My Writing Process - A Behind the Scenes Peek



I'm blogging over on the Helping Hands Press blog! We're doing a blog theme of "My Writing Process"

When an author shares a sneak peek into their writing process, I feel like I'm going behind the scenes  on a movie set! I've really enjoyed this blog tour, and I'm excited to be a part of it today.
Story Ideas:
People often wonder how I come up with my story ideas. And I have to tell you, sometimes I don't know either! Every story is different, and the ideas come from different sources.  Sometimes they come from reading Scripture, hearing stories of people's lives, history, and sometimes they can even come from something you see walking down the street.
Here's a picture that I saw while browsing stock photos that inspired a story idea. When I saw this photo, I thought of a young woman who is the daughter of the Captain of a pirate ship. She is raised on board the ship, and sees the most horrid side of the criminals, and is never allowed off the ship. Somehow or another, one of the prisoners introduces her to Christ, and the difference she sees in that person makes a believer out of her. The prisoner dies on board the ship, but she is able to keep the prisoner's Bible. Now, she must convert her father, as Captain of the vessel, and then the mutant crew before they toss her into the sea, or give her a painful death.
What? You didn't see that whole story when you looked at the picture?

Inspiration and Getting in the Groove:
There are several things I use to "get into the groove" of a particular story. First, since I'm a very visual person, I will create a mock cover for the story that I'm working on. This really helps me because I can look at the cover and see the end result and the story concept in only half-a-second. These covers may or may not look anything like the final cover of the book, but it helps me to keep my focus and get excited about the story.
This is my mock up for my current work-in-progress. Again, not a real cover yet, just one for inspiration. :)




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There were a couple of pictures that didn't appear on the HHP post. Here's the two look-alike pictures that were missing!
The Absalom look-alike picture
My WIP look alike picture


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