Planner or Fly By The Seat Of Your Pants

We are nearly half way through the month of March and it is as crazy as I knew it would be. At the beginning of last month, I received my deadline schedule from my publisher from now until the end of 2013. I know that sounds like a long way from now, but in the publishing world it isn't. The big publishers want anywhere a competed manuscript anywhere from one to two years before it gets into the hands of the readers.

 

Part of that writing schedule is getting the first three chapters of book 3 in my Finding Anna series written by the end of this month. The book isn't due out until summer 2013, and we haven't even finished editing Need yet, but I'm having to think ahead and figure out where these two go next.

This, of course, brings me to the title of my blog post today. I, am not a planner when it comes to my writing. I know some authors are and that's great. It just doesn't work for me. When I write an outline, I find I follow it for two chapters at most and then one or more of my characters throw me a curve ball I wasn't expecting.

You might be asking yourself right about now, how does she know there are going to be four books in this series if she doesn't outline? I guess I should qualify and say I don't use a written outline. My outlines take form in my head and they stay there. I know what a book will cover in the general sense, but rarely is it specific.

Because of this, and my deadline being moved forward by about six months, I've been spending some time this week pondering the beginning of book 3. Three chapters is a lot more ground to cover than it sounds. And when starting a new book, even a book that will be the third in a series, it has to be compelling and make the reader want to continue reading.

After several hours of pondering, I think I've finally found my opening for the book. Where it goes from there... I'm leaving that up to my characters.

So if you're an author, are you a planner or do you like to fly by the seat of your pants and see where your characters take you?

The Edits Have Begun

I know I've been M.I.A. for a couple of weeks. Things have been a little crazy in my life as of late and they don't look to be settling down anytime soon. I'm going to try and get back on my once a week update schedule for this blog but, as I'm sure you'll agree, writing and editing have to come first.

Speaking of editing... Yes. We have begun edits for Need (Finding Anna Book 2). The official edits started last week, and Need is now with my editor getting poked and proded. ;)

This is quite honestly one of the hardest times for me as a writer. I've turned my book over and now I wait, knowing that once it's returned to me it will be full of red/pink/blue marks and those awful yellow highlights. It's one of those things that, although I know it will make the final product the best it can be, it still makes me cringe seeing all those marks and notes.

If you've followed any of my guest blog posts, you may have heard me mention how bad a speller I am. If it were not for spell check, it would be a lot worse. But editors catch those things that spell check doesn't like your and you're or their and there. They're also great for those times when you know what you were trying to say but it doesn't come across quite that way to the reader. Editors are a fresh perspective, and a good one will want to work with you to make your story the best it can be.

The initial feedback from my editors was positive (with the spelling exceptions). So while I'm not exactly looking forward to the edits, I can say I'm excited to get them back and get moving on the story. I know most of my readers are anxious to read the next installment of Stephan and Brianna's story as well.

What about you? If you're a writer, is there a specific part of the process you like/dislike more than others?