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Writer's pictureHelen Claringbull

Nearly there!

The book that I began writing over a year ago (but which sat untouched for most of 2023 until the summer holidays finally arrived!), is finally nearing completion.


A friend recently asked me about the writing process; what do I do and how to I do it?


The process is quite a long one.


To begin, I need an idea. Sometimes that comes easily, but other times it's the hardest part!


Once I have that initial idea, I put all my thoughts about the story I plan to write down into a word document or scribble them in a notebook. I think about what I want to write and try to make sense of the shape of the story. The trouble is, the finished book rarely looks anything like the plan! It's when I start writing the text properly, that the characters take over in my head, and the story changes direction.


To actually write the initial manuscript, I start with a blank word document in which I try to form chapters. Some are long, some are short. Some have lots of dialogue, others very little, because the characters are 'thinking' rather than 'conversing'. I sometimes hit a block, but then I'll be out walking or gardening or even sleeping and suddenly the ideas will come and I can't wait to get to the computer to blurt it all out. It's like I can't think of anything else until that part of the story is written down. That's happened twice in the past week and as a result, the final words have now been penned!


Next, I have to make sense of my ramblings and format them into something resembling a book! That's the stage where I'm at now. The basic text is written, but it needs completely re-working into a more cohesive product, correcting mistakes and refining what I've blurted out in a desperate hurry to brain dump my ideas! Sometimes the words I've written don't flow, or have obvious gaps where my fingers couldn't type fast enough for my brain, but I can usually remember enough of what I intended to say to make sense of it all!



After that, it's the editing and publishing process. That's even more time consuming, so don't expect my next novel for a few more weeks yet, but I am finally in a position to say that there will definitely be another book this year!

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