I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking. Going into my 8th chapter in my book, I’ve been putting a lot of thought in the creation of my world, the emotions, the growth of my characters, building these personal conflicts, and doing as much as I could to make my book seem livable. I do my best not to rush my book so I could complete it quickly. I want to immerse in it. It just feels right writing that way. During these past two weeks, I’ve noticed a pattern with my writing that I’d like to share with people. I’d like to share with you my thought process.
I work retail at an interior decorating store. For a good portion of the time, there are no customers walking in, anyone to greet, or pretty much anything to do. I spend a lot of time walking around aimlessly, sometimes shelving things in place. This gives me a lot of time to be thinking and lately, the only thing I’ve been thinking about is the book I’m writing.
For a good portion of my free time, I let my mind wander into my book in a not so chronological way. I think about the characters who will come up later in my book. I think about how they look like, what they’ll do, how they help or provide conflict for my main characters as the book comes to meet them. I think about the different settings that will be a part of my world, what that will look like, certain items that’ll make the place seem authentic, more visual, the minor yet interesting details. Sometimes, I put some thought into how the dialogue will be as my book moves further into the story. But, being that it’s so far away, I try not to put too much thought in it. I just try to get an idea of what people might say at a certain point.
Dialogue is a very important part of writing a book, well at least for me it is. I feel that more writers should put more time into their character’s dialogue. There are some who I feel go overboard with dialogue, having their characters go through long speeches that seem like lectures instead of conversations. I think more authors should play around and observe what other people say in movies, tv shows, and most importantly, life altogether.
Near the end of my shift, I usually notice that it’s about an hour or so away from clocking out. This is where my mind starts to come back down to a ground level. I start thinking about the chapter that’s coming up next in my book; the chapter that I’ll come home to work on that day. When I do this, I pretty much outline the chapter in my mind. When my thoughts are done with that, I put the dialogue together in my head. When I’m done with that, I do what I feel is the most important action to set my writing into motion: I think about the first sentence that will lead into the first paragraph of that chapter. That there, that’s probably the main part of my thought process that keeps me writing into the night.
On my way back home from work, where hopefully there isn’t any thing left in the day for me to do, I carry my thoughts as safely as possible in my head until I get in front of a computer. When I finally get home and before I place my fingers anywhere on my keyboard, I pull out a college rule notebook and outline the chapter with pen by dumping as much of my thoughts that occurred during the day onto that piece of paper. I somewhat use the JK Rowling method that she uses for her Harry Potter books. I change the categories and usually spend a lot more space in outlining my chapters.
I then I pull up a blank document, place my fingers on the keyboard, and that’s when I start typing. That’s the thought process I use when writing fiction.
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