So, What Exactly is My Writing Process? – Blogtober 2021

Chaos.

Okay, no not really, but there are times it feels like it. I got asked this question a few times, and I figured this would be a fun thing to talk about.

My writing process depends on two things: what are my current distractions, and what is my timeline. Seriously, if one of those two things starts getting crazy, I can guarantee nothing is going to get done (like my review for 9-1-1 5×02, which is still half done, and I need to finish it for tomorrow).

How I start depends on what triggers the idea. Sometimes it’s a comment someone makes, usually a throwaway line in conversation. Other times it’s me wanting to change a scene from a television show or movie, or bring two elements together. And sometimes, in the case of challenges, it’s when I have a prompt and I just sit and stare at it until something hits me.

Once I have the idea, I usually come up with a short summary of what I’m aiming for. This could be a line, or a paragraph. It’s not meant to be overly detailed, it’s just a overview. From this, I’ll expand to bullet points. I wouldn’t call it an outline, but just more ideas. Several of my bullet points are usually related to setting the scene or how characters are feeling.

At this point, I’ve got an idea of where I’m going. So now it depends on the time of day and who is around. If it’s during the early afternoon or evening, there are usually a few people on my Discord who want to sprint. We do writing sprints for twenty minutes at a time, with a bot keeping track of our word counts (we input after each sprint). It’s a lot of fun and brings out the competitive angle. If I’m writing in a sprint, this is more of a freeform writing style. I’ll go back and edit, sure, but I’m not trying to stay bound. (It’s great for Whumptober, I swear.)

If no one is around, I usually just try to expand my bullet points into an actual outline. This is normally for my longer series. Once that outline is significantly set up, I try to write in order, from scene to scene. If I try to write scenes out of order, I usually have to scrap something, because they never line up right.

One of the biggest thing that has helped me in writing is the music I listen to. While I do listen to a lot of music, I’ve found that listening to lofi helps me focus. I can turn on Spotify and play it in the background, and it doesn’t bother me. Also, by using Spotify, I’m not seeing dynamic backgrounds or music videos, which would increase my chance for distraction.

I don’t have a set writing time, meaning that I don’t try to write for two hours a day or something. Instead, I try to write for as long as I want, regardless of quality. It doesn’t matter if it’s the most terrible thing I’ve ever written, it’s words on a page.

I also don’t set a word count, unless required for a challenge. Usually I aim for at least 1K words, but sometimes it’s less. It just depends on what I’m working on, and when the story feels like it is coming to a natural end.

Once I have finished writing a story, I actually save and close out and do something else for a bit. I just let it sit there completely unedited. After some time (15 minutes to a few days, again depending on time), I’ll open it again and give it a quick read through, making mental notes and immediate changes. If I have ink, I’ll sometime print out a copy to hand edit, though that’s not common right now because our family printer basically goes through ink in less than 80 pages.

After the first pass through, I take another break, but this time it is so I can come up with the details I need for finishing the story, especially if it’s a fanfic for AO3. That means title, rating, summary, any and all tags, and any author notes that may be necessary. That can take anywhere from ten minutes total to an hour.

I’ll give it a few more reads before I get ready to post it on AO3. Here is when I do my final read through. When I post the story in the text box, nine times out of ten it initially gets shown with quadruple line spacing, instead of just double, so I have to go through and delete the extra lines. While I do that, I go through the story word for word, making sure that I’ve cleaned up any of the issues and checking for any spelling and grammar mistakes that may have been missed.

And then I preview it, and skim it. And then I post it, and skim it.

By the time a fic is posted, I’ve usually read through it at least eight times, depending on the length. This way I can say I’ve done everything in my power to catch my mistakes.

And that’s it, my writing process, from idea to posting. The entire process, depending on the word count, can take between five hours (if it’s a spec fic or just very short), to two days. I try not to sit on stories, challenge and contest fics notwithstanding.

I hope you all enjoyed this look into how I get my fics written. I’m over on AO3 as RileyMasters if you want to read some fanfic. I promise I don’t bite. Much. I might nibble though, no promises.

Until next time!