My Process

Hi everybody,

As most of you know, I’m working on Gallagher Girls 6 right now.  (And, yes, it’s probably the last one.  And, no, I don’t know exactly when it is going to be released.  Sorry I don’t have any more info just yet.)

Every time I start a book I find myself thinking a lot about…well…how to write a book.  It’s a question that I get asked A LOT and now I’m going to write about it here.

Not HOW TO WRITE A BOOK but rather HOW I WRITE BOOKS.  Why do I make that distinction?  Because there is no one way to write a book.  Sure, occasionally people say Do it this way!  This is the only respectable way to do it!  (That, btw, is when I immediately stop respecting those people.)

So, just so we’re clear, there is no one way to do this.  Every author is different.  Heck, every BOOK is different.  How I write GG6 will be different from what I just went through with Heist 3.  Why?  Because they’re different books.  But there are some things that always stay the same, and I’m going to talk about those now.

 

Step 1:  Get an idea
Sometimes it is an idea for a whole new series.  Sometimes it is an idea for a further adventure for characters I’ve already introduced.  Whatever the case, ideas are everywhere.  Finding ideas is just something writers do.  I don’t know how.  I just know that if you want to find them you have to look for them–like wild mushrooms.  Know where they might crop up.  Go in search of them.  Keep your eyes open.  And be careful not to eat the toadstools.

 

Step 2:  Figure out the key plot points
I’ve talked before about storyboarding, but I can’t really talk about my process without addressing this again.  It is ESSENTIAL to how I write.

Basically, this is an old-school screenwriting technique where you write all the potential scenes on a note card or post-it notes or something, and then you put them all in order.  (I have two big whiteboards–one for each series–and a lot of post-its.)

The ideas themselves will dictate what I write on some of those cards.  “Girl at spy school falls for normal boy” means there has to be a scene where we meet this girl.  There’s probably going to be a scene where we see what it means to go to spy school.  And there absolutely has to be a scene when she meets that boy.

If your idea doesn’t in itself give you four or five scenes then (in my opinion) you might not have enough for a whole book.  Maybe you do.  Maybe that’s YOUR process.  But you won’t know until you try.

 

Step 3:  Write something that hammers out the plot
You might think that, since I storyboard, I go into the first draft knowing exactly what is going to happen in the book.  I wish.  Sadly, I usually just know a few big picture things, ,and the smaller details are still very fuzzy.  I used to hate that.  But that is my process.  And part of being a writer is learning to understand, appreciate, and love your process.

If I knew everything that I was going to write before I started writing, my favorite scene in GG5 wouldn’t be in there.  Nor would my favorite scene in Heist Society.  And GG3.  There are scenes you set out to write, and scenes that sneak up on you, surprise you, and take you–and your reader–to places you never dreamed.  And that’s a good thing.  And least for me and my process.

So how do you write those scenes?  By writing.

I have recently started doing something differently.  For my last three books (GG5, Heist 3, and now GG6) I’ve actually used screenplay software (Final Draft) to write what is something of a hybrid between a draft and an outline.

You see, for me, everything sounds great in theory.  I won’t actually know if it’s working until I’ve put some dialogue and direction and action on the page.  This technique lets me do that very quickly to know if the plot is working before I tackle a real draft with prose and internal dialogue and other things.

 

Step 4:  Write a real first draft
I love my alphasmart.  It’s a handy dandly little word processor that lets you type something (say…a book) and then download it to a real computer.

It’s light.  It runs on 3 AA batteries that last forever.  And it doesn’t have internet access (or, at least, my version doesn’t.)  So no distractions.

As soon as I finish the screenplay (that isn’t really a screenplay) I will start a first draft.  This, too, will be very rough and messy with far more questions than answers.  And I’ll write every word of it on that Alphasmart.  Usually while sitting in a booth at a coffee shop or cafe.

People look at me like I’m crazy.  Strangers ask me exactly what my Alphasmart is.  Waiters and waitresses start bonding with me because I’m there as much as they are.

But that won’t last long.  A month to six weeks?  Something like that.  And at the end of it I will have 50-60,000 utterly crappy words that, hopefully, will eventually become a pretty good book.

Step 5:  Feedback
At this point, I will probably show my crappy first draft to Editor Cat.  Editor Cat is a saint for looking at it and not weeping (in front of me) and threatening that I will never write in this town again!

She could do it.  The first draft is that bad.  Most authors wouldn’t DREAM of showing an editor something that still contains lines like INSERT A GOOD WAY OF GETTING OFF THE MOUNTAIN HERE?  Or WHY HAVEN’T WE SEEN CAMMIE’S MOM IN 200 PAGES?

But Editor Cat knows and understands my process.  She knows and understands ME.  And she will read that crappy draft and tell me things like “You’re right.  The boat chase isn’t working.”  Or “Maybe you should re-think that subplot with the rogue Marine.”  Or whatever.

We will take this time to talk about the BIG PICTURE.  What is and isn’t working and, most importantly, what do I want this book to be.

Then I’ll go to work on the second draft.

 

Step 6:  Rewrite like the wind
Writing is rewriting.  I’m not sure who said that first, but he or she is a genius.

At this point, the deadline is usually weighing on my pretty heavily.  I’ve been working for 2-3 months and have nothing but a big pile of goo on my hands.  It’s time to roll up my sleeves and dig in to the messy stuff.

Nothing is sacred.  Anything and everything can and will go.

This isn’t the time to work on the book with a scalpel.  Now is when I hack up that sucker with a chainsaw.

This is almost always the most exhausting (both physically and mentally) part of the process.  And when it’s over, the book will be very different, and hopefully much, much better.

Back to Editor Cat it goes.

 

Step 7:  Revise again.
This next draft I will do a lot of the same things I did in the second draft, but I will also start paying more careful attention to detail.  And pacing.  Right now is when I do pick up that scalpel and take out every unnecessary word, phrase, syllable.  Now is where the plot has got to fly and the writing has to shine.

It’s also when I eat a lot of ice cream.

 

Step 8:  Line edits.
Yep.  More rewriting.

 

Step 9:  Copyedits.
Yay.  Yep.  Rewriting once again, though this time with careful attention to spelling, grammar, typos, etc.

 

Step 10:  Galley edits
One last round.

 

And finished.

That’s it, folks.  My process in ten (not so) easy steps.

If you hate how I do it, okay.  Don’t do it my way.  Do it your way.

After all, there is no RIGHT way.

Ally