# Writing process for you



## mbear (Feb 17, 2019)

I know this has had to been asked before, but what is your actual “process”? I write just as an outlet and rarely get more than about 30,000 words before I get bored and move on to another project. I just get what’s going on in my head out. I know there are gaps or inconsistencies. But my latest project is over 60,000 words and it actually looks like I might finish it. So now I feel like I actually need to do the real work work it. So I guess when I finish it up, I go back and clean it up and fill it out with the finer details, developing my minor characters a little more? Clear up the inconsistencies? Then do I go back and do real editing? How many times do you go back to it? How long to you set it down between edits to give you fresher eyes? At what point to you actually find a reader for it to give you an opinion?


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## Olly Buckle (Feb 18, 2019)

Like you I write as an outlet, though I have finished a fair few things. Unlike you I edit a lot, I enjoy the process as much as writing I think. I do the things you mention to a certain extent, clearing up inconsistencies, developing characters, filling in details and so on, but mainly I am concerned with getting rid of all the side thoughts that crept onto the page and getting down to the nitty gritty of what I want to say, making sure that what I want to say and what I have said are synonymous, I quite often find that I have expressed myself ambiguously and I need to be more definite. The more definite version is usually much shorter, this was about six lines longer


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## bdcharles (Feb 18, 2019)

mbear said:


> So I guess when I finish it up, I go back and clean it up and fill it out with the finer details, developing my minor characters a little more? Clear up the inconsistencies? Then do I go back and do real editing? How many times do you go back to it? How long to you set it down between edits to give you fresher eyes? At what point to you actually find a reader for it to give you an opinion?



Yes, I suppose some second-draft rereads and editing would come next. For me, as I snatch moments of writing time from other day-to-day commitments, the whole process is pretty lengthy. My first draft took about a year, after which I sent out the best bits of it to CPs. Subsequent readthroughs on the back of those turned into a major undertaking covering about another 18 months, then it was out to betas for about 6 months, then agencies over a period of about a year. Then, using that feedback, it was back to the betas, which is where I am at now. This crop of edits should hopefully be done c late spring. But I mean, in those 18 months of edits there were lots and lots of changes. I do a lot of self-editing so it takes me probably 10 versions before I send it to anyone. Sometimes I have left it for 3 months.


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## JJBuchholz (Feb 18, 2019)

mbear said:


> I know this has had to been asked before, but what is your actual “process”?



I start with an idea hastily written on a piece of paper (or stuck in my head). The next step is to grab my notebook and start a story outline, listing the title, plot, characters, setting, and key points I wish to visit in the story. When that is complete, I open a blank WordPad document on my laptop and start writing! While doing so, I also add things to the notebook outline as I go, a reflection on how the story is evolving in my mind as I write it.

Once the story is complete, I go back and read it, usually editing small bits and refining it. Then, voila!

Hope this helps.

-JJB


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## devonhg (Feb 20, 2019)

This might be different with plot and sequential books, but I came up with this process for my self help book. 

First, I created a list of topics I wanted to cover in the book, I then grouped the topics by similarity. 

This grouped list became my table of contents. 

After that, it was simply a process of writing essays for each of the topics and grouping it together as one book.


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## AdrianBraysy (Feb 20, 2019)

My writig process tends to be:
1. Begin by placing a character into a setting, with a problem. No outline, no idea where the plot is going at all.

2. Have the character attempt to solve the problem. They either fail, or they succeed while geneeating a bigger problem at the same time.

3. Character reacts to the problem and decides what to do next.

4. Repeat, until the problems have stacked up to a big, climactic moment. Resolve the story.

5. Now, with the first draft done, it's time to edit. I start by fixing all obvious plot holes and issues with the story. This takes about 5-6 hours.

6. I then do a quick spelling and grammar check. Does not take long at all.

7. Story is given to a first reader.

8. Publish.


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## Cephus (Feb 23, 2019)

I get an idea, sometimes it's a character that I like or a story I want to tell or a setting that I find interesting.  I roll that around in my head for a while until other elements come out.  When I have enough that I can envision the story, I do a proper outline, by which I mean the entire story, all plots and subplots and character arcs in exacting detail.  Then I just sit down and write it.  As I've refined this over the years, the writing is the easiest part of the process.  I'm just fleshing out the outline and I know exactly where it's all going.  The actual writing takes a couple of weeks at best.


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## Amnesiac (Feb 23, 2019)

Usually, I start with an idea... A setting, an atmosphere, or a character that I really like. I usually have some idea of the basic plot, and then I just start writing. If I can get the first couple of lines on the page, then I'm off to the races.

