(Photo taken from pixabay.com)

As a writer, I get asked a lot, “How do you write? Do you already have an idea in mind or do you just sit down and start writing?”

So I thought I’d give a little break down of my process.

When I first get an idea for a story, I often spend a few days…weeks…*coughs* months *coughs* going over it to see if it has enough “meat” for me to actually sit down and write it. When I first started out writing, as long as I had a decent introduction and a general idea of where the story was going, I was comfortable enough to start writing.

Now that I’ve been writing for almost eighteen years, I’ve recognized the pattern that helps me successfully finish a book. I have to have an ending in mind. So many of the ideas that I started writing out when I was younger petered out to nothing after a couple of months because I had no idea where I was going or what I was trying to accomplish. But every novel that I have had a set conclusion in mind, I have finished. And since I’ve currently finished fifteen novels, I think I can safely say that my pattern is that having an ending in mind is a must. Take that as what you will – I’m not saying it works for everyone, but it has worked for me.

I’m also an advocate for writing every day. It doesn’t necessarily have to be for my story. It could be a blog post, it could be a journal entry, it could be a letter to a friend, but as long as I am writing something, I know that I am growing as a writer. Because the only way to get better at something is to do it often.

When I start working on a novel, I try to write at least one page a day. This may seem like a challenge, but I am also an old-soul and I write all of my books in notebooks first. So it’s one page of the sloppiest handwriting you’ll ever see….but it’s written, it’s done and down for the day. And if I happen to go past the allotted one page a day? All the better! I just take it a day at a time, a page (or two or three!) at a time, and before I know it, the story takes hold of me and starts leading me down paths that I wasn’t necessarily expecting, but I find exciting anyway.

That’s another helpful tip I have found along the way. Some writers enjoy outlining everything…and I do mean, everything. I am not one of those writers. Outlining every detail takes all of the pleasure out of writing for me. I have to have a beginning and an ending in mind, but the middle can be completely up in the air. I may have a couple of scenes in mind when I first start writing, but sometimes the story takes me in a different direction. I have to be open to the idea of taking a new direction and not be locked into my own ideas. Being willing to hold loosely to my set plans for my novels has definitely helped me finish my stories.

Once I finish handwriting my novels, my next step is to type it up. As I type, I start making minor changes to grammar, sentence structure, dialogue, maybe even cut out a couple of scenes I didn’t like. And when I have finished typing it all up? I set it aside.

For weeks. Possibly even months.

I don’t think about it. I let it rest. I work on other projects.

And once it’s marinated on the computer for a while, then the big knives come out. That phrase “kill your babies” that every writer is familiar with comes into play at this point in the process. I hack away at those poor babies of mine, cut out huge chunks, rewrite bigger chunks, do away with whole characters at some points. I’m merciless….or, at least, I’m trying to be.

This is the longest step in my process because I’m bad at being merciless….and I also don’t like editing my own stuff. Particularly when I’ve already been working on it for a long time and I just want to be done. But I keep plugging away at it, a little at a time, until it is finished.

Then I give it to someone else to read. I have a good friend who sometimes volunteers as my editor. My sister also makes a good peer reviewer. I take their comments and suggestions to heart and try to incorporate them into the novel. By the time that’s done, that’s when I start seriously writing queries and looking for agents.

I haven’t been successful with that part yet, but it’s still a work in progress.

So there you have it, a little glimpse into my writing process.

What’s your process like? Do you use any techniques that I’ve mentioned? Or do you have your own wild way of doing things?

Whatever works for you, keep doing it!