Ask the Author: Stacy M. Jones
Answered Questions (5)
Stacy M. Jones
I'm working on a new cozy mystery series. There's a mystery brewing in me that takes on more of a historical slant I'd set in Boston, but I need to flesh that out more. In the meantime, there's a few characters who keep coming to me and a plot line that's been formulating quite easily that I think I'm going to run with. I plan to release a short story prequel via Kindle for free a few months before the book launches.
Stacy M. Jones
It takes hard work. I've talked to so many people who say they want to write a book but don't really want to do the hard work of writing a book. It takes planning into your day, commitment and dedication. I've had other people ask me if I'm, "one of those starving artist types." No, you can make a living writing, but it takes work every single day and skills beyond writing - business skills, marketing and PR, most specifically.
Also when writing just about anything I live by the - "get it out, then get it good" philosophy. I don't try to edit while I'm writing. I'll write an entire chapter and then sometimes even walk away from it and write something else. Then I come back and edit only for content. Am I getting my story across? I worry about grammar, punctuation and all that later.
Finally, I read all I can from my genre, other genres, advice from successful writers, business books..etc. I'm constantly learning. During the last few days before I published I was reading a David Baldacci book and I was really studying how he wrote, not just reading the story. I went into my own, and on a final edit, was really able to tighten some content.
Also learn when to take the constructive criticism as a way to really make your writing better. Not all criticism is valid or even changes you should make, but I was open to accepting where I could make the story and my writing better.
Also when writing just about anything I live by the - "get it out, then get it good" philosophy. I don't try to edit while I'm writing. I'll write an entire chapter and then sometimes even walk away from it and write something else. Then I come back and edit only for content. Am I getting my story across? I worry about grammar, punctuation and all that later.
Finally, I read all I can from my genre, other genres, advice from successful writers, business books..etc. I'm constantly learning. During the last few days before I published I was reading a David Baldacci book and I was really studying how he wrote, not just reading the story. I went into my own, and on a final edit, was really able to tighten some content.
Also learn when to take the constructive criticism as a way to really make your writing better. Not all criticism is valid or even changes you should make, but I was open to accepting where I could make the story and my writing better.
Stacy M. Jones
Writing is my passion. It's what I do for a living. I've created a business where I write for clients on a daily basis as well as freelance for magazines and other publications. Writing fiction was always just an idea until I got serious and started planning it into my day. After years of working as an investigator, it's amazing I really do live my passion every single day. And some days, I really do get to work in my pjs!
Stacy M. Jones
Years ago I moved for work from New York to Little Rock, Arkansas. It was such a drastic change in environment, people, way of life - pretty much everything. But I instantly fell in love with this little city. The one thing I grew to realize though, was although I was in the Bible-belt, there was an undercurrent of scandal. Gossip ran as fast as the sweat tea. Everyone knew everyone, especially in certain neighborhoods. Instead of six degrees of separation, it's more like two or three. I started thinking about how a New Yorker handles these kinds of relationships, since we are sometimes standoffish. I threw in some murder, a little mayhem and centered the story around a character who is familiar with the city, having lived there, but she has to come back to solve a mystery and face everything else she avoided when she left. I wanted the relationships to be as complex as the crime.
Stacy M. Jones
I read an interview that James Patterson gave who said when he started to get stuck on a chapter, he just started writing something else. I used that advice. If I wasn't sure where the book was going next, but I knew what I wanted to happen later on, I wrote those chapters first and then went back. When I didn't know at all, I wrote something else. I just never stop writing.
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