The Writing Process

You’ve lived life, traveled, explored, and developed a perspective on the world, and now you’re ready to write. It's time to put pen to paper, or make those digits of yours click away on the keys to generate a story.

What follows is a bit about my writing process, but beware. What works for me may or may not work for you. There are endless ways to get to a finished manuscript, and while my process works for me, it might just as well drive you insane as help you.

Going from an idea to a polished manuscript, here are high-level steps in the writing process that worked for me with the espionage thriller/crime novel Shadows of the Fathers.

The Idea

You decided to write a book, and you need something to write about. Where do you start? It’s helpful if you write about something you know, something you like, or something you want to learn more about. With Shadows of the Fathers, the idea was a combination of my love of spy novels and movies, a family history of service to the country, and my appreciation for travel. From there, I started with a few questions:

What might happen if drug cartels unified and partnered with America’s adversaries to take over Mexico, and the best person to stop it was a rookie field operative with imposter syndrome?

How do the sons of great men make their own way in the world through all the pressure and expectations set upon them?

Research

So those questions became the idea, but what fills the pages? Research, at least at first. Of course, there are the things you know, the books you’ve read, the things you want to learn, but research is key. Endless information is a click away, but going old-school and reading books (yes, a novel idea) is another good option. For this book, I found talking to experts tremendously helpful, especially since I’ve never worked a government job a day in my life. So I did what was necessary to bring authenticity to the story.

Books can be even better research material than what is available online.

Outline & Structure

Authors love to talk about being a “plotter” or “pantser,” meaning they either map out the story or fly by the seat of their pants. Most probably fall somewhere in the middle, myself included. I like the idea of structure, or at least a framework, for a story.

Instead of using an act structure like a play, I used Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey for Shadows of the Fathers. I knew the main premise, the ending, and bits and pieces of the middle. But it is important for me to spend time with and get to know my characters so I can understand how they react in different situations. It’s also great mental gymnastics to constantly create more problems and obstacles, twists and turns that even you, as the author, don’t see coming.

The Hero's Journey is a classic structure with many variations of its own.

Drafting

You can research, outline, research some more, ideate, and ultimately procrastinate, but if you want to write a book, you must get your butt in the chair and get after it.

I set aside time each day to make writing a priority. I don’t have a word goal per se, but I have a time goal and a sense of where I want to go with the story. The words just come most days, and I write until I get to what I believe is a chapter or section break. Paragraphs are key; one good paragraph leads to another and so on. The following day, usually start by reading what I wrote the day before to clean up the draft. Then the words flow within the allotted time, and I start the process over again.

Whether you sit, stand, or lie down, find a place to write that inspires.

Platforms

Some write with a pen or pencil, but I prefer to type even early drafts. I use Apple products and find that Notes is really useful, especially with folders for projects, chapters, research, etc. It is much easier to draft in than Word, and I can bounce back and forth between Mac, iPad, and iPhone with the same synced documents. I like to write in different places. Sometimes I am out and about and have a breakthrough, and having my little notebook in the form of the iPhone at my disposal at all times is crucial. At some point, the draft goes into Word, but that’s after more revisions.

Revisions

Finishing a first draft feels like a marathon, but you are likely just getting started with revisions from there. I start by re-reading and trimming the fat - removing things that don’t propel the narrative forward. When I find a good spot, I hire beta readers and seek feedback from other trusted sources. From that point, I revise further and undergo multiple rounds of professional editorial assessment and developmental editing to ensure the story's bones are sound. After that, I hone in on sentence structure, prose, word choice, tone, and flow. From there, the focus is on grammar, spelling, punctuation, and typos. To be most efficient, I find a top-down approach to be most helpful. It might be good practice, but the last thing most writers want is to spend time making sentences pretty only to scrap them later.

Let it Lie

I let the manuscript sit for a few weeks on multiple occasions, do other things like focus on fitness, then come back to it with fresh eyes. I put it in a different font and on a different platform, like Word or Apple Notes, and found a few things that needed improvement. They say you know you are close to done when you change things for the sake of change without making things better.

Finalize

The last step in my writing process (before I began sharing it with prospective agents and publishers) is to print the manuscript, read it aloud, and mark it up with my trusty red pen. Sometimes words and sentences that look good on paper don’t flow as well when read aloud. So, I mark it up, make a few more tweaks, and print, read, mark, and tweak it again until I know it is ready for the next step.

Set in Mexico, Shadows of the Fathers explores spiritual beliefs expressed here in Santa Muerte tarot cards.

Wiring has been an amazingly fun and rewarding journey, and should you rise to the challenge, I wish you the very best in your endeavors.

CC