Ozz's writing process

Since being offered a contract to have my book published, I've found people asking me how I go about writing my books. I know the normal ways are using spread sheets to map out ideas, outlining the plot first and so forth, but to be honest, I just don't do that.

For me, the first thing I have in my head is the main character and something that has happened to them to change the course of their life. This usually becomes my opening scene. With Kiya, for example, Naomi popped into my head while I studied Ancient Egypt and said; "Let me tell you Kiya's story my way." So, I saw her with several younger sisters who were about to be taken but she stepped up in their place despite her highly ranked father's wishes.

The next thing I have in my head is how I want the story to end. With that in mind, I can figure out how to get there. I keep the finale as main points but don't write it down, because I find I change small details along the way. It gives me the freedom to have the characters develop as they will while heading to the conclusion.

The characters are the most important thing to me. I often have several scenes in my head once I have the beginning and end, but I won't write them down until I feel like I can express it the way my characters would tell it. While I'm developing my WIP I spend most of my time thinking about my characters, spending time with them while doing chores, going to the store, at work and mostly while I take my kid out for a walk to the park. Knowing the characters is the most important thing to me because it's what they do and how they react that creates the story.

When I write historicals, that means I also need to do research. Kiya had a TON of research involved for each of the characters, the chronology of events, culture of Egyptians and Hebrews, and daily life. Usually I read all of this during the character process, but sometimes I have to do it while I'm writing. Using Kiya again as an example, there's one scene where she has to clean the restrooms. So I paused and went and found out how Egyptians went to the toilet. It was a small detail, but it was important for accuracy's sake.

Once I have my beginning and end and know my characters, I fill in the middle. I usually write from beginning to end, occasionally writing a scene for later on a separate document, but generally I just let it flow. Then once I've written it, I'll go back and touch up details that I neglected to link up the first time around.

It makes things surprisingly fast. My last WIP I wrote 96,000 in a month and the whole Kiya series took me 2 1/2 months to write with about a month's research before hand. I think I can do it so fast because I spend so much time with my characters so I just chug through the scenes and rarely get stuck.

It's not very profound or ground breaking, I know... but this is what works for me. I really believe that a writer should do whatever works for them and not what other people say they "should" do. So, if you are stuck, try something different until you find what makes you tick. Creating a story shouldn't be hard, and it shouldn't be stressful. I believe being a writer is a labor of love, so do it the way that makes you happy! :-D

Ozz.