Avoiding Lazy Writing

I have been working on a number of projects simultaneously for quite some time now. I have Breathe, my drafted romance novel that is in the editing stage. Chocolate Covered Cherries is another romance novel that is still just being drafted and conceptualized. Sharing Strength is being written though slowly since it is an extremely emotional book. And finally Welcome to Syn which is completed through the initial drafting stage but needs to be proofread, edited and revised before it will even be ready for beta readers.

Sharing Strength I know for the most part exactly what is going to happen. While there are always nuances that can surprise a writer I do at least know the major happenings of the book. Rachel, Jasmine, Brian, Kyle, Craig and James are all intertwined in a rather painful but imminent journey through the overwhelming world of PTSD. I have used a great deal of my own experiences in this book which has caused me to take extra time with it. I want to make sure that I represent each aspect currently and do justice for every character associated with this book.

Welcome to Syn is such a leap for me that I am honestly hesitant to jump in and get started on the rewrites. I am very excited to be branching out and there are so many new elements for this book. To begin with it is the first in a series which I have never attempted before. I love the idea of taking a theme and running with it through a number of varying storylines but I could never picture how to do it until now. It is also historical making research a vital part of writing the book. I need to make sure I get the dialogue, setting even details such as clothing and interpersonal communications down to a believable science. Last but certainly not least there is an element of witchcraft. Because of that I need to establish how much to use it and what the different rules are for the magical abilities. Because it will be central to the rest of the books in the series I still have quite a bit of work to do.

While Breathe is drafted and all I am doing is fixing the last third of the book I do have a concern that keeps popping up when working on either Breathe of Chocolate Covered Cherries. They are both romance novels. They are both seen through the eyes of the main female character. Both Kelsey and Jessica are running away from a problem that cause tremendous grief in their past and trying desperately to create a new future where they can forget what has already happened. I am concerned that because I wanted to complete the drafts of all four books at the same time and the last two are so similar in many ways that I will create a parallel while working on them.

Each woman is her own person. Their past problems while in the same realm are still vastly different. But when I get into a particular frame of mind, just as a romantic one, I need to make sure that I am opening up to the current character and telling her personal story and not simply writing from a template. I believe in my abilities but there have been times when I have seen authors use a formula that runs through multiple books and it may have enough variations to be gotten away with once or twice it eventually becomes obvious and that is just lazy writing. I want to create not just fill in the blanks.