The other day a bunch of us writers were talking about the process of writing a book. Interestingly enough, we all had different takes on it. One of my friend ends up with about a hundred page outline before she even types a paragraph. Another friend knows her characters inside and out before she even considers a plot. I discover as I go.
My point is, find what works for you. My method is pretty easy. I sit down and write the first scene of the book. (Or what I think might be the first scene. I’ve been known to move such a scene to chapter three.) Then I think about a plot. Who’s the bad guy? And I keep writing. I send a few chapters to my critique partner, Sayde Grace. And I keep writing.
Sayde sends back comments – often smart alecky ones. It’s true. Believe me. Once I had a buzzing set up between a character’s ears…and all through the rest of the book, Sayde would comment…”What’s that buzzing? Does anyone hear a buzzing?” 🙂
At some point I finish the first draft. Then I go back and add to the plot – and layer in the emotion and details. I’m very happy if my first draft is 65,000 words or so. After layering and adding scenes I thought of later, I usually end up at 85k – 100k.
Then I search and destroy. Meaning, I look for those words we don’t want to use too many of: could, that, just, was…and so on. But, if they’re in dialogue, I leave them alone. That’s how people talk. At that point, I read through the book again and add/edit.
When that’s finished, I print the puppy out. And edit the hard copy. Then I send it off to my agent, who will make suggestions – and then I edit again. So, that’s my process.
I’ve written a few articles on writing – you can find them in the drop down menu above. Enjoy. 🙂