Akiba asked Sabrina Jeffries:

I get so absorbed into your books. I can tell you worked hard. What is your writing process like?

Sabrina Jeffries I'm delighted you get absorbed in the books! That's what I aim for. As for my process, I map out the plot first, though if I have characters who are somewhat fixed when I begin (like the Hellions), I make sure the plot accommodates what I know about them. I spend a couple of weeks plotting the book, while doing jigsaw puzzles, walking, swimming . . . anything that silences my conscious brain and taps my unconscious one. It’s like unknotting a complicated problem. I usually have an end that I want to get to, and I work from there.

But I don't know my characters until I start writing the book. It takes me a few chapters to feel comfortable with them (like getting to know someone in real life), and once I do, they start taking over and altering the plot, not a lot, but enough that it’s always different from my initial “plan.” But when the book starts, they aren't fully fleshed out in my head. I find them by writing them.

As a result, I write lots of multiple drafts of individual chapters in the beginning stages. I discover something about a character and go back to revise what I've written. But by the time I get to the end, I’ve reached the light revision stage. I don’t write a draft of an entire book, and then do second or third drafts of the whole thing. The very idea gives me shivers! I wrote the last part of my most recent book right before I sent it to my critique partners, for example. When the book is done, it's pretty much done.

Also, I do a ton of research, even now. I do a lot of it at the beginning (my next book has an artist for a hero, so I consulted with a successful artist friend of mine about HER process, etc.) when I first started to write, and I had to alter my plot some because of what she told me. Then, as I go along, I look up bits and pieces.

I guess it's a cumbersome process, but it works for me!

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