Tess Quinn

Today we have author Terry Odell joining us to talk about her writing life. Let’s check out what she has to say and what advice she has to give for other authors. Thanks for joining me, Terry! Let’s get started…



What is your brainstorming process for a new book?



For me, it’s about the characters first. I need to know enough about them to decide what kind of a story would make life miserable for them. I’m not talking about eye color, or number of siblings—those are details that can come out later. I need to know their wants, fears, and secrets. From there I can devise the plot points that will eventually lead to the story. For example, for Finding Sarah, I knew the hero would be a cop who lived his life with a ‘letter of the law, black and white’ ethic. I wanted to see how far I had to push him before he’d cross his line. The heroine was a woman who would do anything to keep her business alive, but who wanted to be totally independent while doing so. From there, it was just a matter of throwing things at them.



I don’t actually plot in advance. I’ve started using an ‘idea board’ along with a story board. I jot down any ideas, scenes, plot points, even lines of dialogue onto Post-its and put them on a white board. I can move them around and see how things might flow. Then, as I write, I use a story board to keep track of details. I’ve got a handout about the system on my website.



Can you explain your typical work week day?



Since I don’t have a separate day job, one day is very much the same as the next, although recently I’ve set weekends aside for work on things other than the current manuscript, providing I’ve met my word count goals for the week.



So, on a typical ‘writing’ day, I get up, make sure my blog has posted correctly, and deal with email. I go to the Y 4 mornings a week, where I can sit on a recumbent bike and read, uninterrupted, and without guilt. Home, breakfast, shower, and do my blog-hopping to get my mind back into writing. Mornings are usually spent editing the dreck I wrote the day before, doing crits for my critique group, and any everyday life stuff. Laundry, shopping, paying bills.



After lunch, I tackle the WIP, and shoot for 500 words by 3 PM. Often, my ‘writing’ includes wandering around the house as I listen to my characters. If I’m doing well, I might take a reading break. I’ll write until it’s time to fix dinner (although hubby doesn’t mind if I don’t; he can fend for himself if I’m on a roll). After dinner, things seem to pick up. The normal daytime ‘real life’ stuff is behind me, and there shouldn’t be any further interruptions. I’ll write until about 10, then go to bed, read, and that’s about it. Not much TV in there. I haven’t found much that seems more fun than playing with my characters.



Now, one thing you have to understand is that at the moment, I’m not contracted for anything new, so I don’t have deadline pressures. That’s an entirely different game.



Tell us about when you made the decision to write.



I can’t say there was a definitive moment. I more or less got into writing by mistake, but soon found it was not only a challenge but a great creative outlet (and since I had no more room on my walls for needlepoint, it was perfect timing.) I started writing fan fiction, then found a local writer’s group and thought I’d try creating an entire story with my own characters and settings. With their encouragement, I kept at it, learning as I went.



What suggestions do you have for aspiring writers?



Read. Write. Find friends who write. Exchange feedback. Do it because you love it. It’s not easy, and those who succeed tend to be those who never quit.



Tell us about what you’re working on right now and what we can expect from you in the near future.



I’ve been toying with a mystery instead of a romance, but it’s still a work in progress. I have two mystery short stories due out sometime in early 2010 from Highland Press as part of an anthology. Those were fun to write, and a complete change of pace, although they grew out of the research I’ve done for my romantic suspense novels. I have another romantic suspense, NOWHERE TO HIDE coming out from The Wild Rose Press in August, 2010. I’ll be at SleuthFest, a mystery writer’s conference in south Florida in late February, and I’ll be giving a dialogue basics workshop at the Written in the Stars conference in Shreveport, LA in early March. You can find out more about me at my website, http://www.terryodell.com, and my blog, Terry’s Place, http://terryodell.blogspot.com/.



That sounds great, Terry! We look forward to reading ‘Nowhere to Hide” in August. Thank you for joining us today and sharing a part of your writing life with us! For those of you who want to know more about Terry, you can check out her blog and website linked above. Stay tuned for our next Writers on Writing!

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