BREAKING DOWN MY PROCESS

Written by Tony Ross

I was asked recently what my writing process looks like. That’s something that varies from author to author, but this is what works for me.

My schedule is pretty flexible. I do most of my work on Saturdays, writing from after breakfast until lunchtime; sometimes I’ll write a little after lunch, too. During the week, I’ll maybe get an hour between coming home from work and suppertime. I do everything I can to protect time with my family.

I brainstorm enough to get me started, and outline about the same: ten to fifteen chapters. After that, I like to let things develop organically.

Now it’s on to the rough draft. This is word dump time; I try not to worry about perfection here. (My internal editor has a hard time with it, though.) If something needs to be addressed, I’ll leave a note for myself in parentheses and move on. I write short chapters, changing every time I switch point of view, unless the chapter or scene requires a lot of flipping back and forth between characters. 

Once the rough draft is complete, I’ll plug it into Kindle Direct Publishing’s 6x9 template, which takes care of my layout for me. I cut out the filler text, then paste in my own text chapter by chapter. This lets me see how everything will actually line up in print.

Edits start here: looking back at the notes I left and making those changes. I get more detailed in later rounds of editing; cleaning up widows and orphans (lines of text, or single words, sitting at the top or bottom of a page), fixing grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Once I feel pretty good about the manuscript, I’ll upload it to KDP, and it’ll sit there for a while. I need to let my brain rest. During this time, I’ll move on to cover design. I’m no expert, but I’ve learned to do a few things over the years, and I like to do my own covers whenever possible.

When the cover’s ready, I’ll upload it to KDP. I set up all the book details—keywords, pricing and such—and order a physical proof. I see things better in print than on a screen.

As I go through the proof, I’ll mark it up relentlessly. Now I’m worried about perfection. I’ll make those changes to my Word document and upload the corrected file to KDP. At that point, I’m ready to go, and I release the book. 

And that, my friends, is my process.

Thanks for the question! If there’s anything else you’d like to know, let me know. I’ll try to answer it in the future.