I met Susan Smith almost a year ago at RTC in Ottawa. Not only are we both big fans of dragon shifters, but we hit it off and had some wonderful discussions. She’s just a wonderful person. 🙂 I’m very pleased to have her visiting my blog today. Please welcome S.E. Smith!

It never ceases to surprise me that people like my books. I know that sounds a little strange, so let me take you back to the start. In 2012, I knew that I had to write down the stories that flowed around my head day and night.

I sat down and wrote them but didn’t tell anyone about them until I shared them with my sister, Linda. She immediately told me to publish them.

From what I have read, this is not such an unusual beginning for many writers. We write our stories because they demand to be told and I never thought that others would want to read my stories too.

I received this wonderful post from a reader the other day: “Susan, last night when I was on the phone with tech support about my kindle, I had a super nice lady and while we had down time while the kindle rebooted we talked books and how we can’t live without our kindle! So I said… do you read S.E. Smith? She says YES!! Then we traded fave stories and books for the next hour, lol.”

It is stories like this that readers share with me that warm my heart. It is important to remember my readers when I am writing; however, first and foremost comes my characters. There are times when my characters demand a story go a certain way and I know that I will get criticism from some of my readers. Being authentic as a writer is important and keeping the stories as told by the characters is part of this.

I listen to my readers; but what is even more important is I listen to my characters. They are the ones telling the story and they know what will happen next. Sometimes I wonder why a certain scene plays out. Eventually, the characters let me know the answer. I just ask that my readers be patient until they do.

Let me give you an example. I recently released Challenging Saber, Book 4 in The Alliance series. I didn’t understand why Razor’s Traitorous Heart (Book No. 2) had to be the next one told after Hunter’s Claim until it was time to write Dagger’s Hope (Book 3). After all, Razor was only mentioned once in Hunter’s story.

I even had readers asking why I wrote Razor’s story instead of Jordan or Taylor’s. In my head, both girls needed to grow up before their story could be told, but it was more than that, Jordan couldn’t do it alone. That was when I understood how the puzzle pieces were beginning to fall into place. I needed Razor’s story because he and Kali were going to help Jordan. Without them, the story couldn’t happen.

Now, with the completion of Challenging Saber, Taylor and Saber’s story, even more of the puzzle has been revealed and I’m beginning to see the universe that makes up this amazing series – and more! Each book, each character, is so important in the larger picture of what is going to happen.

So, if you wonder why an author writes the way they do, keep an eye out for the clues hidden within the pages, because sometimes, the author doesn’t even know until the story is written!

S.E. Smith is a New York Times, USA TODAY, International & Award Winning Bestselling author who has always been a romantic and a dreamer. A prolific writer, she spends her days and weekends writing and her nights dreaming up new stories. She enjoys camping and traveling. Readers can find out more about her stories at http://sesmithfl.com