Writing Wednesday - Guest Blogger G.L. Drummond

Today we're hosting Ms. G.L. Drummond (aka @Scath on Twitter) to celebrate the release of her new book Code Walker.  We're celebrating with a guest post in her blog tour...and a contest!  The following is the description of the book, taken directly from Smashwords:

In the fickle worlds created when cyberspace and reality overlap, it’s all too easy to blur and shift lines…moral lines, lawful lines, lines of code and destiny, until the surreal becomes real. Walking those lines back to the source, and rebooting the system, isn’t exactly a job for a girl who plays nice - but it does pay extremely well.

As Riley Cabot never qualified as a ‘nice girl’, life as the Code Walker is sweet.

Only thing about codes is that they break.

Now, I did mention something about a contest, didn't I?  I have a coupon code, generously granted by Ms. Drummond, for a free e-book copy of Code Walker from Smashwords.  I'll be awarding that coupon at random to a commenter on this blog post.  I'll announce the winner for this contest in the same post I announce the winner of my own contest.

Now...on to the interview!
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Thanks for having me, Annikka!

You were curious about the inspiration behind Code Walker. I’ll have to lay the blame at the feet of all the sci-fi novels I read as a kid (and adult), plus movie watching.

I’m certain the most obvious comparison will be The Matrix movies, because of the virtual reality hook.

Books and movies I’ve devoured simmer in some hidden corner of my mind, and every so often, a Voice starts talking to me. Or at me, as the case may be.

That’s what happened with Code Walker, while I was working on a different project in 2008. Riley said ‘Brain jack’, and then TJ laughed. I knew he was an AI, and that she was a code walker with an alter ego that did cyber assassinations, among other things.

I had to stop what I was doing, and write down what they were telling me.

Seth popping up in the first chapter was a surprise. Somewhere around 16k or 17k later, we all ran out of juice. I put Code Walker away, and returned to another story.

I kept meaning to finish it, because I knew how it would end, and that there was even a possibility of a second story afterwards. But other stories kept getting in the way.

That’s a problem I have. If I know how a story is going to end, I sometimes lose enthusiasm to finish it. The one thing that will offset that is having a lot of feedback ongoing while I’m writing something. I thrive with feedback, to the point that I can finish a 35k novella in 8 days, if I have a constant source of it.

What can I say? I work better with an audience, LOL.

Finally, this year, I pulled Code Walker out and finished it. Woohoo!

You also wanted to know about my creative process.

First thing to know is that I seldom use outlines for anything. I don’t always know how a story is going to end. Much of the time, I write in a linear manner, but there are instances when non-linear comes into play.

It’s pretty much whatever works for the particular story. All first drafts are written with pen and paper.

Each story begins with a Voice speaking up inside my head. The Voices seem to prefer popping up when I’m driving, or out at the barn, cleaning stalls and feeding horses. Weird, huh?

From then until the words run out (meaning when the Voice(s) decide to wander off, or tell me ‘That’s it. The end.’), I just write. I don’t worry about problems like skipped scenes or someone magically knowing something they didn’t the chapter before the one I’m writing.

All of that is stuff to fix when I begin editing. I go over and over each story before turning them over to my beta readers. Once they’ve all weighed in, I cut, add, rewrite, and then go over and over the story again. After that, the story goes to one of my two editors.

When the editing is finished, I approve edits and incorporate suggestions. And spend even more time going over it before finally deciding it’s ready to be published.

Any time during the actual writing, things may halt for some research or world building. There’s only a few of my stories, mainly those that belong in a series, which have a lot of world building notes involved.

So that’s my creative process: a Voice speaks, I listen and begin writing. Pit stops for research and/or world building as necessary. Go over and over each to fix mistakes, fill holes, or tighten things up.

Not all that exciting, but it does give results.
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For a limited time, you can purchase Code Walker for .99 on both Amazon for the Kindle and Smashwords.  The offer is limited and expires on on April 25th.  So I'd hurry in and purchase your own copy of this awesome book.