Fast Writer: Melanie Milburne

Our fast writer today is Melanie Milburne who writer for Harlequin Mills and Boon Modern and Medical Romance lines. Welcome Melanie and thank you very much for agreeing to be interviewed for my Fast Writers blog series.

·      First, I’d love to hear about your writing day in a quick snapshot. Do you have a special time to write? Or do you grab moments whenever you can? I guess I’d like to know how structured you are.

My writing day is fairly structured. I’m a clear- the-desk-first type of person so I like to get other stuff out of the way so I feel free in my head to write. I swim early and then I walk my dogs. Then I sort out business emails and so on before I sit down to write. I prefer block time so I can immerse myself into the story world rather than snatch odd moments here and there.

·         What sort of writer are you? Planner or pantser?

I’ve thought a lot about the pantser and plotter thing. I’ve finally come to realize that I’m a bit of both. Some books come to me intuitively; others take a bit more thinking through. If I write a too detailed plan I nearly always end up veering away from it. If I don’t plan at all I can end up losing my way and having to do massive rewrites.

·          Did you always write this way? Or is your method something you picked up along the way?

I’ve always been a fast writer. Again, I think it’s very much linked to my personality. My brain runs like a Ferrari most of the time. Over the years I’ve had to concentrate on slowing down my speech so friends and family can keep up! Writing fast is normal for me so it really scares me when I hit a rough patch and the words don’t pour out as they usually do.

·          Can you tell us a bit about the technique you use to help you to write quickly, and how you developed it?

The technique I use (or which comes most naturally to me) is to write in fits and bursts. I always start with a new book with a bang. I find the first half of the book easy. I can write 20,000 words in a couple of weeks, but then things start to slow down and I might have a few days, or even a week or more, when I don’t write anything much at all, although I will be still be processing it in my head. Then I’ll come back at it and finish it in a rush.

·         How many words do you write per hr/writing session?

I don’t set word count limits or pages for the hour or day. I prefer a word count for the week. I set a target and then head towards it. It keeps me focused and motivated.

·         How many hours per day do you write? And how many days per week?

I write for four to six hours most days. I take weekends off here and there, but when I’m deep in the story world I prefer to keep going until it’s finished. That’s why I find social media and the business end of writing so distracting. They pull me out of the story world and it can take ages to plug myself in back in. It’s like trying to watch a movie while someone is talking to you. Impossible!

·         How quickly can/do you finish a book?

It usually takes me four to six weeks to write a book. But that’s just the unpolished version. It will take another week or so to edit and tighten up the story.

·         Do you know what you're going to write each day before you start your writing sessions? For instance, do you draft the scenes/chapters you’re about to write just before you write them, or do you thoroughly outline before you even start the book (if you’re a planner, that is J)?

I don’t always know what I’m going to write each day. Sometimes I know I’m going to write a particular scene, such as the crisis or climatic scene or a love scene, but generally I will see where the characters will take me. Even when I’ve done a rough outline or a detailed beat sheet I will still let the characters have precedence over it. That is the magic of storytelling. The story comes to you if you’re open to it.

·         How do you prevent your internal editor/critic from interrupting?


I have learned to control or balance my internal critic/editor. It’s not a bad thing to be critical of your work but you have to be constructive in how you go about it. You have to take an honest look at it now and again and improve where you can. Over the last couple of years I’ve been studying the craft of writing by reading dozens of books on story structure and attending novel and screenplay workshops. I found my writing slowed down a quite bit to start with. It was almost paralyzing creatively. I was overthinking everything. Now I find I am back to my fast pace as I’ve gradually integrated what I’ve learned. It’s a bit like learning to drive. At first you remember every stop sign, but once you become more experienced it becomes more intuitive.


·         Do you have any more tips you’d like to share?

My best tip for writing is: If you can’t tell someone what your story is about in a sentence or two then you have no story.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to spend time with us here today. We’d love to hear about your new book, would you tell us a bit about it?

My next release is Book One of a duet called Deserving of His Diamonds. It is a story about a young woman whose life was destroyed two years ago by a sex tape scandal before she found out she had an identical twin. When her ex-fiancé Emilio Andreoni finds out the truth he moves heaven and earth to get her back in his life, but there is something heartbreakingly tragic that Gisele hasn’t told him about the time they were apart.

You can find Melanie here: Website, Facebook, Blog

News

I must apologise for not posting a Fast Writers interview last Friday. Blogger refused to allow me to write a new post. In the end I got frustrated and gave up.

I will be posting this Friday, however. You'll be pleased to know that I'll have Harlequin Mills & Boon author, Melanie Milburne on the blog this week! She writes VERY fast!

On another note. I've been busy getting my new RIVA story written. I subbed through Harlequin Mills & Boon's Romance Fast Track and got a request for the partial--yay! I'm hoping to send it off very soon. Will keep you posted.

