The Process

How I Write My Books

In 2019, I wrote and self-published A Troll Walks into a Bar, a noir mystery/urban fantasy mashup featuring working-class private investigator Alexander Southerland and his encounters with a sadistic troll cop, a sleazy gnome lawyer, and a femme fatale from the depths of the sea. I wrote it just to see if I could write a full-length novel, and I figured a few friends and family members might read it. The experience was so exhilarating that I wrote six more Southerland novels, plus a novella set in the same world. And now I’m working hard on the first novel of a new series, also set in the same world, but featuring a new main character: Benedict Shade. It should be out by the end of the year. That will make nine books in five years, which is considered fairly prolific.

My books have been sort-of-successful, especially in the world of self-published and indie works, and I’ve had a great time interacting with readers and other authors on social media (mainly Twitter). For me, the writing and publishing experience—even though it involves time and effort—has been tremendous fun. I even enjoy marketing my work!

One of the things I’ve learned from other authors is that every writer has their own way of working and their own methods for producing a book. My methods have evolved to some degree as I’ve gained valuable experience, but they don’t differ a whole lot from when I first sat down and stared at a blank computer screen wondering what I was going to write. I’m going to describe some of the things that work for me. If you are a writer, or if you have thoughts of becoming a writer, your own ways of working will no doubt differ from mine. That’s fine, because the only universal rule for writing a book is to write it in whatever way works for you.

The only thing I need before I sit down to write a book is the desire to do it. It certainly helps to have a vague idea to develop and a character or two to write about, but when I sat down to write my first book (Troll) I had neither. I didn’t even have a genre. I simply wrote the first thing that came into my head, and then I just kept going, making it all up as I went along. Twelve weeks later, I had a completed draft for a 110-thousand word book. Much to my surprise, it turned out to be the first book of a series.

Okay, so I’m at my computer, and I’m ready to go. (An aside: I only write on the computer, and I only use Word, because that’s what I’m used to. I don’t own any notebooks, and it’s been so long since I’ve used pen and paper that I’ve almost forgotten how to form letters.) Next step is to write a first line. Sometimes I’ll spend hours on my first line, and sometimes it comes to me right away. The first line is important to me, because it establishes what I call the “vibe” of the story, the feeling I want to have in my head as I write, and the tone I want the book to generate to readers. Once I have a first line, I can write an entire book, even if I have to go back and change the first line in the process, which happens quite often. (As we’ll see, going back and changing what I’ve written as I write is an important part of my process).

Once I start writing, I tend to write anywhere between 1000 and 2000 words per day, sometimes a little less, sometimes a bit more, and most often somewhere around 1300. But there are days when I don’t write at all, and I feel absolutely no guilt at all on those days. I’ve often heard it said that a writer must write something every single day, come hell or high water, even if it’s just a few lines. I regard that as perhaps the worst advice anyone can give to a writer. Sure, writing is hard work, but, in my opinion, it shouldn’t be turned into a chore. Writing is fun. Chores are not.

Okay, now I’m writing, and I write the story as it comes to me. I never prepare an outline ahead of time. Many people do. Many people NEED to. You might be one of these. But for me, outlines are a waste of time. First of all, I’d never stick to it. By the second entry of my outline, I’d be off in an entirely different direction, rendering the rest of the outline moot. Second of all, I feel like if I’m writing an outline, I might as well be writing a story. But, again, that’s me. It need not be you.

I don’t need to know where the story is going in order to write where it’s at. But I do need two things: characters and a situation. Once I have my characters in a situation, I simply ask how my characters would be likely to respond to the situation they’ve found themselves in. What would they be likely to think, say, and do? That’s what I write. Often, the situation calls for me to create a new character on the spot, and sometimes these characters become mainstays in the series. Many of the recurring characters in my Southerland series—Lubank and Gracie, Smokey and Badass, Cody, Gio, Walks in Cloud, Cougar, and several others—were created on the fly during the course of a story because a situation called for them.

Sometimes I reach a point where my characters want to respond to the situation they’re in by doing nothing. That’s when I have to poke them with a stick. What that means is that I have to add something to the situation, something that forces the characters to act. This can be anything from presenting them with new information to out-and-out threatening them. I enjoy threatening my characters. That’s when we find out a lot about who they are deep inside.

I run on most mornings. Most of my best ideas come to me during my runs or when I’m outside walking. Something about being outdoors and moving opens my brain and fires my synapses. If I’m ever stuck on a passage, going outside usually clears my thinking in a hurry. I’ve never experienced writer’s block, and I’m convinced that it’s because I run regularly. Walking works just as well.

I usually start writing after lunch and finish up just before dinner. I begin every writing session by re-reading, editing, and, if necessary, revising everything I wrote the day before. A lot of writers don’t like to go back over their work until they’ve finished a first draft. They say they get so bogged down in the revision process that they can’t move forward. I’m just the opposite. I need to make sure my foundation is firm before I can continue to build on it. Plus, reading my previous day’s work gives me the momentum to proceed, especially on those days when I’m feeling too lazy to write.

After dinner, Rita, my wonderful wife and editor, reads my work out loud while I peer over her shoulder and read silently along with her. I strongly recommend listening to your work being read aloud while reading along, so that you’re getting it both audibly and visually. It’s a great way to not only find typos, but to improve word choices and sentence structure. I’m a strong believer in varying sentence length to keep from falling into a mind-numbing rhythm. Rita offers invaluable advice during these sessions. I should probably split my royalties with her, but since they all get deposited into joint account, I guess I already do.

My books generally weigh in at around 115-125 thousand words, and it usually takes me about four months to get there. Once the first (alpha) draft is done, I go back to the beginning and read the entire manuscript, editing, revising, and polishing as I go. This typically takes me about a week. Then Rita (bless her) reads the entire manuscript from beginning to end out loud for hours at a time while I peer in over her shoulder. Again, more editing, revising, and polishing. This takes anywhere from a week to ten days, and when we’re done we have a completed second (beta) draft.

I send my beta draft to four trusted and absolutely terrific beta readers: Assaph, Elaine, and my two sisters, Teri and Karen. They each give me a good critical read, finding typos (there will always be typos) and offering suggestions and advice. This process takes up to four weeks, and, when I’ve received all their feedback, I take a couple of days to whip the book into its final, publishable form. I upload it to Kindle Direct Publishing and it’s ready to be read.

After I’ve finished a book, it’s time to catch up on my reading, and over the next four to eight weeks, I read as many books as I can, reducing my gigantic pile of must-reads to a… well… to a still gigantic pile, because, I mean, it’s INEXHAUSTABLE!!!

And before I can do much about it, the urge to write grabs me by the throat, and it’s time to start the process all over again.