Author Guest Post by Kimberly Lewis

It’s been a while.
And I missed the drama!
So let me turn on the stage lights, draw out my magic wand, and bedazzle you with the best type of illusions there are – book fantasies that come to life.
You’re not up to it? Oh, well. Then, just stop for a second, and take a peak at the works behind the scenes…because Kimberly Lewis, proud author of “Zane”, was kind enough to tell us her secrets about the way the magic happens!

 

In November of 2011, author KIMBERLY LEWIS stepped into the writing world with her first original contemporary romance novel "WHEN THE HEART FALLS". Born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, this country girl at heart caught the creative bug at an early age, doing everything from drawing to writing short stories. After the birth of her son, Kimberly found the inspiration to pick up a pen, or in this case a laptop, and began writing her first novel. Since then she has continued to write and credits her husband Rob and her wonderfully crazy family, who with their love and joking demeanor provide her with the ideas that inspire her novels. In her spare time she enjoys reading, horseback riding, and spending time with her amazing family. You can contact  Kimberly via her website, Facebook, and Goodreads.

✦✦✦✦✦
The Magnificence Of the Writing Process

I’m always interested in hearing how authors come up with the plots for their novels—or short stories, novellas, poems, etc. Creativity is such a unique thing and it’s really neat how each of us come up with our ideas. So today I thought I’d share with you how I usually come up with my story ideas!

For me, inspiration usually hits when I’m listening to the radio. I’ll hear a song and the lyrics will just really hit home for me. Then my mind starts to wander. I imagine my characters (either ones I’m currently writing about or all new characters that will have their own story) and the scene just plays itself out in my head—mostly just actions at first and then the actual dialogue will come later as I keep playing the scene over and over. As soon as I have the opportunity I type this scene in a word document and save it. Then I think more and more about those characters and what brought them to that particular moment in their lives. Once the ideas start flowing, I either do one of two things:

A) I produce and outline of how I see the story playing out as of that moment.
Or…
B) I just start writing and see where my ideas take me.

Normally I go with option B first and just start writing and then I’ll do an outline. Mainly the outline is just a way of keeping my ideas in a written form so I don’t forget them, because as I get writing I always find that the story changes—sometimes drastically and sometimes just a little tweak here and there.

One of the rules I have for my writing process is to not stress myself out with a deadline—one of the wonderful things about being a self-published author :) I’ve found that if I try to write when I’m not feeling the “creative vibes” that what I produce is just horrible. I’ve done that in the past and have deleted whole chapters or more. Sometimes I’ll just take it out and save it in another location in the chance that I may be able to tweak it and make it work somehow, but that rarely happens.

When I’m finally done with my story, I’ll read it over from beginning to end doing my own edits and tweaking the story. I’ll do this as many times as it takes before I’m happy enough with it to send to my editor. Once it’s been through her hands, I make the necessary changes, go through the book one more time and send it back to her for a final approval. If she gives me the “Okay” then it’s publishing time :)

Do you find it interesting how authors come up with their ideas? And for all you authors out there, how do you create your stories?

✦✦✦✦✦

Blurb of a book you should not miss - "Zane" the first book in the The McKades of Texas series!

Kellan Anderson is in hillbilly hell—or at least that’s what it feels like. After enduring endless accounts of abuse from her now ex-boyfriend, Kellan makes a run for her life and finds herself in cowboy country. Leaving her fancy clothes and expensive lifestyle behind her, she trades in her high heels for cowboy boots and changes her name to Andi Ford. With her painful past threatening to catch up with her, hiding out in this small town seems easy enough – until one blonde hair, blue eyed cowboy steps in the picture.

Zane McKade has sworn off women, determining that they are all liars and cheats—including the new waitress at the local bar. After a rather unpleasant first encounter with the beautiful brunette, Zane’s radar is set to high as he believes this woman is not who she claims to be. When his intimidation methods fail to break through Andi’s barrier he decides to turn on the charm to get her to tell the truth. But Zane’s plan begins to backfire as the more time he spends charming Andi, the more he finds himself breaking his own rules and falling for her.

You can get your very own electronic copy of "Zane" if you follow this Amazon link! Go, go, go!!!

This whole post is brought to you with the help of Making Connections!