My Drafting Process: How I Write

I’ve been writing for over three years now, novel writing that is, and I’ve learned a thing or two about what works for me, and what I really shouldn’t try to do. So today, I’ll be going over my drafting process! How I go from inkling to full blown, publishing quality work.Related: Six Mistakes I Made When Writing My First Novel

The Inkling

The first step to anything is getting the idea, and this is especially true for writers because everything we write comes from our own imagination. So obviously, the first step in my writing process is finding my idea, figuring out what I want to write about.I’m not really sure where most of my ideas come from, honestly. They just kinda pop into my head. Sometimes they come when I’m not even thinking about writing. Sometimes it’s a scene, a character, a world, or if I’m lucky, a plot.In fact, the idea for the latest series I started came from thinking about Next Gen. Harry Potter. (The series is NOTHING like Harry Potter, so don’t even ask how I got there. I don’t even know how to explain it.)But somehow, I find my story idea (which I have far too many of), and that gets the ball rolling.(Generate Story Ideas)

Brainstorming

I never start a new story without brainstorming. Usually, once I get an idea, that idea will sit in my brain (or on paper) for several months while I work on other things.No matter how excited I am about an idea, I never allow myself to start it right away. Why? Two reasons.

1. I want to be sure I am still completely excited about the story idea later.
2. I need time to figure it all out.

Even if I’m not actively trying to figure the story out, it’s still working in the back of my mind, figuring itself out. And if I discover I’m still excited about the idea, I’ll have a fuller idea to work with.So the story idea sits in the back of my mind, slowly changing from an Inkling to a story with characters and a world and hopefully a plot as well, becoming almost like a movie playing out in the very back of my mind on an old projector, flickering, broken, the audio not working quite correctly, but interesting nonetheless.

Start

Once my idea has sat, and I finish off whatever active project I’m working on and I have no more first drafts going, I start. But I don’t start writing. Not yet. I still have a lot of things to figure out, and the idea needs a lot more work.Usually this comes not when I finish other projects (though it occasionally does) but shortly before, as I’m trying to figure out what the heck I’m going to write next, because I hate having nothing to jump straight into.This is when I tell myself that I’m going to write this project, to the very end, no matter what. I’m accepting the plot bunnies and plot holes, and all the ornery characters, and I’m going to write it. Nothing is going to be able to stop me.This is when I get really excited, and launch into full fledged story mode.

Outlining

This part of my process usually doesn’t take very long, because I don’t do a ridiculous amount of outlining, but I do try and write a rough outline of each of my stories, so I’m not just flying completely blind. (I’m not saying I follow this outline… But I wrote it.)Oftentimes, this happens before I’m ready to start a first draft, when I’m really excited for an idea and just need to get the premise down on paper, but again, I do usually do this just before I start writing a first draft, even if I’m just reading through what I wrote before and tweaking it a bit.

How Do I Outline?

Good question. I don’t really have a formula for this that I always follow, but I tend to do the same things with each outline.Step One: The Title. When writing an outline, the very first thing I do is put the title at the top of the page/document. This makes the story feel real, like it’s going to be a real book, and it isn’t just some vague daydream in my mind. I find this title by thinking about key things that I know about the book. Occasionally this title changes, so I don’t think about it too much, I just write it down so I have a title.Step Two: The Basic Plot. This is the very first thing I put in an outline, besides the title. This is the very basic summary, in about 100-400 words, of my idea. Often vague, loose, and without a lot of detail. As I’m writing this, I figure out the overall arch of my story.Step Three: Expand The Plot. After I have the very basic idea down on paper, I go back and I expand that idea. I find a clear beginning and end, and some stuff in the middle as well. This vaguely resembles the three act structure that most stories are formed with. I also add in characters, a bit of the setting, and really all the important bits. Not in too much detail, but just enough so I know what I should be doing with the story.Step Four: The Characters. After I have the plot down, I usually have some idea of who the characters are going to be and whose POV the story is going to be told through, so I go ahead and write those things down. I write down the basics, appearance, personality, goals, etc. I also write down their function, who they are in the story (villain, hero, main character, side character, mentor, dragon, etc.) (Yes, dragon is its own category). This is when I give them names and they become real people in my mind, ones I can begin to figure out and get to know. (Character Building Guide)Step Five: The World. I don’t usually write down much about the world, I enjoy discovering that as I go, and usually I can’t put a summary of it on paper because it’s already in my head, and I don’t need to put it on paper. But I will write down small things like climate, kingdoms, peoples, and the name of the world. At this point I’ll usually draw a map as well. (World Building 1, 2, 3, 4.)Step Six: POV, Tense, Genre, Style. This is when I decide how I’m going to tell the story. Whether it’s going to be in first person or third person, or if it’s going to be in present tense or past tense. I’ll also write down the genre, and age category I want the book to fit into (Adult, YA, MG, etc.).Step Seven: Word Count Goal. The last thing I put in my outline is my word count goal, which I estimate by the amount of story I have to tell, my own experience with writing, the POV it’s being told through, and genre trends. Usually, I get within a few thousand words above or below that goal.