Editing is a little more of a ticklish business. I generally try to keep _Creative Mind_ separate from _Editing Mind._When I dash off an idea, the important thing is to get the idea onto the page. I don't care about grammar, spelling, structure... Nothing. The important thing is not to stop. 

Once I've written something, I stick it in a file and I don't look at it for at least two weeks. It takes discipline, but I leave it and work on something else. At the end of two weeks, I am able to lay my _baby_ on the sacrificial altar and begin carving it to pieces. I rip into it, fix the grammar, spelling, punctuation, and make sure the story is coherent, and then I put it away again. 5-7 days later, I pull it out again, read through it with a critical eye, make any minor, final adjustments, and then it's ready for a beta-reader, this forum, or published to my blog.

This is my basic process. I don't always follow it, but it is what seems to work well for me... Good luck!


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## K.S. Crooks (Feb 24, 2019)

I generally start with a concept, the main characters and perhaps a few secondary ones. For the concept I have an idea where they're starting from mentally and location, what the main challenge of the story will be, and a few options for how the story may end. I usually write by hand while going to work on the subway. After 7000-10000 words I transfer the story into my computer with this being my first round of editing. When my story is complete I give it a once over only looking at flow and story continuity. I then edit for spelling, grammar, and format. I then read a book to have some time before reading my story. I finally give it to someone else to read and make suggestions. While I wait for the review I start designing possible book covers and other images. When ready I edit in the suggestions.


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## Ralph Rotten (Feb 24, 2019)

mbear said:


> I know this has had to been asked before, but what is your actual “process”? I write just as an outlet and rarely get more than about 30,000 words before I get bored and move on to another project. I just get what’s going on in my head out. I know there are gaps or inconsistencies. But my latest project is over 60,000 words and it actually looks like I might finish it. So now I feel like I actually need to do the real work work it. So I guess when I finish it up, I go back and clean it up and fill it out with the finer details, developing my minor characters a little more? Clear up the inconsistencies? Then do I go back and do real editing? How many times do you go back to it? How long to you set it down between edits to give you fresher eyes? At what point to you actually find a reader for it to give you an opinion?





You just need to pop your cherry.
After you finish that first book, it's psychologically easier to finish the next.
Once they got Neal Armstrong to the moon, NASA knew they could do it again.
Writing a book is a lot like that; going to the moon.  They're both hard as shit.


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## Sir-KP (Feb 26, 2019)

Idea hatching part:
- Inspired by something (real life happening and such)
- Thinking "what if..." on it
- Imagination grows
- If imagination is meh, no go. If imagination is cool, then continue on the next step.

Fun part:
- Making the characters, sometimes also draw them so I can get to know them 'closer'
- Think of the settings; place, time, etc
- Detailing the story, fleshing the characters

Hell part:
- Putting all those imagination to words
- Edit them
- General polishing to publish


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## Amnesiac (Feb 26, 2019)

My process? Are you talking about _before_ I sacrifice the goat and two chickens, or _after?_


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## mbear (Feb 27, 2019)

Olly Buckle said:


> Like you I write as an outlet, though I have finished a fair few things. Unlike you I edit a lot, I enjoy the process as much as writing I think. I do the things you mention to a certain extent, clearing up inconsistencies, developing characters, filling in details and so on, but mainly I am concerned with getting rid of all the side thoughts that crept onto the page and getting down to the nitty gritty of what I want to say, making sure that what I want to say and what I have said are synonymous, I quite often find that I have expressed myself ambiguously and I need to be more definite. The more definite version is usually much shorter, this was about six lines longer



I am so jealous you like to edit! I like the story and to move on. I feel you on the need to shorten. I thought I would struggle to get a 40k word count and now I am skirting 100k.

I am hoping I don’t need that many edits, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I did need them. How do you find betas?

I start very much like you. Thoughts of an idea, then a great outline. But then I fall apart on the small things— like what was that person’s eye color, again? Or right now, I can’t remember if the main character’s brother should still be around for a week or if I sent him off back to work. It’s those little details that I forget to make a note of and then 20k words later I can’t remember because it’s like 3 months later.

That’s probably my issue. I just can’t ever force myself to finish a book. If I would just do it then I could continue to just improve upon it.


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## Newman (Feb 27, 2019)

mbear said:


> before I get bored and move on to another project



You gotta find a way to fall in love with it again..


