The life cycle? The lunar cycle? The menstrual cycle? Isn't the world just a series of repeated cycles? Hey Scientists! Ponder that, why don't you.
But before all that, let's cycle back for a moment - intentional pun! I once wrote a post that went viral. A bit viral anyway. It got shared on a writing website so its reach was wider than my usual bubble. The topic? The editing process. It was split into three parts. The early stage, where you're chipper and up for the challenge. The middle stage, where your manuscript is a depressing quagmire of a million problems. Then the final stage when the story's emerged and you're tidying and polishing. If you want to remind yourself of it in all its glory, knock yourself out here.
Chatting to a writing friend this week got me thinking. Forget the editing process. The writing process cycles through a set of similarly turbulent stages. Each one a necessary part of proceedings; never changing, reducing, or simplifying with each new book. At least that's how I find it. For me, it takes two years to go from initial idea to book publication. But that two years? Like my menstrual cycle, it's a roller coaster. As I near the end of my current novel's journey (pre-order today, out in May!) let me guide you through the twists and turns of my indie-writing process.
1. Become Germ-Ridden!
You get a germ of a idea. A vague bit of plot that's popped into your head, or a character you'd like to spend time with starts pinging about in your brain. The germ won't go away. In fact, it's growing. At some point, to calm things down, you open a Word Doc or a notepad, and type/scrawl down some ideas. It's pure and uninhibited. No one else cares. You only started to care yourself three minutes ago. You make notes, you walk away. You think again about the germ and add some more. Eventually, the initial idea has shaped itself into pages and pages of typing/scribble/nonsense. It's an incoherent mess but it's something. It's a start and you're hooked.
2. Plan Your Ass Off!
By spending time organising your madly scribbled notes into coherence, the shape of the story shows itself. The first shape, anyway. It'll change - many times - before the cycle is complete. But in the cold, calm light of day, and with lots more crossings out and/or deletions, you have a chapter breakdown. The plot is paced out and the characters are created. There's a build up to the drama/conflict/emotional crux and then there's the come down/resolution/redemption. There's a shape and a flow despite it only existing in bullet points or brief chapter descriptions. It's all so bloody exciting.
3. Flesh It Out!
It's time to flesh out your chapter synopses. Which details need work? What research is needed? Do you know every characters? Is the setting clear in your mind? If a plot point is introduced in chapter three, does it have a resolution later in the plan? Each chapter's plan now fills a couple of pages in a notebook. Snatches of dialogue or description start to appear. You note them down in the appropriate place. This sparks off another bit of description which gets added to another appropriate place. Ideas are buzzing all over the show and you're desperate to start writing.
4. And Begin!
You're ecstatic you can finally being to type/write. Chapter One. Once upon a time... or something like that. Actually the first sentence is never easy. I use a placeholder so I don't spend three days working out how to begin and then lose all that lovely momentum. So, 'One day there was a woman called Nicky,' is an entirely acceptable opening sentence for your first draft. Type it and then move on to your story.
You're on fire! Using your planning notebook as a guide, you're churning out the chapters with the gayest of all abandon. It's utterly shite but it matters not a jot! You're crossing off plot points, introducing characters, and forcing out the story from your head and notebook onto a real life manuscript. It doesn't read well, but it reads. It's a thing. You're writing a thing. Draft one is now complete!
6. My Personal Hell!
Editing. If you clicked the link to my old post at the top, you'll already have the gist. This is my worst part. Not that it isn't ultimately satisfying. It's just that it takes so long to get to that point. You see, first you have to wade through a bajillion tonnes of self-doubt. But the good news is, that this is the stage where the magic happens. It's a cliche (no really, I can't believe I'm about to type these words) but imagine a block of marble. A sculptor will chisel and tap and whittle away (can you tell I've never sculpted?) and for ages it'll look like a misshapen lump of posh stone. But then... eventually... finally... it'll be... Michelangelo's David! Yes, that's what we're aiming for. That waffly, over-written, meandering pile of nonsense that you've worked on forever, will have its rough edges smoothed and become a classic piece of art for the ages. The beauty, messaging, and clarity will come through. It just won't be evident until the very end of the scultping/editing process. You have to believe. You just have to belief you're the absolute expert of your story/lump of stone and one day it'll be something stunning.
