Book Writing: A Brief Overview of a Very Long Process

Rome wasn't built in a day. Stories aren't usually written that quickly, either. Especially for first-time authors, getting your story out there takes serious commitment. Ghostwritersandco.com estimates that, for a 100,000-word novel, it will take a first-time author anywhere from 12-18 months to finish writing. And that's just writing!

This process looks different for everyone, so I can only attest to how I got from chapter one to the final page. The initial writing process for The Age of Gifts took me almost a year, excluding the time needed to send it off to an editor, market the book, edit it again, and get it published. This is what that process looked like for me.

An Idea Forms: I can't pinpoint exactly when I started to have little ideas floating around in my head that would eventually become this book. When I started, I knew I wanted a few different things. First, I wanted to write something that I would want to read. I love reading fantasy novels that include a good romance plot, so that was the first type of book that came to mind. I knew I wanted it to be set in an era when kingdoms, princes, and carriages would be involved. I knew I wanted my characters to have some sort of superpower or ability. I wanted to have a deity figure who could interact with my characters. Strangely, one of the first things I decided was that I wanted to have a cult somewhere in my story. For those of you who may be familiar with my book, I definitely held on to that idea.

Chapter One Draft: Call me crazy, but before I even look at outlining, I write a draft of the first chapter. My goal with this is to try and capture the vibe of the story I want to tell. Chances are, I'm not going to use that draft. I know for The Age of Gifts, I eventually rewrote almost all of the first chapter. I wasn't trying to be perfect; I was trying to get a vision of what I wanted. Fortunately, it worked out! Also, at this stage of writing, I'm usually so excited to get started that this step takes no time at all.

A Cute Little Outline: Once I've had some time to develop the story in my head, and I have an idea of the tone I want to write in, I can look at outlining. This is also an especially fun part of writing a book. (Ah, who am I kidding? I think all of it is fun.) I'll take note of the major plot points I want to include, and where I want them to be in the story. I will slowly fill in the rest of the information. I could (and will) write a different post just about outlining at a later date because there is so much to say. Importantly, much of this outline will also change. It just exists to give me an idea of where I want to go and how long it should take me to get there.

Finally Start Writing: Of course, this is the longest step. I had all the different points I wanted to hit from my outline, so I usually knew what I needed to write for any given chapter. That doesn't mean it all went smoothly. Sometimes I wrote fifteen pages in a week. Other times, I wrote nothing for a month. Even as I'm writing my next book, there are parts I get hung up on. To me, it doesn't matter if it takes time as long as it gets done. This also isn't my job, so there isn't as much pressure for me to crank out a novel once a year. Another great thing about having an outline when I was in the writing phase was that I knew when there was a scene coming up that I was especially excited about. Maybe I'm not thrilled about finishing one particular chapter, but if I know that I have something I've been dreaming of writing after it, I'll be motivated to push through.

Reread, Rewrite: The first draft is finished! Hooray. I put it down and didn't pick it up for about a week or two. When I came around to proofread it for the first time, I came back with fresh eyes. I would reread the story, and rewrite portions I didn't like. Then I did that again. Then I sent it to an editor. Then I added in her changes. And I reread it again. By the time the book is released, I'll have gone through it 6-7 times. That may not sound like very much, but my book is about 400 pages. Trust me, it's a ton of work. (I may also write an entire post just about editing.)

The great thing about rereading the book for me was the more changes I made, the more polished it was. The more polished it was, the more I liked it. The more I liked it, the more confident I became that it was worth reading. Where I initially spoke timidly about my writing, now I come at it with much more passion and excitement than I ever have.

Part of the reason I wanted to review this process is because I have started it all over again. Currently, I'm about 100 pages into the first draft of a new work-in-progress. I make no promises as to when/if that particular story will ever be released, but working on it has been such a joy.

Stick around. Maybe I'll get to tell you all about writing my next one.