My Writing Process

My process is shaped to some extent by the nature and purpose of the output.

PROJECT-RELATED WRITING
Project-related writing, which is always factual or at least fact-based, must meet specific requirements as to output type, length, knowledge level of the target audience, what the client desires from the target audience at the conclusion of the project, and deadline, so I write at all times with those requirements in mind.

When I’m fighting a tight deadline, particularly if the project is large and complicated, I get intense. I outline, I make lists, I determine research sources. I clear the decks of other responsibilities, set up check-in times with the client, notify others involved of what I’ll need from them, and prepare to focus exclusively. I shut myself in my office or hotel room, hang a do-not-disturb sign, call in for food, and settle down to work.

When I break, it’s to exercise, take a walk, eat, or sleep. When a project isn’t that massive, I work a somewhat more normal routine, but the approach remains very focused.

FICTION WRITING
Fiction has, for me, proceeded somewhat differently. My first novel – the one that has now become LOVED ME ONCE – was begun when I was on the road, doing research for a client. I finished one part of what I was doing early and had half a day free before I had to go on to the next part. I used it to put down an idea I’d had on the plane about a woman who seems to have everything that anyone could want in the way of personal advantage, yet who is never able to pull it together in any way that materially benefits her. She does OK, but for every step she takes forward, she slides right back again, especially when it comes to men and work. I word processed like mad for several hours, then filed the result on my laptop under WRITING IDEAS. I didn’t open the folder again for several years, but I always knew where it was. When I did open the folder, it was to add a couple more ideas to flesh out the first.

That seemed to content me until, one day on vacation, I woke up with the urge to write the book. I started by doing a tight plot outline based on the ideas I’d filed away long before, and then wrote like mad, probably 20,000 words in a few days. When I stopped, took a deep breath, and read what I’d done, I was horrified. It absolutely did not work. I gave that digital file a date and saved it in a folder that now at least had a title. I knew the material wasn’t usable, but I was loathe to toss it.

I didn’t touch the book idea again for another year. This time, I went at it differently. I did no outline. Instead, I did detailed character sketches, and thought about the psychological implications of what I’d put down. I let it rest for a couple of days, then posited an opening situation that made sense for the female protagonist. After that, I essentially allowed the psychology of the characters to take the book in whatever direction made sense for the three of them – and I wasn’t sure in advance where that would be. This is easily the most unstructured thing I’ve ever written. I did, however, establish a routine for the times when I could work on the novel and stuck to it.

MY BASIC PROCESS
Reading the above makes me realize that my basic process once I’ve begun, whatever kind of writing I’m doing, seems to involve just getting on with it and not getting distracted.