My Writing Process

by +LynetteEason  @LynetteEason

When Edie asked me to post on her blog, my mind went blank. I was like, “Um…so what do I write about?”

Edie: “Writing?”

Me: “Oh, that. I can probably do that.”

Edie: “Yeah, I figured you might be able to.”

So, here I am, writing about the topic of writing. The problem with THAT is choosing a subtopic. LOL.

So here it goes.

I get asked all the time, “How do you plot your stories? Where do you get your ideas? Why did you choose that theme for that book? Why did your character do such and so?”

Those kinds of questions make me stop and think because my first response is that I have no idea.

But when I stopped to think about it, at this point in my career, I kind of do have an idea.

For the most part, I write by the seat of my pants. I don’t think much about the writing process as a whole because I’m what I’ll call an instinctive writer. Unfortunately, this doesn’t help much when I want to explain why I do things the way I do them because I don’t really know why I do them the way I do them, I just do them. Did you get all that?

But I wanted to address the whole concept of being a seat of the pants writer – also known as a pantser. I started writing because I LOVE to read. But some stories that I read left me shaking my head in disgust and thinking, “I would NOT have written it that way.”  Fast forward to 1999. I had this story in my head and decided to try my hand at the whole writing thing. So one night, I pulled out my old, very old, laptop and got started. I didn’t know a thing about the writing process. All I knew is that I wanted to write a story. So I did.

I started at the beginning and wrote all 80,000 words in about six months. I didn’t know about writers conferences or writing books or head hopping or passive writing. I just told the story. And frankly, the story itself was a pretty good one. It was just the writing that stunk. But I learned something from that experience. I did something a lot of people only dream about. I wrote a book. It had a beginning, a middle and an end. And while that was probably the only good thing about it, it was done. Seat of the pants style.

So, how about you? Are you a seat of the pants writer or an outliner? Or both? What’s your writing style like?

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Lynette

TWEETABLES
Take a sneak peek at the writing process of best-selling author @LynetteEason on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Does it matter if you're a seat-of-the-pants writer, an outliner or something in-between? - via @LynetteEason (Click to Tweet)

Lynette Eason is the best selling, award winning author of the Women of Justice Series and the Deadly Reunions series. Since 2007, she has written/contracted thirty-six books. Currently, she writes for Revell and Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense line. Her books have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists. She has won several awards including the 2013 Carol Award for WHEN A HEART STOPS. Lynette teaches at writing conferences all over the country. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) and Romance Writers of America (RWA). Lynette can be found online at www.lynetteeason.com and www.facebook.com/lynette.eason and @lynetteeason on Twitter.