Then & Now: The Evolution of My Writing

With my 9-year Authorversary coming up on the 26th, I wanted to take a look at my work over the years and analyze the differences between my work then and now.

With 13 published books under my belt and more to come, there's no shortage of material available for me to compare the differences between my work when I first came into the industry and my latest releases. All of my work falls under the Urban Fiction genre, but it spans across the Urban Romance, Urban Erotica, and Urban Suspense subgenres.

My first series, Living in His World of Lies, was Urban Romantic Suspense. Ironically, when I first wrote the first installment, it was purely romance. I later added the hitman subplot to the story, and through the other two installments, it became the central focus of the story. I circled back to this story the two-part spin-off The Highest Hell and The Highest Hell 2. The difference in my writing between the two series is very clear. My word play and ability to turn a phrase has evolved quite a bit, but so have my overall writing skills.

I've been a notorious pantser my entire writing career, and I always handwrite all my books. However, Flirting with Danger was the first book I typed directly into the computer instead of handwriting it first, and I was able to write that book in just two weeks. The series I currently have in edits was the first set of books I ever remotely tried to outline prior to writing. However, this was a very loose outline--more of a guide or a book idea--and it left a lot of room for plot twists.

One distinct difference in my writing is the level of detail given in descriptions. I tend to be a long-winded writer by nature. In my earlier work, I went into a lot of detail about minute things, such as the contents of a closet. Now, I save those detailed descriptions for things that matter or will have some kind of effect or importance later in the story.

I also tend to write in third person. The three-part Organized Crime series is written in first person from the point of view of their respective female heroines. Third person tends to cause my writing to slip into a more passive voice, while first person makes it easy for me to maintain an active voice. I'm currently working on maintaining an active voice in third person narration.

One thing that has not changed is the fact that I aim to produce well-rounded, three-dimensional characters, characters my readers can relate to and feel like they know personally after reading my books.

Here's to 9 years in the literary industry, 13 books in, and many more to come!