I start a story without fanfare….or much planning.  Really, almost no prior plotting is involved when I sit down to write.  I often have a stupid moment somewhere along the line in a manuscript where I stop and say "wait, the hero had a brother?"  then have to go back and make sure my writing brain had some inkling before the rest of me did.  Strangely enough, the foundation is usually there.

My process is ridiculous.  No, really, it’s ridiculous.  I carry around these little notebooks - usually only one at a time because I don’t want to look like a total dweeb.   A thought will hit me and I’ll write it down.  When the idea starts to stick in my head - whether it’s an opening scene or a general plot idea - I write my little notes.  These notes are unreadable and would not be even slightly coherent to anyone else.  Frankly, if you read them you’d be convinced I’m insane.  The point is that I try to spin this handwritten mess into something, sit down and begin.  If it’s a romantic suspense, I’ll generally know who gets to die but not necessarily why or how.  No long synopsis.  No outline.  Just the scribbled notes of a crazy woman. 

The plot develops as I go along.  Then, every day (I say that as if I actually write every day like I should - but I do try, honest) I start by reviewing what I wrote the day before, edit that then I move forward.  Thanks to some bizarre compulsion, if I’m on chapter 3, I’ll go back to the beginning of the manuscript, to chapter 1, and read through and edit before I can start writing chapter 3.  This helps the characters to form in my mind (or so I like to believe) and for me to work on issues like continuity and plot flow (well, I’m hoping that’s true).  At some point about half way through the book, I stop going back to chapter 1 to start every writing day and, instead, limit the process to the previous 3 chapters.  Otherwise, each book would take me exactly 4 years to write and I can’t have that.  Rejections take 4 years so I must write faster to stay ahead of the thick envelopes that will soon clutter my mailbox.

I’ve heard Suzanne Brockmann speak about her process.  She starts with some horrifyingly long synopsis, like 90 pages, then "the book writes itself" from there.  Yeah, she said that and since I like her I didn’t throw anything at her.  I once heard Jennifer Crusie say "I write the good parts first" which is completely foreign to me since I have no freaking idea what the good parts are before I start.  I’ve mentioned Alison Kent’s plotting board and the nightmares that thing gave me.  If you’ve been to Nationals (RWA’s annual conference) you’ve gotten the thick book of handouts which inevitably includes about 100 charts, graphs and power point presentations on characters and plot.  I can’t even look through that book without vomiting.  If I’m supposed to being doing that I’m dead ’cause I can’t write using those devices.

We all have our way of doing this.  But, I often wonder if my way is really the right way for me.  This usually coincides with some writing life crisis, like when I decide I suck and should go into retail sales instead of trying to write a book.  Can we change our process?  I can’t imagine doing this another way.  Hell, I can barely do it the way I do it.  Should we try to change?  The answer, probably, is no.  Why change something that works or that we think works.  With my luck I’d change the process and then realize the only thing I had going for me was the unwieldy original process.  Very upsetting.

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