I have received some questions about my writing method.
I would characterize it as a combination of the snowflake method followed by texturing and reduction.
I developed this method in university. I applied it while writing non-fiction for newspapers and magazines for many years. Now I apply it to fiction as well.
I start with everything in point form. This includes fragments as well as whole thoughts.
Once I have laid these plot points out in the rough shape of a novel, I start to cluster them into chapters.
Once I know which points and fragments are to be included in a chapter, I start to think about scene development.
Scene development for me includes:
- Choosing characters for the scene
- Choosing at point of view
- Considering what each character wants
- Considering each character’s mood in the scene
I do not write my scenes in order. I write them in order of interest. I write the scenes that connect the most interesting scenes last.
Once I map out a scene, I create raw dialogue with no punctuation using lots of adverbs that will be removed in later drafts — but are there for now to remind me what mood I had in mind when I wrote the dialogue.
Once all that is done, I create the first raw narrative draft of the chapter.
A raw narrative draft is the first time a chapter stops looking like a bunch of bullet points and starts to resemble a chapter.
I work on one chapter per day. I re-read it the following morning. I have absolutely no qualms about throwing the whole thing out and starting over. I also have no problem rewriting a first narrative draft several times before moving on to a different chapter.
Once all of my chapters are in raw narrative draft form, I go back to start layering.
Layering is when I start looking at each chapter with a truly critical eye.
The first layer I work on is show-don’t-tell. This is when the adverbs in the dialogue tags are removed and the characters’ emotions start to come alive.
Immediately after show-don’t-tell comes interiority. Now that I have written the scenes understanding what each character wants, how they feel, and who’s telling the story, I layer in interiority.
Once the above has been done on all chapters, I move on to environment and aesthetics. I do this late in the process because the physical world in which the action is taking place has to be consistent the characters’ inner worlds. Writing description too early messes things up for me because it puts emphasis on the wrong things.
The final layer is dialogue individualization. Since I often don’t know what the final gender, ethnicity, or species of some characters — especially supporting characters — will be until the final draft, I don’t make any firm decisions — until now — regarding how they speak.
The dialogue individualization draft takes the longest time. I spend many hours listening to people on the internet until I find each character’s voice. Once I find the right voice, I study it and apply it to the character.
Once the above layering is done, I do something I call reduction and texturing.
Reduction means looking at every sentence, every paragraph, and every chapter asking what I can take out to make the story denser. I think of it as concentrating the flavors — like the reduction method in cooking.
Texturing means that I read the entire work looking for flowery language, awkwardness, inconsistent word choices, and passages where I was writing to impress rather than to tell a good story. Every one of these issues is tweaked until the whole thing feels smooth, consistent, and appropriately paced.
At this point, I am ready to hand my work over to an editor for their first poke at it.
Alternatively, I might look at it and decide that it isn’t good enough and delete the whole thing.
Fiction is my hobby. Not my job. At the end of the day, I decide what meets my standards.
In my life so far, I have written seven novels. None have made it to query stage because none met my standards.
The Last Coffle is number eight — and even this one will not be queried because I will be publishing as a serial.
What is a serial? Think of it as a novel in streaming format. It’s far too big to fit into book form.
However, it will be a nice compliment to a direct-to-consumer publisher’s website.
Each chapter is short enough to read on a smart phone during a morning transit — with room for ads about other books.