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Guest Author: Heather Snow — As I Create, I am Led
 Posted by Laurie Kellogg Feb 10 2012, 12:01 am I have the great privilege today of hosting one of my 2010 Unsinkable GH sisters, Heather Snow. I just finished reading her wonderful regency historical romance, Sweet Enemy and now unders Sweet Enemy is a compelling, touching love story with unique characters that stay with you long after you close the book. And if you like lots of sexual tension and hot, steamy love scenes, this book is for you! Heather really knows how to turn up the heat. So without further ado, h-ere’s Heather! <cue The Tonight Show music> Ba-da-da-da-da . . .
Hello! Thank you, Laurie, and the rest of the Ruby Sisters for having me here to celebrate the release of my debut, SWEET ENEMY. Some of you may know that Sweet Enemy was my first completed manuscript. I was, of course, surprised and delighted when it sold. I was also tossed head-first into the life of a published author writing on deadline before I was even certain what my own process was. So as I thought of what I could possibly have to offer in a writer-based post to readers who likely have written many more books than my paltry two, and consequently know more about their own processes, I got a little intimidated! In the end, I decided to write about what changed for me between book one and book two–well, besides going from having all of the time in the world to write and revise to having the pressure to create under deadline with a three year old and a new baby at home–and what I learned about myself as a writer because of it. The biggest change was that I realized that sometimes, I just had to write. Sounds simple, but to me, it wasn’t. I am a planner, and given that my stories have a mystery element, I felt even more justifi And then, floundering through my second book, I came across an article about creative affirmations. Most of what I read didn’t really fit my personality, but I latched onto one in particular that spoke to me, and I started writing out a particular affirmation at least 25 times by hand before I sat down to write. AS I CREATE, I AM LED Now, for a left-brained, analytical thinker like me, those just might be the six scariest words in the English language. Okay, not really, but pretty darned close! It was terrifying to give myself permission to just discover things along the way—things about the characters, things about the love story, things about the mystery, things about the villain. To just sit and write, letting my creative side have reign over my analytical side (oh, the horror!) and see what came of it. And you know what? Great things did…I let the characters and the story and my own poor neglected muse show me where I should let them go—within a strong framework, of course. (You didn’t think my analytical side was going to take this lying down, did you?) And I was thrilled with the result. So here’s where we get to what I learned. When I looked back at SWEET ENEMY, I’d done much the same thing, just differently—if that makes any sense. I’d let Liliana and Geoffrey dictate the story and show themselves to me, just in a different process. Both books came out in my voice, even if they came out differently. But the biggest thing I learned was to trust myself. I had good stories to tell, I just had to let myself tell them. I learned that I could do this writing thing, even on deadline, that I wasn’t just a fluke. And I was surprised to learn that if I let my creative flag fly, I could do it even faster. Now, of course, I’m going to try something even a little different as I write the third…the chemist in me is also a bit of an experimenter, you see! I’ll let you know what I find out! What’s the most interesting/surprising thing you’ve ever learned about your own process? Or, if you’re not a writer, what do you imagine writers do when they sit down at the computer?Normally, I give away a signed copy of SWEET ENEMY on my blog tour, but since I know the Ruby Sisters get a lot of writer/readers, I have something even better: TWO random commenters today will win a historical romance Query Letter & Brief Synopsis critique from my fabulous agent, Barbara Poelle of the Irene Goodman Agency! (Of course, if you win and would rather have a signed copy of SWEET ENEMY instead, I can oblige.) Good luck!
