A very good-looking reader recently asked if I write my books in longhand first, or start on the computer.
The answer is: Both.
I highly recommend this way.
- Suggestion: Buy a nice writing notebook that opens flat. (I like pretty notebooks, but that’s just me.) Buy a nice gel pen, too.
My process
At the beginning of my writing day, I take out my notebook and pen and write a brief, messy, unedited synopsis of the scene I want to write.
My notes are vague and terribly written. Like this:
Olive, Jason and her brothers load the whiskey into the milk truck and they go over the plan to unload it early the next morning, then begin the process of getting it through the tunnel.
Not pretty, but at least I know what the characters will be doing.
I give myself a half-hour to write in my notebook, then take my notes to the computer. Sometimes, I plan two or three scenes within that time. It depends how much imagining is involved.
- Tip: Not sure what to write? Read The Seven Essential Elements of Scene.
When the scenes are written, I start the process again, and repeat until I write the whole book.
- Imagine.
- Scribble.
- Type.