Over the years I’ve had to tweak and change my writing process.

And the system I have now seems to be working out pretty well! I fully expect for this to change somewhat over the years, but I’m glad I’ve been able to learn about myself and my creative process and incorporate some things that really work out for me.

So I’m going to talk about my full writing process. From that nagging plot bunny through to the editing struggle. Plus, I’ll be answering your writing questions!

Before I get into this, I’ll just say that this isn’t a super hard-set process for me. And what I mean by that is sometime I have to change some things depending on what the story needs.

Okay, here we go!

My writing process…

You know that moment when a little plot bunny bounces across your keyboard as you’re trying to work on another project? That little idea of a story just wiggles its way into you mind until it’s all you can think about. Forget about the other three project that aren’t finished yet!

At the plot bunny stage, I never end up writing anything down (I probably should tho). The idea is just floating in my head and maybe growing a little. This is my daydreaming stage (which is a totally legitimate part of my writing process, really). I toy with it before deciding I like it enough to write it down, which brings me to…

Brainstorming. Or, brain-dumping. I write down the idea and absolutely anything else that comes to mind. This is usually pretty messy, with words and characters coming out in no particular order. I spend a good amount of time in this stage, just letting my mind flow easily with the story and writing whatever pops into my brain. Oh, this stage probably includes much imagining of random scenes in movie form. 🙂

When I feel like I’ve brain dumped enough, my next step is always the characters. I’ve always been a fan of more character-driven stories, and I always enjoy developing my characters before the plot. I take time to work out their surface-level things like what they look like, their personality, etc. And then I get to the fun stuff: backstory and internal conflict.

At this point things still don’t have much structure. I’m just daydreaming and brain-dumping random things about the characters (and probably adding or taking away some).

When I feel like I’ve done enough work on the characters (at least, for now) I turn to plot brainstorming. I take another look at what I’ve already dumped onto a notebook, forget about characters for a moment, and think about what’s going to happen. Again, there isn’t much structure here yet.

Now it’s time for structure! 😀 Lately I’ve been using the book How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson for my stories. And this is the point where I pull it out and start following the steps and answering the questions to more deeply develop my story and characters.

Either during or after I’ve finished the snowflake process (saving the scene outline part for later) I turn to the 3-act story structure worksheet from Abbie Emmons. This has really helped me with developing my plot and figuring out exactly where everything should go. I’ll also do some world-building during this as well.

When I feel like I’ve figured out the characters and enough of the plot (and, uh, sometimes when I haven’t) I start outlining each scene. This is one of my favorite parts.

Once all the scene outlines are done (or close enough anyway *cough*) I start writing the first draft! I absolutely LOVE writing first drafts! I don’t let myself worry about how good it is or what other people think. I just write.

After I finished the first draft, I usually like to let the story sit. It gets it off my mind and gives me a chance to work on a different story. That way, when I come back to edit, I’ll come at it with fresh eyes. The time I spend away from the story varies.

So…editing. My least favorite part of this whole thing. I will print off my story and read through it first. Being in physical form helps me to catch more as opposed to reading it on my laptop. I’ll make notes, murder it with highlighters and cover it with sticky-notes.

After I’ve read through it. I’ll go back to the document on my laptop with my notes nearby and start making changes and improvements. Oh, at this point I’m mainly looking at the big-picture stuff like character and plot.

Then, guess what? I’ll edit again! (*sobbing*). This time I’ll go back and look for things like “telling”, overused words or phrases, sentence structure, and just overall writing style things. I have started using ProWritingAid for this part. 

Since I’m not very good at self-editing yet, at this point I’d look for beta readers. Preferably I’d like to be able to self-edit some more, but I’m still learning how to do that and I need another set of eyes on my story.

Then…you’ll never guess…I edit some more! (wow -_-). I feel like this last stage could last forever…

Yay, you made it to the end! 😀 That is my basic writing process. No onto the Q&A!

Q&A

Q: Any tips for generating names of places (such as a forest or city) in a book?

A: I would recommend finding some name generators, like this one, for example. Also, take a look at other languages. For example, find the word for “forest” in another language and play with that word to make it your own for your story.

Q: Do you have any suggestions for beta reading and editing?

A: To be honest, I don’t know much about editing. But ProWritingAid has been a big help for me, so I’d suggest looking into that or other editing services/software. And, at least for me, the more I write and read, the better I’m able to edit.

Q: How do you choose which story idea to work on?

A: Whichever one I am feeling most excited about. That excitement will get me through the following process of developing it, as opposed to forcing myself to work on a story I’m not as thrilled about.

Q: How do you like to pre-write/plan a story?

A: Mainly How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson and Abbie’s 3-act story structure worksheet.

Q: How do you balance spur-of-the-moment inspiration and outlining

A: I think it’s really important to allow yourself those spur-of-the-moment creative moments. That’s what can help keep your “creative cup” filled. As for balancing that…I’m still figuring it out. 🙂

Q: How many times do you do an outline?

It’s kinda hard to say…I guess a few since I make some general summaries before I outline the plot and scene outlines too.

Q: What do you do when you get a new idea during outlining, writing and in-between?

I like to allow myself that creative freedom to toy with any idea that comes to mind. If I feel like it’s nagging me too much while I’m trying to work on another project, then I will jot down that idea and that seems to help get it off my mind for a bit so I can concentrate. 🙂

Q: What do you do when you have too many ideas?

I always choose which ones I’m most excited about to work on and then I focus on them. If I focus on what I’m working on then I won’t think about those other ideas so much. Not really great advice, just what I do. *shrugs*

Q: Have you ever reworked an old story of yours?

Nope. No. I have yet to work up the courage to put in the work into my cringey old stories. Sorry. 🙁

I hope you enjoyed this look into my current writing process from start to finish! I’m still learning and developing and changing, so I might do an updated post about this some time in the future. 

I’ve been thinking about doing a post series about each step of the writing process. Let me know in the comments if you would like to see that. 🙂

Stay safe and healthy, everyone! <3

What’s your favorite part of your writing process?