Sweet Enemy… “Historical intrigue and heart-pounding passion make Sweet Enemy a great read. Romance fans will love it.” ~#1NYT Bestselling Author JULIE GARWOOD Geoffrey Wentworth, a war hero and rising political star, never wanted to be the Earl, but when his brother dies, he knows his duty—take up the responsibility for his family’s estates. His mother’s definition of duty differs from his, however, and can be summed up in one word—heirs. When Geoffrey rushes home to answer her urgent summons, he finds himself host to a house full of women, all vying to become the next Countess of Stratford. But his love is Parliament, where he wields his influence and reputation to better the lives of ex-soldiers, until a tempting houseguest and a secret from his past threaten his freedom…and his heart. Liliana Claremont, a brilliant chemist, doesn’t want to be any man’s wife, much less a countess. If she had tuppence for every time she’d been told her place was filling the nursery, not experimenting in the laboratory, she could buy the Tower Bridge. However, when she receives a coveted invitation to the Earl’s house party, she trades in her beakers for ball gowns and gladly takes on the guise of husband hunter—for the chance to uncover what the Earl had to do with the murder of her father. Liliana believes the best way to get the answers she needs is to keep her enemy close, though romance is not part of her formula. But it only takes one kiss to start a reaction she can’t control… Heather Snow is a historical romance author with a degree in Chemistry who discovered she much preferred creating chemistry on the page, rather than in the lab. She is forever trying to wrangle her left and right brain to work together (some days with more success than others!), but if her two sides had to duke it out, left would win every time—which can be a creative challenge. Luckily, she loves challenges…she just goes about solving them analytically. Heather lives in the Midwest with her husband, two rambunctious boys and one very put upon cat. She sincerely hopes you find her stories have just the right chemistry… Please visit her at www.HeatherSnowBooks.com, on Facebook www.facebook.com/authorheathersnow or on Twitter www.twitter.com/HeatherSnowRW Sweet Enemy is available wherever books are sold. Share:
              
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Congratulations on your release, Heather! It’s amazing how different the process can be for writers, isn’t it? I plot it through, then write it out, then only come to know my characters once they’re on the page, then have to go back and re-plot because the original scenario just isn’t what they would do…rinse and repeat.
I hope you’re enjoying your celebration week!
Hi Gillian! Thanks–it’s been a hectic week (but then when is life with two young boys NOT hectic?), but fun.
I like the “rinse and repeat” analogy…I can see where it would be just like that. What I have to learn to do now is get the story down in enough time to allow myself to go back for a few wash cycles
Thanks for coming by!
I can’t wait to read this, Heather! It seems like just yesterday you sold, and yet FOREVER!!! As a fellow scientist, I totally identified with your process.
Congrats on the upcoming release!
Hi Jen! Great to see you! Yes, it does seem like Forever ago and yet it also snuck up on me!
As for process, I know you understand how discomfitting it can be when the steps you took on a successful first experiment don’t seem to be reproduceable! Kind of scary…
I can’t wait to read your debut. I’ve heard such great things about it.
I sold on my 5th manuscript, and I still flounder over my process. Perhaps it’s like pregnancy–every one is different. I’m now dealing with deadlines for the first time, and it seems fact creates a kind of mental block.
I love the whole AS I CREATE, I AM LED. As a pantser, that pretty much describes my usual way of going about things. I also love how you, as a plotter, see how the process turns out to be the same but different.
I can’t wait to read YOUR book, Ashlyn! I know it’s due out early 2013. Do you have an actual release date yet?
Unfortunately, I don’t have anything more specific than early 2013. I only just got my revisions on the first book.
Hi Ashlyn! As much as I fear it, you’re probably right about each book being different/unique… That’s going to drive my analytical little mind crazy!!!
Looking forward to early 2013!
Congratulations, Heather, on your release! SWEET ENEMY sounds like such a great read, and what a fascinating writing process. One of the quirky things about my writing process…when I get stumped or am having an issue with a particular scene or character, I hop in the shower. Usually by the time I run out of hot water, I’m ready to go back and write. Weird, huh? Hugs!
A shower, a few laps in the pool, even a walk in the rain: there really is something about water that unlocks the imagination! (Carl Jung was on to something!)
Hi Shelley! That’s not weird, it’s enviable! I can’t seem to even think about my story unless I’m in front of my computer with designated time to mull it over. I wish I could train myself to head-write, so I could be working on it during the more mundane tasks of life.
Congrats on all of the exciting stuff you have going on!
Not weird at all, Shelley. I do the same thing. Recently I added a running water fountain/falls thingy in my office. Listening to the water, I think its help the muse.
Congratulations on your release, Heather! Your book sounds wonderful. I always love hearing about different writing processes. Sometimes it takes awhile to find what works for you. My process is like cooking. I let my idea simmer while I gather the ingredients and line them up on the counter. How they are tossed into the pot depends on my creativity that day. I’m known for not always following a recipe. Thanks for being here today!
June, you and I would get along great in the kitchen! My writing process is similar to yours. I come up with a basic premise and do a GMC chart. Then I let the idea and characters grow in my mind for a few days before I begin writing.
I pound out the first three chapters from what I’ve formulated, and then I write a working synopsis that is NEVER what I eventually write. But it keeps me focused on my characters overall story goals and conflicts so I don’t stray too far or write myself into a corner. Then I simply let myself create!
