Have you been following this hop from the beginning? If so, you’ve met some wonderful authors who have shared some secrets of their writing process with you. My lovely friend Renae Kaye has passed the baton and it’s my turn to answer a few questions as part of the blog hop – thanks Renae, because I so love to talk about myself – not! 🙂
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1. What am I working on?
My focus at the moment is putting my first story out there! I just want to get through the process in one piece without having a nervous breakdown. 🙂
There’s a bit of race to see which story will actually be my debut. It could be It’s Not Easy–to be published by Dreamspinner Press in July/August– or it may be Waiting, Hoping, Wishing which is being written for the Goodreads M/M Romance Group’s Don’t Read In The Closet event – Love’s Landscapes? The Love’s Landscapes books are due to be released between June and August.
My stories are contemporary, favouring new adult characters and a hurt/comfort theme. I guess you could say I write on the sweeter side and a happy ending is essential!
So I am currently kept busy with edits on the first two books as well as choosing covers. I had so much fun with the cover for Waiting, Hoping, Wishing and can’t thank the lovely Meredith Russell enough for the wonderful cover she designed.
My third and fourth novellas will be released between October and December so work on editing for those won’t start for a while. In the meantime, I have two other stories in progress plus I am starting on the second book in a series.
The idea list is also a mile long so hopefully I will be writing for a long time to come yet.
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I wish I could come up with a brilliant response here but the true answer is I’m not sure. There are many authors who write fabulous contemporary m/m romance stories. There are so many wonderful books that I have laughed and cried over.
My stories are the stories from my heart and that makes them unique and special to me. I just hope that they bring as much joy to my readers as I had bringing them to life.
3. Why do I write what I do?
Firstly, why write at all? For me it’s a chance to do something different, to be creative, to tell the stories that are floating around in my head. Writing is so different to my regular day job, which is structured and process driven. It allows me to flex muscles that otherwise wouldn’t be used. I get a real sense of satisfaction from the creative process.
Why m/m romance? It’s pretty simple really. It’s what I love to read so therefore what I love to write. When I first thought about writing a book, I thought I’d try an m/f story. I had the crazy idea that it would be easier to write but to be honest it didn’t work. I don’t really enjoy reading m/f very much anymore so why would I have enjoyed writing one? I don’t know what I was thinking really!
4. How does my writing process work?
The simple answer – the idea strikes (and they do strike at the oddest of times!), simultaneously outline a story and develop characters, write lots, revise lots, agonise lots, drink lots of coffee, stay up late to write, attempt to stay focused and get off social media, squeeze in my day job and family, write more and keep repeating until I’ve finished!
But seriously, I do follow a bit of a process. Okay, so I’ve just told you that I love writing as it is an escape from my day job but some habits are hard to kick. I do prefer a structured approach and also use some tools to help me.
I write using Scrivener. It is a brilliant piece of software that allows me to organise my character profiles, outline the story and keep all my research in one place. It is fabulous in the way it allows you to build and grow the story.
I also use Evernote to capture ideas, notes and webpages– particularly useful for when I’m on the run– and Pinterest for lots of inspiration. Here are a couple of my boards you might find inspiring too!
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Make sure you check out the next blogs on the hop which are from some fellow m/m romance writers. Next Monday will be Penny Brandon‘s turn to share some of her secrets! And Suki Fleet is joining in too! Be sure to check them out on Monday 28th April.
Penny Brandon: http://www.pennybrandon.blogspot.com.au/
Suki Fleet: http://sukifleet.wordpress.com/
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Use the links below to check out some of the previous stops on the Blog Hop.
Michelle Rae
Beany Sparks
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Lots of love,
Nic
Because Two Men Are Better Than One!
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