The Grey Griffins Series by Derek Benz and J.S. Lewis


	OUTLINING JENNY NIMMO: Author of the Charlie Bone series \| www.jennynimmo.me.uk Q: Do you outline your books? If so, how much detail do you use? Jenny: Sometimes I outline my books, sometimes I don't. I always know how they are going to end, but I rely on my characters to drive the narrative. I often have a particular scene in mind that I very much look forward to writing. OUTLINING JASON KRUSE: Creator of The World of Quest website Q: Do you outline your books? If so, how much detail do you use? Jason: I absolutely outline my stories first--then I revise. Then I outline again, revise, outline, so on and so forth. It drives my friends crazy. Then it starts all over again when I write the script and then again while I'm drawing. I think it's common for any creator to always come up with an idea or ideas they like better throughout the project. I'm lucky in that I can continue to change things as I see fit though. (NEVER) OUTLINING ROBIN BRANDE: Author of Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature www.robinbrande.com Q: Do you outline your books? If so, how much detail do you use? Robin: I never, ever, EVER outline my books. Ever. Why? Because if I knew what was going to happen in them, I'd be completely bored and wouldn't even want to bother writing them down. PREP WORK SHANNON HALE: Author of the The Princess Academy \| www.squeetus.com Q: What is process for preparation before you start writing a book? Shannon: I think about a book and outline for at least a year before I begin, sometimes many years, to give the idea time to germinate in my head. Then when I'm ready I organize the notes I've taken during that time, curse myself for ever deciding to be a writer, plunge into the first draft, and hope I come out alive. OUTLINING WILLIAM BONIFACE: Author of The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy website Q: Do you outline your books? If so, how much detail do you use? William: I do rough outlines, but don't include much detail. I find that as I get into the writing process and start adding the details that the stories often go off in directions that I never expected and end up becoming better stories than I originally planned. In Book Two of my series, The Return of Meteor Boy, the primary mystery of the book is the real identity of Meteor Boy. When I started writing the book, I had planned on him being revealed as one particular character, but as I wrote the story I began to realize he was actually somebody totally different. It changed the whole story and in a way that made it far more interesting than my original plot. OUTLINING KAZA KINGSLEY: Author of the Erec Rex series \| www.erecrex.com Q: Do you outline your books? If so, how much detail do you use? Kaza: I do something similar to outlining, but much messier. I take tons of notes before I start writing, and keep most of them in a loose-leaf notebook, so I can add pages and take them out. But now I mostly stuff pages in the front, as well as napkins with random jottings, notes on sugar packets, you name it! So, I use my notes as goalposts, knowing my story need to move from one to the next. But how my characters get there, and what evolves along the way, is a mystery to me until I sit down to write. That is the fun part for me! I know what will be revealed, and what will happen, say, in a quest that Erec does, but how he goes about it almost happens like magic, like watching a movie unfolding as I write! OUTLINING PJ HAARSMA: Author of the The Softwire series \| www.pjhaarsma.com Q: Do you outline your books? If so, how much detail do you use? P.J.: I did not outline the first Softwire book. Instead I filled two index card boxes with notes about character, setting, conflicts, plot points etc. After that, however, I became to rely on outlines heavily. The outline was a vital tool for me as I struggled to keep track of these story elements across all four volumes of The Softwire series, and even the game. In addition to the outline I also kept a huge collection of art that I used in conjunction with my outline. I found it difficult to move between my job as a writer and my role as a father but these visual cues would help me dive back into the mood of the story whenever I was pulled away. PREPARATION LISA ANN SANDELL: Author of the Song of the Sparrow \| www.lisaannsandell.com Q: What do you do to prepare before you start to write? Lisa Ann: The preparation work I do before writing a book varies, depending on the book and its genre. For Song of the Sparrow, which is historical fiction, I did months of research, reading as many books about the Dark Ages and the history of Britain as I could, reading as many stories about King Arthur as I could lay my hands on, and poring over maps to try to figure out certain scenes from my story might have occurred and what the topography of the land looked like in those spots. I researched what kinds of animals and plants were native to Britain, and what sorts of medicinal purposes those plants had. Once I had a good sense of the time period and place, I began creating lists of characters -- their traits, how they would have interacted with other characters, any back stories. And finally I composed an outline that touched on all of the major plot points of the story. I take these last two steps when getting ready to write all of my books -- I think figuring out who the characters are and what they are trying to achieve is the most important piece of prep work?as well as create databases of information about the setting and any other bits of background I may need to call upon.


	HOW TO GET PUBLISLHED Part 1 (Overview) Part 2 (Character Development) FROM OTHER PROS Prep Work Character Development Plot Development General Editing Illustrating Finding an Agent Selling Your Manuscript Marketing WRITING TOOLS Character Sheets Suggested Reading (About Writing) * Disclaimer: Though Derek and I have college degrees, neither of us majored in English or Creative Writing. We are not professors, nor are we instructors at any level. This online series on how to get published is based solely on our experiences, peppered with the stories we have heard and advice we received from other authors, agents, editors, and people in the publishing industry. If you were to ask 100 authors what path you should take to get published, you would likely get 100 different tales. So remember that as you read this, and make sure you blaze a trail that best suits your story.