Hi June! I think that is a great analogy! Even plotting, I do a bit of that…get a basic premise out, gather all of the stuff I think I need for the story parts, then let it sit a bit. My problem with the deadline was that I wasn’t able to let it sit enough! I had to push my ‘ingredients’ to cook a little faster
Hopefully, I’ll learn a few good “rapid boil” techniques on this 3rd one.
Thanks for coming by!
Hey there unsinkable sister! I’ve been waiting for this book for such a long time. I’m always so amazed by people who sell their first ever book. Congratulations!
And, you know what? Writing process is always changing as you learn new things. I’ve discovered this over the last couple of years. Writing to a deadline really changes the process. You have to learn how to write fast. Not to mention having to go through revisions on one book while simultaneously writing another.
Hi Hope! That’s so sweet of you to say
I hate the fact that the process is ever changing, even as I admit that you’re right. You’re also right about the deadline stuff…it’s a challenge (at least for me) to have to be working on two different stories, in the heads of two different sets of characters, at the same time, as I am generally a pretty focused type of writer.
But we’re living and learning, right? Thanks for saying hi!
Congrats on the debut, Heather. The books sounds so awesome, and you hero is ironically like the first hero I ever wrote which I think is a fun hero to follow. Love the ones obssessed by duty, but blindsighted by passion. Yummy.
Writing process…hmmm…I think I’m also similar to you in that regard in that I sold my first contemporary manuscript I’d written, then quickly thereafter, the second and third. I really didn’t have a process other than getting an idea and seeing where it took me. I wasn’t a planner. But when I realized I had to create a book withing 3-4 months I had to figure out very quickly how that would happen. I think I do a lot of trusting my creative side (which always makes it scary to deliver to my editor) but I do always have a framework. The outline must be there – it just fill it in with whatever color strikes my fancy and seems to fit the overall picture.
Lovely post
It is an awesome book, Liz. I love romances that sizzle, but I need a great plot and characters to back it up, which Heather delivers beautifully.
I just have to say, you gals who sell right out of the gate leave me–an unsold 2X GH winner–in awe.
Thanks, Liz! And a hearty congrats on all of the great news I’ve heard for you recently
Yes, the time crunch certainly changes everything, doesn’t it? As does the fact that editors sometimes don’t agree with where you want to go in a proposed story, and insert a little input into your creative process. Sometimes it’s hard to get your head around! I’m just hoping my confidence in myself as a writer grows as I go along, so I can nip those paralyzing moments of doubt in the bud sooner rather than later so I don’t waste as much time worrying about it and spend more time in the fun part of writing!
Thanks so much for saying hello!
These are comforting words, Heather. I’ve had “Leap, and the net will appear” taped to my computer for a long time. I’m now going to add “As I create, I am led.” We all need to remind ourselves that the best way is what works for us.
I’m working on having at least a bare-bones plot before I start a book, but so far I do best with a figuring out the rough premise, plunging in, blasting through, and then sorting out the plot. Trusting myself and my characters cuts down on the paralysis.
Congratulations on SWEET ENEMY!
“Leap, and the net will appear!” I love that one!
I’ve spent my life doing just that, Elisa, and so far, the net has appeared. I try not to dread the splat in case it doesn’t.
Hi Jane!!! I do love that one
What I actually have taped to my computer came out of a fortune cookie. I was struggling, floundering, freaking out about how my second book was going to be the worse sophomore slump book EVER, and I ordered Chinese for comfort food. When I opened up the cookie, it said “Focus Your Attention”.
That’s really important to me because, like so many writers and mothers, I have so much going on all of the time. Kid things, wife things, writer things, promotion things and when I would get freaked out by the fact that what worked for my first book wasn’t working so well for my second, it was easy to “justify” that I was working and update my website, blog, promote, etc., instead.
That cookie told me to get my butt in gear and write the book and figure the rest out later. It’s still taped there.
Thanks for stopping by, sweetie! I’m feeling the Unsinkable love
Great fortune! I need to be reminded to focus, too.
And, of course, we’re here. All the Unsinkables are excited for you.
Oh! I used creative affirmations when I wrote my Golden Heart book, Trust No One! Congratulations and good luck!
Hi Diana! I think it would be a fun post just to do writers experiences with the different affirmations. I know a lot of writers use them. I am a friend, for example, who does the “I AM a NYT Bestselling Author” so she can get herself in the mindset that her writing is good. I would love to hear which ones other writers use and why!
