In an earlier blog post, I talked about how writing this novel in a short period of time has required me to change some of my processes. The main changes include researching and rewriting as I go along, instead of making one mad dash to get the first draft complete and then revising to backfill…
Month: November 2012
How a Book Is Born, Part 10
Doing the work, whatever the work is, requires understanding the work. I wouldn’t have taken on this challenge (and thought I could succeed) if I had never written a romance before. There’s no way I could have learned all I needed to learn about writing romance in thirty days. What I am doing is in…
How a Book Is Born, Part 9
On the opposite of flow. One of the things that is appealing about writing is getting into that mental state where the words are coming effortlessly, without your having to think too hard about it. That moment where you are lost in the work, and have no awareness of the ticking clock or the buzzing…
How a Book Is Born, Part 8
Writing this way has required me to change my process a little. As I’ve said, I normally write an extended outline that blocks out the major action of the plot and the emotional turning points, and then I layer in the details in as many as five or even ten complete revisions. But I don’t…
How a Book Is Born, Part 7
In which the plan is made. Now, 50,000 words in a month is a lot of words, especially when you’re working them in around the day job and the kid and the etc. So it’s important to have a way to measure progress. You can write 50,000 words in a month. What you can’t do…
How a Book Is Born, Part 6
On creating strategies that reinforce your habits. If you come to the awareness that you spend three hours a night watching television and this is interfering with your grand designs for the future, what you need isn’t, “I’ll be more disciplined tomorrow!” You’ve tried that and it didn’t work. What you need is to get…