Step by step

 

When I thought about how to write about writing, my mind went blank. We are getting ready to head north to the farm, we dealt with the loss of a cat, and there's all the cultural stuff going on. Plus, I am trying to get all eight of the Arizona historicals improved, edited, and making them all I want them to be. Mentally, I am not even sure what's going on in my head.

I dream a lot and sometimes, I have to wonder from where did that come!. An example is a recent dream in what I call a movie type dream-- where I am not in them; but I am watching the story unfold. In that one, there is a young woman, who has a crush on a man probably 20 years older than her. She follows him and his woman friend through a door with no idea that it will bring her into a parallel world. Supposedly, the parallel world is alongside her world except you can't go back without finding that or another portal. 

In that dream, she begins to find that the parallel world looks to be great, except it's not. That world is dystopian with the way everything is controlled; with death sometimes the price people pay if they get in the way of the supposed perfect new world order.

From where do such events in a dream like that come as it got more and more violent. I have never watched any of those movies. When I woke up, I knew it was no book I'd ever want to write. How do I get such dreams??? It wasn't really a nightmare, because I wasn't caught up in the bad stuff, but still had to wonder as I know such ideas are out there.

So, back to writing and how a person puts together a book. I have had a few come from dreams but mostly just small scenes. I don't use dreams for overall plots. I can't really say from where my stories have come. Yes, they are all romances, but there is always a lot more I need to find to make a story worth spending time writing.

The first book I ever wrote was set on the Oregon Trail. The second was a contemporary rodeo story. The third was set in Arizona, again historical, but very different than the Oregon series. 

This is a  marketing mistake not to write in consistent genres that will draw readers to follow the stories. Genres are a big part of successful selling of books. I had one series where I called them paranormals. I got the idea for them while driving through one of Tucson's old neighborhoods and thought-- what if these interesting looking ordinary people had extraordinary powers-- what if they saw what the rest of us do not. Seemed like a fun idea for me but what genre is that? It went nowhere with readers as paranormals...maybe a sub-genre of fantasy.

So, I guess the essence of what I believe is find a genre you as the writer like. Select characters in which to believe. Then, come up with a meaningful and interesting plot-- ideally related to those characters. For me, books take a good setting that the writer knows well enough to describe and give the feel to the reader. Finally, some strong secondary characters-- a few might get a book of their own and some might be animals. 

For what I know of these issues, it'll come next in between driving north and trying to not feel all stressed by travel. I can only use my own stories to illustrate what I think, as right now not reading a lot of fiction.