Writing Process Blog Tour

Writing Process Blog Tour


I have been invited by author F.C. Malby to answer some questions about my current writing as part of a writing process blog tour. You can read her answers on her blog
Here are my responses to the following questions:


What are you currently working on?

At the moment I'm working on book number four. I'm at a very interesting point because I've finished the first draft and it's off with my agent. It's probably the most nerve-racking time for me as a writer. She's the first person to have read it and she's my agent, and so if she really doesn't like it or doesn't think it's very good then I've wasted six months. Obviously I'm hoping she's going to come back and say it's brilliant and doesn't need a word changed. The reality is that she will probably come back with something between my worst nightmare and my biggest hope. 

Book four is a book about family, about how we live together, love each other, sometimes hate each other, but how we're intrinsically linked together whether we like it or not. Of all the books I've written so far it's by far the nearest to what I'm always trying to achieve and it's that balance between comedy and drama. For me comedy needs a serious edge and drama needs lightness, and so hopefully this is a book that really will have people laughing out loud and crying with sadness.


How does your work differ from others of its genre?

I think my work is similar to other writers such as Mike Gayle, Matt Dunn, and Nick Spalding, but it definitely has it's own style. I really try to get a balance in my work between comedy and drama and I think it's that balance that makes me different. Writing comedy is very difficult, but I always try to find a unique story or a different angle, and make sure that the most important thing is the story and characters and to let the comedy come from that. I often take out jokes because when I read it back it sounds like a joke, and that's not what I want.

Why do you write what you do?

I've always believed that you should write what you love to read. Writing is a passion and you have to be passionate about what you write. I love comedy and so when I came to write it felt only natural to write from a comedic viewpoint. Every time I sit down to write a new book, the first thing I think about is what I want to read. It's that simple. Also, as mentioned above, for me the book is first and foremost a story about interesting characters, which could be any genre really. All books whether romance, comedy, science-fiction, historical, they all need to have the same basic elements of a great story and brilliantly written characters.

How does your writing process work?

As I'm discovering, my process isn't the most fluid. Working on my latest book I tried to do a bit more planning than usual, but I find that despite my best laid plans, the work always takes on a life of its own once I start writing it. I always have a pretty good idea of the story I want to write, and how it's going to end, but the story usually writes itself - dictated by the characters as they evolve. I can't plan a whole book and stick to it because as I'm writing and as I get to know the characters better new ideas and new plot lines begin to emerge. I do try and stick to six months for a good first draft and then six months for editing - so always roughly about a year per book. The thing is, there's lots of ways to write a book and none of them are correct. The only way that you can write a book is the way that you write a book. As long as it gets done, it really doesn't matter how you get there.  


I'm now going to pass these questions onto Tasha Harrison who blogs at http://tashaharrison.com/ so look out for her answers soon!