Thanks for stopping by and saying hi!
Congrats, Heather! It’s always so encouraging when a new author sells. Enjoy the adventure!
Hi Heidi! Thanks, and I totally agree. I used to pour over the first sales and call stories, etc., just to remind myself that it could be done and people were still selling even in the scary marketplace.
Thanks for stopping by!
As you said, trusting yourself as a writer is so important. Trusting that your stories are worth telling…I struggle with that, and it helps to have fellow writers (and an editor!) to bounce ideas off of.
Congratulations on the book!! It looks fabulous.
Anne Marie — believe me, I still struggle with that. Given my personality, I probably always will. And I’m not good at asking for help…so I don’t ask for a lot of input from my editor/agent. I was certain when I turned it in, they would call me back and tell me I had to cancel Christmas because the book stunk so badly that it needed to be entirely rewritten.
Luckily, they both loved it. But the scared writer in me still doubts… I wonder if THAT ever goes away?
I attended a workshop at RWA Nationals a couple of years ago by Sabrina Jeffries, Deb Marlowe, and Claudia Dain. Their talk was called something like “Plotter, Pantser, or Plotser.” I’m with Deb M–I’m a plotser. I have to have the skeleton of the plot ready to roll before I start writing, then my first draft fleshes it out–and my subsequent drafts add layers. I really love the revision process. I think that’s where my creative brain kicks in.
Hi Beth! I totally wanted to go to that workshop…I need to pull out my conference CD and listen to it. I’m with you, I think I have to be a plotser. I WISH I was just a plotter…it fits so much more nicely with the way my brain works and with what I’m comfortable with, but I think I’m going to have to admit that I’m not… (sigh)
I’m hoping I get more comfortable with whatever my crazy process is during the third book
Thanks for coming by!
Good morning! What great conversation we have going on! Thanks so much for having me. I’m looking forward to joining after I get the boys settled.
I will try to go back and answer comments as I have time. The Heir and the Spare are rather demanding of Mommy’s time, and as 3 year old and 6 month old, they could care less about Mommy’s blog tour…lol However, I want you all to know that I am reading each comment and very much appreciate the time you’ve taken to say hello!
Congratulations, Heather! Reading of your success and process is inspiring.
Thanks, Leslie! I still love to read people’s call/publishing stories! I think they are inspiring at all levels
A huge congratulations Heather. Wishing you great success and many sales.
Thanks, Rita! I appreciate it
Woo-hoo, Unsinkable sister!!!
This is such an exciting debut! (And your cover is gorrrrgeous!! Kind of makes me regret the fact that I have the book on my Kindle and won’t get to feast my eyes on that gorgeous blue while I read.)
I love the “As I create, I am led.” I’m a natural pantser, though these days I think of myself as a “recovering pantser.” I need to learn some left-brain plotting skills….
Hi Elisa!!! Great to see you! “Recovering Pantster”…I love it! I guess that makes me a “Recovering Plotter”. I wonder if we put our two brains together, whether we could create the “perfect” story
Yes, the blue cover is stunning. I was thrilled with it! And I can’t wait until I can reveal the cover for SWEET DECEPTION, which comes out in August. Sooooo pretty.
Heather, welcome to the Rubies and congrats on your success. It took me three books before I realized what genre I should be writing (the first two actually had RS elements) and actually developed my process, which is to write the first 50 pages or so and then come up with sketchy plot. I’m panster and my books do change, but atleast I have the correl I can keep my characters in.
I’m wishing you mega sales, dear.
Thanks, Autumn. I like your plan…though how do you write the first 50 pages without the plot? Do you sort of sketch out character and let them lead the story? I’m always curious what works for people…
I get a situation in mind and go from there. In Evil’s Witness I wondered what would happen if a woman witnessed a tractor-trial heist-a load of money–stolen by the Russian Mafia. After approximately fifty pages, I step back and think about possible scenes and dig deep into my character’s heads.
Being a pantser is rough, but as you say, our process is our process, and it’s always evolving.
Best of luck with your new release, Heather. It sounds fabulous!
Thanks so much! I think I may have to accept that any process can be rough, and I’m just going to have to get through it and then reshape the story. So goes against my poor little brain…
Hi Heather! Congrats on your release- such an exciting time! This is a great post, it’s very reassuring to see tht everyone struggles with their own process. I know I did, and still do.
