Q&A with Alex Beecroft discussion

When I'm absorbed with writing (of even, if the book's good enough, with reading) I tend to ignore minor matters like earning a living, eating, sleeping. It causes me problems occasionally (!). How do you do it? Writing extended, complex stories like yours must take a long time and total concentration - and yet you eat, I presume...?

Eee! First of all, thanks for joining! I'm very glad you did :) Secondly, I'm lucky enough not to have to go out to work, so I have from 11am to 5pm to play with. I've fallen into a routine of answering email/social media/doing real life stuff between 11am and 1pm, then having lunch, then writing from half one to 5pm.

I don't start writing a novel until I have made up a plot plan for it with a paragraph summary for what's going on in each chapter. That way I can look at that before I start, read the final page I did previously, and I know where I am starting from for the day, and where I'm aiming for.

But I am tremendously absent minded in RL, probably because the novel is taking up all my processing power :)

So all I have to do is to work out a way not to have to work. Hmm...

I'm jealous, of course, but also full of admiration for the fantastic quality of your work. I recently commented on Erastes' Q&A that my favourite M/M Historical is False Colors, and that I couldn't remember whether I'd ever written to its author to thank her and express my appreciation. Erastes replied that I should do so without delay. So... thanks very much for writing False Colors, which ticks every box for me and is a fantastic and brilliant achievement. May your beard grow ever longer... or something.

Yes, I have enormous admiration for anyone who can work *and* write. I tried, but I came home from work too exhausted to do more than watch TV and phone for a takeaway. Hopefully you can slowly build up your back catalogue to the point where it becomes possible to leave work and concentrate on writing, (or find a rich and understanding partner and do it a few years earlier.)

*g* Thank you so much! I'm very proud of False Colors. I'm aiming to make the one I'm working on now equally good, but who knows whether I can? It'll be very different from FC, in any case, so might not bear comparison.

I loved False Colors too! It was the first of yours I'd read.

I'm amazed at your plotting. Sometimes I can plot out for each chapter, but most times I just plot and as I write, l sorta get a feeling for where each chapter should end. I can't write without plotting though. :-)

Jordan wrote: "I loved False Colors too! It was the first of yours I'd read.

I'm amazed at your plotting. Sometimes I can plot out for each chapter, but most times I just plot and as I write, l sorta get a feel..."

Thanks, Jordan! Yes, the whole plotting thing is a very individual and inexact thing. Some people don't like to plot at all before they write, and some at the opposite end of the spectrum like to nail everything down before they start. I feel I'm middling - I like to know more or less what's going to happen in every chapter, but still let things surprise me if they really want to.