I know it seems hard to believe that I, Melodía J. Parker, who takes a million years to write a novel, have a writing process. I promise I do! And I'm actually getting better at it!
The very first thing I do when I'm getting ready to write a novel is to plan it. I do my planning in a notebook. I buy these really cheap notebooks that are Moleskine knockoffs. They come in a pack of 8 and are about $40. That's $5 a notebook. A single Moleskine notebook costs way more than that (over $20). Yes, it's not the same quality as a Moleskine notebook, but it serves my purposes just fine. I don't need a fancy notebook for my novel planning.
In my notebook, I have several sections:
- Overview
- Characters
- Locations
- Timeline
- Research
- General Outline
- Chapter by Chapter Detailed Outline
- "Brain Dumps"
Now, I know what you're going to say - but Scrivener does that! Yes, I'm aware. I even have a license for both Scrivener and Scapple. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me. I tried using Scrivener to plan my novels and I was so distracted that I didn't use it for the intended purpose of planning my novel. Writing in a notebook is much better for me. However, I do highly recommend Scrivener and Scapple for everyone else. They are very amazing and awesome software programs that are affordable.
You might be wondering what I mean by "brain dumps." These are just notes and random thoughts about the novel that I write down, so that I don't forget them later. I often refer to them while I'm typing up my draft.
Once I have everything planned and researched, I start the first draft in Microsoft Word. I don't worry about formatting or typesetting, I also don't worry about errors. I will go over these in my second draft. The purpose of the first draft is to get everything written down (or, in this case, typed up). Later drafts will become more and more refined.
Once I get to the final draft, I do the formatting and typesetting. Most of the time, Word is fine for this. However, I do use Atticus for those more complex projects.
I usually have three variants of each of my books - a hardcover, a paperback, and an ebook.
After everything is formatted and typeset for each variant of my book, it's then time to upload my book to the publisher. And, then, it's time for the book to be published and for me to make some money! Okay, maybe I won't make money, but the book is ready for the world!