I kept thinking that I should be plotting, that being organized and methodical was the only way to move me from Point A to Point B, but everything I wrote was flat and lifeless. I’ve found that the most plotting I can manage, without sucking the life out of my story, is a loose outline and GMCs. When I write like that, it flows…and I actually like it and have fun with it, which is the most important thing!
Hi Olivia! I think you may be onto something in what I need to consider, too. I gave my editor a very detailed synopsis for my 2nd proposal, but it also made me feel hemmed in. And in the end, while the story did resemble the synopsis, I discovered a ton of what the story was really about while I was writing. I’m hoping she’ll be happy with a much thinner synopsis this time, because I don’t want to agonize over that synopsis only to feel like I’m shackling myself
Thanks for sharing about your process with us today!
I can’t wait to read SWEET ENEMY, Heather! So glad that Jillian Stone pointed it out to me. Now just to find time for all the reading I WANT to do.
I think the most surprising thing I’ve found about my writing process is that while I like having a detailed roadmap of where I want a story to go, I love being surprised by some of the little side trips or unexpected shortcuts that my characters throw my way.
You’re right…those little side trips CAN be fun…I just need to loosen the reins and LET it be fun, I think! And I need to be sure to allow myself enough time that I can feel comfortable letting those types of things happen without worrying that if I let myself pursue them, whether or not the story will get done on time!
Thanks for stopping by. I’l glad Jillian introduced us.
Sincere congratulations, Heather, on your new release. SWEET ENEMY’s hero and heroine sound like a winning, combustible combination.
Like Laurie, I come up with a basic premise, then let my muse take the lead.
Thanks Joanne,
I’m hoping to have time to be a little nicer to my muse this time
In the past, I’ve felt like a bit of a slave driver and I’m pretty sure she resents me!
Congratulations on your upcoming release, and thanks for the tips and pep talk! Here’s to many more “new” releases for you! Kayla
Thanks, Kayla!
Big congratulations, Heather! It’s always so neat to hear what someone else’s process is like. The most interesting thing about my own process has to do with trusting my editor’s suggestions (if that makes sense). I wasn’t sure I could still love a book that I’d had to rip apart and put back together…but you know what? I’ve always been happier with the end result than I was with the original book.
Congratulations again, Unsinkable sis! Can’t wait to read this book!
Hi Tina! Great to see you! No, that totally makes sense. Luckily, so far, I have had to rip a book apart due to editorial comments. However, I did have to make some significant changes on proposal, and that was really hard for me to get my head out of the “old” book that I wanted to write, and into the new.
Thanks for stopping by!
I keep looking at your book thinking I need to buy it… maybe I’ll see if I win it first. Congrats!
Thanks for coming by. Good luck
A great post.
Figuring out a process is rough. I’ve always been a plotter but if I stick to close to my outlines I can feel creatively stifled. That’s when my characters end up sounding like robots. But when I rely too heavily on pantsing I can get lost and end up thrashing around in the thick grass. I’m still trying to find the balance between those two scenarios.
Congrats on your release! Sweet Enemy sounds awesome. I love the idea of a chemist heroine and I love the whiff of suspense in your blurb.
Balance…that’s EXACTLY the word. I need to find what my balance is that keeps my brain and my muse both happy! No problem…LOL
Thanks so much! I’m really hoping people love my Regency-era chemist, her hero and the mystery that threatens them both!
Hi Heather Congrats! Would love to win Sweet Enemy!
Cindy Heather
cholub1968@aol.com
Hi again, Cindy! You keep trying
Good luck!
Congrats, I love a heroine packing a pair of brains! Excited to check it out. I feel I’m more of an excavator than a writer. I keep hauling away rubble (er, annoying adverbs and dull plot distractions) to find the story’s skeleton underneath.
Hi Lea — an excavator. I like that! I do notice I do a lot of “throat clearing” when I’m writing, and have to usually strip away the first page or so of a chapter to get to what’s really important.
Thanks for stopping by!
I learned I’m definitely not a morning person. My daughter just started preschool this year, so I thought “Great! I’ll have three hours a morning, three mornings a week, to focus on my writing!”
That lasted for about a week – a week of staring blankly at my computer because my brain doesn’t turn on until well after noon. I can edit, I can research, I can clean the house – but I can’t be creative.
