Charlotte Francis

Never give up!

I mean it. I wrote the book 5 years ago and it's been through several iterations since while I kept trying to place it. I can barely absorb the fact that it's going to be a thing! But I also know it wouldn't be the thing it is without that journey.

Nothing wasted.

Keep writing. 📚💙🏳️‍🌈

Totally fair 🫂 And I'm sorry. That's tough.

I also know kinda what you're going through. I *used* to write fast before being on sub messed with my brain. Imposter syndrome is slowing me down. I'm used to churning out first drafts in 1-2 months, but this is a new and agonisising territory.

It’s so hard not to. But life will throw different challenges your way and so will books. And it doesn’t mean anything in the long run. When you read a great book, do you ever wonder how long it took to write? Can’t say it ever crossed my mind.

And what you've been saying about the secondary world of it all: that's super relevant. It takes a lot more effort to invent everything from scratch, especially the way you're doing it—alien first then repurposed to human. That's a lot, a lot. It'll naturally take longer.

Expectations can be a killer. I think after you wrote TD so fast, it's normal to then have conflicted feelings if the next one doesn't come the same way. It's great you're aware of it being mindset related, though, because your writing habits sound really healthy and sustainable.

Had a lovely relaxing time thanks ☺️ didn’t do any writing after all. Lots of reading and roaming the coastline. Joyous.

Me at the beach, wrapped up warm with a tinny of G&T (yes, very classy).

Back home in the London rain. Wish I was still at the beach with a G&T. Post holiday blues. On the upside though, kids are off to the grandparents tomorrow for the night, and I intend to get my write on.

Happy book birthday to Olivia Jackson and HUNTER’S TREASURE! Out now from One More Chapter.

This thrilling adventure rom-com is now available from your preferred seller of books. A desert island read if I’ve ever seen one… 🌴🌴🌴

Amber Glenn and Alysa Liu posing with a Belle nuiMO in skates holding a Pride flag

Yes, that’s U.S. Champion Amber Glenn and Olympic champion Alysa Liu with the nuiMO version of my OC Chloé LaFleur. And both of them have said they want to read my book when it’s published. Is this a brag? Abso-fucking-lutely.

Me and my daughters on the beach

My girls digging in the sand

My husband and older daughter playing at the beach

My three kids at the living room window in the beach flat, staring out the window

At the beach for a few days. Beautiful sunshine, freezing cold, scaffolding up around the flat, but still delightfully happy to get away from the London rain. Hoping to get a lot of writing done.

#Febchantment Day 14

The most terrifying thing about the magic that permeates my world is its unpredictability. One small mistake, and everyone ends up as cinders. Or flamingos. Or soup tureens.

Occasionally, all at once.

Brilliant prose with amazing depth as always! It’s all spectacular, but I especially appreciate the psilocybin reference. Amazing work.

Mostly by being mortal in his line of sight.

😬 Another storm?? What did you guys do to piss off Zeus this year?

Is it ever going to stop raining? Like, seriously, the Atlantic must be empty at this point.

Hear, hear

Thanks

Ooh, I'll check this out later after kiddos are in bed.

I hadn't considered that, and it makes me really feel I don't think I have it in me to be a pantser. I have to write all my scenes in order—but weirdly, I don't when I'm doing my very detailed outlines. With that I can jump forward and back. But when it comes to the writing, I'm quite rigid.

Interesting! Thanks. I haven't heard of that. It's somewhat working for me right now too, but I fear it won't be long before I'm just writing out the whole outline because I can't help myself.

Yes, that's very true. Perfection is the enemy of getting things done!

And yeah, my process works well. I've written 7 books, and I have 3 first drafts on the go, pinging between them all. I just wanted to try something new to see if I could evolve as a writer. But my brain is clearly saying no.

😂 Definitely sounds more creative that way!

And yeah, I think I need to stop overthinking it.

Ha! I love that! I've had characters routinely surprise me, but nothing on that scale. What did you do?

Sounds like great discipline. It makes me nervous, the idea of writing and editing scenes, the removing them after all that work. Because I tend to plan everything out in meticulous detail, I usually end up keeping all my scenes because they're plot/arc vital. But when I have had to cut, it hurts!

Nice. Which course are you doing, if you don't mind me asking?

Interesting! I always thought of pantsing as having a rough idea where you're going, but the scene is unfolding on the page as you write it, rather than in notes jotted before.

This time though, I left my process at the note-taking stage. I've got a 10k notes document with rough beats planned out somewhere in the chaos of it all, and I'm just going from that.

Will try the hybrid plantsing and see if it works better for me.

I always start out my process with a wild note taking session when a new idea strikes. Just all of out order, whatever strikes me when it strikes me. And then I take that and do a scene by scene outline from start to finish, which I often consider a zero-draft, as I have everything in there.

Good luck!
I think you're right. Having a flexible approach and tweaking it to what you need in the moment is probably the best way. I've always been a die-hard plotter, since before I wrote my first novel. When I was a teen writing novel-length fanfiction stories, they were all meticulously planned

Awesome. Thanks. I'll check it out. I can never get enough writing craft books.