Using research to fuel creativity in your writing!

Hello! I'm Kayla Curry and I have one book published with Martin Sisters Publishing--soon to be two. My debut novel, Obsidian was published in August of 2012 and Moonstone is next!

Today I would like to talk to you about my writing process.

First, I start with the idea. It is the foundation for any writer. I have at least one idea for a story every day, but only a few of them actually push me to write. The primary characters usually accompany the idea.

Once I have the idea, sometimes I will write a little, but every time I will research like crazy. Research is the fuel for my creativity. When I'm searching the internet for information on my main setting or the culture I include in my story, I start to form secondary characters.

After doing some preliminary research, I will then begin to write and write and write. The program I use is Scrivener. It's extremely helpful for organization. I don't use an outline because I never know where the story will take me. If I run out of steam while I write, I will do more research to refuel my knowledge and further develop my characters.

About halfway through the word count goal, I will evaluate my characters. I literally put each one through psychology tests. These mainly include personality tests and this helps me make sure that my characters are developing how I want them to and also provide a blueprint for where they will go from the midpoint. They will take the test again once the book is written. Tests like this can be found online for free.

I keep notes on technical things like how many weapons a character has, what day they met other characters and eventually, I will map out their lives in a timeline. This comes in handy when I'm doing the second draft. The notes will be helpful in determining if there are continuity errors or plot holes.

After the second draft, I self-edit once more before getting it ready to send to Martin Sisters Publishing or in the case of my short stories, which I self-publish, my beta readers. This is when the editing process starts.

Thanks for reading! I'd love to see how you write in the comments section!

Click here to get your copy of Obsidian!