Hello everyone. Welcome to Books We Love Blog. Please settle in, grab
that cup of coffee, hot chocolate, or tea and join me as I share what’s in my
writer’s tool shed with you. Please feel comfortable asking questions or leaving
comments as I’ll respond to every one of them.
I’m DK Davis, a new author to the Books We Love
family. I pen young adult supernatural, sci-fi adventures with varying degrees
of romance. My first book, Secret:
In Wolf Lake is the first in the Secret
Series, published January 1st, 2017. An excellent way to kick
off the New Year; )
I live in Southwest Michigan with two nine-year-old
cats who own me (Izzy and Crocks), and a sassy ten-year-old Sheltie (Dusty) who
does his best to herd them, along with me and my husband too…or anyone who
enters our home. He’s definitely a bark-aholic and not afraid to tell you so.
LOL
It’s so nice to meet you...and now on to what
brought you to this post…
A
Writer’s Tool Shed
What does that even mean? Laptop? Pens? Notebooks?
Websites? Links? Books on the Craft?
NOPE, none of the above. Well, I do have all of
those things…just like every author does, but what I’m referring to as my “tools”
is something more specific to me.
Every author has their own system/process of
writing. What works best to stay in the flow, that forward trajectory, driving them
around the final lap called “the end” of a story.
Don’t we as writers want that for ourselves – anything
that speeds things along for us?
Now, I own
a shed with writing tools that keep me on track, help me to eliminate “most” struggles
or obstacles before they paralyze my progress.
My
Tools of the Trade
- Character Sketches: a complete biography of the main story-stars including the villain. The biggy here is to list any trauma or shattering moment that changes/shifts the story-star’s perception. Use a lesser degree for secondary story-stars. (check out Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field, amazing book for fiction novels also)
- Plotting: Index cards (14 beginning, 28 middle, 14 ending = 56 cards) also given in great detail in Syd’s book. It’s a line-up of events, plan of action that keeps me moving forward, although sometimes the characters change those events, my momentum and drive remains until the end. Plus this story lay-out doesn’t take very long to do once you get started with the brain storms.
- Timeline: Writing this as I finish each chapter. Listing the day and also time (if relevant) of the characters story, word count, page numbers, and highlights/events of each chapter. It is a godsend when referencing back to a scene or dialogue or event as I’m writing.
- Research Notations: Rather than doing all the research before I start my book (I can spend a ton of time doing unnecessary research for the sake of having “everything” before I start that first chapter – talk about a procrastinator) I use the “Review” comment tool to make notes throughout my story as I’m writing. That way I know specifically what to research and where it needs to go after the story is completed.
I’m still honing my story-writing skills, and my
tools may change or I might add more of them…but for now, I’m totally impressed
in all of them listed here – they sharpen my process, speed things up, and I
love all of them for that; )
Thank you all
for stopping in, hope you found this post helpful. If you have a tool in your
writer’s toolbox that you’d like to share, I’d love to hear about it. Please
leave a comment; I can always add another tool to my arsenal.
Secret
Series:
A series of secrets,
invisible yet glaring, and most include a Supernatural spin, like an unwelcomed
sensation sparking every nerve ending.
Secret:
In Wolf Lake:
Samantha’s dealing with a lot of emotional blow-back
from her mother’s new marriage. Then she discovers a gifted creature living in
Wolf Lake, and life suddenly becomes all about keeping his existence a secret,
earning his trust. That is until his life depends on her saving him. But she
won’t be able to do it alone…
You can find DK Davis here:
Twitter – https://twitter.com/DKDavisBooks
Website
– http://suda788.wixsite.com/dkdavis
Books
We Love Ltd. Author Page – http://www.bookswelove.com/authors/davis-dk/
Amazon
Author Page – https://www.amazon.com/DK-Davis/e/B01MT5VDZV
Amazon
Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N7O41FM
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