THE WRITING PROCESS BLOG TOUR....I've Been Tagged!
Caren J. Werlinger, author extraordinaire of some of the best lesbian literary works in current lesfic, has tagged me, yours truly, to be part of the Writing Process Blog Tour challenge that's swarming Facebook and elsewhere like a questionable virus....LOL. In a good way. Every author loves to talk about new books, old books, writing, etc. Thank you, Caren, for your books and your stories, and for tagging me.
I had turned my back on this blog, The Henderson Files. But by being part of the Writing Process Blog Tour, it has made me look back and possibly see the light that I might have unintentionally left burning in my blog. It's been drawing me back. So, I'm happy to be back and perhaps find the spark to do a blog a week....or a month....or whenever. But at least I know I have it whenever I think I have something I might want to share. And I also love to feature other indie authors here at The Henderson Files. Hey.....I'm back. So, thanks Caren. Please check out Caren's blog once you're done here to check out her take on the Writing Process Blog Tour Questions.....
1. WHAT AM I WORKING ON?
I've been working on a new Gothic Historical Romance titled WHERE EVIL DWELLS. This time, the setting is 1820 England, and tells the story of Annalee Stewart, a young woman, left penniless and destitute by her father who lost the family fortune to his gambling debts and who dies leaving nothing to his daughter. She is taken in by her godmother but when she passes away, Annalee is shipped away to be companion to a young, infirm young noblewoman, the Lady Lenore Blackstone, wife to Lord Blackstone, heir to the earldom and Master of the foreboding Castle Blackstone, that sits atop a high point in the Devon moors. But Annalee didn't count on falling in love with the woman she was to serve or to be the object of desire of another noblewoman, Victoria Blackstone, sister to Lord Blackstone! But there is evil afoot in Blackstone Castle and death and betrayal around every castle corridor turn! What a triangle of love and web of intrigue and suspense that creates, right? The stuff of Gothics. LOL. This Gothic Romance is more romance than my previous three others and will hopefully be in publication later this year, 2014. Stay tuned. I hope to have a cover reveal in a month or so.
2. HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN THE SAME GENRE?
Well, there really is no one else writing strictly Gothic Historical Romances in lesfic right now. Author Helen Dunn does have several. I guess that's why some affectionately refer to me as Queen of the Gothics in lesbian fiction. LOL. Most of the lesbian historical romances are either swashbuckling, fantasy or just simple historical romances. The Gothic Romances I write are homages to the Gothic Romances of the 1960s and 1970s which were published as cheap paperbacks and available at any drugstore or grocery store. But those were always heterosexual tales for the mainstream reader where the plucky heroine always meets and is swept away by the dark, brooding or mysterious and handsome guy after suffering through a myriad of hair-raising and life-threatening ordeals in a dark castle or mansion.
In my Gothics, the girl always gets swept the away by the girl! LOL.
3. WHY DO I WRITE WHAT I DO?
I got my start writing short horror stories back in the late 60s and early 70s. Not lesbian fiction. LOL. My first full length lesbian novel was SO DEAD, MY LOVE, a vampire romance, and then I wrote the Brenda Strange Paranormal Mysteries of which there are four, THE BURNING OF HER SIN, TANGLED AND DARK, THE MISSING PAGE, and XIMORA, in that order. Those were mysteries mixed with the supernatural. Since then, I've written three Gothic Historical Romances, THE SECRET OF LIGHTHOUSE POINTE, CASTLE OF DARK SHADOWS, and PASSION FOR VENGEANCE. I'm currently working on a new Gothic, WHERE EVIL DWELLS. As you can tell from my body of work, I enjoy dark and supernatural fiction. I've always loved the ghost stories and tales of dark imaginings since I was a child. I suppose that has translated to what I enjoy now. While my Gothics are romances with mystery and suspense, they are not supernatural. No ghosts and no monsters. I write what I like and what I want to read. Basically, I write what thrills me and entertains me and I hope that I write well enough and spin a tale good enough to keep readers as entertained reading them as I enjoy writing them. I write and read for entertainment.
4. HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS WORK?
Inspiration. I need inspiration. I can get an idea for a book from a rift or tune from a piece of music or an image that comes to me in my dreams or simply lying in bed trying to drift to sleep. It can come from a sentence that springs into my head and immediately a plot line or idea and characters begin forming a story, insisting on being a new book. LOL. Inspiration is a beautiful thing and it's out there just waiting to be tapped into....
My physical writing process is rather exhausting for most, especially since we live in the era of electronic everything and tablets that you can pop into your pocket and can create "on-the-go." But no, I suppose I'm stuck in the past I love to write about. I write out my book on yellow notebook pads and then transfer everything onto the computer. I know, double the work and double the time, but I cannot write any other way. I cannot create with the clitter clatter of the keyboard as my muse. I much prefer the flow of ink onto paper. The quietness of it.....the organic idea of it all. I've even taken the challenge of writing much like the periods in history I write about. I like to turn down most of my lights and use candles throughout my apartment. I don't, of course, use ink and quill, just a ballpoint or roller point pen.
I'm also not too keen on outlines. I don't keep or do an outline. All that stuff is in my head. When I start, I already pretty much know what will happen and how it will end. I don't, of course, have an unbreakable plot. I make plot changes if something else seems better or different than what I began with. So my writing process is very organic, just like my way of writing it. Pacing is my writing god. Pacing, pacing, pacing. It is the single most important thing I focus on. Characters can play and plot lines and sub-plots can change, but pacing remains the most important focus for my books. Without proper pacing, a book with great characters, dynamic plot and evocative settings will still fall flat with disastrous pacing. Pacing.
Thanks for joining me in The Writing Process Blog Tour. I always support fellow indie authors and am tagging two authors who love and write Historical fiction.
