Follow me step by step as I write a new novel in 30 days

I WILL START THE NEW NOVEL IN FEBRUARY.

So many times I come across readers who also wish to be authors. Whenever I open a discussion with them and ask if they're writing and what are they writing about, nine times out of ten I receive the same answers, which are 'I'm not sure my writing is good enough' or 'I have too much on my plate and not enough time to write a book' or 'I have no idea how or where to begin.' These are all good reasons to stop anyone from writing. I love all things books. It doesn't matter if it's fiction or non-fiction, as long as it's a good read I'm all in! I want to encourage YOU to become a writer so badly that I have challenged myself to write a new novel in thirty days while blogging each step I take. I will be starting from scratch, which means, nope! This won't be a manuscript I've started some time ago and now I'm going to include you in on the process. I'm starting from page one with a fresh idea and nothing else. If you don't know who I am, and you have landed on this page without first seeing my homepage, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Shelley Young. I'm an international bestseller of Romantic/Suspense, Murder Mystery, and Science Fiction. As you can see, I don't stick to one genre. I also write and coach Non-Fiction. My writing guide, Anyone Can Write is one of the inspirations for creating this post. And here's a warning for anyone who doesn't like reading bad language or sex in literature. My books include these two elements, so you better believe this new novel will include it too. If you find that offensive, I still say you should stick around. Why? Because where else will you find a bestselling author blogging their step by step process of writing a new book for free?

Well, enough about that. Let's get started. Here's what I know about my new book idea. I'm going to use characters from a series I already have published. These characters are being taken from my first international bestsellers in the Dardian Dreshaj series. For those of you who have read these books, yep! I'm starting all over. I know you've been waiting for a new Dardian book for some time and for a while I have promised to give you one. The bad thing with a book series is sometimes it's hard to find a new plot that will satisfy the majority of readers you already have. In my attempts at writing The Blood Sport, which I had intended to be book 4 in the series, I just didn't feel as if what I had written truly represented the Dardian books franchise. I feel that I offered up good books with the first three. I just couldn't let you down in book four! Okay, back to this blog.

To start any book, I need to know who my main character(s) are, as well as who my antagonist(s) are. So far, I have the main characters down pat: Dardian and Aaliyah, Kevin and Heidi, Casper and Emma, Deuxieme and Koy. Notice that I have paired each male character with his female partner/wife. The reason for this is I had an idea of these four couples going away for a much needed vacation, only to find a shitload of trouble coming at them from all sides. Okay, let's get this out of the way. This blog will be written in my day to day voice. Just imagine me sitting in the room with you. I'm very relaxed, wearing comfortable cloths and slippers on my feet. Who knows what's going to come out of my mouth next?

All good books have one common thing and that's plenty of tension. With that in mind, I must open my novel with a dilemma that will make readers keep turning the page.

What location will my novel open with? I'm thinking the airport. Might as well let the reader enjoy this vacation from the beginning. We all know that anything can happen at an airport. So what I know so far is I'm at the airport with six characters and it is there they begin facing a dilemma, as I don't want readers to have to wait to figure out what's happening. From page one I want them to know where they are, the time of day and what the book will be about, including what the book genre is. I like thinking ahead, so my first step is to figure out where this vacation will take place. It can be anywhere in the world, but from experience I know I want somewhere remote because if the location is remote it allows me to throw in anything without interference from the cops.

Here are the details I'm starting with:

Main character: Dardian Dreshaj

His description: Dardian is the highest-paid contract killer in America and owner of an assassins syndicate known as Harlow Industries.

Book genre: Romantic Thriller Suspense

Estimated word count: 90,000 words plus (is my usual)

My writing style: I'm a pantser, which means I don't write by an outline and instead write the story as it comes to me.

First chapter dilemma: I have an idea, but I'm not totally sure just yet

Opening chapter location: Ontario/Los Angeles International Airport

That's pretty much all I have right now, so the first thing I feel like doing is brain storming the first chapter.

I'm going to get started!