Writing is Like Painting a Beautiful Picture

Like a fine painting, an author adds layers of details through each subsequent draft.

When the first draft of the third Caitlyn Jamison mystery was complete, I converted the manuscript into 6 x 9 format – the same size the finished book will be. The benefit of size conversion is to see how the paragraphs look on the page, check for widows and orphans, see how dialogue appears, and to have an accurate final page count. It allows the author to read like a "reader," and not like a "writer."

Reading a 6 x 9 format allows for better layering. Like a fine painting, an author adds layers of details through each subsequent draft. And like a painting, each layer of detail and description makes the book fuller, richer, more vibrant.

This process allows the author to better know the characters, which can create problems if that character doesn’t turn out how the author originally intended. In Fatal Dose, as I added layers to the story, some characters demanded different roles. And too, with this third in the series, The Death of Cassie White, one character was only a means to an end. But as I layer on the "colors" of the story, I need to develop this character more fully. 

So for an author who loves the writing process, this is all in a day’s work.