7. Gulp. Readers!
Deep breaths... and SEND. Yes, you've got to show people your bestest draft. By now, you've forgotten how to be excited about it. It's been in front of your eyes for so long, you can no longer tell when something's working or not. But other people can! Send it to those you know will be respectful and honest. That's what the early readers need to be. Don't send it to people you dislike or whose opinions you don't rate. You won't listen to them. But those people you DO trust - whether it be family members, in-laws, friends, colleagues, neighbours, or eventually and ideally, a professional editor - their feedback is gold. Consider what they say. Mull over their points. Change the ones that ring true for you. Make it the best you can. Read it, read it again, and repeat that process 24557 times. Read it aloud, read it printed out, read it in a different font, read it with a ruler under each line. Check every tiny bloody thing and check it again. At some point you will have to decide you've got your final draft.
8. Bloody Admin!
It's all a bit techy for the next stage. And for me, that means boring and difficult. You'll need to typeset your draft so it looks like the pages of a book. You'll need to format your final draft of that typeset document to be compatible with the publishing platform you're going to use. You'll need to upload the metadata onto that platform, as well as registering the book title on various sites (Neilsen and ALCS for eg) and you'll need to select the book classification categories that your story sits within. This stage can take a while for someone like me. I'm happiest when I get to type lovely words every day, and not when I'm expected to be technically precise in a variety of formats. Oh and also, the front cover needs doing!
9. Work it, Girl!
Sell yourself! Spread the word! Tell everyone you know! Use a range of social media, print flyers, get postcards made, pay for Facebook ads or just get talking to anyone you pass in the street. No one will know about your book unless you tell them. So tell them. Even though it's proper cringe, tell them. If you haven't already guessed, I find this stage excruciating. And if you also hadn't already guessed, this is the exact stage I'm at now. For the next month at least.
10. We Have Lift Off!
And it's OUT! Publication day has arrived. Friends and family have told you they've pre-ordered it, which is lovely. You hope other people have too, and tomorrow you'll worry about that and assume you're a shit writer if no one has. But for one glorious day, you feel invincible. You're on top of the world. Like you've scaled the highest of peaks. It's amazing. Life is wonderful. You've only gone and written a frigging book! You celebrate, you hug yourself with glee, and then you sleep the sleep of the deeply satisfied.
11. And We've Landed!
What comes up, must come down. We all know this, right? But oh, that bumpy landing! It's no fun. We're back to self-doubt folks. What if no one reviews your book? What if you only get one star reviews? What if people tell you it was crap and that you've wasted the past two years of your life? What if you can never show your face in public again? WHAT IF? WHAT IF? WHAT IF? The good news is, this stage will pass. Ignore the voices, ride it out, it WILL pass. And at some point, you'll have stopped lying down in a dark room long enough to find yourself having the germ of a new idea. And just like that, you're back. Stage One beckons. Ready to saddle up that horse again? Course you are! There are stories to be told and books to be ridden. Giddy up horsey and off you go!
I'm not sure how this post read to you, but by typing out those stages - the ones I've been cycling through since 2013 - has left me in a cold sweat. I guess like anything in life, the best thing is to enjoy the good parts and recognise that the bad parts are transient. And even though I'm in Stage Nine, and it's - as I clearly state above - proper cringe, being on the home straight is exciting. Having the germ of my next book is exciting too. Just as with life, the moon, and periods, the good times will always be cycling around, while the tricker times will eventually be on their merry way. Happy writing to those of us that tackle this maddest of cycles. Isn't it an absolute trip?!
Have a lovely week, folks.
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