First Draft

After I finish my outline, I start my first draft, while I’m still excited about the story.Because I can only write in chronological order, I go from first chapter to last chapter. This is the only way I can write. If I can’t figure a scene out, I plow through it. I just keep writing until I reach the end.I get to know my characters and world as I write, but with a lot of practice I’ve gotten really good at just including the essential bits for the story, and keep the plot running smoothly. If I come to a hitch, I know I’ve gone off track somewhere previously, and I make note to go back and fix that, because I do not edit while I write. I can’t. I don’t like to. The first draft is the part of writing I enjoy the most, so I don’t bog that down with editing as I go, because editing is grueling, and if I’m not having fun I’m not going to want to finish the first draft.I’ll take notes all throughout the first draft, compiling them with my outline, of things I need to do with the story, things I need to go back and fix, etc. If I discover something about the world or characters I hadn’t previously thought of, it goes into the notes section until I can include it in the book. If I have an idea for the plot, something that needs to happen, I write that note in my first draft document, and keep it there until I reach the point in the story where I can write it. I usually have an extra 100-150 words that aren’t actually story, just being notes for farther points in the story.I’ve gotten really good at writing clean first drafts, though I’m not exactly sure how. It’s just practice and having written so many, that I know what to include and what not to include, and also how to balance all my sub-plots with my actual plot.It usually takes me around 45 days to finish a decent size (~80,000ish word) first draft, and I try to work on it every day. When I do this, I avoid a lot of plot holes that come with letting my story sit for long periods of time. When I don’t finish my first draft in the shortest amount of time possible, I forget about things I’ve done previously or forget things that need to happen, and I end up with far too many plot holes, because I don’t reread my work as I’m writing it, except to find details I need to remember.

I Let It Sit

Once I finish my first draft, typing in those wonderful words The End, I let my manuscript sit untouched and unlooked at for at least a month. This separates me from the draft, so I can edit it with clean eyes. While it sits, I work on something else.

The Second Draft

Once I let my story sit, I come back to it with red ink and tear it apart (not literally. In fact, I tend to just edit straight into the document without printing it out as I used to do).This is when I fix plot holes and anything that may be making the story uncohesive (though my stories tend to flow fairly well for a rough draft). I also fix anything out of character, as sometimes characters get out of character in the first draft because I’m just getting to know them. Besides that, I add description and expand the story to make it more real, as well as fix any subplots that may have been forgotten, or delete them entirely. I also fix the pacing. (This is a lot of things but I do them all in the second draft, which takes the longest.)This will take between two and three months, depending on the size of the story and how many things need to be fixed. (Basically it depends on how terrible my first draft was.)Depending on the story, I may need to do this step twice, often combining it with the third draft, or pushing the third draft back to a fourth draft.After I finish the second draft, I’ll set it aside for another month or two (or three).

The Third Draft

If my second draft went well and I fixed all the problems with big picture things, then I’ll start the third draft. If not, I’ll do the second draft steps a second time, and the things I do in the third draft will be done in the fourth draft.In the fourth draft, I’m looking at littler things, like wording and spelling and grammar. I’ll occasionally add things I hadn’t thought of before in previous drafts, focusing on making it the absolute best it can possibly be.I make my words flow, and fix all the telling and turn it into showing. I make sentences flow, switch up words and use better ones, and generally just make my prose better. I’ll also be proofreading and fixing anything misspelled, something a lot of people reserve for a later draft. I’m too lazy for that, I like to combine steps when I can.After I’m done with this, I’m DONE. At least, that’s what I say. I call this my final draft, unless for some reason I’m forced to go back and work through it again.These are all the drafts I’ll do on my own, working with an editor or publisher on farther ones.This draft takes me about a month.

After The Final Draft

Once the final draft is done, I’ll start trying to get the book published. I’m in the process of self publishing a novel, and about to start querying another. The others are all on various stages within my process.

Overlapping

These drafts of one project often overlap with drafts of another. I try to do a first draft, a second draft, and a third draft all at the same time, in a loop. I’m almost always working on multiple drafts of different books.

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That’s my writing process, from beginning to end! What’s your writing process like? Do you have one? Does it change with each novel? Is it always the same?Comment down below! Thanks for reading!