Ask me again in a year or two when I've exhausted all of the book ideas that came to me in 2018...

How are you doing? We have a week of 2021 under our belt and I want to know how things are. What books are you looking forward to? Music? Other creative things like the AHSOKA TANO DISNEY+ SERIES???????

I'm not obsessed or anything... but I'm gonna need 2021 to hurry up and get to December.

AMA:

Where do you get the ideas for your plots?

Thank you to Carolyn for this question! I got longwinded. I'm not sorry.

My preference is to start with characters since they are the lifeblood of both myself and my books. A strong female character is always the first thing I create and I make sure to give her interesting situations, backgrounds, and flaws that she can overcome. From there, plots sometimes seem to pop up or I'll think about what the character would hate to happen... and then make it happen in an epic way. In short, characters precede plot, but they are incredibly close.

What might be fun is going through each book and how I developed those stories!

Soul Forgotten: My debut was meant to be a test to see if I could write a book in 30 days... I did it in 10. I had absolutely no plot in that first draft and just walked my characters through weird situations. I knew I wanted them to have superpowers and I knew there was going to be a certain scene that would be the first climax. Let me tell you this: the first draft is not the same book you read today. After I learned how to write, I changed it all up, created more subplots, wove in a deeper mystery, and changed bad guys. To answer the question, the idea for the plot came after I wrote the draft and I had a better idea of who my characters were. Soul Remembered was similar in that I had characters and no plot until I wrote my way to one. Soul Obscured's plot twist was planned to every single detail - I knew the characters and I needed to give them an epic conclusion to their story.

If Found, Do Not Return: Once again, I started with a character. In a sense, the plot was pretty easy since it was part dramatized memoir, part dream of mine, and part personal growth. I had something to say and I wanted to say it in a novel format. While this book hasn't made the impact I hoped it would, it made an impact where I needed it - in myself.

Short stories: Honestly, the romance shorts I wrote were mostly from prompts with an artsy twist. I wanted to explore a little different style of writing and storytelling and challenge myself in a different way. I also wanted them to be less intricate than my novels to give me some relief. My fantasy short started as something completely different, but I am quite proud of it. To this day, it's my second best-selling book (after Soul Forgotten). It was good practice for my sword and sorcery skills.

Warrior Series: Instead of plot and characters (minus a badass female warrior), I started with worldbuilding on this one. I wanted to create my own environment, have gods to manipulate the people in the world, and the rest somewhat trickled out of that. I like the outcast story, and this one was unique in so many ways. I very quickly discovered that this story could not be told from a single perspective because there was so much that would be missed. Thus, three main characters were assigned their own books and their own adventures within the greater story.

Have any more questions? You can ask them here and I'll answer them in an email. Or, check out my Street Team or Facebook page and start a conversation!

Find me elsewhere on the Internet:

Confessions of a Writing Addict - The last two episodes covered worldbuilding tips to consider and the flow of creativity.

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram - I'm a personal fan of a good aesthetic via Insta, but you can get some great conversations by following my Facebook page and joining my private group to ask all your book-related and spoiler filled questions! Info below.

Patreon - I'd really love it if you considered joining me on Patreon. I have free books for you, insider info on podcasts, books, playlists, and some cool gifts (like a personalized notebook if you join before the end of January). It's less than a cup of coffee and has just as much caffeine involved.

Reading List

Passion Planner - Get 10% off all Passion Planner items using code LAURAW10. They also have free downloads if you can't afford one right now. This is the planner I use for everything and it's incredible.

Street Team:

I'm looking to build a street team in the new year - a group of volunteers who would be willing to share some graphics on their social media, participate in some fun conversations, and spread the word about my books... but of course, we need an awesome name before we get going. You can fill out this form to vote on a name AND if you're interested in joining the street team early, you can join the private Facebook group!

Outro:

The Curse of Asalie, book 7 in the Warrior Series, has finally been written and will be released on January 26 - here's the preorder link. It took me longer than expected after all the sh*t that was the end of 2020 (there were also good things). On the bright side, I know the series and I know exactly what happens in each book so it's just about sitting down and writing... which I can do now in my brand new office!

Respond and let me know what's up! I love hearing from you. If you're a little shy, fill out the 'ask me anything' form instead!

Sending you love, kindness, and peace for wherever you are right now.