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## Olly Buckle (Feb 27, 2019)

mbear said:


> I am so jealous you like to edit! I like the story and to move on. I feel you on the need to shorten. I thought I would struggle to get a 40k word count and now I am skirting 100k.
> 
> I am hoping I don’t need that many edits, but it wouldn’t surprise me if I did need them. How do you find betas?
> 
> ...


Can't resist an edit:-

'I am hoping I don’t need many edits, but it won’t surprise me if I do. How do you find betas?'

TBH I am not really sure what a beta is, I have never had one as far as I know.


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## mbear (Feb 27, 2019)

A beta reader —I hope I am getting that term right, I am kind of new to this. Like after you edit it, the first person other than yourself to read it and give an opinion.


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## Cephus (Feb 27, 2019)

Newman said:


> You gotta find a way to fall in love with it again..



I never get bored with a story once I'm beyond the initial stages.  I get completely invested in it and want to stay in that universe.  My WIP started out as a stand-alone story, now it's at least a trilogy and probably more.  I'm going into the final climax, then I'll take a couple of weeks off to plot the next one in detail before coming back for revisions.  I'll be sticking with this story line for a long time.


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## mbear (Feb 27, 2019)

Maybe I didn’t give an accurate picture of what really happens with me. Something inspires me or pops in my head and I start writing. But then a life event happens and I stop writing for a long time. And while I still like the story I was writing and would eventually like to go back to it, something else has sparked my interest more so I invest my limited time into that. I have evolved as a person and I am not the same person, so the feelings or point of the story does not seem to spark the same passion. Like one of my first real close attempt to a finished piece was about a woman who had a small child and was no longer able to be a part of his life, just through circumstances of life. She had to watch him from a distance and the conflict she felt. She also was no longer able to be with her husband and she had to watch him move on with his life without her and her conflict she felt with this in regards to if she was allowed to move on. I was so invested in it. I also was a mom at that time who worked more than full time with a business and was trying to balance the conflict I felt with my child not with me. Then I got pregnant with my second child, got very sick for months, had some complications and a huge betrayal from a family member. And I just kind lost my passion for the piece. I think it’s more because I wrote so much of it in such a tough point in my life and now I kind of associate it with that part of my life and I don’t want to revisit it. But with that particular piece, I learned a great way to outline, a great program to use that I like for writing, and a few other things. I feel with each attempt, I grow. I have another idea, but it will take a lot of research to truly give it a chance of being something I am proud of and I just can’t give the time to it with small kids. The passion is there because it’s political commentary using fiction to get a point across. But I just can’t happen now in my life. So I feel like I start things and then have reasons not to finish. I am really hoping my current project is finally the one that will be completed.


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## luckyscars (Feb 27, 2019)

mbear said:


> Maybe I didn’t give an accurate picture of what really happens with me. Something inspires me or pops in my head and I start writing. But then a life event happens and I stop writing for a long time. And while I still like the story I was writing and would eventually like to go back to it, something else has sparked my interest more so I invest my limited time into that. I have evolved as a person and I am not the same person, so the feelings or point of the story does not seem to spark the same passion. Like one of my first real close attempt to a finished piece was about a woman who had a small child and was no longer able to be a part of his life, just through circumstances of life. She had to watch him from a distance and the conflict she felt. She also was no longer able to be with her husband and she had to watch him move on with his life without her and her conflict she felt with this in regards to if she was allowed to move on. I was so invested in it. I also was a mom at that time who worked more than full time with a business and was trying to balance the conflict I felt with my child not with me. Then I got pregnant with my second child, got very sick for months, had some complications and a huge betrayal from a family member. And I just kind lost my passion for the piece. I think it’s more because I wrote so much of it in such a tough point in my life and now I kind of associate it with that part of my life and I don’t want to revisit it. But with that particular piece, I learned a great way to outline, a great program to use that I like for writing, and a few other things. I feel with each attempt, I grow. I have another idea, but it will take a lot of research to truly give it a chance of being something I am proud of and I just can’t give the time to it with small kids. The passion is there because it’s political commentary using fiction to get a point across. But I just can’t happen now in my life. So I feel like I start things and then have reasons not to finish. I am really hoping my current project is finally the one that will be completed.



You use the word passion a lot. While I don't disbelieve you, I think you may be more passionate right now about the idea of writing than the reality of it.

Let's be real a moment, not everybody who enjoys climbing mountains really _enjoys_ climbing mountains, do they...? Climbing is mostly physically and mentally painful and often dangerous. Same with marathons, long-distance swims, anything which is difficult. These aren't about enjoyment, they are about achievement. Hope at the beginning, elation at the end, and mostly a struggle of conflicting emotions in-between. Sounds a lot like writing.