Fast Writer: Jean Joachim

It's Friday again and that means another author giving up her secrets on writing fast! This week we have the lovely Jean Joachim. This woman makes me want to sit next to her while she writes so I can see how it's done. She can write 50K words in two and a half  weeks!! I couldn't believe it either, a book in just over two weeks--my-oh-my!

Hi, Jean,  thank you very much for agreeing to be interviewed for my Fast Writers blog series. Please tell us how you do it.

·         First, I’d love to hear about your writing day in a quick snapshot. Do you have a special time to write? Or do you grab moments whenever you can? I guess I’d like to know how structured you are.

I write full time. By six am I’m awake and at the computer, ready to start. I make a cup of tea and begin because that is the time when it is most quiet at home. I write until 8am, when I take the dog to the park for an hour, then it’s back to writing until I break for lunch. I take out time for errands in the afternoon but spend a few hours writing then, too. I’m driven by the stories and the desire to get them out of my head and onto the page. 

·         What sort of writer are you? Planner or pantser?

I began my writing career in non-fiction where you have to plan. My first book came out as almost a stream of consciousness and took a heckuva long time to organize into a cogent story. I never did that again! I’m a planner. After eleven books I’ve created a loose form I will use from now on. I call it a scene sequence. It has the month on the left and a brief list of scenes on the right. This helps pacing and plugging plot holes. Of course when my characters take over, the outline often goes to hell and the story can go in any direction!

·         Can you tell us a bit about the technique you use to help you to write quickly, and how you developed it?
   
There are 3 parts to writing quickly:

1) Knowing your characters. I spend a great deal of time thinking about my story before I do the scene sequence. I think about it when I’m on the bus, walking with the dog, running errands. I think about my characters, their motivation. I plan out their backstory in my head. Who are they? Where did they grow up? What was that experience like? And so on so I get to know them well so I instinctively know how they would speak. Characters and plots can roll around in my head for weeks before I write them. Maybe then I’m not so fast?

2) I do the same thing with the plot. It rolls around in my head while I look for loopholes or plot holes, as I call them. Does the plot make sense? Would this really happen? Is it possible, plausible? If not, what would make it so?  When I get the general idea for the plot in my head, I’m ready to write.

3) Uninterruped writing

Since I have the plot basically doped out in my scene sequence and my head and because I know my characters so well, I know exactly how they’d speak and what they’d say. The story rolls out of my mind and onto the page. And I stay there, stay with it until it gets done. I don’t work on any other stories. I focus on the one I want to complete. I channel the characters and live closely with them focusing only on the story and giving it as many uninterrupted hours as I can.

·         Did you always write this way? Or is your method something you picked up along the way?

This method came into being with the first romance story I wrote that was accepted for publication. By the time I sat down to write it, the story had been bouncing around in my head for several months. Then I cleared the decks, told my family I had an impossible deadline and sat down to write. Two and a half weeks later, my 48K story was finished. I edited it a couple of times, then submitted. It was accepted. Since then I find that writing the story straight through allows me to channel it and do a better job, write a better, tighter story.

·         How many words do you write per hr/writing session?

As many as I can before leaving, often in the thousands. I won’t sit down to write if I only have half an hour or less because I get so wrapped up in the story I don’t want to leave.

Another trick I use to get back into the story the next day is to reread the last ten pages. This refreshes the story in my mind and I’m able to more forward quickly.

·         How many hours per day do you write? And how many days per week?

I write seven days a week. I’m now addicted to writing and write as many hours a day as I can, often up to seven or even more if I’m totally into a story. Being able to focus and stick with it is important to writing fast.

·         How quickly can/do you finish a book?

I have finished a book in three weeks. I might be able to do it in less, for a shorter work. But 50K would take about a month or two, once I’m done editing.

·         Do you know what you're going to write each day before you start your writing sessions? For instance, do you draft the scenes/chapters you’re about to write just before you write them, or do you thoroughly outline before you even start the book (if you’re a planner, that is J)?

I often look at my loose scene sequence to see what would come next and think about it overnight. This helps me prepare for writing that scene the next day. Then rereading the previous ten pages sets the mood and gets me “in character”.

·         How do you prevent your internal editor/critic from interrupting?

I have taught myself that getting it on the page is half the battle. I am a brutal editor and slash away at my work after it’s written. But I need to shut that off while I’m telling the story or nothing will get done.

·         Do you have any more tips you’d like to share?

Writers need to write every day, to make it a habit and become addicted.  The best way to improve your writing is to write. The keys to my fast writing are discipline, focus and determination. All the prep work in the world isn’t worth a hill of beans if you can’t discipline yourself to put your butt in that chair and spend a considerable amount of uninterrupted time writing your story.

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to spend time with us here today. We’d love to hear about your new book, would you tell us a bit about it?