So now I’ve accepted that my muse doesn’t show up until well after 10 PM. For a while I was going to bed when my toddler did (8 PM), getting up at midnight, writing for four hours, then sleeping from 4 AM to 8 AM . . . I can keep that up for about two weeks before my husband tells me I’m getting too cranky to live with and I have to actually get eight CONSECUTIVE hours of sleep.
So now I try to be at my laptop as soon as I get my daughter to bed, and I work until I can’t stay awake anymore. I nap in the afternoon when my daughter does – not sure how much longer that schedule will last :-\
Whoops, Wendy! My reply to you went below…
Congratulations on a wonderful debut, Heather! And I love that affirmation. In fact, I think I’ll jot it down in my notebook right now so I don’t forget its simple wisdom. Thank you!
Hi Jen! It was definitely a scary one to accept, but true. If I can remember it and “Focus Your Attention”, hopefully #3 will go more smoothly…
Great to see you!
Wendy,
I totally hear you. I’m a night person, too, but with one extremely active toddler and an infant, I’m typically SO exhausted by the time I get them down, that creativity is a joke. But, if I try to sleep, inevitably the baby gets up. And that leaves me too tired to get up before they do…not to mention, they NEVER nap at the same time.
My poor muse is so confused…
We’ll get it sorted, though, Wendy!
Thanks for coming by!
Great words of wisdom, Heather! Thanks for sharing your process and congratulations on your new release and completing your second book. I look forward to reading both!
I recently read an article about writing in layers and realized that’s what I often do to get the words out on the page. I like to start by writing the dialogue and then go back and add all the other details (the setting, the narrative, the action tags, etc) in passes. And it’s always fun to start in the middle of an argument or misunderstanding between the characters and then work forward and backward from there.
Jacqui
Hi Jacqui! I definitely do layered writing…I didn’t, at first, but then I’d find myself working really hard to perfect scenes that ended up getting scrapped because ultimately they weren’t working.
However I’m intrigued by the idea of starting a scene in the middle of an argument or the conflict and working forward and backwards…intrigued, and terrified of the very prospect!
Thanks for coming by!
Looks like a wonderful book Heather. I’m putting it on my amazon wishlist.
As for latest discoveries of my writing process…I found that I can only really write stories on old fashioned paper with ballpoint pens. I can’t seem to generate most of writing on the computer. I can add parts in later when I’m typing up the hand written copies, but everything has to start out in my five subject spiral notebook I always keep at the ready.
Thanks for the contest! I can’t wait to read your book.
Hi Lauren! Thanks! I hope you love SWEET ENEMY.
I am the exact opposite…I cannot write ANYWHERE but in front of the computer. Something about using my fingers to type the words seems vital. Now, I can plot and scene structure in a notebook…in fact I do. However, when it comes to actual writing, it all MUST be on computer.
Wonderful how different we all are
Congrats! I can’t wait to read your new novel!
Thanks Leah! Hope you love it!
Hi Heather,
I’m so happy for you and your new release. I love process discussions, especially as I see how my process is changing. When I started writing, I must have thought the book must spring, fully formed, from my mind because I polished every page like glass. Boy, has that changed.
Much good luck with your book.
Thanks, Barb! Great to see you! I really need to get to Springfield sometime since my parents live so close…
Yes, it is interesting to watch how much my original process has changed just in two books, but I was much the same way–throwing out perfectly polished pages left and right…what a waste! Now, I make sure things work before I polish up entirely.
Thanks for coming by!
When you get down this way, be sure to call. We’ve got great coffee shops and tea rooms here. We’ll have to try one out.
OMG…tea shops. What I wouldn’t give for a good cuppa. I actually come that way pretty often…family in area, as well as some of my DH’s work. We’ll have to get together!
Heather,
Thank you for being so candid about your journey, and congratulations on your debut novel. I look forward to reading it.
Your credo struck a chord. I am about to embark on my second manuscript, and feel I should be more of a plotter, based on the circuitous path of my first manuscript. Now, you’ve made me wonder…
All the best.
Hi Lana! Thank you very much…I hope you love Geoffrey and Liliana’s story
If you felt like you should be more of a plotter, you should follow your instincts, but maybe just in little bits until you figure out what works for you yet doesn’t stifle your creativity. Like turning up the dial slowly on your plottiness
Good luck!
Heather, your book sounds great, and I LOVE the cover. The most surprising thing about my writing process is that I could do it. Plot a book, write, and have not only have my friends and family like it, but a publisher, too!
Best of luck with yours.
Thanks, Callie! I adore the cover, too, as well as the one they designed for the next book, SWEET DECEPTION!
