Thursday, May 14, 2015

Tracy Reed, author of 'Generational Curse,' on her writing process


Thank you so much to author Tracy Reed for stopping by the blog today. Many readers and writers love to hear about authors' writing processes. Here, Tracy shares what she does.

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What’s my writing process? It would be nice to say, I do endless research and plot out every little detail. That I have a set time of day to write and the environment has to be just right…temperature at a cool 70 degrees, coffee in my favorite cup, a scented candle burning and dressed a certain way. I do use music to help with the love scenes or very emotional.

I’m sure there’s a writer out there like the one I described, but it ain’t me. I know that’s not good English.

I am what’s known as a “Panster.” In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a writer that just goes with the flow. The only things I note about a story are the beginning and the end. How they get there, for me is part of the writing process. It’s like reading a book, if that makes sense. I tried to plot once, but I never referred to it. When I did find the file, the story had completely changed.

When I sat down to write GENERATIONAL CURSE, it started with an idea. A loose woman attracted to a chaste man, who only wants friendship. At first, I didn’t think it would work. Then I jumped ahead to the end of the story and knew it would.

I started writing the story with the ending in mind. In order for Kyla to be attracted to Sean, I knew he had to be an incredibly good looking man. And for him to be tempted, she had to be very beautiful. In my mind, he was always tempted by her, but he never gave into the urge. In an early draft, I had them kiss very early in the story which led to confusion for both of them, but the follow up didn’t make sense. So I delayed the kiss. Without giving too much away, once they did, it opened the door for a lot of speculation, anticipation and temptation.

The only real to planning I do is with my Pinterest boards. I am a huge fan of Pinterest. I use it to research my characters. If I’m trying to describe a character and get stuck, I visit Pinterest. I have a board devoted to good-looking men. As well as on for curvy women. [Most of my female characters are petite and packed with lots of curves and most of the men are very tall and well-built.]

I’m working on a book for Summer release and one of my character descriptions was off. I headed over to Pinterest and did a little pinning and found the perfect man. I stared at him [my job is so hard…staring at hot men] until I could put his looks into words. For me, it’s the best way to do character development.

Once I’ve completed the book, I let it sit a few days and then start editing. I give myself about two weeks. Then I make the changes and start the revision process. I try not to let this step drag out. Then I send a clean copy to my editor. When I get it back, I deal with her edits and then it’s on to print formatting.

Print formatting takes a little while, because this is where I’m designing the book’s personality. [cover, font, chapter headings, etc.]. While I’m writing I look for possible cover images. This can be a tedious process searching for the perfect image. I’ve learned not to jump the gun, here. I bought the image for my Summer release a while back and now it doesn’t work with the revised story. So I had to shelve that one and start over. Now I have a cover I love.

Once I have both files, I load them, get a proof and do another edit. On this edit, I’m looking for anything I missed and make sure the story reads well. If I’m happy with it, I give it to my content readers. That’s how I refer to my advance readers. I have three ladies that read for me. At this point I’m looking for any typos, grammar errors and story flow.

These ladies aren’t writers, but readers. They represent my audience. I take their comments and make any necessary corrections and changes and then it’s on to a final print proof. I’ll read the book again and if everything is good, it’s on to the ebook formatter.

While the book is with the eformatter, I’m setting up marketing and starting the process again with the next book.



Generational Curse

by Tracy Reed 


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BLURB:

What happens when a celibate Christian man befriends a woman involved with a married man? Sean knows he should run in the other direction, but Kyla tempts him to abandon his Christian beliefs for a taste of the forbidden. But if he continues the relationship, can he convince that being with a married man isn't the fantasy life the generations of women in her family made it appear to be?

Sean Prescott and Kyla James are business associates playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse hoping the other will give in. But in this high stakes relationship game, is there really a winner or will both be losers?

Read an excerpt:
“What do I do about Sean?”

“What about him?” Mike asked.

“I think I’ve fallen in love with him.”

“Okay, I know this is a female thing.” He started to leave.

“Honey, sit down.” DeeDee patted his leg.

“You know I’m no good with the dating stuff,” he pleaded with DeeDee.

“I know, but you’re his friend.”

He took a deep breath. “He’s a great guy, but you already know that. And you probably know how much Francesca hurt him. Has he given you any reason to think he may feel the same?”

“Kyla, forgive my husband. Honey, you’re right, I’ll handle this. Go check on Michelle.”

“Thank you.” He stood up, “Kyla, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you Mike or is it Pastor?”

“It’s still Mike. We’re friends, remember.” He smiled and walked down the hall.

“Okay, tell me everything,” DeeDee urged.

“I can’t get him out of my head. He told me he was going on a blind date and I got upset. And after I told him I broke up with my boyfriend and how hurt I was, he came over with ice cream. Well, gelato. It’s one of the things we like to do, eat gelato. We meet twice a week for coffee and lunch, and occasionally we go to dinner or brunch. And when I’m not feeling well, he comes over with groceries and rubs my feet and takes care of me and Winnie. Then he drove me to my parents and stayed with us the weekend. He said I needed to be around my family. He and my mother have become friends.” She chuckled. “I think they’ve been conspiring to get me to change.”

“I think it’s pretty safe to say, he feels the same way.”

Buy links


AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I’m a single Christian Woman who loves God, Fashion and Cute Guys. I live in California, but consider myself a partial New Yorker because of the two and half years I lived there. I own www.thepinkduchess.com, a lingerie site for curvy women. GENERATIONAL CURSE is my debut novel.

WEB CONTACTS

Website: www.readtracyreed.com

Blog: readtracyreed.wordpress.com

Facebook: facebook.com/readtracyreed

Tumblr: writertracy.tumblr.com

Pinterest: pinterest.com/readtracyreed

Twitter: twitter.com/readtracyreed

Goodreads: goodreads.com

Tracy will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host. Follow along for more chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

10 comments:

  1. Interesting and different excerpt. I really liked it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi MomJane,
      I'm glad you like the post and excerpt.
      Thank you,
      Tracy

      Delete
  2. Good Morning Uplifting Reads,
    Thank you for hosting me and my book GENERATIONAL CURSE today. I really enjoyed doing the post and hope your readers will enjoy hearing about my writing process.

    Tracy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good Morning Uplifting Reads,
    Thank you for hosting me this morning. I enjoyed doing the post and hope your readers enjoy it.
    Tracy

    ReplyDelete
  4. What an awesome cover! The excerpt was amazing! This sounds like a fascinating book! Thank you for the great post and contest!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Betty,
      Thank you for the cover love and I'm glad you like the excerpt. I really enjoyed writing this book and living with these characters. Thanks for posting.
      Tracy

      Delete
  5. Are you a plotter or a pantster?

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  6. Hi Mai,
    I am definitely a pantser. I tried outlining, but forgot to go back to it and took the story in a different, but better direction.
    Thanks for the question,
    Tracy

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, curses can be real and difficult sometimes to detect since they manifest out through our own personality/ego causing us to act in unbecoming ways, be self-destructive, self-sabotaging, make poor decisions, experience lack and poor health which lead us to a string of failed relationships and jobs.i use to act this because a curse was placed on my and a friend of mine at the office introduced me to a spell caster who helped me with the removal of the curse and i was totally free. The email to contact again is lordazeez1990@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete