Being an author can be an awkward life. There’s so much work that happens long before you can point to an actual book for sale that I’ve considered claiming a career in something more straightforward, like being an international spy or llama psychologist.
How do you explain the journey of writing a novel? “Well, I have these imaginary friends that kept haunting me, so I finally decided to write it all down, kinda like a really detailed witness statement.” If Stephen King said that, people would nod as though he’d said something profound, murmuring how brilliant he was. If I said it, my husband would get pitying looks at the grocery store and I’d only be mentioned in soft whispers. Rule #212 of writing: you have to be famous and/or wealthy to be considered eccentric. Otherwise, you’re just weird and people avoid direct eye contact.
But since you’re reading this article, let’s assume that you want to know how this whole thing works.
Folks, I’ve finished five novels at this point, and I’m still not sure how it all comes together. I’ve been editing my own work, turned to my husband and said, “Wow. Listen to this! It’s like a real author wrote this!” at which point he looks at me, with this expression between confusion and concern, and points out that a real author did write it. Me.
Imposter syndrome. It’s a thing.
Trying to break down the writing process tricky, because my process may not work for you. Heck, my process doesn’t even always work for me. I’m constantly adjusting and figuring out what each book needs.
But, I’ve boiled my process down to three things:
2. Outline.
3. Characters.
Sounds simple, right? Buckle up, because in the next few posts, I’m going to explain exactly what goes into each of those three things.
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