Romantic Suspense anyone?

As a reader, I'd say I probably lean more toward stories without the POV of the antagonist. However, the reason I say that is because I absolutely love the way Sandra Brown keeps me guessing until the very end as to who the antagonist really is.

As a writer, I tend to mix it up. Some of my favorite scenes have been written in the POV of Mr. Evil. Yet, in some stories, I don't go there at all. However, when I do show the bad guy's POV, I typically keep it to a minimum. Two or three scenes at the most.

I write in the villain's POV sometimes. However, it is a little harder, given that I usually write in third, not first (but that seems to be changing a bit more recently), and I'm trying to keep the person's identity a secret. I end up repeating a lot of stuff, like "she", "he", and etc.

Silver-Midnight said:

I write in the villain's POV sometimes. However, it is a little harder, given that I usually write in third, not first (but that seems to be changing a bit more recently), and I'm trying to keep the person's identity a secret. I end up repeating a lot of stuff, like "she", "he", and etc.

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Almost impossible to avoid the "he" and "she" repeats when writing in third, as I do myself. But then, if you were writing in first person, you would just have different challenges. The trick is to try to word things differently as much as possible. And don't forget to use the character's name instead when you can.

Calle Jay said:

I think it adds a bit of depth to not reveal the villian's identity. And I love going deep into his (or her, I'm equal opportunity villian!) POV to find out what makes him tick. But keeping from revealing too much is difficult.

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Another challenge. but ain't it fun?!

I'm working on a new project and having a blast working through just this kind of thing. Hiding identities, laying out clues, etc. I love it!

Calle Jay said:

I think it adds a bit of depth to not reveal the villian's identity. And I love going deep into his (or her, I'm equal opportunity villian!) POV to find out what makes him tick. But keeping from revealing too much is difficult.

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Hmm. I might try that: revealing the villain to the audience but not to the other characters. It could work.

Oh, I don't reveal the villain to the reader, either. At least, not always, or not completely. That's part of the mystery - figuring it all out. I love who-done-it type stories!

Ooh, I like reading about what everyone does with their villains! Personally I've never actually written from the villain's POV, but I'm sure eventually there'll be some story where it will fit.

Calle Jay said:

So do you write sequentially? I tend to write in parts. I'll do the villain's all at once, then deal with the romance side of things, the clues, etc. all at separate times. Then I go back and make everything flow together.

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Good Lord, I can't even imagine trying to write like that. I do write in sequence. Although, I will admit to having to go back and make major changes when I find a hole in my plot or come up with a new idea.

Which happens to me more often than I'd like. I blame myself for that as I typically fail to outline as thoroughly as I should.

I write sequentially too, but I sometimes label a scene "sex", skip, and come back to fill it in later.

I find it very interesting to hear all the different ways writers work to obtain the same goal. It's part of being creative, I would guess, as writing is definitely a form of art.

Day before yesterday, I hit a snag on a scene and have since been stuck in that one spot. I've written the same scene four different ways already, and I'm still not happy with it. I asked myself: Why not just skip it for now and go back to it later? The answer I gave myself was: Because I can't! Mostly because the way this scene is written will determine the next several scenes.

Although I've outlined this book probably more in depth than I have my others, I still don't know how the whole thing plays out. That comes as I write. Typical of me in the past would be to have accepted the scene as I wrote it the first time and moved on. Then, later, when I got to a point in the story that I realized I made a mistake with that scene, or decided to go in a different direction, I would find myself going back and making changes.

So, this time I'm going for something different, and trying to get the scene just how I want it before continuing. Don't get me wrong, of course, I know I'll be going back and tweaking at the very least, but it would be nice not to be doing complete rewrites of entire scenes, or major changes that require a page by page review.

We'll see how I do. LOL

It's all a learning process for me, I suppose. Maybe you all feel that way too, or maybe it's just me, but I figure I'll likely keep changing the way I work until I find what works best for me.

