Accepting (& embracing) your writing process
As I’m a third into drafting novel number two, a lot of feelings came up for me around my process. In the writing group I’m a part of, one woman is able to zip through a first draft in a matter of weeks, another managed to write 10,000 words of a new draft in less than a month. Me — I technically started this draft back in February, with a goal of finishing my first draft by my birthday (the end of August). Obviously that didn’t happen.
What did happen, might have been better. I came to accept my unique writing process.
One of my favourite writing podcasts is The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, hosted by author Bianca Marais. She frequently interviews other authors and asks them about their writing process (among other things). I happened to listen to two episodes back-to-back — one with Susie Yang (author of White Ivy) and Jeffrey Archer (Britain's top selling novelist). Yang talked about how she edits as she goes, and she’s an extreme perfectionist. She admits she could “spend two years writing the first 50 pages a thousand times,” but if she can get it to a place where she can’t possibly think of another way to write it, then “the last 80% of the book comes really quickly.”
Archer has a completely different process. He tells Marais, “I still do 14 drafts of each book and I wish there was a shortcut, but until I find one I will keep going to the latest draft again, and again, and again.”
There’s also pantsers vs plotters (aka do you just write and see what happens or do you plot it out) — both with their own advocates for each method. Some writers swear by writing by hand — which does have scientific merit — while others love using the writing program Scrivener.
In case you haven’t figured it out yet, there is no “right” way to write a book or do anything creative. The problem is, we might read about a way we should do something or we hear our favourite author talk about their process and think, “Oh if that’s how they do it, I need to do the same thing.” What you really need to do is find out what works for you.
As I’m knee deep into book number two, I feel like I’m only starting to figure out what works for me. I know I’m never going to be that person who finishes a first draft in a month. Similar to Yang, I need to get that first act to a place that feels like solid ground, before I can continue on. I personally can’t build a house on a shaky foundation. For other writers, it’s essential they pour out every thought onto the page before they can look at a word they’ve written.
Once you discover your unique process — which you can only truly find out from testing different methods and using your intuition — is to accept it. Your process is yours. One way isn’t better or worse than another. It’s just another way to achieve the same end goal. What happens when you not only accept but embrace your process, you can lean into it. For example, I’m accepting my need to have a solid Act One before I can move on. Instead of beating myself up about it, I can pursue that fully without wasting time second guessing myself. Same with the speed at which I write. How fast I write is how fast I write and that’s OK. Maybe it will change in the future and that’s OK too. I expect some things about my process to evolve as I write more books and some things will likely stay the same.
If you’re not sure what process works best for you, try a bunch of things out and see how it feels. Push yourself to write without any self-editing and see if that makes you feel good. Try writing a few scenes by hand and see what unfolds. Just like there are endless ways to write a story, there are endless ways to get there. All you need to do is find your unique way.
