Process – And where does it fit in

You can tell where all of the drunk writers are in their books by our blog posts this week.

Molly has just finished a book(minor revisions aside), Maureen is nearing the end of hers and I’m waist deep in the first draft of mine.

Usually in the first draft I try and shut out everything except writing the story. I don’t edit as I go along, I have an outline I use, but I veer from it often.
Before I write a word, I tend to mull over my ideas. I liken it to coffee percolating. It takes a couple of months before I really have a handle on story arc, who the characters are, and very roughly, what happens. I usually know the beginning and the ending pretty well, but the rest gets sorted out as I write that first draft.

But the truth is, as much as I think I have worked out before I sit down to write, it’s never enough. I’ve tried expanding the planning stage, detailed, scene by scene outlines, but that failed me, and left me scrambling to put a book back together.

But I have learned a ton in the past year. McKee, conferences, story structure, character arc, it’s all there in my head and while I think I apply some of it as I write that first draft, I know I don’t apply all of it.

So what I’m going to do this time is finish the draft, sit back and analyze it. Scene by scene. Does each scene move the story along, subplots, are they well spaced throughout the book and do they relate back to the main plot? Do my characters show multiple facets of their personalities?

I’ve actually never done this before and I’m excited to try it. Sit down and write a brief description of each scene, does it serve the main plot, a subplot, or both? Does it move the story forward, or just repeat information the reader already knows? Are the character’s expectations shifted, or reversed? Is there a gradual, logical buildup to each turning point, but done so in an unexpected way?

I might end up bashing my head into a wall, but I know asking these questions before I had a rough draft would have left me shaking and quivering with fear before I sat down to write anything.

This way, I have something to start with. But it also may horribly backfire and I may have a ton of that rough draft to completely re-write.

It’s a gamble.

How does it work for everyone else? Do you plan before you write anything, after a certain draft, or at all? Would love to hear about other people’s process and what works for them.