I’m participating in a special year-long blog hop to explain my writing process. I’ve been tagged by the Blacktastic Science Fiction author Alan D. Jones, author of To Wrestle with Darkness and its sequel, Sacrifices. Here are my responses:
What am I working on? I am working on an Urban Fantasy graphic novel script, The Keys. I am also writing the same story as a YA novel. I am very excited about The Keys and having a ball writing it. The story is about two teens, who are really Aztec and Yoruba gods, who must awaken the power of the pyramids around the world as they are hunted by the immortal Henry, the Navigator, who is obsessed with finding the legendary Christian Kingdom of Prester John.
How does my work differ from others in my genre? My books differ from most Science Fiction and Fantasy writers in that I love to mash up genres and I write cinematic fight scenes. I also include indigenous Afrikan martial arts in all that I write. As a practitioner of indigenous West Afrikan martial arts for over 40 years, I include fighting techniques and applications of techniques never before found in prose.
Why do I write what I do? I write what I do because I love it. I write Steamfunk, Dieselfunk, Sword and Soul and Urban Fantasy because I love reading these genres; I love playing role-playing games in these genre settings; and I love researching the people, technology and settings during different eras in history.
How does my writing process work? My writing process begins with the germ of an idea. Ideas come to me daily. Those that I feel are original and fun are jotted down in a notebook. I begin to take notes as I flesh out the idea into a plot. I create and develop the hero and the main villain, coming up with goals they seek to achieve and what obstacles to those goals exist.
Next, I outline the story and then complete the 1st draft with the outline as a guide.
I then step away from the story for a couple of days and return to it to write the second and third draft. Then, it is ready for an editor.
I know…many of you cringe at writing from an outline. “I’m a stream of consciousness writer,” you say.
While a few writers can successfully write without knowing where their story is going, most cannot…well, at least I cannot, but hey, I enjoy writing outlines.
Well, that’s it. I hope you learned a little bit. If not, keep stopping by, you’ll learn something eventually…or at least have a good laugh.
Next Up: Valjeanne Jeffers and DaVaun Sanders.
Chronicles of Harriet 
Thanks much for what you said about outlines. Nice to know I’m not the only one out there operating that way. I find outlines help keep me focused and not wandering all over the place. plus I just use it as a general guide, not like it’s some sort of unbreakable law, you know? If the story changes, hey, it changes. And that’s cool. But at least I have a general idea of where I’m trying to take this thing and how I want to shape it. Anyway, thanks.
Thank you, for your reply, Keith! An outline is a great guide and – like you said – it can always be altered and adjusted.
Thanks for sharing this! Very insightful. I need to write outlines more often. I have difficulty keeping to those.