My current novel, the one I'm shopping around, fits into this category. I didn't really mean for it to. It never occured to me that I'd write a romance. But I'm actually really glad to have found a genre to which my book fits. I was having some trouble figuring it out.

I'm glad you found a perfect fit for your book as well. It is so much easier to describe in short order when you feel comfortable with the genre you've chosen to sum it all up.

And it's always good to have one more writer to bounce ideas off and commiserate with.

Me, I kind of write sequentially. However, I still also kind of write scene by scene. Right now, I'm trying to learn how to not break stuff up into chapters immediately, you know what I mean? Like get through the whole thing then break it up.

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So, I'm curious. Do any of you make outlines or anything? I'm currently working on one right now. I don't know how close I am to finishing it though. Hopefully soon though.

Also, do any of you write(including free writing) or plan(make an outline) to music? Do you have playlists or anything like that.

If anyone wants to write to music and make playlists and stuff, you can use. 8tracks , last FM, Grooveshark, Pandora, or Spotify.

Hmm...I sort off outline in my head. Then I jot down what I want in each chapter/section (a few pages of scribblings, nothing intense). Then before I write a specific scene I jot down what I want in that scene (only been doing this recently--it's helped).

No play list for me. I'm most productive when it's completely quiet (which is rare).

Calle Jay said:

I probably should keep track of how I write, and see which way is more productive, now that I think of it...

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Same here. Same here.

With each book I have progressively outlined (or at least tried to) in a little more depth than the last. It is kind of a learning curve for me, I guess, to see what works best. However, I have a feeling it will continue to be different for each book because each one will have a life of its own to a certain degree.

My outlines are not so much chapter by chapter as they are just jotting down the basis story idea. An attempt to outline A through Z so I know where I'm going, although I never seem to get very far with that at the start.

Since they are romances at the heart of it, I, of course, know A and Z when I start.

(A) John and Jane will meet
(Z) John and Jane will stay together and live happily ever after

And I always have some basic formula for my story's/MCs' uniqueness. For example:

(1) What my MCs will look like and their basic personality traits;
(2) What kind of dire situation they will be getting themselves into; and
(3) How they will get themselves out of it.

So, my outlining is mostly just that, which is really more of just the basic story idea. The entire plot, however - the getting them from A to Z - tends to work itself out as I go. Which is why I sometimes find a hole in my plot line after I've gone so far OR I come up with a new idea, and then find myself backtracking - changing and/or rearranging from page one through where I left off.

But then, I imagine most of us may do that (coming up with a new thought or idea) somewhere in the midst of writing, I mean. I imagine that is part of the creative progress, which leads me to believe that part of my writing will never change.

Heck, sometimes I don't even know who the killer is until I'm well into the story, because I haven't made up my mind until then!

Hey guys! Been away for a while. Busy schedule and 4 month-old computer's hard drive bit the dust. Thank God for Dropbox!! Didn't lose a thing. Also, thank God for extended protection programs at Best Buy!! Computer fixed at no cost to me and no hassle (I don't work for them, I swear. Just good to have).

I try very hard to outline because it sounds smart, but when I try, I end up wasting hours staring at the wall. I first start with a specific character with certain characteristics, create a plot around that character or character(s), and the rest of the story is almost like a movie playing in my head, and my writing feels as if I'm just taking notes to the "movie."

I do have playlists, which started in the car with the radio going, and I heard a song that reminded me of something I was writing, and I began piecing together more plot ideas in my head because of it. Now, when I'm stuck, I listen to those playlists, or when I'm stuck in the waiting room of a doctor's office, which happens weekly (I have a son who has autism, and he has occupational, speech, and social group therapy every week). Thank goodness for laptops. Anyway, it can get rather noisy in the waiting room, so I put my earphones in, and type away to my playlist.

Do any of you have crit partners or beta readers?

DH beta reads for me. He's great at the whole "you need to make this scene more like an action movie" or "this is not in keeping with zombie biology" aspects.

Romantic conflict, not so much. That's what I end up focusing on during content edits.