The Writing Process: Birthing a Book Baby, Sharee Stover

I liken writing to having a baby. Stay with me here…

Having three wonderful children, I’m well acquainted with the delightful series of events from that first “we’re having a baby!” moment to holding my precious gift from God. And I can attest to that fact that it is not instantaneous. Rather, there are nine (or less) months of waiting, hoping, planning, and expecting. In the same way, from the time an idea is conceived in my mind to the day I hold that printed copy in my hands, there’s a lot of waiting, hoping, planning, and expecting. For me, that all starts with what I like to call the Ugly Baby draft.

I know, all babies are beautiful. The same is true with writing. My book babies, as I lovingly refer to them, all started with Ugly Baby beginnings.

The Idea

The idea phase is where an event, a location, a news story, whatever, has brought a hint of something bigger to fruition. I might spend years, months, weeks, or days allowing this idea to brew, develop, and come to life. I’m getting used to the notion of this new addition to my book family and preparing for the arrival. The writing process is as unique to the authors composing the story as the story itself. For me, ideas often begin with the crime. It’s my favorite part of the story. But crimes are just events, so they must come to life with the characters involved in the mystery of solving them.

The characters

Characters develop via different means. Sometimes a name suggests the perfect hero, heroine, or villain. Or a picture of a model, actress, or even a friend.

Sometimes the characters remain unnamed until I get to know them more because just as naming a child is important—it sticks with them the rest of their lives—so is naming the characters that will live in this story. I love unique names, but that can stall a story if a reader is unfamiliar with the pronunciation. I also check to see if there are any infamous real-life people with the name. And the meaning of the name plays a role, too.

I’m a huge fan of the One Stop for Writers online program and I use it especially for the character development of my hero, heroine, and villain. If I’m writing a series, I will develop the other characters too.

No wimpy heroes or heroines for this author. They’re strong, brilliant, and skilled, but they have quirks, of course. And the villain. Ah yes. He or she must be fully rounded, matured and credible. One doesn’t wake up determined to commit heinous acts, they believe their cause is legitimate and necessary.

The story

I enjoy research and oftentimes, get stuck in rabbit holes that may or may not have anything to do with the story. However, it’s not a one-and-done kind of thing for me. I might stumble across an interesting fact and will research throughout the story’s development. 

As the saying goes, location, location, location, is huge. Wilderness and country settings are at the top of my list. I often use the area where I live as well as places I’ve visited, which might require a road trip, because I must visualize the scenery. This isn’t always possible, but when it is, I take the opportunity.

Now we’re ready for the synopsis

I use my personal template, created from various brilliant craft sources and based on the hero’s journey. A fully fleshed out synopsis is essential for me. There are days I feel creative and days I so DO NOT feel creative. So, the synopsis acts like a compass and road map, drawing me back to where I need to be and providing the necessary details for the story. But friends, it’s not a pretty one. In fact, I often write what I call Ugly Baby.

So here we are! We’ve had our time of expecting, hoping, and waiting. NOW it’s time for Ugly Baby to appear. This is not for the faint of heart. Just sayin’.

Birthing Ugly Baby

Ugly Baby is the—pardon the expression—word vomited version of the story. It’s the roughest, ugliest spewing of words where I’ve ignored my internal editor and pretended not to see the horrible grammatical errors.

Wash Ugly Baby

Once the story is drafted, I go back and begin the first line of edits. I will make two or three passes through the story from start to finish, so this is where I clean up those ugly, flat, scenes and give them life. I’ll start adding essentials to the characters and oftentimes, it’s where I learn something about them that I’d not known at first. But we know it’s not the finished product. We’re just cleaning ugly baby.

Make him pretty by diapering and dressing him

At the final pass, I’ll go through and run each scene through ProWritingAid. Another fabulous writer’s program that catches things like repeats, overused words, grammar, and cliches. It too, polishes the draft so Ugly Baby is as cute as he can be.

 

Listen to the baby

A baby’s cry says so much, and mothers often learn the differences between cries. This is true of Ugly Baby too. I listen to the book, using my Kindle or Microsoft Word to read it back to me. A lot of people say this seems unnecessary, but studies have shown our brains fill in missing words within sentences. Thus, I find audio edits especially helpful in catching my mistakes or repetitions. It’s also a great place to replay dialogue to ensure it’s not stiff and unbelievable.

Now Ugly Baby is ready to see the world. He’s been washed, diapered, and dressed. He’s been heard and taken care of!

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Following the clues could be the last thing they do…

Temporarily working in the cold case division was supposed to mean less danger for state trooper Trey Jackson and his injured K-9 partner, Magnum—until they thwart an abduction. Now he must protect profiler Justine Stark, even as she blames him for her friend’s death ten years ago. Can he right past wrongs by finally solving the murder…and making sure Justine lives to find closure?

From Harlequin Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.

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Colorado native Sharee Stover lives in Nebraska with her real-life-hero husband, three too-good-to-be-true children, and two ridiculously spoiled dogs. A self-proclaimed word nerd, she loves the power of the written word to transform, ignite and restore. She writes Christian romantic suspense combining heart-racing, nail-biting suspense and the delight of falling in love all in one. When she isn’t writing, Sharee enjoys reading, crocheting and long walks with her obnoxiously lovable German Shepherd. Visit her at https://www.shareestover.com/.