Sherri Hayes
Sherri is the author of five novels, Hidden Threat, Slave (Finding Anna,
Book 1), Behind Closed Doors (A Daniels Brothers Novel), Need (Finding
Anna, Book 2), Red Zone (A Daniels Brothers Novel), and a short story, A
Christmas Proposal. She lives in central Ohio with her husband and
three cats. Her mother fostered her love for books at a young age by
reading to her as a child. Stories have been floating around in her head
for as long as she can remember; however, she didn't start writing them
down until six years ago. It has become a creative outlet that allows
her to explore a wide range of emotions while having fun taking her
characters through all the twists and turns she can create. When she's
not writing, she can usually be found helping her husband in his
woodworking shop.
SH: Aspiring writers often ask me about my
writing process. Sometimes I think they’re waiting for me to bestow
some great piece of wisdom on them . . . give them a
formula that will magically make a great story come to live.
Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately—there isn’t one.
Last year, I attended the Ohioana Book
Festival. It was my second year attending as an author, and like the
first year, I learned a lot about not only writing, but also the
industry itself from the other writers there. I sat with two other
romance authors, and after speaking with them throughout the day, we
found that our writing process couldn’t be more varied.
One is a strict planner. She lays
everything out with diagrams, timelines, etc., before putting
anything down on the page. Her attention to detail amazed me.
I, however, am the complete opposite.
The other day I had a reader ask me if I knew the endings of my
stories before I started writing them, or if they developed as I
wrote. My answer was that while I usually have a vague idea how the
story is going to end, I know none of the details, or how the
characters will proceed on their journey to get to that ending. In a
lot of ways, it’s just as exciting for me to write a story as it is
for my readers to read.
The third author sitting with us at
Ohioana, fell somewhere in the middle. While she did outline her
stories, they tend to be more of a rough guide touching on the
highlights of the novel versus detailing every plot twist and turn
that would occur. She also stressed that no outline is ever set in
stone if a better idea pops into her head while she’s writing.
The bottom line is that there is no one
correct way to write. Every writer has to find their own path and
what works for them. Write what you love—what you have a passion
for. Don’t worry about whether or not what you’re doing it the
‘right’ way.
Sherri Hayes
Would you like a peek at the covers of her amazing novels? Well wait no more.
Sherri Hayes' Amazon page
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