries of the genre by asking the question of what would happen if there was a cure for lycanthropy, or werewolf-ism? As you can probably imagine, not everyone is happy about the possibility.

3. Why do I write what I do?

I've always been fascinated by legends and tales of fantastic creatures, and so I'm thrilled that the genre has taken off. Also, from a psychological perspective, it's fun to play with power and identity in a different sense. I actually blogged about the psychological reasons behind why I write paranormal at the Fresh Fiction site in December, and most recently at Suzanne Johnson's blog.

4. How does my writing process work?

I try so very hard to be an outliner, I really do. I recognize how it would make life easier for me and spare me those "what now?" moments that every writer dreads. But outlining is really not me - knowing what happens kills the fun of writing the story. I've been lucky in that my fabulous Samhain editor will accept proposals from me with five to ten chapters and a synopsis. The synopsis is more of a general storyline with the major plot points for the mystery and romance in place, but the rest is fair game. The last fourth of Long Shadows, although generally what was in the proposal synopsis, took an interesting turn that made sense in the context of hints my mind had dropped in the story earlier.

That's the main reason I can't do detailed outlines. I sit down and write and go, and my brain will drop little hints or descriptions into the story that end up being really important later without my planning for them. One of my favorite writing quotes is Ray Bradbury's "Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way." I sometimes have to remind myself to do that, to just shut up the inner editor and go where my intuition or inspiration takes me.

So this is where I would tell you what writers to visit next week... I apologize, but that part of the hop slipped my mind through a combination of weird life factors like a cat having a major neurological event while I was out of town, which caused Hubby and me to have to rush back from Memphis and MidSouthCon, a stomach virus, a book release, and having to schedule surgery, which will be happening on Wednesday. Argh. So, I encourage you to go to Isabella's blog and follow the hop through one of her other chosen authors.

Thank you so much for stopping by!