My 2014 Writing Process

The lovely Miss Cole invited me to blog about my writing process, and I love a bit of indulgent babbling about my writing style, so: here we are!  Today I’ll share my writing process as of May 2014, subject to change at any given moment.

What Am I Working On?

I’m just finishing off ALL THE BROKEN THINGS, a story about monsters, giant robots, and getting into fights.

How Does My Work Differ From Others Of Its Genre?

All of my stories, particularly my YA ones, pair up fun worlds and adventures with some pretty heavy, dark themes. The characters have a lot of things to deal with and they sometimes have to take a break from fighting murderous angels to deal with their depression, or work out how to come out on top of a fight when their legs don’t feel like working.

Also: OBSCURE BRITISH LOCATIONS! My stories travel all over the place, from the Outer Hebridean Islands down to Hull, but I try to focus on the bits of Britain that you don’t often see written about.

Why Do I Write What I Do? 

Because it’s fun! SFF, especially YA SFF, is fast-paced and merciless in its need to provide depth to the reader without slowing down too much. It’s a great exercise in minimalist writing and clever worldbuilding.

Not to mention that I grew up reading SFF. I like other genres, but most of my stories veer towards having at least a touch of the fantastical.

How Does Your Writing Process Work?

Stage 0: Planning!  This stage usually goes on in the background while I’m working on a different project. I like to start things off by putting together a partial of the story: a detailed outline, a query letter/covering letter, and roughly three chapters.

The planning stage differs from story to story: if I have a strong idea of the story’s voice I’ll focus more on the chapters than the outline, and only plan a few ‘tentpole’ key scenes. I always like to have an ending, so I know where I’m aiming for.

I also like to start putting together a playlist of music to match the feel of a manuscript, and I add to the playlist and fine-tune it throughout every other stage.

Stage 1: First Draft! Burn through that like my PC is actually on fire. Write until it’s done, then dump it unceremoniously for a while. (Months, even years, though I’m trying to cut this down.)

This is the quickest, and often the most fun, part.

Stage 2: Redrafts! Take the story from the messy first draft into something polished. This can take multiple rewrites and it varies from project to project.  My last project took over eight rewrites, and BROKEN THINGS has had a tense change rewrite and then a full rewrite so far).

I’ll also do some copyediting during this stage to get things looking pretty for beta readers, and I’ll re-outline so that my outline and covering letter match the latest rewrite.

This part involves a lot of heavy brainwork to take the ideas from the first draft and shape them. It’s a long process.

Stage 3: Another set of eyes! Beta readers are the best things in the world. I’m still at the stage where I get some big chunks of beta reader advice, so after my beta readers get back to me its time for another rewrite.

This is one of my favourite bits of the process, because getting a new pair of eyes on it really helps fine-tune a story and spot issues I’ve missed.

Stage 4: Polish! Then it’s time for a copyedit, spotting typos and tweaking the structure of sentences until the prose shines.

That’s the general process, but the details around it are fluid. Sometimes I write on the PC, sometimes I write in my notebook. I almost always have tea!

As far as music goes, I’ll usually have Rainy Mood on while I’m working, or I’ll work in silence, but I play the story’s playlist when I’m unable to write but still want to be in the zone, like when I’m walking to work or on the bus.

So, that’s my process! I wonder how much this’ll change by this time next year. I won’t tag anyone to do this, but if you think this looks like a fun thing to blog, join in!