The Writing Process

So how do we get our stories out and into type?  That is what the writing process is all about.  For those among my readers who want to give writing a shot let’s see if we can demystify the process somewhat.  The how isn’t really all that hard once you know it.

First let me give you a word about where it all begins, that’s through research.  If you don’t have something in what Hercules Poirot, of Agatha Christie’s detective stories, calls “those little grey cells” in your brain to begin with there is no way you’re going to have anything to write.  That requires some amount of research.  If writing nonfiction is the goal, then research is supremely paramount.  Find out everything you can about what you want to write about beforehand or you won’t be credible.

Fiction is a lot more forgiving in that regard with the mount of research varying from minimal (science fiction and fantasy) to a relatively greater importance (historical fiction).  That being said don’t skip on the amount of research appropriate to the genre you plan on writing in.  Those little details can trip you up pretty fast if you don’t watch it. 

One important point to the fiction writer is to get a copy of Dr. Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces.  I can’t emphasize that enough.  Dr. Campbell was a cultural anthropologist who decided to take all the myths he could find and figure out what made them so appealing to people.  His book detailed the results and was used by no less a story teller than George Lucas, who attributed the success of his Star Wars series to a thorough knowledge of Dr. Campbell’s book.  A word to Christians, he lumps the Bible’s stories together with the rest as myths, but don’t let that put you off from reading a surprisingly worthwhile book.  What the book will do is give you an idea of how to frame a story that will sell; the presumed goal of the writer in the first place.

There are really two writing methods, each with it advantages and disadvantages.  Which one you choose will depend on the purpose of your writing and your personal preferences.  It really must feel right to you if you want to enjoy writing.  The first is the formal writing method.  This is the one taught in schools and colleges.  Since most writing in both are geared to nonfiction it is no surprise that it fits that genre best.

Formal writing follows a pathway.  One does one’s research, makes an outline of the piece to be written and then follows the outline as one writes.  Chief among the advantages is that it follows a plan, both in preparing for writing and the writing itself.  Following and outline saves some time on the back end as far as polishing the work goes and with an outline in hand one can shop one’s book, if one is writing that length of a work, before one is finished since what most agents and publishing houses want to see is the first chapter and an outline.

The chief disadvantage is a loss of spontaneity in one’s work since the writer is following an outline with little or no deviation.  That can lead to some rigidity in the work which is just fine with nonfiction writing, but can be a little problematic for fiction which tends to be more free-flowing.  That is not to say that one cannot turn out good fiction using that method; it is the method of choice for many good fiction writers.

The second method is to just sit down and let the writing flow out and onto the paper once you have your research done.  That is the method Myamoto Mushashi implied he wrote with in his Book of Five Rings which is still a classic hundreds of years later.  Musashi had plenty of years of experience at winning fights to draw on which stood in for his research.  Informal writing is the method used by a number of published and top selling authors I know of.

The method is simple, one does the research they need to do, let’s the story simmer awhile in their mind and then sits down and writes it.  One just let’s the heart tell the story and they may be surprised at what comes out.  But those who follow this method don’t judge the story’s content as the story flows out and onto paper or computer screen.  Judgment is for later, during the editing process.

Chief among its advantages is the spontaneity of the story and writing, which makes this style of writing a good one for fiction.  Its chief disadvantages are the lack of an outline, which means one has to wait until a later stage to make an outline, and more work on the back end during the editing stage.  And make no mistake; there will be plenty of editing no matter what style one uses to produce their initial work.

My wife and I were once acquaintances with an author whose works are still quite popular in England.  My wife used to clean both her home and her parents home and during that time we both learned quite a bit about fiction writing since we knew her while she was still writing.  One thing I learned was not to make the mistake many first time writers do of getting so attached to their work that they have a difficult time re-writing their work to fit it to the market demand.  Never forget that a first draft is just that, a first of what will likely be more than one re-writing, with changes often dictated by the publisher who agrees to publish it.

Your novel, or article or essay will likely go through more than one re-write before you see a dime.  First you have to re-write it yourself to smooth out any awkward moments or transitions in your work and polish up the grammar.  This will be the time that an author of a love story might remove some of the salaciousness to elevate the story or a romance writer might want to ramp the salaciousness up in a creative way.  For the nonfiction writer this will also be the time to verify one’s facts.  The Science fiction writer might want to make sure they haven’t played too fast and loose with the science end of the work and the fantasy writer might want to polish it up so that it isn’t too far out there to be believable.

If one hasn’t done it by this time it is a good idea to make the outline, which is something of a resume for the piece of work itself.  Once accepted for publication there will be more re-writes of the work.  Remember, the publishing house makes its living publishing works the public is likely to buy.  So as a rule they know what the public wants better than you since they deal in hard numbers.  Every job has its drudge factor and this is just the drudge work you have to do to get published, unless you’re self-publishing.

Even after that a professional editor hired by the house may well take your work in hand and make further changes.  Just keep in mind your publisher wants the final product to sell once it hits the bookstore shelves as well.  It’s just part of the process.

It goes without saying that if you are writing for your own blog or website you are the editor and publisher.  Your success or failure will depend on how well you do your work.  This post went through some editing before being posted as well.

The method you use really depends on what is the most comfortable fit for you.  As I mentioned earlier both methods are used by top-notch authors in many genres, so it’s really up to you which one to follow.  Just make sure you don’t scrimp on the important parts.  So go ahead and get busy writing and have some fun along the way.