My Writing Process: Blog Hop

By K. L. Bridgewater

I was invited by the sweet Emilie Hendryx (whom I had the privilege of meeting at the 2013 ACFW conference in Indianapolis) to join a blog hop. You can see her previous post at www.eahendryx.blogspot.com.

Today I’ll be talking about my writing process and answering four questions. I’m pretty excited to be asked to join, and I hope you learn something more about me as a writer.

1.) What am I currently working on?

          I am working on developing the characters and the twists and dangers for my heroine and hero in a three part book series. The series features Chloe Walker and Devin Sanders, who will be featured in a couple of my future blog entries, so make sure you return to learn more about them. I usually start with an idea of how my book will turn out, but as I write, however, I learn my book wants to head in a different direction, so I steer off course from my outline. Mostly, for the better.

2.)    How does my work differ from others in its genre?

             That’s a good question. I don’t really think I have a good answer. I write suspense with a hint of     romance. But I want my story to focus on the mystery. The romance is important to the hero and heroine, but I don’t want the readers to walk away with a deep sigh of romance contentment like readers of romance do. My overall goal is to have the readers gasp and flip the pages because they can’t put the book down because so much happens to the characters and the readers worry about what happens. I’m sure every suspense writer feels the same way. My story idea is unique but mixes the police with an amateur sleuth working together to solve a dilemma.

3.)    Why do I write what I do?

I write romantic suspense because I love action movies like Fast and Furious, Transformers, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, etc.  As a young girl, I read every Nancy Drew book by Carolyn Keene I could uncover at the local library. Additionally, I enjoy books filled with action, twists, and mystery. I follow the clues presented in the story with hopes of discovering the villain before the end. Dee Henderson introduced me to the Christian suspense genre, and I was hooked. Enjoying these books, I have decided to write my own. Creating the element of surprise prickles my skin as I uncover something new about the plot that I didn’t plan originally.

4.)    How does your writing process work?

I discussed this very issue on my blog post for Tuesday, July 8, 2014. Majority of the time my ideas come to me as an ending. I don’t know what the characters look like. I don’t even know the theme. The ending pops in my head, and I sit down and write the ending, which causes the skin on my arm to grow big enough goosebumps to put someone’s eyeballs out.  So after the last quarter of the novel is written, I usually try to develop my characters with their big lies and their backstory. Then I weave in elements to bring the first quarter of the story to life.

Well, thanks for stopping by the blog. Unfortunately, all my writer friends have already done this, or who I have asked where too busy, or some didn't even reply. So I have no one for you to hop on over and look at their writing process.  

How does your writing process work? Do you see the ending like I do or do the characters or theme walk in front of you? Please comment on how you do write.