My Writing Process

People ask me all the time how I do it, how I actually sit down and write a thing from beginning to end. My kneejerk responses are usually along the following lines:

• “When was the last time you saw the ‘…to end’ bit in action?”
• “I love your confidence in me, but for the love, do NOT ask me any specific questions about my characters or timelines.”
• “I dunno, I just write I guess. . .”
• “Weather’s been weird lately, hasn’t it?”

Since my brain has evolved from being completely unable to conjure up even the first inkling of a start of an idea to this brightly lit fairground of constant inspiration that just won’t shut up, I often feel like I just can’t get things finished. But that’s not true. I finish things all the time. My blog at Reedsy.com is filling up nicely with short stories, one of which is even serving as one of those pesky bolts of inspiration and will, eventually, turn into an MG novel, most likely to be called Owl Academy. I enter short story contests almost constantly, and feel my skills growing with every submission. I have a book published, and a few more that are getting close, some I might even try to find representation for. If I stop and actually think for five minutes, it becomes obvious that I write A LOT.

I have decided to layout the three most important parts of my writing process here, in case others find them useful.

Before you read on

NOTE: I have slowly become aware over the years that every writer does things a little differently. You need to find the method that works for you. If you’re here looking for inspiration on how to just get it done, remember that you and I are different people with brains that need different things. Furthermore, if you read the obligatory “What’s my process?” blog post or interview of any of the authors you like, you might spot some similarities, but you will also see that they often do things in very different, sometimes even contradictory ways. Feel free to give my methods a try–but don’t be too hard on yourself if they don’t quite work. Keep looking and keep trying things until you find what works for you.

Dedicate Time

Finding time to write in a world where we have to work, work, work to keep the lights on can be very hard. I solve this by getting up at 5am on workdays and writing before I go to work. This works for me because that is when I am at my best. It also makes me look forward to getting up in the mornings, because I know I’ll be doing something I enjoy. Because I always have multiple projects, I split those precious hours carefully between the things that need the most immediate attention. Right now, for example, I am working on Earthquake House in preparation for starting my agent hunt, three out of five weekdays. The other two days I spend working on the contests I am currently entered in. My next main focus will be Book 2 of The Reality Warper series–readers are waiting!

Plan, Plan, Plan

I spend absolutely ages planning my story before I actually start writing it. I like to have all of my ideas laid out so that when the time comes to connect the dots and actually do the fun part, I’m not distracted by having to stop and think about how something should happen or what a new character should look like. I have it all already. Yes, my characters do what they like, as all characters tend to do, and yes I change things as I go because the story demands it, but I always have a strong starting point. The three main documents I end up with during planning are:

• The Beat Sheet: a detailed outline of my story based on Save the Cat Writes a Novel.
• Character Descriptions: A document full of who I think my characters are going to be including personality traits, flaws, main impact on the story, pronouns, interests, everything.
• Ideas and Concepts: Things that need a bit more explanation or planning than what the beat sheet allows, such as world rules or a specific caste system that I need to invent .

The above documents guide me through v1 of my book and are very long and detailed (anything from 25 to 100 pages each, generally speaking). I once even took personality quizzes for each of my characters in order to understand them better before writing.

Each version thereafter gets its own set of planning documents as I focus in on specific areas that need attention. Planning docs for all previous versions continue to be reference points, but the beat sheet, for example, tends to only be used in detail on that very first run.

Planning is, therefore, one of the reasons I take ages to finish a single book.

Write even when your brain rebels

This is the most contentious point I’m going to raise today. Most of the authors I know are believers in one or the other of the following:

1. Write every day, no matter what, even if you’re tired, even if the inspiration doesn’t flow, because progress is important and you can always fix it later.
2. Never force your writing. Wait for those moments when you’re in the zone and then make maximal use of them.

So, again I remind you: find what works for you, and do that.

In my case, I had to start out by writing every single day, no matter what, so that I could build a habit of writing. It was essential to keep me on track and to keep me feeling like a ‘proper’ author. But now that I have no shortage of ideas or motivation, now that I actually enjoy the revision and editing process, and now that I have dedicated specific timeslots to writing, it is less important. I don’t write on weekends or holidays much anymore, preferring to reserve that time for other creative projects, marketing, and admin. But I still sit down and write at 5am, even if I’m not really feeling it, because that’s what works for me.

So, now you know how the (hopefully vegetarian) sausage is made and you will perhaps forgive me for taking so long to get that second Reality Warper book out there. But it is coming, and it will be wonderful when it does.