The Writing Process

I personally find the writing process fascinating. I love learning how all my favorite authors craft their books. Not everyone does it the same way. And after all these years, I finally figured out my best method.

1. The Rough Draft: I find that handwriting has been immensely helpful for my writing process. There's less pressure when you're just writing ideas and scenes in a notebook. Plus, it lets me use up the literally hundreds of notebooks sitting around my house. 

2. The First Draft: Then comes the only downside to handwriting a novel...typing up about 100,000 words. It may seem like a huge amount of time rewriting what you just spent months writing, but I like it. First, it lets me do a quick edit while I'm writing. I can see which sentences need work, which scenes need to be expanded or cut. The time between first writing a scene and then typing it also allows you a little perspective to see if it's awesome as you first thought. So while a lengthy part of the process, it's well worth the time. 

3. The Second Draft/Edit: This is just a quick read though of what I've just typed up once the book is completed. This hopefully catches any of the big plot issues, typos, or earlier scenes that need changes for continuity. (I'm actually at this stage right now, which is where I found I have the same painting in three different places. Which could be a fun plot, but not for this book)

Usually, somewhere between Steps 2 and 3 is when I have another person take a look at the book. My main reason for this is because by this point I'm the process I'm stuck in the mental loop of thinking my writing is both brilliant and garbage. Having another person's input really helps me here. My Critique Partner is an absolute genius and always knows exactly what will push me and my writing in the right direction. Since I'm still in the beginning of edits and revisions, I can ask her questions about what is and isn't working, along with what to possibly add or cut to make the book better.

4. The Third Edit: Now, I print out the book and scribble all over it in red pens. Here is where I'm completely brutal. Scenes get cut, others get entirely rewritten. Not a single page is left unscathed.

5. The Fourth Edit/Draft: I'm not sure if I'd call this a full edit, since it's just typing up all the changes from the print out. But changing mediums again still lets me catch things I missed before. Typos hiding in the shadows, characters changing names, those sort of things. Sometimes I find that things I cut while being brutal can still work. It's all about perspective here. This is also the stage where I might ask for another reading from outside eyes. Usually this request is focusing on specific issues or scenes that I still have doubts with. But for the most part, this is the stage where I feel best about my writing.

6. The Final: Final is actually a retaliative term here. I give the book another complete read on my computer. Really, its doing that "final" read several times until I think the book is in the best state I can get it. Some books only need one more detailed reading for edits, while others need a lot more.

Then comes the really hard part. Querying...

A Slow and Steady March

Writing is a curious endeavor. On one hand, it looks as if I've accomplished absolutely nothing. My writing career hasn't changed status in the slightest. But that's not what I should focus on. In reality, I've done a great deal recently.

I've written, edited, revised, and queried "The Lost Letters of Benjamina Baneridge". It was my first ever attempt at writing an entire book in first person, and finally let me write the "Gothic Governess" story that every Victorian author wants to add to their collection. That novel was a little over 100,000 words when I first finished, but it's been trimmed to a neater 98,000. It's a book I'm immensely proud of, and I'm going to do my best to get it published. I've been querying it all year, and it's gotten some good feedback.

I also started and finished writing "The Ruin of Dunrose Castle" this year. It's at 105,000 words so far, but I expect it to grow as I edit and add in footnotes. I've always wanted to write something with footnotes, so I just went for it. And why not! It's both tricky and fun.

Now, I'm 20,000 words into a new book for NaNoWriMo. It's turning into something interesting, but I haven't quite worked all the details out yet. But that's for after November.

So not including all the "started and quickly abandoned" projects, that's a minimum of  225,000 words in less than two years. Doing all that during the insanity of "Real Life" is impressive, for me at least. I think it's important to focus on what successes I do have. One of these days, one of these books is going to get out there.