Step 1: Write book

No biggie, right?

I suppose the first step in the writing process is actually having an idea. A lot of people ask me where my book ideas come from. The answer: dreams, songs, and I have no clue. An overactive imagination comes in handy sometimes. I can't give you too much advice on how to come up with a great book idea other than watch movies, read books, or listen to music that appeals to you. Give yourself time to let your mind wander and see what you come up with. There are also several places you can find writing prompts. Maybe they will get you on the path to the next best seller.

I usually let the book idea and the characters tumble around in my brain for a few days. The scenes start playing in my mind like movies. I can see what the characters look like and in some instances, the particular things they will say. It is usually four or five scenes that replay over and over again. These will become the main plot points of the novel down the road. One thing I do that may seem odd is I find a song or two that I associate with these characters. I play the song(s) often as I'm thinking about the book and where these characters may go. The reason I do this is sometimes during the writing process, I have to take a break from writing for an extended period of time. When that happens, I listen to the songs before I sit down at my computer and those songs will take me right back to the characters and the story.

Once I have the basic plot in my mind, I handwrite an outline. Some authors write extensive outlines detailing the story before they write to ensure they don't miss any main points. My style is to bullet point the main scenes and create a basic timeline of the story. I will jot down bits of dialogue I think will be important, but my outline is usually brief. If there is research you must do for your story, do it upfront. Some well-circulated advice to writers is to "write what you know." While I don't think you need to be an expert in an area to write about it, having a basic understanding of the subject before you begin will help you as you write. Not only will you not have to stop writing to do research (which could affect your thought process and flow), but your dialogue and detailing will be richer because you actually understand what you're writing about. For example, several of my books have characters that are lawyers or are in law school. It is easy for me to write about these things because I attended law school and practice law. The dialogue and lingo come across as genuine because they are. That being said, I've definitely written about things I had to research first. The research ranged from simple Google searches to reading books and watching documentaries.

Even if you're not an outliner, one thing I recommend doing is making a quick summary of your character's traits and physical characteristics. If you're like me, you'll get into a flow when you write and may randomly assign your character's hair color, eye color, height, etc. without giving it much thought. Then three chapters later you want to talk about how the character's hair is blowing in the wind, but you can't remember whether she's a blonde or a brunette.

Whether to hand write or type your manuscript is entirely up to you. Personally, my handwriting is atrocious and I'd never be able to read what I wrote. Plus, I'm a quick type and using a computer saves me a lot of time. If you use the computer, save your document to more than one place. Please don't be the person who loses weeks worth of work because your cat knocks over a glass of wine onto your laptop. I not only save my work to a flash drive, I email myself the document every time I save it. Better safe than sorry.

A few additional tips as you write:

1. Don't pay attention to word count. Or at least try not to. I'm more apt to obsess over the word count in the beginning of the story. Will the story be long enough? Will I have too much material and have to break this into two books? What if I only hit 20k words? The only thing I can say is that the story will be exactly as long as it needs to be. Don't force more material into the story because you're worried it will be too short. Don't take away material because you worry it will be too long. Just write it. You can figure out the details later. There are a lot of beloved stories that do not make the traditional cutoff for being considered a novel. But you know what? They're still amazing stories. In case you're wondering, most of my novels are between 70k and 80k words. When printed as a 6 x 9 book (more on book sizes later), they're around 275 pages.

2. Don't write the big scenes first. Or do. Whatever works for you. The reason I don't do this is because if I write the big scenes first, I lose interest in the story. If I start at the beginning and write the story sequentially, I get excited about those upcoming big scenes. It keeps me going.

3. Don't edit as you write. Get the whole thing out first. You have plenty of time to do edits later. I've heard several writers say that if they go back and edit what they just wrote, they find themselves endlessly re-writing the same chapter over and over again. Mistakes can be fixed in editing. Keep going.

4. So you think you know how your book is going to end, huh? Maybe you do, maybe you don't. Your characters may take you to unexpected places. Let them.

5. Take a break now and then. Mental health is important. Stretch. Hydrate. Eat well. Get enough sleep. Do yoga. Find your happy place. A lot of writers worry they will never finish if they take breaks. Again, mental health is important. You will get the book done.

6. Don't worry about how long the book is taking you and don't compare yourself to others. Some writers get their book done in weeks. Some months. Some years. It's your book and your process.

7. If you decide to walk away from it, that's okay too. Let's say this is your first attempt at writing a book and you are absolutely miserable. You're not enjoying it at all or have completely lost interest in the project. You thought you'd love writing, but you can't stand it. You now what? It's okay to stop. Maybe it's something you revisit a few years down the road. Or maybe you never pick it up again. You're not failing. You're deciding that writing a book isn't how you want to spend your time. Life is too short to make yourself do something you aren't enjoying. Writing a book takes a lot of time and energy, and unless you are really and truly loving the process, don't do it.

I cannot emphasize enough that you can completely disregard my advice if you want. This is what works for me. I'm sharing it because I want to be as helpful to fellow writers as I can. Even if my words don't ring true for you, I hope if nothing else they help you think about your writing process and what it should look like.

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Next up: Editing. Yuck.