My Muse said what??

Let’s understand something right from the start. There is no right or wrong way to write a novel.

Every author has his or her own process. Some overlap, some start one way and end up another. I learned mine when I was writing fan-fiction. The original author shared his process on his blog and I decided to try it. 16 books later, it’s been a great help in giving me structure. Here’s what I do.

1. I have a general theme or idea of what I want to write. It might only be one word or sentence
2. I open up Excel and start with a tentative title.
3. If I’m writing in my series, I put my characters across the top of the Excel spreadsheet. I cut and paste from previous books so I remember the characteristics and descriptions I’ve used in the past.
4. Down the left-hand column, I write chapter numbers. The beauty of Excel for me is I can add or delete columns and rows. Instant erase for bad ideas and instant add-in for my moments of ‘brilliance!’
5. I might have spreadsheets going on several projects at once. If an idea strikes, I start a sheet. Some ideas never become novels or non-fiction projects.
6. I write up a general outline using each chapter to give me an idea of where I want to go.
7. Once I start working, all these ideas gel. Now I fill in a general short synopsis of each chapter and keep going until my project is finished