Today Lynnette Austin, author of Somebody Like You, shares her thoughts about starting a book.
Welcome, Lynnette!
Okay, let’s admit right up front that writers can be a superstitious bunch. We can also be eccentric. And…we’re proud of it! We have routines we need to follow.
Before I actually start writing a book, it’s been percolating for a while. In fact, by the time I type Chapter One, I have a pretty good idea of what will happen beginning to end. The middle? It’s a little more murky.
As scenes come to me, Il write them out—often in great detail. I type them up, print them, then shuffle them around like a deck of cards, putting them in some sort of logical—but fluid—order. Nothing is set in stone.
Then, I put together my notebook. I love this part! I use a three-ring binder with lots of pockets and plastic sleeves. Sometimes I include photos—of characters, of places, of rooms. I might include maps.
In my latest WIP, Can’t Stop Loving You, the third book in my Maverick Junction series, I’m using a map of the garment district in NYC to keep myself straight. I have a synopsis of the book, a list of characters with any descriptions I already know, terminology specific to this book, anything that might help.
Next come the scenes in order. When I’m ready to sit down and write, these act as a road map. But believe me, detours are allowed and are, in fact, encouraged. Some of the best writing is organic, spur-of-the-moment, story-generated threads.
I also include a calendar for the time during which my story takes place. You need to have seven days in a week, have the weekends and holidays come at the right place, and only one full moon a month. It’s really easy to lose track of this kind of detail when you’re writing.
My binder is my bible. Everything is in there. I don’t have to search through scraps of paper napkins, notepads, and notebooks. Since I’m doing a series now, it’s so easy to stay organized through the books.
My handsome cowboy Cash, whom we meet in Somebody Like You, still has the same adorably ugly dog in Nearest Thing To Heaven and in Can’t Stop Loving You. If I forget his name is Staubach, a quick peek in my binder reminds me.
How do you begin? What do you do before typing that first word of your new WIP?
About Lynnette Austin
My first book was born as I drove across Oklahoma on a trip from Wyoming to Florida, with two eleven-year-old boys and way too much luggage stuffed into the very tiny backseat of a Porsche 944.
Although that book, thankfully, is safely hidden away where no one has to see it, my seventh and eighth books, the last in my Maverick Junction series, will be released this year. I was raised in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Mountains, moved to New York, then to the Rockies in Wyoming.
Presently my husband and I divide our time between the beaches of Florida and Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. I’m a recovering middle school language arts teacher and am now writing full-time and loving it.
Lynnette is offering a $25 gift card for Amazon or B&N (winner’s choice) as a grand prize at the end of her blog tour.
To enter the grand prize giveaway, visit Pens and Peonies and fill out the entry form: http://pensandpeonies.blogspot.com/2013/04/somebody-like-you-blog-tour.html
Connect with Lynnette:
You are an incredibly organized, logical woman. I, on the other hand, am an all-over-the-place, emotional “fly in the mist”er 🙂 See my characters as out-of-the-blue pop-ups…a scene here and there, and the ending. Talk about opposite styles! LOL
Great info and insights, Lynn. See you soon.
Ah, and it’s these differences in style that make life interesting, isn’t it? I’d be in an absolute blind panic if I thought, for even a minute, I’d have to write an entire book flying in the mist! Give me those whiteboards and notebooks. 🙂
Love this post, girls and I really like how you’ve broken down the writing of your books, Lynnette! So great!
Thanks, Jenny. I always love getting an insight into how other writers work their craft. For me, my notebooks are sacred as is sitting down with my story pre-writing and laying it out. And I know the idea of doing that would send other writers screaming from the room.
I admire anyone who can plan and execute all the notebooks, etc. I usually START that way and keep at it until I can’t stand it anymore and I just have to start writing. Your detours, Lynnette…these are really creative moments — or so I hope! When I run out of things to write, I go back to completing the notebooks and collecting the pictures and all that. But after 12 published novels, I haven’t finished a notebook yet! All of them sit on shelves as testimony to my ability to procrastinate…but eventually finish the novel, not the notebook. Loved your post…and I will try to do better next time. But I think there is enough rebel in me to prevent every seeing a complete notebook. Meanwhile, I surf blogs and play with Pinterest. Naughty!!
For me, Vicki, the notebooks give me that same rush as when the first day of school finally rolled around. New pencils, all sharpened, brand new, unwritten-in notebooks labeled for each class, I think it’s the anticipation of a new adventure. It pulls me in, excites me, and keeps me going. I absolutely LOVE office supply stores, my idea of heaven. 🙂
Hi, Lynnette! After I come up with an initial idea, I begin a detailed outline, ususally starting with characters sketches. It’s only after I flesh out the entire story in a scene-by-scene outline that I start to write the first draft.
Best of luck with your upcoming releases!
Wow, Susan, you do far more than I do! I’m impressed. I have scenes, from beginning to end, but I also have lots of holes with vague ideas. 🙂 For me, though, like you, I need to know where I’m going–while encouraging detours. The thing about detours is that you need to make it short, then get back on the highway.
Terrific post. I write a humorous mystery series and normally I know who the victims and the killer are before I start, but in my latest the victim refused to die. I upgraded her to a suspect and she completely took over the book. Even I didn’t know whodunit until page 210. On a more organized note, once I’m finished with the first draft I create a chapter outline to make sure I’ve written in enough clues and red herrings to confuse everyone. I wish I could follow an outline from day one but it’s just not me!
This is an interesting style, Cindy. So you just write the first time through in kind of a seat-of-your-pants style, then go back and outline to ensure everything works. Hmmm. I like that. I couldn’t do it that way 🙂 but I like it. Again, it’s those differences that keep us all happy. Thanks for stopping by!