Hi, I'm Trey Stone, author and writer of things.

I always liked writing, since I was very young, and I recall writing my first little folded-paper-stapled-together book when I was around 8. I started my first real story when I was a teenager, but it never got anywhere (which I'll honestly say might be have been for the better). In 2015 I started writing my very first book, which I self-published in 2017.

I'm very grateful that I was considered for a guest spot on this blog session. I try to do what I can to carve out my own little space in this vast world of writers, and when things like this happen I feel like I'm doing something right.

I've got to admit, I had no idea what to do though. As I often don't. I'm very much a try and fail kind of guy; not that I mind taking lessons, but it's not above me to just sit down and hammer on a piano to see what happens. It's very much what I did with my writing. Sometimes my 'do first, learn later'-approach works, and sometimes it work just a lot, lot later.

The Way I Write is basically pantsing. Just sitting down with an idea in my head and going for it. I tend to write my books in order (as in: from A to Z), though my books aren't necessarily in order, I jump around quite a bit within stories, often. But yeah, I just sit down and write, that's my jam. The thing about my writing that differs from pantsing—and which might make me more of a plotter over time—is that I create an Overview document of the proposed book and pour all my ideas into that. Lots of people carry a pen and notebook around with them, but I just do it on my phone. If I think of something cool I can use in a book, or something that could become a story, I write it down on my phone and then I fill in the Overview for that idea when I come home.

Currently, I have 27 proposed book ideas going. Of those 27, I've written book one, book two, a first draft for book 14, and I'm also currently collaborating on a fantasy project with someone else, which I don't count among my own ideas. The reason I say that I might become a plotter over time is the more I fill in one of these Overviews for a proposed book, the more fleshed-out it will be by the time I get to it. Whereas with book one and book two I only had very minor ideas to start with, book 27 will be filled with ideas and plans by the time I get to it (if I ever do). So yeah, over time I'll probably become more of a plotter, by accident. Some of these books have lots of ideas jotted down already, like number 19 for example, whereas number 10 is barely even a concept yet. If I find myself getting to a point where the next book isn't sufficiently planned out, I might just skip ahead. Or I'll roll with it, who knows.

I'll probably become more of a plotter, by accident.

I don't necessarily force myself to write all these books in order, this is just the way they've come to me. Like I said, I've already written a first draft for book 14, because I needed an easy NaNoWriMo project that I could manage to do in a week. Book 14 didn't require lots of grandiose world building, so I went for it. And I got 40k words, which I'm very happy with.

You see, I write short. All my first drafts are quite short, and then I flesh them out on a second, third, and fourth comb-through, when I can see the whole picture. I doubt book 14 will be a very long book at all, but there's still some more things that need to go in there.

I have no need to write 200k word first drafts, and definitely no interest in doing so either.

I have no need to write 200k word first drafts, and definitely no interest in doing so either. My writing is short and to the point, and when I'm drafting I don't like breaking my own concentration and inspiration to fix things or make things more detailed. I'll do that later, during rewrites. One thing I'm absolutely sh** at, is description. Sounds weird for a writer, I know, but I'm more of a dialogue, action, and reaction kind of guy. I don't care if the car glinted purple in the sunlight, I care about why the car is important in the first place, and this is definitely a thing I forgo in my first drafts. I've written whole books without even describing the main character, other than giving them a name. By the end of it, for all you know, we could be talking about a horse.

I used to think these were faults in my writing. That I wasn't as good as the authors I look up to, because I didn't write long, eloquent phrases, and beautiful paragraphs filled with description and details. Until I realized it not a fault, it's a style. First of all, I hate reading books that are too long. I don't mind long books on their own, but if they're rambling, if they're repetitive, if they never get to the point then I'm out. On the other hand, I've never read a book that's too short. Fast-paced and minimal description? Absolutely love it.

Getting to know my own style is something I've only recently started doing, and it's been so helpful. It's given me confidence in myself and taught me to appreciate that what I do is valuable and not worse, just because it's different. It's something I highly suggest you take some time to do.

I Write When I tell myself to write. I don't believe in writing every day, and by that I mean that you shouldn't have to if you don't want to. If you do, sweet, but if you don't, absolutely don't do it. I schedule myself to write. When I'm active that usually means trying to get some writing in every evening, and then in the middle of the days in the weekend. But I don't worry too much about it if I don't have time a certain day. Tuesdays, for example, are busy for me and sometimes I just have to tell myself that I won't get anything done that day, and that that's fine.

Even though I try to write as often as I do, it doesn't mean I always get a lot of stuff done. Sometimes I'll write thousands of words, sometimes just a couple of hundred, sometimes nothing. I'm married, but we don't have kids and my wife's away most evenings, so I usually have time for it and there's no distractions. Sometimes though, I end up being the distraction. I'll pick up the guitar or end up watching or reading something for ‘a little bit’ and then suddenly the evening is gone. The best way to deal with it is to not worry about it and try again next time. Don't waste your time on wasted time.

It's been over a month since I wrote anything properly. In the last month I've written on a future WIP one of the evenings, and on the collaboration project maybe two different times. Other than that, I put my writing away completely. Why? Because I handed my WIP away to my editor, and I decided I wanted a break. Instead I read, lots. It's been brilliant. When I decided to put my writing aside, I was worried it would be difficult to get back into it. Instead, the exact opposite happened. I can't wait to get my hands on it, which is also why I ended up writing on a future WIP because I just had to write. Putting my writing aside has been extremely inspiring for my writing, weirdly enough.

My Wife Is Also A Writer and she's written for longer than I have. She wrote whole books while in junior high, even tried to have them published, though sadly without luck. Now she's writing some pretty damn cool Urban Fantasy YA and some amazing MG stuff, and I'm so excited.

Her style is completely different from mine though. She writes everything out of order, jumping between scenes that aren't even connected and writing chapters here and there. She also plans more than I do, which is very difficult for me when she asks me for help. Of course I help and give her my pointers, but my battle plan is very much 'Just go for it and see what happens'.

She also has a schedule she sticks to, like I do, but I think she's, in one sense, much more dependent on a muse or a burst of inspiration to get her going. She needs that little push, a reason and want to write, whereas I see it as almost a chore that I just sit down and do. It might be easier for me to get some writing done whenever I want compared to her, but on the other hand, she writes insanely fast and more when she gets going. Like over-a-thousand-words-an-hour fast, consistently. That's pretty damn impressive if you ask me.

Just like any good book this needs to come to an end, and I'm sorry for keeping you. But I think I've reached a pretty good conclusion here, completely by accident. One of the biggest struggles I'm having as an author—and I assume I'm not alone in this—is that I find it difficult to convince myself that I'm any good, that my writing is worth sharing, and that anyone will care. Which is why I mentioned the style and confidence thing above. But then I realize that I live with an author who does everything differently than me, not only in the way she writes it, but also what she writes. My wife's writing is beautiful and intricate where is mine is fast and sharp; and I think our different styles, living side by side in the same house shows that there's plenty of room for all kinds of different authors, whoever you may be, however you may write.

Don't be the next [INSERT FAVORITE FAMOUS AUTHOR HERE]. Be the first you.

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