#amwriting – a look inside the author process

Categories: All

Tags: #amwriting mystery plotting The Jezebel Files urban fantasy

By Bell on July 19, 2020

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Close up of Blood & Has cover by Deborah Wilde. Woman in a black leather jacket with a skull T-shirt. The skull wears a Sherlock Holmes hat.

I have a confession to make.

When I wrote The Unlikeable Demon Hunter books, I had a solid plan for each one right from the beginning. Each one would feature a demon to be tracked down that would be dealt with in that book. It would represent one of the deadly sins, which in turn was what Nava thematically was dealing with in that book. That was then combined with larger ongoing Brotherhood conflicts.

Obviously some stuff surprised me as I researched each book and found mythological and historical details that took the books in exciting directions that I hadn’t anticipated, but for the most part? Yeah, there was a detailed plan from the start.

But with The Jezebels Files? *looks around and whispers* There is no plan.

Okay, that’s not exactly true. I have a big picture overview of what needs to happen on the Jezebel conflict front and I know there needs to be an A-Plot mystery to solve, but the series as a whole is way less planned out from the start than Nava’s stories were.

You know what? It’s been creatively freeing writing from this place of pure instinct and creative drive. For an anal retentive, list loving, outline creating person such as myself, it’s also kind of terrifying but in a “roller coaster about to go over the big drop way” – and I do love roller coasters.

Ash is uncovering this huge mystery involving her own life, and I’m uncovering it with her. And I love it.

If you haven’t yet read Blood & Ash, then get on that, will you? 🙂 https://geni.us/BloodAndAsh