My Writing Process: How a Book Goes from Idea to Page

One of the questions I get asked the most is: how do you write a book? And honestly, every time someone asks, I laugh a little because the real answer isn't glamorous. It's not a perfectly organized system with color-coded spreadsheets and a tidy timeline. It's chaos. Beautiful, messy, snack-fueled chaos.

But it's my chaos, and it works. Today I'm pulling back the curtain and showing you what my writing process actually looks like from start to finish.

Where the Ideas Come From

There's no single answer to this because every book has found me differently.

The Made Series started with a dream. I'm not being poetic. I literally dreamed about the characters and woke up knowing I had to write their stories. They showed up fully formed, demanding my attention, and I've learned over time that when characters arrive like that, you don't ignore them.

A Sunday Affair: Delilah's Deception came from a question I couldn't shake: how many people are out there living their lives completely miserable because they're too busy being what everyone else wants them to be? That question sat with me for a long time before Delilah stepped forward and said, "Tell my story."

Tangled Roots was different. That one was intentional. I sat down and asked myself: if I were going to read a psychological thriller, what kind of story would I want? What would keep me up at night? What would make me gasp out loud and flip back through the pages to see what I missed? I built the story from that question, and the characters followed.

The common thread is that no matter where the idea starts, the characters always come first. They arrive before the plot, before the outline, before anything else. One voice will get loud, and then the rest follow. Even with Tangled Roots, which I approached more strategically, one character was very loud from the beginning, and once I listened to that voice, the others showed up ready to talk.

The "Outline"

I put that in quotes for a reason. Do I outline? Technically, yes. Do I follow the outline? Not really.

I always outline the names and the characters first. I need to know who I'm dealing with before I figure out what's going to happen to them. But the story itself? That outline is never clean. It shifts and changes constantly because as I write, the characters take me places I didn't plan. A scene I thought would go one direction will veer somewhere else entirely because a character says something unexpected, and suddenly I'm following their lead instead of my notes.

If you're a writer who swears by a strict outline, I respect that. But my brain doesn't work that way. My process is more like having a general map and then taking every back road that looks interesting.

Where the Writing Happens

I have a writing room at home, and that's my base. It's where I do most of my heavy writing, where I can close the door and disappear into whatever world I'm building. But inspiration doesn't wait until you're sitting at your desk, so I've learned to be ready anywhere. I always have a notepad with me. Always. And my phone is full of random notes, half-finished thoughts, lines of dialogue, and scene ideas that hit me at the most inconvenient times.

If you ever see me staring off into space in the middle of a grocery store, I'm probably writing a chapter in my head.

The Process (a.k.a. The Beautiful Chaos)

Here's where it gets real.

When an idea comes, it doesn't usually start at the beginning. A chapter will come to mind, and it's almost never chapter one. It might be a scene from the middle of the book or even the final chapter. I'll know how a story ends before I know how it starts, and I've stopped fighting that. I just write whatever comes.

From there, it's notes everywhere. Sticky notes, phone notes, random pieces of paper, napkins if that's what's available. Thoughts come at all hours and I capture them however I can. Eventually, all of those scattered pieces get collected and go into my fancy notebook. And by "go into," I mean I attempt to organize them into something that resembles a story structure. It is utter chaos, and I've made peace with that.

Once I have enough to work with, I write. I don't stop until I'm finished. I don't go back and edit chapter by chapter as I go. I push through to the end because if I start second-guessing too early, I'll never finish. The first draft is about getting the story out. Period.

After that, I go back and make changes. I add scenes, cut scenes, strengthen dialogue, tighten the pacing. This is where the real work happens. Then the manuscript goes to my beta readers, who give me honest feedback, and from there I work on the final draft.

Is it a neat, step-by-step process? Absolutely not. But it's mine, and every book I've published has come through this same chaotic pipeline.

The Hard Part and the Best Part

The hardest part of writing for me is getting out of my own way. I stress over everything. I change things constantly. I'll rewrite a scene five times because something doesn't feel right, and then sometimes I'll go back to the original version anyway. My brain wants perfection, but writing doesn't work like that. You have to let the story breathe and trust that it will come together, even when it feels like a mess. That's something I'm always working on.

My favorite part? Writing the drama. I can't even pretend. I love it. The arguments, the tension, the moments where characters are pushed to their limits and say things they can't take back. The messier the scene, the more alive I feel writing it. Give me betrayal, confrontation, and emotional explosions, and I am in my element. That's where the magic lives for me.

The Quirks

Every writer has their thing, and here are mine.

I write in complete silence. No music, no TV in the background, no noise. When I'm in the zone, I need to hear nothing but the characters in my head. Any outside sound pulls me out of the world I'm building, and once I'm out, it takes a minute to get back in.

I always have water bottles, gum, and Jolly Ranchers within reach. And if you're wondering, yes, they have to be blue raspberry. It's not negotiable. I don't make the rules. Actually, I do make the rules. Blue raspberry or nothing.

That's it. Silence, water, and candy. That's the formula.

My process isn't perfect. It's not pretty. But it's honest, and it's produced every story I've put into the world. If you're a writer and your process looks nothing like what you see other authors talk about, that's okay. The only process that matters is the one that gets the words on the page.

And if that process involves blue raspberry Jolly Ranchers, even better.

Until next time,

Love, lies, and everything in between

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