Once I decided to write a novel…
The first thing I did…was to come up with a theme.
Then I picked a location. It didn’t take me long to come up with the perfect place for my story. I picked it, because I’ve loved it ever since I was little. The setting for my book is South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, but I changed the name. I changed it, because I read in one of my many writing books, that it’s best not to use the real name of a place…just in case.
Then I picked a specific place in Dartmouth, that fascinated me ever since I can remember. We drove by it every Sunday, on our way to my grandparents house. I’d stare at from the back seat of my parents car, until I couldn’t see it anymore. I’m not sure why it fascinated me? I can only remember wanting to go inside.
The place that fascinated me so much, is called Round Hill.
Better known by us locals, as Colonel Greens.
I suppose it fascinated me because it was so huge and mysterious.
I wanted to know who lived there.
And probably because it was right on the ocean.
You can barely see it…but that’s Round Hill, in the photo.
Once I had my theme, my setting and my location…I started to develop my characters.
I’m a little obsessive about character development. I have a file for each character. Even the ones who may not even appear in my book. I like to collect photos of them, so I can see what they look like. I give them birthdays, a street address, and families. Then I research zodiac traits. It helps me make them into real people, with flaws and quirks.
I spend so much time on character development, because I want people to fall in love with my characters…like I do.
Then I stared to write
I choose…to start with a prologue, even though some writing books say not too. I like action, mystery and suspense, and my prologue gives me that right away. My main character is running for her life, and at the end of the prologue…you have no idea what happened to her…so, you have to keep reading.
So…come on in
It’s going to be a scary ride, with twists and turns, family secrets, lies, betrayal, danger, adventure, suspense, and a little romance.
Melinda Marie Alexander 
I can’t tell you how much I love this post. I enjoyed reading how you broke your writing process down. The pictures were a perfect supplement to your tale. I think I might employ your method to see if it works for me. I tend to only draw rough character sketches of my characters rather than really flesh them out from the start. Maybe my writing will be more focused and meander less if I give the characters more individualized attention.
Great post, Melinda!
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I’m so glad you liked it…Thank you! I’ll be posting, more about my writing process soon. Being an artist, my world revolves around color, form, and function. Images are very helpful for me. When I first started to write, I had an idea of what my characters would look like, but they didn’t come to life until I found photos of people that resembled…what was in my head. Now, thanks to Pinterest…I have photos of locations, and settings as well. I’ve been making inspiration boards for each chapter, which has been very helpful too!!! I can actually see my story unfold…right in front of my eyes. It’s amazing! I’ll be posting them soon. I definitely think that images will help you too Idris. Thanks for commenting!
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