About four or five years ago, I was going through a horrible dry spell in my writing. I'd finished a suspense novel (Watch Over Me), and wasn't sure what I wanted to do next. I tried a few story ideas, got a few chapters in, and stalled out.
Ironically, this is something I went through again last year and just overcame it by finishing a book last week. However, that's not the story I'm telling today.
So, anyway, about that time I was offered my first publishing contract so I felt like I might be making progress with my writing. Even though that was in my head, my heart wasn't listening and I couldn't fall in love with a new plot. So, I indulged in my personal guilty pleasure for several months - writing fanfiction. Specifically for the science fiction program Stargate SG-1 (I love me some Jack O'Neill LOL). I wrote it and I wrote it a LOT! It was through that fanfiction that I met my best friend and now business partner... but again... a story for another day. I'm getting to a point here, I swear.
I wrote so much fanfiction (In fact, you can still read it here), that my good writing friends and critique partners started hounding me... "You love writing Stargate, why don't you write a sci fi?" At first, I thought they were insane, and ignored them for quite awhile. Until Jaycee Clark brought out the cattle prod. LOL So, I started to play. I took my affection for the snarky, sarcastic and oh-so-sexy Richard Dean Anderson, jumped ahead a few decades on Earth, and actually adapted a couple of my 'dead-in-the-water' plots... and began writing The Phoenix Rebellion. About this time, my first book was published.
Maybe a month after the release - and maybe 20k words into the first book in my new series - I was contacted by an editor for another publisher. She liked what she'd seen and heard about me, and wanted to know if I had anything available. I told her I didn't have anything 'done', but I had this idea for a series. She asked for it.
I figured that would be the end of the road. I didn't write Phoenix like a normal romance novel. One hero and one heroine with a mission in one book, complete by the end. etc. This series was written with a 'Cast' of Characters. While each book had a focus, every book had everyone in it, and with several POV's (not head hopping - just scenes written from the POV of not necessarily the main character of the BOOK). I figured I was way outside the box, and there was no way they'd take it.
I was wrong. She loved it. Next thing I knew, I had a 4-book contract (mind you.. 20k written on the first book) and I had a year to write the whole thing... the books would release as I wrote them. Panic set it... followed by euphoria... and then panic again.
In about 10 months, I wrote 4 books - each being in the vicinity of 80k words. My fingers were a blur and the stories just flowed. I didn't have to think, it was all just THERE. I trusted my instinct with each scene and let it happen.
What a rush!
(I know... you're still wondering where the point is...)
That was then, and now I'm ready to write the next series within the series. Another 4 books that continue where the first series left off. For days now, I've been attempting to plot them out. I tried typing notes on my computer. I tried a notebook. I tried index cards... but whenever I started, I just froze. Not knowing where to go or how to begin. I'm not a plotter... never have been...
And apparently never will be.
I decided I need to just write. This is my process, this is my method, and this is what works for me.
Last year, I actually 'started' working on it but switched to another project. The one I just finished (saving that for another day). Tonight, I opened that file I started and read it... and I love the feeling of reading something I've written and thinking "Oh, this is good!".
And I realize as I read... it is good. And I didn't plot it. I didn't use a notebook. I didn't get index cards. I just wrote and let the characters lead the way. So, I'm going to set my fingers to my keyboard... and hang on for the ride.
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