Writing - The Tulips and Poppies Way
Whether it be on the radio or on TV, the one thing I will stop channel flipping for is to hear about someone's writing process. I think partly because I want to make sure we're doing it "right", even knowing that in the creative process there is no right or wrong. However, I'm curious none-the-less and I have to listen. So, for the universe that has allowed me to gawk at the processes of so many others, I only felt it fair to share our own.
Being that I write with my sister, there are really two processes at hand. My own personal process, which involves music, pajama pants, and blankets. Then there's the day-to-day with my sister where the roots of a story took form and flourished. The genesis of our outline was a balanced mix between the initial idea and a multitude of conversations. We plotted our milestones to know where our characters were going and growing. Then our talks became more detailed about what happens next, I'd throw out ideas and Poppies would throw out hers. Slowly the lives of our characters and the world they lived in began to build like a sculpture piling lumps of clay together. Then we'd have the occasional hiccup, "Oh, just like Lord of the Rings," or "That happens in Harry Potter." I seriously mentioned a giant spider at one point – what was I thinking?
Then, since I have "the good memory," after our daily conversations I would write down all that was discussed, sometimes with a little story, or dialog if it came to me in a notebook. When we were finally done determining what needed to be written, I took on the undertaking of a verbatim transfer from pen to digital. We akin our writing relationship of that between a baker and cake decorator. I bake the cake and Poppies decorates. But that's not to say that Poppies doesn't give input as to the flavor, structure, shape of the cake. Or that I don’t give input as to the look, colors, "vision" of the cake. We work together but play different roles.
The bounce between us starts with me. I free-flow re-write the rough outline, then send it to Poppies for her free-flow. However, nothing is set in stone and with this story, when we were half-way through the book at least three of our chapters were reshuffled. Chapter 1 was conceived much further along in the development of our story. Then came edit, edit, edit. I did a first pass edit of everything Poppies did. Then we read separately for story edits, we focused on character development, voice, story, and pacing. Then read together, fought, made-up, compromised, and edited. Then we read separately for the grammar, voice, pacing, tense – the boring stuff. Then we read together, with less conflict because this is the boring part, and made edits. Then, because we're gluttons for punishment, we read again – "for anything glaring". And it was during this time, I made the dreaded "Crutch Word" list.
Crutch Words are those pesky gremlins that help you bridge between one part of a sentence to another – mostly unnecessary or replaceable. We found and evaluated each one these little devils. I imagine this part of our process is probably similar to the last couple miles of a marathon. You're exhausted, you feel like you want to throw up, but you're just so darn close and can hear the cheers from the finish line – you think.
Finally, our Beta readers were reading and loving (thank goodness). There were a few edits. Re-write of chapter one. Then off went our query and first three chapters into the agent netherworld. Now, we've lightly started to outline the story of Book 2 – we have the basic milestones, how it starts and how it ends. But during this holding pattern, we're taking some time to regroup, recoup, and gear up for our next big write together.
