My Writing Process

12 May 2014

I’ve been invited by my fellow York author Ben Warden to take part in the writers’ blog tour that’s currently doing the rounds entitled ‘My Writing Process’. I first met Ben at the launch of his debut novel LIFE WITHOUT. It’s a romance, but different in the sense that’s it’s written from a male perspective. To find out more about Ben, his novel and his writing process why not go to www.benwardenauthor.com and check it out.

The ‘My Writing Process Blog Tour’ is an opportunity for up and coming writers to share tips and information about their writing and for readers to gain insight into the writing process. One thing you learn from reading the various posts is that no two authors do things the same way and you need to choose the method that suits you best.

This comes at a good time for me as I’m currently struggling to get back into the writing habit. For how I intend to go about this, scroll down the page and read my post of 24 April, ‘Exercising The Writing Muscle’. Having to explain my writing process not only gives my writing muscle more of the exercise it desperately needs, it also obliges me to take stock of what I’m doing and helps focus my mind on a way forward.

So, what am I currently working on? Well, there’s a question. I often answer this with reference to the story I once heard about the three pairs of underwear. The person who told it to me said they kept one pair on, one pair in the drawer and one pair in the wash. It’s a bit like that with my books. The one I ‘have on’ is BIRDS OF THE NILE, published in September last year and which I am heavily engaged in marketing. The one ‘in the drawer’ is MÄLAREN for which I spent last summer in my summerhouse producing a first draft which is presently locked away. The one ‘in the wash’ is WHILE DAD WAS DYING and I suppose that must count as my current work in progress.

It’s the story of Frank, aged 52, a reformed alcoholic who lives at home with Elisabeth, his mother. Or he did until she went into a nursing home suffering from dementia. Frank is devoted to her and conversely hates his father Geoffrey. So when his elder sister Pat telephones to tell him that Geoffrey is dying and wants to meet him, Frank is forced to face up to things and confront some of his demons.

How does my work differ from others of its genre? To answer that I should firstly have to think about the genre I actually write in and that’s not something I readily do. To choose a genre and thereby define my writing is something that’s forced on me by the market. I don’t start out by thinking that I’m going to write a crime novel for example, although crimes might be committed in my book. I don’t start out thinking that I’m going to write a romance, although there may well be a love interest. I begin by thinking of the story I want to write and the genre comes afterwards. In my case, I guess my work must be literary fiction since it doesn’t ‘fit’ into anything else.

And that’s actually ok for me because my concept of literary fiction is one where the author is trying to express an idea or give some insight into the human condition. My intention in writing is to express a character through telling a story. In BIRDS OF THE NILE the character is Michael Blake and the story revolves around the Egyptian revolution of 2011. In WHILE DAD WAS DYING the character is Frank Johnson and the story is a family history. How does my work differ from others in the genre? Frankly, I haven’t a clue.

So why do I write what I do? Another contributor to this blog tour answered this by saying that they didn’t choose their subjects, their subjects chose them. Ditto. One of the reasons I write at all is because it helps me make sense of my life so most of my stories are in some way personal. Over the years I’ve accumulated a total of at least eight plots in my head, some of which have been there for decades, and I’m driven to set them down on paper before it’s too late. It’s compulsive and I write to try and explain the world as I see it rather than to some kind of stereotype.

And finally, how does my writing process work? When I first began writing I wrote freely and without very much planning. Now I’ve turned ‘professional’, I try and adopt a more ‘professional’ approach although it doesn’t always work out that way. Here (for the purists amongst you) is the theory.

Step One : I begin with a rough idea of my central character and storyline. I will almost certainly have a good idea of the opening scene, maybe even the opening line, and similarly the closing scene. As I say, I already have about eight pieces of work at this level.

Step Two : Having decided to take a piece further, I write a synopsis of the whole plot and flesh out the storyline. I then write character studies for my main protagonists, about a page each.

Step Three : Then I take a deep breath, sharpen my pencil (I write longhand), clear my diary for the next six months and sit down to write a first draft. The key thing is to finish it and I find that the best way to do this is by not going back to review a single word, even if I know something’s wrong. That way danger lies, trust me.

Step Four : Put it in the drawer and let it rest. At this stage I take another piece out of the drawer (here’s one I prepared earlier) and work on that.

Step Five : Some time later (it could be up to a year) I take it out of the drawer, read it and weep. But however bad it is (and it will be) by now I’ll have invested too much of my life in it to throw away. So I draw up a plan of how to fix it.

Step Six : I fix it – or at least the major bits. This doesn’t involve the prose by the way, that comes later. What I’m talking about here is structure and plot.

Step Seven : Now I fix the prose with a line by line edit.

Step Eight : A final edit for spelling, commas, layout etc and I’m done. Phew!

This whole process can take up to two years of my time and those two years can be spread over several more eg. my original set of notes for WHILE DAD WAS DYING began in March 2009 and it’s been ‘in the drawer’ a couple of times since. I’ve now decided that it’s been in there long enough and for good or bad, it’s time it saw the light of day. I’m currently around and about Step Seven, although I do have a slight plot change in mind. So much for the theory.
Well, I hope all this has been helpful. If you can take something from it, good luck to you. If not, then at least you’ll gain confidence in your own methods. As I said at the beginning, we all do it differently.

Meanwhile, I’m handing the baton on to Danny Kemp, one-time London cabbie and author of the now to be filmed spy thriller, THE DESOLATE GARDEN. Here’s what he has to say about himself.

'I am sixty-four years of age and a licensed London taxi driver, but I have been many other things. I was a Metropolitan police officer, the owner of a mini-cab business in South-East London and a tenant of three Kent pubs, in one of which I was arrested for attempted murder.
I wrote by first book in my late fifties as a direct result of being put out of work for almost four years by an incompetent van driver who crashed into me. That book found a literary agent but no publisher. The agent suggested that I write another novel. The Desolate Garden was the outcome of that advice.
Within six weeks of its publication I had signed an option, with a London Film Production Company, for a $30,000,000 movie to be made of my work. That option is still current.
Three other stories of mine have now been published, along with a collection of poetry. They are: Why? A love story complicated by sex and violence. My Friend For Eternity. A story of a mysterious, beautiful woman, a gambling debt and a gun. (This features Harry Paterson from my debut novel) and Seventeen, a violent jewellery robbery told in three parts. The collection of poetry is titled, Anything But Hackneyed.'

To find out more about THE DESOLATE GARDEN go to amzn.to/1uT1JXf

You can read Danny’s blog at www.theauthordannykemp.com . Keep an eye out for his ‘My Writing Process’ post next week.