My Writing Process… Research.
Hello! I get a lot of questions about writing and how I do it, so I thought I'd share my process. Creating a book is like baking a cake, except it takes longer and there's less frosting involved (unless it's been a really rough writing day!😏) Every writer is different, but here's a peek behind the scenes of my process…
Today is about… Research: The idea is done (not set in stone but generally). Now it’s time to research. Not only for facts (thankfully, fantasy is pliable, and I can, for the most part, stretch reality) but mostly to ensure my idea is original. While books in the same genre may have the same basics (vampires, shifters, small town love, etc) I still want to make sure my idea has a unique spin.
Like when I took the lore of vampires and banshees and smushed them together to create the characters in the Fire Banshee series. Or when I wanted my shifters to differ from the rest of the shifters I’d read about. So, for the Season Shifters series, I came up with a unique origin story for their species, and put a little twist on their hierarchy.
Keeping things familiar but original is the key to making them relatable and intriguing!
A lot of the research happens when I’m knee-deep in the story—Does this fight scene make sense? What’s the best way to kill a vampire? Can you kick someone in the head if you’re a foot shorter than them? Can you decapitate someone with a butter knife? You know, all the Google searches that may put me on an FBI watch list.😏
Next up is outlining. I’ll go over that process in the next week! Until then, Happy Reading!
