The Writing Process- step by step

The writing process varies from writer to write, but you can find suggested processes you should follow.

I covered this topic with my son today. He hates writing. He hates the entire process of writing. I’m not sure why, other than he prefers playing video games, or he’s a kinesthetic learner, but I felt the topic important enough to share with would-be authors who might need some help with getting a novel completed;

Pre-writing. This stage of writing includes research, brainstorming ideas, character creation, and everything else to fix together a plot to write. This would also include non-fiction writers, to gather your ideas, figure out your audience, and organize an outline. Plotting an outline can also be part of this process.

Links for prompts, ideas, and research

Chapter-by-chapter- a handy free program that works with MS Word and Openoffice to help organize writing into chapter documents.

Writing a theme for your novel.

Brainstorming

Organize your plot structure 

Writing- This is by far my favorite stage of writing; to simply write out the story as it works through my mind. Most scenes work like a movie, so all I need to do is write what I see/feel, and add description and dialog. This stage should be free-flowing, and without the inner editor nagging about spelling, and details. Just write; edit later.

Openoffice

MS Office (Word)

Google Drive- free online word processer compatible with MS Word and more.

Scrivener ($40) novel writing software

Writer programs and tools- Spacejock offers many free and useful writer related programs.

Revise. The revision part includes making changes to characters, labels and names, shifting scenes to better work with the plot, adding description and foreshadowing, and reworking sections that were formally unclear. Revision also includes getting critiques and feedback. This is NOT about correcting grammar- not yet. That is tackled at the last part of the writing process.

A Writer’s Guide to feedback and groups

Creative Writing and Revising: Rewriting, Editing, and Proofreading

Critique Circle

Critique Guidelines

Rewrite. This stage includes rewriting those changes you did in revisions. This can often be tricky because you must weigh what stays and what goes, what advice from your critiques will you keep, and what will you ignore?

Proofread. This stage can be done by a formal editor or someone with experience with the English language. This is the part where you fix grammar, punctuation, dialog formatting, and polishing your manuscript up to its full potential.

Grammarly- an online free grammar checker

Guide to grammar and writing

Elements of Style

Textanalyzer

Autocrit

Publish. This includes publishing to print or ebook, or even posting your writing to the public eye.

50 Online Writing Web Sites for Writers

Pen and Ink Submissions

Writer’s Market

Fiction Writing Markets

You can go back and forth between these stages until you feel the manuscript is finished.  Some drafts get rewritten many times over.

Do you have more steps or like/dislike any of these stages? I find the editing part the ‘unfun’ part of writing because that’s when I second guess myself. Post in comments

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Feedback on feedback

I’m not very good with feedback. This isn’t to say anyone complains, but somehow I feel I’m not providing something essential to my fellow writers when I provide them my opinion.

In a writer’s group, you often find members providing feedback to one another’s work. In fact, its expected in most.

The most crucial part of providing a critique encompasses the delicate balance of reading as an editor but also as a reader. I think here is the cruix of the matter because reading any story with a red pen tends to make one overly critical at times. I guess that’s what I feel is my issue; I feel I’m trying to errors when there might not be errors.

Plus I forget to ask the author what they’re looking for in feedback. Sometimes they want an overall impression while others want a more page-by-page, inked-up-scratched-out edit.

Elements to look for in a good story;

-Are the characters well rounded and believable? I tend to consider all the people I’ve met in my life to compare (and sometimes include in my own stories!).

-Is the conflict apparent and clear at the beginning of the story? Stories are about conflict and problems. The reader needs to know who the hero is, who to root for, and ride along in the adventure. They also need to understand the conflict the hero faces.

-Is there a theme to the story? Here is where I consider things like man vs nature or a hero’s journey. There are many themes to choose from, and most stories touches upon one or more in a single story.

-Is reading flowing and understandable for the reader? This is where you need to consider word usage, paragraph and chapter length, and other elements to writing to make reading fun and pleasurable for the reader.

-Check your is, was, were, had, has, and other useless verbs. Remove them if they weaken the verb/action. Also remove ‘it’. Ask yourself ‘what is ‘it’?’ and provide clearer description or explanation.

-Does the dialog flow?  Can you understand who is speaking?

-Does the story end with a resolution to the conflict? Sometimes the hero doesn’t win, but you still need to provide a satisfying end for the reader. Its not always a happy ending either.

What do you think? What things do you look for the most in a good story?

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Baring your soul = critique

Getting your writing reviewed isn’t unlike standing in front of a crowd of people in your underwear. There’s something very soul-bearing when you share your work.

I feel it stems from the fact you evoke from the recesses of your soul a plot, characters, and creation of worlds from within you to paper. Having someone with a critical eye, who hasn’t lived in your head as you poured out your soul, could hardly understand, could they?

Unfortunately, the fact we live in our heads can be a problem. We can’t see the error of our writing, grammar mistakes, or serious plot holes. We take the story for granted. We know the character too well. Someone with fresh eyes needs to see the story and give a new perspective on it.

What to do with feedback?

Don’t take things personally. A bad critique doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bad storyteller. There are many elements to a story, and you may have weaknesses that need to be scrutinized and therefore fixed. Your plot might be great, but the characters bland. Your characters might be well-rounded and wonderful, but the conflict weak. Take the feedback as constructive, and a basis to improve.

