Scratching the Surface of the Process

This has been a decent month for writing. My word count goal was a bit conservative, but what I was really looking to do was discover an efficient life-day-job-writing balance, which I’ve managed to do with some success as it turns out. This is a relief (and also very rewarding, but I want to remain humble so as not to accidentally encourage anyone to take up writing as a lifestyle choice).

Anyway, I’ve about nailed said goal. Just reached the 3/4 mark today on my current manuscript (the low key one that I really shouldn’t be talking about). Being so close to the end makes me get excited for returning to Codetta. I just miss those characters and the aesthetic of that book and I can’t wait to bring everything I’ve learned over 2018 to that story.

Which brings me to my topic, something I’ve really been wanting to talk about for a few weeks now: the process I’ve been using to write my current novel. It’s a combination of things I was doing on my own on previous pieces of fiction, plus all the stuff I found useful out of the five or six books on writing I read last year (and some I read a good long while ago). Consider this to be just the briefest intro on the subject.

I’ve been tongue-in-cheekily calling this The Process, which is really just a goofy name I’ve been using to frame the different phases of writing a piece of fiction. The labels I’ve used for each phase all begin with a “P” because the mindset I’m coming from is a combination of corny, glib and pretentious, but mostly because it just half worked out that way by accident.

The first phase is Planning, which varies from scattered notes to full blown outlines, to beat sheets, to simply any thought in your head that causes you to put pen to paper. Every story has some planning involved, how much you do depends on your own personal, individual need to reach the next stage; but one must also be careful as overplanning is a real thing and might kill your story or your joy.

I call the next phase Play! Previously in my head I was calling this the execution phase, but that doesn’t quite work, because execution has much more negative connotations than play. Also, I needed it to start with a “p” (because the other words in the process did). This part refers to the actual writing of the damned thing. Call it play over and over in your head, until you forget what words mean. Now you’re writing!

The next phase is Polish. It’s a nicer, lower pressure word for “edit”. This is where you go back over what you did in the play phase and make it actually readable by humans. How and when you polish, from what I’ve experienced, can tremendously impact the process as a whole. Do you polish every chapter? Every couple pages? Or after the manuscript has been written in a rough draft state? Cleaning up your own words should always be a part of the process, even if you intend to hire as many editors as possible.

The next part is Peers. You gotta let people read your shit. It’s the worst part for me, but it’s, you know, like the whole thing about it. Whether this means alpha readers, a copyeditor or just the one person you want to know the real you, you just gotta have somebody read it… Or else people will think you’re crazy for talking about the books you’ve written that no one’s ever read.

Last part is Publish. I’ll tell you all about that part when I figure it out. Right now, I don’t want to think about it!

So let me loop back to the parts I do like. The heart of writing experience is summarized in those first three phases: planning, play and polish. No matter if you are a pantser (hate it) or a planner (hate it) you will be doing all three of these phases at some point — that is, if you plan on writing something that can make it to the last two phases. Figuring out when to do each of these phases as you go along is the tricky part, but also the key to the whole thing. A writer must figure out for themselves through actually writing complete stories how to best utilize these phases to create the most ideal version of their vision in the most efficient and sustainable amount of time.

For me, planning has always been one of the most enjoyable parts. It’s low pressure and just involves formulating ideas into cohesive goals. I can then use these goals as a safety net and plan of action during the play phase. I really have to emphasize the word “play”, because writing should be a joy — should is the keyword. You must make it a joy, so keep in mind that part of the planning phase requires a bit of psychology and premeditation. You must set your stage so that when you actually sit to write the words it will feel like playing. Sure, you may have some anxiety at the initial hump, you may have slow days where every hundred words is agony, but you will have those days where you unlock in yourself that wonderful sense of flow. Tapping into flow is crucial. In my eyes, anything that’s created during true flow states is perfect.

Then comes polish. Ugh! No it’s not that bad… Really. I find it easier for myself to polish in smaller chunks; depending on the chapter, I may edit every 500-1k words, or I may edit after the chapter’s been complete, depending on the size. After a chapter’s been written and polished, I’ll make notes about its actual word count, content and use that info in the planning phase for the next chapter (and looking back on previous chapters as well).

I rarely plan out an entire book before it’s been written. I plan as I go, but I typically keep several things in mind from the start. These are basic storytelling pillars, mostly centering around the protagonist, their arc, the ending and how that relates to the theme. I go in having a sense of how the act structure is going to breakdown, but the individual beats that get me there will be discovered as I go along. I’ll usually have a vague idea that will be altered and become more concrete as it gets closer. I like to plan sections at a time, and try and let as many parts as I can breath with a lesser emphasis on structure, just to tap into any lingering truths about the narrative that I might have missed during conscious planning. Ultimately, I like to break a Three Act structure into a very expected four parts, giving each part a clear narrative objective that is loose enough to modulate upon approach. I do recommend starting with an ending, if one is so lucky to have one. Remember that an ending is made satisfying by the journey that proceeded it.

I feel like I could keep rambling on this forever. Like literally, I have to stop right now because I’m having a stare-into-the-void moment and I just don’t need that on an off day. I hope this may have been interesting, or enlightening, or possibly even encouraging to anyone who reads this. More than anything, I hope nobody reads this. But if you did, thank you so much for your time and attention. Let me know what you thought! This was mostly an excuse to put to writing a lot of my thoughts on the craft so far that I’ve yet had an opportunity to express. If anyone’s interested in this type of thing, please let me know, as I’d be more than happy to elaborate more on these different phases or any other part of the writing process in a future entry.

Now go and get that last bit of gloomy winter writing in, warmer seasons are just around the corner!