Harness Your Enthusiasm By Finding What You Love About Writing

There are multiple stages of the writing process, including prewriting, planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing, with some being more enjoyable for writers than others. Me, I enjoy the prewriting and planning stage of writing a story the most because it helps me determine if I like my idea enough to turn it into a full-length novel. If I lack the enthusiasm to begin writing the first draft of my manuscript, the rest of the process will feel more or less like a chore.

So far, I’ve been passionate enough to turn two story ideas into novels: One Young Adult book, Getting By, I’ve self-published, and I’m currently working on revisions to my second novel. So let’s dive into how I like to begin the prewriting and planning process and see if it sparks the same thrill for you.

Prologue to Writing

Before I begin writing a novel, I like to note anything I could use as inspiration for my story. That can include song lyrics, real-life conversations, personal experiences, quotes, and dialogues from television series and movies. They may never be useful to me, but I try to keep a log of any material to reference as a source of motivation for drafting a story.

Who Is This All About?

With that material in hand, I can begin brainstorming. I start with creating the main character because they are the heart of the story, and everything else will build around them.

To do this, I prefer creating a character sketch and then writing a thorough, detailed overview of them, keeping in mind essential details, such as their physical attributes, personality traits, fears, likes and dislikes, insecurities, and anything else relevant to my story.

By putting in the work early to develop details to help create a main character, they can become multi-dimensional, likable, realistic, and relatable, giving readers someone to latch onto throughout a story.

Populate the World

Next, I create at least a few supporting characters I know will likely interact with my protagonist because, without them, the world of my story would feel empty. My approach with them isn’t as involved, though.

Instead, I wait for them to reveal themselves as I write my story. That way, they can appear organically throughout the novel instead of feeling forced into places for the sake of being there. Because you have to remember a supporting character must serve some purpose in the story. They’re there to facilitate growth in the hero or give them something to aid in their goals.

As my main and supporting characters develop, I begin imagining plot ideas and dialogue for them, mindful that conversations need to be concise and that I may drop half of my ideas on the cutting-room floor.

Building the World

After creating some of my characters, I establish my story’s settings. Preferring to write realistic fiction, I like to start with what I know first before I use my imagination and creativity to expand my storyline. Therefore, my settings will be approached from my protagonist’s point of view, enabling readers to dive deep into the world I’ve created for them.

Naturally, the world-building process will go into more detail once I start my writing first draft, as I love to let it all grow organically and discover new fits for the story. It’s important not to overdo it, taking readers to too many locations, so I ensure I focus only on detailing key settings integral to the plot.

Keeping Track of it All

Once I have enough material to write a manuscript, I come back to organizing my story idea. That begins with sketching a plan since I prefer to have an outline to keep my story organized. That said, I previously mentioned my preference to sit down and freewrite instead of meticulously outlining everything before I begin writing the first draft of my manuscript.

But writing and maintaining a brief outline has its merits. I like to ensure my story is cohesive and that I have the essential elements in place. When outlining my story, I make sure there is a beginning, middle, climax, and end, with a central conflict for my main character to deal with throughout.

So, while freewriting helps me get my thoughts on the page, outlining my story provides a road map I can reference through the process.

After writing two stories, it’s clear prewriting and planning are the best parts of the writing process, at least for me. At that stage, it’s thrilling to have all those new, exciting ideas swirling around in my head. There’s untapped potential that I can use to begin building the basic foundations of crafting a story.

Then it’s up to me to decide if I want to move forward with that idea and start writing a full-length manuscript or repurpose some thoughts for something else down the line. It’s also exciting to latch onto a concept I’m passionate about, as it makes it much easier to see the story through to the end (as you can imagine.)

There are enough obstacles authors need to overcome, so it’s important you find a part in your writing process that excites you because when you can harness that enthusiasm and work towards it, everything flows much better.

If you want to share your favorite part of the process or get into more details about how I prewrite, you can get in touch with me on social media and at jsims@jairesims.com.