What’s in a Writing Space?
I’ve blogged a bit about marketing, travel, dogs, even did a few cover reveals lately! But one thing I realized I never blogged about was my writing space and writing process!
I’ve gotten the question on a couple interviews before, and to be honest my writing process is rather chaotic. But I figured this would be a quick, fun post to share with you something about myself 😉😉 While I finish going through my pics from Scotland hehe 🙃 (And yes, they're coming up soon!)
So, here goes!
My writing process
Over a few times answering this question, I've come to the conclusion I have three main stages that I go through whilst writing a book.
Stage 1: When I say chaotic writing, let me precede this account by admitting I barely ever plan. I'll get some random scene stuck in my head and go with it. I can be at the beginning, end or mid my book chronologically, but it doesn't matter! I write down every scene like that that my sleep-deprived brain comes up with. I don't worry about grammar, coherence, plot holes at this point. I do keep in mind character development and within a few scenes I usually have an idea of what the character's journey would be. At this stage, I usually write around 3-4 scenes per chapter.
Stage 2: Once I get through all the chapters that I've split my book into, I go back. This time, I rearrange everything chronologically, and "fill the chapters in". This basically means I start paying attention to grammar, to world building, to plot holes, to making the villains badass, the MCs badass, and the like. This becomes a semi-coherent first rough draft, usually around 35-40k words.
Stage 3: Now the editing starts. I have about, hmm, 7 phases to my edits, I'd say. (These are only the ones that result in substantial changes). On an average, I think with subtantial and non-substantial edits and re-reads, I probably go over a book 15 (or so) times before publication date. Anyway, back to stage 3.
So my 7 phases of edits at this stage are: - one for plot consistency - one for descriptions/world building (and making sure I'm not saying the character has blue eyes in one spot and green in the next! Sorry, Tristan!!) - one for PWA (prowritingaid, an amazing online editor tool) where I run it for spelling, grammar, repetitive words, etc. - then I send it to my editor - go through edits from editor - run it through PWA one more time... (or 3 depending on how, err, picky I am) - then give it a last read (or 3) for good measure :)
All that usually tackles on another 20-30k words... Except Avalon Dreams.... I ended up with close to 40k extra words....😂😂 Which phase do I like best, you ask? NOT the editing! If I'm in the editing stage, you'll know (especially if you follow me on social media!). Between laptops/tablets crashing on me, losing versions of books and pulling my hair out plus pulling all nighters... It's not pretty. But my favourite phase is the beginning, where I get to hop around and write whatever comes to mind, then worry later about putting it together in a narrative that makes sense!!!
My writing space
To be perfectly honest, I didn’t have a full writing space until our recent move to a new house. I had an office at the previous house, which was used solely for writing, but it was nowhere like this was!
Now, I have a full reading/writing room, decorated with all that makes me, me 😁 It's small and it’s cozy and full of piled books everywhere, but it’s warm in winter and the perfect spot to shut off and get buried in reading and writing 😁
Oh yeah, and teddy bears 😂! (yes, I have a childhood obsession!) Click through the pics! And now that you've seen what mine looks like, share yours 😁 Tag me in it if you do it over social media!
