My Writing Process: Part One
My writing process has developed a lot over the years. When I first started writing, I was in high school. I began working on my novel Haunting Memories my junior year of high school and “finished” it my junior year of college. Now, I say finish in quotes because I am currently in the process on rewriting it, but that is a story for another time!
When I began writing, I had no sort of plan. Writing was (and still is) an escape for me, and I just wanted to write for fun. As the years went on I realized that writing is more than just fun for me, it is cathartic, and fills my soul (corny but true!). So, in the last couple years I decided to writing books and publishing them.
I did end up self-publishing Haunting Memories, though I have since taken it down for rewrites, but that feat in itself was amazing! This was before I had joined any kind of writing or book community on social media and the only way word got out about my book was through word of mouth. So, only a few family and friends read my book, but I was fine with that. The praise I received helped spur me to keep writing.
Next, I started a post-apocalyptic zombie novel. If you’ve read my books you’re probably thinking; there are no zombies in your books. And that is because that book became Broken Angel! I swapped out zombies for angels and demons at war and wrote my Broken Angel series. (If you want to check that series out, here it is!) Again, not a lot of plotting before hand went into the series. Editing is where all the loose ends were tied up and sense was made. But, I realized with this series that I wanted to try out planning/plotting for my next project.
Unbound came about after I had a dream that featured the race that I labelled at the shreeve in my book. They are a half-fae half-human race that was created by a witch. So, I took that dream and ran with it. I created a whole new world in which my characters would reside.
In order to plan this book, I started with a general overview. What was the point of this book? Then I created a few main characters — I compiled a list of fantasy type names that I use every time a new character comes onto the scene so I don’t have to keep going to the internet every time. Each of my main characters has a timeline, whether they are actually “main” or more of a side character. I wanted to make sure that everything made sense and fit within my created world.
Next, I created a map. This was my first time making a map since Broken Angel takes place in the real world, I hadn’t needed one for that series. I had to do math to see how long it would take for someone to travel between places, and google how fast horses could run. There is a ton of information that I never knew I would ever want to know compiled in my notebooks.
Since this is a fantasy world, I needed fantasy creatures as well. I compiled another list of all the fantasy creatures I wanted to include in my book and what they are known for.
If you are someone who needs a little extra help with planning/plotting — I have some templates I made for writers to use for that purpose! Here they are!
Anyway, once I had as much information as I could muster written down, I dove into my story. I’ll share more about the actual writing in part two of my writing process! If you have any specific questions about any part of my writing process, I will be happy to delve deeper into those topics!
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Thank you for reading!
