That Expat Girl’s Guide to Writing a Novel

A couple weeks ago, I wrote the first post in what I intended to become a series on the editing part of writing a novel. Editing is the place I’m in right now, and I was super excited to share my editing journey with you. But coming back to write the second part of the series, I realized I might have jumped the gun a bit. While I’m still really curious to hear from any of you who are currently editing a novel, I thought it might be more helpful, on the whole, to share a bit about my entire writing process, both up to this point and past it. 

Every novel is different, of course. So is every writer’s process. Heck, almost every time I sit down to write, I find that I need to approach the page a different way. But still, over the course of writing three different novels (and at least five different first drafts), I hazard to say that I’ve discovered a few tricks to the trade. I’d love to share some of the techniques, processes, and resources I’ve found to make the journey easier for you.

So, this is going to be the first in a series of posts on the nitty gritties of writing a novel, starting at the very beginning with “Where the heck do you even get the idea for an entire book?” In this blog series, I’ll be taking you through my novel writing process, sharing helpful resources and writing advice.

In addition, if you’re interested in seeing how the original ideas change over the course of a project to become finished work, then I’d encourage you to sign up to my Buy Me a Coffee page, where I’ll be sharing scenes, outlines, and drafts from various stages of my two main projects, The Ravenscourt Tragedies and The Shape of the World.

Check back in over the next few weeks for the rest of the series. And if you want to know exactly when I post the next one, go ahead and subscribe to the blog to get the next post directly in your inbox!

Without further ado:

That Expat Girl’s Guide to Writing A Novel

• Part 1: Ideas – Let’s start by looking at ideas: where they come from, practical ways you can encourage inspiration, and finally, how you can start shaping all your tiny sparks of story into the beginnings of a concept for a novel.
• Part 2: Your First Draft
  • Part 1: How you write – Sometimes writing a first draft is more like getting lost in a city, and sometimes it’s more like planning the perfect vacation. In either case, knowing how you approach writing is vital to help you on your way.
• Part 3: Distance
• Part 4: Plot and Character
• Part 5: Structure
• Part 6: Your Second Draft
• Part 7: Feedback
• Part 8: Editing
• Part 9: Nothing is Ever Finished