The Writing Process

Greetings and Salutations,

There are many different ways to write a story, just like there are many different types of stories.
It is by no means the case that one way of writing is better than another way of writing. What is true though, is that a specific way of writing may work well for one person, but may not work at all for another. So, what I’ll be talking about in this blog is not the writing process in general, but my approach to it. If you can take something away from this, even if it is knowing that my method is not for you, then it’s already reached its intended purpose.

My writing process does not begin with writing at all. It begins in my head, possibly months before I put pen to paper (or more commonly but less poetically, fingers to keyboard). The process begins with the slow forming of a concept. It depends on the story what this concept will look like. It can be a character whose life I’d like to explore, or a location or specific setting. It can be a word or a phrase that prickles my creativity. This idea, this location or character then slowly grows in my mind, as I think about ways to make this come to life.

The next phase is to sit down with a blank piece of paper, and a pen, and write down anything that comes to mind for the story I intend to write. For some reason, a keyboard and computer do not work for me at this stage, I have to hand-scribble this down, legible or no, it is only to get the thoughts that have been roaming around in my head, out of my grey goo, and onto paper. To capture my rough imaginings into words, phrases, poems, concepts, and possibly even a first line, or a last.

From this brainstorming session, I usually jump right into writing. I’ll want to keep that creativity flowing, and want to test out some of my more important ideas for the story. This can be an opening paragraph, introducing the protagonist and his status quo world. More often than not though, it is a part of the middle, where important concepts are divulged, and or information is dumped. Needless to say (but I so anyway), without prior world-building or plotting, much of what I write at this stage will be scrapped later on. It is important to get a feel for the story. What sort of tone would it need to be. How does the character come across? See this as a test lap or dipping your toe in the ocean of possibilities, to feel the water.

Now it is time for two things at once, plotting and world building. Of course, it is not really at the same time, but these things very much go hand in hand. There can be no story without a world, but you do not necessarily know what sort of world it is, without knowing what the story is going to be about.
This means I write a concept of the world, create a map, with rough sketches of the location I have in mind, and then start plotting. I could make a whole separate blog (if not more than one) about how to plot, but I’ll save that for another time. While plotting, I will find out if my character is going to new places, and will need to world-build new cultures, religions, prophecies, superstitions and whatever is needed for the story. I keep jumping back and forth between my world-building notes and the plot until an outline is complete.

Then I start writing the first draft. From the beginning, all the way until it is done, trying not to backtrack and edit while I’m going. (Usually failing and going back anyway) If I get stuck, I look at the plot to see why I’m stuck. Is there something that does not work after all? I try to figure out what I am missing, and go from there. If this does not work, I will leave a gap, and pick up writing at the next plot point, and usually I will find out my answers while continuing the book.

After the first draft is done, and you I feel both triumphant and utterly miserable at the same time, I resist the urge to throw the draft away, and take a forced break from it by writing something else, or drawing or simply letting time pass.

Then a couple weeks or longer later, I will pick up the draft, and carefully read through it, making notes of everything that I like and don’t like. I am not changing anything just yet, just making notes. Then I will make a copy and call it draft two, and start applying the notes. Which means deleting whole chunks of text, fixing grammar and punctuation, and most importantly, story holes and inconsistencies.

Having done this, the draft is ready for my editor and or proofreaders.

What is your writing process like? I am curious to see how much we do the same, and how many different ways of writing there are. Happy writing!