#askwolf08

Step 1: Brain dump

As soon as I get a story idea, I write down anything and everything that comes to mind for it. And I mean anything: what if scenarios that would be fun to explore, snippets of dialogue, specific settings, physical descriptions of characters, names of characters, anything. I don’t organize it, just dump it somewhere (usually a note in my phone).

Keep that note handy because, if you are like me, the ideas could hit at literally any given moment (while I’m falling asleep… while I’m at work… while I’m watching a movie… while I’m in the middle of a conversation…), and I have a tendency to forget things if I don’t write them down right away.

Also, this step actually never ends. I am continuously brain dumping throughout the entire writing process.

Step 2: String it together

This step begins the moment I realize I’ve got enough material and am excited enough about an idea to attempt to turn it into a full-fledged multi-chapter story. I start by pulling the good parts out of my brain dump notes and thinking about how to string them together in a story.

Then I write a short synopsis of the story that answers questions like: What’s the story about? Who is the main character? What is their goal? What are main themes for the story? I usually start thinking about titles for the story around this stage (or a working title), but that can certainly happen later. Then I organize everything into a one-pager working summary of the story. I try not to get too attached to this summary because it will almost definitely change (many times) during the upcoming steps.

Step 3: Build the world

Even for fan fiction-writing based in a pre-existing world, I find it helpful to think about the context and settings more deeply. Things like the environment, the weather, the living conditions, the overarching mood, etc. I also like to make short profiles for the main characters to capture important details about their motivations, challenges to overcome, appearances, abilities, and relationships, as applicable to my story.

There are tons of character profile and worldbuilding templates out there, with varying levels of detail. I personally like to keep mine high-level, even for OCs and new settings, or else I will get stuck in an endless rabbit hole of world-building procrastination and never get to the actual writing lol. For real, I have been so stuck and frustrated with this step for previous WIPs that I’ve completely abandoned them.   

Step 4: Plot the story

At this point you could probably start writing. But, at this stage, my brain is often a scattered ball of excitement that jumps around between different story points, so I like taking extra time to map things out.

This is when I create two key documents: my story overview and my master outline. The story overview is a more polished version of my working summary. I like to use a framework to structure it. A popular and rather fool-proof one for adventure stories is the Hero’s Journey (it’s what I’m currently using for my WIP). But there are tons of options out there. I also organize my world-building and character profiling notes into the story overview. The goal is for this document to contain an organized snapshot of… well, everything.

Then there’s the master outline – the main planning document. This is a fleshed-out version of the story overview, which describes specific moments and sometimes even fully-written scenes that I came up with in the brain dump. Here is where I start to think of where story arcs and chapters may start and end.

For me, both of these documents are very much ongoing products that I keep on adding to, revising, and even rewriting throughout the whole story, so try not to get too bogged down with making them perfect. Be open to the fact that you’ll probably get some of your best ideas while you’re actually working on the story and that these ideas might even flip your outline upside down.  

If this just sounds cumbersome and horrible to you, then just don’t do it lol. Working from clean and current outlines just makes my brain happy and helps remind me of the story’s big picture.  

Step 5: Plot the chapter

Now it’s writing time, right? For some people, probably. But for me, I like to make chapter outlines first. Basically I extract the chunk of the master outline that I want to capture within the specific chapter I’m working on, and flesh it out in as much detail as I can. This helps me figure out the order I want things to happen and think more carefully about how they’re going to flow.

Another reason I like making chapter outlines is I find them easier to work from during the actual drafting than my bulky-ass master outline.

I am horrible at estimating how many words it’ll take to write a scene (I tend to underestimate). In my WIP, I’m working to keep chapters a relatively consistent length (3k-4k words). So, I try to keep that in mind when developing chapter outlines.

A bonus of writing a chapter outline is, if you make it detailed enough, you might even consider it the chapter’s first draft.

Step 6: Write draft 1 of the chapter

And now it’s time for both my favourite and what is often the most frustrating step: writing the first draft of a chapter. I open the chapter outline in one side of my screen, a blank document on the other, get thesaurus.com queued up, and then run with it. It isn’t always easy to find that sweet spot of having the right amount of motivation, energy, and time for this step to come easily. But when it does – oh boy. That’s the real bread and butter of this whole thing.