So, the point is to adjust expectations. You're probably not going to feel consistently engaged with what you are doing. There will be days when you don't want to do it. But, if you are truly passionate, you will be able to push through it. Even when you don't want to.

What I might suggest is to drop novels or any other 'long form' for now. They do require commitment and time. So why not focus on writing shorter things? Flash fiction is a growing and respected market, a great exercise in the craft, can be completed in hours (often minutes!), and subsequently does not require you to invest much in the story beyond a fleeting moment, say after the kids go to bed. From there you can progress to standard-length short stories, practice constructing narratives, again with very little investment of time. Novels are great, but they aren't the be-all.


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## mbear (Feb 28, 2019)

I think you give good advice. I struggle with flash fiction. Most of my ideas tend to be a story that can not be easily set up and resolved in a short period. As a mom of a few kids, all fairly young it does get hard to keep chugging along with no finished product. I will say that I did get to about 30K words before I got pregnant with my last child and now I am probably around 70K words on the same story. I have about 5 more chapters to go and then I need to go back and edit. It is so hard having an hour here or there a couple times a week to get any progress done. The story before this that was more political in nature, I just got a loose timeline and characters planned out. But the story before that got about 30k words. So I do think I am improving on my efforts. Do you have advice for flash fiction?


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## luckyscars (Feb 28, 2019)

mbear said:


> I think you give good advice. I struggle with flash fiction. Most of my ideas tend to be a story that can not be easily set up and resolved in a short period. As a mom of a few kids, all fairly young it does get hard to keep chugging along with no finished product. I will say that I did get to about 30K words before I got pregnant with my last child and now I am probably around 70K words on the same story. I have about 5 more chapters to go and then I need to go back and edit. It is so hard having an hour here or there a couple times a week to get any progress done. The story before this that was more political in nature, I just got a loose timeline and characters planned out. But the story before that got about 30k words. So I do think I am improving on my efforts. Do you have advice for flash fiction?



Seventy thousand words with only five chapters to go is pretty far!

I think maybe you just need to quit beating yourself up about not having much time. This isn't a race. Who cares if you go a few days, weeks even, without working on it? The important thing is you are writing when you can.

 With the majority of your story drafted you should be keeping in mind that the hardest part is probably out of the way and excited to finish - which is a big deal. Use what you have done, under difficult circumstances, to motivate you to go forward. Make it count.

Don't worry about editing, at least not to the point where you are daunted by it. Editing can be hard but it's nowhere near as hard as actually completing a story which you have (almost done). Plenty of people on here have not done what you have done. 

As far as flash fiction, I don't really have advice, no. Frankly it's not that difficult. No more or less difficult than any other kind of fiction writing anyway. but it is shorter, which is why I suggested it. This article from the Guardian seems to sum up the basics. But frankly I didn't realize you were so close to finishing your novel so feel free to ignore that suggestion https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/may/14/how-to-write-flash-fiction


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## Sir-KP (Feb 28, 2019)

mbear said:


> I start very much like you. Thoughts of an idea, then a great outline. But then I fall apart on the small things— like what was that person’s eye color, again? Or right now, I can’t remember if the main character’s brother should still be around for a week or if I sent him off back to work. It’s those little details that I forget to make a note of and then 20k words later I can’t remember because it’s like 3 months later.
> 
> That’s probably my issue. I just can’t ever force myself to finish a book. If I would just do it then I could continue to just improve upon it.



I often forgot on things like the location name or where that place specifically is at in my fictional city.

For your case, it seems you are forgetful for more crucial parts. I'd say just write it down next time on a piece of paper or on notepad in your phone, etc. or begin a habit of skimming what you wrote previously before continuing.

I don't know about professional writers out there, but I personally think this is an individual problem that needs to be fixed. Forgetting something means I have not fully understood my story. How am I gonna tell a story that I myself don't even understand?


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## bdcharles (Feb 28, 2019)

My actual process generally starts with a single moment ... you could call it a scene, I suppose, where either something incredible is happening, or some devastating bit of dialogue is being used. For example, for my current WIP (fantasy) I had a picture of a huge floating city falling to the ground in flames. There could be more than one of these scenes; another is a song, sung by a bunch of armour-clad types gathered round a fire, with the lyrics going "far higher, far higher" but there is doubt, somewhere, and they might in fact be singing the word _fire_: "fi-ire, fi-ire." My way of arriving at a plot is to figure out how to get from scene to scene, or to work out how they relate. It makes for, I am told, quite vivid prose, but I wouldn't say my plots are particularly original. They're ok. They have tension and stuff.


