I’ve always been a bit of a planner, mainly because when I started my writing career over thirty years ago I wrote for teen magazines and children’s comics and had to send a synopsis of the story first, for approval. Now I’m living in Spain I write mainly romance novels but I still send a synopsis of the story I’m planning to my editor. She will make comments and we’ll flesh out the plot between us before I start writing it up.
I really like to know my characters before I write the story, and often trail Pinterest boards for photos of people that look like my characters, print them out and put them in my WIP folder so I have an image of them while I write. I also create a Pinterest board for every book I’m working on, looking for images that are connected to the story and repining them to my WIP board. I find that really helps me to brainstorm. Once I feel I know my characters well enough I start to write, freewriting the story as it comes and not stopping to edit or correct until I’ve finished. Then I leave it for a couple of weeks (unless I’m on a tight deadline) then go back and edit it.
I usually do four different edits, first I read all the way through to get the feel of the characters and story. I make comments in the margin or underline anything I want to change but don’t alter them at this stage. For the next set of edits I work on anything that I’ve marked up and pay particular attention to the story structure and timeline. For the third set of edits I pay attention to characters, dialogue and setting and for the final set of edits I look out for typos and grammatical errors. I’m now lucky enough to work for Bookouture, and we’re usually on a tight deadline so they ask for the first draft, then get back to me with their comments, which works really well. I always find it helpful to get their advice and guidance into making my story stronger.
I find I work best in the morning so ideally like to get up, grab some breakfast and start work for a few hours. I write most days and don’t usually have a word count I’m aiming at unless I’m on a tight deadline, then I’ll work as and when I can during the day, and late into the evening too until I meet that wordcount (it can be anything from 2-5,000 words). I mainly write in my upstairs office which is in the studio apartment on the terrace but can also be found writing by the pool with my laptop in a box to keep the sun off my screen, or at the dining room table. I can write anywhere really, as long as I have my laptop, or a notebook and pen.
If I get Writer’s Block I simply carrying on writing until the story flows again, then delete any rubbish I’ve written to get me there. Which is why my advice to new writers is – stop faffing about and just write! You can edit afterwards, the main thing is to get your story down.
Contact Links
Website: http://www.karenking.net/
Twitter: @karen_king
Karen King Romance Author Facebook Page
Karen King Young Adult Books Facebook Page
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/karenkingauthor/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karenkingauthor/?hl=en
Single All The Way
Blurb
Snow is falling, bells are ringing… and my heart is broken. I pick up the phone to tell my mother about Oliver and me. But before I can, she says, ‘I don’t exactly know how to tell you this… But I’m leaving your dad.’
Single together for the first time, 34-year-old Meg and her warm-hearted, long-suffering mother Sally are cancelling Christmas, and running away to a tiny cottage on the Cornish coast. For Meg, it is the perfect place to heal, away from all the mistletoe, while for her mother it has a special, and secret, place in her heart – from a love story that seems a lifetime ago…
Meg and Sally find they’re getting to know themselves, and each other, better than ever before. But as they are unable to resist getting involved in the village Christmas celebrations, they encounter two handsome local strangers.
Sometimes, it’s being away from home that helps you realise where your heart is. What neither woman knows is that, by the time the new year rolls around, one woman will have fallen in love with her husband all over again, and one marriage will be over for good…
An escapist, romantic and heart-warming novel for fans of One Day in December and No One Cancels Christmas.
Buy links
AMZ: https://geni.us/B07XDYL7GHCover
Apple Books: https://tinyurl.com/y4dkhrvl
Kobo: https://tinyurl.com/y6apzqe2
Googleplay: https://tinyurl.com/y5hc6nfn