Bobbi Holmes (Haunting Danielle Series)

Before I tell you about the wonderful advice this author gave me, I’m going to recommend something first. If there’s an author whose books you love, reach out to them on social media. I’ve found that my favorite authors are great and giving people. They gave me invaluable advice simply because I asked. Give it a try.

I recently had a few questions in mind about my writing, so I reached out to the USA Today Best Selling Author of the Haunting Danielle series, Bobbi Holmes @bajh. I love her paranormal cozy mysteries so much, I don’t want to put them down.

I decided to write a post to pass along her advice, in hopes that it helps other writers.

I asked Bobbi Holmes how she came up with ideas so quickly for her “Haunting Danielle” series. There are 25 books so far in the series. She told me she publishes books every 3-4 months.

Here’s the Advice She Gave Me:

• use your imagination. Don’t limit it. Let it flow and keep on flowing
• persistence- be a bit stubborn. Keep moving forward in your writing until you’ve accomplished what you’ve set out to accomplish
• give yourself deadlines even if they’re soft deadlines. For example- 4-6 weeks to finish a chapter or two. You sometimes need to hold yourself accountable
• Don’t wait for inspiration to strike. Use that imagination of yours and start creating
• look for ideas in books you’ve read somewhere or something you’ve already written. Use anything to get your imagination kicking
• sit down with a pen and notebook (not computer) and write it as if you were telling someone else what you intend to write. Pretend you’re telling them your character’s backstory
• create a rough outline of what you want to happen in your story and change it/develop it with each chapter you write
• when you write a chapter, the next day, rewrite what you wrote the day before. Then, before you write the next chapter, break the chapter into 4 chunks– 500 words or so per chunk. Here’s an example: 1. waking up in bed 2. hearing something 3. investigating 4. confronting intruder. It may not work for everyone, but if you’re stuck, give it a try
• think of scene ideas. Write each one on an index card. If you want 40 chapters, come up with 40 ideas that get you from point A to point B. Using index cards is great because you can easily rearrange ideas however you like. Jot down ideas in no order, then put them in order

That’s her advice to me. I hope it helps you. Bobbi Holmes has a wonderful YouTube channel. I encourage you to subscribe. Her videos are loaded with great writing advice. Just type in Bobbi Holmes on YouTube. Also, her books are available on Amazon. Here’s the link to the first book in the “Haunting Danielle” series. The Kindle version is completely free. “The Ghost of Marlow House“

My newest book is now available on Amazon in eBook and paperback. It’s called, “Healer of Souls.” I hope you’ll give it a look.