This is the seventh installment in the “HOW I WRITE” series I’m participating in every Wednesday with several writers, where we all discuss how we approach writing a book. Every writer has a different process and this project gives us a chance to share and compare ours. Click on the “How I Write” image to find a list of the participating writers and links to their blogs.

Last week we talked about Getting Through The Middle. This week we’ll discuss Revision – How To Begin.

So, I’ve finishing writing the first draft from the beginning to end. And boy is it rough. It’s now time to get ready to revise what I wrote! Honestly, I’m still discovering what does and doesn’t work for me when it comes to revising. I’ve approached the revisions to each of the five books I’ve worked on in the past few years, five different ways. I suspect that as I continue to hone my writing skills, I may modify my revision process further still. But regardless of how – and how many times, exactly – I revise a book, I like to prepare for revisions using the same two steps.

Step 1: Revisit the outline / storyboard I came up with back when I was just starting to write the book.  At this point I update it to reflect the story I’ve actually written, instead of the one I thought I was going to.

Since it provides a high-level snapshot of the entire draft, I then analyze the storyboard. Do I think that I captured the themes I wanted to? Did my characters grow as I intended? Did I show any character growth at all? I make note of any major issues identified and scenes/chapters that I know will need a lot of work.

Step 2 : Print out the story. Recently I discovered I can catch errors faster and easier when I first read through a hard copy of the draft and make notes with a pen, than when I try to just dive into typing revisions directly into the book.

I think for a long time I worried about wasting ink and paper on rough drafts. But I have since found that ink and paper are dirt cheap when compared to the cost of the vodka, the medical attention required for the forehead I’ve been banging on the desk, a new desk that hasn’t been banged up by my forehead, and the wigs to replace the hair I tore out while trying to force myself through initial revisions on-screen.

So that’s how I begin to revise. Next week I’ll talk more about the actual revision process. Check out the other participating blogs to see how more writers get ready to revise their work.

This is the sixth installment in the “HOW I WRITE” series I’m participating in every Wednesday with several writers, where we all discuss how we approach writing a book. Every writer has a different process and this project gives us a chance to share and compare ours. Click on the “How I Write” image to find a list of the participating writers and links to their blogs.

Last week we talked about starting The First Draft. This week’s topic is Motivation: Getting Through the Middle Pages.

Perhaps I’m unique in possessing this sentiment – but I actually enjoy writing the middle pages more than any other part of a book. There’s too much stress involved in making sure you’ve opened in the right point in the story and that your “hook” is a good one, and in trying to ensure that you’ve delivered a satisfying ending that appropriately wraps up the tension you’d been building and the climax you’d been leading up to for chapters and chapters. The heart of the story is actually in the middle of the book, and I actually find that I am more motivated to write that part than either the beginning or the end.

The real challenge for me, I believe, isn’t a lack of motivation to write the middle pages. It’s either a) the lack of certainty of what exactly should happen in the middle pages, or b) losing confidence in the story right around the middle. I find that doing a storyboard or outline helps me with potential issue “a”, but potential issue “b” is a more complicated one. Halfway through the first draft of a story I sometimes hit this point where I worry that it’s crap. The writing, the characters, the idea itself – everything. I usually get past this phase of self-doubt by getting feedback from my critique partner or having someone who I know will honestly tell me if the story sucks and if so why (like my husband or a frank friend). Anybody other than me showing a genuine interest in the story is usually the confidence boost I need to keep going.

If I’m still stuck after that, then it’s usually a sign that I either genuinely need a break from that story, or I just need to apply more discipline to get my booty in my chair and my fingers on the keyboard.

Check out these participating blogs to see how other writers find the motivation to make it through the middle pages of a draft. See ya for the next topic: Revision – How to Begin.

This is the fifth installment in the “HOW I WRITE” series I’m participating in every Wednesday with several writers, where we all discuss how we approach writing a book. Every writer has a different process and this project gives us a chance to share and compare ours. Click on the “How I Write” image to find a list of the participating writers and links to their blogs.

This week’s topic is The First Draft.

Once I’ve completed the 8 preparation steps I discussed during last week’s topic on Starting a New Book, writing the first draft is a rather simple process. I take the outline I created in my spreadsheet and transfer it into a Word document in the format of a book. Sometimes my outlines contain actual snippets of dialog or narrative from scenes, other times there’s only the summary of the events. Either way – I paste it into in my Word document as if they were actual scenes / chapters. By the time I’m actually ready to start drafting, I already have a few thousand words of story with designated scenes and chapters!

So at this point, finishing the first draft is moreso about “filling in the blanks” than anything else. I visit each summary or incomplete scene I already wrote and flesh it out. I do a couple of scenes a day, with each day visiting the last scene I wrote before to make sure it flows smoothly. For instance, on Monday I may flesh out the first chapter. On Tueday, I’ll go over chapter 1 again and then dive into chapter 2. On Wednesday, I’ll revisit chapter 2 before fleshing out chapter 3, and so on. But because I already generally have the entire story laid out, every once in a while I sometimes flesh out scenes out of order. I use Word’s Document Map feature to help me jump from scene to scene and chapter to chapter easily.

That’s it. Actually writing the first draft sounds simple when I write it out. If only it were simple to get my butt in the chair and write every time I’m supposed to … *sighs*

Don’t forget to visit other participating blogs to see how other writers develop characters, plots and imaginary worlds. Come back for next week’s topic: Motivation / Getting Through the Middle.