Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. She writes weird books for teens in lots of weird genres like, fantasy (Blood of Kings trilogy), science fiction (Replication), and dystopian (The Safe Lands trilogy). Find Jill on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or on her author website.
This past year I heard dozens of speakers talk about writing fiction. I loved every minute of it. A few weeks ago, I wrote about my favorite bit of advice I picked up this year, which was studying the firsts and lasts during the editing process. But I also heard two writers explain their writing process in such a clear and succinct way that I really wanted to share it with you.
Because it’s my writing process too. And it makes things very simple.
Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant write novels together. They also blog about self-publishing, if you’d like to check them out. They taught a webinar about how they use Scrivener to write books together. It was pretty interesting. One writes the outlines and character descriptions, the other writes the book. Seems like a very well-oiled machine. And here’s how they explained their writing process:
1) Write it.
2) Write what you mean.
3) Write it well.
Don’t you just love that? So simple, and yet it says so much.
1) Write it.
This is the first draft stage. When you sit down to start a new book, like those of you currently doing NaNoWriMo, the goal should be to write that first draft as quickly as you can. Give yourself permission to be messy. Don’t worry if things don’t make sense. Don’t worry about great opening lines. Don’t even worry about telling vs. showing. Just write it. Do the thing. From start to finish. Get her done! Because you can, and will, fix it later.
2) Write what you mean.
This is the macro edit stage. Once you’ve completed that first draft, you know so much more about your story. You know where the holes are. You know what needs to be fixed. You know if you have too many characters or not enough. So go back through that book and write what you meant to say. Add description. Get all your facts in order. Put the right characters in the right place. Make sure the characters are saying things they’d actually say. Add those missing plot threads. Add scenes that need to be added. Delete scenes that were unnecessary. Get your character quirks and eye colors right.
Stephanie wrote a post on the editing process here that is quite helpful. The point is, take the time you need to mold this messy first draft into something that at least makes sense to read.
3) Write it well.
And now you’re ready for the micro edits. You’re going through your book this time to write it well. Tweak your prose for flow, for character voice, for rhythm. Weed out weak verbs and repetitions. Search for your own personal author quirks and make changes. Search for weasel words and those tricky words that often get misspelled like through, though, and thought. Put contractions into your dialogue if you’re the type to forget them. Study your firsts and lasts and white space. Read the book out loud and edit for how it sounds.
Stephanie wrote a great post on the micro edit here. This stage takes as long as it takes–or sometimes as long as you have before the book is due. But this is where your editing skills shine, where you add the finishing touches on your masterpiece. It’s a beautiful thing.
So, write the book, go back and write what you actually meant, then re-write it well.
And if you haven’t downloaded the Self-Editing Checklist from the Go Teen Writers book, click here to get it for free.
When people ask you about your writing process, what do you say?