Hi! Could you give a little insight into your writing process please? Such as how you brainstorm ideas, how you plan a plot, etc? Thanks!!!
I love to brainstorm ideas in my journal. I’ll write (by hand) snippets of dialogue, character descriptions, character motivations, how the landscape looks, etc. (My journals are always incredibly messy, BTW). My stories ideas always begin with a character. I will envision them doing something, or reacting to something.
A character is always the igniting spark of my writing.
Sometimes I will know the character right away, and continue to get to know them as I draft. Sometimes, a character is much harder for me to understand, and it is like peeling back layer after layer of writing to get to know them. I don’t necessarily plot my books. I see the beginning, or the inciting incident, which is going to propel my main character forward. And I typically see how I want the story to end and resolve.
But…I don’t know how I am going to get from A to B, and so I discover a majority of my plot as I write. This can be super exciting and super frustrating. Quite a few times, I have gotten 100 pages into a draft and realized I did not have a plot, and I had to shelf those manuscripts. Sometimes I take a wrong turn in the plot as I am writing, and I have to back track and rewrite a hoard of scenes.
I wish I were better at plotting upfront, but for me personally, I truly do love the thrill of discovering the story as I write. I really love it when my plot threads come together in a way I had not anticipated. It feels like magic. (And I know I would not have been able to plan something like that upfront).
If I have a compelling character in mind and a spark to the story, I can typically draft a full manuscript quickly (like in a month if the words are flowing). After that, I put it aside and try not to look at it for at least another month, so when I come back to it, my eyes feel fresh and I can really see places that I need to work on. And because I draft so quickly, my revisions are very intense. First drafts are like, “okay, throw it all on the page.” Second and third drafts are, “okay, it’s time to hack and carve and basically rewrite everything.”
Most of my published books have undergone huge rewritings in their second and third drafts. But I feel like this process works well for me. The first draft is truly discovering the story and character. My rewriting in revisions is the time to really nail what I was originally attempting to convey.
Every writer is going to have their own unique process. You may be the sort of writer who really needs to plot everything beforehand, and that is absolutely okay too! Find what works best for you and then go for it! :)
