Preparing To Write A Book . . .

I published a novel in May of 2011.

I’m preparing to write a companion book—a collection of 19 short stories that happen in the same universe and time-frame as the novel.

It may be of interest how I prepare to write.

In fact, it may be important to let you know I consider all the Preparation to be “writing”, too.

Putting the words on the screen or page is merely the final phase of the whole Process of Writing.

Is this different from how you may experience Writing? If so, let us know your thoughts and feelings in the Comments :-)

So, the way I Prepare…

For the novel, it was 23 years of study—psychology, philosophy, sociology, religion, politics, and a few other topics.

Of course, during those years I didn’t know I was preparing a novel—looking back is what proves it…

Then, 11 years of trying out various formats and plot structures—actually, 11 years of life crises (part of the Preparation) with a few intensive attempts to get the Form of the novel shaped…

I also utilized my relationships on Book Island in the virtual world Second Life to get some broad concepts from folks—their responses to the over-all Theme of the book.

The putting-words-down part took  about six months.

Then, of course, the attending to revisions sparked by the editor and a few early readers.

Part of preparing to put the words down for the second book is all the additional reading—this time not as wide-ranging as for the novel since my mind has already narrowed down the areas of life that need attention.

Some of the reading has been purely Massaging my Mind—fiction and non-fiction that I’ve intuitively felt would loosen-up the flow from unconscious to conscious…

My next task is to re-read the novel Hindustan Contessa by Jane Watson. I’ll be writing my thoughts, feelings, and opinions as I read; sending those to Jane; and, discussing them with her. This task is important to me as a writer—really getting into the larger considerations of the writing process with another person…

The next phase is to deeply contemplate the 30+ pages of notes I’ve been compiling for months.

Since the second book is a reshaping of the same themes as the novel, getting to know what I actually wrote in the novel is one of the things I’m doing to prepare—yes, a writer can write things and still need to discover what they actually said :-)

So, then, re-reading the Novel and beginning the final Notes for the short stories…

As I’m writing I’ll be sending each story to my Beta Readers—folks who read the novel and want to give feedback on the stories.

Finally, I’ll be sending the stories to two editors…

Part of the reason for many Beta Readers and two editors is that me and one of those editors missed 12 typos in the novel :-)

So, that’s a peek into the Process I call Writing.

And, if you’re a writer, what’s your Process?
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