My newest book, scheduled for release in April is Now and Forever 3, Blind Love. Although it’s the third in a series, it’s a stand-alone book. You don’t have to have read the two previous books to understand the story.

Can a handsome, charming, womanizing professor win the heart of a blind ballerina? Love comes to the university as Peter Caldwell, dashing Art History professor and accomplished pianist meets Lara Stewart, ballerina.  Peter can’t seduce with her with his devastating good looks because Lara can’t see. Obsessed with the one woman he can’t have, Peter has to learn how to love.

Sam Caldwell joins Peter, Mac, Callie and his grandchildren. Witty and attractive, Sam isn’t looking for a woman but finds love isn’t only for the young but the young at heart as well.

Small town secrets feed a blackmailer and blackmail on campus is paid with sexual favors. Blind Love is a roller coaster ride of twists and turns. This full length novel is three parts love and passion mixed with one part intrigue, stirred up with a twist of mystery and heated up to three flames.

It will be available on the Secret Cravings website soon and the major ebook retailers as well. A paperback will also follow.  

Joan: Thank you so much for this interview. It make me think more than I expected.

Monique: It was a pleasure having you, Jean.  Now where did I put my pen...I'm suddenly rather inspired! :) 

About the Author:
Jean Joachim is an author, married, a mother of two boys and owner of a rescued pug named Homer. She lives in New York City.

An English major in college, Jean always knew she wanted to write but didn’t know where to start. Non-fiction presented the best opportunities so Jean joined the corporate world of advertising and direct marketing. Working her way up the ladder, she became a Media Director, writing business plans, reports and presentations. When she started her own ad agency, she branched out into copywriting and found her niche.

The itch to write began while she was raising her children so she wrote about her experiences with school fund-raising and coaching her son’s soccer team. One article led to another and before long, she made up her mind to attempt a book. Her first book, a non-fiction work titled, “Beyond the Bake Sale, the Ultimate School Fund-Raising Book” was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2003.

Five activity books for Sterling Publishing and a book on advertising for Career Press titled, “151 Quick Ideas for Advertising on a Shoestring” followed. In 2010, fiction beckoned and with her youngest in college, Jean found the time to write “Now and Forever 1, a Love Story.” She fell in love with the contemporary romance and eight books later, she is still writing!

Jean has been writing non-fiction for over fifteen years and fiction for two. Her review column, “Movie Choices for Kids” has been syndicated in weekly and parenting newspapers and on websites for the past eleven years.

Where you can find Jean:
Jean's Website
Jean's Blog

Fast Writers Blog Series: Marie Higgins

It's Friday and that means it's time to interview another fast writer!

Today we have Marie Higgins. One of my dear friends and CPs. She writes Historical Romance and I tell you, this lady writes pretty fast. The amazing thing is that she has a full-time job and only writes part-time!!! :)

Hi, Marie,

Thank you very much to agreeing to be interviewed for my Fast Writers blog series. 

·         First, I’d love to hear about your writing day in a quick snapshot. Do you have a special time to write? Or do you grab moments whenever you can? I guess I’d like to know how structured you are.

I’ve never been a structured writer. When I first started writing, I worked part time and my girls were in school, which gave me time to write and be with them when needed. Then I started working full time to help pay the bills. I didn’t think I would ever find time to write after that. So my days consisted of me going to work, coming home, and while I made dinner, I helped my daughters with their homework. I drove them to school functions when needed before I went into my office, closed the door and wrote like mad.

Now my daughters are grown up and I still work full time. So when I come home from work, I make dinner, visit with hubby before and during the meal. Clean up afterwards, then go to my office and shut the door to write. Sometimes I’m too exhausted from work, so I don’t write, but normally, this is how my days are outlined. And weekends…write like mad on Saturdays (and try to fit cleaning the house in there somewhere). Sunday after church, I’m back on the computer writing.

·         What sort of writer are you? Planner or pantser?

Definitely panster! Out of all the stories I’ve written (approx 30), I can only name two stories that I actually had to plot. I enjoy not knowing the ending until I get there.  

·         Can you tell us a bit about the technique you use to help you to write quickly, and how you developed it?

For several years I would write a chapter then go back over it several times to edit before moving to the next chapter – and repeating the process. About four years ago, I discovered a different way to do it. I’d heard other authors say that they just wrote what was on their mind without stopping to edit until they finished the story. I decided to give it a try. It was hard with the first book, but every one after that became easier. I realized my thoughts were clearer, and didn’t second-guess myself as much. Now I can write a story all the way through without going back to do edits…and then I only go through the story two more times before I’m ready to let my critique group at it. 

·         How many words do you write per hr/writing session?

Depends on what day of the week it is. If I write after work, I can usually write between 1-2,000 words a night. If I write on the weekends, I can write about 6,000 words a day.

