80 DAYS TO NEW YEARS (#48)

Between Me And Writing

People often ask about my writing—they are eager to hear about the life of an author, where my characters come from, the journey I travel when drafting 80,000 words to publishing the final book, and of course about writing and me.

Writing and me is a whole world in itself. It’s a rollercoaster with ups and downs, emotions, frustrations, and achievements. Here are some truths from the relationship between writing and me.

• I find myself crying at some of the scenes that I write.
• When the villain in my book annoys me, I know I’ve done a good job, and that most likely you will dislike him too.  What character did you love to hate in Pinnacle Lust?
• Fiction is life.
• I don’t have to do research before I write sex scenes.  What does it tell you about Pinnacle Lust?
• The characters in my stories are out there in the world. I find them every day and everywhere I go. I take traits from different people and create one ideal character. You might want to look around to find your own inspiration.
• My editor controls me—she has the power to tell me anything (good or bad) about my baby (the manuscript)—and I listen to her. It makes my mom jealous. 

• If what I write makes me laugh, it will probably keep me laughing no matter how many times I read it. I wonder what scene from Pinnacle Lust made you laugh.
• My editor pushes me to limits that I never knew existed. I admire her for doing that and thank her every day.
• Funny how my best writing happens when I get in those little disagreements with my husband—when he gets on my nerves and I need to step away.  
• Writing can turn into a bad habit if you don’t know when to stop, get away from your desk and out of the house, interact with the real world, and be active. 
• The research part of the story is the most valuable part of my writing process—it feels as if I’m attending school without having to take exams or pay the tuition.
• I spend a significant amount of time making sure that what I write is accurate—dinner on the top of the Eiffel Tower in New York simply will not work, as the Eiffel Tower is in Paris. So I set the dinner at the Rainbow Room in New York or move my story to Paris. Otherwise, the reviewers will kill me.
• I am careful to use slang that is appropriate to the time period of the story. I wouldn’t use sweet in the ’90s. Sweet didn’t become a synonym for something cool until around 2008.

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• Technically, fiction is a lie, but sometimes it’s the truth and it is often a mixture of both. The lines aren’t drawn so clearly. We write what we know. And a balance between living and writing is important to the career of an author.

 
And the list goes on.
 
My writing is a world of it’s own that I live with all day, every day.
 
Michelle