Hello fellow book lovers

We’ve made it to November. Now it’s just a count down to Christmas, right? Haha! Anyway, October saw loads of fabulous authors joining me on Indie Author Insights, and I have more to come.

My interview with Leon Stevens is now live on my website here. Go have a read about his writing journey and take a look at his book Euphrates Vanished!

The channel fellow author Lucy and I have started, Introverted Indies, is taking off. You can find all our written interviews on our web pages, while video interviews and author readings are here.

I have some big author news coming, but first…..

Pantser or plotter or plantser? Or somewhere in between?

You may or may not have heard of the term plotter or pantser, depending on whether you like to write or not. But to be honest, I often think a writer’s drafting style spreads into their everyday life. If you’ve never heard of these terms before, this little table helps.

I definitely used to be in the pantser category. I’d start with an idea, jot down a few essential bits and then just go for it. While I enjoyed seeing where the characters would go and where the world would take me, I often found I was trying to blend two big ideas into one book.

My AVA series started out as one book and has since become 3 (more on that later!), and looking back, I feel if I had planned a bit more, it would have been helpful with the subsequent books. Now AVA is in the world, books 2 and 3 have to fit with her.

We all grow and learn as writers, and since writing AVA and joining a wonderful community of authors, I’ve become more of a plantser (I can’t quite get into the full-blown plotter category!).

I’m currently working on a crime novel, preemptively titled ‘The Runaways’, and for that, I have needed to plot out the chapters as they go between two time periods and between three points of view.

I also found writing a loose outline of the entire story meant that I thrashed out my latest fantasy novel in roughly 5 months. It will be awful, but it’s there on paper, and I can go back and edit it to my heart’s content.

So, I feel I’ve become a convert, sliding into the planster column, and actually, it has improved my writing. There’s been less staring at the screen, wondering where on earth the story is going! But also adopting the technique of just writing, not editing as I go and then leaving myself notes or gaps to fill later has helped get words on a page.

Some famous pansters include George R.R. Martin, Stephen King and Margaret Atwood, while famous plotters include J.K. Rowling, R.L.Stein and John Grisham.

Authors, are you a plotter, a pantser, or a planster? I’d love to know in the comments on my webpage. What writing techniques work best for you?

So, the news!

Things are changing for AVA! After two years with my current publisher, I made the decision to part ways with them and to take back the rights to my book. I am desperate to publish book 2 of the series, and I feel that having both books under my control would be beneficial.

So, AVA is getting a new look and another round of edits in preparation for her re-release at the end of December.

And I will be looking for ARC readers for book 2 in the new year, so keep your eyes peeled for the google form if you’d like to read part 2 before its released.

Thank you so much for reading!

Lydia x

Why should you not write a book on penguins?

Because writing a book on paper is much easier!