My Writing Process

First of all, a disclaimer: This is my writing process, it doesn’t have to work for everyone. It probably won’t work for everyone. It might not even work for me in a few months or years. Things change.
Currently, though, it works well for me and allows me to write quickly (in most cases) and efficiently, to plan out my stories and get them done well.

For quite a while, I was a discovery writer or ‘pantser’ (I like the first term better). I just set out writing without a real plan. I had an idea where the story was going, I had a character or a scene or a basic plot I wanted to incorporate and the story would just grow out of it.
This isn’t a bad way of writing per se — I have completed quite some stories that way. It is, however, a way which means a lot of revising afterwards to get contradictions and continuity errors out of the story. Plotting makes that part easier.
These days, my process includes a lot of steps before the writing (and just one afterwards), which makes the writing as a such easier to do. Yet, when I started out, I wouldn’t have been able to get the stories written after that much preparation. Life can be weird.

My writing process goes like this: first, I gather ideas, then I draw up a rough outline, then I plot the scenes and sort them into chapters, then I write the story, and finally I revise and edit it. In addition to that, there’s research which can come in at any point in the story. I do most of it during the plotting process, but sometimes I do it earlier and sometimes I still have to do it while I’m already writing or in the editing process.
The process is longer, but also means that by the time I have to sit down and do the writing — the longest part of it —, I know exactly what will happen when. That doesn’t mean I never make changes to the scenes as they’re plotted, never change them, move them, or break them up into two or more smaller scenes. It means that I have a good idea of how the story will run and can see any problems with the plot long before I start the writing process. It saves me a lot of time in revision and editing.

My writing starts in Scapple, a whiteboard software from the same company which also does Scrivener, my writing software. That’s not the main reason why I use that one, though. I simply like quite some of the features such as easy stacking and transfer of formatting.
In Scapple, I open a new file and simply throw down my ideas for the story as notes — whatever I have, be it characters, scenes, specific plot ideas, a summary of what the story should be about. Once I have them all down, I can then sort them out.
I make notes for the main characters and, perhaps, give them names already. Sometimes, I work with descriptions like ‘detective,’ ‘murderer,’ ‘damsel,’ or ‘villain.’ For finding names all through the process, I love using the Random Names Generator online. There are a lot of different settings and you can get five suggestions at once, too. I do take more time with main characters, but there’s also a lot of side characters to name and there the generator definitely comes in useful. I might also make notes of what to research if I need to get deeper into a topic (such as, for instance, the exact wording of how to get Baba Yaga’s house to turn around and open for you).
Once I know the characters and have sorted out the basic plot, I sit down and write a rough outline of the story, putting down what I want or need to happen when and sort it out until I have a narrative, unpolished as it might be.

At this point, I usually switch from Scapple to Scrivener (or at least I also open Scrivener). For a stand-alone project or a project which might become a series, I open a new project and put everything in. I have my own template for Scrivener which offers all I need and nothing I would have to delete anyway. If it’s going to be part of a series I’ve already worked on, I simply add it to that project. That’s one thing I love about Scrivener — the possibility to make large projects with a lot of data work.
In Scrivener, I put down all I have in Scapple, usually starting with the characters. At this point, if not earlier, at least the important characters get their names. Those get a character sheet of their own from me whereas side characters get a space on a list. I make notes for my research or put down what I have already. At this point, I might also download pages I need for reference — like monster pages from the Lovecraft wiki for “The Crew”. Like this, I begin to fill up my notes and research folders.
After that, or sometimes parallel to it, I write down the scenes, referencing the rough outline as I do. Every scene gets a short description in the synopsis and a place in the narrative. I sort the scenes into chapters and build up the structure of my project like that. By the end of this, the story is ready for writing, even if I might not get to it immediately.
At this point, most projects get a bit of rest, whereas I usually go through the process so far in a relatively short time of either days or hours. Not all research might be done, but I’m mostly clear on what I will be writing.

The longest and most tedious part of the process comes next: Actually writing the story, of course. I can write reasonably fast and I write full-time, so I can definitely get a project done in a good time, provided all goes well (with “DI Colin Rook” it didn’t).
I usually try to write one to two chapters a day — my chapters are between 2,500+ (novellas) and 3,000+ words (novels). I normally take the weekend off for other things, so that’s five days a week and usually eight to ten chapters per week, too. In a week, I can write between 24,000 and 30,000 words of a project.
Most of my projects clock in at between 60,000 and 90,000 words as the target and usually a few thousand words above that once written. I can, therefore, produce a book in a month if nothing bad happens. That doesn’t mean it always works. I usually calculate two months for a project, what with real life and other things happening. Some days, I don’t get down to writing, some time every month I don’t really feel like it (other women may understand why).
I end the writing process by compiling the first draft for personal use and then letting the project rest some. It is never a good idea to go into a big project and edit it right after you’ve finished writing. Distance is good for the judgement.

The last step then is the revision, editing, and release of the book. After a few weeks or months (the latter is better), I pick the book up for the last part. I release a book four times a year and use the months in question (February, May, August, November) to edit the project in question.
First, I go over the text in a content edit and revise what needs to be revised. Usually, there’s only small things coming up, but I’ve had a few cases where chapters had to be added or rewritten.
Once this is done, it’s time for three rounds of copy edit to check for wrong words (misspelling usually isn’t a problem because of the spellchecker in Scrivener), weird sentences, and other grammatical issues. I have to keep an eye on my sentence length as well and I know it. I do the copy edit backwards, starting with the last scene and working my way to the first. Like this, I’m less likely to be distracted by the story and can focus on the actual words much better.
Afterwards, the book gets another general check and the release version is compiled. As I only do digital books, I don’t have to do a line edit. Somewhere within the editing process (or sometimes earlier), I also produce my cover design which is then added to the release.

This is my current process for writing my books. It’s not set in stone, of course, in a year it might be completely different again. Yet, for the moment, this split between Scapple for the early work and Scrivener for the rest works well for me, as does doing a rough outline and then the synopsis for all scenes so I can see the development of the story. Nothing is set in stone there, either, though, as I might find I need another scene or need to move a scene during the writing or the editing process.