Best of luck with your book as well!
Congratulations on the release, Heather! Wishing you loads of success!
I think the most important thing I’ve learned about my process is that it is MY process and I can’t let myself be influenced by what works for others. I’m a binge writer, so writing every day is actually destructive for me whereas for others it is BRILLIANT. You gotta do what works for you.
Again – HUGE congrats and best wishes for Sweet Enemy!
Thanks, Vivi! I think that’s a great point…it’s wonderful to take classes and advice about what process works best for people, but ultimately, it has to feel right to you. I’m just still looking for that one that I feel good about saying, YES, that’s my process.
Congratulations on the release of your first baby, uh, book! I’m so proud of you! This has been quite the gestation period, hasn’t it?
Writing process-wise. Well, my process isn’t set in stone, much as I wish it was. I’ve tried for the last four years to figure it out, and it just keeps changing on me. The only certain thing is how messy it is.
What inspired me to write? My daughter said to me: “Mom, you are always telling me to pursue my dreams. Don’t you think it’s time you got around to pursuing yours? Write that book!”
That was the impetus I needed to get down to doing something I’d dreamed about for what seems like all my life.
I’m so glad to see your dreams coming true.
Leigh
That sounds like my story Leigh. Thirteen years ago, I told my husband I couldn’t type and file for the rest of my life–that I needed to do something creative. So he asked what I wanted to do, and I glibly answered, “I want to be a NYT Bestselling author.”
The smart-ass answered, “If that’s the case, don’t you think it would be a good idea to start writing?”
The smart-ass also told me to quit working and stay home and pursue my dream. He’s my true hero.
TOTAL hero!
Wow! That’s some hero. Mine keeps saying “show me the money”.
Out of the mouths of babes, right? What a wonderful child you raised
Hello, Heather ! Sweet Enemy is sitting at the top of my TBR stack. And if I ever finish my current WIP I intend to reward myself by reading it! Now THAT is incentive!
I have always been fascinated by the way a writer’s process grows from who they are. As a retired opera singer and a person who doesn’t have a logical or analytical bone in her body, I’ve always envied those who can write and do so in an orderly precise fashion. My process is so messy, and frustrating and goes in such fits and starts, I am beginning to think I am the Jackson Pollack of historical romance writers. The thing I have discovered is this is something I must really want badly because no matter how badly it goes and no matter how many times I get knocked back, I won’t quit. Which I hope means I am a writer. Could mean I am just REALLY masochistic!
Louisa,
I accidentally posted my reply to you below…Argh…can’t seem to hit the right reply box today!
” I am beginning to think I am the Jackson Pollack of historical romance writers ‘
Ha! I love it. I tell you, I have to write in a linear fashion. And if I change a scene significantly enough, I have to go back and rework it because the thoughts/emotions of the characters change and I NEED to know where they are to keep going forward. Although, in SWEET DECEPTION, I did write a scene out of order. I didn’t realize I was writing it out of order, just realized at a later point that the scene hadn’t made real sense where it was and that I needed it at X point. That was a first for me, and I did have to rewrite the emotions in that scene, as the characters were in a much different place, but it was interesting for me.
I love your attitude! Did you hear the Lisa Kleypas keynote in Dallas…the armadillo speech? Sounds like you’re a writer to me?
Oh, and I’m honored that SWEET ENEMY is considered a reward! Believe me, as I was finishing up Deception, I bought books and held them away from myself as a reward, too!
Thanks so much!
Hi Heather! I’m so thrilled for you! Did you do anything good to celebrate your release? Isn’t it cool to see your books on the bookshelves?
Hi Cheryl Ann! I did…we got a babysitter and went to the bookstore to see SWEET ENEMY on the shelves, and then I invited people who had a hand in the process (critique groups, beta readers, husband…lol) to dinner afterwards, where we celebrated with dinner, wine and a SWEET ENEMY cake decorated with the cover…YUM
It was fun (and surreal) seeing it on the shelf…not far from your own book!
Hope to see you soon!
Congratulations on your release!
One thing I’m learning about my process is that I don’t always start a story in the right place. But I don’t start it too early, I start it too late! So then I have to go back and write earlier scenes to give my story depth and context. Not a problem you normally hear about!
Interesting, Heather! It is always so hard to decide when to start a story. My first draft of SWEET ENEMY, predictably, started too early
My final draft, however, started too late (though it did final in the Golden Heart). My editor asked me to go in and write a prologue, as she felt the mystery needed a bit more set up.
