The Writing Process and J.Kathleen Cheney

And now, debut author J.Kathleen Cheney shares her writing process.

Tamago: Do you have a regular drafting process, or does your drafting process vary from book to book. Can you describe it to us generally, or at least for one project?

Kathleen: I'll have to say that for the first couple of novels I wrote, I had no process. I'm now actually working on my 7th. By now, I'm finally forming a process.
1) I take a couple of weeks to do initial research and do my preliminary outline.
2) I start writing, more or less straight through the novel.
3) Once I reach the end, I re-outline, and then rewrite.
4) Once I reach the end, I re-outline, and then rewrite. (I do this twice.)
5) I let someone read it.
6) I clean it up, considering their input.
7) I submit it (to agent and editor).

Tamago: Is your writing process the same for short stories as it is for novels?

Kathleen: Surprisingly, not much different.

Tamago: Which part of writing--drafting, revising, critique from others--do you enjoy the most? Why? The least? Why?< ?em>

Kathleen: Revising. I could do that endlessly. I enjoy shaping words into what I want them to say, and every pass seems to make the meaning clearer. I dislike the outlining phase the most. It seems so unproductive, even though I know it needs to be done.

Tamago: Do you belong to a writer's group, or do you work solo? Why do you follow the approach that you do?

Kathleen: Sadly, I work solo. I am a member of several writers groups, but I don't have those people critique my work. It's difficult to find the right balance in critiquing. I did have a great first reader, but she passed away recently. So for now, I'm pretty much just running things past my husband, and then turning them in.

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Mirrored from Writer Tamago.