My writing process

After a wonderful introduction by S.E Dee, describing me as "an escaped psychiatric patient from a parallel universe...", I knew there was no backing out from continuing this blog chain. Here it goes...

What am I working on?
It's a science fantasy that started off as a simple fantasy way back in the early autumn of 2013 and after some serious plot re-working, is now heavy with the flying cars, alien species and laboratory experiments. There's a government conspiracy, an underground rebellion group and visions of the future. It's wonderfully experimental on my part. Did I mention it shifts perspective halfway through? I'm sure that will go down well in future pitches. Not.

Six chapters left to write of the first draft...

How does my work differ from others of its genre?
It doesn't. Ha, just kidding (I hope). I tried to make the characters as atypical of common gender stereotypes as possible without forcing it. I really wanted to blur the boundaries between what makes a character 'female' and 'male' in a way that came across as natural. Most - if not all - of the main characters have undergone serious changes since I created them. The girl who starts the story off has been the most consistent so far, just her name has changed to be less ridiculous. The others have all pretty much swapped genders and that hasn't shifted the plot at all, which I think is a good sign? I guess that proves more than anything that my characters' genders aren't important; how they behave is.

Why do I write what I do?
I like living in a different universe. It reminds me of home. Also, I want the chance to give some characters that aren't usually seen prominently in literature a bit more exposure. Being a minority is sometimes a pain when you don't feel like you have enough representation. Hopefully one day, someone will read my work and be able to relate.

How does my writing process work?
It usually starts with a phrase, character or situation. I write that down and forget about it. Then maybe I'll have more ideas about that initial idea, or maybe it will be something else completely different. Whatever, I'll write those down too.

Then, it will hit me: combine them all together! So I'll start working on that, maybe building the world the characters will live in. This usually isn't a whole ENTIRE world (though it was for the story I'm working on now), but the lives of the characters. Their families, friends, history, things like that. Then I'll get drawing. And possibly ripping stock images off from the internet for references.

First sketch of one of the main characters
after I changed her gender. Looks awful.

Second try. Not so bad, but still nothing like
the final version.

After that's done, I'll write a plot outline. Then a more detailed plot outline. Then break it down into chapters. Then re-write the whole plot, making it meatier and juicier until I'm happy with the story. Split that into chapters and then start writing. At some stage, I'll probably realise a glaring error in my logic and have to re-work the plot but that's okay. At least I spot them, right? Right. Don't ask me about my 'finishing' process, because there isn't one (yet).

And now the tagging bit. Check out these guys, I guarantee you they are super cool peeps.

Scorna Lott is a writer, poet, illustrator, student, sass-lord and scourge of the high seas. She's interested in tea, cats, books and making poetry awesome again. Her writing is amazing and her hair colours make me jealous, but she's pretty awesome about everything which helps. You may also find her on Twitter @ScornaLott.






Fae is a self-professed amateur with an unfortunate addiction to stories, diet Irn Bru and pocket watches, as well as long words and even longer coats. Her blog is a dumping ground for strange pieces of fiction, some opinion and various sorts of oddness. If that's your sort of thing, she welcomes you to come along for the ride.

Alice firmly believes that feminism is not a dirty word. They write poetry about line breaks, discusses sexism and is not adverse to a little cosplaying (and looks fabulous doing it). They're a pretty ace person and I'm proud to say we have plans to collaborate on an ode to an onion. At some point. Also, check their Twitter feed out @SpaceyAlice.