The Five Stages of Writing a Book

1. The Idea


One of the most magical times for the writer, the idea phase can include daydreaming, staring off into space, goofy smiles, and ecstatic babbling to friends and family. The writer is hopeful, confident, and convinced that this idea is THE. BEST. IDEA. EVER.

No, seriously.

2. Writing

 Now the rubber meets the road, and it usually isn't pretty. There are sleepless nights, screams of frustration, and occasionally entire ice cream cakes consumed. Some writers grimly park themselves in front of the keyboard and type until they have met their word count goals, while other writers employ brilliant strategies of procrastination, like cleaning the garage or mopping the floor or working on other writing projects. Somehow, painfully, the book is written.

3. Editing

Although complete, the book is inevitably a disgusting mess of run-on sentences splattered with adverbs and dripping with excessive similes. The writer must now take a knife to the precious manuscript, ruthlessly killing his or her darlings with the stoicism of a Roman soldier. More ice cream cake is consumed.




4. Self Doubt

This stage may actually appear during many of the other stages. In this stage, the writer may lie on the floor and moan, curl in a fetal position, or obsessively search Monster.com for alternative jobs. Self doubt can be particularly acute during the editing stage.

5. Bookmoon

The bookmoon stage can occur before or after editing, when the writer feels that the manuscript is complete and perfect and unlike any other manuscript ever born from a writer's sweat, tears, and over-consumption of ice cream cake. Like a honeymoon, the bookmoon is a time when the world is viewed through a glow of happiness and the illusion of perfection.The bookmoon phase often lasts until querying begins.

When it melts like cotton candy in the sun.


At this point the writer may feel somewhat disillusioned. She realizes the story is not the most special story ever written. It may not even be brilliant. Just good. Maybe even just good enough. She comes to terms with this, and moves on. She feels mature, grounded, and worldly-wise.

And then, the writer gets ANOTHER idea ...

And it's the BEST. IDEA. EVER.

Author Interviews

I'm hoping to introduce a few new things around the blog, and one thing I thought would be fun--author interviews. I would LOVE to help you spread the word about your book.

So, if you're a fiction author (indie, traditional, small press, Big Six, WHATEVER) and you want to be interviewed on the Southern Scrawl blog, shoot me an email at katydid05(at)gmail(dot)com!

Letting the Story Marinate

I am an analogy fiend. I pretty much think in pictures, and I relate to things by finding similar things I can compare the new thing to in my head. So forgive me if I use a lot of analogies … they work for me.

So anyway, I’m working on a new project, but I really have several WIPs on the table, because of my style of writing. I’m what Mark Twain called a Tank-Filler, meaning that I have to give myself time to let the creative tank fill up sometimes, even in the middle of a project. It’s terribly inconvenient for a deadline. So I try to start working on projects far in advance. Or rather, I marinate them.

If you’ve ever grilled steak, you probably marinated it first. You pull it out of the fridge, put it in a dish, pour the marinade over the meat, cover it with foil, and put it back in the fridge. It may not look like you’ve started cooking yet, and technically you haven’t, but this is an important part of the process.

When I have an idea, I pull it out, ruminate on it, figure out the characters, plot the story, etc. Sometimes I even write 3-5 chapters of the beginning, just to get a feel for the characters and the setting. But this is all prep work. I do all this stuff, and then I put it back for a while in the “fridge.” Because inevitably, I’ll have an even better idea for some key plot point a few days or weeks or even months later, and then I get the click and THEN I can really start. Because once I have the click, I have the voice, and the theme, and the emotional resonance.

I used to just start writing as soon as I had a good idea, and I would just try to muscle through the story whether I knew what I was doing with voice/theme/etc or not. This generally led to me throwing out large chunks of story and starting over. (I still have to do that sometimes, mind you, whether I wait for the story to marinate or not. It isn’t a magic bullet.)

But it’s good (for me, at least) to let the stories marinate awhile too. The best part is that I can do that while writing something else.

Multitasking! *jazz hands*

Do you let stories marinate? Or do you charge into them right away, as soon as you have the idea? What works better for YOU?

Happy Easter!

