"My Writing Process" Blog Tour

Greetings Everyone,

I was actually tagged for a blog tour on “My Writing Process” by two of my writing buddies. No one said you couldn’t help out two friends at once. So here goes.

D. Wilder tagged me first. Dragon (as we lovingly refer to him) is an independent fantasy author who writes serialized dragon sagas for adults. His ability to crawl into a dragon’s skin, and unique perspective, makes his writing totally enthralling. I have never met a writer that can handle detail so well without slowing down his story.

I was lucky enough to read Wilds (in progress) dragon tale, “Black Collar” when it was only available to a limited audience. I was so consumed by the story I nagged him until he placed it on a blog for all to see. I am so pleased he is sharing his marvelous work with the public. I know at this point he would *pull close with a wing and huggle* embarrassed by the praise, but you really should read it. You can find his work here: The Black Collar Blog  You can also read his contribution to the “My Writing Process” blog tour here:  thewilderland.blog  

Bill Cameron tagged me second. In fact, I think Bill actually tagged me first, but his email was buried below Dragon’s so I didn’t get to him until later. Bill has been my friend since I joined the writing group he and some friends put together. From the start he was something special. He is traditionally published as well as having eBooks available. He is very active in the mystery writer’s market and he gives really great advice. I know he will smile at that, but he does. He is the one who convinced me to self-publish and even helped me by formatting all twelve of my books. In my opinion he is not only a mentor and writer, he is just a great guy. Check out his blog and the links to all his work here: Bill Cameron

So on with my part of this project…

What am I working on?

What would we indie authors be without our mutual indie author friends? We are all a community and reach out trying to give each other that final ‘leg up’ over the wall into the flowering garden of sales and fame.

This past Christmas I was approached by one of my author friends to work on a project that might last for years, perhaps even our entire writing careers. He had a plan to get five authors together and write crossover novels placed in the same setting with some mutual characters used by all five authors. Based on the popularity of the Star Trek series of books, he thought this might work to help us topple over that wall I spoke of earlier.

Through numerous emails, I cannot tell you how many, we developed the setting known as The Realms. The Realms is a world hidden from most humans where all the things we humans think are paranormal, mythological or fanciful actually live. Humans exist in this world, but only as servants or children born to servants. The area is accessed through portals from our world, only known to those who live there. The Realms is alive and morphs based on the ruler at the time. Currently, the ruler is a ruthless vampire names Raven, so all things within The Realms are gothic in nature, but that will change as the rulers are over thrown along with their influence over The Realms.

I am currently working on the second novella as my contribution to this project. The point of view is from my main character, Cody, a shape shifter who can appear either human or wolf. In the first novel he meets his true love (Simone) only to have her adore him as a wolf, but dismiss him as a human. She has no idea the two are one-in-the-same.

In the current volume I am working on Cody has nuzzled his way into Simone’s affections in his wolf persona only to find she is in love with another. His life is becoming very complicated as he tries at first to keep them apart, but then relents in order to see the love of his life happy even if it is at great cost to him.

The story will be complicated by the Fire Demon Simone keeps locked in the basement at night, the Retrievers who are after Cody for skipping out of the mid-lands between Heaven and Hell, and a trip back to our human world that will send everyone running like a pack of wolves after an injured deer.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I believe what sets my work apart from other paranormal or urban fantasy is I always seem to see the lighter side. There is always humor in my books. I would like to think, though I know this is a bit presumptuous, that my writing style is similar to Josh Whedon’s. Or since I am older, perhaps his writing is similar to mine. *snickers behind hand*  All my books are very character driven and with that the characters are well rounded with humor as well as the driving forces of the plot.

Why do I write what I do?

I currently write in four genres, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal and Memoirs. I write what moves me and interests me. I love the freedom of writing imagined settings and characters. I love my characters, my intelligent and caring dragon, Farloft, my adventurous and dedicated spacemen, Jake and Arr, and my troubled shape shifter, Cody.

I thrill in the development/descriptive process of working out a new setting or characters. I enjoy flexing my ‘imagination’ muscles to see where they take me.

How does your writing process work?

Because I hold down a full-time job and am caregiver to my elderly father who lives with me, my time is limited. I write at any given opportunity. I keep a tablet by my bedside and have been known to scribble ideas or phases on it at odd hours of the night and early morning. (The cat has gotten so she sleeps through the disruption of lights on and off at all hours.)

I do my best writing in the morning, so I often rise early and put in a couple of hours on the keyboard before work. I also write during lunch and breaks at work. This often does not have the finished flow I need, but it gets the ideas down when they are fresh.

My favorite way to write is what I can sometimes find on a lazy Saturday or Sunday. I rise early, get my cup of tea made, put on some light instrumental music, and sit down to a day of writing. I honestly can forget about eating or even think to finish my tea before it is stone cold. It is not until dad ambles over to my side of the house to ask if we are going to have lunch or dinner that I will come up for air.

I am also a multi project writer. I always have a story running on my blog and have for the past fifteen years. That story is posted to every Wednesday and Saturday. Currently, I have the next scifi drafted and waiting for final editing and the next fantasy within probably five to ten chapters of completion in first draft form. There are always projects to fill my time. I live, therefore I write. *grins*

 Who’s UP NEXT?

Drew Avera – The Founder and one of by writing buddies in paranormal, The Twin Cities Series, husband, father, aviation electrician in the navy, and writer of books. I know if I hang around him long enough he will manager to pull us all up by our bootstraps into fame and fortune. He writes scifi, fantasy, urban fantasy, and thrillers. His Blog: Drew Avera His work: Drew Avera-Amazon

Brian Larson – Brian is from my area of the world, the Pacific NW. He was given the title "bookworm" in school because he always had his nose in a book. Brian has not let the fact that he suffers from Dyslexia stop his dreams of becoming a writer. In July 2012, he was accepted by a publisher within three days and is now self-publishing his science fiction books. His work: Brian-K.-Larson His blog: Secret of the Crystal

James Warren McAllister - James is a Registered Respiratory Therapist living in Central New York State. His first novel, THE BEST LAID PLANS, was selected on February 1, 2014 as a Runner-Up in the MARSocial Author of the Year Competition, the largest competition of its type ever held on the internet.
I had the honor of beta reading his novel “The Page,” a wonderfully stylized medieval story. His work and blog on this subject can be found here: Fortiter Publishing