Guest Post: Elle Casey

 Today I have a guest post from new author Elle Casey talking about how her novel 'Wrecked' came about.

My Writing Process – How WRECKED Went from Idea to Novel

Hello, my name is Elle Casey and I am a guest blogger.  Thank you, Becky’s Barmy Book Blog for inviting me over.  Today I’m going to tell Becky’s readers about my writing process and specifically how my first novel WRECKED went from a simple idea to the finished novel.

I actually started writing WRECKED a couple of years ago – just a very basic outline.  This idea of kids being shipwrecked on an island had been floating around in my head for years.  I could never get it totally out of my head.  I was a fan of The Swiss Family Robinson, but I always wondered what it would have been like if there had been no adults around.  Sometimes I’d find myself daydreaming about it, wondering what I would do if it happened to me.  Finally, I guess you could say I got tired of the idea bothering me all the time, so I sat down and wrote a brief outline for a story.  I had never written a fiction novel before – just plenty of work-related non-fiction.  Once I had the outline done, the idea settled down in my head and didn’t seem as urgent.  I left it alone for a year.

After some time had gone by, the thoughts of the shipwrecked idea and also thoughts of the characters started to haunt me again.  I would imagine what the characters’ personalities were like, how they would speak, what their motivations were.  The more I did that, the more they began to feel like real people to me.  And then it was like real people were bothering me to tell the story.

Finally, in September of 2011, I got serious and started writing the book.  It was really a matter of just getting the book out of my head and on paper so I could sleep at night!  I didn’t focus on it too much though.  When I had time, I’d write a few thousand words, maybe every couple of weeks or so. 

But then I read an article about an author who published her book for the Kindle, and it really inspired me and caused me to write faster and with purpose.  You see, part of the reason I didn’t bother to write sooner or take writing seriously, is because I saw getting a book published as kind of like winning the lottery.  I’m not that lucky, so I never put much effort into finishing any of my stories (I have a folder full of outlines and ideas).  But now that I knew I could publish my book and find readers on my own, I was totally inspired.  I started seriously writing in November. 

My fingers flew across the keyboard.  It was as if the story was already totally written; I just had to listen to the voices telling it to me.  Those were the voices of Sarah, Kevin, Jonathan, and Candi – the main characters of WRECKED. 

I have since finished and published WRECKED, which is available for the Kindle or Nook on www.Amazon.com or www.BarnesandNoble.com.  You can also buy a printable version on www.Smashwords.com.  

 And now I’m working on my next project, WAR OF THE FAE.  It’s a Young Adult Fantasy novel, a series of four books, and I’m super excited about it.  The first book is done and in editing now (to be published the first two weeks of February), and I’ve begun the second book in the series (scheduled for publishing in March).  For these books, like WRECKED, I started with an outline, which serves to get the ideas out and noodled through, then I write from there.  I’ve heard of other authors working completely from an outline that is nearly the entire book without dialogue, but my outlines are more just general directions for the story.  Often the finished product only vaguely resembles the outline.  My books are out there in the ether somewhere; I merely just take the dictation of them from the characters.  I know it sounds crazy, but that’s how it works for me!

Thanks again to Becky for inviting me to post today.  If you want to know more about my books or about me, you can visit my website www.ElleCasey.com.  I’d love to have you as a reader!  :)

Thanks for taking the time to write the Guest Post Elle, I admire your hard work and courage. I wish you the best of luck with your novels.