Blogfest 2009

My writing process is an unusual one: I start with a one-page (and no more) outline. I have chapter titles, section titles, and a book title, and usually a lot of notes from the other books in the series. (About a quarter of THE SHADOW DRAGONS was moved up from THE INDIGO KING; and about the same was moved from THE SHADOW DRAGONS to Book Five).

I’ll then start doing thumbnail sketches of the illustrations, while jotting down notes next to the chapter titles. When this process is done, I’ll have a general outline of the entire story, plus key images for each chapter. That’s a lot to work with.

From that I do one full draft, straight through. This is usually where the winnowing process takes place, as I realize certain part of the story don’t fit the arc of the story I’m telling. This is also where surprises happen: the ever-loved Mr. Tummeler, the talking badger from Book One, wasn’t meant to last three chapters – but he did, and his son and grandson are major players in THE INDIGO KING.

After that draft is done, I get an editor’s letter from my two editors, and I’ll usually answer their questions while doing the big structual changes that may be needed. After this, the book is largely complete – but there are still a few more editorial passes to make sure everything connects and makes sense, and looks good.

Storywise, doing a book like THE SHADOW DRAGONS is less anxiety-inducing for myself and my editors because the characters are old friends of ours. We know how they’ll act, and speak, and respond – so it’s more a matter of wrapping the plot around the characters we already know, and making sure it ties together in the end.

It’s a lot of work, sure – but it’s ALWAYS worth it.