·         How many hours per day do you write? And how many days per week?

I try to write something every day, but at least every other day. If I’m going strong on a story, I’ll write from about 6:00-9:30 on week nights. On the weekends I’ll write all day – that I can stand, anyway. 

·         How quickly can/do you finish a book?

Usually about six weeks for a book that's 80,000 words. And that includes reading through it for edits.

·         Do you know what you're going to write each day before you start your writing sessions? For instance, do you draft the scenes/chapters you’re about to write just before you write them, or do you thoroughly outline before you even start the book (if you’re a planner, that is J)?

I don’t draft a scene, but I know what I want to happen. Sometimes I write what I’d been thinking about, and sometimes my characters want the scene to go their way, so then I’ll write what they want instead.

·         How do you prevent your internal editor/critic from interrupting?

It takes practice. As I’d mentioned before, I wrote with my internal editor for many, many years. It’s only been about four years ago when I started writing straight through without stopping.

·         Do you have any more tips you’d like to share?

Don’t give up. Find a method that works for you, especially if you have to write around a regular job – or write around raising a family. If you love to write, you’ll find time!!! 

Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to spend  with us here today. We’d love to hear about your new book, would you tell us a bit about it?

My newest release is actually book 2 in my Regency Romance series. The series is about three brothers and their lives / trials.  The first book is “The Sweetest Kiss”. Book two is “The Sweetest Touch”. (Available on Kindle & Nook April 1^st)

Orphaned since age six, Louisa Hamilton lives as a low-life miscreant, not knowing when she’ll be able to break free of her guardian’s steel hold. When she sees the cousin she had been told died in a house fire all those years ago, she follows him only to discover her family is alive. In her haste to escape the past, she leaves the loving scene only to be hit by a passing buggy.  Louisa awakes in the home of a duke, horrified to discover she has lost her memory.

Trevor Worthington, Duke of Kenbridge, can’t trust women. Yet after nearly killing the poor straggly woman, his heart softens and he feels he must help her. He sets her up in his household as a servant. Surprised to learn Louisa speaks French, is extremely well educated, and interacts so tenderly with his children, he wonders about this woman’s past. Following his instincts, he gives her the position of the children’s nursemaid. When he starts having feelings for Louisa, he’s hesitant to enter another nightmare like the one he had in his first marriage.

As the heartbreaking truth of Louisa's past comes out and decade old questions come to light, will Trevor be able to give love another chance?

About the author –

Marie Higgins is a multi-published author of romance; from refined bad-boy heroes who makes your heart melt to the feisty heroines who somehow manage to love them regardless of their faults. Visit her website / blog to discover more about her – http://mariehiggins84302.blogspot.com

My Writing Fast Journey: First Lesson Learned

As I promised to update you on my journey as I learn to write fast, I thought I'd tell you the story of my first lesson learned. 

I used to write fast years ago, when I was a baby writer and was totally filled with enthusiasm and the unquenchable desire to just write. As the years passed, and with every subsequent rejection, I learned something new about what I was doing wrong. In my effort to ensure I never repeated the same mistakes, I dragged my internal editor into the chair next to me and made her promise never again to let me make the mistakes that got me rejected. 

Of course, my int ed has taken the job seriously ever since.  

In an effort to silence the editor until I tell her to speak, I embarked on a quest to learn how to write fast. One of the methods I heard was to turn off distractions. 

We all know the best way of shutting down the int editor is to write a rough first draft and don't stop to edit until we get to the end. Just the thought of doing this is impossible for me. Regardless, I kept looking for a way because my main problem is I can't seem to proceed until I make what I write perfect.  

I realise that looking at my previous sentences activates my internal editor, which distracts me from continuing until I fix a word, phrase, reaction etc. I read somewhere that a good method to overcome distractions when writing is to remove all visual disruptions so your mind can continue the writing process unhindered. 

I guess this is something like meditating. You close your eyes in order to shut out distractions. The article I read suggested that you try writing with pencil/pen and paper. You switch off the light, or close your eyes. Apparently, this method allows ideas to flow so your hands can write what your mind sees and stops your internal editor from interrupting.

I was so excited I couldn't wait to try this method! I settled in bed once the kids no longer needed me for the night. I turned off the lamp, and I began to write. I couldn't believe how well it worked!! I wrote pages and pages--something I haven't been able to do for a while. It was late by the time I decided to call it a night. I turned on the lamp to see how much I'd written only to discover that I'd managed to write and rewrite all over each lines despite taking pains not to do so. The thing was illegible in places! You can imagine that I can't even remember what I had written, so I couldn't even salvage it.  

While this method worked fantastically well for shutting down my internal editor, it didn't work so well for being able to use what I'd written. 

Lesson One Learned: don't write in the dark! :D

Back to the drawing board...  

I'll keep you posted :)