Why I love zero drafts

A lot of times I compare it to being in the honeymoon phase of a book. But maybe “first date” is more accurate. Everything is new. You’re learning about the characters, the story. All the ideas are bright and shiny. But it’s still awkward because you really just don’t know the book like you want to. You’re excited to get to know it, to learn about it, to create this relationship between you and your fiction.

Okay, maybe I’m anthropomorphizing it just a tad. But you get the idea.

I’ve been working on Reapers 3 this month. It’s been a little slow, even though the ideas are flowing and I keep needing to pull over into parking lots to jot plot notes down. It also turned out to be more complicated than I expected. I have three sub-stories within the main plot itself. This was part of my plan to not forget about the guys that already had their HEA or HFN. I wanted them to be real characters and continue their growth as people in their own right. Also, I needed certain things to happen outside of the main story that eventually would tie into the main story and I needed a way to do that. LOL.

This is really hard to talk about without giving away things in the book that I haven’t announced yet. Haha. But I really need to make sure I’ve got a decent handle on the book before I start blasting out promises on the Interwebs. I will say that I’m planning to have this book out in the fall, say October-ish, but it might end up November before it’s ready. Revisions and editing usually take up the bulk of the process for me and it’s not something I’m willing to rush, so while that’s the goal timeframe, it’s not a promise. Just a goal.

Just out of curiosity, which part do you like hearing about the most when you follow an author? If you’re a writer, what part of the process is the most fun for you?