Roller Coasters and Writing: Experiencing the Click

If you've ever ridden a wooden roller coaster, maybe you remember how it goes--first the car leaves the station with a hiss of releasing brakes and a slight jerk. Usually the track twists a little, sometimes there's a slight dip to get the cars moving a little faster, and then there's the incline. You begin to go up the first hill based on speed gained through gravity alone, and then ... there's a jerk and a click as the safety rachet engages, and then a clack clack clack clack clack as the cars are dragged to the top.

And then you're flying.

Sometimes writing a book feels a bit like a roller coaster to me. And I don't mean that in the emotional way--although it definitely has those aspects too--but what I wanted to focus on is that click.

I can't write the book until I experience it, actually.

When I first think up a story and all the elements--characters, setting, conflict, resolution--everything is jumbled up. I can't see how it all flows together. I fumble with the characters, sifting through their personalities, weaknesses, strengths, trying to understand what makes them tick and what motivates them. I ruminate on the world and what challenges the setting presents. Sometimes I get impatient and try to start writing, only to delete chapters of material later. See, I'm waiting for the click.

Once it happens, the story grabs hold of me and drags me forward. Everything (voice, emotional resonance, theme) rushes together in a moment of clarity, and I can really begin, because now it all makes sense. It's like being pulled up that first hill. Then everything starts moving really, really fast.

I'm not sure how this could be taught or learned, or even adequately described. It's very instinctive to me, and based completely on intuition.

Do you ever experience "the click?"

Tips for Staying Focused on Your Writing

1.       Turn on computer.

2.       Open book file.

3.       Stare at blank page for a while.

4.       Check email JUST IN CASE an agent has emailed you begging to represent you.

5.       Check Twitter because YOU NEVER KNOW if @JKRowling has replied to you.

6.       Check Blogger because MAYBE?? your following has quadrupled since last night.

7.       Check CNN to see if pigs have started flying.

8.       Unfortunately, pigs still aren’t flying.

9.       Repeat steps 3-6. Twice.

10.   Write 1 sentence.

11.   Delete it.

12.   Write another sentence.

13.   Take a break and make moaning sounds while holding your head in a fetal position tell yourself you can do this.

14.   Get a drink of water.

15.   Scour youtube for videos of sheep fainting the internet for inspiration.

16.   Return to your word document.

17.   Count number of words written.

18.   Total word count: 11

19.   Decide you are going to be a physical therapist or something equally random instead of a writer.

20.   Eat ice cream cake.

21.   Feel better.

22.   Try again.

23.   And again.

24.   And AGAIN.

And again and again and again. Until you have a book.

(I don't always have this problem, FORTUNATELY! But some days I just. can't. write. a. word.)

Do you know the feeling?

First Cover Reveal

Happy Monday, everybody!

I am about a month away from the launch date for my first indie book, The Curse Girl. And that means ... a tentative, experimental, maybe-not-final-but-maybe-final cover reveal!!

* drumroll *

 

Notes about the cover:

* Do you like it?

* I made it myself, and I have zero design experience, so hopefully it isn't too terrible *bites nails*

* It cost me about $6 for a couple stock photos and putting them together/changing the colors/tweaking everything took me a few hours.

* I know some people (many people?) are not fans of "face" covers. I usually am not either. But this was easiest, trust me.

* More on the face thing ... I feel a good cover should do three things: 1) be colorful/interesting enough to catch a reader's eye, 2) clearly display the title, and 3) evoke some sense of the story's mood. Hopefully this cover does all those things, and if it does, then I am satisfied.

* MOST PRESSING QUESTION ~ Do you hate the way the C and G cross? I personally like it, but then the style/positioning of the words themselves gave me the most problems, and this seems to work, and I have probably lost all objectivity at this point. I wanted to do something slightly stylized without overpowering the sparkles in the background (and I could not find a script-ish font that worked for me and had a good, non-weird C and G), so I opted for simple and did the cross thing. If everyone HATES it I can change it. The only feedback I've gotten so far was positive, but that was just my husband and he is easy to please. But he specifically mentioned liking it--I didn't even ask.

Thoughts?