My Writing Process
To Start: Character profiles
My writing process is fairly simple. I sit down with a notepad and a pen, two of the best essentials for outlining a story, then detail out character profiles:
- Names
- Appearances
- Demeanours
- Personalities
- Strengths and weaknesses
- etc.
Once I have the key features to a couple of MC’s, I create some side characters. Whether it’s a best friend, love interest, animal companion, or parent, it gives me enough to start with and I can outline a plot.
Next: The First Chapter
When it comes to actually writing, I begin with the first chapter then cannot move on until it’s done.
I’m not one of those writers who can skip a section and come back to it. While that is great for some, it drives me nuts, and I itch, knowing that it’s incomplete.
I might have an epiphany for something later on, or how something should play out, but the manuscript has to be done in order from start to finish.
Foreshadowing?
Admission time. Most, if not all, of my foreshadowing has been completely coincidental.
I don’t sit with scrupulous apps, sticky notes, note pads, just waiting for the right time to include foreshadowing. More often than not, I find it on a read through and go, “Huh, that’s cool. Oh, that relates to such and such later on.”
Weaknesses & Strengths
Not everything comes easy and I will spend hours on wordhippo and multiple thesauruses searching for the word that best fits a sentence. Because if it doesn’t feel like the right fit, I won’t use it.
The most enjoyable part of the writing process for me, is when I let my characters take the reins. I’ve created them, given them life on the page, then they live out their stories. I’m just the hands that transcribe their truth.
I can’t wait to discover new characters, with their own worlds that are just waiting for me to put their stories onto the page for you to read.
*********
In short, my writing process isn’t complicated, or detailed at all, but it is the thing that works for me.