I do find this is where being a planner comes in clutch. I always know what’s going to happen next, which does wonders for preventing writer’s block.

Some advice from my experience (that I am actively working on) is don’t self-edit too much in this step. Do not expect perfection. In fact, you might straight-up dislike the first draft (I usually do). But there will be plenty of time to edit and fuss and workshop it into something you do like in a future step. For now, your goal is simply to make your story exist (in any shape or form).

Step 7: Edit, Edit, Edit

If, somehow, your first draft is in excellent condition, this could be a very quick step. But, if you’re like me, this step often turns into a total rewrite of the chapter. Once the first draft exists, it makes it so much easier to see what doesn’t work and needs to be fixed, and to think about things like pacing and flow.

You can spend as much time on this step as you’d like. On average, I find myself editing chapters about 3 times, with the first step sometimes being a full rewrite, and the last being more of a stylistic touch-up. I also find it helpful to read my work out loud during the last edit.

I honestly love this step. I’m all about nit-picking and wordsmithing, especially when it comes to my own work, and find it so satisfying to see the chapter finally coming together how I want it to.

This is also a great place to get feedback on your story, like from a beta reader, or really anyone willing to give it a read.  

Step 8: Rinse and repeat

Now that you’ve got a chapter done, it’s on to the next one! While it’s probably easier to write an entire book from start to finish before publishing any of it, I love how fan fiction gives you an opportunity for ongoing feedback/reactions, so I enjoy publishing chapters as I’m writing.

BUT… (and my WIP is the first time I’m doing this) I give myself a buffer of 3 to 4 chapters, between the chapter that I publish and the one I’m working on. This gives me space to go back and make changes to chapters, plant foreshadowing, make ruthless edits, etc. before I’ve published them.

So, what my writing process tends to look like in action is that I’m always working on 4 different things at the same time:

Brain dumping ideas for current and future scenes into a note in my phone;

Plotting/organizing my master outline or a chapter outline;

Writing a chapter’s draft; and

Editing the previous chapter’s draft.  

The beauty of having different tasks on the go is if you’re ever not in the mood for one of them, you’ve got other options! This helps me so much with writer’s block; I’m less likely to feel stuck or tired of doing one thing.  

Step 9: Post the chapter

Oh, the very best time for me to spot typos in a chapter, no matter how many times I’ve edited it, is after I’ve posted it. 😊

General points

You can ditch the outline. If the outline feels daunting or just not working for you, ignore it and write what you want. Sometimes the best ideas happen that way, for me. BUT I am still Team Outline because even if I don’t stick with it, having one helps me reflect on whether what I had intended to write should move somewhere else or could be scrapped.

I write chronologically. This happens inherently with writing fan fic, where you publish one chapter at a time. But it also helps with character development. For example, sometimes I’m planning for something to happen at a certain time, but when I get there, realize the characters aren’t ready. Like planning for a kiss scene but realizing the romantic chemistry needs more building, or planning for a character to hit a breaking point but realizing you need to torment them some more first lol.

Don’t micromanage. Word count goals do not work for me. Neither does blocking off specific times to write, at least with my current life schedule. I do need some goals though, especially if I’m trying to build writing into my regular routines. I prefer setting broader goals for myself that are more flexible, like writing 2 chapters per month. And if I don’t meet my goals, I try not to get worked up over it.

Take breaks when you need to. Taking breaks to recharge and do non-writing things is as important as any of the above steps, for me. Immerse in things that inspire and excite you. This could mean doing totally different hobbies, socializing with people, or even writing other things. I find prioritizing my mental health helps protect my creative spark. And, likewise, that spark helps with my mental health.

Write what you want. Write what you’d want to read. This is your hobby. You likely aren’t getting paid for this. You are doing this because you love it. Being canon-compliant or even finishing a book isn’t the goal – you enjoying the process of writing is.

Well, that answer might have been a bit extra (on brand with my writing process I guess LOL). But that was super fun and actually really helpful for me to articulate. Thanks sooo much again for that question! Always happy to answer any questions about writing or my WIPs or anything at all! ❤️