Understand we all have our strengths and weaknesses. The weaknesses need to evolve, and every writer could improve. Even the great writers are known to criticize their first published works, where they improved since then. The critique helps hone your writing skills.

Not all feedback is gospel. You don’t have to take all feedback to heart. You, as the author, need to consider what elements you will work on, improve upon, delete, and eventually edit.

Listen, learn, and improve. You’ll reach your goals in time.

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The importance of feedback

Yesterday, my writer’s meetup gathered at my house to discuss the topic of feedback. I felt we needed to urge and encourage members to share their work and also to provide some feedback for other members to help them along their own writing journeys.

Get a fresh perspective on your writing. Sometimes, after weeks, months, and even years of writing a manuscript, you find yourself taking for granted certain elements. Having someone else look at your work offers to clear up hazy parts of your writing, clarify plot, and even sharpen your characters into something better than before.

Feedback must be offered as a means to help the writer improve their writing. You can give a critique without being harsh or attacking the author. Ask questions, and be clear on parts that do not make sense, or if the story doesn’t catch your attention. Offer suggestions on how to change things. Most writers, I find, appreciate the feedback to help them in the long run.

Sandwich your feedback with the bad and the good Some argue this might be too cautious or even too kind to a writer, but adding what you liked the about the writing offers a writer the same help with what’s working as the feedback that tells them what’s not working.

Be mindful of who you allow access to your work. Someone not familiar with the genre may not provide useful feedback. Sometimes, you’ll get vague or even harsh critiques. Find readers who read the genre and understand it.

I’ll be the first to admit I just adore the good feedback I receive. Bad feedback generally includes a few grammatical errors, which I can’t argue with, but its nice to hear/read when someone tells me they enjoy what I write.

One member in the group found my story, Fireflies, and commented how she enjoyed the story. I published it over a year ago, and nearly forgot about it, so the out-of-left-field feedback was very welcome indeed.

I also received an email from a fan of my fanfiction online, who said “I enjoyed reading this story today, and was sad to get to the end of chapter 22 and realize that the there were no more chapters. It’s been a while since you’ve posted an update, so I don’t know if you are even considering still working on this, but if you see this review, I want you to know that I, for one, would love to see you continue this excellent story.” And its these sort of comments that often prompt me to continue writing for others.

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Thoughts on “Show, don’t tell” tip

"Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov

One of the important tips you find for writers is the ‘show, don’t tell’ advice. This means you don’t beat your readers over the head with facts and explanations as much as revealing the story through dialog, action, and description that flows with poetic phrase.

I remember once critiquing a story from a new writer that constantly stated the fact the main character was beautiful. Not only did this jar me out of the story, I felt insulted that I had to be told her beauty as fact instead of determining for myself since beauty is, after all, in the eye of the beholder. Oddly the story spoke very little of this character’s appearance. I had to take it on faith.

Whatever emotion you hope to evoke from your readers should come naturally, not forced through statements. I offer the reader the description only in the hope they consider the character attractive, or not. If you want to illustrate fear, show the reader fear through the action, heart racing, and sweat-producing scenes of description. You want readers to pulled into the story, living it with the character, losing themselves in another world.

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When asking for critique

As an organizer to a writer’s group, we have a number of would-be authors share their work for the review of their peers. We’re no expert by any sense of the word, but we all love reading. I compiled a few tips I thought might help writers who want their work critiqued to keep in mind that will help them gain a good experience.

Your first step is to recognize who you are allowing to read your work. Make sure they understand the genre, and perhaps bears some experience with providing reviews. Someone who hates romance might not be the best choice to read your manuscript- if that is your genre.

Brace for honesty. Most people give feedback to not hurt another’s feelings. This is both good and bad. Good that they’re considerate of your feelings but bad if they can’t provide you honest review to help you improve your manuscript. Ask for the honesty. If you are fortunate to receive such feedback, see the following tips.

Don’t take a critique personally. Even if someone says you’re writing is horrible should not halt your writing. It simply means you have room for improvement. If you’re serious about publishing some day, then prepare for rejection. Grow a thicker skin, and recognize that it doesn’t reflect to you as a person. Bad writing improves with practice.

Ask for specifics to what you’re looking for in a critique. For instance, some authors want to know if the story is boring or too far fetched. Are the characters believable? Does the story catch your attention? Do you want to read more?

Don’t take everything said to heart. Even reviewers can be wrong. It”s a good idea to have more than reviewer, but if they agree on a specific change, and you can’t see changing the story, then don’t make the change. Its your story.

A few more quick tips to consider also helps a reviewer read your story:

Keep chapters relatively short. Lengthy chapters, or even paragraphs, are exhausting to read and deter anyone from wanting to go further. Break it up a bit into scenes or changes of point of view.

Add your email, name, page numbers, and title to the documents. Some authors add a copyright, by simply adding the small copyright symbol. (c) Adding this information keeps all the pages in order, and if someone reads more than one author, having your name available on every sheets helps with organizing manuscripts. (I read a couple a week sometimes).

With these tips, having your manuscript open for review becomes relatively painless.