Don't Let Me Down has a full, finished rough draft.
I put the final words in the last chapter Thursday evening. It feels good to reach this point with this book, but honestly, I love every part of the writing process. The more I write in this series, Haunted Sugarwood, the more I love and appreciate about it. It’ll be one of my shorter series for now, 4 books, but there’s plenty of room for these characters to grow and plenty of mysteries for them to solve – if they can.
We had heavy, hard rain off and on for much of yesterday, but there’s not a drop coming down today. It’s all bright sunshine. When the clouds do part a little, you can actually see how perfectly blue the sky is up there.
So, what’s next for my book? I realized I’ve never explained my writing process, and that’ll give you the biggest picture on the journey for Don’t Let Me Down.
I’ve had different approaches to writing and publishing over the years, but I’ve taken the same path the last several years. It works really well for me.
1. The Idea Stage
The first part of my creative process is to spark an idea. I don’t generally go looking for ideas. I just live my life, and they come to me. I’ve gotten good ideas from songs, TV shows, conversations, newspaper articles, dreams, research for school, and video games I’ve played.
2. The Incubation Period
With the first idea acting like a steady core, I start playing around with other ideas I can match up with it. I make up some central characters for the story and how they relate to each other. I pick a setting and a time period. I think about what genre this story will fit into, what length I want it to be, and if I’m going to build a series off of it.
3. Planning the Book
Once I have enough creative information, I assemble a sort of outline for my book. I have a unique story-plotting framework I based on the way other authors were laying out their books. It gives me an easy way to know what kind of scene goes where so that the action and drama unfold in the most interesting way possible, and it keeps me on track with pacing so that no section lags or moves too quickly. I plot books and entire series using this structure fairly fast, which lets me get on with the rest of the process.
4. Waiting Period
I don’t jump straight from planning to writing my first draft. I always give it a little time to sort of rest and gel together in my mind. Sometimes I read through my list of scenes so I can get a good feel for the rise and fall of the book. But I find it helpful to leave just a little space — from a day to sometimes years, if I’m busy with other projects — before I start the real meat-and-potatoes of the process.
5. Write the Rough Draft
This is certainly one of the most exciting stages, although like I said, I relish every part of writing. Some authors dread the blank stare of the blank page, but I actually like it. It’s thrilling to me to sit with a blank white screen in front of me, knowing I’ve prepared well for what I’m going to write and letting the words flow to fill that space. I’m always intrigued by the surprises along the way. Sometimes, I stick very close to my original plan for a scene, and sometimes I completely ditch it because the book’s evolving as I write it.
6. Rest
Yes, another brief waiting period. I tend to go after my rough drafts with a lot of drive and passion. I like to keep that momentum going and not take too many extra days off. But once the draft is done, it’s great to congratulate myself, give my mind some rest, and sneak in some other projects before the next part of the process begins.
7. Editing
The exact editing procedure varies from book to book, but I’ll read through my rough draft at least once. I’ll clean up typos, maybe double-check some research, and make sure I’ve presented my story the way I want it to be. Is the dialog natural and easy to read? Does the action flow? Did I use the same word too many times? This is when the rough draft gets polished with an eye toward being read by other people like you.
8. Publish
Finished books need certain other things to list online and appeal to readers. It needs a cover that generates interest and shares vital information about the book, like who the target audience is and its genre. Books need summaries that do the same thing in a short number of words. And those are just the most obvious parts you readers see. Authors doing their own publishing also need keywords to help readers find our book and the right genre categories to list it in. We might be setting up author pages, collecting reviews, and/or all manner of advertising, social media, and emailing.
Why? Cuz good ideas are like bones, and we will gnaw on those bones until we get a book written, read, and loved by someone.
And that’s my entire process, from kernel of an idea to full-fledged published book, in a nutshell. I hope you found it interesting or even inspiring.
I’ll be editing Don’t Let Me Down over the next month or two. Enjoy nice weather if you’ve got it or wait for it if it’s on its way back.
Good reading –
Cassandra