So the type of writing that I am doing is called “discovery writing.” I have a set of characters in mind, and a setting, and a general idea of where I am headed – but then I just sit down and start writing.
Sometimes the characters surprise me, and I have to go back and refactor previously written pages to keep the story cohesive. This has happened in both books at this point.
The third book in this series will be the same style, which makes sense since it’s the third book in a series. Some of the characters were already introduced in the first two books, and the new main characters are already in residence in my brain, so I expect to be able to write it fairly quickly unless my paying job requires a lot of extra hours.
Along with these two books (the one I’m writing now, and third book for this series), there’s another book trying to get my attention that might require a more outlined form of storytelling to work. The outline is shaping up in odd moments (I keep a document filled with notes open all the time when I’m using my personal laptop.) I’m deeply curious to find out if I enjoy that type of writing, or if it will feel too slow.
The truth is I’d like to make some money off my writing, which I know is nearly impossible in the over-saturated field of romance. And as far as I can tell, the only way to make money is to produce a lot of work quickly – so that if you manage to snag even a single reader, they might buy a second or third book. Of course, every writer knows this, so it seems like every book is a series now. 🙂
Still, doing something more deliberate and complicated has some appeal. Maybe I can take a few extra days off in August to focus on writing. My company has a “Paid Time Off” (PTO) policy with a cap – you can only save up to a certain amount of PTO before you stop adding any to your bank. I’m almost always at the cap, partly because I don’t take days off just to be at home and I can’t afford to travel just now.
I’ll consider it. Meanwhile, I am only at 22,000 words in Book Two. One of those refactorings noted above hit me pretty hard this weekend, but I’m much happier with where the book is going now, so it was worth it.