4. The Initial Writing Process

Have you ever thought about writing a book? Let me just tell you that you definitely can. It's not so much that it is easy to do, but it is simple to do. It takes time... a LOT of time. And energy. And focus. But it is actually a very simple thing to do. Find a story in your mind - something that excites you. Something that you can't stop thinking about. Then just put it onto paper. Take 30 minutes a day plus an hour on the weekend to sit yourself down and just write down / type up all of your thoughts. No rhyme. No reason. Just get it out of your head. You can start small, but you do need to just start. That's the hardest part.

Over time, you'll start to find threads and themes lining up. You'll see different scenes popping up or fizzling out and you'll be able to start organizing everything in a way that brings the narrative together. You'll see characters develop, ideas form, new crazy things will leap into your head that you'll either throw away or make into an essential part of your story. What ever you do, be sure to have a goal in mind. Stick with it and be consistent.

I'm a planner. I like to have every step of the process laid out in front of me before I start any project. Now that does not mean it needs to be perfect, but I hate redoing work because something needed to change or pivot midway through a project. Nothing is worse than spending three weeks working on something only to find out that all of that work has to be scraped and redone.

So I created an outline for Aether Guardian before a single word was even typed up. It wasn't extremely detailed, but it gave me a direction to go with for each major movement of the story.

"Start here, add this, and remember to include this point at the end."

"Then move to this location, include this detail, CONFLICT with Cecilia and Blah Character"

"Blah Blah Blah explain the magic system... Remember to include character development here"

"Insert Fight sequence here! You know... the really cool one!"

Four or five pages of that kind of stuff. It got the job done and I knew in my head what I was looking to create.

Luckily for me, I worked in a library and had a lot of down time. So after finishing my homework, I'd crack open my chrome book and get typing. For about an hour to an hour and a half, four times a week, I'd type. I'd have my outline in front of me and I'd just get my thoughts down on the document. The problem came when I actually started writing.

I found myself forgetting key details or having to go back and retype a section because I was tired and something didn't quite make sense when I reread it. There were some times when I would start typing for the night thinking I would go down this path for the story, only for it to be completely different by the time I was finished. It helped fill out and bulk up the content of the book, but I often found myself sidetracked or distracted from my main goal for the night.

But it was fun! It was exciting! I'm finally doing the thing!

I was being consistent, I was sticking to a routine, and content was being created. For about three-ish months, I had managed to create the first 100-ish pages of the book! But of course life gets in the way. Exams, final projects, and gearing up for summer courses. I didn't have time to work on it, but I desperately wanted to!

Four months went by and not a single page was written. But hey! Exams are over and it's time to re-read what I've written so far and get back at it....

EEEWWWWW!!

THAT'S WHAT I WROTE!!

It was bad... Guys it was reeeeeealy bad. Not that the story was bad or anything. But the actual words, phrases, tone, and style. It was all so wooden. I was a graduate student of course, so everything I wrote for school had to be very academic, formal, and professional. And it really showed in my first draft.

Everything was so stiff. It didn't flow smoothly. It read more like a documentary than a fantasy novel. Like reading a manual on "How to Aether Guardian," it felt like I was reading instructions instead of the new world I was trying to create and had imagined in my head.

So I locked back in, adjusted a few things, and started tacking away at it. In four more months, I had finished the first draft. Single spaced, 12pt font, standard 8.5x11 pages, it was roughly 280-ish pages (adjusted for spacing and such).

It was finally done. My world has been set, and I wrote a book! But that was literally just step one...