#Openbookbloghop – The Writing Process

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What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

This is an intriguing question which I can only answer if I first break down what I think my own writing process is.

I have only published one young adult book, While the Bombs Fell, and I have recently finished a much longer work for a young adult audience, Through the Nethergate. I am currently working on a novella called A Ghost and his Gold which is set during the Second Anglo Boer War in South Africa and the first book in a trilogy about a world in the throes of climate crisis and the fallout from the fourth industrial revolution.

My writing process for WTBF was rather experimental as it was the first longer and more complicated story I attempted. It involved a lot of historical research which was enjoyable but time consuming. I learned a lot about developing a historical timeline of real events first and then fitting your story around it so that the timing all works correctly. I only realised that I need a historical timeline after I had finished the first draft of the book so I took me a lot of time and effort to go back and turn the entire story around and remodel it onto the historical timeline. I’ll never forget this lesson, that I can promise. I also learned a lot about dialogue and showing not telling as I have previously written non-fiction books which have a different writing style.

I carried my learning experiences from WTBF through to TTNG up front so the structure and flow of this book was much smoother from the beginning. That made my writing experience easier and quicker. The developmental edits for this book were much smaller from a structure and story line point of view, and more around a developing emotion and showing rather than telling perspective. Another steep learning curve.

With my two WIPs I have had a good idea of the basic story outline up front and have fleshed it out as I go along. I research each new section as I write it which is why my word count rarely exceeds 1 500 words in one sitting as the research is time consuming and I check to a number of sources for factual accuracy.  I am doing my best to show and not tell and build in the emotion and description as I go along. I wonder what my new developmental editing points will be?

Going back to the question as to what is the most difficult thing for me in the artistic process, it is getting the detail and emotion into the story in a compelling way. The facts need to be conveyed in and interesting and natural way that fits in with the characters and the story and this is hard work and requires effort and deep concentration for me.

This post was written for the Open Book Blog Hop
What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

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Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

Published

51 thoughts on “#Openbookbloghop – The Writing Process”

  5. Pingback: #Openbookbloghop – The Writing Process – Ed;s Site.

  11. Such an informative post, Robbie. It interesting to see how other writers work. Having to go back and create the historical timeline probably wasn’t easy, but I’m sure you learned much about the writing process by having to do that. I find I have to keep a timeline for my modern-day fiction stories, otherwise, I would get confused.

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  12. My most difficult part of the ‘artistic process’ is not the artistic process really, but all the rest that comes with writing a book – the editing process, the beta reading, the clean-up and publishing… you know, the HARD stuff!

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    1. Thanks Jessica, I don’t find the editing process that hard. Once given a bit of direction from my editor, I am like a dog with a bone about it. It is so interesting to discover what makes each individual writer tick and what we all struggle with.

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          1. Great POV. I’ve been wondering about the whole ‘editor’ thing. I’d love to have one before self-pubbing (assuming I’m not picked up traditionally), but I’m reluctant to pick just anyone. How did you hook up with yours?

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  13. I have a hard time with emotion, too. Especially since my MC is logic-driven and sometimes ignores her emotions in search of logical answers.

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  17. Pingback: #Openbookbloghop – The Writing Process ~ Roberta Eaton | Sue Vincent's Daily Echo

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