Writing Process Blog Hop

In a lovely, roundabout fashion, I have been tagged in the Writing Process Blog Hop that's floating around the interwebz. You can read Jennifer Becton's post here, and get an inside peek at what she does to write the Southern Fraud thrillers (they're the only thrillers I read, and you can catch my reviews here and here). If you didn't know I write ... well, surprise! I do! Not only do I have a fiction project or two up my sleeve, but I also do a lot of writing for the Library.

What am I working on?
I have several things bouncing around in my brain, some in various stages of completion, others existing solely in my head, but the one I'm most actively working on (aka: what I've written the most of) is the WIP I've affectionately dubbed #EnchantedDarcy. It's an idea that came to me, answering the question "what if Jane Austen wrote fairy tales?" And, of course, I'm using Pride and Prejudice as my first experiment. Because how can you go wrong with Darcy???

How does my work differ from others in my genre?
There are a lot of Austenesque novels available, and there are a lot of fairy tale revisions out there too. But I haven't seen anything that combines the two. Which is fun, because I'm getting to play with all these ideas in my head and not worry about it being compared to something else.

Why do I write what I do?
Because the story is in my head, and it must come out. <-- a="" and="" can="" cool="" have="" i="" it="" like="" movie="" out="" p="" play="" s="" see="" share="" story="" such="" that="" the="" this="" to="" truth.="" whole="">
How does my writing process work?
I get an idea, from somewhere - a dream, a random thought, a phrase - and it starts growing and developing. I "write" everything in my head first, until I can see the story, follow it from beginning to end and see the nuances and detail, until I know the characters on a personal level. And then ... I write. I like to write from the beginning and go straight through, but with #EnchantedDarcy I hit a point where I just really wanted to skip ahead and write some of the more awesome scenes - so I opened a new document and have been. I'll piece them together with the necessary material to weave them into the rest of the story later.
I don't outline, but I have been known to jot down short narratives - like a super condensed summary/short story version of the larger idea in my head - just so I can keep the story straight. I tend to do this for things I'm going to come back to in the future, rather than projects I'm actively working on. I have written character sketches before, but found that my characters can't evolve if I've written them down - I like to let them grow and change as I learn their story. So I just ... visualize everything, I guess. It's really all in my head until I start writing it. And that's a little scary on some level, especially when I hear how others (many of whom write things I lurve) write and develop stories ...
Also, I should probably point out that while I am prolific when I actually sit down to write, I am a very slow writer - I think I get distracted. Or something. Point being, I don't often make myself sit down and just write the way I should. My goal for 2014 is to FINALLY finish my Darcy tale, and then explore whatever else I've got going.
I love to write to music, but I've also discovered I write well to a steady hum of voices. I clocked some of my best word counts on afternoons when I'd write the last bit of my workday, to the backdrop of a particular professor's very enthusiastic Western Civilization lectures. (This was at my old job, obviously). Since I don't have access to those entertaining lectures, music has to fill the gap.

And I was supposed to tag another writer or two, and I totally failed. We had a massive ice storm the end of last week that made us lose power for most of the weekend ((dude, it's the South, in March!)), and this has been an absolutely ridiculous week ... So. #EpicFail on my part. Oops. But definitely track down some of the other posts - there's a lot of interesting writing stuff to be discovered.

Now you know my secret: I'm a writer.
Do you write?