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## Chris Stevenson (Feb 28, 2019)

I've got to start with a mind-bending premise. Well, the best idea I can muster.

A fantasy came out of nowhere and clobbered J.K. Rowling over the  head--she'd found her destiny. She took a train ride to discover the  idea of Harry Potter; a kid on his way to wizard school. I didn't  realize how potent that ride was until I experienced one myself. Here's a  short article on what happened to me on a long car ride.  


The Little SF Dystopian that Could and Came out of Nowhere


I'd  been a slave to the keyboard and typing chair for six months, having not  been out of the house. So I jumped at the chance when my niece, Jamie,  ask me to come along for a ride. Driving down a back road with Jamie and  her daughter, Fia, on a balmy summer day, we were discussing how low  our gas was and if we could make to a town called Fort Payne. Fia was  acting up in the back seat, broadcasting 180 decibels from the hole in  her face. Jamie reared her head and said, "Shut the hell up, please. Or  we'll pawn your azz for gas money at the next pullout, I swear!"


Fia tried, "But I was just--" 


"Shaddap!"


I  thought about that outburst for a minute. My ears were still ringing.  Then it hit me... What if, I mused, that in a distressed (dystopian)  society, heads of households were allowed to pawn dependents to a  company called Family Trade & Loan for huge cash advances? And what  if that dependent was a teenage girl who ended up with a six-month  sentence at the Tranquility Harbor Moon base on Luna, assigned to a  rough and tumble mining company filled with slobaholic miners? 


Wait. What about a_ Burlesque_  in  Space? 'Cause maybe she's forced to work as an exotic dancer and given  an "Attractapeal" rating for her physical attributes. Oh, gawd, yea. And  let's give her a tin number tag and a jumpsuit that identifies her as a  Sunshine Class (12 to 18 year-olds) ward. 


All this  brainstorming materialized in about 20 minutes and all I could hear was  white noise in my head--I'd tuned everything else out. 


Phuck...


I couldn't get home fast enough to start pounding plastic and  scribbling notes. I'd heard plenty about the sex slave market but this  would be a sanitized, legal work program sanctioned by the government.  What kind of abuses could such a powerful entity inflict upon its slave  labor wards? Unlimited, I decided. Because most of the cash advances  levied out were screened to force the payment of huge delinquent  back-tax settlements. 


Out of sight, out of mind, wards wouldn't stand a chance in hell. Let the personal rights and freedoms be damned and trampled. 


And that's how it all began for _The Girl They Sold to Moon_, a young adult dystopian thriller.  The  cover art is stunning, filled with glitter and soft hues. It has large  font for easy reading. 


I think the lesson here is that  lightning can strike at the most uneventful and unexpected times. Rides,  walks, runs and vacations--they're all ripe for the muse to appear and  start the creative dance. Get out and change your scenery. It's good for  what ails you if you're blocked. It sure busted me out of a creative  freeze.


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## mbear (Mar 4, 2019)

Thank you everyone who replied to this post. It was very motivating to me and I finally finished my first story EVER! 90,000 words. It is terribly rough and I really forced myself to get the last chapter done, even though I am not completely happy with the ending. I have so much editing/reworking to do, but I have a completed story. 
Is it normal to feel like an addict that is coming down off a high and knows that same high cannot be achieved again with the same amount of the drug? That uneasy, nothing is quite right with the world feeling. I thought I would feel amazing right now, but I just feel tired. There is relief on being done with it. But now I feel anxiety that I will never get it how I want it. I like to self sabatoge, much like my main character


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## luckyscars (Mar 5, 2019)

mbear said:


> Thank you everyone who replied to this post. It was very motivating to me and I finally finished my first story EVER! 90,000 words. It is terribly rough and I really forced myself to get the last chapter done, even though I am not completely happy with the ending. I have so much editing/reworking to do, but I have a completed story.
> Is it normal to feel like an addict that is coming down off a high and knows that same high cannot be achieved again with the same amount of the drug? That uneasy, nothing is quite right with the world feeling. I thought I would feel amazing right now, but I just feel tired. There is relief on being done with it. But now I feel anxiety that I will never get it how I want it. I like to self sabatoge, much like my main character



Awesome!

I think it's pretty normal to feel that way, yeah. What a lot of people do is then put the work away for a few weeks (or longer) before going back and redrafting/editing. The idea is that then you come back to it fresh.


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