I'm tagging T.T. Thomas, author supreme of the finest lesbian Historical Romances. Check out her website.
And I'm also tagging Helen Dunn, who has a deep love of lesbian Historical fiction. Check out her blog.
I had turned my back on this blog, The Henderson Files. But by being part of the Writing Process Blog Tour, it has made me look back and possibly see the light that I might have unintentionally left burning in my blog. It's been drawing me back. So, I'm happy to be back and perhaps find the spark to do a blog a week....or a month....or whenever. But at least I know I have it whenever I think I have something I might want to share. And I also love to feature other indie authors here at The Henderson Files. Hey.....I'm back. So, thanks Caren. Please check out Caren's blog once you're done here to check out her take on the Writing Process Blog Tour Questions.....
1. WHAT AM I WORKING ON?
I've been working on a new Gothic Historical Romance titled WHERE EVIL DWELLS. This time, the setting is 1820 England, and tells the story of Annalee Stewart, a young woman, left penniless and destitute by her father who lost the family fortune to his gambling debts and who dies leaving nothing to his daughter. She is taken in by her godmother but when she passes away, Annalee is shipped away to be companion to a young, infirm young noblewoman, the Lady Lenore Blackstone, wife to Lord Blackstone, heir to the earldom and Master of the foreboding Castle Blackstone, that sits atop a high point in the Devon moors. But Annalee didn't count on falling in love with the woman she was to serve or to be the object of desire of another noblewoman, Victoria Blackstone, sister to Lord Blackstone! But there is evil afoot in Blackstone Castle and death and betrayal around every castle corridor turn! What a triangle of love and web of intrigue and suspense that creates, right? The stuff of Gothics. LOL. This Gothic Romance is more romance than my previous three others and will hopefully be in publication later this year, 2014. Stay tuned. I hope to have a cover reveal in a month or so.
2. HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN THE SAME GENRE?
Well, there really is no one else writing strictly Gothic Historical Romances in lesfic right now. Author Helen Dunn does have several. I guess that's why some affectionately refer to me as Queen of the Gothics in lesbian fiction. LOL. Most of the lesbian historical romances are either swashbuckling, fantasy or just simple historical romances. The Gothic Romances I write are homages to the Gothic Romances of the 1960s and 1970s which were published as cheap paperbacks and available at any drugstore or grocery store. But those were always heterosexual tales for the mainstream reader where the plucky heroine always meets and is swept away by the dark, brooding or mysterious and handsome guy after suffering through a myriad of hair-raising and life-threatening ordeals in a dark castle or mansion.
In my Gothics, the girl always gets swept the away by the girl! LOL.
3. WHY DO I WRITE WHAT I DO?
I got my start writing short horror stories back in the late 60s and early 70s. Not lesbian fiction. LOL. My first full length lesbian novel was SO DEAD, MY LOVE, a vampire romance, and then I wrote the Brenda Strange Paranormal Mysteries of which there are four, THE BURNING OF HER SIN, TANGLED AND DARK, THE MISSING PAGE, and XIMORA, in that order. Those were mysteries mixed with the supernatural. Since then, I've written three Gothic Historical Romances, THE SECRET OF LIGHTHOUSE POINTE, CASTLE OF DARK SHADOWS, and PASSION FOR VENGEANCE. I'm currently working on a new Gothic, WHERE EVIL DWELLS. As you can tell from my body of work, I enjoy dark and supernatural fiction. I've always loved the ghost stories and tales of dark imaginings since I was a child. I suppose that has translated to what I enjoy now. While my Gothics are romances with mystery and suspense, they are not supernatural. No ghosts and no monsters. I write what I like and what I want to read. Basically, I write what thrills me and entertains me and I hope that I write well enough and spin a tale good enough to keep readers as entertained reading them as I enjoy writing them. I write and read for entertainment.
4. HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS WORK?
Inspiration. I need inspiration. I can get an idea for a book from a rift or tune from a piece of music or an image that comes to me in my dreams or simply lying in bed trying to drift to sleep. It can come from a sentence that springs into my head and immediately a plot line or idea and characters begin forming a story, insisting on being a new book. LOL. Inspiration is a beautiful thing and it's out there just waiting to be tapped into....
My physical writing process is rather exhausting for most, especially since we live in the era of electronic everything and tablets that you can pop into your pocket and can create "on-the-go." But no, I suppose I'm stuck in the past I love to write about. I write out my book on yellow notebook pads and then transfer everything onto the computer. I know, double the work and double the time, but I cannot write any other way. I cannot create with the clitter clatter of the keyboard as my muse. I much prefer the flow of ink onto paper. The quietness of it.....the organic idea of it all. I've even taken the challenge of writing much like the periods in history I write about. I like to turn down most of my lights and use candles throughout my apartment. I don't, of course, use ink and quill, just a ballpoint or roller point pen.
I'm also not too keen on outlines. I don't keep or do an outline. All that stuff is in my head. When I start, I already pretty much know what will happen and how it will end. I don't, of course, have an unbreakable plot. I make plot changes if something else seems better or different than what I began with. So my writing process is very organic, just like my way of writing it. Pacing is my writing god. Pacing, pacing, pacing. It is the single most important thing I focus on. Characters can play and plot lines and sub-plots can change, but pacing remains the most important focus for my books. Without proper pacing, a book with great characters, dynamic plot and evocative settings will still fall flat with disastrous pacing. Pacing.
Thanks for joining me in The Writing Process Blog Tour. I always support fellow indie authors and am tagging two authors who love and write Historical fiction.
I'm tagging T.T. Thomas, author supreme of the finest lesbian Historical Romances. Check out her website.
And I'm also tagging Helen Dunn, who has a deep love of lesbian Historical fiction. Check out her blog.
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