Guest Post: You are not in Control and You are not Normal.

Let's give a giant Inkspot welcome to Emily Kimmelman, author of the Sydney Rye mystery novels.

I want to start off by thanking all the authors at INKSPOT for inviting me here today to talk about writing... one of my all time favorite subjects :) For me, writing is the act of letting go of two things, control and normalcy.

I attended an event at The Center for Fiction in Manhattan last week for a friend’s book launch. During her talk, she spoke of how a story chooses the writer and that really, we have no control over it. After the reading, while the author signed books, I chatted with her husband, who admitted he never could understand what she was talking about when she said that characters often did unexpected things.

Most fiction writers will agree that your story chooses you and your characters do what they want. These are the most magical parts about writing and also the hardest to understand until you’ve been there. When I set out to write my first book, UNLEASHED (A Sydney Rye Novel, #1), I created a detailed outline that took months to complete. However, by the time I was a third of the way into writing my story I had to throw it away because none of my characters agreed with my vision. For the record, their version was a lot better.

What I learned is that I needed to trust my imagination and go with it. Which is not normal. Normal people don’t spend hours, weeks, years, let alone lifetimes listening to their imaginary friends and coming up with adventures for them to go on. I feel the constant need to remind myself of these facts, that I am not in control, and I am not normal, and that is the only way this thing works. At least for me.

Do you feel the same? Do your characters boss you around? Ever gotten half way through a novel and realized you should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque?

If you want to see where my out of control, non-normal writing ethos gets me, download a FREE copy of my mystery, UNLEASHED (A Sydney Rye Novel, #1). If you like it, which if you’re over 18, enjoy some violence, don't mind dirty language, are up for a dash of sex and can handle twists and turns that keep you reading late into the night, you probably will, then the second book, DEATH IN THE DARK (A Sydney Rye Novella, #2), is on sale for only $.99 through Tuesday.

Don’t have a Kindle but do have another reading device? Sign up for my newsletter and I’ll send you a free copy of UNLEASHED in whatever format you like. You’ll also be the first to hear about new releases and sales.

You can learn more about me on Twitter, Facebook and on my website.