Trying to nail down my writing process is actually quite tricky. I write around working part time, raising four kids and dealing with the state of the house that results in having four kids, a puppy and seven cats, so it's more a lucky dip than a process!
That being said, I love to outline. I am definitely a plotter and not a pantser. Anyone that can sit down at a blank screen and just write has my respect. I like to know where I am going and what I am going to be writing about. That is not to say my characters always agree with me, and changes often have to be made if they decide to do something else!
I start with a basic idea. This series, I thought why is everything always set in the US? why can't we have an awesome British series for once? And come to that, why is everything British usually set in London? So I decided to write a (hopefully) kickass paranormal series set in Britain. In Durham, to be specific, which is not far from where I live. You can't set something in Durham without some reference to the amazing cathedral here, and so I went for a wander. If you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll recognise the cloisters! I was wandering around out there, when I suddenly thought, wouldn't it be fun if someone came here to summon a demon? I like to turn things on their heads, so it got me thinking. Why would someone use a cathedral site to summon a demon? Is it a special demon? A particularly strong one? Off to Google I went to research demons. And there i fell down my lovely research rabbit hole.
Website after website, book after book. Each time discovering fun little details and myths about demons that I didn't know. Each giving more more and more ideas to write about. have a lever arch folder of notes, I am not kidding, and you can't imagine the size of my websites favourites folder! Eventually I kind of pinned into some kind of plot line for the series ad set about discovering my characters. I can't really tell you how I do that. A lot of people start with characters. I start with plot, and my characters just show up. When my main character showed up, I started writing. Other characters popped up during the process, as well as a minor character who sent me off on a divergent path as I thought of an awesome spin off series for her. See, i told you they do stuff on their own!
For the actual writing, there is no process. I don't have a huge amount of free time, so I work on Google Docs. This means if I have half an hour to sit at my computer and type, I can, but if I'm trying to get a couple hundreds words in while parked at school waiting to pick the kids up, I can do it on the app on my phone.
Eventually, the writing is finished, then I subject it to Pro Writing Aid which is a pricey yet very useful program that tells you how bad a writer you actually are! After making all the corrections, the document goes off to the editor. I'll let you know what she says when I get it back!
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