Well, I find it ironic that the blog post entitled "Let's Write!" has taken three months to come to fruition, but it's finally here! (As a side-note, that irony is one of the greatest challenges for writers: life gets in the way, but if you want to be a writer, you must find time to write, even if it's not in the timeframe you originally planned.)
Every writer has a different set of strategies for laying out ideas and creating a story, and your plan of attack may vary depending on the type and length of your work (article, short story, children's book, novel, etc.). Thus, this post is going to be more of a brainstorming session than a field guide. Let's begin!
There is a predictable plot trajectory to every good story: the beginning, middle, and ending. Each of these three story blocks are further subdivided into two smaller, though critical, components: the exposition and conflict, the rising action and climax, and the falling action and resolution. This path can be mapped in what is known as a 'plot diagram' (see accompanying chart, original found here).
If you are the type of writer who prefers to plan your work in advance, it might be helpful for you to start your process by outlining your book by chapter (for longer books) or pages (for short stories or children's books). From there, you can import your outline into a plot diagram to ensure that your key points follow this universal flow. After all, a fiction book that consists entirely of exposition, or even one that is entirely conflict, can become boring and frustrating if there is no resolution and definitive ending.
If you prefer to let your writing ideas flow naturally without much forethought or planning, you may not find outlines helpful. Instead, bubble maps and listening to music might be more productive aids for your writing style. However, it is important that you check your first drafts against a basic plot diagram to ensure that your story isn't missing any components.
Take a moment now to think about your typical approach to writing: do you prefer to formulate your story idea and outline before writing? Or do you prefer to sit at a desk and just write whatever comes to mind? Or maybe you are a blend between the two: you might enjoy creating characters, or even entire worlds, but then you let the story flow naturally out of that initial organization. Believe it or not, these different writing styles have names: they are called the 'plotter,' 'pantser,' and 'plantser' (a blend of the previous two) methods. This article at TheWritePractice.com and this one from Harrisburg Area Community College provides an overview of these writing styles. The second link is especially in-depth, and offers further instruction on novel-writing techniques here (I'm looking forward to exploring this website in-depth in my spare time!).
Once your first draft is finished, you will need to turn your attention to editing and revising. Again, there are different preferences when it comes to this part of the process: some people (like me), prefer to edit as they write, while others prefer to save the bulk of the editing work until the completion of the first draft. Editing throughout the writing process tends to chop up the creative flow, but it also provides productive breaks when you are in a creative slump. Also, when the work is fresh in your mind, it is easier to immediately shore up sentences, fix typos, and clarify rough patches than it is days, weeks, or months later. However, when you edit is simply a matter a preference: the critical point is that editing happens!
When you self-publish, you have the options of self-editing, hiring an editor, or some combination of the two. Whether you hire someone or simply recruit friends and family, it's important to have other people review your work before investing time, effort, and finances into a finished product. Professional editors can provide guidance on typos, sentence structure, writing flow, meter, and more, and they can help you as soon as you finish your first draft. However, while you can hand your initial rough draft to an editor hot-off-the-press, your costs will be substantially lower and the process less frustrating if you complete a thorough check of your work and make obvious revisions beforehand.
I hired an editor from a freelance site for Sir Parker and the Quest for the Dreadful Dragon since I didn't have the funds for an editor from a stand-alone business. However, I feel that I received my money's worth from the person I did hire, and her input certainly improved my work in the end. If you are tight on funds, I firmly believe that hiring an inexpensive editor who has positive reviews is better than forgoing hiring someone at all simply because you cannot afford someone who is more experienced and expensive.
Once your text has been written, edited, rewritten, edited again, rewritten, etc., it's time to talk about the next steps in the self-publishing process! But first, you should choose a night, or even an entire weekend, to celebrate the conclusion (more or less) of the actual writing process: that is a major accomplishment of itself! Congratulations!
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