Once again I find myself running behind on my projected book release goal of Summer 2021. It appears being perpetually late has become a bad habit for me. For those waiting for book five of the Magic Catalyst Chronicles to release, I promise I’m working on it and hope to be finished by the the end of September, and released by mid October at the latest.
I’m currently working on the second draft of book five, which involves filling in all the details that I typically leave out when I write my first draft. I can’t say how other people approach their writing, but I thought I’d give you a little insight into my process.
I start with a basic outline of the story. Then I take the outline and write the bulk of the dialogue, because the characters and their interactions with each other are the foundation of my stories. Once that is complete, I sort, and occasionally resort, the dialogue into the appropriate chapters. At that point, I go back to the beginning of the book and start filling in all the details I originally skipped. This includes all of the visual details, like character and location descriptions. As well as much of Emily’s internal dialogue.
This is also the place I end up spending the most time. I’m a very visual person, I need to see something in order to try to explain or describe it. So as I go to fill in the details, I inevitably end up getting side tracked with random research. This usually involves me searching the internet for information on anything and everything. I have lost hours looking for clothing and tattoo design inspiration, looking up cars to figuring out who drives what type of vehicle, as well as searching for information on carnival rides, architecture from the late 1700s through the 1900s, and even historical facts like when houses began converting to electricity.
Of course, this isn’t to say everything I write is 100% accurate to the real world. (I consider Emily’s world to be an alternate reality, similar to our world but also different.) But I find that I need a basic understanding of how things work in this world, in order to decide how they will work in Emily’s. Some things may be very true to the reality, while others will be radically different.
And now that I’ve rambled on longer than I’d intended, I thought I’d close out by sharing a few of the places I’d gone for inspiration. Hopefully the next time you hear from me I’ll be announcing the release of book five.
Guide to Colonial American House Styles From 1600 to 1800.
https://www.thoughtco.com/guide-to-colonial-american-house-styles-178049
25 Classic Cars to Drive Before You Die. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/sporting/news/g2165/best-vintage-cars/
When it came to tattoo designs, I looked at a multiple sites, but these two were very helpful for me to imagine what Samil’s tattoos might look like.
COMPASS TATTOO TO GIVE YOU DIRECTION – A GUIDE FOR 2021
https://tattoostylist.com/compass-tattoo-ideas
And
27 Amazing Ship Tattoos with Meanings
https://bodyartguru.com/ship-tattoos
Thinking Out Loud 