Best of luck with your writing! Good to see you.
Awesome cover Heather. I read every Regency novel published, I think, so look forward to reading yours. Put my name in for the crituque. I never win anything, but you never know, this may be the one. By the way, wine and a Sweet Enemy decorated cake? How cool is that!
Hi Sandy! Good luck in the contest
Yes, wine and cake…it was lovely, and so fun to see the cover of my book on a cake. Got a lot of attention at the restaurant…in fact, the manager pulled out her Kindle and bought my book right there!
Best advertising ever!!!
Best tasting advertising, anyway
Very much sympathize with you on this post. I’m always caught between the urge to let a book grow organically and my desire to make sure the plot is tightly constructed.
So far, when I follow a tangent I usually end up with something that makes the whole book much better…but I’m always worried about what will happen when I plow straight into a dead end.
Hi Erin…yep, I’m with you! I have to say, each time I’ve let the characters go off on a tangent, it worked for the better. Okay, the first time it was terrifying, but in the end, it worked out. Still, I had lots of time to let it develop so that it DID work out. On deadline, it’s a little scarier to give those tangents a shot, because if it DIDN’T work out, you have little to no time to fix it.
Being a writer is scary…
That cover is really pretty!
Thanks, Diana! I really did luck out…it’s gorgeous. As is the next one. I can’t wait to be able to show it off…it’s going to make a pretty cake
Congratulations on your debut and thanks for this opportunity and awesome prize! The biggest surprise I ever had in discovering my process was about 3 months into writing my first novel (which was also meticulously planned), when I realised just how much of myself and my siblings I had put into the story. During a complete rewrite they became characters in their own right, with their own traits, but the foundation was incredibly helpful.
Hi Katherine,
That’s a great point! Have you noticed on further novels that you do the same thing? Or model them after tv characters or something until they find their own voice?
Congratulations, Heather! You’re book sounds amazing! As a former calculus tutor, I really am grateful to hear another writer struggling with her left and right sides of her brain. And you’re a fellow red-head too, which makes me like you all the more. I’m eagerly looking forward to reading your book!
Thanks Lani! I hope you love it. And as a calculus tutor, you may really love the next in the series…Emma is a natural mathematical genius who uses her skills to solve crime…
Glad you stopped by! Always nice to see another redhead!
Heather,
Thank you so much for sharing your process! I’m a plotter first, but NaNoWriMo taught me I can write fast when I need to–and the writing was just as good as the chapters I’d spent months thinking about. Best of luck with book 3. I can’t wait to hear the results of your next experiment!
Thanks, India! That’s encouraging to hear that your NaNo experience produced good work. Whenever I’ve tried to “fast draft”, what comes out is tripe! But I’m going to keep at it, because I do have to find a way to get faster if I want to keep up with contracts and the market.
I think this experiment will be somewhere between plotstering and fast-drafting (as much as I can bring myself to do) with layering…if that makes any sense. I’ll let you know if it works…LOL!
Congratulations on your book release!
Thank you, Robin
Thanks everyone for joining us to celebrate Heather’s release. I’m happy to announce Kristen Koster (Kaige) and
Cheryl Ann Smith are the two lucky winners in the random drawing.
I’m also thrilled to announce that my 2X nominee and WINNER of the Golden Heart and American Title finalist, The Memory of You, is for sale as an e-book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. The paperback version will be available at Amazon by the end of the month.
Please return on Valentine’s Day to help celebrate my release and be part of a drawing for free copies of The Memory of You.
Congratulations again Heather. I left a comment earlier this week on the Sisterhood of the Jaunty Quills blog and on this one, enjoyed reading even more about your writing process. With every book I write I work at following that AS I CREATE, I AM LED way of thinking, especially early on in a story when I don’t know characters very well. Thanks for sharing!
Congratulations Heather. I can’t wait to read your books.
You have learned a lot, Heather. Can’t wait to read your books.
Hi Heather , congrats for your debut release . The most difficult part in my writing process is how to start an idea and how to make this idea become something worth reading. I imagine every writer must be a very tough person to stand so many difficult writing process. Cheers to you n wish you all the best:)
HEATHER!!! I’m so late. I was out of town Friday. CONGRATS, CONGRATS, CONGRATS!!!! I am so thrilled for you! Just got Sweet Enemy and cannot WAIT to dive in! Great post!